Nuzzy
Trail Gnome
Red oak is my cold time wood of choice. I even positioned it in the basement woodpile so that I'd be reaching it by Jan (having burnt black walnut and elm up until now). 
Time to burn the good stuff, whats your preference?
- Thread starter boostnut
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BlueRidgeMark
Addicted to ArboristSite
Y'all would be astounded at how much primo firewood is pushed into piles and burned or simply left to rot on log decks around here.
You got that right. I could bury myself in oak if I had the time to haul it. All for free, too.
:hmm3grin2orange: Now thet raht thar is funny, I don't care who you are!
Pain Cow
Addicted to ArboristSite
Silver Maple
lots of it!
I sold all of the good stuff for cash and since the Silver burns a little bit better than the cash it was my only option. That and the funny look from the store clerk when I tried to use a couple of pcs of firewood to pay for that loaf of bread....
+1! I scrounged many loads of silver maple last spring and summer. Everybody just throws it away! So I grab all I can get. I scrounge all types and it's all mixed together. So it's kind of fun trying to I.D. What I'm feeding the stove every day. The maple must be working, because I have 2 windows cracked as I smoke this romeo y julieta cigar and it's still 80 in the house. High teens outside and very windy. Enjoy your stoves, dudes. For tomorrow we die.
jimdad07
Addicted to ArboristSite
Up here in Northern New York, I like oak, smooth bark hickory and sugar maple.
Whatever's next in the shed. If I had my druthers I would burn all locust all the time. But since I scrounge my wood, it's whatever I find. This year I've got red oak, sugar maple, locust, beech, ash, white pine, yellow birch and elm. Whatever will fit in the maw of my OWB gets burned.
Gatsby174
ArboristSite Operative
My favorites are Beech and Hard Cherry, but I'll never complain about Oak or Hard Maple either. This time of year - burn whatever is seasoned! Stay warm!
Careful, you might get a papercut on your rectum the speed that that money is flying out of your.. :censored:
I did that my first winter here, first bill was over 250$
Scootermsp
ArboristSite Guru
Shagbark Hickory and Black Birch. I leave the 10-15" diameter rounds unsplit for this weather. Outrageous burn times!
Scootermsp
ArboristSite Guru
Call me crazy but this stuff is top notch. Must be from the fertile soil it was growing in (cattle feed lot)
I second the motion: I'll take Shagbark Hickory over any type of Oak. Longer burn times in my OWB and my yard smells awesome!
boostnut
ArboristSite Guru
Yeah, the smell, can't beat it. Gives me a craving for some ribs every time I walk outside. Hmmm, I think we'll have ribs for dinner tomorrow, sure sounds good.
adamc
ArboristSite Operative
If all I have to do is burn it, I would take black locust and white oak, but since I actually have to cut, split and stack it, red oak is my favorite.
White oak and locust are hard on chains, hard to split and rarely split straight and neat, so they are a pain to stack. Red oak splits like a dream, is nice and straight so it stacks neatly and isn't too far behind white oak and locust for heat. All of these woods burn at a nice rate, form a nice bed of coals and leave relatively little ash.
Cherry and ash are nice because the season fast, but they don't produce the amount of heat that locust and oak do. They also burn at a nice rate and don't leave too much ash.
I have a lot of silver maple in my wood pile and I hate it. It produces and acceptable amount of heat, but it never forms coals... it is slow to ignite and it just buries itself in it's own ashes, and there are lots of ashes! I have to clean out the stove almost twice as often when burning silver maple compared to better wood.
I have burned various other "junk" woods like catalpa and aspen. They don't put out a ton of heat, but my nieghbor dropped the logs in my front yard, so the ratio of heat output in the stove to heat ouput from my work was very high!
Adam
White oak and locust are hard on chains, hard to split and rarely split straight and neat, so they are a pain to stack. Red oak splits like a dream, is nice and straight so it stacks neatly and isn't too far behind white oak and locust for heat. All of these woods burn at a nice rate, form a nice bed of coals and leave relatively little ash.
