soft maple for firewood? (Silver Maple)

[rackmup]

Any suggestions? I have a bunch behind my house already in logs. I am going to take it all and put it under roof over the next couple of weeks. I know it is not great firewood but it is so easy for me to get I figure I better take it.

Any thoughts on burning it my CB 6048?

 

[kyle1!]

It will burn just fine. You will have to load the the unit more often since SM is not as dense as other hardwoods but it will keep the boiler running.

 

[Marshy]

I burns just fine. Obviously not as mice as ash or other hard woods but if that what's available I say use it.

 

[GilksTreeFelling]

3/4 of my winter wood is silver maple. Burns fine nice and hotbut loading more often.

 

[TimberWolf530]

Negatives - As stated above, you have to use more of it due to low density, Rots quickly if its not split and is uncovered, some are huge so can be hard to handle.
Plusses - Good smell when burned (my opinion obviously), leaves very little ash in the stove so less cleaning, not the hardest to split (not the easiest either, but not bad).

I will take silver maple every time. I really like it for the beginning and end of the season. I just ran out about two weeks ago, so if I come across some, for the right price (free), I'll take it.

 

[GilksTreeFelling]

Filled this with silver maple at 1400 it's now 1743. Should be good till around 1900 when I'll fill with yellow Birch and shut the dampers down that'll burn till 0600 when I get up to start the day.

 

[TimberWolf530]

Filled this with silver maple at 1400 it's now 1743. Should be good till around 1900 when I'll fill with yellow Birch and shut the dampers down that'll burn till 0600 when I get up to start the day.

If 1900 is 7 pm, and 0600 is 6 am, then that means you're getting 11 hours out of 1 load???? I don't think I could stuff my stove with coal and get it to last that long. Either I'm doing something wrong, or you're running your stove at a REALLY low temperature to get one load to last that long, or your stove is a lot bigger than it looks in that picture.

 

[GilksTreeFelling]

Fire box is approx 26" across the front. 18" deep and 18" high. If I stack the wood at night so the ends are facing the doors I can get a good load in for the night by 0600 it's just a few embers left but the house is still cozy. Flue temps I don't worry about as I clean chimney *chimney brush on rope pulled through two or three times* in October before I start burning, usually end of January and finally in March when I stop burning so little time for creosote build up.

 

[DSW]

What nobody has mentioned is how quickly it dries. It's a desirable wood to me based solely off how quickly it can go from standing to stove.


A lot of talk about how quickly ash dries, don't get me wrong, for a true hardwood ash dries quick enough. That soft Maple is on a different level though.

 

[Jutt]

Most Silver Maple I’ve dealt with has been very straight grained and splits easily with nice uniform easy-to-stack pieces that ultimately burn nice. Not long, but nice. I can process a bunch of it very quickly which tends to make up for the lack of BTUs. This all assumes free scrounging as these are constantly coming down around the city (and given away curb side) due to the short life span.

 

[svk]

I've dealt with a few larger ones. The trunk wood is significantly more dense and often twisted and hard to split. The limb wood is very light and usually splits easily. Smells good while burning, nice blue flame around the coals, and coals decently too.

 

[Streblerm]

Honestly one of my favorites for all the reasons mentioned above. Especially if it’s close and easy to process. If you look at the btu charts it’s 75-80% of the btu per cord vs oak. Some of the bigger trunk sections might be closer. It ain’t like it’s pine.

Get it split soon. It does get punky quick in rounds or on the ground.

 

[Woodcutteranon]

Agree with everyone above. I will stress that you should burn it during the season you split it. I found it turns punky for year two and loses BTU's.

 

[NSMaple1]

Split it asap. Or it will rot. Decent firewood.

 

[crowbuster]

Same as everybody else. It's ok. always have some for early season and late. As well as warm days in between.

 

[GVS]

Any suggestions? I have a bunch behind my house already in logs. I am going to take it all and put it under roof over the next couple of weeks. I know it is not great firewood but it is so easy for me to get I figure I better take it.

Any thoughts on burning it my CB 6048?

Not a bad firewood at all!Plenty of it on my land and I'll burn it all winter.

 

[rackmup]

Thanks Guys, all good info...I will get a years worth out of this anyway. i figure I will burn during warm days and use a filler on cold days above 0.

 

[moresnow]

Just to add. Burns nice in NE Ia. Guessing yours should be at least somewhat similar!

 

[WoodTick007]

It is better than sending a check to the gas/electric companies

 

[Wood Doctor]

I burned 100 pounds of soft maple today. Most was too far gone, but some was OK. I got it out of the way because I have lots of other good hardwood that's far better. I could never have sold it, so I burned it. Seems like the longer you let silver maple rest, the worse it gets. Great the first year and lousy after that.