I bet you’re wondering about burning maple in your home or shop? Well, you came to the right site! I’ll let you know my experience with maple plus opinions from around the net. I’ve researched for a good while because I have limited dealings with burning maple.
Not because there is none in my area, there just aren’t that many dead ones around here that I can get my hands on. There is a good reason for that! So, below you’ll learn everything I have learned about burning maple firewood.
Is Maple Good Firewood
Slow growth maple in its various varieties is good firewood. You can judge it by growth rings that are close together. Fast growing maples or parts of them is not so good. You can tell this by growth rings that are far apart.
Reason It Burns Well
Maple is a hardwood and is less dense than, for example, oak but burns slow and puts out a good amount of heat. Because it’s a slower burning wood, over time, you will have creosote build up, but that is with all wood you burn. So, it’s nothing to be concerned too much about.
Splitting Maple
Maple is very easy to split when it’s green. Just the opposite though when it is seasoned. Almost like trying to split metal! Well, not that bad, but when you got to split it, make sure its green if you’re using a maul or a splitting axe.
If you’re using a hydraulic log splitter, then it doesn’t matter if it’s green or not, those things are beasts. Remember, sooner you have it split, the quicker it’ll dry and be ready for the firebox!
How Long To Season Maple Firewood
Maple can take anywhere from 6 months to a year to season properly. It all depends if you have a soft or hard maple. How to tell the difference?
Well, soft maple has a greyish smooth bark and a hard maple don’t, that’s the basic difference. Make sure you stack it off the ground and have it so the wind can hit it for the fastest way for it to dry out.
You can always test it with a moisture meter, like this one from Amazon, Moisture Meter
. All you got to do is make sure it’s below 20% moisture and it’s ready to burn.
Different Types Of Maple
Obviously, there is more than 1 type of maple. In this part, I’ll go over some of the main kinds and let you know if they make for good burning.
- Silver Maple– Great burning wood, Also great for smoking meats. Rots fast if left on the ground. It will produce 17.0 million BTU’s per cord.
- Red Maple– Good burning wood but not for when it’s super cold out, it doesn’t throw that much heat as others do. It will produce 18.6 million BUT’s per cord.
- Sugar Maple– The best of the soft maple, you’ll be happy burning sugar maple. It will produce 24.0 million BTU’s per cord.
- Norway Maple– It’s a hard maple that burns really well when seasoned. It will produce 27.0 million BTU’s per cord.
Conclusion
At the end of the day when it comes to maple firewood, it’s a good one. The one downside I have seen over an over in my research is that it doesn’t make for good overnight pieces if you depend on wood to heat your home. But as for burning otherwise, it’s a good kind of firewood to have handy.
