Beech?

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johnha

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I recently acquired a stash of beech wood, which I have little experience with. According to the charts I've consulted, its got a pretty high BTU/cord rating so I'm quite pleased in that respect.

Any ideas on dry time as compared to say, oak and maple?

I think I'm going to like sylvaticus. :D

Also curious as to why I haven't run into more of it in 6 years of 'collecting' as it seems to be a fairly common tree here in SE Pennsyltucky.

TIA
 
Well Beech is really really bad. I can be down there is afternoon and have it all off your ground. Its a pain to split, and the smell well the smell is that bad that you shouldn't be around.

Beech burns great. I love it. I try to get a full tri-axle load but went with a mix. If I could have beech I would cut and split it all day. The best memories that I have growing up is being in the woods cutting beech trees down. The smell is out of this world to me....

I burn a lot of beech. It burns great. Nice smell through out the house.

BUT IF YOU WANT TO GET RIDD OF SOME JUST STAY THE WORD!!!!! :)
 
Thanks Scott, I'll suffer through it since I already split the stuff.

What's your experience with drying time?
 
johnha said:
I recently acquired a stash of beech wood, which I have little experience with. According to the charts I've consulted, its got a pretty high BTU/cord rating so I'm quite pleased in that respect.

Any ideas on dry time as compared to say, oak and maple?

I think I'm going to like sylvaticus. :D

Also curious as to why I haven't run into more of it in 6 years of 'collecting' as it seems to be a fairly common tree here in SE Pennsyltucky.

TIA
I'm in Emmaus, about 75 minutes North of Philly, so I can't be too far from you, and I've been "collecting" firewood since '89, and I find Beech to be around but still-standing; not much down on the ground available for firewood. I once saw one that was downed, but it was in a pretty remote area, so I couldn't get up close to it. Since I hadn't ever had much more than an odd piece here and there, I asked for permission to cut it up and take it out. The landowner said "if you feel like doing all that work go for it". I walked each cut-up round out through the rocks, gulleys, etc-75 steps for each round! But it was worth it-not only did I get great exercise, but I found out that Beech is GREAT firewood-it burns with a bright, cheery flame, burns a LITTLE bit fast but not real bad, and throws nice heat. And it seemed to dry pretty rapidly, and despite reading that it's tough to split, I split every round of that with a sledge and wedge-this one split fairly easy. Good luck and enjoy it! :cheers:
 
Figured Id chime in since this seems to be the all P.A. thread.;) I felled one in my yard last year, the smaller stuff didnt take long to dry and Im working on the trunk sections this year.

Seems to burn pretty good, good to get your coal bed blazing before throwing on some oak or other hard woods.


Jonha, where are you located? Ive got a truck load of poplar if your interested. I had a large tree come down in the last big storm we had and I cant use all the poplar that I have. Only seems good for starting fires and relighting dying coal beds.


Light as balsa, burns like newspaper. Works good if you are near by and can stuff the stove all day.
 
The drying time is some what fast. I did all my cutting and splitting in the early spring and it looks and feels dry now. I would feel safe to throw it in the stove now. You can look at one of my post just down the page "My wood Pile". There is always alot of ants in the beech. I always have a gallon or 2 of ant / termite killer beside the splitter. We split a couple and it just looked like black water running out!

Did you look at the post "Monster Red Oak". That was from down in your neck of the woods. Its southeast of Kutztown.
 
PA Woodsman you are close to Longswamp, PA. Did you see the "Monster Red Oak". It is worth stopping by to look at this thing. It is amazing!!
 
RaisedbyWolves, my post office is Lansdale but I'm actually in Montgomery Township.

Scott76 I had no ants in what I split, probably a face cord. Where is the monster oak in Longswamp? I'm not far away from there.
 

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