Best wood mixture

[Big Briggs 37]

I would like to get opinions on the best wood mixture. For example I burned alot of silver maple last year. It burned kinda quick but burns down to powder, not alot of coals and starts very easily. I am burning elm right now, it doesn't start as easily, burns longer and leaves almost too much coals to the point I have to open the stove door and let them burn down to allow more room to reload the stove. I was thinking of mixing the two and get the best of both worlds. Anyone else try this type of thing? Maybe a oak maple mix? I have silver maple, pine, cottonwood, red oak, and elm at the moment

 

[moresnow]

Sounds like you get a nice mix of wood types. I wonder how dry your Elm is if its starting slow and coaling big time? It takes awhile to dry down. Not as bad as Oak!

Toss a pine split on your piled coals and leave the primary air opened up. It will fire up nicely and burn down the coals while kicking out some good heat. Maybe you know of this trick?
I'd burn the lighter species now until it gets real cold. Nothing but Pine for weeks here already. Works fine. How does the Cottonwood treat ya? I've wasted a lot of it in burn piles we pushed up clearing and grubbing. We have lots of it around here. I've put some through the stove also. Works fine for me.

 

[Big Briggs 37]

The elm was standing dead but I just cut and split it a week ago. I really need to get a moisture meter.

Cotton wood burns fine for me, just a little fast. I'll burn just about anything. I get more calls than I can accept from people I know to come get free wood so it's all different species. I try to get mostly hardwood but it doesn't always work out that way. This is my 5th burning season btw.

I'll try that with the coals, throw a dry split or two of softwood on top to burn down coals. Thanks

 

[Jakers]

I usually try to mix my loads with both soft and hard wood. The only time I try to load all hard wood is nights or mornings when I'll be away for hours and I need coals to get it re-lit

 

[moresnow]

I worked up a standing dead Elm that came down several weeks ago. Would have bet it was dry. Wrong. Very wet. Could not believe it!

 

[Big Briggs 37]

I believe it. The one I took down had 4 main trunks to it. 3 were pretty dead and dry. The 4th was so wet water came out of some of the splits while splitting.

 

[panolo]

Just ran through two standing dead elm I cut in september. Started burning Oct 4th and ran through the last of it on Tuesday. It was under 20%. Been standing barkless about 2 years. Burnt nice. Now my mix for the next couple months is ash, silver, box elder. About 80% ash. Got my warmest temps in the OWB so far with that mix last night. 1513 degrees. Had a nice silver split right on the coals to get the load rolling. Once I'm through these rows my cold season load will be 80% sugar maple and the last 20% will be elm, birch, basswood, and pin oak. Haven't burnt much sugar in the OWB but the little I have it seems to be pretty nuclear.

 

[panolo]

1/2 full in the OWB and I got 16 hours out of it. And it ain't warm out. 20 last night and sitting at 26 right now. Think I like that mix!

 

[U&A]

I would like to get opinions on the best wood mixture. For example I burned alot of silver maple last year. It burned kinda quick but burns down to powder, not alot of coals and starts very easily. I am burning elm right now, it doesn't start as easily, burns longer and leaves almost too much coals to the point I have to open the stove door and let them burn down to allow more room to reload the stove. I was thinking of mixing the two and get the best of both worlds. Anyone else try this type of thing? Maybe a oak maple mix? I have silver maple, pine, cottonwood, red oak, and elm at the moment

My all-time favorite woods to burn are oak of any variety, Black locust, wild cherry and Hickory and some black walnut.... no particular order. The black walnut does not burn well at all by itself but it will be the last thing in the stove and help put out heat for a longer amount of time.


In my opinion Cottonwood, Maple, beach, birch, and pine ( lighter woods) are great words to use to get the stove hot really fast. If the stove is cold I like using that kind of stuff to get it warmed up quick so it will burn the more dense wood efficiently.

If I could only pick one type of wood to have it would either be oak or black locus.



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[U&A]

I would like to get opinions on the best wood mixture. For example I burned alot of silver maple last year. It burned kinda quick but burns down to powder, not alot of coals and starts very easily. I am burning elm right now, it doesn't start as easily, burns longer and leaves almost too much coals to the point I have to open the stove door and let them burn down to allow more room to reload the stove. I was thinking of mixing the two and get the best of both worlds. Anyone else try this type of thing? Maybe a oak maple mix? I have silver maple, pine, cottonwood, red oak, and elm at the moment

When your stove is hot I bet if you fill it up with nice and dry Oak in just a few pieces of Elm it will last a long time and put out a ton of heat.


