maple ID please!

[Lee Lobbestael]

Hey guys can anyone tell me what kind of maple this is? I'm hoping it will make a good bow because its already cut, split and drying.

[thomas h]

that is a "big leaf maple"should make a good bow.

[wapiti1997]

I don't know where you are located, but If I saw that in KY I'd say it was a red maple, a type of soft maple..

[Lee Lobbestael]

i'm up in Michigan. southern Michigan

[Lee Lobbestael]

I looked online and could not id it myself. It has very large leaves.

[TacticalFate]

that's red maple

[DarkSoul]

I looked online and could not id it myself. It has very large leaves.

Could you specify "very large"? It's a bit subjective... Could you measure a leaf?

Big leaf maple should not be growing naturally in Michigan, but could be planted. Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) should. Your leaves appear too broad for red maple, which also has only three points in the leaves. Sugar maple has five points like the ones you pictured. So it looks closest to sugar maple to me...

[Lee Lobbestael]

The leaves are approximately 4" across. all the sugar maple leaves I looked at online did not have sawtooth edges. And yeah It seems to broad for a red maple

[TRACY]

Looks like red maple. The other choice would be silver maple and that would be poor bow wood. Check on it in a month or so since you got time invested in it and go from there. Red maple will make a bow that shoots good.


Tracy

[Marc St Louis]

The bark looks like Sugar Maple to me.  If it has a lot of heartwood then it's most likely Red. 

It's easy to identify Red versus Sugar in the Winter.  Many of the leaves of the Sugar Maple stay on the tree nearly all Winter and are a pale tan color and the leaf bud is pointy rather than rounded.

It's really the wrong time of year to be cutting bow wood though.

[okie64]

That is red maple. Look at the bottom of the indentations between the leaf lobes to tell the difference between red maple and sugar maple. Sugar maple has a rounded bottom like a u-shape while the soft maples will have a v-shaped indentation. Yours definitely has the v-shaped bottom. Heres a pic of a red maple tree from my yard for reference. Most of the leaves on it are from 4-5" wide.

Marc, I think for most people the right time of year to cut bow wood is determined by when they have time to get out there and do it

[okie64]

Sorry forgot to post the pic, here ya go.

[Lee Lobbestael]

Thanks for your input guys! Well i'm pretty sure its not a silver maple Tracy because my parents have silver maples and they have more of a shag bark and in between the lobes on the leaves it indents very deeply. Marc, Why is it the wrong time of year to cut wood? Sap is up and the bark just falls off. Thats why I waited till now

[Marc St Louis]

Marc, Why is it the wrong time of year to cut wood? Sap is up and the bark just falls off. Thats why I waited till now

The wood swells from all the sap and when it dries you can get some vicious check marks

[Lee Lobbestael]

The wood swells from all the sap and when it dries you can get some vicious check marks
[/quote]
Oh I did not know that! Can I spray the back with something to prevent this?