aaronmach1
ArboristSite Operative
how do i know what maples i should cut for firewood? Anyone have pics?
hard maple/ soft maple???
- Thread starter aaronmach1
- Start date
Help Support Arborist Forum:
I'm no expert, but we have a lot of Silver Maples around here. I guess they're not a true hardwood, but we burn a lot of the stuff, mixed in with whatever hardwood we have, usually hedge or oak. It splits well and dries fairly quickly. Sorry, no pics.
Jusst a quick
HARD: sugar maple (Acer saccharum)
The terms sugar maple, hard maple, and rock maple are often used interchangeabely. There is a black maple that is considered "hard" but I've never cut one.
SOFT: red, silver, boxelder, striped, bigleaf (western USA)
Norway maple often is categorized as somewhere in between soft and hard for lumber purposes. As a firewood, I'd put it more toward soft.
A simple way to approach it is to learn what a sugar maple looks like, and then know that all the other maples are soft. It's often easiest to ID trees by leaf, so take some nature hikes with a tree guide now. Once you ID the leaf, make sure to note what the bark, silhouette, branch structure, leaf arrangement, etc., look like so you'll be able to ID the tree species in winter. If you need to ID trees in winter, get a copy of Winter Tree Finder.
HARD: sugar maple (Acer saccharum)
The terms sugar maple, hard maple, and rock maple are often used interchangeabely. There is a black maple that is considered "hard" but I've never cut one.
SOFT: red, silver, boxelder, striped, bigleaf (western USA)
Norway maple often is categorized as somewhere in between soft and hard for lumber purposes. As a firewood, I'd put it more toward soft.
A simple way to approach it is to learn what a sugar maple looks like, and then know that all the other maples are soft. It's often easiest to ID trees by leaf, so take some nature hikes with a tree guide now. Once you ID the leaf, make sure to note what the bark, silhouette, branch structure, leaf arrangement, etc., look like so you'll be able to ID the tree species in winter. If you need to ID trees in winter, get a copy of Winter Tree Finder.
Last edited:
the woods that i get my firewood from has sugar maple(a hard maple), and red maple(a soft maple). i use both for heat and for sale. won't mess with silver maple(a soft maple). have a personal bias against silver. google any maple and there should be enough info and pictures for a reasonable identification.
doobie57z
ArboristSite Operative
I don't put much effort into red maple, but my yard is full of sugar maple...Differences Between Hard Maple and Soft Maple | The Wood Database
Good info on identification and hardness. I think if "aaronmach1" is looking for firewood, he would be mostly interested in BTU content. There's not a tremendous difference between any of them.
If it's a tree, it gets cut up, split and stacked. When seasoned it's burned. I don't discriminate, all wood has it's role. I prefer softwood in the shoulder seasons and hardwood for colder weather. Maple whether hard or soft is just fine for us, doesn't matter.
giXXer
ArboristSite Operative
View attachment 249351
Sorry for the lack of a close-up, but this is hard or sugar maple. In my area it is either sugar maple or silver maple (for the most part). Once you learn the difference in the bark they aren't too difficult to tell apart. I'll see if I have any other hard maple pics on this computer.
Sorry for the lack of a close-up, but this is hard or sugar maple. In my area it is either sugar maple or silver maple (for the most part). Once you learn the difference in the bark they aren't too difficult to tell apart. I'll see if I have any other hard maple pics on this computer.
Last edited:
Fuzly
ArboristSite Operative
Leaves are a good i.d. too. Hard or sugar maple has the standard 3 point leaf (think Canadian flag). Soft maple will have a larger different shaped leaf. Silver often has 5 lobes and I think red may have the 5 lobes as well with little "teeth" around the edge of the leaf.
Almost forgot, as Mac88's chart shows, I am happiest with hard maple, but red maple is very close btu wise and I'm happy to use it as firewood as well.
Almost forgot, as Mac88's chart shows, I am happiest with hard maple, but red maple is very close btu wise and I'm happy to use it as firewood as well.
Last edited:
haveawoody
Addicted to ArboristSite
Sugar maple is one of the best coaling woods in NA, heat, coaling and burn time is very similiar to shagbark hickory.
Red and Noway maple are both pretty decent firewood.
Silver maple is excellent to start fires and mix with hardwoods that have a difficult time staying going with decent burn qualities.
Silver is the least btu of those maples but then again silver maple can easily be burnt as all weather wood and even night wood if it's burnt on the chunky side.
If someone says free maple my thought is go get em they are all good firewoods.
If someone says free manitoba maple (box elder) ask how much they are paying for it to be removed
Red and Noway maple are both pretty decent firewood.
Silver maple is excellent to start fires and mix with hardwoods that have a difficult time staying going with decent burn qualities.
Silver is the least btu of those maples but then again silver maple can easily be burnt as all weather wood and even night wood if it's burnt on the chunky side.
If someone says free maple my thought is go get em they are all good firewoods.
If someone says free manitoba maple (box elder) ask how much they are paying for it to be removed
Sugar maple is great burning.
Silver maple is not bad - not high on BTU's, but it splits easily, dries fast, and burns well. Great for Spring and Fall burns when you don't need a lot of heat. Hardly leaves any ash.
Silver maple is not bad - not high on BTU's, but it splits easily, dries fast, and burns well. Great for Spring and Fall burns when you don't need a lot of heat. Hardly leaves any ash.
stihly dan
Addicted to ArboristSite
Bark in the pic looks like soft maple. And unless your in an area that doesn't have much good hard woods, all soft maple sucks.
haveawoody
Addicted to ArboristSite
stihly dan,
Well cured red or noway is pretty good firewood.
Box elder sucks.
Well cured red or noway is pretty good firewood.
Box elder sucks.
russhd1997
Innocent By Stander
Here if it is a maple it gets a tap in it in the spring. All other varieties of trees are culls and cut and used for firewood.
Mine don't. It burns just fine tucked in there with a couple chunks of hedge or red oak. When I get up in the morning I just throw a piece of silver maple in there on the coals, to get the stove hot, and follow up with some walnut or mulberry. Unless it's sub-zero, we usually have a couple windows open to keep the house from getting too hot inside.
Heck of a load you got there! Sent you a rep.
stihly dan
Addicted to ArboristSite
Red is like #10 in btu's of the wood that can be had locally.
I think you folks have a lot more hardwoods available up yonder than we do. In my area there's not a lot of real woodlots, mostly farmland. So we burn pretty much whatever we can get our hands on. All told, it's still way cheaper than buying Natural gas from the local power and light rapists. You should feel fortunate that you can pick and choose.
stihly dan
Addicted to ArboristSite
Yup. but it sounds like your doing well with that stock pile of hedge.
