general wood question

[bassman]

I have a wood guy that will sell me a full cord of white popalar for $80 dropped off in my yard .
He also has birch for $275 a cord.
I am thinking of trying a days worth of birch to see how much better it is than popalar.
for the money I can't see it burning that much better or am i wrong??


I will be doing this test in my indoor wood stove .

 

[wildbio]

depending on the birch species it will have twice the btu's per unit weight than poplar. It will burn a lot hotter and longer, provide better coals, and produce less ash.

 

[windthrown]

Yah, poplar is in the cottonwood family, and as such is really sucky for firewood. In an OWB it might be OK (throw in more often) but burning it inside? I would not bother with it. Low heat, lots of ash, burns fast.

Basically the rule of thumb is the heavier the wood, the more heat value it will have. Hence, wood like oak, madrone, and hickory that are dense and heavy have a lot of heat value when burning. Light woods, like willow, cottonwood, and poplar have far less heat value (about half of that of the heavier woods listed prior).

 

[bassman]

makes sence .
I just wish we had more hardwood around so the stuff we do have wasn't so pricy.

 

[hoot gibson]

basswood , not to bust your bubble , but where i live they advertise in the paper from 60 to 125.00 a cord for seasond hard wood . i find it funny the cost difference between states , h

 

[Wood Scrounge]

I burn a lot of black/sweet birch and love it, I would go with the birch.

 

[A. Stanton]

I'm burning some black willow right now that I worked hard to get and split. Popular is rated close or almost the same as black willow. And after having burned the black willow I would tell you to stay clear of the popular. I find that the black willow runs the temperature on my wood stove 4 degrees less than the oak or maple.

 

[Festus Haggen]

runs the temperature on my wood stove 4 degrees less ....

? Can you clarify that? I think maybe you meant 40 or 400?

 

[Rowan]

275 a cord for birch???? where do you live?

Just curious.... that seems aweful expensive for birch..... hope you live near by, I got a heck of a deal for you.

 

[A. Stanton]

To clarify: with good hard wood, I can bring the temperature in my house to about 72; with the black willow, I'm only able to bring it to 69.
Plus, I'm forever feeding those willow logs.
Hope this helps.

 

[Festus Haggen]

Makes sense now. I keep wood like poplar and stuff that's maybe on its way out, but not really punky yet for the spring and fall. Fire is out by morning, house is still warm. I could get dump trucks full of poplar here for free if I wanted it, but it's not worth the fuel cost to haul it anywhere. Too much hardwood around here to mess with anything sub-par.

 

[ironpig70]

just something i have found here in oregon for cheaper/free firewood is craigs list. many folks don't have stoves/fireplaces that burn wood and have trees come down or large limbs and just want said wood gone. if you got a saw it may be a good place to look/advertise said services.

 

[windthrown]

basswood , not to bust your bubble , but where i live they advertise in the paper from 60 to 125.00 a cord for seasond hard wood . i find it funny the cost difference between states , h

Wood was that around here 2 years ago. Now it is $125-175 a cord. In Portland, its $300. SF bay area, now up to $400.