I almost spit coffee out my nose! $6,500?!?!?!?

[fireview2788]

(broken link removed to http://dayton.craigslist.org/mat/4438507098.html)

 

[Razo]

Some people just need to be slapped.

 

[BrotherBart]

Heck, he can try.

 

[gerry100]

Who knows? Maybe "tiger" maple is valuable in certain furniture or decorative apps. On reality TV, there are people who get big money for logs pulled out of swamps.

We're just a bunch of firewood hounds who look at a piece of wood and think about how we can get it through the stove door. Who hasn't looked at a piece of furniture with burning lust?

 

[Richie]

It is really valuable to electric guitar makers like Gibson and paul reed smith to name a few. He should check with companies like those.

 

[Jon1270]

Tiger maple is valuable, but the only indicator of curly grain in any of those pics is the bit where he knocked off some bark on the bottom of a large branch where it joins the trunk, i.e. a place where a small area of curl is extremely common and not large enough be useful or highly valuable. Even if the whole tree was somehow curly (which I would bet quite a lot it isn't), it wouldn't be worth anywhere near what he's asking. Dollars to donuts he's got an average everyday firewood tree, not salable for lumber at any price.

 

[paul bunion]

I guess his tree service didn't want to do the job for free just for the wood. Judging by the bark it has a twisted 'corkscrew' grain typical of yard maples. Turning that into firewood is going to be somewhat less than fun.

 

[Jon1270]

Turning that into firewood is going to be somewhat less than fun.

Now you're getting picky.

 

[lindnova]

Looks like common silver maple to me. Ok for firewood, shade or making syrup when alive, but not much else. Tiger maple comes from red maple trees.

 

[smokedragon]

Turning that into firewood is going to be somewhat less than fun.

Agree 100% PB.........no fun to hand split the twisty stuff.

 

[yooperdave]

Is it me or am I the only one that thinks it isn't anywhere near 100' tall?

 

[Ncountry]

Looks like common silver maple to me. Ok for firewood, shade or making syrup when alive, but not much else. Tiger maple comes from red maple trees.

Even as someone who worked as a logger and sold firewood for years,I learned 2 things here. Difference between silver and red maple. To me it was all soft maple. Made ok firewood and the sawmills called it soft maple too. Personally, I have seen more tiger maple boards come from hard maple trees.. After looking it up it does appear to me more common in red maples though.

 

[Ralphie Boy]

 

[tsquini]

Something tells me it cost him around $6500 to take it down.

 

[Osagebndr]

If that is tiger maple(?) it's denser than hedge apple. May burn better too. Why pay to clean up someone else's mess tho

 

[Ashful]

Tiger maple is valuable, but the only indicator of curly grain in any of those pics is the bit where he knocked off some bark on the bottom of a large branch where it joins the trunk, i.e. a place where a small area of curl is extremely common and not large enough be useful or highly valuable. Even if the whole tree was somehow curly (which I would bet quite a lot it isn't), it wouldn't be worth anywhere near what he's asking. Dollars to donuts he's got an average everyday firewood tree, not salable for lumber at any price.

+1. Unfortunately, even wood graders have a tough time picking out tiger maple from log form. The figuring he's seeing in the end grain is NOT an indicator of tiger maple.

 

[nrford]

He is Higher than a Kite! If you can knock off the bark finding Curly is not difficult. I can also tell you that curly Soft Maple is not rare! This one is Wormy so the lumber would be valuable to only a few select folks but is worth nowhere near his price. Tiger Maple can be either Soft or Hard Maple. It is more common in Soft Maple however.

 

[smokedragon]

Is it me or am I the only one that thinks it isn't anywhere near 100' tall?

It's not just you.........I figure (using the small building near it as a comparison) the tallest usable part for a sawmill would be 50 feet, and that is an overestimate. Branches and all it may go 70 to the tip top of the tiniest branch, but no way is it 100.

 

[Jon1270]

If that is tiger maple(?) it's denser than hedge apple.

Never heard this before, and it's not true. Tiger maple is just normal maple with wavy grain.

 

[blades]

That base he is sitting on looks to have the beginning of rot. sometimes sold as spalted maple. But as the saying attributed to PT Barnum goes- " There's a sucker born every minute" so maybe he will get lucky and find one.

 

[Jon1270]

That's not spalt. Looks pretty solid to me.

 

[Ashful]

He is Higher than a Kite! If you can knock off the bark finding Curly is not difficult...

Not always soft maple, some hard maple is tiger/curly, just less common.

It's not cheap stuff! I don't believe you can ID tiger by just knocking off the bark.

My tiger dining table, 48" x 144". Can't remember the cost of the wood in that table top, but it was significant.



I think this guy is setting his log price based on milled and dried BF prices, which is obviously way off for log form.

 

[Jon1270]

"Tiger" maple is just curly maple cut in a particular way to show off the curl. Aside from the orientation of the planks relative to the rings, it's the same stuff.

 

[nrford]

I don't believe you can ID tiger by just knocking off the bark.

Sorry, but with all due respect, I can . With more than 25 years in the sawmill business I do believe I know a wee bit more about the subject than you Sir.

Jon1270 Minister of Fire
Joined:
Aug 25, 2012
Messages:
1,144
Loc:
Pittsburgh, PA
"Tiger" maple is just curly maple cut in a particular way to show off the curl. Aside from the orientation of the planks relative to the rings, it's the same stuff.

Tiger is a fancy term for curly, it will show in the lumber whether it is "plain" or "quarter" sawn.

 

[BrotherBart]

It is worth whatever somebody is willing to pay him for it. Period.