Sugar Maple Boards and Sap Question?

[jimdeq]

Hi all, I want to cut down about a dozen sugar maple trees for sawing into boards ,but I dont know if it's too late in the season. The neighbors are already tapping for maple syrup. We have a 4 day cold snap coming this week and if the temperature is in the teens at night and a high of 25 to 30 during the day will the sap retreat for the roots making the wood able to be cut and sawd without staining the lumber? I need some imput?

 

[remkel]

Being a maple producer, I can tell you that we are looking for the cold nights and high 30's to mid 40's for the good runs.

I cut a few maples this past weekend and the sap was pissing out of the wood (temps in low 40's). Was kind of a bittersweet moment. If you have not had any relatively warm days yet, you may be all right. If the sap has had a chance to run (the cycle I mentioned above) i would suggest you may be too late.

Good luck.

 

[jimdeq]

Does it ruin the wood if the sap is already running?

 

[nrford]

Sawmills saw maple year around. It will just have to be stickered and dried quicker. Mills ship their lumber to the kilns within 24 hours of sawing. Even lumber sawn in the winter has the potential to stain if not dried properly. Just get it stickered with nice dry sticks and stored somewhere where it can get lots of airflow and you should be okay, or get it to a kiln if you have access.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I agree. When I sawed lumber and logged, it made no difference the time of year. Cut them whenever you need them.

 

[RAY_PA]

How bout for fire wood? I cut down 2 this weekend for a friend. I cut them down, he cleans up the mess and gives me the wood. I was shocked by the amount of sap in the trees, it was litterally flying off the chain like water. My first thought was holy moly how long will it take this stuff to season??

 

[nrford]

C/S/S and you should still be able to burn this fall if you can get lots of air to it. Yes the old sap really pours out of wood this time of year. It was always kind of neat to watch the saw push it out of the logs as they where sawn into lumber!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Actually, with the sap flying like that it is to your benefit. That simply means there is now less moisture in the wood. Keep cutting. I've cut maples in late February and the whole stump ends up wet all the way around because of so much sap running. Fear not, it seasons maybe even faster.

 

[RAY_PA]

it will go in the stacks for 13/14 heating season anyway, so I should be good to go then. thank you.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Happy to be of service Ray.

 

[jimdeq]

My only concern is trying to sell rough cut boards that will stain. Just want to be fair to everyone.

 

[peakbagger]

A good site to check is woodweb.com there is a forum for just about anything to do with wood and I remember reading that there are certain times of the year where maple should not be cut due to the potential for staining. I also no of someon who had a very expensive cord of maple as him and his brother were buying curly maple logs for music instruments at a very high price and one load was cut at the worong time of the year and the boards stained. I expect once its cooked in the kiln, that stops the staining but am not sure on the mechanism.

 

[smokinj]

My only concern is trying to sell rough cut boards that will stain. Just want to be fair to everyone.

He is the big rub, what kinda of boads you going for? Better not be anything you can buy at the wally-worlds!

 

[nrford]

A good site to check is woodweb.com there is a forum for just about anything to do with wood and I remember reading that there are certain times of the year where maple should not be cut due to the potential for staining. I also no of someon who had a very expensive cord of maple as him and his brother were buying curly maple logs for music instruments at a very high price and one load was cut at the worong time of the year and the boards stained. I expect once its cooked in the kiln, that stops the staining but am not sure on the mechanism.

Stain is fungal decay. The higher the sugar content the faster the fungas spreads. If the wood is cared for properly it will not stain no matter what time of year! I had sawmill in northern Michigan (home of the worlds finest Hard Maple) I sawed Maple year around for 20 years, and sold to very satisfied customers all year long.4 Million bd. ft. a year!

 

[peakbagger]

Here is a link to one of the articles on woodweb about staining. Abotu half way down is a description of sap stain

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Causes_and_Cures_for_Stains_In_Dried_Lumber.html