Here's the deal: I've got an OWB and I'm just finishing up my wood for next winter. Well, along comes this guy, he gets my number from one of the tree service companies I deal with, calls me up and tells me he had a bunch of basswood trees dropped last year and wants to get rid of the wood. Some of it's cut in 2 foot sections, but he's talking about dropping 12 foot logs onto the back of my trailer with his bobcat. I've never worked with basswood, and the last thing I want at this point is anything that's either rotted or a pain to split. I'm not sure I even need it, it would just be topping off what I've already got. Bottom line, since the guy's so close (maybe 5 miles away) and it sounds like I'd be getting straight logs, then if it pops right open on the splitter and it hasn't rotted in the year it's been down, then maybe it would be worth my time to get a few loads. On the other hand...there's nothing worse than getting stringy softwood that's not worth the energy to split. What do you guys think? Easy to split, will season quick? Or stay away, I'll end up regretting "one last score"?
Basswood question
- Thread starter sw18x
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Basswood is shoulder season wood and it is not hard to split. Tough to beat logs ready to go even if it is not premo stuff. Make that long 5 mile drive and see what the situation is. You won't regrett it :msp_wink:
Brian
Brian
Streblerm
Addicted to ArboristSite
I just snagged some basswood along with some black walnut, sugar maple, and pine. It was only 1 mile away but I had to cart it out of a gated back yard. It is light, seems to season fast, and splits easy. No strings. If somebody offered to load my trailer with a bobcat I would be all over it. I think it is on par with aspen/cotonwood as far as BTU/cord.
This is your woodsnob test.
This is your woodsnob test.
This!
Where I live, the common thought is that pine, spruce, fir, poplar, basswood, etc. are junk wood. Can't tell you the number of times I've heard "That stuff'll burn your house down!" OK - sure, it's not ideal for most people, but if you've got an OWB - does the appliance care what kind of wood it burns?
Quick story: I was at the local grocery store one day and spotted a pickup filled to the headache rack with pine. On a whim I went over to the guy and asked if he was looking to get rid of it. He was! We exchanged some pleasantries, I gave him my address and now the guy comes to my house multiple times a week and delivers free wood! Sure, some of the stuff is rotted and not worth much, but the family loves a campfire. The majority of it is freshly cut softwood. The way I see it - I'll take some of the stuff that's truly junky to get to the stuff that's still worth burning to heat my house.
So, if it's worth the gas in your saw - I'd say it's worth throwing in your OWB!
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if you need shoulder season wood,,i suppose.. ive burnt basswood before,,its about the same as dried cottonwood. shoulder season only....and even then.......soft maple, is better than those two...
If the logs are solid it's probably worth it. The Basswood I've come across around here is usually half rotted even if it's still a live standing tree. If it's fallen even recently it's usually junk.
You may wanna' make time to go look at that Basswood...
It's been my experience that it don't keep well as logs, or even rounds... one year is more than enough time for it to make the turn into "punk", especially if it's been sitting in the shade and/or on the ground.
It's been my experience that it don't keep well as logs, or even rounds... one year is more than enough time for it to make the turn into "punk", especially if it's been sitting in the shade and/or on the ground.
zogger
Tree Freak
Like the guys said, light weight wood, good enough for "free, they load".
I keep and burn everything I have to touch. No waste=no want. Better to be ahead with lesser species in the pile any day.
I have a change jar, even the pennies mixed in with the nickels dimes and quarters add up eventually.
Unless one is extremely pressed for stacking space, and also has very little time to go find and cut anything but the best primo wood, if you are a scrounger, just take it.
By volume, the cord, wood is different, by dry weight, it is so close any differences don't matter as to BTUs. Lesser species can throw good heat, just have to split smaller (and take smaller rounds) and load more often.
I keep and burn everything I have to touch. No waste=no want. Better to be ahead with lesser species in the pile any day.
I have a change jar, even the pennies mixed in with the nickels dimes and quarters add up eventually.
Unless one is extremely pressed for stacking space, and also has very little time to go find and cut anything but the best primo wood, if you are a scrounger, just take it.
By volume, the cord, wood is different, by dry weight, it is so close any differences don't matter as to BTUs. Lesser species can throw good heat, just have to split smaller (and take smaller rounds) and load more often.
By volume, the cord, wood is different, by dry weight, it is so close any differences don't matter as to BTUs. Lesser species can throw good heat, just have to split smaller (and take smaller rounds) and load more often.[/QUOTE]
load WAYYYYY more often!!!:msp_biggrin::msp_biggrin:
load WAYYYYY more often!!!:msp_biggrin::msp_biggrin:
zogger
Tree Freak
load WAYYYYY more often!!!:msp_biggrin::msp_biggrin:[/QUOTE]
yep! and when you are home, or in the evenings or rainy days, or for a fast fire in the morning, etc..you can do that. Save the good stuff for long burn time needed days, overnight and your most cold weather.
