Maple question

[closedknuckle]

Ok, I have a giant maple in backyard. ^ footish in diameter. Part of it had grown over the garage. I had someone cut that brach down for me(too big for me), Where that branch went into trunk it was about ten feet up and was three foot in diameter. They said it was silver maple. Ok. I figured, softerish and quicker burning, sort of cottonwoodish, or box elderish, lots of ishes , I know. Lol. Well, It burns closer to hickory or elm like and lasts a long time, even when real dry, <15%. So, Is it silver? I have no way to post a pic right now, but have any of you burned silver? And, if so, how was it?
Thank you in advance.

 

[nrford]

You could get all kinds of speculation, a photo would get you a real answer. Sorry no help Soft Maple burns nicely for me.

 

[punchy]

I just started burning some sort of maple the last few days. I had been burning oak and hackberry. I am not a fan of the maple yet. It takes longer to get hot and getting more ashes.

 

[basswidow]

I got several loads a few years back of what I believed to be Silver Maple or some sort of ornimental Maple. If it's soft wood, it's as close to any hardwood I've had. It was a booger to split - but seasoned - it burned great and put out heat. Maple is good wood IMO

 

[Jags]

Nothing wrong with silver maple. No, its not hickory or white oak, but it will have similar characteristics of dry elm. I like to have some in my pile for the times that do not require full on heat. I also find that it generates more ash than some harder woods.

 

[Ralphie Boy]

Silver maple bark will be somewhat scaly compared to some of the other maples. Burns fine for times you don't need long, hot burns. I burn a lot of it and I like it for shoulder season and for mixing with wood like black locust or hedge to help things get going. If yours is burning slow and hot it may be one of the hard maples.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

If yours is burning slow and hot it may be one of the hard maples.

I think this statement is very true.......

 

[Paulywalnut]

Hard seasoned maple is excellent

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I just started burning some sort of maple the last few days. I had been burning oak and hackberry. I am not a fan of the maple yet. It takes longer to get hot and getting more ashes.

Must be a whole different type of maple than what we have. Perhaps it is not dry enough yet?

 

[Woody Stover]

I've burned quite a bit of Red Maple this season and it's not bad at all. It's pretty close to Elm in BTU. When I load up with some Pignut Hickory or BL, though, there's clearly more heat over a longer time. Hard Maple will be a little closer to those. Soft Maple is much better than Cottonwood in the BTU charts. I've burned some Tulip Poplar, and the soft Maple burns noticeably longer.
I'll continue to grab soft Maple until everyone that I supply is several years ahead. It'll get pretty dry in less than a year if it's not split too big....

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Old Silver Maple:

(broken image removed)

 

[EatenByLimestone]

(broken image removed)

 

[Jack Fate]

recently found 200+ variety's of oak .Figure at least half that many maple My experience has been soft varieties burn hot not real long .Not much in the way of coals & above avg ash .(I don't believe it ages well ) HARD maple is much better,good 2nd tier wood . Ages better .I prefer it to ash myself Should be used in the production of furniture

 

[Wood Duck]

I am cutting up an old Red Maple and some parts of the wood is quite dense, much more dense than the remainder of the tree. Maybe the same thing can happen with a big, old Silver Maple.

 

[DougA]

Silver maple grows fast but is brittle so it goes down more easily in wind or ice storms. We've had a lot of those this year, so a lot of silver maple to cut & split. I would rather burn harder wood but if it's dry, it keeps the house just as warm though for not quite as long. I like to use the 'lesser' woods in the daytime or evening, then use the hardest stuff overnight.

 

[Soundchasm]

Just keep an eye on the whole tree. We had one that had been topped several times, massive, but not as massive as yours. It was obvious it was at the end of its structural integrity, and over my wife's objections, we had it taken down. 50% of it was pretty hollow. It was around 60 years old.

 

[closedknuckle]

The leaves on this tree are huge, nothing like the leaves, eatenbylimestone posted, I would say 4x the size and this thing drips black ooze under it and haz baziilions of helicopters......

Thank you all for replying

 

[nrford]

Size of the leaf has little to do with anything, If the leaves have that pattern then it is Silver Maple, if not something else. Helicopters indicate Maple specie of some sort, (Hard, Soft(silver or Red), Box Elder).

 

[BrotherBart]

Got a few some kind of Maples in this sea of Oak and Beech I call my property. After years of seeing talk about Maple here I am gonna have to whack a couple and see how they do. Might as well. Ugly suckers.

 

[Ehouse]

Sugar Maple for me this year. Great wood!