Oak or almond

[BuddhaKat]

Oak or almond, as a hardwood, which is better? I just scored a supplier of both and I'm not sure which will be more attractive to my firewood customers.

 

[CountryBoy19]

From a quick google search I'm showing almond coming in just a little under oak. Almond is around 22.5 MBTU/cord vs. oak around 24-26 MBTU/cord (depending on specific species).

IMHO, depending on how fast almond seasons it may be more desirable than oak.

 

[woodhounder]

Oak will probably be more attractive unless almond is well known by you. Most people around here all want oak, although there is a lot of wood that is just as good or better. I am not sure how oak became the firewood of choice.

 

[Alan Smith]

http://www.firepit-and-grilling-guru.com/best-firewood.html

 

[TreePointer]

I haven't done it (yet), but I always thought I could charge a little more for hickory, apple, and other good cooking woods (like almond) and even sell in smaller quantities if I marketed it the right way. My brother got himself into a rib & brisket contest in Virginia this weekend and was almost desperate enough to pay a dollar/stick for apple.

 

[Henry G.]

I prefer almond. All the red oak around here tends to rot if left unsplit, and huge pieces of bark always come off during splitting, I swear I lose 10-15% that way of volume. But I still love oak. Peeps around here are around 50/50, but they both fetch around $300-350 a cord. I buy from an almond farmer for less than half that.

 

[myzamboni]

Almond is more abundant out here as it is a byproduct of the Almond farmers. Every 'x' years they need new trees. Oak out here is slow growing.

Get some of both and slowly ween your customers off oak and onto almond.