Does anyone burn silver maple? How good does it do? They are dropping some pretty large ones in town 36" or so. Is it worth getting? Thanks, Hellbent
Fairly easy to split, dries very quickly (one year or less), neither stinky nor especially messy. I like it.
It's one of my favorites. If you split it small right now, it will be ready to go in the fall. I'd consider it more gooder than 'shoulder' wood, unless you have nothing but oak and black locust to burn for the 'regular' season. For me, I have a lot of aspen and red pine to cut, so that's what I use for shoulder - silver maple is better than those. You'll have coals left over after a burn, unlike the pine or poplar.
I'll be burning next year entirely on silver maple and ash. All the silver maples I've had did not split easily though, and is one of the main reasons I got a hydraulic splitter last summer. I've hear the reason was they were "yard trees". The grain was all twisty and gnarly throughout the entire trunk of all 3 trees.
I have had mixed results with hand splitting silver maple. Split one last Saturday that was nice and easy. Had one earlier this year that kicked my butt. The larger rounds from the base of the tree were anything but "soft".
JCMC has it right. Silver maple isn't oak, but it isn't a soft wood, either. If what it is is free, I'd be getting as much of it as I could. Free wood is good wood, and free hardwood is gooder wood.
I like it. I have two of them to take down in the next week or so, hoping they'll be dry by December-ish. One tree is probably 40"+ at the stump, the other 30", both with multiple trunks and heavy leaners in several direction. I expect 3-4 cords out of both trees. About on par with burning cherry, I'd say - maybe a tad softer.
I like it also. Some pieces can be sort of gnarly to split by hand though. If you plan on burning it during the "real" cold, split it larger.
Go go go...................Great stuff when its 30 to 45 degrees out,in a mild period that's most of what I burn. Dries fast,good heat.Got almost 2 cords in Feb 2014 dropped off,about half of that is left.Another 1.5 cords in Dec. 2014,processed that in a couple weeks.It'll be ready for next Nov-Dec 2015. Havent burned more than a handful of it since early January,since it was so cold here until about 2 weeks back burned mostly mixed Oak/Hickory,Green Ash & a little Mulberry instead. Like others said,sometimes is easy to split,others can be real stubborn.Most what I get is older larger yardbirds from open areas,look at the bark if its spiral/twisty the wood will be pretty much the same.Even those will be easier when temps are 10 degrees or less though. Forest grown stuff even crooked/leaning tends to be much easier.
Only challenge I hear is tree diameter. Everyone else on wood value/quality is right on. But 36inch diameter pieces of green silver maple could weigh 200plus pounds a piece even cut 15inches. Not sure of the gear or splitter you have, but that size will definitely require some gear or very,very good friends. May even require so cutting with the grain to downsize for moving them.
Get it! I can get at least 8 hours of good heat out of it in a cat stove when it's 25 to 30 outside. Like everyone else says; seasons fast and generally splits easily. It's also great for getting oak or black locust going quickly.
