I could be mistaken, but believe that what you are referring to is actually silver maple (Acer Saccharinum) Descriptions and articles about the Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) - Encyclopedia of Life , which normally grows on river banks and bottomlands.
how to identify between soft maple and hard maple logs?
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dave1949
Super Star Member
Could be. This sentence from your link ...
The two species can hybridize in natural wetlands where they occur together (Barnes and Wagner 2004). (referring to red and silver maple)
Sugar maples seem to be a consistent phenotype. Then there are the other maples that aren't so clear--at least to me. I've heard the very soft maples referred to as white or swamp maple, but the crowns don't get all small branchy compared to the silver maple I think I know.
And as I recall the leaves, they aren't as pointed and elongated/deeply divided as silver maple.Whatever flavor I have here, I've learned they aren't worth the fuel to cut them for firewood. They just dry to nothing.
You could be right...Could be. This sentence from your link ...
The two species can hybridize in natural wetlands where they occur together (Barnes and Wagner 2004). (referring to red and silver maple)
Sugar maples seem to be a consistent phenotype. Then there are the other maples that aren't so clear--at least to me. I've heard the very soft maples referred to as white or swamp maple, but the crowns don't get all small branchy compared to the silver maple I think I know.
Whatever flavor I have here, I've learned they aren't worth the fuel to cut them for firewood. They just dry to nothing.
I've always burned red or soft maple (Acer rubrum) while turning my nose up at white birch; yet the charts I've been reading lately show that both hold about the same BTUs per cord. I'm not as fussy now anyways, since my firewood comes from right out of my back door.
I even like to have a little hemlock on hand for quick heat, and my evaporator will eat anything I feed it. :thumbsup:
tcreeley
Elite Member
The wood I buy is always mixed. Oak, cherry, ash, red maple, white birch, yellow birch, beech. Cherry, oak, red maple are the common pieces. I have no problem with red maple- burns as hot coals and lasts. It doesn't like to jump into flame but throw it on a bed of coals and it is great. Birch is nice but burns too fast, Oak and cherry are great. Over the years I hate to think of the quality hardwood I have burnt. A couple of years running I had 16"+ 4 footers delivered to me. The guy could have made some money taking it to the mill as saw logs. In my area everything is either pulpwood or firewood. The trees look stunted because they harvest on such a regular basis. Nothing has a chance to get big.
I've been heating with wood since the 1970's. Red maple is a solid wood for the stove. I burn some every year. The only sugar maples are being tapped or are in someone's yard. You can't buy sugar maple (hard/rock) to burn. In telling your wood apart- pay attention to the color of the layer just under the bark too.
Start tapping your wood with your fingernail or a pulp hook. You can feel the different denseness of the woods. Tap them and they will each have a different sound.
I've been heating with wood since the 1970's. Red maple is a solid wood for the stove. I burn some every year. The only sugar maples are being tapped or are in someone's yard. You can't buy sugar maple (hard/rock) to burn. In telling your wood apart- pay attention to the color of the layer just under the bark too.
Start tapping your wood with your fingernail or a pulp hook. You can feel the different denseness of the woods. Tap them and they will each have a different sound.
dave1949
Super Star Member
I have found literally hundreds of old sugar buckets on this place. Stacked together and rusting in piles along the stone walls. Not that many sugar maple trees though, so I assume there used to be many more. Darn red maple is everywhere and I try to favor any sugar maple I find. Perversely, I always find nice little sugar maple seedlings in places I wish they weren't. :laughing: Red oak does that too.
jix
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There occurs, in hard maple, a type which has a "birds-eye" grain pattern. You cannot tell it without planing it. If you find any by accident..DO NOT BURN IT..it fetches almost $50 a board foot as a semi-precious cabinet grade hardwood. Tiger grain maple is likewise a type of hard maple which is equally valuable. Both these are quite rare woods. I had Four cords of it in my yard..all chunked by a wood supplier into 18" lengths. I cried and cried, then turned the bulk of the chunks into bowls on a lathe which I sold for about 75.00 dollars apiece! Birdseye and Tiger maple are really beautifully-grained woods. I saw a tiger maple dining table in an antique store that was priced at 12,000 dollars.
