These charts are based on density and volume with the premise all wood species at its molecular level is equal . That is not the case in reality . There are many variables that shift those around . Not all wood releases its energy the same way in the same manner . Much weight can be attributed to pitch and sap in some trees . Some woods take three years to season properly .Some of the " prize woods " are nothing great in my opinion. Some woods don't coal well even though they are dense some smoke and smolder a lot
Firewood Heat Chart
- Thread starter Gugi47
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windthrown
361 Junkie
That is true for any cottonwood, as well as most firs. Old growth wood is more dense and has a lot more heat. We have tons of black cottonwood here and I can get all I want for free. I do not collect it any more because it takes 2 seasons to dry, and it stinks like cat pee. Black C-wood is more dense than eastern c-wood species (which we also have here on farms and in the burbs) and other poplars here. Black c-wood gets really hard to split and cut when it is seasoned and dry.
The OP chart is not too far off of my experience. Though alder smells "Excellent" and is the preferred smoker wood and BBQ pellet here (as good as or better than apple). Too bad the list does not have more western firewood species.
D
Deleted member 116684
Guest
i've ben burning some dogwood recently that was very well seasoned. It was awesome. Had a lot of heat to give and was near impossible to split. We have a lot of them syin g due to a disease of some sort. I've taken out abroud ten so far from my yard and my neighbors. I've never burned any locust. Is it comparable to red oak?
Locust burns longer and hotter.
windthrown
361 Junkie
Black locust is more comparable to dogwood or white oak than red/black oak, not quite as dense or hot as either of those though.
Osage Orange!!! Love that stuff, thorns, ants, and Sparks.
Take all I can get. Black locust here splits pretty easy , did half cord w a x27 in couple hours, not rushing
Red oak, easist to split, takes too long to dry. Got some 2 years old, was down and dead when I cut it, and it still sizzles!!!! I hate sizzling!!!!
Take all I can get. Black locust here splits pretty easy , did half cord w a x27 in couple hours, not rushing
Red oak, easist to split, takes too long to dry. Got some 2 years old, was down and dead when I cut it, and it still sizzles!!!! I hate sizzling!!!!
Big_Al
ArboristSite Guru
I didn't realize there was different types of tamarack till today. Ours normally splits easy regardless of where it's at on the tree. Always an exception tho I suppose. First couple decades I split it with a maul or fiskars, never tried it frozen though. Now days the hydraulic splitter does it.
windthrown
361 Junkie
Of the 15 or so different species of larch, three are native to North America. Of those, two are used for firewood: Western Larch and Alaska/Eastern Larch. Both are commonly called Tamarack. The old Oregon license plates used to have a brown western larch tree on them, but people thought they were dead trees and not deciduous larch trees. So they changed them to be green firs. I have found that western larch splits about like Doug fir and burns with a little more heat. That stuff grows on the other side of the Cascades from me though, so I do not get much of it here. It is prized for firewood here. It is also a money tree here as well, and rated highly for use in wood frame homes (same rating as northwest Oregon/Washington Doug fir). Also red fir (mentioned above) is a common name for Doug fir because of the reddish heartwood. It is different than the Red "true" fir that grows in the Cascades, Coast Range and Sierras. I am burning Doug fir now. Damn east winds are colder than a witches' tit tonight.
windthrown
361 Junkie
This site has a lot of western and eastern firewood species and the BTU ratings. Note that we also have a lot of boxelder, black locust, apple, paper/white birch and sycamore out here in the west as well.
http://worldforestindustries.com/forest-biofuel/firewood/firewood-btu-ratings/
http://worldforestindustries.com/forest-biofuel/firewood/firewood-btu-ratings/
don't see any hickory on the chart. one of my favorites along with the black locust.
Hey I don't see my firewood listed!
I heat with what most of you guys would call 'poor firewood'. So far this year it's been 90% Leyland Cypress and maybe 10% pine. Got some tulip poplar coming up and the rest of the winter will be almost 100% pine. I heat with low density fuels mostly because I sell high density wood to people who must have 'the best' to burn in their fireplaces. They of course send most of the resulting heat up their chimneys.
An interesting read on 'How much heat is there in one pound of wood' and other information on the heating with wood process can be found here:
www.mha-net.org/docs/v8n2/docs/WDBASICS.pdf
The pdf that links to is also attached to this posting as a pdf.
A high efficiency wood stove pays for itself in multiple ways:
Jotul F600 CB
I heat with what most of you guys would call 'poor firewood'. So far this year it's been 90% Leyland Cypress and maybe 10% pine. Got some tulip poplar coming up and the rest of the winter will be almost 100% pine. I heat with low density fuels mostly because I sell high density wood to people who must have 'the best' to burn in their fireplaces. They of course send most of the resulting heat up their chimneys.
An interesting read on 'How much heat is there in one pound of wood' and other information on the heating with wood process can be found here:
www.mha-net.org/docs/v8n2/docs/WDBASICS.pdf
The pdf that links to is also attached to this posting as a pdf.
A high efficiency wood stove pays for itself in multiple ways:
Jotul F600 CB
101mph
ArboristSite Lurker
Was surprised to see how high the BTU's for the Apple wood was.
triathlete123
ArboristSite Member
Well I complained the other day about how difficult it was to split Tamarack. Yesterday I picked up a used Fiskers slipping axe (28" shaft). The edge was in really rough shape, but we fixed that.
Wow, it make short work of wood I couldn't split with a normal axe. I'm amazed how effective this tool is. Now I know what others have been saying about this axe. Seldom do I buy a tool as good as this. My other axes will be put in retirement.
Wow, it make short work of wood I couldn't split with a normal axe. I'm amazed how effective this tool is. Now I know what others have been saying about this axe. Seldom do I buy a tool as good as this. My other axes will be put in retirement.
windthrown
361 Junkie
Why? Apple wood is dense. Been burning that stuff here since I was a kid (lots of apple orchards in northern Oregon).
windthrown
361 Junkie
I burned 2 cords of Leland 3 years ago. It is actually pretty good wood (it was old growth though, and pretty dense). It was better than red cedar. People always trash talk pine, but there are many species that burn completely differently. I have a lot of lodgepole on my property and it is good firewood (sold as premium firewood around here). Then there is pinyon pine which is really good firewood and up there with larch. At the other end of the spectrum is white pine, which I would not process even if I got it for free. That goes up in a flash. The Utah wood charts are way to high for that stuff, and most others have it down around 14 MBTU per cord with willow, basswood, eastern cottonwood, and white cedar. Then there is tree of heaven (absolute useless crap) at the bottom of my list.
Car-guy2
ArboristSite Member
I agree. I live in the Midwest and consider hickory, white oak, and black locust the best firewood. Love the coals that hickory makes.
Wildwinger
ArboristSite Member
This chart doesn't distinguish between sugar and red maple
Or between white and yellow birch.
???
Or between white and yellow birch.
???
triathlete123
ArboristSite Member
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