Soft Maple

[branchbuzzer]

O.K. guys, help me out here, what is soft maple? We have a lot of sugar maple in this area, better than poplar but not great.

It generally means any maple that doesn't have the higher BTUs like sugar maple. There are a couple other high BTU maples, but sugar maple is what is commonly being compared to.

Red or Silver Maple are what most people are referring to when talking about "soft maple". These are medium BTU level firewoods, so they are better than woods like poplar, but not as good as hard maples.

 

[PEKS]

Got my Soft Maple for free, so it burns good..
:msp_biggrin:

 

[Old Goat]

Here a pulp cord is 128 cubic feet. and firewood is cheap. I can buy hard maple or oak for anywheres from 60 to 70 dollars in 10 cord loads. It has to be cut yet and most does not need to be split

What is the going rate for firewood cut, split, and ready to burn? That will tell you if it is worth your time to try to resale it as firewood.

If you can get hard maple or oak for $60 a cord "DELIVERED" than I would take that over the soft maple, that is if you are going to burn it for yourself. If it was me I still would take the soft maple for $40 a cord DELIVERED. I could turn that $40 into $200 in two or three hours per cord here. $50 to $80 an hour for my time is worth the effort to cut and split it. I have two teenage boys that could make good use of that kind of money and have had plenty of experience with a splitter.

 

[jcappe]

Couple of friends and I just cut about 6 truck loads of it yesterday. It was all dead standing in my timber. Is it oak, hickory or locust? nope, does it burn and heat good? you bet. Definitely worth getting at that price in my opinion.

 

[BrokenToys]

most of what hurricane irene left knocked over here (east end long island ny) was swamp maple and locusts...the locusts were nice (about 3 cord of black locust!) and the maples i got about 8 cord worth give or take. maple burns okay - i can't complain about the price of it :smile2:
my relative eyed up my black locust pile and i said nooo way ! take some maple

 

[Dalmatian90]

It also splits super easy,

Depends.

And I wonder if different growing conditions contribute to why some folks think it's trash.

I burn about 2/3rds red maple because I have a lot of it. (Silver maple is a closely related species that from what I've read tends to hybridize with red maple a lot..."soft" or "swamp" maple catches both species and their hybrids)

What grows on the top of the hill with "dry feet" is some of the nicest splitting wood, give it the evil eye while holding the Fiskars and it splits in terror.

What grows in the swales and lower parts of my property with "wet feet" is some of the !#@% most curse inducing wood. Can cut it in December and see water squeeze out when I hit the blocks, and it's sort of twisted grain. That's best left to a nice 20º afternoon in February when it got down to 0º the night before...then it splits OK.

For me it's fine firewood as long as it's above 20º, below that is when I like to have Ash & Oak.

 

[Sawmill]

Depends.

And I wonder if different growing conditions contribute to why some folks think it's trash.

I burn about 2/3rds red maple because I have a lot of it. (Silver maple is a closely related species that from what I've read tends to hybridize with red maple a lot..."soft" or "swamp" maple catches both species and their hybrids)

What grows on the top of the hill with "dry feet" is some of the nicest splitting wood, give it the evil eye while holding the Fiskars and it splits in terror.

What grows in the swales and lower parts of my property with "wet feet" is some of the !#@% most curse inducing wood. Can cut it in December and see water squeeze out when I hit the blocks, and it's sort of twisted grain. That's best left to a nice 20º afternoon in February when it got down to 0º the night before...then it splits OK.

For me it's fine firewood as long as it's above 20º, below that is when I like to have Ash & Oak.

I have cut some that maple that grows in the wet areas and it took forever to dry and like you said did not split very good. Did yours dry very good.

 

[branchbuzzer]

Depends.

And I wonder if different growing conditions contribute to why some folks think it's trash.

What grows on the top of the hill with "dry feet" is some of the nicest splitting wood, give it the evil eye while holding the Fiskars and it splits in terror.

+1. The smaller straight ones usually break like glass, the bigger ones ( about 18"+ dbh ) can be a real pain in the adz especially if they've had damage at some point. I try to always cut these 12" or less in length.

I also see alot of smaller reds with grain that spirals around like a DNA molecule, also no fun. No swamps here, they're probably looking for light.

For me it's fine firewood as long as it's above 20º, below that is when I like to have Ash & Oak.

Agreed, perfectly acceptable for the milder days. Also good for helping big over-nighters of denser woods.

 

[Dalmatian90]

. Did yours dry very good.

Seasons fine, but starts to go soft / mushroomy really fast. Probably only want a one season supply unless you can store it well protected from the weather (like indoors).

the bigger ones ( about 18"+ dbh ) can be a real pain in the adz

Yeah, I got a 29"+/- one I'll be blocking up in the next week or two...that one will be heavily noodled