Is this hard maple?

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Stovefan

Stovefan

Member
Jan 7, 2014
12
Northern Virginia
Hello everybody. We are stocking up our wood inventory for the day when we finally have a wood stove. I scrounge almost every week and have about 4.5 cords on hand right now. I try to maximize my picks to high-btu wood because we have about 3700 sq ft to heat. The latest find has the potential for about 1 cord of what I believe to be maple. I cut/split a small sample after work but it's a long haul to get it out so I'd prefer this be hard maple. Can you guys/gals identify this wood? Thanks,
Jeramie

wood.jpg wood1.jpg wood2.jpg wood3.jpg
 
Not like any hard maple I have seen, where in US are you??
 
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It looks like Red Maple to me, but I don't see a lot of Sugar Maple, so it is hard to say. I think Red Maple (Soft Maple) is a pretty nice firewood, worth the effort.
 
Hard maple, also known as Sugar Maple (Aacer sacharum) has very light, almost white, outer wood. The heart wood is dark. I install gym floors and use hard maple exclusively.
 
More inclined to say Norway Maple.
 
Im gonna stick my neck out and say Pignut hickory...or Red hickory. lol.
Hard and heavy....
That bark does not look like ANY maple Ive ever come across.
 
Applesister said:
Im gonna stick my neck out and say Pignut hickory...or Red hickory. lol.
Hard and heavy....
That bark does not look like ANY maple Ive ever come across.
Click to expand...

I was wondering about hickory as well, hardly see any this far north.
 
My opinion is red maple too. Grain (smooth and shiny with no splinters) and bark are more in line with soft maple instead of the hard maple or pignut that I see.
 
Pretty sure that's red maple, I'd take all you can get, its not great but its good firewood.
 
pretty sure its not maple. of any sort. looks like hickory to me. takes a long time to dry, it does get hot though. seems to coal up more than any other species.
 
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I have a lot of sugar maple - doesn't look like that. But no monster trees in the lot.

FWIW I've found that the bark on a lot of trees can be really hard for me to distinguish - even the same species as it ages can throw me for a loop (I have some 'ancient" yellow birch that looks nothing like a 10 or 20 year old version of the same). But a couple small branches / buds / leaves makes it much much easier to nail it. Not sure about where you are, but if you could still get a couple hanger-on leaves off a standing tree,, or look under the snow where there's maybe a thick mat from the fall. Then again, someone here might just nail it based on the splits shown.

Agree with others - it looks nice and clean, easy to split - I'd grab it up regardless. That is, if it's not a back breaker to haul it out.
 
I'd have to get my hands on it and look at it and smell it but some of it looks like Hickory and some pictures look like Maple like these other fellas have said; either way it's damn nice looking firewood!
 
Definitely hickory, Pignut most likely. Was it kind of stringy when it was split ,like elm.?
 
Maple of some kind. I don't see hickory bark there. It looks like good stuff. It's not silver maple. Get as much as you can.
 
bag of hammers said:
I have a lot of sugar maple - doesn't look like that. But no monster trees in the lot.

FWIW I've found that the bark on a lot of trees can be really hard for me to distinguish - even the same species as it ages can throw me for a loop (I have some 'ancient" yellow birch that looks nothing like a 10 or 20 year old version of the same). But a couple small branches / buds / leaves makes it much much easier to nail it. Not sure about where you are, but if you could still get a couple hanger-on leaves off a standing tree,, or look under the snow where there's maybe a thick mat from the fall. Then again, someone here might just nail it based on the splits shown.

Agree with others - it looks nice and clean, easy to split - I'd grab it up regardless. That is, if it's not a back breaker to haul it out.
Click to expand...

I wish there were leaves or small branches around. The wood was dumped into a central location and after years of picking by others it's now comprised of mostly pieces that are really difficult without machinery (3-4' diameter). This wood was laying next to some pine and red oak.
 
Stovefan said:
I'm starting at first light tomorrow to buck and haul. Hope to get a van full before work starts.
Click to expand...
Can you grab some pics of the top branches or scoop up a leaf? If it turns out to be hard maple I need to go bang my head against the wall...;lol
 
Stovefan said:
I wish there were leaves or small branches around. The wood was dumped into a central location and after years of picking by others it's now comprised of mostly pieces that are really difficult without machinery (3-4' diameter). This wood was laying next to some pine and red oak.
Click to expand...
Sorry my last post crossed yours - oh well I rely on the others to nail it down, but really curious. Regardless, nice find....
 
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