Dead Maple in back yard

[cliffcarter]

Thanks Cliff. That seems more reasonable. I was in Old Town once a long time ago. They still making canoes there?

Yes, although the factory has moved from its original location downtown. In fact my son just got laid off from there.

 

[eman]

An easy way that i have found to check oak ,pecan and hickory for seasoning is when you split and stack it ,once it dries enough some of the ends will start cracking or splitting. Don't know if maple does the same as we don't have it down here.

 

[Bearcarver]

An easy way that i have found to check oak ,pecan and hickory for seasoning is when you split and stack it ,once it dries enough some of the ends will start cracking or splitting. Don't know if maple does the same as we don't have it down here.

Yes, Maple does that too.

As far as I know, all woods do that to some extent, unless they are coated on the ends with a wax or end sealer, but that would only be for lumber & chainsaw carvings to avoid severe end checking & warping.

Bear

 

[Dutch]

Last Saturday, I took down a silver maple tree that took a lightening strick a couple of years ago. Last year only part of the tree leafed out so I took the sawzall and cut out all the dead wood. This year the other half of the maple didn't leaf out so we took the rest of it down.  Had carburetor issues with my chainsaw so I broke out the sawzall with a 9 inch blade and took it down in sections and cut and stacked the wood in 18 inch lengths for the Lang. 

 

[kielbasa kid]

I'm in the mountain of NY and heat with wood.

When the leaves are off, the sap is down. Time to fell the tree. Middle of January, we have the "January thaw". Sap at it's lowest. Then it begins to rise. Trees you cut, split and stack with just a top cover (no all over tarp) will be seasoned to burn in the fall.

Maple with a fall red leaf is a soft maple (Red Maple) and burns OK but not as good as Sugar/Hard/Rock Maple, which has orange leaves in the fall. It's the best for coals and winter heat. I smoke with this maple. a pleasant smoke but I'm not particular, as I mix apple/cherry/plum/pear together.

The cherry is fruit bearing cherry. Choke Cherry is to be avoided. Elm burns like church yard moss and only a little better than snow. Ash burns green and leaves no coals (bummer). It's a fast hot wood for the sap arch, when boiling Sugar/Hard Maple for syrup.  

Popple and Bass are trash woods but I've even burned my old fence posts.

Any hardwood will smoke but stay away from Locust. The smoke would gag a maggot.

Rich

 

[magnum3672]

It's been a while since I've smoked so I'm going to go ahead and try this weekend (been rainy and cold in Michigan).  I'll attempt to get a couple handfuls of chips to try on some boneless chicken just to see what kind of flavor I get out of the wood.

I'll let you know how it turns out