Processing maple tree

[cqaigy2]

Just started processing some maple i had taken down, next to the house. Big leaf maple, about 110' too close to the house and as it turned out, one of the larger limbs was half rotted on the back side. I'm not too familiar with maple and was a little surprised it split as easy as it did, even when still green.

 

[user.69169]

You might want to pull bark off some decent chunks and set dem aside fer projects as time passes. Really hard to build much from ashes.
Might want to throw some old paint onto ends of chunks you saving too.

 

[dfkrug]

I'm not too familiar with maple and was a little surprised it split as easy as it did, even when still green.
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I burn a lot of BL Maple where I live. It is a soft, fast-growing maple that often falls with little warning. It is not like hard maples, like sugar maple. BL maple splits easily (wet or dry), and does not rot quickly. I recently has a 30-incher fall near my workshop, on a 100% slope.

I also mill maple logs into planks and slabs, and use them for various projects. They also make great Dutchmen.

 

[Oaktree]

I'm not too familiar with maple and was a little surprised it split as easy as it did, even when still green.

Probably a different variety of maple than we have in New England, but I've found that our sugar maple splits quite easily when green...sometimes easier than when it's dry.

 

[cqaigy2]

I might give the paint a try. I have a friend that's into turning things on a lathe. I gave him a smallish piece, a few years ago, but it cracked pretty quickly.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

If a limb is growing at a good angle, like 45 degrees, the wood growing in compression will have a fiddleback pattern. It's much prized by local wood craftsmen. I lost a leaning maple last year, and a cabinet maker loaded the trunk and hauled it to a guy with a Wood Mizer to mill it. I got a couple cords just from the smaller limbs. The last time I split a tree that big I had to split shakes off of the rounds to get them small enough to handle.

 

[cqaigy2]

Yes, for sure i can't pick them up. I"m only guessing but tractor lift 900lb at the plate, the largest piece, not shown, would pick the back end up if i turned the least bit, but straighten out the back end would slowly go back down was still very light and bouncy, which made turning kind of interesting. The pieces shown, maybe 400lb, made tractor pretty light on the backend. I've quartered it, then i have to cut 4 - 5 inches off the length, so it fits in my stove, i can pick them up and stack it in the wood shed.

I'll keep an eye open for any good angled wood, i have a buddy that would probably use it.

 

[cqaigy2]

 

[MossRoad]

Back in April of 2017 I took a maple tree from a friend. It fell on his house, and I helped him remove it. We tried to cut it in 16-18" thick rounds. Some of the rounds were well over 36" diameter, as I couldn't cut through them with my 18" saw and I had to quarter them.

This piece was 31" in diameter. I rolled it up onto the splitter by hand and halved it. Then quartered it. Then split the quarters, etc...

I ended up with 58 pieces of firewood from that 1 round.



About 10 years before that, I took a couple maples that fell in another friend's house. I think they were around 42" diameter and I got something like 102 pieces from that one round.

Anyhow, they were soft maples. They burned really fast and only lasted about 4 hours in my wood stove VS 10-11 hours when I use locust. But they were nice on days where I just wanted to take the chill off the house.

 

[dfkrug]

If a limb is growing at a good angle, like 45 degrees, the wood growing in compression will have a fiddleback pattern. It's much prized by local wood craftsmen.

Yes, indeed. Recently cut this dutchman from that 30-inch BL maple that fell this last summer. It had at least a 30-40-degree lean.

 

[John_Mc]

Back in April of 2017 I took a maple tree from a friend. It fell on his house, and I helped him remove it. We tried to cut it in 16-18" thick rounds. Some of the rounds were well over 36" diameter, as I couldn't cut through them with my 18" saw and I had to quarter them.

This piece was 31" in diameter. I rolled it up onto the splitter by hand and halved it. Then quartered it. Then split the quarters, etc...

I ended up with 58 pieces of firewood from that 1 round.

View attachment 676266 View attachment 676264 View attachment 676265

About 10 years before that, I took a couple maples that fell in another friend's house. I think they were around 42" diameter and I got something like 102 pieces from that one round.

Anyhow, they were soft maples. They burned really fast and only lasted about 4 hours in my wood stove VS 10-11 hours when I use locust. But they were nice on days where I just wanted to take the chill off the house.

I used to enjoy tackling stuff like that. These days, if it's over 24" diameter, and it's not good enough for a saw log, it likely stays in the woods to rot. Just more trouble than it's worth to split up, even with the hydraulic lift on my splitter.

 

[MossRoad]

I'm much happier with 12" and under locust. I have plenty of those.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Must be extremely satisfying to turn a log into boards.



This is the best I can do, and as far as making chips, just for chips sake, it's not worth the incrediblly hard work! Maybe I could make some particle board!

 

[dfkrug]

Must be extremely satisfying to turn a log into boards.

....or into chips. I don't do a lot of chipping here, but I have asked one or 2 of the tree services around here to dump chippings for me to spread around. Last two 5 cy loads were western red cedar. The best of the best.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I reserve any cedar (to be chipped) for special occassions.

Kills me to know that some people get chips for free.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I reserve any cedar (to be chipped) for special occassions.

Kills me to know that some people get chips for free.

Cedar has other uses also; I thought some of you might be impressed with the talent of this young man and his Cedar Creations; I know I certainly am. I have see his cabinets and caskets and they are beautiful.

HOME

 

[dfkrug]

Kills me to know that some people get chips for free.

As I always say: "free" is a dangerous word.

When it comes to chippings, if you see a tree service in the area, and offer them a place to dump chippings, then stopping them after the first load can be hard. You also need to be selective: no weeds, grasses, palms, etc.

Since I live in the coastal rainforest, there are always tree services in the area.