ID and moisture opinion?

[Andy S.]

Sorry for the lousy pic but I'm posting it in case it helps. The bark at the base of the trunk looks rough like Oak but the higher up you get it is smooth... almost like two different trees. The inside is very light-colored. I'm thinking White Oak but really don't know. This tree was blown down two years ago in the woods behind us. I have access to a bunch of it. I checked moisture various times during the weekend (the pile got a lot bigger). Does it make sense that not a single split measured higher than 25% and some were as low as 20%?

 

[Jon1270]

Not oak. Looks like silver maple to me. Silver maple does dry very quickly.

 

[gzecc]

picture is too washed out for me to see. Test your meter on the palm of your hand. Should be 33-34% on normal hands.

 

[paul bunion]

Soft maple

 

[TreePointer]

+1

Probably a soft maple.

 

[nrford]

+4 Soft Maple

 

[Andy S.]

Thanks everyone. Soft Maple it is...leave it to me to have unlimited supply of one of the lowest BTU trees in the woods.

 

[Rickb]

I love soft maple! Great for those of us with out the room to do 3 year plans.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Thanks everyone. Soft Maple it is...leave it to me to have unlimited supply of one of the lowest BTU trees in the woods.

That's ok. Dry it out and burn it.

 

[TimJ]

dry lower BTU wood burns twice as hot as higher BTU higher moisture wood

 

[Andy S.]

dry lower BTU wood burns twice as hot as higher BTU higher moisture wood

On its face that would seem like good news for me. Although my wife will occasionally feed it during the day my insert is a nights and weekends supplemental heat source for us. It is started cold just about every day and usually run it wide open trying to get heat as quickly as possible.

I love soft maple! Great for those of us with out the room to do 3 year plans.

Great point. I'm already getting complaints for stacking along our decorative fence.

 

[Jon1270]

Great for those of us with out the room to do 3 year plans

Yep, if silver maple is good to go in one year and red oak takes three, then (according to my calculations, taking the different BTU values into account) it requires about 2.38 times as much drying/storage space to burn the oak as it does the silver maple, to get the same amount of heat. The tradeoff is in time and labor, since oak means fewer pieces of wood to handle, and less-frequent reloading of the stove. In my situation (small suburban lot) a mix of both makes a lot of sense.

 

[Andy S.]

I decided to re-split and burn some of the soft maple. Each check is in the low 19's with my MM and the stuff sizzles like bacon and takes a long time to get going. It is throwing a major crimp in my 1st year marginal wood strategy. Anyone else have this experience with soft Maple? Is there a burning strategy to make the best use of it if you need it? (Edit - MM reading on my palm is 34.1 and readings are being taken on a fresh face with the grain)

 

[Wood Duck]

I think although the soft maple you have is dry on the inside, there is some surface or near-surface moisture that need to dry up. Stack it a while and see if it improves. Soft maple is a pretty decent firewood in my experience. It has a good mix of quick starting and long burning.

 

[tsquini]

+1 on maple. The bright white color is all I need to see.