Silver Maple as smoke wood?


 
Timothy F. Lewis

Timothy F. Lewis

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Had to trim some limbs from a Silver Maple in the front yard a while back (3-4 years), cut them down to roughly five to six inch length rounds maybe four to five inchesand threw them in a basket to dry. Since they have not really been in "line of sight" I forgot about them. Any opinions on use as a smoke wood? The bark is still on, I think so, bark on or bark off? I have to split some firewood tomorrow and if I have tools out, I might as well split some of that into chunks, right? Besides, I'm double smoking a ham and a bacon wrapped pineapple for Easter!
Thanks in advance!
 
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Maple is a hardwood, and hardwood is usually good smoke wood. I would guess it to be along the lines of Almond, but that's just a guess. I'd try it on Chicken for my first run, if I had some to try
 
Thanks Chuck, that was pretty much my thought when I cut it up. I had pretty much forgotten the great big half bushel hanging basket of the stuff! My wife said "what is in that basket?" The others day and that turned the light bulb on!
So, bark on or off?
 
Doesn't matter. Some say remove it, some say don't bother. Try both ways and see but I wouldn't bother removing the bark. I sometimes use dead fall from my norway maple (I hate the tree but like the wood) that I just break into pieces and add to my regular wood (whatever it is that strikes my fancy).
 
Silver maple is a soft maple, that's why you don't see furniture etc made from the wood.
Some say they can't tell it from the hard maples when used for smoking, others say it's terrible.
Never tried it, but I think if it's used at the properly seasoned stage it's probably okay.
I'm not sure about 3 to 4 years of seasoning though.
I'd try some on lit charcoal, without food, to see how it smells and how it burns.
 
The term softwood usually refers to conifers, so even the silver maple is a hardwood.
But it is soft compared to the sugar, red, etc maples.
 
Just looked up how to tell the difference. And it's not easy as there are always exceptions to the rule. One method I found was that hardwoods have a 'hard coating' on it's seed (think of acorns) whereas softwoods don't (think pinecones).

Others say if you can scratch it (leave a mark) with your fingernail, it's a softwood and if you can't, it's a hardwood.

Exception: balsa (notoriously soft) is classed as a hardwood.

Go figger.
 
That's the definition of hardwood I had always used, but, maples are an exception given they do not bear fruit or nuts, they proliferate by the, kids toys, "samaras" or whirlybirds.
The thumbnail test does not strike me as sound but, that's me. I have seen quite a few examples of furniture made from silver maple though Bob. A few instruments as well.
I will try burning a piece and see how it smells. That makes the most sense.
 
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i burn it, but only outside in the yardwaste pit.
i would not put it in my smoker.
we have three large silver maples in this yard, and if you want more silver maple wood, please come cut them down and allllll the wood is yours.
 
I've got silver maples all over at my place. Some people call them swamp maples around here. Everybody tells me that they're basically useless and after dealing with it I can see why. The firewood dries out and ends up about as heavy as cardboard, I guess you can use the sap for Maple Syrup, but sugar content is a lot lower than a sugar maple so it isn't really worth it unless you're hard up. I've burnt a ton of the stuff in outdoor fires and never noticed any sort of bad odor, might just do ok as a smoke wood...
 
You'll probably find that it burns up pretty quick with a clean smoke. Nothing harsh. It will be a lot less than with equivalent sizes of Oak, Hickory, Apple or Cherry. The terms 'Soft and Hard Maple" are logging/mill names to describe Red and Silver Maple vs. Sugar Maple. Red and Silver are much less dense than Sugar, hence the soft and hard names. Don't confuse it with the rest of the broader attempts to classify trees as a hardwood or softwood, it isn't the same thing.
 
I generally use apple wood from my orchard.

However I have quite a bit of red and white oak, plus hickory.

There is one cord of hickory on the right. Finished this years in February.

2im3vt.jpg
 
So many briskest, butts, chickens, turkeys, salmon waiting to be party to that stock of smoke wood!
Cherry smoked a ham and pineapple yesterday, it was very well recieved!
 
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