maple, maple, or MAPLE

[WoodChuck'r]

WoodChuck'r,

Next time you get silver maple leave it on the chunky side when splitting.
If you would normally split something twice split silver maple just once.
It's pretty decent long burning wood that way, but split like other wood it's a dry fastish burning wood.

I generally do that (usually). I try to burn halves as opposed to burning quarters of the silva mape. I'm one of those picky people when it comes to firewood though. I guess one could call me a snob when it comes to firewood and as much as I might want to argue that I'm not, I'd prolly just shrug my shoulders and nod my head. But don't get me wrong, I'll burn some "junk" or "not very high BTU" or "not very long lasting" wood at times but I prefer red oak, white oak, locust, osage orange, hickory, ash, ect.

Silver maple just kinda bugs me because I have so much of it (I was given the opportunity to get a **** ton of it for free). Quite a bit of it has been given away to friends for the fireplaces and bonfires cuz I'd rather give it away than burn it in my stove since I have a very generous amount of "the good stuff". But like all wood, if it burns it makes heat, and if yer house is warm then the wife is happy and that means you get some sexy time. Silver maple has gotten me laid many times due to it's BTU output so I'm not gonna bash it all that much. :cool2: ::thumbsup::

 

[WoodChuck'r]

Woodchuckr

We're in Hilton just west of Rochester, a little too close to the 'burbs for my liking but mostly farm country, so at least the neighbors aren't close enought to complain about the wood burner. West Sparta, isn't that grape country down there?

Hilton, eh...?? Nice. I know right where yer at. I grew up in Rochester. East Irondequoit actually. Moved to Bristol with the family in 1998 when I was 16.


There's a bit of wine stuff going on down here but it's mainly further east of here. West Sparta is kinda at the west end of the Fingerakes region. It's about 10minutes NW of Dansville. I'm about 40 minutes or so from Naples and that's HUGE wine country over that way. The whole Canandaigua Lake, Keuka Lake, Seneca Lake areas and what not are the heatland of wine country. My mom lives in Naples (Italy Valley actually) and she's about 15 minutes from Branchport - there's probably 20+ wineries with 30 minutes of Branchport. Spent a lot of time wine tasting in the Fingerlakes area over the years. ::thumbsup::

 

[WoodChuck'r]

Oh and Paul, I don't burn sycamore but I know a few people that do. They seem to complain about it buring up like dry cardboard too but they're a bit more easy going with what they burn. I don't like sycamore personally but some don't seem to have a problem with it.

 

[MacLaren]

Oh and Paul, I don't burn sycamore but I know a few people that do. They seem to complain about it buring up like dry cardboard too but they're a bit more easy going with what they burn. I don't like sycamore personally but some don't seem to have a problem with it.

Right. I was just wanderin. Its a hard wood, but none that I remember burnin. Like ya say, its hard to beat red oak. :msp_wink:

 

[haveawoody]

WoodChuck'r,

Yeah silver maple will never be oak but if you got chunky silver then fall and spring at your place can be pretty warm with it.
Sure slows down burning real nice wood on the semi cool days.
And not many other woods can get the hard woods burning quick with just a couple pieces of silver going first.


LOL I'm about the same with box elder (manitoba maple), it's never got me laid so i still hate the stuff
Had about 1 cord of it an this winter was ideal to burn it so the stinky pile departed.
I think even if the swedish bikini team came over and told me the worth of box elder i would only believe while the visit lasted

 

[haveawoody]

Danxtro,

This is a range map of Rock elm if that helps.
<img src=http://0.tqn.com/d/forestry/1/0/b/o/uthomasii.jpg>

The main range probably does't make it as far north as Drummondville but rock elm can be found here and there out of that main range, just is harder to find.

Us lucky devils in Southern ontario can step outside and 1/2 the trees are rock elm and 1/2 of them are dead from the dutch elm.

 

[Whitespider]

‘Round here I usually find Rock Elm growing in… well, growing in rock.
Wherever the topsoil is thin, where Limestone is protruding out, is where I find the Rock Elm… sometimes growing in the rock itself. On rocky ridges and bluffs where the effects of Ma’ Nature have left the Limestone bare the Rock Elm will sometimes be the only tree growing, and its roots (along with ice) will bust up the stone causing huge chunks to roll down hill.

