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Will a broken fallen tree dry on it's own

Started by Big Leaf Maple, February 05, 2017, 11:57:51 PM

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Big Leaf Maple

I have a large Red Cedar that fell on our property during a storm. It fell last August. I didn't cut it up. It's not laying right on the ground, it's propped up on another fallen tree so it hasn't been laying in the muck.
My question is; will this tree be semi dry because it's been down for about 6 months?
I'm looking for standing and fallen dead trees on the property to use for firewood for boiling our Maple sap.

We have quite a few fallen trees and some standing dead ones. There are some Black Alders, a couple Hemlock, Spruce, Pine, a couple Red Cedars and a few Cotton Wood. What would you guys suggest would be the better choices to use as firewood? I know they are all free wood so I'll probably end up using all of them eventually but just wondering where I should start.

Ianab

Semi dry? Yes probably.

When a tree falls like that the green leaves / needles will tend to draw some moisture out of it before they die and fall off. It's not "Dry", but it's drier than a standing tree.

Other thing is Cedar dries fast. If you slice it up and split it small now, you can probably burn it in weeks (not years).

Other wood will be slower drying and higher moisture to start with, so results will vary. But the Cedar is your best bet for something to burn in the near future.

Cedar isn't considered a "good" firewood because it's so light. Means a cord of cedar only makes 1/2 the heat of a cord of average hardwood. But per lb it's about the same, and it's low moisture and fast drying means it might be just what you need.
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Big Leaf Maple

Thank Ianab for the great reply. That's great news and that's what I will do then. :)

thecfarm

You said firewood for boiling sap? I have burned pine and cedar for that, worked good. You just have to be close by to keep putting the wood in.
Will get the flames from the wood which boils the sap.
Now if you was doing that in a wood stove for the house,it's not too good.
Hemlock will coal down some. I cut some white pine that was dead standing last year for the sap. Worked out good. Most was not over 8 inches across and the bark was falling off.
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DMcCoy

I've not heard of making syrup from big leaf maple.  A follow up after the fact would be appreciated, I have plenty of maples.

Big Leaf Maple

Quote from: thecfarm on February 06, 2017, 06:08:45 AM
You said firewood for boiling sap? I have burned pine and cedar for that, worked good. You just have to be close by to keep putting the wood in.
Will get the flames from the wood which boils the sap.
Now if you was doing that in a wood stove for the house,it's not too good.
Hemlock will coal down some. I cut some white pine that was dead standing last year for the sap. Worked out good. Most was not over 8 inches across and the bark was falling off.
Thanks thecfarm yes it will be burned outside in a sugar house in an arched evaporator which is made for boiling the sap. We are building a clean out tray into the evaporator to clean out the ashes so burning high ash wood should be ok too.
Do you recommend taking all the bark off the wood prior to burning? Or will I gain some burn time by leaving it on?

Quote from: DMcCoy on February 06, 2017, 08:11:45 AM
I've not heard of making syrup from big leaf maple.  A follow up after the fact would be appreciated, I have plenty of maples.
Hi DMcCoy, yes you can make excellent full bodied robust syrup from the Big Leafs :) A lot of folks are doing it on Vancouver Island, lower mainland BC, Washington and Oregon where there are a lot of Big Leafs. Here's a link to the Facebook page of the Pacific Northwest Syrup Producers sight: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1696984570546228/?ref=bookmarks
Most of the folks posting on there are tapping the Big Leafs. The syrup has a lot more flavor that the Eastern Sugar Maples. Depending on the time of the season you get the sap from the trees will also determine some of the different flavors that come out; ie some butterscotch, caramel, vanilla  like flavors. The Birch tapping is catching on out here too but it takes a lot more sap to make the Birch Syrup. The Big Leafs are around 2 to 3 % syrup yield from the sap and the Birch are more around the 1% yield range. Our Big Leafs get a bit less % yield of syrup from sap than the Eastern Sugar Maples do but typically our tapping seasons are longer so with all things considered we can actually produce more syrup in a season per tree than the tappers on the East Coast. Just depends a lot on the weather though.

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