Canadian maple: description of mahogany, planting and care

Maple wood products

Maple wood is light in color, almost white, sometimes with a slight yellowness. It is considered one of the most valuable among hardwood species. It has unique core rays. Maple wood bends very well. An interesting feature of maple wood is the color change during steaming. Maple wood products…

The Trojan Horse, from Greek mythology, was made from maple.

An important disadvantage of maple wood is its low level of biostability. There is also a drawback, this is a rapid change in color, but this can be easily eliminated by simple treatment with mordants.

Maple flooring is highly sought after due to the wood's durability.

In addition to flooring, maple is used to make stairs, railings, decorative items, add them to the interior, make various crafts, dishes, toys, etc.

Maple wood, growing in Russia, is dense, durable, finely porous, and wear-resistant. Maple requires slow natural drying.

About the material - properties, preparation

To create crafts of any type, end cuts of trees are used. The initial “raw materials” can be not only trunks, but also stumps, branches, twigs, on which the so-called annual rings are clearly visible.

Annual rings add texture to the products. If you want to enhance the effect, then the wood cuts can be dried until cracks form on it. Such changes are clearly visible in the photo examples.

When choosing a material to create an item with your own hands, it is important to choose the right type of wood - each of them has unique characteristics. Eg:

• Serviceberry polishes well, but it is heavy;
• birch is dense, easy to cut;
• spruce is easy to process and resistant to rotting;
• beech and oak are suitable for garden decor;
• Conifers are best used for interior decoration and toys.

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Wood needs to be properly prepared. Most craftsmen make the cuts themselves, selecting the appropriate species for the product and the characteristics of its use. Main stages:

1. The choice of raw materials - the correct shape or with knots and growths.
2. Removing the bark, fixing the log in a vice.
3. Cutting - with a jigsaw, hacksaw, circular saw, depending on the thickness.
4. Drying, grinding, treatment with compounds that protect against external influences and rotting.

Firewood for the fireplace

Homeowners often have the question of what kind of wood to use for burning a fireplace. Which ones heat better?

Here it is worth clarifying that the main difference between a fireplace and a stove and a solid fuel boiler is the presence of an open firebox. True, there are fireplaces that are closed with a door equipped with heat-resistant glass.

Experts offer some advice:

1. It is better not to use resinous wood to light fireplaces with open fireboxes. These logs can shoot particles of heat, which often fly quite far and, otherwise, cause a fire.
2. Firewood with a high moisture content should not be used, no matter how much you would like to. You can’t get heat from them, but there’s a lot of soot. Soot will be deposited on the panoramic glass of the closed combustion chamber and will deprive the owner of the opportunity to observe the flame. And the fire from wet logs will be dim and very weak.
3. Soot from damp firewood remains on the walls of chimney pipes. After some time, when you load high quality fuel into the fireplace, the soot can ignite and increase the temperature in the chimney to 800 ° C, which can cause a fire.

Firewood made from alder, maple and aspen

We can conclude that you can burn a fireplace with different types of wood. The exception is resinous (including conifers). But it doesn’t make sense to use very hot logs, since the fireplace is a low-efficiency heater. The best firewood for a fireplace will be made from alder, maple, and aspen. For more fire, you can add birch or acacia.

Varieties

Maple is easily amenable to various types of processing, and is also slightly superior to oak in terms of mechanical properties. Wood becomes pliable when treated with steam, which makes it possible to produce interior items of various shapes. In some cases, the color may change to yellowish-brown during this process. It is considered a valuable type of wood, but is not used so often due to its instability to damage and possible color change.

Maple is used to produce veneer in furniture production. It is a popular material for the manufacture of various cabinet furniture. Wardrobes are often made from it. Widely used in production:

• desks, coffee tables;
• cabinets, racks, chests of drawers, cabinets;
• beds;
• chairs.

The noble color of the wood allows you to make maple furniture for offices. She looks luxurious and elegant.

Heat transfer of firewood

Now let’s try to figure out which firewood is better for heating and gives off the maximum amount of heat.

The specific thermal output of wood is much lower compared to hydrocarbon fuel. Let’s say that for household gas its value will be 31.8 MJ/kg, and for wood – a maximum of 17.4 MJ/kg (birch and pine). It turns out that heating the same area of ​​a house requires, on average, a couple of times more wood. The owner will often have to visit the room in which the boiler, fireplace or stove is located. Especially during the operation of the unit in maximum combustion mode.

