Firewood Heat Chart

[turnkey4099]

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.

I cut one Cottonwood back in the 70s and that is the last one I will every cut. Nothing would split it, wedges just sunk in, ax and maul the same. So I figured to let it dry another year. Same story. I finally had to cut every 16" round intp twp 9
rounds before the splitter would work on it.

I was told that cottonwood was a preferred wood for barn floors back when. I can see why

Harry K

 

[101mph]

Why? Apple wood is dense. Been burning that stuff here since I was a kid (lots of apple orchards in northern Oregon).

I just didn't know. I've never seen any BTU charts listing apple wood so I didn't expect fruit tree wood to be good for heat.

I know now.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I cut one Cottonwood back in the 70s and that is the last one I will every cut. Nothing would split it, wedges just sunk in, ax and maul the same. So I figured to let it dry another year. Same story. I finally had to cut every 16" round intp twp 9" rounds before the splitter would work on it.

I was told that cottonwood was a preferred wood for barn floors back when. I can see why.

Harry K

Eastern cottonwood heats lots of cabins. It gets a bad rap because guys try to split it green. I was unaware that eastern cottonwood even grew out west that far into the state of Washington. Do you have any cottonwood trees out there that grow get this big?

 

[windthrown]

We have black cottonwood here (Populus trichocarpa, AKA: balsam poplar and California poplar) up and down the western US and Canada, which is the largest of the cottonwoods in North America. They can get HUGE around here, bigger than what you have there. Splitting or cutting it dry is as bad or worse than splitting/cutting it green. They make mostly pallets out of it here, and it is used as pulp wood for making paper. No one that I know will cut it for firewood, unless they are cleaning up their own lots and then it is usually burned as slash. Eastern c-wood species, boxelder, black locust, fruit and nut trees, and a lot of other tree species were all brought out here by people during the wagon train days and planted on homesteads and farms. There is a place a few miles from here where there was a town 100 years ago, but all that is left are the black locust trees that they planted. They planted it and then used it mainly for fence posts out here. Honey locust does not do well this side of the Cascades (west side, they get rot). Black locust is an invasive species in the Cascades. I have gotten and burned lots of it because people think it is hard to burn here for some reason.

 

[windthrown]

Here is a photo I pulled off the net of black c-wood here in the west someplace. I have seen them bigger than this though.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Here is a photo I pulled off the net of black c-wood here in the west someplace. I have seen them bigger than this though.

View attachment 476804

Truly amazing. I'd also love to see the top of that monster. What also amazes me is how long some of these trees live. A few cottonwoods here have been known to last 100 years. They make poplar trees look like weeds.

 

[windthrown]

C-wood, poplar and aspens are all poplars, actually. Except tulip poplar which is actually a magnolia. Black c-wood is called poplar most places that it grows in the west. The largest black cottonwood in the world is located in Willamette Mission State Park just north of Salem, Oregon. The beastie was 5' taller at one time, but now measures 155 ft. high, and the trunk is 9' 3" ft. DBH. It is estimated to be 220 and 250 years old (scaled back from when the sign was made). Here is a photo from a distance.

 

[Gypo Logger]

Willow, depending upon species and how old pumps out the British Thermal Units like Jack the Bear.

 

[windthrown]

I pass on willow. Hard on saw chains and rots too fast here in the stacks. Not much heat either. They are in the same family as poplars/c-wood. We have about 10 native species here that are all small to medium, and then we have lots of the weeping monsters. Good trees to plant for fast growth and erosion control. Beavers love them, but so far they have not gotten me laid.

 

[turnkey4099]

I just didn't know. I've never seen any BTU charts listing apple wood so I didn't expect fruit tree wood to be good for heat.

I know now.

Every fruitwood tree of any species I have cut has made excellent firewood.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

Eastern cottonwood heats lots of cabins. It gets a bad rap because guys try to split it green. I was unaware that eastern cottonwood even grew out west that far into the state of Washington. Do you have any cottonwood trees out there that grow get this big?

I don't know what the species are, the ones out here are native to the region. Yes I have seen them that big and bigger.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

We have black cottonwood here (Populus trichocarpa, AKA: balsam poplar and California poplar) up and down the western US and Canada, which is the largest of the cottonwoods in North America. They can get HUGE around here, bigger than what you have there. Splitting or cutting it dry is as bad or worse than splitting/cutting it green. They make mostly pallets out of it here, and it is used as pulp wood for making paper. No one that I know will cut it for firewood, unless they are cleaning up their own lots and then it is usually burned as slash. Eastern c-wood species, boxelder, black locust, fruit and nut trees, and a lot of other tree species were all brought out here by people during the wagon train days and planted on homesteads and farms. There is a place a few miles from here where there was a town 100 years ago, but all that is left are the black locust trees that they planted. They planted it and then used it mainly for fence posts out here. Honey locust does not do well this side of the Cascades (west side, they get rot). Black locust is an invasive species in the Cascades. I have gotten and burned lots of it because people think it is hard to burn here for some reason.

