DL, superstitions are often rooted in some type of fact. When we try to tease facts from the superstition... that's where I think we often go astray. I would be interested to hear more about your findings about timing of felling.
Right now the taps are in the maples, the sap is flowing, it is full of sugar. The temperatures and day length have triggered an enzyme reaction within the trees, stored starch is being converted to sugar and I believe co2 is the "pump", being released from that reaction to initiate flow. The old ADP/ATP cycle that I'd have to read up on to discuss. Sugar, starch, and cellulose are just different combinations and builds of C,O,and H. Right now there is a tasty fluid coursing through the maples' fiber. Tasty to an ambrosia beetle, I pass one tree daily that they have so thoroughly riddled that it is wet and can be smelled a half mile before I get to it. But, a powderpost beetle is more interested in starch than sugar and I've certainly had them riddle maple as well. They can convert the starch to energy, so from that viewpoint I've decided that timing might not be so critical to me, it seems if there is food, someone evolved to eat it.
The minor variations in moisture content are free water, the easy moisture to remove. I can't see that really affecting drying time.
You mention timing of the harvest relating to strengths, now that is of interest. Do you know more?
