# BIG Maple



## Oscar (Jun 7, 2008)

I just acquired a few Soft Maple logs and a couple are obscenly large as they frequently get. Anyhow, I need advise as to the most expeditious and appropriate way to reduce their size to be put on my mill which will take up to 32"??? I'm talking 60" in diameter (across) & 12' in length. They were going the way of the "Grinder" and I just couldn't resist. I know it's going to take some time but I think they will be worth it! Any and all practical advise is appeciated?


----------



## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Geez, here is where I am supposed to use the wornout "just drop them off at my house" remark but I would never do that. But seriously, the only way I know of is to quarter it. Or halve it, if your mill will raise high enough to take it from there. 

How long of a slabbing bar ya got? I'll rip them aprat for you with my 6' bar - just drop them off at my house . . . . . . .


----------



## joasis (Sep 15, 2006)

Daren will suggest dynamite! This is when you need a big circle mill....even without a top saw, you can make a 23inch pass, and then finish it with a chainsaw.....then you are home free. I will post a few pics of my mill as soon as I get down there with a camera.


----------



## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

Well as silver maple _rarely_ gets that big. And red maple does (the only 2 "soft maples" around here)...and red maple with that kinda growth is more likely to be curly. I suggest you post pictures. I can help . If it _is_ curly I can tell. Red maple has a tendency to birdseye cluster in the sap which is visible through the bark.
Not getting your hopes up, just saying...1000 bft at $15 bft is not something to mess up if you can help it. Now 1000 bft at $1 bft...I would let it spalt.


----------



## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

joasis said:


> Daren will suggest dynamite!


Nah, my avatar shows how I do it (yea that is a curly red maple :thumbsup How much of that $15 bft lumber could I afford to let a circle mill blade eat ? The money in this game now is grade saw for maximum $, not milling framing or ties. 2000 bft a day of $1 lumber is fine...200 bft for $10 lumber is better.


----------



## Oscar (Jun 7, 2008)

First Pictures are from last nights haul, recent are from the haul that just ended 20 min ago!


----------



## Oscar (Jun 7, 2008)

It's Silver Maple (unfortunately) and theres about 1/10 gone from rot, whats there is very nice wood. I was hopng for a Red variety but i'm thrilled to have what I got. I think theres alot of good looking lumber under the bark. I can see alot of contrasting color(s) already, like where's it's busted and the bark has been stripped thru the first couple layes. A nice Rose and burgandy gentle mix. The exposed knots are really intense This will be my mills first run at Maple. Wish me luck and suggestions are welcome!


----------



## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

[email protected] said:


> Wish me luck and suggestions are welcome!


Let is spalt. Push it off in a corner for a year and check back . 3X your money and mill other stuff while that is cooking. Don't get me wrong nice clear silver maple it marketable (for $1.50 bft) you don't have that.


----------



## Oscar (Jun 7, 2008)

Thanks Daren I'll folllow your advice and roll it around back and under a roof. I'll bug you about it in a few years!


----------



## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Oscar, I've never spalted maple (well that's a lie I have spalted a good bit of Red River Maple) but I fancy myself pretty lucky with sycamore , red oaks (you will read that they do no not spalt well but this is bologna), and sweetgum so far. I have a couple of Pecans "getting prettier" as we speak as well. I'll open them up next November maybe. They are big logs and I risk losing some lumber but I want the give fungus time to become widespread. Not much luck with honeylocust yet haven't found the recipe that will get them cooking before the wood gets too punky. 

The two things I have I have done consistently is collect a bunch of leaves and pile them as high around the logs as possible. Got that from a guy named Arkansawyer. A very knowledgable sawyer in Arkansas who's ability to cook sycamore is well known.  

