It's OK..I wouldn't drive to get it though. In my book it's about like Walnut or Hackberrry.
Like people have said above , it rots fast.
Like people have said above , it rots fast.
soft maple for firewood? (Silver Maple)
- Thread starter rackmup
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Soft maple for firewood won't hold a candle to either walnut or hackberry, primarily because it rots too fast, even when stored dry. I'd put it only a step above poplar or willow. Just MHO.
TimberWolf530
ArboristSite Guru
I'm gonna disagree with you on the Poplar part. That's about the only wood I WILL refuse. Density is only a step above balsa wood, it rots even faster than silver maple, and smells horrible when burned. While silver maple isn't Oak or Locust, it far surpasses Poplar IMO. I think, however, that we're looking at it from different perspectives. As a seller, I can see how Silver wouldn't be desirable, but as a scrounger, there's much worse out there.
Bobby Kirbos
Scrounger of Cellulose Based BTUs
I'm curious about maple as well.
I'm going to be helping my brother-in-law take down a large silver (I think) maple next spring. The wood is mine for the taking. DBH is 30-34 inches. At about 7 feet off the ground, it splits into 3 limbs. They are each 16-20 inches in diameter. It tops out at least 10 feet over their 2 story home.
We have a fire place, back yard a fire bowl, and we camp, so the wood will be used. We use about 1/2 cord per year, so it's going to take a couple of years to get through all of it. Yeah, it's not oak or locust, but it burns and gives off heat - I'll take it. The only thing I am picky about is pine... that ONLY gets burned outdoors and I don't cook over the flames.
I'm going to be helping my brother-in-law take down a large silver (I think) maple next spring. The wood is mine for the taking. DBH is 30-34 inches. At about 7 feet off the ground, it splits into 3 limbs. They are each 16-20 inches in diameter. It tops out at least 10 feet over their 2 story home.
We have a fire place, back yard a fire bowl, and we camp, so the wood will be used. We use about 1/2 cord per year, so it's going to take a couple of years to get through all of it. Yeah, it's not oak or locust, but it burns and gives off heat - I'll take it. The only thing I am picky about is pine... that ONLY gets burned outdoors and I don't cook over the flames.
TimberWolf530
ArboristSite Guru
Pine is fine. Just like any other wood, it needs to be dried properly. If it wasn't OK, everyone in northern Canada and Alaska who have nothing else to burn would all be dead. I burn it, and have commonly used it for wienie roasts my whole life. I've never once suffered from Pine Poisioning. Or wait, that doesn't cause CAD does it? If it does, maybe Bobby is on to something. I wish Mythbusters would do an episode on burning Pine.
D
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It's cellulose fiber. Burn it in that Central Boiler, so what if it burns faster, it's making heat. If it's solid wood it goes in, garbage, tires, nope.
There's a farmer who lets me use his shop and he has a lot of silver maple in his wood pile right now. Took down one that was 3-4' across. It starts up nice, doesn't take long to get a decent fire going but you do have to watch the stove more often if you burn just the maple. I just throw a couple pieces of oak or elm in on top of the silver maple to keep the fire going longer.
Bobby Kirbos
Scrounger of Cellulose Based BTUs
I've had it leave a pine-ish flavor on stuff. I'm not going to risk a good steak.
My error. I meant to say Eastern Cottonwood. Poplar is actually worse than cottonwood and I seldom burn poplar except at bon fires. Silver maple actually rots faster than cottonwood. It's a small miracle if soft maple makes it through two years. Hard maple, on the other hand, is really good firewood and rots rather slowly. Unfortunately, it's more scarce and much slower growing than soft maple.
This is what I think of when I hear "silver maple." The rot on this log isn't that bad considering... It's about 19" across.
I’ve burned worse, but unless it’s laying in our yard I’ll pass. I’ve split some stem wood that I swear grew like a sunflower, everyday following the sun until it has about a 1/4 turn twist to the grain. Yard tree it was. Limb wood is great for quick heat and start up wood. Very common here in Hooterville IA, second behind Mulberry, which I’ll take all day long.
Interesting. Around here dried aspen smells good when burned versus cottonwood smells like urine when burned and worse if not dried properly.
If you want some hard maple come on up WI, got plenty of it. Poplar I usually leave for the OWB crowd or bonfire wood. The same goes for basswood/box adler. But I will mix it in with better wood if needed for someone with an indoor stove.
Same with Basswood
But, the loggers could care less about a few flies. Eastern cottonwood makes good pallets and that supports their wife and family. Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty when earning a living. Around here, the cottonwoods get pretty big:
my dad rented a old house to a russian immigrant. only wood heat. the house was surrounded by silver maple. "pappy" never wasted a twig. everything was cut by hand. i guess most of you have seen the pic on a Led Zep album. that was pappy hauling his silver maple. i burn it when i have it which is a lot. the smell from it brings back childhood memories. burn it if ya got it. pappy would be proud.
There's a company near me that buys cottonwood blocking by the semi load for shipping their steel products on semi trailers. They like it because it can flex somewhat unlike other hardwoods and the steel digs in but not too much and it won't break like pine. Somewhere I have picture of my atv next to big cottonwood on land I cut on. It's not uncommon to have them be 3-5'+ across around here. (bigger if they are near a water source)
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