At a local auction in Ontario a standing black walnut tree was sold for $50,000 back in 1975. It was about 24" in diameter at the butt.
At a local auction in Ontario a standing black walnut tree was sold for $50,000 back in 1975. It was about 24" in diameter at the butt.
Looking4new
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I use white birch to get the fire going in the mornings, then put oak or yellow birch for the steady heat. Beech goes on for overnighters.
Starting on my stash for next year. We have loads of hedge (osage orange) on our property. Its probably one of the easiest types of wood to spot by its bright greenish yellow wood. It produces an incredible amount of heat and long lasting burns.
luvmexfood
Silver Member
On hard maple the center will have a redish-brown center and on soft maple the center will be more of a gray-silver color. At least that's what the grader at the log yard pointed out to me when I sell a few logs along.
Garandman
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Just looked it up: 30 MBTU per cord! White Oak is 24.2 and Sugar Maple 23.2. And 4800 lbs per cord.
OP
CDN Farm Boy
Veteran Member
Thanks. If that's accurate, that will be a big help.
Found this book in my wife's collection:
Lists 10 different types of maple around here with Sugar (hard) Maple and Silver & Red Maple (soft) being the most common.
Sugar maple: mature bark grey, irregularly ridged, sometimes scaly; wood light yellowish-brown
Silver maple: young bark grey, smooth; mature bark grey, often shaggy with thin strips that peel from both ends; wood pale
Red maple: young bark light grey, smooth; mature bark dark greyish-brown, scaly, with thin plates that peel from both ends; wood pale brown
Soooo, at what point in a maple tree's life is it considered mature?
Since this thread is about identifying logs can someone help me identify this tree? Our timber has a large amount of hedge, honey locust, oak, and this tree that I'm not sure of. Very tall straight trunks without many branches. It's also a very heavy and dense wood. Leaves are all off so I can't tell but don't want to cut something that's not good for firewood. Based on the bark and seed pod I found on one of the branches I'm guessing black locust?
dave1949
Super Star Member
Black locust sounds reasonable from the bark and seed pod. My black locust has a distinct sourish smell to it and the wood is more yellow than your cut shows, or maybe it's just the light.
tcreeley
Elite Member
Those look like locust seed pods. Barks is the same. We have a honey locust- but similar yo the black locust.
-Some sugar maples are well over a 100 years old. The maple trees we tapped as kids were a 100 + years old. They are still standing - puts them over 150 years old and they look healthy.
Mature- depends on your plans for the tree.
I burn a lot of curly red maple every year. A friend of mine uses it for his wood projects. Burns well and heavy! Amazing what disease does to wood!
-Some sugar maples are well over a 100 years old. The maple trees we tapped as kids were a 100 + years old. They are still standing - puts them over 150 years old and they look healthy.
Mature- depends on your plans for the tree.
I burn a lot of curly red maple every year. A friend of mine uses it for his wood projects. Burns well and heavy! Amazing what disease does to wood!
jix
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Curly red maple is very valuable for cabinet making...about 40 dollars a board foot, milled...and you BURN IT?
OP
CDN Farm Boy
Veteran Member
I'd say locust as well. Got 2 in my yard, the flower every other year and smell absolutely amazing
OP
CDN Farm Boy
Veteran Member
Firewood.
For ID purposes, how old would a maple tree be to no longer have 'young bark' and have 'mature bark'
OP
CDN Farm Boy
Veteran Member
The irregularities within maple grain isn't usually visible until it's sawn or split. By the time its split, its worthless for woodworking.
PILOON
Super Star Member
Don't feel alone, same here.
Face cord? should be 4' X 8' X16" but many will be 14" and some shorter. That can represent 10-20% less fuel that you paid for.
Ever hear of a metric cord? another scam.
Then there is semi seasoned, like cut last week and still dripping wet.
Mixed hardwood: = mostly spruce, balsum and a bit of maple and birch.
Ambiance= all soft woods and sold cheap