I know of no other tree that will test the quality of your chain like Rock Elm (but I haven’t cut every kind of tree on the planet either). The ones found growing in bare Limestone will be the hardest, densest, heaviest wood you can imagine… and in low light your chain will throw a light-show of sparks while cutting it. Splitting it is sort of a luck-of-the-draw type of thing… one tree may split (relatively) easy, while the tree growing next to it will cause the wedge to screech and scream all the way through. Occasionally you’ll get a tree that tends to load the splitter until it just “pops”, throwing splits violently to the side.

I don’t care what most of the BTU charts say… Rock Elm is some fine firewood and beats the heck out of any oak growing (in this area at least). Fill your firebox with Rock Elm and you’ll start to think it will never burn down.


addendum: Sorry about carrying this thread further off-topic (Maple) but I just had ta'...

 

[Danxtro]

Danxtro,

This is a range map of Rock elm if that helps.
<img src=http://0.tqn.com/d/forestry/1/0/b/o/uthomasii.jpg>

The main range probably does't make it as far north as Drummondville but rock elm can be found here and there out of that main range, just is harder to find.

Us lucky devils in Southern ontario can step outside and 1/2 the trees are rock elm and 1/2 of them are dead from the dutch elm.

Thank you for the infos Haveawoody. You are right, it can be out of the main range. On that wood lot, I only identified two elm trees about 6inch Dia. with the bark similar to the previous picture. The bark is thick and spongy like kork. The trees are on a 110 acres wood lot I have about 20min from my main house and land. If it's really Rock Elm, i will preserve them and hope the Elm disease will not kill them.

 

[mt.stalker]

The BTU players

Rock Elm 32,000,000
Shagbark Hickory 30,600,000
White Oak 30,600,000
Bitternut Hickory 29,200,000
Sugar Maple 29,000,000
Beech 27,800,000
Red Oak 27,300,000
Yellow Birch 26,200,000
Red Elm 25,400,000
White Ash 25,000,000
White Elm 24,500,000
Red Maple 24,000,000
Tamarack 24,000,000
Black Cherry 23,500,000
White Birch 23,400,000
Black Ash 22,600,000
Green Ash 22,100,000
Silver Maple 21,700,000
Manitoba Maple 19,300,000

Don't wanna be argumentative , but I simply cannot agree with this chart . IMO , Red Maple kicks the bejesus out of White Ash , as does Cheery .
Don't put too much stock in this chart .

 

[Danxtro]

That looks like it was a real nice looking tree there!

I'm pretty lucky on that...big and tall trees.

 

[haveawoody]

mt.stalker,

The list is from a logging company and presented from a company selling marking devices for logs.
One of the very few real sorts of lists in IMO.

I've burnt everything on the list with the one exception (red maple).
Everything else for me at least follows the list pretty well, with the exception of white elm being IMO opinion a bit to high btu.
Although barkless well cured american elm probably would be what the number is on the list.

I always wonder about any btu list in general.
Barkless, cure length, cut size, split size all will have a factor in BTU output and silver maple cured at the same length of time as black locust is sure to show silver maple with good btu and black locust just better since it wasnt really fully cured.
If you wait for lucust to cure up properly then the silver maple will have already begun to overcure and loose some btu.

So really i would't put to much faith in any btu test.
One done with moisture contents all identical and all with bark or none with bark at burn would be a great list.

 

[Steve2910]

Amen. Those BTU charts are all over the map. Use them as a general guide if you want, but real world burning experience is the best way to decide what to put in your stacks.

I always wonder about any btu list in general...


So really i wouldn't put too much faith in any btu test

 

[Whitespider]

...Red Maple kicks the bejesus out of White Ash , as does Cheery...

That makes me wonder if we all think of Red Maple as the same tree, because I place Red Maple only a slightly bit better than Silver Maple... which is only marginally better than Box Elder Maple.

 

[Streblerm]

That makes me wonder if we all think of Red Maple as the same tree, because I place Red Maple only a slightly bit better than Silver Maple... which is only marginally better than Box Elder Maple.

There are several different types of red maple. around here there is swamp red maple and it is definitely like silver maple. There is also a very popular non native landscape tree related to the Norway maple called crimson king. It is much more dense.

In many areas Norway maples are considered an invasive species.

 

[Whitespider]

Well to me, acer rubrum is Red Maple, often also called Soft Maple, Water Maple or Swamp Maple.

We have more “wild growing” Sugar and Black Maple ‘round here, but Red Maple is abundant over east of the state along the Mississippi and smattered about along some of the other river bottoms. As far as firewood quality, it‘s only slightly better than Silver Maple, and the only thing it “kicks the bejesus out of” is Cottonwood, Willow and Basswood… and even the words, “kicks the bejesus out of” could be debatable.