I get this pattern a lot especially on large maple rounds. What is it called? Does it effect the quality of the firewood? Desirable or not?
I think it's a type of spalting. I have spalted Hickory cabinets. Spalting - Wikipedia ETA: It will probably dry faster than normal, then absorb more rain. Dry it, cover it and it'll burn fine.
It’s called curly or tiger maple, although not very tight curls. If it were birch, it’s almost flame.
Very desirable to woodworkers. Absolutely no difference for firewood. Guitar makers can work magic with it. This is called quilted maple.
In the past I wonder is this was curl. I have had quite a few rounds like this. Thought I would see what others said. Muzzle loading rifle gunsmith also. Years ago I got connected up with a guy that made muzzle loaders and that was prize stock material.
I see it from time to time, but no woodworker here so it goes to firewood. Neighbors dad used to do woodworking so I would give him different wood once in awhile. Loved seeing his work.
Paul Reed Smith makes some amazing guitars. As do many others. One of the cool features of Instagram is the ability to follow “hashtags”, which I do. Stuff like this comes up often. I really appreciate the talent and skill of these craftsmen and women. It pains me to see this beautiful wood get burned up.
Good stuff. I use them for knife scales. I've seen musket rifles with tiger maple stocks that are beautiful.
Your pics are curly or tiger striped.. Maple figuring might be curly, tiger striped, birds eye or quilted... I'm sure there are more. Google those 4 images..... I run into trees on occasion that are much more valuable than firewood..
Some of the red maple i was splitting today had a similar grain pattern. Very cool! Ill take some pics tomorrow.
This. It's all under the umbrella of figured maple. When I had 2 huge bigleaf maples cut down, I sold a few blocks to a guitar maker (Dave Bunker, Bunker Guitars). With the tips he gave me, I saved some figured blocks off my trees to make some name plaques and antler mounts.
Curley maple like that can bring big money in the black powder gun business, as well as modern rifles. I only built one modern rifle using curley maple. It was a 280 Remington on an FN mauser action. The stuff is a bear to carve, you are always sharpening scrapers and gouges to keep them razor sharp to get a smooth cut.
Here's some of the splits from this past weekend. Red maple. No as pronounced as yours but still cool.