The other thing I do which I did by necessity before I knew about the leaves, which has worked as well maybe even better for me, is to let the grass grow up high all around the logs. You probably don't have this fast-growing native pasture grass like I do in your back yard but whatever you got I suggest letting it grow around the logs. Tell your wife it will be worth it. She won't believe you. Yoink some pictures offline and print them out before stating your argument when she starts to get antsy about the raggedy looking "weeds" growing around thos e"junky looking logs". :shifty:


I should not presume anything just jerkin your leg. Your wife is probably as cooperative, even encouraging as mine I'm just thinking worst case scenario here. 

Now on the grass thing, and even the leaves, this means you *can* let them sit in the sun if you don't have access to a forest floor, as long as you protect the individual logs themsleves from the sun. i actually do have access to woods where i can let my logs lay but I often bring them to my log yard anyway so i don't forget them and what I have done (and am doing now with the pecan and some other boxelder burl logs) is I laid sacrificial pine loblolly slabs that I sprayed with Timbor (to keep the worms and bugs from attacking the money logs) so they sit in the high grass in my pasture grass yet be shielded from the sun. This is not as good as a moist forest floor but the high grass retains moisture so that is good. 

The sun is your logs' worst enemy. Of course letting them get wet, then dry, cycling like that in the sun is bad. But if you just stash them in the shade under your shed and they stay *too* dry it isn't likey they will spalt like you want if at all. Now I am no spalting expert I ain't claiming that, but like i said I have had good luck thus far, and I think you got to have that element of stagnant moisture around your logs or else you are going to be disappointed and you don't want to invest all that hope in those logs only to open them to nasty, clear grade lumber. 

Find a spot where they will stay moist, with lots of leaves or grass around them, and keep the sun off the logs themsleves. Even if you have to import leaves, and sprinkle the pile once or twixe a week. You could get your wife to do that and she will be able to take all the credit.


----------



## dirtclod (May 7, 2008)

I would go ahead and saw one or two of the smaller ones. They may look good enough that you will want to saw one or both of the bigger ones. Spalting is risky. Big silver maples with that long of trunk is rare.


----------



## Oscar (Jun 7, 2008)

S:blinkunds like alot of work to me!!!


----------



## ModCo Design (Oct 17, 2011)

Here are a few pieces of a maple I had that was Spalted, this burl was 6' diameter and the entire tree at the base was over 10' in diameter...all that to say let it spalt for sure


----------



## aardvark (Sep 29, 2011)

I think most here are looking for wood finds with board feet as a parameter for resale. I get that and am glad most want trees for that purpose.
BUT , for me, I'm after mangled wood with issues. There can be some interesting finds in the (considered) junk wood.
ModCo shows that right above my post.

The silver maple I came across was hollow, and the base was a good 5 ft + across, and closer to 6 ft.
The inside was totally gone, to within 2"- 10" thick sides, depending on where it was measured.
There was no way to transport those wide cuts to my house, without a bobcat lifting them on a trailer and taking them off. Or at least no way I had available. 1 piece, 5 ft across and 10 ft long is still resting at the site. A bee keeper took the 6 ft chunk and is setting it up to raise bees with a access door to be cut in.

I was able to get about 25 ft worth of length of 42" and below, down to 30" to the house. It took a bobcat to load the trailer and 3 guys to roll them off at the house. I've cut them off to table height length (17" coffee, and 28" kitchen table heights) , and they are drying, but I so far have 2 tables near finished from the stockpile that I got dried down to a ~10% moisture level.
The tree cutter thought I was nuts for wanting them, but the hollows look awesome when finished with very heavy clearcoat, and a glass top over them to display the innards.

My point is , with some creativity, even junk wood is worth a lot after finished out.


----------



## aardvark (Sep 29, 2011)

ModCo
Yeah, some unique stuff with a little bug et going on.
I could do some interesting things with those chunks.


----------



## Allen Tomaszek (Dec 11, 2010)

I'd let it the big ones spalt. If you don't have money tied up in it you don't really have anything to lose. In the end it depends on what you'll be doing with it. I have a market for 8/4 and 12/4 soft maple so I'd be tempted to cut some of it up right away and let the rest spalt.


----------

