Nice maple tree - too nice to use for firewood?

[cbrodsky]

I had a mid-sized maple in the woods topple some time ago and it was leaning on a couple more trees. Figured it was time to drop it and get some firewood out of it.

Once I got it on the ground though and cut a couple pieces off at the stump end, I started questioning whether this was too nice a straight piece of quality wood to cut up for firewood. It's about 14-16" in diameter towards the end of the trunk in the picture and really straight for 12 feet at least. Some potentially interesting grain in the heartwood too.

My wife thinks it's a red maple based on her tree id book. Would you just cut this up or does it have any value to be made into boards? What do others do if you have a nice tree down that seems too good for common firewood, and at what point does it start to have value commercially? I have heard maple is one of the few still worth something in this area as IKEA apparently buys a ton of it.

Alternatively, I've been debating getting a chainsaw mill to play with one of these days and maybe this will be a good tree to save for that purpose.

-Colin

 

[JohnnyBravo]

its a shame to burn it. however it is a lot of work to mill it. one tree that small is not worth the drive to the mill. im not so sure that ikea is buying lumber. it was my understanding that they owned all their forest, mills and transport. they sustainably harvest their forests. they use all their scraps making little picture frames and fingerjointed crap, they make thier own partical board out of the dust. thats why they can sell their stuff so cheap. they run a tight ship. to bad the same can't be said for many other companies. either way nice tree.

 

[OldHickory]

I'm told that around my local area mills won't take any trees from a private landowner because of the risk of equipment damage resulting from unsuspected debris in the trees (ie. nails, fence posts/rails, ?bullets?, clothes-lines, etc).
When I'm splitting up good lumber I'm thinking the same as you though. It is a shame such a beautiful tree couldn't be used for an ornate purpose instead of just burning it up.

If your primary concern is not money, maybe you could seek out some artisans such as wood carvers, custom cabinet/furniture makers, etc. They might only need a piece as big as what you've got. After a few quick phones calls you might have someone out hustling out to your place to snatch it up.

 

[laynes69]

I have debated the same thing time and time again. The way I see it is how much I save by burning wood. Plus good straight wood splits nicely. Firewood is worth alot to me when I save 300+ a month burning wood.

 

[rhetoric]

Allow me to introduce you to "tonewood." The wood of choice for the sides and backs of violins, guitars, mandolins, etc. is maple. Strong, beautiful and resonant. It can be worth an absolute fortune and if it is, nobody will care if it was in your woodlot, your backyard, or on the town square. A screwed up blade is peanuts compared to the value of the right tree.

But it's got to be the right kind of maple and believe it or not, a nice beautiful straight grain maple is not likely to draw much interest. I'm guessing your tree falls into this category.

Big leaf, or hard rock, or sugar maple are favorites, but the more figure the wood grain has, the more it's worth. Determining the figure of maple is difficult for the untrained eye (like mine).

If you think you might have one of the woods listed below, you might want to ask. I know a guy in Washington State who was ready to fly to Ohio to comb through a tree service pile of cut up maple because he saw the STUMP (and from that could identify the grade) of a maple that had been cut down in some backwater Ohio town. He said, "Shame to see a $10,000 tree trunk turned into mulch chips."

Below is a something lifted from a random website...

Maple Grades
Grading Criteria: structure, tone and cosmetics
Flamed Maple: (acer macrophyllum) very popular among arched instruments makers, you cannot beat the intensity of the Bigleaf Maple flaming.
Quilted Maple: (acer macrophyllum) very popular with electric guitar builders, becoming very rare.
Spalted Maple: (acer macrophyllum) becoming very popular with electric guitar builders, it looks amazing when finished, some spalt has flaming and quilting in it also.
Birdseye Maple: (acer saccharum) AKA Sugar Maple and Hard Maple, Bird's Eye Maple has often been described as a Miracle of Nature due to its beauty. Only a few Maple trees produce this beautifully patterned grain and it is very difficult to find.

Master: Exhibition Grade, quarter sawn, full intense coverage of figure, excellent tap tone.
AAA: Professional Grade, quarter sawn, full coverage of figure, excellent tap tone.
AA: Volume Grade, quarter sawn, full coverage of light figure, good tap tone.

 

[BrotherBart]

My neighbor had a red maple down in their yard a few weeks ago. Nice looking wood. I finished stacking the splits an hour or so ago.

