Gugi47
ArboristSite Hit Man
This may solve some questions in the Forum.
Firewood Heat Chart
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triathlete123
ArboristSite Member
The chart states that Larch/Tamarack is easy/med to split. Was splitting it today and usually frozen wood only requires one good swing to split it down the middle. I had to give up on a few pieces, for they were harder than hell and next to impossible to split no matter what angle I tried on them. Hardest wood I've ever split. But absolutely love the heat from it - fast to ignite and plenty of heat instantly.
Red Elm
Ridgerunner
I noticed that too, I split black Locust all the time w a double bitted Axe.
Green hackberry around here is as at least as dense as green cottonwood and is about the same as green mulberry. Most green pin oak, for example, is so dense that it won't even float. It's generally considered as part of the red oak family. Green honey locust is at least as dense as green white oak. There are indeed some questionable numbers in this chart for the density of green wood.
This chart may produce more arguments than it solves.
This chart may produce more arguments than it solves.
Gugi47
ArboristSite Hit Man
I have a other one here for BTU
If it has knots forget about hand splitting. And every tree I've ever seen has limbs right down to the ground.
Fantastic sauna wood. Actually perfect. It heats much faster than hardwood and lasts nearly as long.
Big_Al
ArboristSite Guru
Different species I believe. The eastern larch is what we refer to as tamarack here.
cre73
Always Lurking, never posting
OK help stupid here. What is "Percent of green ash"? Are we using green ash as a baseline?
I think the chimneysweep chart is probably the closest.
Seems that willow and cottonwood are higher than actual and elm is rated lower than actual.
olympyk_999
Addicted to ArboristSite
looks like it
Looks like it. I've seen that done on other charts as well. I guess it's some sort of standard. Regardless, all of these charts work with averages. In your growing area, the average can be higher or lower depending on climate and growing conditions. In fact, I've found differences in heat content and density from one tree to the next and even from one branch to the next on the same tree.
Yep. Stump and heartwood is usually denser than outer wood, knotty pieces are denser than clear ones.
I keep trying to tell that to my customers when I throw in some cottonwood. I split from big rounds and the bigger the round, the denser the heartwood. Eastern cottonwood often gets a bad rap because the difference in density and heat content between the smaller branches and the trunks is huge.
Likewise. I split most of mine winth just a Fiskars, The drier it gets the easier it splits. Once in a while I will get one tree or even a couple out of a grove that give a bit of trouble but nothing I would call 'hard'.
Harry K
They also rate cottonwood as easy to split. Caution: that means it's almost dead dry. Green cottonwood is mean as the dickens, stringy, and almost impossible to split. Elm is the same way, but only when green. When dry or after the bark starts falling off, most elm splits surprisingly easy. I treat cottonwood and elm the same way: season in the round first, split second. In addition, many species of hard maple are also not easy to split when green.
triathlete123
ArboristSite Member
Maybe I was trying to split a few pieces that came off the upper half of the tree which naturally has more limbs. I'm back at it tomorrow with a new fiskers. I'll choose a few different size tree widths to see if there is a difference. I want to use this wood in my stove, for it gives off fantastic heat, at least compared to the other species I have such as poplar and some pines and balsam fir, which is not even worth cutting for fire wood in my opinion.
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