Silver Maple wood gloat

[Pat Scott]

There was a Craigslist ad for a Silver Maple tree being cut down, advertising "Free firewood and lots of it".

I showed up and "lots of it" was accurate. I normally don't bother with branches and let the firewood guys have all the branches they want. But when the branches were averaging 17" diameter, I figured I could do something with them! There was only one other guy and myself, and he was back for his 2nd pickup load. I grabbed about 6 pieces while the crew was cutting up the 31" diameter trunk section. They cut the trunk in half and then cut the halves into quarters. I got 3 quarters and then the tree crew wheeled over a couple of the half sections so I took two of those. My truck was full except I figured I could squeeze in a few crotch pieces here and there.
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After the pictures I waxed the ends and covered the truck bed with a tarp to keep the sun off. Time to hurry up and finish my current project so I can fire up the chainsaw and get to work!

[Montgomery Scott]

If the MC is still high you could seal them up and see if they spalt during the winter time. Around here maple spalts quite easily without any particular attention given.

[Kevin Bourque]

It's amazing to think that the other guy will be burning the same wood up in his fireplace.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Pat,
Great score. Parts of silver maple can be very pretty but most is quite plain. I picked up a substantial silver maple log this weekend, also. I've been doing a bunch of research on how to make it spalt. To tell you the truth, just reading all the different methods and opinions on the best way has been enjoyable. Here is a link to one article to give you the flavor. I also have a pdf document on cooking up a medium to grow the fungus and have a fungus laden medium to spread on the wood. The method I have decided to try allows us to spalt rough turned bowls or wood chunks. I will try both. I'm waiting for a couple ingredients to arrive so I can begin. One thing seems common to all methods. You need the correct kind of spores to do the least destructive spalting possible. Mushrooms that grow on dead trees seem to have the best for our purposes. How to introduce the fungus to the wood and how to store it in the best spalting environment seems to be the art. If you decide to try it, keep me in touch. Here is the link. http://www.appalachianartisanwoodco.com/howtospaltwood.html

[charlie knighton]

nice load, should keep you busy, enjoy

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great gloat and a nice haul.

[Pat Scott]

Montgomery and Faust, thanks for the idea! It would have never occurred to me to spalt the wood. I certainly have enough to give it a shot.

[Steve Harder]

I've found some nice figure in silver maple, and it does turn nicely. I've found it to be a bear on the bandsaw, even a fresh blade just doesn't cut it, so I round out silver blanks with the chainsaw.

[Billy Tallant]

Nice haul you picked up!!!