Is silver maple good for firewood?
Silver maple wood is available all over eastern North America. Because of its high availability, many people use it more in their wood furnaces or fireplaces. Additionally, the wood produces a hot fire (though it is difficult to split). Silver maple wood produces about 17 million BTUs (British Thermal Units) per cord.
Is silver maple the same as hard maple?
Lookalikes/Substitutes: Silver maple is more or less indistinguishable from other soft maples such as red maple (Acer rubrum), however, it can usually be separated from hard maple (A. saccharum) not only on the basis of weight, but also ray width.
What does silver maple wood look like?
Color/Appearance: Unlike most other hardwoods, the sapwood of maple lumber is most commonly used rather than its heartwood. Sapwood color ranges from almost white, to a light golden or reddish brown, while the heartwood is a darker reddish brown. Silver Maple can also be seen with curly or quilted grain patterns.
Why choose a silver maple tree?
Besides its beauty, particularly when swaying in the wind, when people want to plant a tree that is likely to increase rapidly and provide shade or fill empty spaces, they often choose a silver maple.
How much is a silver maple worth?
What is the price of Silver Canadian Maple Leaf Coins today? The current ask purchase price for a silver Canadian Maple Leaf is: $24.22.
Is silver maple wood expensive?
Pricing/Availability: Should be very moderately priced, though figured pieces such as curly or quilted grain patterns are likely to be much more expensive.
Are silver maples considered hardwood?
Silver maple is soft compared to sugar (hard) maple, but that isn't saying much. Compared to sugar (hard) maple, cherry and walnut are softwoods too. But, cherry and walnut are great woods and the fact that they are not rock hard makes them even better.
How good is silver maple for firewood?
Silver maple makes for moderate-quality firewood. With a BTU generation of 20.1, it can generate enough heat to warm your home overnight. It does not produce much smoke or sparks, so it is a fairly safe choice of firewood to heat your home.
Should I remove silver maple?
Mature maples should be pruned every five years to reduce branch burden and remove squirrel kills. This keeps the trees health and able to resist Denver's wind and snow storms. A large silver maple tree with wood rot should be removed because it is a hazard.
Is maple wood worth anything?
The tree value calculator allows you to estimate the worth of your tree and its possible compensation....Table of cost of mature trees.Tree typeBasic valueRosewood11.12Maple2.44Teak8.88Cedar3.1520 more rows•Nov 12, 2021
Can you smoke meat with silver maple?
Silver maple, red maple, and boxelder are called soft maple. These maples make for excellent smoking and cooking woods producing beautiful even coloring and a moderate flavor level.
What's the difference between a red maple and a silver maple?
The silver maple's leaves are wider than the red maple's (5 to 7 inches versus 2 to 6 inches) and have five lobes instead of three. The undersides of the silver maple's new leaves are silver-white in color, while the red maple's new leaves have a whitish undertone.
Can you tap silver maples for syrup?
Maple syrup can be made from any species of maple tree. Trees that can be tapped include: sugar, black, red and silver maple and box elder trees. Of all the maples, the highest concentration of sugar is found in the sap of the sugar maple.
How long does silver maple take to dry?
When it comes to the average time frame required to season maple wood for firewood, you're likely going to need to give your maple wood around 6 months for it to season correctly and be ready for use on a fire.
How long does it take for silver maple to season?
Silver Maple Wood has its benefits when it comes to seasoning. It takes as less as 90 days for a small Silver Maple to season. For optimum seasoning, the Maple needs something north of two years to be classified as good firewood. Moisture content that is considered ideal for Silver Maple is 28-percent – 32-percent.
What is the best wood for firewood?
Oak: Known for its long, slow burns, oak is likely the best firewood wood. Oak is a dense hardwood available throughout most regions of North America. While oak wood can take a little longer to become properly seasoned than other firewoods, the fire from well seasoned oak in your wood stove can't be beat.
Is silver maple good for cabinets?
Silver Maple is a bit lighter in color and is a softer wood. This is a great choice for any project.
What is silver maple used for?
Humans: Humans use this soft wood to stabilize river banks. They also use the wood to build furniture, cabinets, veneer, pulp, boxes, and crates. It can be used in flooring, making paper, and can be used for firewood. Silver maple can be turned into timber which is sold with red maple as lumber.
What does silver maple look like?