There are some methods for increasing the time between loadings of solid fuel:

• choose a heat generator or stove with a large combustion chamber volume;
• use firewood that gives off the maximum amount of heat.

Almost all brick stoves have a small capacity compared to solid fuel boilers, and during the heating period they require frequent addition of firewood. At the same time, the stove does not require a large amount of wood, and produces heat for a long time and with good intensity.

Burning wood in a stove

Manufacturing

As in any business, to begin with it makes sense to practice on simple products: small sculptures, lampshades, photo frames, mirror framing. Once the skill has been mastered, you can begin creating more impressive furniture with your own hands.

Preparatory stage

First, the layout of the product is well thought out in order to clearly understand what the output should be. It will take not only precise calculation, but also imagination to connect disparate fragments by texture or pattern. For example, the backs of chairs, armrests, footboards or headboards of a bed, legs made of curved branches will look more interesting than straight ones.

Then the material is selected. Wood of different thicknesses is used for furniture made from branches or roots: graceful thin knots for a lampshade, thicker ones for a chair or bed. You can use dry or fresh raw materials.

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The wood is dried slowly under a canopy, and at the final stage - in a room without heating.

Assembly according to all rules

In order for furniture to serve for a long time and be aesthetically pleasing, when making it yourself, compliance with the rules is required.

The ends of the roots are processed clockwise without pressure: first with a coarse brush, then with a drill, then with a finer brush. After drying, assembly begins.

Furniture made from branches is connected piece by piece in several ways:

• gluing;
• wedge-spike;
• mounting on self-tapping screws or screws.

The joints are sealed with wood glue.

Final finishing

You can make furniture from branches or roots even if they have cracks - this gives the product uniqueness and charm.

However, if such defects do not inspire confidence, they can be easily repaired with dark-colored epoxy resin, and then the product can be sanded.

The most interesting stage - decorating - begins after sanding, assembling and removing excess glue. The product is covered with several layers of stain until the desired shade is obtained.

Characteristics of firewood as fuel

Heating with wood in a private home has a number of advantages that are difficult to underestimate. And the most important advantage is its low cost. If you close your eyes to the price of natural gas for Russian residents, then wood and wood waste will absolutely take first place by this criterion. In addition, it is worth remembering that some of the settlements and houses in Russia do not have gas supply.

You can find out the price and buy heating equipment and related products from us. Write, call and come to one of the stores in your city. Delivery throughout the Russian Federation and CIS countries.

The undoubted advantage of heating with wood is its environmental friendliness and the feeling of comfort that it creates, emitting a pleasant aroma from fresh and burned wood. The owner has the opportunity to observe the flames in the fireplace or stove with a transparent panoramic screen that is built into the loading door.

Firewood for heating is inexpensive, but the owner will have to pay for it with personal time and physical labor.

And the main disadvantage lies precisely in this: you will have to work hard and prepare solid fuel, light the stove or boiler, maintain their operation by adding logs in a timely manner. In the case of only stove heating, it is difficult to heat remote rooms; in any case, it is necessary to use batteries. Installing a wood-burning boiler is not a cheap procedure, since it requires proper wiring and installation of additional devices.

Style

Maple products will fit perfectly into any interior. The plasticity of wood allows us to make furniture in a variety of colors and shapes. Most often this material is used in the following styles:

1. Baroque - implies a rich, elaborate interior. The rooms, decorated with decorative elements, are complemented by the splendor of furniture of the most bizarre shapes. It is this that plays the leading role and attracts the eye. For furniture in the Baroque style, maple is painted dark and the wood texture is highlighted.
2. Empire style is another decorative style. Coming from France in the 19th century, it is distinguished by its richness and abundance of detail. Empire style maple furniture is distinguished by symmetry, massive shapes, floral patterns and a large number of mirrors. Part of the decor can be made using bronze or gilding.
3. Classic – considered universal. Strict, elegant beds, wardrobes, and tables made of maple will easily fit into any environment and add sophistication to the interior. No paint is used when decorating, so the wood most often retains its natural shade.
4. Modern – characterized by spaciousness and a lot of light. Furniture made in this style is functional, simple, and goes well with any decoration.

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Thanks to its versatility, maple can be used in almost all styles. It easily changes color as well as shape, helping the designer get the desired result.

Maple furniture looks best in a modern interior decorated with contrasting shades.

Firewood for the stove

Now let's look at the following:

• how to properly heat a stove with wood;
• what kind of wood is best to heat the stove in the house.

