Silver Maple?

kfuknives

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Hey guys,
So we had a big storm last night and a neighbors tree came down on the power lines. Obviously I had to go check it out this morning.:treehugger:
I believe it is silver maple. Its an old tree thats at least 36" at the stump. I don't think he is going to use it so I thought I might ask if I could cut some pieces off of it. I have two questions, would it be worth getting someone to come out and mill it up(price?) or should I just cut off a few pieces and be done with it? Its a pretty straight tree with the branches only shooting out waaaaaaay up high. It was surrounded by other trees so its really tall.
 

kfuknives

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What I meant by "worth it" was if silver maple ever had much figure or curl. I have been wanting to try spalting some wood and thought this might be a good candidate.
 

gvwp

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kfuknives said:
Hey guys,
So we had a big storm last night and a neighbors tree came down on the power lines. Obviously I had to go check it out this morning.:treehugger:
I believe it is silver maple. Its an old tree thats at least 36" at the stump. I don't think he is going to use it so I thought I might ask if I could cut some pieces off of it. I have two questions, would it be worth getting someone to come out and mill it up(price?) or should I just cut off a few pieces and be done with it? Its a pretty straight tree with the branches only shooting out waaaaaaay up high. It was surrounded by other trees so its really tall.

Did the base have any bugs or rot? Is so check to see if the wood has wormy figure. Also called ambrosia figure. Often these large Maples will have good wormy figure. Large Maples can also have curly figure. If the log is in fairly good shape and you can find someone to saw the log it surely can't hurt to salvage all that you can. Logs this size often have the best lumber.
 

kfuknives

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Thanks man. It looked to be in really good shape. I think I might just go cut it up into pieces that I can carry with another person, anchorseal, and figure out what Im going to do next.
 

DKMD

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It can have beautiful figure especially near the base. It also spalts quite well. I'd definitely get the base portion and crotches.
 

BarbS

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kfuknives said:
Hey guys,
So we had a big storm last night and a neighbors tree came down on the power lines. Obviously I had to go check it out this morning.:treehugger:
I believe it is silver maple. Its an old tree thats at least 36" at the stump. I don't think he is going to use it so I thought I might ask if I could cut some pieces off of it. I have two questions, would it be worth getting someone to come out and mill it up(price?) or should I just cut off a few pieces and be done with it? Its a pretty straight tree with the branches only shooting out waaaaaaay up high. It was surrounded by other trees so its really tall.

Silver maple can have a Lot of beautiful figure and curl. Go for it!
 

arkie

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BarbS said:
Silver maple can have a Lot of beautiful figure and curl. Go for it!

Sure can, but the only way I know to find out is to open it up and look. Around here, it seems to draw powder post beetles when stacked as firewood.
 

barry richardson

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The silver maple I've had spalted very easily. I would at least get a few chunks for that purpose. Put em in a cool place, throw a tarp over em, and check periocically.
 

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Silver maple can be very nice,I just cut up a bunch of really nice Ambrosia Maple(caused by the Ambrosia Beetle)and some of it even had real nice curl(more the base of the tree).Any maple is good turning wood soft maple can also have some neat colors in the heart wood(pinks,browns,+).Get it milled if you can at a fair price b ut getting a mill out for one lag is never that chaep unless you can find a guy to cut it on shares or part cash part wood?Good Luck,Victor
 
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