Features 3–6" leaves with 5 lobes separated by notably deep, narrow sinuses. Green on top and silvery underneath through spring and summer, they turn a pale yellow in the fall. Produces red, yellow and silver clusters of small flowers in early spring. Yields pairs of winged seed over 3" long that ripen in late spring.
What's the difference between a red maple and a silver maple?
The silver maple's leaves are wider than the red maple's (5 to 7 inches versus 2 to 6 inches) and have five lobes instead of three. The undersides of the silver maple's new leaves are silver-white in color, while the red maple's new leaves have a whitish undertone.
What is the down side of silver maple?
The one down side is you will have coals to deal with. You will have to make sure the silver maple coals are completely cooled be throwing them out.
When to split silver maple?
Split silver maple logs in the early spring into small pieces. Silver maple dries fast. It will be seasoned and ready to go in the fall.
What happens when you burn wood close to being finished?
When the wood is close to being finished, you will have nice hot coals. You can use these coals to get more wood burning.
Is silver maple good for shoulder wood?
Many people refer to silver maple as a good shoulder wood. Now, if you're like me, you may be asking what is shoulder wood. I did a little digging around and came to this conclusion about shoulder wood. Shoulder wood is wood you burn when it is cool outside, but not cold. Some people also like to differentiate between day burning and night burning. They say you should burn shoulder wood in the day and your harder wood at night.
Is silver maple a regular season wood?
If that's you, then welcome to the club. If silver maple is all you have to burn, then it is both a shoulder season wood and a regular season wood. If you have pine and silver maple wood, then pine would be your shoulder wood and silver maple your regular season wood. If you have silver maple and oak, then silver maple would be your shoulder wood and oak your regular season wood.
Is it safe to remove bark from a fireplace?
The biggest issue with creosote is when it is burned in fireplaces. The creosote can build up in the chimney and cause a fire risk. It is better to remove bark from wood that is going to be burned in a fireplace. Whether you remove the bark, though, you should clean your chimney regularly so there is no build up or blockages.
Does silver maple burn clean?
Silver maple, like other maple woods, give of a nice smell when you burn it. It burns clean as long as it is seasoned correctly.
Why do people plant silver maple trees?
Why People Plant Silver Maple Trees. Besides its beauty, particularly when swaying in the wind, when people want to plant a tree that is likely to increase rapidly and provide shade or fill empty spaces , they often choose a silver maple. Another benefit of silver maple trees is their sap-producing capability, hence the “ saccharinum ” in its ...
What Are “Dangerous Trees” and Is the Silver Maple One of Them?
The most dangerous trees are poisonous, spiny, or otherwise harmful to those who come in contact with them. This is not at all the case with the silver maple, though. You might call it a “nuisance tree,” but not a dangerous one. The silver maple’s rapid growth is both a blessing and a curse, in that it can reach its peak of beauty during the lifetime of the person who planted it. Yet, that same growth keeps the branches from becoming dense enough to withstand much force. Some people refer to the silver maple as a dangerous tree because it tends to drop branches and sheets of bark that can jam lawnmowers or, far worse, drop huge limbs that easily could damage houses, fences, or power lines. Because of their extensive and pervasive root system, silver maples also need to be planted strategically—away from sidewalks, driveways, foundations, and sewer lines or septic systems. Following a heavy wind or snowfall, it’s not uncommon to find silver maple bark and branches strewn everywhere. Because large limbs sometimes drop, too, it’s wise for a silver maple owner to own a power saw. You will discard branches quite frequently!
How do silver maples get their name?
The silver maple ( acer saccharinum ), a species native to eastern North America, got its name because its leaves, which are green on top, are silvery-white on their undersides. Silver maples grow best in temperate northern and mid-southern climates in the U.S. and Canada. This tree reaches a height of 50–80 feet, with a spread of 35–50 feet when fully grown. That’s at least twice the size of a two-story house. A silver maple tree also grows about three to seven feet per year, meaning it would reach maturity in 6-13 years. It takes many other trees that long or even longer to reach maturity. Thus, those trees are often denser and sturdier than silver maples. The average silver maple lifespan can be over 130 years, but most only live to 35 years at maximum in an urban setting. The silver maple leaf has five points, like other maple species. However, these leaves are so pointed you would almost call them jagged. When leaf buds begin to develop in early spring, the silver maple also produces brilliantly-colored flowers that will turn into seed-dispersing “propellers.”
How long does it take for a silver maple tree to grow?
