Neighbor gives me a tree!

[stumpy75]

I have been worried about this silver maple for several years now. If it splits, one piece will crush my house and another will crush his. It's about 60 years old, and is not looking real healthy by the look of the foliage. It's 3-4' in diameter at the base. I mentioned this to my neighbor a month or so ago.

Today, a he had a tree guy out, and now has decided to take the tree down. When I mentioned that I would like the wood, the tree guy was happy about it, and after a little more talking, agreed to block it in 18" sections! And he'll take the large main stem, which I really can't handle. That's how he usually gets rid of his wood.

It is silver maple, but it's about as close at it could be. That's my driveway in the picture. This will set me up for wood for quite a few years!

The limb on the left is about 2.5' in diameter (and would fall towards my house if it split), and the other ones are around 2'. The tree has not lost any leaves yet this fall, and has never been trimmed. The crown is just that thin... It's about at the end of it's natural life for a silver maple in the city.

 

[buzz sawyer]

Good chance that limb is already hollow to some degree. Get it dry as quickly as you can and keep it that way. Silver Maple rots quickly if exposed to the elements.

 

[BillNole]

The guy's taking the main trunk and the rest will last you years?! You must not burn a lot... Don't get me wrong, I burn mainly for pleasure and I only burn a couple of cords a year. Enjoy it!

 

[stumpy75]

Yeah, I know it does rot fairly quickly if not handled right., but I do stack it off the ground in a sunny spot, so I think I should be ok. And I'm going to guess that there is a lot of rot in it too. Typical of old silver maples... He wasn't real excited about trying to block up the main trunk because he said he was worried about possible junk in it, and I don't really have a large enough saw to try it myself. We'll see what it looks like when it's on the ground.

Not sure how much wood is in this one, and pic does not really show how big that tree really is. It's by far the largest tree on the block, and most of the limbs are fairly large all the way up. He's also trimming a couple of smaller red maples, so I'll get that wood too, and I'll use pieces down to about 2". I supplement my heat with wood, not heating 100% with it, and I use about 2-3 cords a year now, depending on the winter. Is there 4 cords in there? Maybe not, but I'll know in about a month or so when I get it split and stacked.

At any rate, it's free, not a lot of work and right next door. That means the barley pop at the end of the day is closer too!

 

[mga]

At any rate, it's free, not a lot of work and right next door

isn't that the best wood one can get?

 

[stumpy75]

isn't that the best wood one can get?

I think so.... and it gives me more time to play music!