Mountain Mahogany - Heaviest Firewood?///Blaze King "distance run"

[Idahonative]

Anyone ever burned mountain mahogany? My cousin gave me some for a test I'm planning in our Blaze King. It isn't all that common to burn as firewood around here. It is found in the high desert here in Idaho and isn't very accessible. It grows really slow due to the short seasons and very dry climate. The rings are so tight I can't even see them. This stuff is REALLY HEAVY. Pics on the scale show this piece weighing in at 31.4 lbs. and it measures 8.5 x 17". This tree had been in a fire.

 

[zogger]

Never heard of it, I bet it is good though, real dense and heavy.

 

[Odog]

Where in the world did you find a piece that big! 4" is about the biggest I've been able to find around here. You're right it's heavy and HARD, it should burn like coal.

 

[firebrick43]

35 million btu's per cord. Hedge ONLY has 30 mbtu. Be careful! Hedge will melt down a metal fireplace or even an airtight stove if the air is left open and the wind is blowing good cause a really good draft. That would be worse.

 

[MattB]

We have manzanita around here that is pretty close and that stuff is gold.

$250 for a half cord easy, more if you're selling to people smoking meat.

Personally, I would cut it small and mix it with big chunks of soft wood.

Might be better used as bowls and cutting boards than firewood if it is as fine grained and old as you say.

 

[MattB]

Oh Yeah...and people have melted their stoves with full loads of manzanita. Be careful with your mahogany.

 

[Old Goat]

It is gold. It grows throughout the mountain west, but not in overabundance. As others have noted it does not grow very large due to its slow growth. I would love to have a bunch of it, but it is hard to find it on public land (BLM or Forest Service) were it is dead standing or naturally downed. That is what the goverment firewood permits require in Utah, downed or dead standing. You have to find a live stande of it on private land, and most of Utah is public / federal land.

 

[Landmark]

love good firewood but sounds like thats be beter for furniture or boards. but if you burn it sounds like it will keep you plenty warm.

 

[Idahonative]

Where in the world did you find a piece that big! 4" is about the biggest I've been able to find around here. You're right it's heavy and HARD, it should burn like coal.

My cousin spends a lot of time in the Owyhee desert, mostly looking for monster bucks and bulls and their sheds. He came across this tree that had been burnt. I told him I wanted some to do a "distance run" with our Blaze King since the wood is so dense and we really don't have access to hardwoods like they do back east.

You are right. That piece pictured above is huge as far as mountain mahogany goes. I would love to know how old that tree was...maybe hundreds of years. Rings are so tight I just can't tell. As you know, mountain mahogany really is more like a shrub than a tree. It takes a LONG, LONG time to look anything like a tree. I have attached some pics of some small limbs. Five small pieces weigh 38.6 pounds! Boy, what I wouldn't give for a truck load of that stuff.

 

[M.R.]

Years ago I seen an older two piece stock
on a shot gun made from this wood...
Beautiful, workmanship & wood!

 

[Odog]

I'd love a truckload of that too. That thing was probably a shrub when Louis and Clark came through!

 

[M.R.]

I'd love a truckload of that too. That thing was probably a shrub when Louis and Clark came through!

.
You're not alone! ;-)
In 3'+ lengths & if shorter as in already cut to firewood
length, I'd be noodling the better bigger piece's into
Squares & rectangles, then tuck away......until i could
plane and joint, bandsaw etc.
.
One might be surprised what the coarse/fine side of a
horseshoeing rasp will smooth up before sanding.
Make a dandy case holders on the reloading bench.
2&1/4 thick 5"+ wide 14+ long approximates
then drill 5 holes across in 4 rows leaving a larger
gap then another 20 more for a couple of boxes
with a Forster bit.
Or???

 

[Wood Doctor]

I think I ran into this stuff last year. Not native to Nebraska, someone must have planted it in their yard last century and it wound up at the dropsite. Or it was trucked in. That was the heaviest 8" dia. log I ever picked up. Nobody could identify it. I should have saved it for turning stock on the lathe. I imagine it is close to ebony in density or maybe even lignum vitae. It would not have floated in water.

 

[Odog]

.
You're not alone! ;-)
In 3'+ lengths & if shorter as in already cut to firewood
length, I'd be noodling the better bigger piece's into
Squares & rectangles, then tuck away......until i could
plane and joint, bandsaw etc.
.
One might be surprised what the coarse/fine side of a
horseshoeing rasp will smooth up before sanding.
Make a dandy case holders on the reloading bench.
2&1/4 thick 5"+ wide 14+ long approximates
then drill 5 holes across in 4 rows leaving a larger
gap then another 20 more for a couple of boxes
View attachment 390476 with a Forster bit.
Or???

That would make a great case block, be pretty too. I have some 100 year old mahogany I've been wanting to use, I might plane that up and make a case block. Now ya got me thinking!!

 

[Idahonative]

The weather finally turned cold enough to do the "distance" run on the Blaze King. Wanted to see how this mountain mahogany burned since it is heavy and full of BTUs. Loaded all I had from the pics above (70 lbs total) but it did not completely fill the stove. Had to add two large pieces of lodge pole in with it to fill the firebox.

Did a test run of some fruit wood we had a while back:
http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/wood-stove-recommendations.266561/#post-5041338

That run heated our home for 43 hours. The mountain mahogany ended up burning for 45 hours but the load wasn't 100% mountain mahogany. I would guess it was about 75%. If it was 100% mountain mahogany, I think we could have easily gotten another 6-8 hours out of it. At any rate, it feels good to be able to load the stove and 45 hours later open it up and have a heap of coals.

Loaded wood at 23:50 on 12/30.
Inside temp: 69
Outside temp: 9

04:58 on 12/31
Inside temp: 70
Outside temp: 12

11:55 on 12/31
Inside temp: 72
Outside temp: 22

16:07 on 12/31
Inside temp: 74
Outside temp: 20

00:03 on 01/01
Inside temp: 71
Outside temp: 8

08:54 on 01/01
Inside temp: 69
Outside temp: 10

20:55 on 01/01
Inside temp: 69
Outside temp: 13

Nice deep bed of coals at the end. Loaded up with lodge pole and in about 2 minutes, fire was going again.

 

[bayard]

what is the latin name for mt mahogany

 

[flotek]

That's an incredible burn time

 

[PheasantHunter]

I met an auto mechanic in Fillmore Utah that was heating his uninsulated garage with it. He had truckloads of it from a burn. It was 6-10" diameter. He burned it in an outside stove that blew hot air into the garage. The garage was nice and warm. He was nice enough to give me some for woodturning. In Montana 3-4" wood be big. It is very important winter food for deer and elk (along with bitterbrush).

 

[Idahonative]

what is the latin name for mt mahogany

There are different species but the kind we have around here is curlleaf mountain mahogany:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cercocarpus_ledifolius

http://forestry.usu.edspu/htm/treeid/other-species/curleaf-mountain-mahogany/

 

[CTYank]

Anyone ever burned mountain mahogany?

Its air-dried density (not weight ) is very slightly higher than that of shagbark hickory. Makes one grateful to live in an area where there are BIG shagbarks and occasional hurricanes. With road access, even. Too bad you're so far away, or I'd offer samples.

(Density = weight/volume Even AFA (American Forestry Association) gets confused on that. )