Properly caring for your stove is not an easy task. Firstly, you need to monitor the general condition of the stove: there should be no cracks in the brickwork, and there should be no burns in the metal body that could allow smoke to pass through. Secondly, it is worth checking the draft all the time before firing, and in solid fuel boilers, inspect the loading door for complete fit.

The oven is heated like this:

1. Crumpled paper, small wood chips and small logs for the stove are placed on the grates.
2. The ash pan door opens a quarter, the chimney valve opens halfway.
3. Ignition of paper is carried out with matches without the use of various types of liquid fuel. After the flame becomes larger, it is necessary to add more air by opening the ash pan more.
4. When the fire completely engulfs the filling, you can add more wood and adjust the air supply for greater combustion.
5. You need to make sure that the room is not very hot and has a comfortable temperature.

Brick dacha stoves will last longer if you do not cause the firebox to constantly overheat. Ideally, choose the medium or minimum mode if the oven is already well heated.

As for metal heaters for a private home, they can easily be heated to the maximum level. This will allow you to heat the room in a short time, and after the need for heat disappears, you can simply maintain the heating. Of course, you will have to add a small amount of logs from time to time; a large stack is only appropriate for the night.

You should remember about timely cleaning of the ash pan, which must be carried out if necessary. But the need may be different, because you can use dry pine for the stove, and then the waste will be minimal, or you can put low-quality logs with high ash content in the firebox or add coal.

Below is a video on how to properly heat a stove with wood.

A wood-burning boiler for heating a house operates most efficiently in the “maximum” mode. Its main advantage in comparison with stoves is its high efficiency, but you must know how to use it. In this regard, professionals recommend installing a boiler for heating a private house using wood together with a buffer tank - a heat accumulator. This method is the most rational and makes it possible to take the maximum amount of energy from wood and use it to heat the room.

Maple wood and its varieties

At the lumber yard you can find a huge number of varieties of maple. There may be tiger maple, wavy maple, birdseye maple, red maple, soft maple, hard maple - and this is not a complete list.

First of all, soft maple and red maple generally mean the same thing. Despite its name, soft maple is much harder than many other types of wood (such as cherry). Soft maple is also often called tiger maple. And this is due to the presence of stripes on the wood, similar to the pattern on the skin of a tiger. The wavy maple has stripes that are correspondingly more wavy.

Hard maple often has more knots along the grain. Such varieties are often called "bird's eye".

For years, maple wood was used to make musical instruments. Maple boards are what you typically see when looking at the backs of guitars and violins.

Properties of wood

Among hardwoods, maple wood is considered the most valuable and useful. Products made from maple wood are easy to recognize, since its beautiful core rays are immediately visible. The main properties of this material:

• Flexibility.
• Beautiful colour.
• Wear resistance.
• Hardness.
• Strength.

As wood is steamed, its color changes. This is a very interesting feature. However, drying the material requires care. It is necessary to choose the optimal mode, since the wood can dry out and become deformed.

Possible shades

Maple furniture has a light brown tint. Due to such a light shade, a visual expansion of the space is ensured. Most often, this wood is used to create various cabinets, chests of drawers or other large structures.

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This wood is often used to create an unusual contrast next to dark upholstery, flooring or other large elements. The optimal solution for any room is considered to be maple parquet, which is abrasion-resistant and has high strength. This wood is often used to create durable staircases.

A special feature of maple is that after the wood dries, its shade can change. The material usually begins to yellow, so please note that the color may vary slightly. From light brown it can turn yellow or beige. These colors are considered quite attractive and interesting.

When purchasing furniture made of maple, you certainly take into account the possibility that it may lighten a little over time, so it is important to decide in advance whether such wood will fit into the interior.

Maple furniture shade options

Maple furniture shade options

Description of the species

Canada maple is a deciduous tree with a dense, spreading crown, light gray rough bark on the trunk (becomes dark with age). The branches are red-brown, smooth and shiny. The leaves of the Canadian maple are light green, located on petioles 6-10 cm long, turning red, orange, and purple in the fall. The flowers are small, yellow-green, collected in clusters of 8-15 pieces, the fruit is a lionfish. In nature, it is found in mixed and deciduous forests.

For planting in the garden plot, choose moist, fertile soil. Does not like stagnant water ; maple needs a good drainage layer. Young trees are covered for the winter at the first frost, adult specimens are winter-hardy. The tree can be damaged by gusty winds and hail.