There's a wood heating use for everything out there pret near. Especially free and loaded for you! And that is a dandy way to help get ahead with the primo wood, burn the easy to score lesser species when you can, leave the good stuff to season a few years.
I cut/stack/burn ash to willow. Matters naught to me, I can use it. Stacks keep getting bigger. In one year, last year, I went from a winter or two ahead, now I am staring at five years ahead, with a ton not split, 1/2 a huge oak cut up to drag home, two more big dead oaks in the yard, and a ton of smaller ones here and there laying around waiting for me to drag home.
And I am really just putzing at it, following my "if I touch it , I burn it" philosophy. Just doing branches the last few weeks, got around six logs in a pile to buck tonight, then the smaller stuff is cut to size with the mighty jawsaw (no lie, I am starting to dig this toy, it works as advertised on oddball loose branches, faster than anything else I have tried) and ready to go on the stack, about 1.5 wheelbarrows tonight, just putzing around with it in the evening. Every day it isn't pouring rain, I cut some smalls, or split rounds. Slow, steady, stacks get bigger and bigger. 15 minutes to half an hour, and that is in between playing with the dogs and petting the cats and other oddball chores around the house.
I am a plodder I guess, can't see getting all worn out in the heat when I can just do it this way, and saving small and oddball species I seem to be accumulating a decent amount. And it is not even close to work, it is all fun to me.
Now I *could* churn out a heckuva lot more here if I went at it like a real job, this is about as wood rich an environment as a boy could want. Access sometimes gets a little ..soupy..but hey, part of the gig.
I agree with most of the above. As an OWB owner, you can't be picky about your wood. With 1 acre of property and only one corner of that viable for wood stacking and processing, I'm getting pretty tight for space though. I scored a commercial job a few weeks ago that brought almost 3 full cords of pine (the good stuff - still haven't figured out what species it is but I got some similar stuff last year and it burned great), so I'm way ahead on what I typically stack for softwood. I'm going to check the basswood out tomorrow, and as long as it isn't rotted, I'll take it.
Exception to the "take anything for free rule" would be the boxelder I picked up last month. It looked like a straight trunk but there was some kind of twist to it that made splitting impossible. My splitter has a 5" cylinder and after fighting with one piece for 10 minutes (the splitter was just cutting through the twist), I gave up and went to chunking with a saw. Even the saw didn't like it much. I spent a couple hours bucking that damn trunk up and in the end it was probably a day's worth of wood, at best. Not sure if that's typical for boxelder but if I could go back and do things differently, I would have left that stuff to rot where it fell.
Exception to the "take anything for free rule" would be the boxelder I picked up last month. It looked like a straight trunk but there was some kind of twist to it that made splitting impossible. My splitter has a 5" cylinder and after fighting with one piece for 10 minutes (the splitter was just cutting through the twist), I gave up and went to chunking with a saw. Even the saw didn't like it much. I spent a couple hours bucking that damn trunk up and in the end it was probably a day's worth of wood, at best. Not sure if that's typical for boxelder but if I could go back and do things differently, I would have left that stuff to rot where it fell.
Johnny Yooper
ArboristSite Operative
10th season coming up on heating home and shop with OWB. I burn whatever wood species I can get my hands on, and yes, I've burned a lot of basswood. Not the best in the BTU dept. (I rank it about even with aspen) but as was stated in some replies here, works well for those days when it's not -15F with a 20 mph wind. I burn year round so a lot of these lesser BTU type species get eaten up from May thru Sept. when we're only heating for domestic hot water. We burn a lot of basswood and aspen up north in the sauna, two excellent types for a quick hot fire, and is also why I like them for the maple syrup evaporator. Light wood in color and weight, and splits like butter. If those logs are prime, some people would mill them into tongue and groove, with the branches/knots mixed in, it makes for some beautiful paneling.
yep! and when you are home, or in the evenings or rainy days, or for a fast fire in the morning, etc..you can do that. Save the good stuff for long burn time needed days, overnight and your most cold weather.
There's a wood heating use for everything out there pret near. Especially free and loaded for you! And that is a dandy way to help get ahead with the primo wood, burn the easy to score lesser species when you can, leave the good stuff to season a few years.
I cut/stack/burn ash to willow. Matters naught to me, I can use it. Stacks keep getting bigger. In one year, last year, I went from a winter or two ahead, now I am staring at five years ahead, with a ton not split, 1/2 a huge oak cut up to drag home, two more big dead oaks in the yard, and a ton of smaller ones here and there laying around waiting for me to drag home.
