WoodChuck'r,
Next time you get silver maple leave it on the chunky side when splitting.
If you would normally split something twice split silver maple just once.
It's pretty decent long burning wood that way, but split like other wood it's a dry fastish burning wood.
I generally do that (usually). I try to burn halves as opposed to burning quarters of the silva mape. I'm one of those picky people when it comes to firewood though. I guess one could call me a snob when it comes to firewood and as much as I might want to argue that I'm not, I'd prolly just shrug my shoulders and nod my head. But don't get me wrong, I'll burn some "junk" or "not very high BTU" or "not very long lasting" wood at times but I prefer red oak, white oak, locust, osage orange, hickory, ash, ect.
Silver maple just kinda bugs me because I have so much of it (I was given the opportunity to get a **** ton of it for free). Quite a bit of it has been given away to friends for the fireplaces and bonfires cuz I'd rather give it away than burn it in my stove since I have a very generous amount of "the good stuff". But like all wood, if it burns it makes heat, and if yer house is warm then the wife is happy and that means you get some sexy time. Silver maple has gotten me laid many times due to it's BTU output so I'm not gonna bash it all that much. :cool2: ::thumbsup::