Silver Maple


 
E

Elsie D.

TVWBB Fan
Hi eveyone - I am new to this site and this is my first post. I stumbled across it when I was doing some reading on the Smokenator.

I have a question re: silver maple. We have a big silver maple in the back yard which we are planning on having cut down. Is this wood any good for smoking? I have in the post used purchased maple for smoking (mainly bacon) but since this tree is coming down I wondered about keeping some of the wood. If it is good to use, would I use it in the same proportion of sugar maple? Do I need to let it dry (Age? Not sure of the correct term, here)and if so, for how long?

Thanks for any help you can give me!
 
Welcome Elsie,

I don't know why Silver Maple wouldn't be fine to smoke with. It won't be sweet like a Sugar Maple though. I've ready several posts where people have used Silver Maple. Most hard woods are fine to use. On aging/drying it out...it depends on size of the piece, where you dry it, temps and humidity. If you want to use it soonest, I'd recommend cutting it down to a usable size (fist size for the WSM), then drying it in the garage (away from the elements). Anything that will aid removing moisture from the wood will speed the process up; lack of humidity and warmth. In a month, it should be OK to use.

Paul
 
Silver maple is much less dense that sugar maple. So the characteristics of how it burns will be different, it will burn much faster. Although there is nothing wrong with using it, in my opinion it is very plain so you might want to consider using some oak, hickory or cherry with it.
 
Thanks for your responses. One of the quotes we got since I posted this was from a Certified Arborist. He told me that it is a red maple, not a silver maple. So, Tim, I guess that means that it is a slower burning wood? As far as flavour goes, is it the same as silver maple which is to say it doesn't have much? Thanks again!
 
Although I've never used red maple for smoking, they are so similar to silver maples in most respects (in some places the two species hybridize readily) that you probably won't notice a difference.
 
Silver Maples are a very soft, very fast burning wood. A garbage can full of twigs/branches will burn up in 1-2 hours, so I don't know how much "smoking" can be done with them, I have never tried it. Usually I am just trying to get rid of the junk that falls continuously from the trees.
 
In some states silver maple is being outlawed to grow. I remember living in the Detroit suburbs and we had some silver maples. Very susceptible to splitting at that V-crotch and crashing down. As everyone has stated, a very soft wood and fast burning. There are so many other woods out there that you do not have to question.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top