And I am really just putzing at it, following my "if I touch it , I burn it" philosophy. Just doing branches the last few weeks, got around six logs in a pile to buck tonight, then the smaller stuff is cut to size with the mighty jawsaw (no lie, I am starting to dig this toy, it works as advertised on oddball loose branches, faster than anything else I have tried) and ready to go on the stack, about 1.5 wheelbarrows tonight, just putzing around with it in the evening. Every day it isn't pouring rain, I cut some smalls, or split rounds. Slow, steady, stacks get bigger and bigger. 15 minutes to half an hour, and that is in between playing with the dogs and petting the cats and other oddball chores around the house.
I am a plodder I guess, can't see getting all worn out in the heat when I can just do it this way, and saving small and oddball species I seem to be accumulating a decent amount. And it is not even close to work, it is all fun to me.
Now I *could* churn out a heckuva lot more here if I went at it like a real job, this is about as wood rich an environment as a boy could want. Access sometimes gets a little ..soupy..but hey, part of the gig.[/QUOTE]
true dat..but for me..i only have so much storage room...in town...:msp_biggrin: and the city leaves me alone....when I first burnt,,any wood did it.. but now..i get calls all the time to take down diff species of HARD wood...no more soft wood..
I'm a firewood snob, and I have more storage space than I could ever hope to fill... but, with that said, I ain't a "scrounger" either. I cut right here at the homestead, I only have so much time for cutting, and I tend to make the most of that time... which means, with a few exceptions, I don't mess around with "lesser" types of wood, and I don't mess around with the small stuff.
Now I did say "with a few exceptions"... for example...
I wouldn't search out Black Walnut, but I had several along the north edge of the yard I wanted out. Dropped in or close to the yard, close to the stacks, made the work relatively easy so I did buck and split most everything over 6-8 inches.
I wouldn't target Silver Maple, but I have three in the yard for shade and if a branch does come down I'll burn it in the fire pit. And, this year a buddy of mine lost a big one in a spring storm, he hauled it over to me in a grain wagon already bucked and split... yeah, I'll take that. Besides, Silver Maple ain't "bad" fire pit fodder... the coals are short-lived but last long enough to cook a steak or even a pork chop.
And I will cut some "small" stuff... if I don't haft'a bend over to do it. When a tree is dropped some of the smaller stuff is held up off the ground, I back the trailer right under so it falls in the trailer as I cut and that first load of small stuff goes directly to the fire pit rack (if dead and dry enough).
But really, the only way I'd make exception for Basswood, Willow, Cottonwood and the like, is if it was brought to me like that Silver Maple was, already bucked and split... I ain't gonna' put any work (time) into it. I can't see using my "time" up on that sort of stuff when the same "time" could be used making better firewood.
And if that load of pre-bucked and pre-split wood was Box Elder... maybe I'd take it... maybe... if they stacked it for me!
Now I did say "with a few exceptions"... for example...
I wouldn't search out Black Walnut, but I had several along the north edge of the yard I wanted out. Dropped in or close to the yard, close to the stacks, made the work relatively easy so I did buck and split most everything over 6-8 inches.
I wouldn't target Silver Maple, but I have three in the yard for shade and if a branch does come down I'll burn it in the fire pit. And, this year a buddy of mine lost a big one in a spring storm, he hauled it over to me in a grain wagon already bucked and split... yeah, I'll take that. Besides, Silver Maple ain't "bad" fire pit fodder... the coals are short-lived but last long enough to cook a steak or even a pork chop.
And I will cut some "small" stuff... if I don't haft'a bend over to do it. When a tree is dropped some of the smaller stuff is held up off the ground, I back the trailer right under so it falls in the trailer as I cut and that first load of small stuff goes directly to the fire pit rack (if dead and dry enough).
But really, the only way I'd make exception for Basswood, Willow, Cottonwood and the like, is if it was brought to me like that Silver Maple was, already bucked and split... I ain't gonna' put any work (time) into it. I can't see using my "time" up on that sort of stuff when the same "time" could be used making better firewood.
And if that load of pre-bucked and pre-split wood was Box Elder... maybe I'd take it... maybe... if they stacked it for me!
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BrokenToys
ArboristSite Operative
i used to do woodcarving with basswood; made some duck decoys and stuff with it. it is nice stuff for that.
For Woodburning and OWB? why not! Like others have said; keep it dry and make sure it's not punked.
For Woodburning and OWB? why not! Like others have said; keep it dry and make sure it's not punked.
I agree. Basswood has about the same heat content and density as Eastern cottonwood. So, I believe that all you guys who complain about cottonwood and recommend using basswood instead for firewood need to reconsider.
Basswood is the slowest growing tree with also the least dense wood that I know of. On the other hand, locust grows twice as fast and has almost twice the density of basswood.
AIM
Addicted to ArboristSite
I'm a snob. Basswood gets left where it lays. Like box elder. I won't lift it up to load it.
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