Need help identifying, picking up this free wood in two hours.

[Ricky8443]

Its posted on Craigslist. Woman claims its maple. It looks to already be seasoned to me. Any thoughts from anyone? thanks in advance! i'll be checking this frequently before noon today.

 

[bmblank]

Seasoned, not necessarily, but definitely was dead standing.

 

[Jags]

Those big rounds could still be real wet inside.

 

[Ricky8443]

Ok thank you. I'll take a moisture meter to it this week and see where we are. Any thoughts on what kind of maple it is?

 

[Jags]

With no bark and no splits it is kinda hard to tell. I would guess silver maple if you held my feet to the fire. Remember to test the moisture on a newly split face.

 

[gzecc]

Very hard to tell. Could be any hardwood. Probably maple like she said.

 

[Applesister]

Even if its really wet I'd still pick it up. It will dry out.

 

[Ricky8443]

I just picked it up. Wow, what a score. This tree was standing for 4 or5 years dead. Its extremely heavy, dry wood. It sounded like I as loading 30 lb baseball bats into the truck. Hard to tell in the pic, but there as an enormous amount of 8'' wide round cut t length. I scored a heaping pickup truck full for free. She said she was getting a ton of calls, so I got lucky. I'm thinking its a heavy maple or something. This stuff is def ready to burn ttoday. Thank again for the help

 

[BCC_Burner]

I predict it will be much wetter inside than you think. I recently scored some free rounds that had been stored in the basement of an abandoned and subsequently county owned property. Based on the clues around me in the basement, they were cut to length close to 20 years ago, and many of them still read 25+% on the MM when split.

 

[nrford]

It's a maple of some type.

 

[Andy S.]

She said she was getting a ton of calls, so I got lucky.

I was one of the calls. Good score, Rick... I beat you to the next one.

 

[Ricky8443]

haha sorry andy. Actually the enormous rounds are still there but I didnt have room for them (nor did I want add'll splitting work). give her a call and see if they're still there. I must say that I'm amazed at the amount of 'already cut' hardwoods available for free in the Philly area, it seems that everyone heats with gas/oil. I dont think I'll pay for firewood at all. I'll take a pic of the stash and get a moisture reading tonight. I'm fairly confident this stuff is less than 15%, but i'll post tonight or tomorrow for sure. the look feel and sound is actually quite incredible. The color makes it looks moist (being that its a nice golden color), but i think its bc it wasnt exposed to the philadelphian acid rains, it almost feels like ultra kiln dried firewood. I will burn in an outdoor campfire this weekend to test it as well.

 

[Woody Stover]

I'm fairly confident this stuff is less than 15%, but i'll post tonight or tomorrow for sure. the look feel and sound is actually quite incredible. The color makes it looks moist (being that its a nice golden color), but i think its bc it wasnt exposed to the philadelphian acid rains, it almost feels like ultra kiln dried firewood. I will burn in an outdoor campfire this weekend to test it as well.

Sounds like the sound is good, but sometimes if the wood is starting to punk slightly, it can absorb some water so it will be heavy. Of course, hard Maple will be heavier even when dry. You'll know more once you test. I got some White Ash here that was in a wet area and even though it was standing dead for a long time, it was still reading 40% on the meter, higher than a fresh White Ash would. I'm thinking that the fibers kept wicking up moisture because it was in a wet area, but that this moisture will dry quicker than the normal drying process of fresh wood (it was starting to punk slightly, too, so could have absorbed the moisture from the exterior)...we'll see.

 

[Ricky8443]

couple of pics, jury is out, 17% after splitting an 8" piece and vvvery heavy maple. color is amazingly white/gray already compared to my 1 year seasoned stuff. lots of cracks throughout. splitting it sounded like i was splitting a big old baseball bat. what a solid cl score.

 

[Ricky8443]

I took another reading this morning on a different piece just to check, came in around 16%/17% again. Question for anyone our in PA: What is the lowest moisture you've ever had for outdoor wood covered? thx

 

[Osagebndr]

White/ gray . Sounds like hard maple. Good score regardless tho

 

[Applesister]

Someone here mentioned 13% in a thread somewhere.

 

[Andy S.]

I had some Pine that was in the 12-13% range given to me last year. The stuff was split huge and I had to split it several times to get it to a usable split size. I kept checking as I split and it really was that low. I still have some for this fall. I don't think it can go much lower.

 

[Ricky8443]

Wow, pine in 12% range. How'd that burn for you?

 

[Woody Stover]

Someone here mentioned 13% in a thread somewhere.

That sounds about right for most in the central states (i.e. not the desert.) Anything around 16% is going to burn just great, though. There is also a meter correction factor for some species. May be a couple percent or so...

 

[Andy S.]

How'd that burn for you?

Very fast. It is extremely light. I plan to use it for cold starts and as necessary to burn down coal beds since it doesn't coal. With my tiny firebox I need as much room as possible.