Maple wood

[tiknuttle]

I have a question. I just cut down a maple tree today to make staves. When i split the log the wood was very dry and brittle. I thought when you first cut a tree the wood is suppost to be wet. Does the tree have a disease or are all maples like this? Also some of the leaves had holes in them.

[El Destructo]

Maple is Brittle Wood....and the Tree only carries Sap through the Cambium Layer right below the Bark....some times the wood seems to be very wet inside....and other times it is barely moist feeling....depends on the time of year....how much moisture has fallen lately...etc.. I cut an Elm down last Spring ....and it was oozing Liquids....I trimmed some broken Branches from my Maple Trees here after last weeks high wind storms....and they felt like they had been seasoning for 3 months already....but then We have been in the Hundreds for over a Month now......I would wager to say that there isn't anything wrong with the Maple at all....and I would bet the Moisture Content is a lot higher than you would expect it to be.....JMO

[tiknuttle]

ok so you think it dosent have a desease

[tiknuttle]

I also cut down a oak tree and it was alot weter than the maple

[El Destructo]

the only diseases that I have witnessed in Maple is Sapwood Streak and Wilt....both are Fungus's and both can be seen in the wood as Dark Streaks in the White wood

[tiknuttle]

Yeah I saw some of that in the tree but i cut around it. Can I still use the wood that dosent have the rotten spots?