When he found one he had some questions about the wood which is the whole reason I am beginning this post.
As you know, Japanese maple isn't very easy to come by. It is very dense and very slow growing so finding one large enough to use for aging can be quite a chore. I got mine when I had to remove a 25+ year old tree in my front yard. This explains the process I went through to use it for aging.
First I cut down the tree. Then cut it up into usable size chunks, about 6 inches long. Then I let it age outside in the weather for 2 years, I don't know if 2 years is really necessary or if there is a way to speed up the process but I'm pretty old school in my aging methods.
Once the wood cured for 2 years I began cutting it for alcohol aging. I'm limited on my equipment so most of my prep work was done on a table saw. A few of the largest pieces were cut on a band saw but only to make them small enough to fit the table saw because the band saw burnt as much as it cut.
Here is an example of a 5" long log that was cut in half with a band saw.
