Any chance to burn this winter?

[hoosier daddy]

As you know from my first few posts I'm a "stupid" question asker...anyway I dropped a few silver maples in early spring just before the leaves started to come. With all the hub-bub of spring I did not get back to them to get them bucked up and now unless I trash some corn I can't get to them until after harvest. My question is simply this: If I can get them bucked up and split will they be burnable this winter or is it best to just wait. I'm close to having enough wood but may run short and if so the silver maple would fill in for the early spring heating season. Thanks in advance for your response.

 

[amateur cutter]

That silver maple bucked, split, & stacked where it gets airflow through the winter might be ok to burn by spring. Make sure to keep the top covered & split it smaller to facilitate drying, & hope for low humidity this winter. A C

 

[WetBehindtheEar]

That silver maple bucked, split, & stacked where it gets airflow through the winter might be ok to burn by spring. Make sure to keep the top covered & split it smaller to facilitate drying, & hope for low humidity this winter. A C

:agree2:
Unfortunately, this summer has been really wet, too. So unless it was undercover, it will be (much like my daughter's diaper this morning) 'soak-ey'.

 

[blades]

Yep, just is not going to cut it for this season. Buck it, split it, stack it, and you will have a heads up on 2011-12 season. Just so you are aware most of the guys selling fire wood supplies are not much better than what you have now. There are a few that do understand and do have properly seasoned wood for sale but expect to pay a premium for it. Do not buy anything with out inspecting their operation. I have one customer that supplies klin dried fire wood, out of Delafield, WI. Not sure on price but I think around $300/cord, and you get a true cord. The better hardwoods are going to take a minimum of 2 summers to get down to the magical 20% or less moisture content sometimes longer. What you could due if you can get that Silver split now is mix it with pallets when you are burning, say 50/50 it will get you bye, not perfect, but would hold cost down. Another Idea is to visit some of the pallet shops in Madison and see if you can get there cut offs ( busting pallets down is a major chore) That is what I did for the first couple years until I could get ahead of the game.I would not burn just pallets as the bulk of them are soft woods and burn too hot and fast for the current corp of stoves. Too much risk of overfiring the stove.

 

[stackwood]

Silver maple

I get alot of silver maple were I live in CT river valley , split loose stacked cover when it rains silver maple will season in 3 months..

Yep, just is not going to cut it for this season. Buck it, split it, stack it, and you will have a heads up on 2011-12 season. Just so you are aware most of the guys selling fire wood supplies are not much better than what you have now. There are a few that do understand and do have properly seasoned wood for sale but expect to pay a premium for it. Do not buy anything with out inspecting their operation. I have one customer that supplies klin dried fire wood, out of Delafield, WI. Not sure on price but I think around $300/cord, and you get a true cord. The better hardwoods are going to take a minimum of 2 summers to get down to the magical 20% or less moisture content sometimes longer. What you could due if you can get that Silver split now is mix it with pallets when you are burning, say 50/50 it will get you bye, not perfect, but would hold cost down. Another Idea is to visit some of the pallet shops in Madison and see if you can get there cut offs ( busting pallets down is a major chore) That is what I did for the first couple years until I could get ahead of the game.I would not burn just pallets as the bulk of them are soft woods and burn too hot and fast for the current corp of stoves. Too much risk of overfiring the stove.

 

[blades]

Here in the SE quadrant of WI this summer the humidity has been hanging at 70% or better with rain every week. Stuff just is not drying worth beans this year. I have Silver Maple split and stacked since April, still reading 30% internal on 6"x14" splits. This stuff was felled during the winter.

 

[HuskyMurph]

spam

above post:spam:

 

[Streblerm]

I split some silver maple and tulip in June. it already has that "buckskin look" and the ends are checked. When I grabbed a piece out of the middle of the stack and made a fresh split, it measured 18% moisture with my HF moisture meter. The fresh splits make that nice baseball bat sound when you hit the two pieces together.

It has been hot and dry here this summer. My wood is stacked under some mature trees, so when it does rain, very little of it makes it to the ground. The stack gets sunlight for the better part of the day too.

OTOH, I picked up some wood from a friend that was stacked, uncovered behind his woodshed. He has a heavily treed yard and his wood was wetter than ####. Much of this wood had been cut, split and stacked for 2 plus years! after stacking in my pile for a month it seems to be drying nicely. Some of it seems punky though.

I guess what I am saying is that wood is seasoned and dry when it is seasoned and dry. If you have good air movement, sun, and can keep the rain off, wood will dry very quickly. Especially a species like silver maple. If you don't have good drying conditions, it may not be ready to burn even next year.

 

[blades]

To Huskymurph: My post was not spam, it is exactly what is happening at my location at present. We had another short heavy rainfall this morning about 3 am. Current humidity is about 80%, temp will hit mid or hi 80's later. with very little wind. The 10 cords I have outside will season eventually. Mind your manners.

I am not new to wood heat, been doing it for more than 10 years, this particular summer has been tough for drying purposes.

 

[H-Ranch]

To Huskymurph: My post was not spam, it is exactly what is happening at my location at present. We had another short heavy rainfall this morning about 3 am. Current humidity is about 80%, temp will hit mid or hi 80's later. with very little wind. The 10 cords I have outside will season eventually. Mind your manners.

I am not new to wood heat, been doing it for more than 10 years, this particular summer has been tough for drying purposes.

Huskymurph was reporting a post that has since been removed - I saw it too. Unfortunately then your post became the one above his! No harm meant I'm sure.

 

[blades]

Thanks Steve, I never saw the other, My apologies to all.

I am a bit testy this morning as 2 of my customers saw fit to write bad checks, kinda sticks in my craw a might and makes me down right ornery.

 

[WetBehindtheEar]

Another Idea is to visit some of the pallet shops in Madison and see if you can get there cut offs ( busting pallets down is a major chore) That is what I did for the first couple years until I could get ahead of the game.I would not burn just pallets as the bulk of them are soft woods and burn too hot and fast for the current corp of stoves. Too much risk of overfiring the stove.

Not to pile on too much - but the orignial poster was the one with the just-cut maple. I'm good to go (I think) and I don't think broken up pallets would fit very well in my fireplace insert.

Thanks for the thoughts though, I know you were just trying to help.

best,
Tony in Madison

 

[smokinj]

Silver maple will be good to go split and stack in the spring for this year.

 

[dingeryote]

I have burned Silver maple a month after it was dropped sap down.

Not bad really. If ya season Silver Maple for a year it goes up like a Cotton ball.

If ya save it untill March, it should be good to go, but start hunting the standing dead snags just in case.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote