Silver Maple Firewood

Silver maple is everywhere. And I mean everywhere. If you live in the Northeast or Midwest, there's probably one in your neighbor's yard right now dropping branches after every storm. That abundance is actually the best thing this species has going for it as firewood.

Heat output comes in at 17.4 million BTU per cord with a dry weight of 2,805 lbs. That's middle of the pack, not going to win any contests, but it'll keep your house warm if you're feeding the stove regularly. Where silver maple quietly impresses is coal quality, which is rated excellent. I did not expect that the first time I burned it, but the coals held way longer than I thought they would.

Splitting is a medium difficulty job. It's not as bad as elm or boxelder, but it's got some character in the grain that can make rounds stubborn now and then. A sharp maul and good technique will get you through it. Smoke is low and sparks are few, which makes it pretty versatile, stove, fireplace, fire pit, whatever.

At 3,904 lbs green weight per cord, silver maple holds a ton of water. That's almost 1,100 lbs of moisture you need to drive off. Give it the full 6 to 12 months of seasoning and use a moisture meter before you burn. Run it through our heating calculator to see how many cords you'd actually need for a winter.

Silver maple is a solid "utility" firewood, always available, easy to find for free, and burns better than most people give it credit for. It's a lighter-duty cousin of Red Maple firewood, which bumps up the BTU a bit if you can find it.