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Thread: Maple trees down

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Cumberland, Maryland
    Posts
    358

    Question Maple trees down

    A friend had a half dozen or so big sugar maples blown down. Gonna be a bunch of nice lumber if it can be salvaged.
    A couple snapped off 3 feet or so above ground. Bad news is they were hollow. Good news is they had started to spalt and are solid after about 6 feet up the log.
    I'm wondering about the "knees" or buttresses as some call them. There is a lot of curl and color and they are solid.
    I have never used any wood from this section of a tree, but it seems it would be some gorgeous turning material.
    Can it be processed and dried to be usable? Is there too much internal stress in those areas to be stable after being cut?
    Need some education !

    Thanks.
    You only need 2 tools in life. If it's supposed to move and doesn't... use WD40. If it moves and shouldn't... use duct tape.

  2. #2
    Get after it. Don't waste the knees.

    I had a large hollow sugar maple that yielded some very nice material. Quartersawn stuff ranged from solid curly sapwood through spalted to punky near the heart. Spalted stuff is always a crapshoot but the payoff can be spectacular if you are willing to put in the labor.

    Maple tends to stain rapidly in warm weather, so deal with the sound material soon. If you have a kiln available so much the better.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Peoria, IL
    Posts
    4,443
    The buttress flare at the ground level is always the first thing I harvest. I can't say if the wood shattered when the trees blew over though. Tornado trees are worthless because of the spinning and twisting as they go down.

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