Best wood to burn?
- Thread starter 460Ted
- Start date
Help Support Arborist Forum:
Rickmn62
ArboristSite Lurker
red oak is very good. If you split it into decent size pieces (split in half for 12" log, 1/4 for 16" and so on) stack it off the ground in an area that gets good sun and wind, it will be ok to burn in a year.1 1/2 - 2 years is better tho. I like to leave it uncovered until fall when we start getting wetter weather, then cover it. I live in Minnesota tho,, not Georgia 
,,,Elm is also a good firewood, tho often hard to split and it does leave alot of fluffy ashes,,,,, Ash makes for a good firewood, tho it burns very hot, a good wood to mix with other types. Burning just ash can burn your stove grate out......If I can find it, I have a chart that shows the various types of woods, and the rating for each as firewood. If you'd like a copy, just send me your e-mail address and I'll hopefully find it and send it to you.... [email protected]
,,,Elm is also a good firewood, tho often hard to split and it does leave alot of fluffy ashes,,,,, Ash makes for a good firewood, tho it burns very hot, a good wood to mix with other types. Burning just ash can burn your stove grate out......If I can find it, I have a chart that shows the various types of woods, and the rating for each as firewood. If you'd like a copy, just send me your e-mail address and I'll hopefully find it and send it to you.... [email protected]
460Ted,
Just left the Atlanta area. Found that there was a lot of Oak there available for free. Stack it off the ground and allow air to circulate arround and through it, keep it covered from the rain. Put in a high efficincy wood stove and found that one charge of wood would keep my little 1700 sqft home warm for the night. A good bit of ash to manage, but nothing to worry about, if you keep up with it. Had my chimney cleaned each year and have never had problems with it. Even burn some cedar now and then for the smell.
Pine is not very efficient as a wood to burn. But dry pine or "fat wood" makes great fire starting wood. It also seemed easy to find "fat wood" there, in quantities enough to start all of the fire I might want - even managed to bring a bunch here to Texas when I moved.
You will also find Hickory available there. Burns well but might want to keep that for cooking with.
Hal
Just left the Atlanta area. Found that there was a lot of Oak there available for free. Stack it off the ground and allow air to circulate arround and through it, keep it covered from the rain. Put in a high efficincy wood stove and found that one charge of wood would keep my little 1700 sqft home warm for the night. A good bit of ash to manage, but nothing to worry about, if you keep up with it. Had my chimney cleaned each year and have never had problems with it. Even burn some cedar now and then for the smell.
Pine is not very efficient as a wood to burn. But dry pine or "fat wood" makes great fire starting wood. It also seemed easy to find "fat wood" there, in quantities enough to start all of the fire I might want - even managed to bring a bunch here to Texas when I moved.
You will also find Hickory available there. Burns well but might want to keep that for cooking with.
Hal
I have found, in a fire place - not a wood stove, that there is an aroma given off from cedar. Had always heard that you should never burn cedar - because of build up. But have found that if the wood is DRY, it burns well and with no problems. Not that I would ever burn cedar all of the time, but once and a while it is nice. I do think that cedar has to be seasoned for several years before it is ready though.
Hal
Hal
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2004
- Messages
- 2,095
- Reaction score
- 277
When I lived in the Black Hills, all we had was pine and the occasional Elm that neighbors wanted to have removed. Since the climate was so mild, I had to burn the wood furnace pretty cool. I ended up cleaning the chimney every about every six weeks and had a pretty good build-up of creosote.
Now that I live in NW Minnesota, we have lots of oak and ash. My wood is all free if I drive to it and cut it myself. Burning green ash really helped me my first year up here. I had no time to get seasoned wood. It didn't start really well, but it burned good once I got it going. Left a lot of creosote in the chimney, though. Now, I only clean once in October and once in February just to feel safe.
Now that I live in NW Minnesota, we have lots of oak and ash. My wood is all free if I drive to it and cut it myself. Burning green ash really helped me my first year up here. I had no time to get seasoned wood. It didn't start really well, but it burned good once I got it going. Left a lot of creosote in the chimney, though. Now, I only clean once in October and once in February just to feel safe.
CNYCountry
ArboristSite Operative
Not too many people have mentioned beech. I'd say that and ash are my favorite depending on how cold it is and how long of a burn time I want. Beech splits nice, almost as easy as ash, but has about the same or a little more energy per volume than sugar maple, which is also something I've found is very nice for long warm fires. I love putting a 12 or 14 inch round of ash on my block, in the middle of the truck tire, and just going around with the splitting maul. 7, maybe 8 easy hits and I have 8 small chunks. Cherry burns hot and quick, smells good. Elm as anyone knows is miserable to split especially if it is cut standing dead, has been dead for a couple of years and is bone dry. It's like iron. Ripped with the chainsaw into chunks just small enough to fit in the stove it's good for overnight/away from the house at work wood because the big pieces burn slow and long. I tried a little dry hemlock and could barely get it to burn at all for some reason. I guess I never really noticed how much ash is left, ash management is not that big of an issue to me. I guess we're really lucky with the hardwoods in the NE USA... It's really a choice of better and best, not much of it here is really that bad...
BlueRidgeMark
Addicted to ArboristSite
Patrick62 said:
Other than that, it's great stuff!
Almost as good as Lombardy poplar!
Free is hard to beat, though. For free wood, I can clean out a few ashes.
Oak pallets work very well.
Beech makes great firewood, but there is non in my area. You have to go to the east quite aways before you run into it.
smokechase II
Addicted to ArboristSite
I'm just amazed at how my father-in-law burns wet alder. It works really well in this large furnace that heats a big big house. Holds a fire all night without having to get precise on damping the air flow.