Same here, only find BL around farmsteads with an occasional patch platnted in out-of-way (non farmable) places. Locust borer moved in here back in the 90s, killed a lot of them. I scored big time, best was a 10 acre clear cut of very mature (read BIG) BL. Atg one time I had around 80 cord in my stash, it is now down around 65. I'm mixing it with Willow to make the supply last

Harry K

 

[windthrown]

I don't know what the species are, the ones out here are native to the region. Yes I have seen them that big and bigger.

Harry K

The ones here are a different species than the several that they have back east. Unless it was planted on a homestead out here from eastern stock.

 

[turnkey4099]

Willow, depending upon species and how old pumps out the British Thermal Units like Jack the Bear.

Yep, good firewood as long as one is willing to feed the fire often. I like it and a buddy changed from BL to Willow for heating his shop. Quick hot fires.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

I pass on willow. Hard on saw chains and rots too fast here in the stacks. Not much heat either. They are in the same family as poplars/c-wood. We have about 10 native species here that are all small to medium, and then we have lots of the weeping monsters. Good trees to plant for fast growth and erosion control. Beavers love them, but so far they have not gotten me laid.

"hard on saw chains"? I have never seen that and I have cut hundreds of cords of it. Still cutting up to 10 cord year. Over here on the dry side of Washington, I have had it in stacks for over three years, piled directly on the ground and no loss to rot, not even the bottom layer.

Harry K

 

[windthrown]

Same here, only find BL around farmsteads with an occasional patch platnted in out-of-way (non farmable) places. Locust borer moved in here back in the 90s, killed a lot of them. I scored big time, best was a 10 acre clear cut of very mature (read BIG) BL. Atg one time I had around 80 cord in my stash, it is now down around 65. I'm mixing it with Willow to make the supply last

Harry K

You lucky dog. I mean, YOU SUCK! I got several loads of BL here. One was from an arborist that has 50+ cords of mixed species (mostly fir) stacked on his lot. He said that BL did not burn well. I took about a cord of split and dry BL off his hands (free) and it burned great. The BL that I have now is from another tree that was taken down in East Portland. They did not have a fireplace, so I removed a trailer load. I still have 1/4 cord of that for the coldest nights, like last week when it was in the low 20s here.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I don't know what the species are, the ones out here are native to the region. Yes I have seen them that big and bigger.

Harry K

I think WindThrown called them black cottonwood (above). I had no idea they hot that big and lived that long. You are also right about fruitwood trees for firewood. This year I burned a truckload of apricot and was very pleased with the heat content. It didn't throw sparks, either. In the past, I've had really good luck with pear, crabapple, hackberry, and plum. If you let pear wood dry a few months before splitting it, the rounds will break apart and sound like a cherry bomb when they finally give way to the splitter's pressure. This is especially true for Bradford pear and Cleveland pear.

 

[windthrown]

"hard on saw chains"? I have never seen that and I have cut hundreds of cords of it. Still cutting up to 10 cord year. Over here on the dry side of Washington, I have had it in stacks for over three years, piled directly on the ground and no loss to rot, not even the bottom layer.

Harry K

Willow bark is notorious for having a lot of grit and sand in it that is hard on chains. I have had many discussions on that here and other wood burning sites. We had a bunch of old growth willows on the ranch I lived on in Southern Oregon. I dropped over a dozen of them. Chains sparked like mad when cutting it. The wood rotted fast in the stacks, even when it was 'dry', and did not have much heat value (we had an OWB there and burned 10-12 cords a year). That was in the coast range, and we got over 120 inches of rain there a year. I 'only' get 80 inches of rain here a year. I pass on: willow, cottonwood, poplar (unless its tulip), basswood, tree of heaven, white pine, sycamore, and grand fir. I seek out: madrone, white oak, black locust, bay, golden chinquapin, apple, cherry, black oak, larch, Doug fir, dogwood, red alder (BBQ wood), hemlock, and lodgepole pine. I have collected and burned a lot of other species here as well. Portland and its burbs are my hunting and harvesting grounds. Up here in the Cascades every tree is spoken for 3 times over, including culls and anything over an inch in diameter. In southern Oregon I could collect all the post slick cut culls I wanted of madrone, Doug fir tops and splits, chinquapin and BL maple. Up here? Never happened.

 

[Gypo Logger]

I pass on willow. Hard on saw chains and rots too fast here in the stacks. Not much heat either. They are in the same family as poplars/c-wood. We have about 10 native species here that are all small to medium, and then we have lots of the weeping monsters. Good trees to plant for fast growth and erosion control. Beavers love them, but so far they have not gotten me laid.

The willow I'm refering to is Beb Willow, also known as diamond willow. Some of them are 350 years old plus.
It's compares to cherry and smells nice like split beaver. Lol

 

[triathlete123]

How do you find jack pine to split? I found it a little challenging today, even though I was using a fiskers. It seems as though some pieces would rather bust up before they would split.

Btw, here is the used fiskers I picked up the other day. A most impressive tool. I believe this might be a "super splitter", with a 28" handle with orange on the bottom, I'm rather liking the 28" handle now. It says made in Finland on the axe.