Wood ID, Please

[dougand3]

SE USA. Got 1/2 cord of this, freshly cut. Using 8 lb maul, even 14" long rounds are like hitting concrete in the center. I've had to nibble 2" splits off the outside and work my way in, so these are more slabs than splits. Thanks, Doug

 

[Buckeye 2012]

Red oak

 

[nrford]

not oak for sure. Looks like soft maple, but not sure of that, bark not quite what i'm used to seeing compared to soft maple in these parts.

 

[Wildo]

What is soft maple? anything that isn't rock maple ?

 

[scroungerjeff]

Silver maple perhaps.

 

[scroungerjeff]

What is soft maple? anything that isn't rock maple ?

Soft maple is either red or silver maple in the Eastern US. Hard maple is sugar maple or even Norway maple.
Soft maple burns well but yields less BTUs. It seasons quickly and burns clean. Hard maple takes a bit longer to season but yields BTUs similar to red oak.

 

[bogydave]

Maple is my guess, soft.

 

[ScotO]

Definitely soft maple. I'm leaning towards silver. Good stuff, not the densest wood out there but it seasons super fast, lights easily, and burns to down to powder. I have lots of silver and red maple in my stacks....wouldn't be without it...

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Looks like maple, I had one cut down in my yard a few months ago, the lines on the side of the round look exactly like mine, the bark is a bit different. Let it sit in rounds 3-4 months and it will be easier to split. Well that is what I have found ...
But Scotty is the expert....

 

[dougand3]

Thanks, guys. With 2" deep x 10" wide and no bark, there is a lot of surface area exposed. I may be burning this Feb-Mar.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Thanks, guys. With 2" deep x 10" wide and no bark, there is a lot of surface area exposed. I may be burning this Feb-Mar.

Ask Dennis for his opinion on when you should burn it, you might be surprised.
This is my maple that was processed in March. It's starting to turn white on the outside. It was difficult to split, but the rounds that have been sitting are much easier to split.

 

[dougand3]

I'll remember to let silver maple stay in rounds for a few months - it's like concrete splitting freshly green. I'll check MM late this winter but have 2-3 yo cords of hickory, locust, poplar and pine ahead of it, so don't need to burn.

 

[Jags]

Silver maple. It is a one year wood. But that does mean 1 year C/S/S - not in the round.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

I'll remember to let silver maple stay in rounds for a few months - it's like concrete splitting freshly green. I'll check MM late this winter but have 2-3 yo cords of hickory, locust, poplar and pine ahead of it, so don't need to burn.

I needed mine ASAP, it was very difficult to crack open but once you got it half split it became easier, that prompted me to buy a maul and two wedges, there is nothing like the sound is 30 in maple cracking open as your driving in your wedges. I still have some rounds sitting for when I get the time, but they definitely are easier to split now.

 

[Woody Stover]

Straight-grain rounds are pretty easy to split but if the grain is twisted, soft Maple can be a bear....especially when fresh.

 

[Applesister]

I dont mean to be nit picky but doesnt silver and red maple have some darker type of heartwood? No silver grows here, at least as of yet that I have discovered (to compare). But Reds abound as well as sugar. Last winter I cut a Red thinking it was beech. I attributed the weight to decomposition. The crown had broke off from wind damage. The heartwood looked exactly like beech, noticeably darker. So why isnt this tree showing dark heartwood?
The round is of a big enough girth.

 

[Jags]

I have harvested many silvers that are clean white from edge to edge.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Looks like Silver Maple to me too. Just Monday I was out and cutting some pretty good sized-rounds of it, and tried to split it with the 8 lb. maul-nothing doing! I had to use the butt-end of the maul and a wedge and that did the job although it took just about 12-14 whacks each to get it split. It also was still pretty fresh and green. I split it and stored it in the garage which gets like a kiln in the Summer so it'll be ready for this Winter if anyone needs it; if I stand in there in the Summer it starts to "season" me it gets that hot so it is my kiln. I even said to the wife "that fresh Silver is heavy now, but in a few months it'll be lighter". I like Silver Maple, easy to work with, dries fast, really makes good knindling and quarter-splits as it usually splits the way that you want it to, plus it is a decent main fuelwood but burns a little fast and I wouldn't want to have it only as main fuelwood unless you have a lot of it but it is usually a nice what I call "clean" wood, nice splits and smells good and looks clean.

 

[Applesister]

I have harvested many silvers that are clean white from edge to edge.

I was thinking that may be the case. Im targeting a few Reds because now with the canopy there I can positively ID the Reds from Sugar maple. ( trees I dont want cut). I have found the Reds with the rough bark and the smooth bark. Some look exactly like this silver.
Im also curious if the giant swamp maples Ive always seen along river beds with the multiple boles are the same silver maples you guys speak of here. These are trees of great girth and in areas too wet to harvest from.

 

[Jags]

It is possible. Silvers can get HUGE around water.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It looks similar to soft maple but not totally. In addition, if it were soft maple, you could split that easily with an axe and with an 8 lb splitting maul it would be like child's play. So I am like the tree; I'm stumped.

 

[dougand3]

Maybe the twisted grain caused so much trouble with this load. Note the numerous "concrete thud" whacks. I hit some of these rounds 30x. Bout passed out!

 

[Paulywalnut]

Still looks like maple bark.