Anybody else have a wood that burns well wet?
Yes, I will admit to jealousy on the variety of woods that are available in Western Oregon. Please, no more 'bragging' about Madrone.
Anybody else have a wood that burns well wet?
Yes, I will admit to jealousy on the variety of woods that are available in Western Oregon. Please, no more 'bragging' about Madrone.
BlueRidgeMark
Addicted to ArboristSite
DanMan1 said:
Dan, a beach is that thing at the EDGE of the ocean! I've never seen one floating!
Potatoe?
Rygel
ArboristSite Member
No mention of pecan yet- i did some side jobs this summer and kept all the pecan and cherry. Was hopeing it would burn good.
CNYCountry
ArboristSite Operative
DanMan1 said:
Heh. Either is right depending on which side of the pond (Atlantic) you're on...
CNYCountry
ArboristSite Operative
Rygel said:
I think most any nut tree wood is dense and pretty good to burn if seasoned well, no? After all, hickory and beech are nut trees and highly regarded by most who have access to it...
buckwheat
ArboristSite Guru
For the last few years I've managed to get a lot of red oak. It's nice wood that coals beautifully and puts out a lot of heat. Next on my list is locust, which is not as abundant but I still run across if clearing wood lots.
I also mix in poplar, which I use as "day wood". There's alot around here. It doesn't put out as much heat, tends to get dirty, and creates a lot of ash, but when properly dried it works well for getting a fire started fast. It also fits the bill in the early fall and late spring.
I don't know if it helps or not, but occassionally I'll be asked to take down a cedar; so I'll mix the split pieces into the pile thinking that it will help keep down bugs.
I've never paid for wood and I give alot of it away. After awhile word gets out and people just call when they need trees cleared out.
I also mix in poplar, which I use as "day wood". There's alot around here. It doesn't put out as much heat, tends to get dirty, and creates a lot of ash, but when properly dried it works well for getting a fire started fast. It also fits the bill in the early fall and late spring.
I don't know if it helps or not, but occassionally I'll be asked to take down a cedar; so I'll mix the split pieces into the pile thinking that it will help keep down bugs.
I've never paid for wood and I give alot of it away. After awhile word gets out and people just call when they need trees cleared out.
I burn about 90% green wood in my boiler. Its uses slightly more wood by doing this, but thats about the only differance.
Green Ash burns really well.
timberwolf
Addicted to ArboristSite
Burn what ever needs to be cut out, less balsom and spruce which I may start to burn in an outdoor stove to heat the garage.
For cold nights I like Iron wood, might be called Hornbean or blue beach I think. It's a junk tree anyway and chokes out the maple saplings.
low moisture content green. lots of heat, lasts well.
For cold nights I like Iron wood, might be called Hornbean or blue beach I think. It's a junk tree anyway and chokes out the maple saplings.
low moisture content green. lots of heat, lasts well.
bvaught
ArboristSite Operative
Oak and Hickory are my favorites in this area. My pa in law burns gum exclusively for a few reasons. One, he has few hardwoods on his land and it kills him to cut one. Two, gum trees in this area are a nuiance in this area and they grow back about as fast as you can cut them. Three, the btu content is actually not that bad, I would put it in between pine and oak. Gum absolutely must be dried, its moisture content is very high when green. In addition you can forget splitting gum unless you own a log splitter, It is impossible unless you are splitting pieces less than 5" in diameter.
stump doctor
ArboristSite Member
My favorite is madrone. Burns hot and is clean to handle and will even burn decent when a little green.
Blowdown1
ArboristSite Operative
Wood BTUs per cord (in million BTUs) (note, these vary from source to source, but these were the median values when I found discrepancies):
Osage Orange - 30
Hickory - 27.7
Eastern Hornbeam - 27.3
Blue Beech - 26.8
Black Birch - 26.8
Black Locust - 26.8
Persimmon - 26.4
White Oak - 25.7
Dogwood - 24.3 (how many trees does it take to make a cord?)
Red Oak - 24
High Beech - 24
Sugar Maple - 24
Mulberry - 23.7 ("junk" tree so at least it is good for something)
Yellow Birch - 23.6
White Ash - 23.6
Apple - 23
Douglas Fir - 20.6
other Birches - 20.3
Cherry - 20
Black Ash - 19.1
Soft Maple (red, silver) - 19
Red Cedar - 18.9
Pine (Jack, Norway, Pitch) - 17.1
Pine (Western, White) - 14.5
Pretty much can't beat oak in the east (at least mid-atlantic). Lots of it, splits great, burns well, seasons pretty quickly.
Osage Orange - 30
Hickory - 27.7
Eastern Hornbeam - 27.3
Blue Beech - 26.8
Black Birch - 26.8
Black Locust - 26.8
Persimmon - 26.4
White Oak - 25.7
Dogwood - 24.3 (how many trees does it take to make a cord?)
Red Oak - 24
High Beech - 24
Sugar Maple - 24
Mulberry - 23.7 ("junk" tree so at least it is good for something)
Yellow Birch - 23.6
White Ash - 23.6
Apple - 23
Douglas Fir - 20.6
other Birches - 20.3
Cherry - 20
Black Ash - 19.1
Soft Maple (red, silver) - 19
Red Cedar - 18.9
Pine (Jack, Norway, Pitch) - 17.1
Pine (Western, White) - 14.5
Pretty much can't beat oak in the east (at least mid-atlantic). Lots of it, splits great, burns well, seasons pretty quickly.
xring
ArboristSite Lurker
Oak sounds great but what do I do with all these Chinese tallows?
