Yesterday, I noodled about 1/2 cord of maple in the morning. 24 hours later, I go take a look at my work and notice that the ends are showing cracks already. This isn't the end that was already exposed...it's the fresh cut ends. That's a great firewood in my opinion. What it gives up in btu, it makes up for in ease of processing and seasoning times. And there is ample maple available compared to oak or other premium wood.
Yep......but split it again and hit it with a MM. I like soft Maple, because it does dry pretty quickly and burns fairly well.
Most of it was noodled into smaller pie shaped pieces, so I think they'll season quickly. There is a lot of wood exposed to air with small blocks or wedges like that. That stuff also loses all color quickly. I've read that firewood is showing signs of being seasoned when it turns gray.
Sun exposure (ultraviolet rays) will turn wood gray but that does not mean it's dry ,wood out of the sun will not turn gray
We enjoy soft maple for its quick drying too. Always amazes me how heavy green soft maple is and then how soon it gets really light after being split/stacked.
Silver maple and basswood are some quick drying stuff in my experience too. Boy I can't wait to see temperatures again that let me burn them!
Me too. I like summer ok, but late fall is the best when there's overnight lows in the 40's, and you need a morning fire to take the chill out.
HDRock is right on. Soft maple does dry relatively quickly, but surface color and end cracking are not good indicators of how dry the interior is.
Aside from a moisture meter, a good indication is picking up a chunk. Maple loses weight quickly too. Oak not so much
Weight & smell is best method. I only use a moisture meter for air drying lumber. Most woods will have cracks (even large ones if exposed to hot,dry windy conditions) within 2-3 days.Sometimes within hours.But only on the ends & further inward an inch or so when stacked tight.All that White Oak my tree service contact dumped in December started cracking within a few hours,even though its all brownish grey now,its no where near dry enough to burn.Still a little smell to it,where as the Silver Maple from same source 2 months later has no smell now & pieces the same size have lost the weight much quicker. Around here green wood dries much faster in winter because outside air is drier than summertime + the sap is down also.
I pretty much have 3 cords sitting in a mound that covers 400-600 square feet. I imagine the wood in the middle isn't drying the best, but it will dry some. As you remove pieces, I think the top layer exposed will shed the remaining moisture. I can't imagine that would be that different than 3 rows of wood stacked tight. The middle wood will cure if allowed enough time even if it's not exposed to wind or sun.
Imagine how great wood could dry in Death Valley. Oak would be ready to burn in a few months probably.
This is the first time in a long while that I don't have a stick of soft maple in my stacks. Not a single piece in the last two loads of logs which is rather unusual.
Last year I had maybe half a cord of soft maple that was css in late winter and made it down to 15% before the following fall. Having some quick-seasoning wood available is particularly nice for me because I don't need to keep it around for 2 or 3 years, so it frees up some storage space for other species that dry more slowly. This year I ended up with almost a cord of black cherry instead of soft maple, and am hoping it dries almost as quickly. Going by weight alone, it feels like it is doing well.
Exactly. I don't have much space, so the benefits of oak are more than offset by the seasoning time. If you had lots of space and lots of time, then you can have whatever you want....although really hard stuff still takes more effort.
Not trying to be picky but I don't understand why anyone would feel the need to noodle maple. My wife can split it just by giving it a dirty look!
When I'm trying to do big rounds, I can go faster with a chainsaw. I could split them, but time is always limited, and I need to get that going as soon as possible.
I got some Silver Maple close to my MIL's house so I took it there to feed the Buck. I split it in three batches. The first batch was stacked about six weeks ago and is already getting lighter in weight. I scored some Silver, which me and my neighbor cut up for his stacks since he's low on dry wood. He split and stacked about half of it a couple weeks ago and if he can get the rest stacked soon it should be pretty dry come winter.
Gotta love the quick seasoning. I'm going to take the moisture meter to some maple that has been seasoning for 3 months. That should say a lot about drying time.
