silver maple question

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turn_n_burn

turn_n_burn

Burning Hunk
Aug 14, 2015
174
Idaho
I recently scored a pickup load of silver maple that was dropped to make room for a parking lot. I wanted to compare it with the other wood currently in my pile (a mix of western larch/tamarack, ponderosa pine, cherry and tulip poplar. I split it up into smallish splits, about 4 inches per side, and speed dried some of it next to my firepit over a couple of days. I used similar sized splits of each of the other woods I have, and built several fires with the same load size, and I found that the silver maple keeps the coals longer than even the cherry and tamarack. The thing I don't understand is WHY it did this. The BTU ratings I've seen in several websites put it lower than the tamarack and cherry, and only slightly better than the pine. What characteristic of the wood causes this to be the case, as far as burning time and coaling time are concerned?
 
As far as I'm concerned, soft maple and cherry are extremely comparable. Your other species I don't have any first hand experience with. Is there any chance that you have sugar maple and not soft?
 
I know for sure it's silver. I ID'd the leaves, plus the arborist that took it down told me flat out it was silver.
 
The coaling may be due to the fact that it was wet. I generally like maple, its clean and burns well. Hard is better but soft varieties ain't bad.
 
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I burn a lot of Silver Maple, just 'cause I've got so much. I'd agree that your's is not as dry as it should be. Coaling IMHO is usually caused by wood that should be drier. Silver is OK but I prefer Black Cherry, comparing the two.
 
I'm burning silver maple now that is super dry, 10-12% MC. I bought the Condar stove top thermometer jatoxico recommended, even with only 3 or 4 average splits and the air chocked down all the way, I'm still getting temp readings 700 deg + for 30 minutes or so, kinda makes me nervous, thinking I have an air leak somewhere, but.....the flames are low and the secondary's are going. With my silver maple I find myself raking coals (hot coals) and reloading every 2 hours, hence the low BTU rating - oak or hickory would last 2 or 3 times longer I'm sure.
 
The answer is in your question.....
Although silver maple dries out quickly, it doesn't dry out as fast as your using it,
I am currently burning silver maple that was split exactly 1 year ago and it is fantastic for not being extremely cold out.
It sat in the snow uncovered all last year, it had a full summer of drying and it s ready. Your batch that you are using is Not Ready, sit on it longer, use it next year, you will be much happier......
 
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TedyOH said:
I'm burning silver maple now that is super dry, 10-12% MC. I bought the Condar stove top thermometer jatoxico recommended, even with only 3 or 4 average splits and the air chocked down all the way, I'm still getting temp readings 700 deg + for 30 minutes or so, kinda makes me nervous, thinking I have an air leak somewhere, but.....the flames are low and the secondary's are going. With my silver maple I find myself raking coals (hot coals) and reloading every 2 hours, hence the low BTU rating - oak or hickory would last 2 or 3 times longer I'm sure.
Click to expand...

I get this sometimes and maybe a door gasket check/tightening is in order but you will most likely get better at controlling the fire as you get used to it. One thing that helps is to not load on too big a coal bed. Burn coals down with a couple small kindling splits. You will get good heat for a short time. After reducing pull the remaining coals forward so the entire load is not in contact with hot coals since that tends to set the whole load off at once.

Also a warm/hot stove will tolerate earlier (cooler stove top) and more extensive shutting down air wise than you can get away with on a cold start. This tends to reduce the max temp you hit and extends the burn.
 
jatoxico said:
I get this sometimes and maybe a door gasket check/tightening is in order but you will most likely get better at controlling the fire as you get used to it. One thing that helps is to not load on too big a coal bed. Burn coals down with a couple small kindling splits. You will get good heat for a short time. After reducing pull the remaining coals forward so the entire load is not in contact with hot coals since that tends to set the whole load off at once.

Also a warm/hot stove will tolerate earlier (cooler stove top) and more extensive shutting down air wise than you can get away with on a cold start. This tends to reduce the max temp you hit and extends the burn.
Click to expand...

Yes I probably am reloading on too hot of a coal bed, still thinking like I have an open fireplace I suppose. I will try shutting the air down sooner as well, the directions say to "char the wood on all sides" before shutting down the air on reloads but it's probably not necessary with this wood being so dry.
 
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TedyOH said:
Yes I probably am reloading on too hot of a coal bed, still thinking like I have an open fireplace I suppose. I will try shutting the air down sooner as well, the directions say to "char the wood on all sides" before shutting down the air on reloads but it's probably not necessary with this wood being so dry.
Click to expand...

Yes especially true with very dry wood. I find my secondaries light off at a lower stove top temp than they would when starting cold. The interior brick etc is plenty hot I guess. I often can start a fresh reload with air already shut down to 3/4 or 1/2 open (sometimes even more) because the flue is warm, the draft is established and it's pulling in air well. Once I'm getting secondaries then I start modulating air more.

If I just simply leave air fully open until the load is fully charred before shutting down I will most likely hit a higher max temp than I want. Waiting for a full char before fully shutting down for an overnight though makes sense so you don't foul the system. I rarely shut down tight anyway.
 
DougA said:
I burn a lot of Silver Maple, just 'cause I've got so much. I'd agree that your's is not as dry as it should be. Coaling IMHO is usually caused by wood that should be drier. Silver is OK but I prefer Black Cherry, comparing the two.
Click to expand...

But it was ( Speed Dried ) for 2 days;lol
 
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