Is punky maple worth the effort for firewood?

[Tapper705]

Much of my time is spent cutting and splitting firewood. There is nothing more disappointing than a dead maple that is all pinky and rotten. What are all your thoughts on its heat value. Is it worth the extra effort to split and is it still good firewood?
I would estimate that half our wood is pinky maple, as we only cut dead maples. Always wondered if cutting the dead maples is worth it or should I be thinning out the nice solid birch and spruce?

[Russell Lampron]

The solid birch and spruce will make better firewood than the punky maple but you should get the dead maples out of your woods to prevent the spread of disease to the healthy trees.

[Michael Greer]

We turned a lot of "spalted" maple into flooring and trim in a house we built a while back. The black "spalt" lines are quite beautiful...to a point. Each successive fungal invasion reduced the hardness and strength of the wood ( and probably its BTUs) and in some cases, earned the title "was-wood". Sure, it's not as good as some woods, but burn it anyway. You'll just need a bit more. Eventually you'll catch up with the dying trees, and have to make harder decisions about which live trees to take down.

[Maple Man 85]

I'd recommend mixing it with good dry hard wood and leave the blower or the draft door open and let the fire roar (or at least that's what works for me:cool:)

[mudr]

If there is better wood that you are willing to kill (i.e. not the maple that gives 3.5 percent sugar), go with the better stuff. Other than that, the punky stuff, once dry, burns better than snowballs. And it's on your land so it is "free".

[Cedar Eater]

I would split it and dry it and burn it. If you're splitting other wood, you're already dirty. ;)

[Russell Lampron]

I would split it and dry it and burn it. If you're splitting other wood, you're already dirty. ;)

My experience with punky wood is that it crumbles rather than split when you try to split it. If it splits it is still hard enough to use as firewood.

[bigschuss]

From an energy investment to payoff standpoint...no, cutting, hauling, and splitting inferior quality firewood is not worth it if other wood is available. However, if you're like me and not counting your hours and enjoy cutting firewood, then use it. It's free. Once dry, it will burn HOT and fast. I always have a cord of inferior firewood (poplar, punky wood, spruce, etc.) that I draw from early in the season and late in the season when you don't need an all day fire, but just want to take the chill off the house.