Quality versus Quantity

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Messages
29,432
Reaction score
101,467
Location
MN
Thanks to recent logging operations (tops piles) and multiple severe wind storms I have access to almost unlimited amounts of aspen and it is all drive-to (much of it has fallen across my roads). Makes a guy question the decision to work harder to get better species. Seems every good chunk of hardwood I find needs to be skidded or carried which effectively doubles to triples the time needed to process. My sauna stove burns it all without complaints. Aspen burns quick but also hot, does not smell bad, and does not leave excessive ash.
 
I quit culling and being a wood snob years ago. Any wood I can back up to and get will end up in the stove. I also dont sort when splitting and stacking, first piece of wood I touch gets all my attention. I split as I come to it and I stack as I come to it and when its time to burn, In the stove it goes. That doesnt mean I dont have preferences, I prefer whiteoak and then redoak, but I end up with bradfordpears and popular a lot of the time. It all burns, some just faster than others. Really I guess any selective wood I get is the wood that is easiest to get is what I go for first. It dont get much easier than hooking up the dump and driving to a log landing and letting the loader operator place culls on the trailer. Lots of times, I dont even break a sweat.
 
In the past we have left a lot of cottonwood because we assumed it would burn to quickly, leave a lot ash, etc, etc. Last winter we had some nice big pieces and since it was easy to get we put some thru the Central Boilers. Could tell little to no difference in burn times or heat........ive not tried it in a stove.

Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk
 
I'm lucky in that all my wood comes from a tree guy, I drive up to the pile load. While it's definitely great when he texts to say there is Oak, locust, and such on the pile, I'm happy to do my bit and take lesser woods. Soft woods have the advantage of good kindling wood, good at getting things going and look good with lots of flames. I wouldn't go out my way particularly for hardwoods. They have more btu but only about half as much again so it's not worth twice the effort.
 
For instance, I LOVE burning tamarack in my sauna stove. It burns hot, long, and provides nearly instantaneous heat. However it only grows in swamps and rarely dies unless the beaver floods out an area. I cut one and slogged it out of the swamp but just not worth the hard work. Same with oak, it is almost always up on some rocky ridge and rarely near a road.
 
I'd go further for some of the aussie hardwood. wood that sinks when dried...wow. that blue gum and the grey box that cowboy has, that is over twice the btus of softwoods, even the best ones....but I'm not going to australia for it. Grow it over here and i suspect it won't be so dense, the eucalyptus we have is fairly soft. so what am i saying? Well its as much about hw fast the tree grew as what it is....so in a temperate and wet climate even your oaks may be mleh, or in a colder or drier environment your softwoods could be good (take dancan and his spruce)
 
I used to take the extra time to segregate wood. Found out if I mix some ash or maple with the oak I got better burns by keeping the oak burning. Now I just mix everything, last fire for the night I’ll add just oak for the longer burn. The only wood I really pass on is pine. That will start a fight, oh wait, that’s another thread.
 
Just about anything works in the stove. Once you close the door you can't smell it and it all burns and provides heat just like any other wood.
I have my preferences like everyone else but in a heater, it doesn't really mater.
Now a fireplace is different. For that I like wood that smells good and dosen't throw sparks everywhere.
 
I use to be the same, only thing I would burn in the house was oak or elm, but if it's dry I don't really care anymore. Either way it'll be at least half oak that I have, I'm still not a fan of ash but if it'll fit in the wood stove in the house when it's split, that's where it's going to get burnt. I actually want to try some maple to see how it does, also have some linden trees I use as campfire wood but might have to throw some in some time. If nothing else, it's good for getting a fire going. I've got some cedar split somewhere. I'm also one of those horrible people that cuts a live tree every Christmas for in the house, and I usually split that and burn it the following year.
 
If your spoiled for choice you can be selective. But personally I like a bit of variety mixed into the woodpile. Some fast burning stuff is good when the fire is near out and you want to quickly get the burn up. I'm more concerned about how well seasoned the wood is than species but I'm spoiled for hardwoods, Its actually hard for me to find softwoods & I kinda value them as their kinda rare!:surprised3: I removed some pines a while ago & they had no rott, no ant nests, not centerpedes or spider nests, no wichity-grubs and was flat out fun to cut & noodle. Your saw would cut at an extra 1k RPM, I could run RS full chisel and send rooster tails of noodle into abliss. Split easy, moved easy, smelt funky and chains lasted more than a tank or so of gas! Woot woot it was like a hot-saw party!:rock:
 
If the winch cable reaches it and the wood is solid, we pull it out. True, locust, oak, hickory are what I want, but if that big pine is dead and solid, down she goes. A friend has a pile of wood that was moved so that he could have a small pond, a couple of trailer loads. Easy to get to, solid, and already in log length. Can't get much easier.

Shea
 
I've got oak, sugar maple, box elder, silver maple, elm, hackberry, basswood, and some birch in my stacks. If it's dry it don't matter. All is getting burnt this year. I love easy wood as well. I don't care much for cottonwood or that poplar that you see lining everyone's driveway but if I can chuck it in the back of the truck or trailer without much effort I'll grab it. I have a field row to clear this fall once the beans are out and it is 75% box elder. Just get to limb and throw the logs in the trailer. Easy as it gets and I'm perfectly fine with 5 cords of it because the effort won't be much.
 
I only have two criteria for wood sepcies that I won't take: 1. If it smells bad burning, and & 2. if it is hard to split. This pretty much rules out Poplar & Sweet Gum for me. Poplar because I can't stand the smell, and Sweet Gum because you pretty much tear it in half as opposed to splitting it. Obviously there is some wood I prefer over other, I don't love pine or silver maple, but it splits easy and burns without a stench, so I have some of each ready to go for this fall. Start with pine, work through to the Maple, then on to hard woods when it gets colder.
 
I used to take the extra time to segregate wood. Found out if I mix some ash or maple with the oak I got better burns by keeping the oak burning. Now I just mix everything, last fire for the night I’ll add just oak for the longer burn. The only wood I really pass on is pine. That will start a fight, oh wait, that’s another thread.
I do just about the same! I try and teach the wife and kids to put some Ash or cherry during the day and save the locust and oak for the evening. I get blank stares....how do you know the difference? Ugh! Sometimes I leave piles in front of the stove! Lol!
 
Back
Top