Sugar or silver

[mitchell721]

Got a little over a cord for the price of cutting it from a family member it's obviously maple but is it sugar or silver?

 

[Lcback]

I haven't come across sugar yet. But it certainly looks like the silver I am used too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mitchell721]

That's what I was thinking but I never have been able to really tell


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

Agree. It is silver maple. I spent the past three days clearing a hillside of them. They grow like weeds in Central VA, along with locust. I enjoy burning silver maple and it seasons very quickly. Not quite as fast as tulip poplar but way quicker than most other hard woods. Splitting can be a bear though as it usually has lots of cross grain and crooks.

 

[CincyBurner]

It's silver. Plus bark and wood consistent for silver.
Look at the sinus of the leaf: "U" for sugar.

 

[mitchell721]

Thank you guys


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lcback]

Agree. It is silver maple. I spent the past three days clearing a hillside of them. They grow like weeds in Central VA, along with locust. I enjoy burning silver maple and it seasons very quickly. Not quite as fast as tulip poplar but way quicker than most other hard woods. Splitting can be a bear though as it usually has lots of cross grain and crooks.

What is your experience with burning it? This is my first year burning any. It definitely seasoned fast. Hoping it's a little better burning then poplar


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jay106n]

Silver. The deep finger cuts.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

I'm going to have to be the black sheep. I say its in the red maple variety, Better than silver but not as good as sugar. Our silver maples have much deeper ridges almost like 3 pointy fingers. Those leaves are to fat for silver.

 

[tigeroak]

What is your experience with burning it? This is my first year burning any. It definitely seasoned fast. Hoping it's a little better burning then poplar


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I burn a lot of it and we burn it all year long and it will keep my house in the 80'S on days around 0. We burn all our hard wood mostly at night and on days less than 0. We love it as it seasons fast , splits easy and burns perfect after 2 years in the rack.

 

[mitchell721]

Well if it's silver have you had any issues with it holding up longer than say 3 yrs or so? I still got three more trees to cut down lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tigeroak]

We keep ours in racks ,2 of them - 4 wide x 6tall x16Long with metal tops. I keep it off the ground and dry it should last a long time.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

It's silver. Silver can have deep margins or slightly more shallow, as in those pics. Reds have much broader spreads and shallower margins. You can always tell a sugar or hard maple because the margins are completely smooth and not jagged. Sometimes reds and maples can be hard to sort out, but if you take a small new growth twig and break it, red will have very little odor, while silver will have a very noticeable foul odor. Without leaves it gets very difficult.

silvers

reds

sugar or hard maples (note the lack of serration/jagged edges in the margins)

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

keep it off the ground and dry it should last a long time

X2

 

[fireview2788]

Silver is fine for shoulder season but I've found it doesn't last long enough to keep the heat when the temps dump off. I'm burning it right now and it gets the stove to around 300F on three or four splits but it burns quickly. The other night I tossed in a small piece of hedge and a piece of ash and the house was still at 74F when I got up. I'm splitting some now that's been down for a year and I could burn it if needed.

Long story short: seasons very quickly, burns very well, doesn't burn very long.

\fv

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

What is your experience with burning it? This is my first year burning any. It definitely seasoned fast. Hoping it's a little better burning then poplar


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Burns longer than poplar but not as long as oak. It is classified as a hardwood and burns as such. Like poplar and pine though, it burns noticeably better in the fifteen percent moisture range than it does at twenty percent. Let it dry really well.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

What is your experience with burning it? This is my first year burning any. It definitely seasoned fast. Hoping it's a little better burning then poplar

Silver does fine after a year or so in the stacks. I have some 2 year stuff waiting for Nov. Your statement on poplar doesn't put my mind at ease. Crazy, but in all the years I have been burning I've never burned any poplar. Avoided it due to the rep. But had to take several down on my prop last year and threw em in the stacks and they will be the first wood I burn this year. I have some other stuff to mix in, but hoping I didn't make a mistake adding a full cord of it to the "ready to burn" wood shed. The wood is dry though at <18%.

 

[fireview2788]

I put poplar in the same realm as silver maple.

fv

 

[ohlongarm]

I put poplar in the same realm as silver maple.

fv

You'll know when you cut it whether or not it's sugar or silver.This hard maple is just that very hard.

 

[mitchell721]

You'll know when you cut it whether or not it's sugar or silver.This hard maple is just that very hard.View attachment 186794

Does it cut simular to say ash? I didn't think it looked quite hard but maple seems to be a weird tree that kind of rots inside out so I wasn't sure. First time taking it for firewood


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mitchell721]

I'll tell you what I'll trade you logs (you deliver obviously) so I can see it. Lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

Does it cut simular to say ash?

Silver and red cut noticeable easier than ash, but hard maple is more noticeably difficult than ash. More like oak. I speak only of solid trees. Variables like rot completely change cutting regardless of the tree.

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

Silver does fine after a year or so in the stacks. I have some 2 year stuff waiting for Nov. Your statement on poplar doesn't put my mind at ease. Crazy, but in all the years I have been burning I've never burned any poplar. Avoided it due to the rep. But had to take several down on my prop last year and threw em in the stacks and they will be the first wood I burn this year. I have some other stuff to mix in, but hoping I didn't make a mistake adding a full cord of it to the "ready to burn" wood shed. The wood is dry though at <18%.

You didn't make a mistake. The poplar will ignite easily and burn hot. You will just have to load the stove more often. It is plentiful around here so we burn it often in the shoulder seasons.

 

[ohlongarm]

Does it cut simular to say ash? I didn't think it looked quite hard but maple seems to be a weird tree that kind of rots inside out so I wasn't sure. First time taking it for firewood


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ash in my opinion cuts very easy. Hard maple not so at least similar to hickory,it will give a saw a workout. Silver,red,maple cuts like butter.

 

[Woody Stover]

Your statement on poplar doesn't put my mind at ease. Crazy, but in all the years I have been burning I've never burned any poplar. Avoided it due to the rep. But had to take several down on my prop last year and threw em in the stacks and they will be the first wood I burn this year. I have some other stuff to mix in, but hoping I didn't make a mistake adding a full cord of it to the "ready to burn" wood shed.

I put poplar in the same realm as silver maple.

My experience is that Tulip is a notch below soft Maple, Red particularly. As long as that cord of it isn't in the way of your getting to 'good' wood, no problem.