 

[evan]

I'm new to the wood stove scene. I have had a strange reaction to the New England affinity to burn hardwood (we recently relocated from CA where hardwoods are consider gold). We had a tree service company come out to quote clearing some of our property. They want to buy from us a portion of an oak tree. The guy said it is a shame to see it go for firewood if it is good for furniture. After thinking about it I think we are going to keep it for firewood. If I knew the wood would be milled into quarter sawn wood and used for nice furniture then that is one thing. But today most hardwoods are "shaved" for laminates. As such, I have no guilt burning the wood since I'd rather not contribute to the fake wood world....at least that is how I'm justifying burning furniture grade wood.

Evan

 

[DiscoInferno]

It probably doesn't have great value unless it's curly or birds-eye sugar maple. I unfortunately turned one or two curly maple logs into firewood, they were in a stack of 8' logs left over from clearing our land. I didn't realize it was curly until I started splitting it. Neighbor wandered over and helpfully :blank: pointed it out to me. Seems he had just sold some for decent $$.

 

[Lignums]

That really looks like easy splitting wood to me. A few beers and a friend and an easy afternoon. I once felled 2 black cherry trees about 18'' in diameter and thought the same thing. Made a few calls and found it would cost way to much money or the hassle wasn't worth it. I still made a few hundred dollars when I sold the firewood so there might be a light at the end...that is if you are interested in money, or easy splitting firewood.

 

[cbrodsky]

I did some more digging around the internet and it seems like red maple isn't particularly sought after or valuable so I won't feel too guilty if I chop it up. And we have tons more just like this around it - they seem to like wet areas like where this one was.

I may still take a stab at making some boards out of the bottom 8-12 feet - for now, I think I'll try to pry it up off the ground a few inches while I think about it!

I know the last owner had a deal for about 50 trees over 19 acres to be taken but I never heard the details of how it was going to be done and what he was planning to get for it. We stopped the logging as a condition to close on the land. I think back in 2001, there was a lot of local interest in oak which we also have a lot of in very large older growth. Now I hear there's not much interest in oak.

Thanks for the advice,

Colin

 

[Backwoods Savage]

You are correct about the red maple. Not much commercial value but it makes good firewood and is certainly not in the same category of oak. Still, we cut about 25 cords of it last winter. We also still have a bunch that have been felled but not cut up. I'll work some on that this winter but probably spend more time on the wite ash. Think I can sell most of the maple and that is good!

I do remember one time many moons ago (in the 50's) when we sold one hard maple log for $500.00! Back then that was super big money.

 

[jpl1nh]

I agree that what you have is red maple, often found in moister areas. I love the grain of all the maples, they are really pretty wood but red is no where near as dense as sugar maple and far less valuable. I too have lots of red maple which I use for firewood all the time. Splits really easy, drys relatively quickly, burns nice though not in the same class as oak, hickory, sugar maple etc. For ordinary wood heat needs works great and save the oaks, etc for coldest weather and long burns.

 

[lvfd50]

I started to think about how it is a shame that I was cutting up lots of black walnut last year, but the thoughts went away when I saw the big pile of firewood I got from it and then the thought went even further out of my mind when I started burning it and keeping my house warm. It all depends on what your need is. I needed heat for the house.
Just my thoughts.

 

[Rhone]

And we have tons more just like this around it - they seem to like wet areas like where this one was.

Hence its nickname, swamp maple. Dries, rots, & burns fast.

 

[cbrodsky]

And we have tons more just like this around it - they seem to like wet areas like where this one was.

Hence its nickname, swamp maple. Dries, rots, & burns fast.

Yea, now I've realized it's not even a true hardwood in terms of BTUs... I thought all maples were pretty good until checking online.

Looks like it's still a bit better than poplar - which I didn't like very much - but not as good as my usual ash/hickory/locust/birch that I've been burning.

-Colin

 

[mayhem]

When we bought our lot to build our log cabin on we opted to meet wit the local lumberyard first to see if we could recover any money from the felling of trees to make our yard. As it turns out, some yards will buy trees from subs who actualyl do the cutting and hauling for them. The couple of subs I spoke with and walked the lot with said they wouldn't bother with anything less than a full tree hauler truckload of straight, thick wood. We did have enough on our lot to do about a truckload, but in order to get to it they would have basically laid waste to the rest of the lot so we opted out.

Can't hurt to check into the musical instrument supply idea. Need to that myself since my lot is covered with maple (of unknonw varieties), beech, elm, black walnut, silver and white birch and some other stuff that mgiht be interesting as somehting other than firewood and shade. Hey rhetoric, do you have any links on where to learn more?