silver maple moisture content?

[goldencroft]

Hi everyone

I just bought a home this past summer with an open fireplace (first time owning a home with one) and I just got a cord delivered last weekend. The wood I bought was silver maple and I just went and bought a moisture meter to give it a read. The readings are coming up around 28-32%. From what I've been reading, this is a bit high and should be around 20%. Will it get down to 20% in the next 2 months or did I just waste my money this year for next years firewood?

Thanks all.

 

[moondoggie]

Hi everyone

I just bought a home this past summer with an open fireplace (first time owning a home with one) and I just got a cord delivered last weekend. The wood I bought was silver maple and I just went and bought a moisture meter to give it a read. The readings are coming up around 28-32%. From what I've been reading, this is a bit high and should be around 20%. Will it get down to 20% in the next 2 months or did I just waste my money this year for next years firewood?

Thanks all.

It will be dry. Silver maple drys fast. Burns pretty quick too. Should be nice brite fires!

 

[goldencroft]

It will be dry. Silver maple drys fast. Burns pretty quick too. Should be nice brite fires!

Thanks moon. Do you know what the MC of green silver maple is? Just wondering since the guy I bought it from said its been seasoned over a year.

 

[moondoggie]

Thanks moon. Do you know what the MC of green silver maple is? Just wondering since the guy I bought it from said its been seasoned over a year.

I believe silver maple will get down to 12% when completely seasoned. Not sure green.

 

[moondoggie]

It should dry within 3 or 4 months if split
. maybe faster

 

[svk]

In summer, sure it will dry in 2 months. I wouldn't be so sure come fall. Unfortunately I'd probably advise to get some dry stuff from someone else.

I've seen green silver maple around 35 percent so I think that guy is pulling your leg if he's telling you it's a year old.

 

[Deleted member 135597]

No way that has been split for a year. That wood you got is green

 

[zogger]

Did you split a piece and check the middle? That's where the real story is. If that is the case and the reading you got, way too high for this winter. Important lesson, buying from someone new to you, always split a few pieces and check it out before money changes hands if it is being sold as seasoned. A LOT of people call seasoned something that was cut last week, or has been sitting in log form, where it won't dry fast. My "seasoned" wood is gray and clanks high pitched when two pieces are struck together. This time of year cold weather hitting soon, about the only thing you can cut now and might burn is dead ash, tulip polar or elm, the higher parts of the tree. Bark falling off is a good sign. If you are stuck with what you have, take the time to resplit it, stack it criss cross for maximum air, and then get cracking and get two years ahead and stay there, three is even better. Then you know you have dry wood. Good luck and don't worry about it. Stick around here you'll get the bug and be scrounging constantly and the problem will become where to stack all this dang wood...and whoops, need a new shed just for saws...hahahaha!

 

[Streblerm]

I wouldn't sweat it. It will burn fine in an open fireplace. You might need a little extra kindling to get it going but it will burn just fine. It is the newer sealed EPA stoves that are really particular about <20% moisture content.

 

[ray benson]

Steve posted a chart here:
http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/green-wood-moisture-content.123651/

 

[blades]

Seasoned over a year ( might want to ask what kind of seasonings - salt, pepper, ect)typical statement- Even if they did split a year ago, likely laid in some huge pile which isn't much different that not splitting it. Every mothers son now has seasoned wood - so the term seasoned has no bearing/meaning any more. Wood doesn't lose its moisture too well in cut rounds or log form or in a huge pile, needs to be split and stacked where it can get air flow to dissipate the escaping moisture and stacks lined up right next to each other are almost as bad as a big pile.

 

[dor-moor hands]

Split it small and get it in the sun and wind. Silver maple dries very quickly. I cut a very large one this spring. Two days after cutting the rounds were checking. I got it all split about two cords worth and it is down to about 18% right now.

 

[audible fart]

This would be a good time for you to invest in a Fiskars X27 splitting axe. Unless you always plan on buying all your firewood, that is. If the silver maple situation you described was mine, i'd start halving some of the larger splits this liar delivered with my X27. I've burned tons of silver maple over the years, and like it. If it was seasoned over a year, you'd know it. But on a deadline, there are very few species that match it for speed of drying. The smaller the piece you're trying to season, the quicker it dries out.

So the purchase of a great splitting axe (fiskars X27) is the first step toward never having to regret giving money to a liar again. As you'll see from reading the threads here, once you develop a splitting technique, what once was a chore is now a hobby.

 

[flotek]

Loses about 2% a month which means it takes around 5 months to drop 10%

 

[unclemoustache]

Thanks moon. Do you know what the MC of green silver maple is? Just wondering since the guy I bought it from said its been seasoned over a year.

That guy is a bloody liar. Fortunately silver maple dries fast, so it'll be good to go this winter.