I will be fine, but thanks for your concern.
Silver maple
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Bobby Kirbos
Scrounger of Cellulose Based BTUs
Free wood is free wood and almost free BTUs after you factor in the capital expenses (saws, gas/oil, other consumables, etc). The only thing that makes heating with wood cost effective is getting the wood (fuel) for free.
I'll pass on pine, but pretty much anything else is worth it to me. Obviously I'll jump on oak, locust, etc, but if today's scrounge spot is poplar, willow, or maple, then that's what gets added to the wood pile.
I'll pass on pine, but pretty much anything else is worth it to me. Obviously I'll jump on oak, locust, etc, but if today's scrounge spot is poplar, willow, or maple, then that's what gets added to the wood pile.
nothing wrong with pine -properly dried out- makes a great way to reduce coals along with a few other types that do not coal up much.
James Miller
Addicted to ArboristSite
I've been burning mostly maple this year till the past week or so. Theres oak, locust, hickory, cherry, and ash ready to go but no point in using it other then over night.
29* outside maple keeping the house at 68
29* outside maple keeping the house at 68
panolo
Seldom right...Always opinionated!
Silver maple I am mixing in with the harder woods right now burns hot. It's not oak or sugar maple but I'll surly take it over cottonwood or willow. Plus it dried to 12%-15% in 4.5 months.
panolo
Seldom right...Always opinionated!
Oh yeah.. And it was free!
Trapper_Pete
ArboristSite Operative
Silver maple is faster growing , and reminds me more of Box Elder than Sugar Maple , but a good mix of softer lighter hardwoods and dense carry you through the night hardwoods is Ideal.
I heard some one call it the shoulder season , when you need a quick hot fire first thing in the morning and at night to keep the house decently warm all day say when overnight temp is 30-40 but up to 50 during the day.
then as start up wood with a bit of hard wood on top as you get colder , then morning start up wood to get you going again in the morning .
it is all about what it weights dry , a light piece starts easier but burns up sooner you can feel your start up wood as you pull it off the pile.
you might have a light wood going in 2-3 pieces of junk mail while it might take several times that to get a hard heavy wood going well.
I heard some one call it the shoulder season , when you need a quick hot fire first thing in the morning and at night to keep the house decently warm all day say when overnight temp is 30-40 but up to 50 during the day.
then as start up wood with a bit of hard wood on top as you get colder , then morning start up wood to get you going again in the morning .
it is all about what it weights dry , a light piece starts easier but burns up sooner you can feel your start up wood as you pull it off the pile.
you might have a light wood going in 2-3 pieces of junk mail while it might take several times that to get a hard heavy wood going well.
I rather like Silver Maple. I prefer that wood for selling in bundles because it dries quickly, splits easy, and is widely abundant around here. If I get enough, I burn in during shoulder season.
I like Silver Maple. I prefer the tops more than the trunk. Trunks seem to grow twisty which makes splitting a little harder. Also, I have found Silver Maple doesn't keep well after the first year...it gets punky. Better to burn it year one.
lknchoppers
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Looks pretty good, you are just noticing the difference between dense hardwood and less dense softwood. I don't go out of my way to get silver maple but if I have a little I like to use it to start my fires. As far as going to cut one down, I would not since I have only a finite amount of time and energy to stock pile as much split hardwood as possible.
in the scheme of things Silver maple is hardwood as are all deciduous trees. just not as dense as some others. Thee are a couple conifers out there that are as dense if not more so than Silver maple. Conifers being softwoods. Technically willow and cottonwood are hardwoods
homemade
Certified Chainsaw Tester
Agreed. In all technical aspect, the term hardwood or softwood is used more to describe conifer or deciduous trees. But we all know there are hard conifers and soft deciduous trees.
The one that grinds my gears is when someone calls it a soft maple, hard oak, piss elm and so on. The only reason I can find to call it something other then it’s common name, is to make it sound less or more desirable to firewooders. It’s even comical when a guy posts up a video of his muff mod or what ever, and describes the wood as rock hard ash. I’ve never seen in the biology or forestry books any of these discriptions some guys come guys come up with.
The one that grinds my gears is when someone calls it a soft maple, hard oak, piss elm and so on. The only reason I can find to call it something other then it’s common name, is to make it sound less or more desirable to firewooders. It’s even comical when a guy posts up a video of his muff mod or what ever, and describes the wood as rock hard ash. I’ve never seen in the biology or forestry books any of these discriptions some guys come guys come up with.
Bone dry must really piss you off then.
well some of the names are local nicknames- I as well as many others are not well versed in botanical Latin. So Ulmus Rubra = Red elm- soft elm- slippery elm - piss elm are one in the same
panolo
Seldom right...Always opinionated!
Some are in the same family as well. Hard maple= Sugar maple, black maple. Soft maple= Silver, red, manitoba. Red oak= black, pin. White oak= chestnut, chinkapin, bur oak.
Trapper_Pete
ArboristSite Operative
I do think that some names were intended to keep people from wanting certain wood.
local nick names are all over the place , post oak , swamp oak , iron wood , rock elm .
some people will tell you tops are no good for burning also. I think some of it is to justify their own methods.
local nick names are all over the place , post oak , swamp oak , iron wood , rock elm .
some people will tell you tops are no good for burning also. I think some of it is to justify their own methods.
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