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[Marley5]

It's hard to turn down free wood.

I mix all kinds of stuff but not really on purpose, just whatever stack I'm working off of.
The only maple I have is sugar.....hot.

The only way I'd burn cottonwood or black walnut is if someone piled it up in front of my Oak. Lol

 

[U&A]

Did i say Oak?


Ok

Oak.


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[U&A]

It's hard to turn down free wood.

I mix all kinds of stuff but not really on purpose, just whatever stack I'm working off of.
The only maple I have is sugar.....hot.

The only way I'd burn cottonwood or black walnut is if someone piled it up in front of my Oak. Lol

I hear you on the black walnut. There was a church down the road from my house that had a big one fall over in a storm. It was partially cut up so I just went with my saw and filled up my truck.Pretty much all the wood I got is not getting split it staying as rounds so it was very east


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[Deleted member 150358]

Only thing I dislike about elm besides splitting it, is seems to ash like nothing else.

 

[Marley5]

Only thing I dislike about elm besides splitting it, is seems to ash like nothing else.

It really does.

 

[lknchoppers]

I burn a mix of beech & oak with a split of artisanal !!

 

[rarefish383]

A lot depends on where you live and your wood source, and how you use your stove. Here in the Mid Atlantic I burn a mix of White Oak, Red Oak, Chestnut Oak, Black Locust and Cherry. Maple, Polar, Ash, and lots of other woods are good for starters and warmer weather, and if you let your stove burn all the way out to clean it. I start my stove once in the fall and let the ash and coals build up till it's time to clean, and scoop out enough to make room, till next clean out. I scoop into a steel ash bucket and let it sit outside till the coals burn down. Load the stove back up, and even the Oak and Locust start right back up. Repeat till spring.

 

[rarefish383]

A lot depends on where you live and your wood source, and how you use your stove. Here in the Mid Atlantic I burn a mix of White Oak, Red Oak, Chestnut Oak, Black Locust and Cherry. Maple, Polar, Ash, and lots of other woods are good for starters and warmer weather, and if you let your stove burn all the way out to clean it. I start my stove once in the fall and let the ash and coals build up till it's time to clean, and scoop out enough to make room, till next clean out. I scoop into a steel ash bucket and let it sit outside till the coals burn down. Load the stove back up, and even the Oak and Locust start right back up. Repeat till spring.

I don't let the ash bucket burn down before reloading. I saw that and got a bit of a laugh.

 

[Melvin Caldwell]

The elm was standing dead but I just cut and split it a week ago. I really need to get a moisture meter.

Cotton wood burns fine for me, just a little fast. I'll burn just about anything. I get more calls than I can accept from people I know to come get free wood so it's all different species. I try to get mostly hardwood but it doesn't always work out that way. This is my 5th burning season btw.

I'll try that with the coals, throw a dry split or two of softwood on top to burn down coals. Thanks

I

The elm was standing dead but I just cut and split it a week ago. I really need to get a moisture meter.

Cotton wood burns fine for me, just a little fast. I'll burn just about anything. I get more calls than I can accept from people I know to come get free wood so it's all different species. I try to get mostly hardwood but it doesn't always work out that way. This is my 5th burning season btw.

I'll try that with the coals, throw a dry split or two of softwood on top to burn down coals. Thanks

I had an Elm fall in July. Cut & stacked it, hoping to burn smaller pieces this winter. I bought a moisture meter & figured I’d try it out on the Elm. On the ends it read 19%. I split a piece and measured in the middle. 60% moisture. Guess I’ll burn it next winter.

 

[Cody]

If it's really cold out and I need maximum heat, it's all oak. If I want extended burn time I'll mix in elm as it holds coals longer. Shoulder season is elm and ash mixed usually, or whatever I throw in there. Maybe that's why elm seems to coal up longer, is all the ash insulates it better? I don't know, the ash from elm is very light and powdery vs oak being a thicker ash. Ash firewood itself never seems to burn down 100%, there's always coals left that don't burn completely. It'll be 2020 before I get to burn a whole lot of mulberry or any honey locust, but even then that'll just get mixed in as well.