Maple Trees to lumber ?

[Dale Stillman]

My daughter just had some huge, old Maple trees taken down. My intent is to cut this into lumber however the guys who fell the trees told her that there may be some 'Music Ripple' in the trees & this should not be cut into lumber as it is quite valuable. What is Music Ripple. is it 'Birdseye'? If so why not cut it into lumber?

TIA for the help.

Dale

[Tom Sweeney]

That you should have it sliced into a veneer???

There are alot more knowledgeable people than I am on this stuff - they must all be on their way to the EOP gathering.

I think there is a figure that I've heard called fiddleback maple - maybe it's the same. Also what I call tiger maple has "ripples" in it I have a little in my shop & it's purty wood.

I did a google search on fiddleback maple & found this pic.

<img src="http://www.nwwood.com/Pens/Spalted%20Fiddleback%20Maple.jpg">

There were a bunch of other pics too.

Come to think of it the guy is right - you shouldn't cut it into lumber - just send it to me :D It's my favorite wood.

[robertfsmith]

Music ripple is fiddleback. Other names are tigerstriped, curly, or to be very general figured. I don't know why they said don't cut it into lumber? You can either cut it into thick stock like 8/4 for neck blanks, or 4/4 boards that can be resawn and bookmatched later. Curly veneer isn't very likely for musical instruments, most people I know want full thickness and mill it down themselves.

One way you can definatly tell if it is curly, is to peel off some bark and look at the wood, if it is rippled, then it is curly (but it may not be curly all the way to the heart, I have seen many logs that were curly only for the first couple inches from the outside, then nothing.)

Birdseye is totally different. And quilted and blistered, are totally different. They are just all differnet types of figured maple.

And by the way, just because it is curly, doesn't make it musical grade, musical grade is very high in standards. Go ahead and cut it up, unless those guys want to buy the tree from you, then charge them $2 per foot, log scale. Unless you really want it, then enjoy your maple.