Wood BTU list

[avalancher]

Anyone know of a link to a good reference chart for wood btu's? I have found quite a few, but they have a few draw backs. Either they have a bunch of species missing, inaccurate heat ratings for some wood, or the chart is hard to understand.
Found one chart that seemed to be what I wanted, till I noticed that it rated most species of hickory as medium quality.
What I would like is a chart that lists btu's, ease of splitting, amount of smoke, etc.

 

[Wood Doctor]

This one is not too bad:
http://www.woodheat.org/firewood/firewood.htm
Is it one of the charts you don't care for? Unfortunately, as you read down the list, the BTUs don't line up very well with the name of the species. So, you have to count down both columns. But, it seems close to what I have read before.

 

[Peacock]

Here you go..

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=32667

 

[wdchuck]

There's a couple sticky threads that have good information.

 

[mga]

i liked this one....

http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html

it's been posted here a couple of times.

 

[Wood Doctor]

i liked this one....

http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html

it's been posted here a couple of times.

MGA, my biggest squawk with that list is the red oak is rated Not easy to split. I have never had trouble splitting red oak. White oak is tougher to split, but even at my age, I can split straight-grained red oak with one swat of a maul. Only the crotch is tough, but that's true of any wood.

 

[mga]

MGA, my biggest squawk with that list is the red oak is rated Not easy to split. I have never had trouble splitting red oak. White oak is tougher to split, but even at my age, I can split straight-grained red oak with one swat of a maul. Only the crotch is tough, but that's true of any wood.

ok, boss....i'll take your word for it.

i wonder what they based it on.....?

ahhh....i went and checked....

based on data from: U.S. Forest Products Laboratory

i wanna job in that "laboratory" playing with wood all day.

 

[ray benson]

Here is one of several I have saved.
http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1554/build/g1554.pdf

 

[Wood Doctor]

ok, boss....i'll take your word for it.

i wonder what they based it on.....?

ahhh....i went and checked.... based on data from: U.S. Forest Products Laboratory

i wanna job in that "laboratory" playing with wood all day.

So would I. I cannot believe that any federal lab would post a list that said red oak was tough to split. I imagine a "few" of our members might somehow agree with them, but I cannot force myself to do that. I have split red oak with my maul and with a powered log splitter. Every time I split red oak rounds with a powered log splitter, I ask myself, "Why did I waste that gasoline?"

 

[mga]

maybe it was some college kid thinking that oak, being a "hard wood" would naturally be "hard to split".

LOL.....sorry, i couldn't resist.

 

[Wood Doctor]

maybe it was some college kid thinking that oak, being a "hard wood" would naturally be "hard to split".

LOL.....sorry, i couldn't resist.

ROFL!
I remember well my first huge red oak tree that I cut down. It must have weighed 42,000 lb and delivered at least eight cords. I split it all with the 8-lb maul that I still own today. As I hand split it, I said to myself, "Sure wish my house was built using this beautful old red oak tree."

Gypsy moths has wiped that tree out in two straight years of defoliation. In the third year, it had no leaves at all, so my Mac 610 and I went to work.

 

[Wet1]

8 cords out of a single red oak!?!?! Wow!

 

[iowawoodcutter]

So would I. I cannot believe that any federal lab would post a list that said red oak was tough to split. I imagine a "few" of our members might somehow agree with them, but I cannot force myself to do that. I have split red oak with my maul and with a powered log splitter. Every time I split red oak rounds with a powered log splitter, I ask myself, "Why did I waste that gasoline?"

+1 I love red oak. It is my all around favorite wood, especially since I hand split everything. Good heat, smells nice and easy to split. What more could you want?

 

[ms310]

heres the one that i like just because it is sooo easy to read and understand
http://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm

 

[Wet1]

^ that's the one I use as well. Quick, easy, and to the point.

 

[woodbooga]

I cannot believe that any federal lab would post a list that said red oak was tough to split. I imagine a "few" of our members might somehow agree with them, but I cannot force myself to do that. I have split red oak with my maul and with a powered log splitter. Every time I split red oak rounds with a powered log splitter, I ask myself, "Why did I waste that gasoline?"

+1 to that. Red oak is my personal fave to split. Yields real easy to the 8lb. maul - real satisfying watching the roulds fall to pieces. Even easier, I think, than ash, which splits good but sometimes the stringiness keeps the chunks from falling apart completely.

 

[J.W Younger]

pin oak is my favorite with a maul, its red oak i guess

 

[046]

also from the JUCA site... which probably has the most wood burning info on the WWW...

The Physics of Burning Wood as a Heating Fuel

http://mb-soft.com/public3/woodburn.html

 

[Wood Doctor]

also from the JUCA site... which probably has the most wood burning info on the WWW...

The Physics of Burning Wood as a Heating Fuel

http://mb-soft.com/public3/woodburn.html

Excellent article. Figure 6,000 BTU/lb of firewood. At an average of 4,000 lb per cord, that means my five cords that are ready to go will yield 120 million BTUs. If my stove burns an average of 50,000 BTU/hr, I can burn it for 2,400 hours continuously, which is exactly 100 days.

If I only burn it for an average of only 12 hours/day at full bore, that means I'll get through the winter (200 days) on five cords. But, if I start burning around the clock, I better lay in some more wood.

Forum, WDYT? You guys have enough dry wood ready?