I hate burning oak, hickory, locust...

[H-Ranch]

So over past few weeks including the polar vortex I have burned a fair amount of oak and hickory that even the wood snobs out there would be envious of (and you know who you are.) I also burned a few chunks of locust that were too misshapen to stack properly.

Somehow I don't like it and almost feel guilty about not saving the good stuff. Mostly I try to burn wood that many turn their noses up at - pine, odd shaped, partially punky, limb wood, lesser btu, etc. When I'm home during the day I much prefer to put a few smaller loads of low quality wood in the OWB versus one big load of premium wood. Even when I'm gone all day I like to just fill it with a little more wood versus better wood.

This year I'm running low on shoulder season wood so the thought of burning hickory in April is not appealing. Time to pull a few loads of deadfall out of the woods.

Am I the only one that feels this way? It's OK if I am, just curious.

 

[Wood Hound]

Yes,your ok...I love burning junk wood,Maple that will not split good and ya can`t even stack,but talk about good heat...

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

If it fits in the stove and it burns, in it goes.

 

[4seasons]

Around here oak is so plentiful most people won't burn anything else. When I am cutting firewood I will drive past the oak to cut hickory and locust. But most of my wood comes from clean up jobs. I have finally burned through the years of oak that I stocked up on when my neighbor had her place logged. This year I burned mostly ash from my yard trees that EAB got. I actually have a load of pine in the stove right now from trees that a storm took down. So even though I am a wood snob, I am also practical and will burn junk wood that was easy to get or just in my way of getting to better wood.

 

[H-Ranch]

So even though I am a wood snob, I am also practical and will burn junk wood that was easy to get or just in my way of getting to better wood.

You don't sound like a wood snob to me - almost by definition if pine touches your stove you can't be.

Given 2 equal sources I would choose the higher btu wood, but given easy and hard sources I'll likely take the easy one. If that happens to be hickory then it's a bonus. Maybe I consider myself a wood opportunist.

 

[panolo]

If it fits in the stove and it burns, in it goes.

I'm the same way only I have to add dry to my list.

 

[Twowithone]

Dont mind burning Black Locust great heat and it was free.

 

[rarefish383]

Gee, I don't know. I've never split a knot, I leave them in the woods for bug habitat. Never put a short or odd shaped piece in the stove, they make the pile uneven, just throw them on the burn pile. I do burn Cherry and Locust. I did burn some Tulip Poplar once, because my friend called me a wood snob, but never again. I had to load the stove every 3-4 hours. Nope, just arrow straight Oak cut to 18". If it's more or less than 1/2" off, it goes to the burn pile.

 

[jrider]

Junk is about all I burn in my OWB. If oak or locust ends up in there it’s either a cutoff, partially rotten or a big nasty knot. Everything else gets sold.

 

[pauljoseph]

I am with 4 seasons. There’s so much oak around where I live that I don’t have to save it. Right now I’ve got about four cords of oak and two cords of Mulberry, plus some cherry and pecan. Also, a polar vortex is a pretty good reason to burn oak!

 

[crowbuster]

H-ranch. Im the same way. Low on shoulder wood as well. Im bad enough that I even keep my piles segregated as to kind of wood. bout had a caniption one year, had nothing but mountains of hedge from taking out fence rows for 2 yrs. Took a while to get over that, never make that mistake again. haha

 

[H-Ranch]

Im bad enough that I even keep my piles segregated as to kind of wood

My stacks are sorted by wood type too!

 

[H-Ranch]

oak is so plentiful

just arrow straight Oak

so much oak around

Actually out of oak, hickory, and locust, oak gets sacrificed first. Hickory is second because it has more btu's than oak, and locust gets saved for Armageddon because it doesn't rot. Mind you, I don't have the 80 cord locust stash that @turnkey4099 has.

 

[Jed1124]

This year I'm running low on shoulder season wood so the thought of burning hickory in April is not appealing

Keep in mind that hickory doesn’t keep like oak. The bugs love it. Keep it too long and the powder post beetles will have their way with it.

 

[James Miller]

My FIL is an oak snob. A couple years ago he developed pretty bad tendenitous and couldn't run the saw anymore so I took over most of the firewood work. First year I cut up a huge mulberry and he wasn't happy that it wasn't all oak. Now theres oak,cherry,locust,ash,hickory,maple,and mulberryon the racks and he dont care cause he doesn't have to do any work. I'm not picky as long as it's not pine or poplar.

First thing I grabbed when they said polar vortex was mulberry.

 

[al-k]

I will burn about anything but some times it's just not worth the trouble to get it split or make a separate pile. Mix all my wood together in the pile and try to very the size so I have shot burns and all night burns as I take it out of the stack. If I am around the house I don't mind throwing a couple of small ones in every couple of hours.

 

[Streblerm]

I stack everything together trying for a nice mix. I will burn anything I can get my hands on. Especially if it’s free, close, and easy to get. This year’s stack happened to be heavy on locust, mulberry, and oak all split and stacked for 3 years. I feel a little wasteful burning up such premium firewood in the shoulder season but it’s what I have. It would be more work than it’s worth to raid another stack.

On the flip side there was more than one occasion when I was searching for a piece of pine, poplar, or soft maple either to start a fire or when conditions didn’t require a long burning fire. I guess the grass is always greener.

 

[H-Ranch]

I stack everything together trying for a nice mix. I will burn anything I can get my hands on. Especially if it’s free, close, and easy to get. This year’s stack happened to be heavy on locust, mulberry, and oak all split and stacked for 3 years. I feel a little wasteful burning up such premium firewood in the shoulder season but it’s what I have. It would be more work than it’s worth to raid another stack.

On the flip side there was more than one occasion when I was searching for a piece of pine, poplar, or soft maple either to start a fire or when conditions didn’t require a long burning fire. I guess the grass is always greener.

That's pretty much how I run my operation right down to the feeling wasteful part.

 

[pauljoseph]

My FIL is an oak snob. A couple years ago he developed pretty bad tendenitous and couldn't run the saw anymore so I took over most of the firewood work. First year I cut up a huge mulberry and he wasn't happy that it wasn't all oak. Now theres oak,cherry,locust,ash,hickory,maple,and mulberryon the racks and he dont care cause he doesn't have to do any work. I'm not picky as long as it's not pine or poplar.

First thing I grabbed when they said polar vortex was mulberry.

I’ve never burned mulberry before, but from what I read it’s going to be great firewood.

 

[H-Ranch]

Keep in mind that hickory doesn’t keep like oak. The bugs love it. Keep it too long and the powder post beetles will have their way with it.

I did find a lot of tiny dust piles when the hickory was first split and stacked but now that it's seasoned a couple of years they seem to be leaving it alone. It's really one of my favorite woods to burn although I do tend to save it for polar vortex events.