fastest drying wood, OR wood with lowest moisture content...

[Ashful]

The OP lives in Kansas, and most sites I check show the silver maple and red maple as not typically growing in Kansas. Have you seen any silver maple in your neck of the woods, Donnie?

 

[Big Donnie Brasco]

you guys are WAY better than the "googles" !!

 

[Big Donnie Brasco]

The OP lives in Kansas, and most sites I check show the silver maple and red maple as not typically growing in Kansas. Have you seen any silver maple in your neck of the woods, Donnie?

I'm not sure I would know a Silver Maple from a rose bush!!

I am having a HELL of a time with tree id !!

 

[thewoodlands]

I'm not sure I would know a Silver Maple from a rose bush!!

I am having a HELL of a time with tree id !!

http://www.maple-trees.com/pages/maple-tree-identification.php

Keep it in your favs.

 

[Jon1270]

I am having a HELL of a time with tree id !!

Don't feel bad, there are hundreds of species and each one has a lot of characteristics in common with other species. To make matters worse, trees can look very different depending on where they grow and how old they are. In winter, you don't have leaves to work with. If wood is standing dead, you may not have bark to look at. If you haven't cut it yet then you can't smell it, don't know what color the wood is or how hard it is. You'll soon be familiar with the most common species in your area, and then you'll start learning more about the oddballs.

 

[Big Donnie Brasco]

Just found out that I have Silver Maple ALL OVER my town Every year we have the "Maple Leaf Festival" DUH

 

[WeldrDave]

Just found out that I have Silver Maple ALL OVER my town​

Donnie, get as much as you can, "when" you can I burn the S#IT out of the stuff, maple trees here are plentyfull, I guess they like the soil ? I have about 6+- cord sitting now. I got some right before Christmas and it'll be ready for this burning season, "just barley". Again, as everyone else has said, get it, stack it loosely, in a windy and sunny spot and you "should" have some decent burning wood for the winter.

"as mom says" snooze you loose...... getr done.

 

[BobUrban]

BDB - even a bike racer will be dehydrated enough to burn this fall if that darn Dennis would quit taking them to the hospital and getting an IV in em'

A bit of a pain but we all had to start somewhere - if you are cutting a lot of standing dead and you have a CSS system(we all do - just like opinions) incorporate into that system a bit of separation of tops and lowers. You can feel the wood that is getting dryer and it does not have to be perfect but if you stack these separately you at least know the driest stuff to start with and if you run out of that the other will have had more time, obviously. After your first year I have an idea that you will be so far ahead you can stack your wood in buckets of water - you are really into this and I say that in such a good way. Seems to be the way around here

The first year is usually the toughest but that dead ash will burn and heat and you will be happy. Then in your second year with 2yr wood you will wonder how you even got it lit.

 

[blwncrewchief]

I agree with many here mostly. Dead standing would be my first choice, although a MM is required for this most of the time since you may very well find that part of the tree is very dry and part of it is sopping wet. One big disagreement I have is the BL. If green mine does not dry in one season. I have two cords c/s/s last march/april that checked last week are still 28-34% stacked single rows. It would be iffy this winter at 18 months. Now some BL if dead/dying is much dryer but real live cut BL I never see dry enough in one year.

Live cut in my experience would be silver maple by far if you need wood quickly. Although I will never recommend this another plus for soft maple is it burns so quick and well that a little extra moisture does not hurt it near as much as allot of the slower burning woods. Ash is good also if it is dead/dying. Live and healthy I find needs 2 years because at one year it will still be about 25%. Also many of the pines do as well as silver maple. If you are pushing the drying time get the MM and keep the wood together and do not mix it. I recommend not to mix it as we see many digging back through their stacks to separate it when they find some of it is fine to burn and some is still way too wet. Obviously once you get to 3 years this does not matter near as much.

 

[chvymn99]

The OP lives in Kansas, and most sites I check show the silver maple and red maple as not typically growing in Kansas. Have you seen any silver maple in your neck of the woods, Donnie?

Just found out that I have Silver Maple ALL OVER my town Every year we have the "Maple Leaf Festival" DUH

Yes, Kansas has naturally growing Silver Maple, plus a lot of them are yard trees. Here in the KC area, any time a storm blows through, usually these soft maples are the first to lose their limbs. The one identification, that I associate, with silver maple (especially mature ones) is that there bark will sliver or start to detach itself from the skin.

Good Luck.

 

[Woody Stover]

is it a 9 volt Woody?

Yep, 9V battery. I think I have a NiCad charger around here somewhere that will take 9V, may try that....

 

[Big Donnie Brasco]

I am such a dumb@$$ ... I actually have TWO Silver maples in my yard, and there are THOUSANDS in my little town!! DOH !!

 

[Sprinter]

http://www.maple-trees.com/pages/maple-tree-identification.php

Keep it in your favs.

Thanks for this link. I've got about a half a cord of what I think is big leaf maple that has been stacked for a year and it's still at 35%. Worse than oak. I guess all the maples are different.

FWIW, around here, alder and Douglas fir are the best for seasoning. Probably none of that in Kansas, though. Cottonwood (poplar) is sub-par wood, but if it's the only dry wood you have, it would probably work for the first year.

I got this MM through Amazon last year and have used it extensively. http://www.amazon.com/DUSIEC-Handhe...qid=1370152808&sr=8-4&keywords=moisture+meter
About $15 shipped. Still on the first battery

 

[maple1]

I'm way behind in my wood supply due to unforeseen circumstances of this past spring.

I've spent a few sessions over the past 2 weeks cutting white birch from around some of our fields - it grows like weeds. This is young smaller stuff, maybe 6" at the butt. Easy to get to & should dry fast. Have a couple cords so far. After that I'll go scrounging some windfalls - there's a mountain of spruce blowdowns down over a hill I should be able to get out with an ATV, for one thing.

It'll be a trade off - whatever dries faster will have less heat in it when it is dry, so you'll need more of it. That's pretty well universal. Better bet would be to find some standing dead or windfalls you can get to. Windfalls are nice because they're already down so you don't have to worry as much about a dead limb falling on you.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I'm way behind in my wood supply due to unforeseen circumstances of this past spring.

I've spent a few sessions over the past 2 weeks cutting white birch from around some of our fields - it grows like weeds. This is young smaller stuff, maybe 6" at the butt. Easy to get to & should dry fast. Have a couple cords so far. After that I'll go scrounging some windfalls - there's a mountain of spruce blowdowns down over a hill I should be able to get out with an ATV, for one thing.

It'll be a trade off - whatever dries faster will have less heat in it when it is dry, so you'll need more of it. That's pretty well universal. Better bet would be to find some standing dead or windfalls you can get to. Windfalls are nice because they're already down so you don't have to worry as much about a dead limb falling on you.

Good to get that birch but know that you have to get some bark off even if it is only 6" at the butt; split it. Otherwise, just like that bark used to stop water from coming into canoes, it will also keep the water inside the wood. This is why you need to always split birch and do it soon after cutting. Another thing some have done is to take the saw and score the wood in a couple places but this can be a dangerous act!! Beware.

 

[brian89gp]

Silver maple.

In these parts they are a dime a dozen, probably the most popular yard tree planed for any house built from 1940-1980 or so. Hardly ever find them in the wild.