That’s at least twice the size of a two-story house. A silver maple tree also grows about three to seven feet per year, meaning it would reach maturity in 6-13 years. It takes many other trees that long or even longer to reach maturity. Thus, those trees are often denser and sturdier than silver maples. The average silver maple lifespan can be ...
Do silver maples grow fast?
Do you have a silver maple tree in your yard? If you do, we’re guessing that you both admire the tree’s beauty and always worry about its health and any risks it poses for your home and neighbors who share the tree. Silver maples grow quickly, and this speed leaves them with slender, weak limbs that aren’t always able to support the weight of the leaves and branches that are attached to them or the snow and ice that land on them. In other words, they are fragile trees that need a lot of care.
When do silver maple leaves start to bloom?
However, these leaves are so pointed you would almost call them jagged. When leaf buds begin to develop in early spring, the silver maple also produces brilliantly-colored flowers that will turn into seed-dispersing “propellers.”.
Is silver maple syrup good?
The silver maple is not the best species for making syrup, though. These trees have thin, watery sap with relatively low sugar compared to some other maple species. Moreover, silver maples tend to get their leaves earlier than other maples, and once leaf buds start appearing, the sap’s flavor becomes unpleasant.
Is silver maple worth anything?
Silver maple is relatively worthless. It's softer than most of the typical soft maple species you see available for sale at hardwood dealers, and you typically won't find it at most reputable dealers since it is such lousy lumber. You can often find it at mills though. I wouldn't expect it to be worth much, if anything. And I personally wouldn't want to build anything with it...maybe for test cuts if I was given a stack. It is truly soft wood...barely harder than poplar.
Can you mill maple trees?
In most markets, probably not for a soft maple. Millers are generally very leery of backyard trees, and a reasonably common tree is not likely to make them interested in taking on that risk, and then find a buyer for whatever they yield. On the other hand, if you wanted the lumber, it might end up being quite a cheap supply, the additional cost of a day or so of milling work and the risk of replacing any blades damaged by metal intrusions.
Is silver maple weak wood?
Silver Maples are not only weak-wooded, but they usually have a multiple trunk, spindly growth form, with very acute angles of attachment between trunks and between branches. This leads to high odds of storm damage. I wouldn't have one anywhere near anything I valued.
How long do you let maple logs set?
Mill the logs soon after the trees are felled. I sawed a very nice silver maple log last year that I let set for several (5 or 6) months. The wood had lost the bright appearance associated with maple. It was more of a light grey color through and through.
How to avoid graying of a tree?
Dry it promptly and rapidly and you will avoid graying, if the tree was living when cut and then sawn promptly.
Does silver maple have grain?
I agree with contributor J. If the branch logs or any lumber after third cut have some sort of grain figure to them, I would not think twice about sawing them. Silver maple grows a few nice grain patterns - burl, curly, and fiddle back. Odds are, though, that the branches are plain grain and are full of tension, wind shakes, and other nightmares.
Which is better, soft or hard maple?
This one is interesting, because in this area, Soft Maple is better than Hard Maple. Hard Maples (like Sugar Maple) are known to produce a lot of smoke, but Soft Maple produces much less smoke. Similar to Hard Maple, Pine is also a firewood that produces a lot of smoke.
How to identify maple firewood?
Identifying Maple Firewood. Everyone will agree, that the #1 easiest way to identify Maple, is by the leaf. The shape of a Maple leaf is probably the most famous of any tree (e.g. they’re on the Canadian flag). So, if you have some leaves around, just go with that!
How long does it take to season maple wood?
Seasoning Maple Firewood. In general, firewood will take at least 6-8 months to fully season and for denser hardwoods, this process can take even longer. You should expect it to take 6-12 months to season Maple firewood.
What is the best firewood to burn?
The top tier (top of the pyramid) is the absolute best firewood you can burn, whereas the bottom of the pyramid is the firewood that will still produce heat, but is not ideal because of low heat output, excessive smoke, difficulty splitting, or some other reason.
Why does firewood dry faster?
Think about it, when the wood is split more surface area is exposed to the wind and sunshine , which are the primary contributors to dry wood.
How many species of maple trees are there?
There are over 100 species of Maple trees, and this can make it really tricky to know what to expect from Maple when you’re using it as firewood.
What does it mean when wood smokes?
High smoke production may also be a sign that wood is not fully dried, and you want to make sure that you’re always properly seasoning your wood before burning it. Jump down to this section to learn more about seasoning.
