Got a log yesterday...

[Brian Evans]

A friend of mine had a maple blow over a year or two ago, and I said "I'd like the first section of trunk, maybe I can make some guitar parts out of it. So yesterday a local guy shows up with a trailer and says "Don sent you some wood". Turns out to be a 7 foot long, 24" diameter piece of maple. Now I have to figure out what to do with it . I am thinking to split it length-wise along where the trunk starts to split into two smaller trunks, and see what's inside. I make archtops, so from there it might be into 3.5 ft sections and wedges. What would someone who knows what they are doing do, I wonder? Can't add pictures, it says the board attachment quota has been reached.

Brian

[Mike Conner]

We had a 20" diameter red maple cut down some years ago. Not curly but nice and clear, with the some darker or grayer areas since the tree was storm damaged some years before.

Local sawyer (and co-worker) picked up the 6' to 7' long logs for me and sawed to 2.5" thick slabs. Peeled off bark and stickered under out deck. Treat each slab with wood boring pest stuff in a watering can while stickering and stacking. Wrap outside with landscaping fabric and covered top with a tarp. Dried at 1 year per inch here in SC.

Peeling off the bark was really easy but important to remove the beetle food source!

Some of the wood was resawed after it air dried by the same sawyer to about 7/8" thick planks. This worked great and was used for my first builds. Sounds great but not the attractive curly wood that everyone prefers. Great wood for neck and heel blocks, binding etc.

When you peel the bark you can tell whether it's curly by the rippled surface underneath. If the tree has been down a while you might have some staining or spalting figure - not the ideal for typical archtops but desirable for artistic leaning solid bodies.
(yep, I can't attach photos either).
//mike

[Barry Daniels]

I don't think you can split maple like you can cedar or spruce. You will need a big saw.

[Mike Conner]

Barry,
You can definately split it. Red maple makes great firewood
It may be a bit wasteful to try and create wedges when sawing would give a better yield. I have had really good results with flat and rift sawn maple boards. I don't think that having purely quartered maple is a structural concern, and with archtops even if you are strictly quartered you are carving it through it anyway.

Brian,
Your log is big enough for one piece backs! Hoping you got some curly wood - that would be an amazing "windfall".
//mike

[Barry Daniels]

Mike, that is good to know. I don't live in maple's natural range and have never used it for firewood.

[Brian Evans]

Barry, winter before last I burned probably 5 tons of curly maple. My firewood that year was 75% maple, and at least half of that was 6" dia or smaller trunk logs that were split so you could see the curl. I some for trim on my "Firewood" archtop.

I have an 18" chainsaw. Not high tech... I may call around for a sawyer.

[Brian Evans]

Barry, winter before last I burned probably 5 tons of curly maple. My firewood that year was 75% maple, and at least half of that was 6" dia or smaller trunk logs that were split so you could see the curl. I used some for trim on my "Firewood" archtop.

I have an 18" chainsaw. Not high tech... I may call around for a sawyer.

[Brian Evans]

Got my log sawn, and picked it up today. Interesting to say the least. the portion of truck I had was split midway into two smaller trunks, so we got some interesting pieces. It had lain down for a while, so is quite dry and has some end splitting and spalting, so some sections are quite pretty. I planed off one section, and it has definite curl to it. Some boards are 18" to 20" wide in sections, and it was sawn to 1.5". Very fun!

[Jason Rodgers]

Right on! What wood are you using to sticker the stack? Are those cutoffs of the log itself? Some woods don't play well together, and you can get staining. Also, if airflow isn't good, you can get mold under the stickers, which can also cause discoloration. If the wood is already fairly dry, you should be ok. The best solution I've seen for inexpensive, nonreactive stickers is small diameter PVC pipe rippled down the middle.

[John Clarke]

Peel off the bark, re saw and air dry it.