Red maple

[Patrick NC]

I just bought a couple of acres of land behind my place that has some nice sized red maple. Some are better than 24" and straight for about 30 feet before any branches. I intend to clear the property to make room for a large sawmill shed and some drying sheds. There's also a bunch of chestnut oak and some poplar in that size range. My question is what to do with the maple? 4/4 or slabs? Both? 

[Southside]

Clear maple sells well. Let the log decide. Grade into 4/4 and slabs after that would be my approach.

[Larry]

I don't see much interest in maple slabs especially clear maple.

I really like red maple and have been using a lot of 8/4 in the stools I build.  I would log it this winter and saw it promptly.  Get it on fluted sticks with lots of air.  Bright white brings the money no matter the thickness.  If maple logs lay around in warm weather the lumber turns grey and the value goes way down.  I've noticed degrade in less than two weeks when warm.

[mike_belben]

Tap it for a few years.  Then cut it down and roll it in the mud a few months.   

Then sell it on etsy as spalted boutique wormy taphole maple project wood. 

[donbj]

Tap it for a few years.  Then cut it down and roll it in the mud a few months.  

Then sell it on etsy as spalted boutique wormy taphole maple project wood.

And we wonder what's wrong with our world!! :D

[Gere Flewelling]

Keep an eye out for curly maple.  I can't give the specifics of what to look for in the bark of the soft maples, but my logger son often came across an occasional curly maple log when cutting soft maple logs for firewood.  You can make some good $$ selling curly maple.

[scsmith42]

I'm working on some lightly spalted red maple slabs right now that came from a 30" dbh tree. They have a tendency to twist and check.

Pretty wood in a rustic way.  I have not seen much demand for them versus traditional maple.

I'd mill them into 10/4 slabs.

[doc henderson]

it is a good wood for engraving pictures so I deal with it.  the more twisted grain and branches, the more beautiful.  but it tries to move, especially if cut thin.

[cutterboy]

Except for red oak, I sell more red maple than any other wood. Almost all of it 4/4, some 8/4 and very little interest in slabs. Sometimes the nice white turns to off white but planes out nice white again. Two of my customers told me they would never work with hard maple again because red maple is easier to work with.


 

 

[WDH]

I find it to be a fantastic wood.  A big seller for me. I do very well on the 9/4 slabs if I let the log sit and get old and stained and colored.  If it has been attacked by ambrosia beetles, even better.  



 

Forum member Stan Welch and I sawed these a while back.  



 



 



 

[mike_belben]

i toldja, tap it and roll it in the mud  ;D


it makes an incredible floor with all the different characters layed down tight, sanded and urethaned into one mosaic surface of conflicting yet similar pattern.  my friend has it in his house

[chep]

@cutterboy  with soft maple that nice why would they wand sugar maple? That small hearted stuff is gorgeous!  You have nice timber growing on your place I am always impressed with what you post pics of

[GAB]

Keep an eye out for curly maple.  I can't give the specifics of what to look for in the bark of the soft maples, but my logger son often came across an occasional curly maple log when cutting soft maple logs for firewood.  You can make some good $$ selling curly maple.

As an FYI I sawed two curly maple logs this summer for a woodworker that I picked up for him at a log yard.
It was easy sawing(no thinking on my part)  as he directed me for every cut.  The aim was for guitar necks.
What I noticed is where the bark had been removed it looked like waves or rings in or on the wood.
Now I wish I had taken a picture or two or three.
GAB

[Bruno of NH]

I'm working on some lightly spalted red maple slabs right now that came from a 30" dbh tree. They have a tendency to twist and check.

Pretty wood in a rustic way.  I have not seen much demand for them versus traditional maple.

I'd mill them into 10/4 slabs.

As you say it has a nice rustic look , it draws certain customers to it , others don't like it. 
I also find it likes to move a bunch .
I can tell if it's figured or curly by peeling the bark. The sap wood will be all rippled.

[Patrick NC]

Well,  I guess I'll saw the clear logs into 4/4  and slab the rest. This will be my first time drying lumber. I've got a 20x24 carport to stack it under. Are fluted stickers really necessary? What about using dry ERC for stickers? I've got an abundance of cedar scraps.  

[doc henderson]

dry is good, cedar is soft so do not stack 10 feet tall or you may crush the bottom ones.  carport is nice, but white wood needs lots of airflow so the sap does not oxidize and darken the wood or grow mold.  so to begin with several fans along the length blowing through the stickers.

[xlogger]

I find it to be a fantastic wood.  A big seller for me. I do very well on the 9/4 slabs if I let the log sit and get old and stained and colored.  If it has been attacked by ambrosia beetles, even better.  



 

Forum member Stan Welch and I sawed these a while back.  



 



 



 

Danny, I've got about a dozen maple logs that I've saved for about 3 months now, bark is slipping off now. Not sure how much longer I should wait maybe another month or two. How long do you usually wait? I'm starting to save my clean maples and the ones with ambrosia milling them right away. Cutting into live edge slabs.

[cutterboy]

@cutterboy  with soft maple that nice why would they wand sugar maple? That small hearted stuff is gorgeous!  You have nice timber growing on your place I am always impressed with what you post pics of

Thanks for the kind words chep. I feel truly blessed to own land with good timber. I only wish I was your age so as to have the energy to harvest it all. :-\

[cutterboy]

 Are fluted stickers really necessary? 

No. I'm sure they are nice and probably better than home made stickers but I've always made my own and have had no real problem with them. However, they should be dry. I like ash for stickers but probably most any dry wood will do.

[moodnacreek]

2" live edge wide, dried 2 years, good money maker for me. Problem is p.p.b.

[WDH]

Ricky, the heat and humidity of a full Georgia summer will do it, so 6 months to age if that includes the whole summer, which in Georgia is 6 months long.  One year would be ideal if you have the time.  

Down here, if you want your maple to dry white, it must be stickered immediately after sawing and have fans on it immediately.  Immediately. 

Curl comes from deformation of the cambium. You can see the deformation as raised circular ridges, bumps, and valleys on the debarked log.  The log has to be debarked before you can see the distortions. 

[doc henderson]

to the other part of your question.  the flutes are nice, especially on maple, but I do not have any, and I love my maple.  you mention scraps, but make sure they are uniform in height so your boards dry flat.  getting them stacked and stickered is just as important as the sawing for getting flat usable boards.

[scsmith42]

I'm working on some lightly spalted red maple slabs right now that came from a 30" dbh tree. They have a tendency to twist and check.

Pretty wood in a rustic way.  I have not seen much demand for them versus traditional maple.

I'd mill them into 10/4 slabs.

Here is a pic of the red maple slabs prior to gluing. Overall width is 52"


 

[WDH]

Some customer projects with the old/stained red maple that laid in the Georgia heat to ferment.  The first table below is from the slabs in the first Stan Welch pic in Reply #9.



 



 

Kitchen island top with sink cutout.  

[mike_belben]

To heck with georgia marble.  Make mine a georgia maple!


When my ugly tapped wormy doaty maples come down theyll get epoxy fills and adorn whatever home i eventually build.  I need to raise and kick the kids out first to have a tidy place apparently.