Cherry and ash are nice because the season fast, but they don't produce the amount of heat that locust and oak do. They also burn at a nice rate and don't leave too much ash.
I have a lot of silver maple in my wood pile and I hate it. It produces and acceptable amount of heat, but it never forms coals... it is slow to ignite and it just buries itself in it's own ashes, and there are lots of ashes! I have to clean out the stove almost twice as often when burning silver maple compared to better wood.
I have burned various other "junk" woods like catalpa and aspen. They don't put out a ton of heat, but my nieghbor dropped the logs in my front yard, so the ratio of heat output in the stove to heat ouput from my work was very high!
Adam
Streblerm
Addicted to ArboristSite
I like to mix it up with a little bit of wetter wood in with some good dry stuff. Some light weight stuff like aspen or pine, a little well seasoned hardwood, and a piece or two of some recently cut, but long ago dead, logs.
It seems like i get good heat fast, not too much smoke, and plenty of coals in the morning.
When its really cold, I prefer burning lots of smaller splits. You load more often, but you get more heat.
It seems like i get good heat fast, not too much smoke, and plenty of coals in the morning.
When its really cold, I prefer burning lots of smaller splits. You load more often, but you get more heat.
redprospector
Addicted to ArboristSite
-1 F is the coldest I've seen it here so far, but that's when I dug out the good stuff. Douglas Fir, and a little bit of Gambel Oak. That's as good as it gets here. 
Andy
Andy
woodbooga
cords of mystic memory
Been having fun digging into the depths of the woodpile, seeing some firewood that's been under the barn roof for a couple years.
On the one hand, it's like looking at old family pictures, reliving all the memories of trees long felled. On the other hand, it's probably similar to how an archaeologist feels, excavating through the strata, digging deeper and deeper. But instead of various layers of sediment, its tree species based on btu content. Now in deep winter, Indiana woodboogah's troweled into the firewood equavelent of the Ark of the Covenant.
In October, it was all punky hardwood, pine, popple, and irregular-shaped chunks. Come November, the next strata consisted of red maple, silver maple, and white birch. Hit some yellow birch and beech aroung Thanksgiving.
With Christman and New Year's in the rearview, the pile abounds in red oak, beech, black birch, rock maple, and ash. The primo stuff will keep us in free heat through the Ides of March, by which time we'll transition back to burning the more marginal stuff - keeping what's left of the good solid dense stuff for 2011.
On the one hand, it's like looking at old family pictures, reliving all the memories of trees long felled. On the other hand, it's probably similar to how an archaeologist feels, excavating through the strata, digging deeper and deeper. But instead of various layers of sediment, its tree species based on btu content. Now in deep winter, Indiana woodboogah's troweled into the firewood equavelent of the Ark of the Covenant.
In October, it was all punky hardwood, pine, popple, and irregular-shaped chunks. Come November, the next strata consisted of red maple, silver maple, and white birch. Hit some yellow birch and beech aroung Thanksgiving.
With Christman and New Year's in the rearview, the pile abounds in red oak, beech, black birch, rock maple, and ash. The primo stuff will keep us in free heat through the Ides of March, by which time we'll transition back to burning the more marginal stuff - keeping what's left of the good solid dense stuff for 2011.
Turkeyslayer
Smells Great
:agree2:, Beech is my favorite, but I burn whatever I grab out of the pile- ash, cherry, elm, hard maple, red/white oak, beech, black walnut, hickory, it all burns in the stoves.
warjohn
Addicted to ArboristSite
Hedge ash, and red oak.
KodiakKen
ArboristSite Operative
hate to admit it..
got into firewood sales this year..had about 25 cord split and stacked..kept approx. 3 cord or red oak for myself..well start of the season..didn't want to burn oak..burns too hot and too long so every load I sold..grabbed some ash and silver maple and threw it in the garage..well gettin to the oak now that I am outta wood to sell..sum beech..I just cut this oak this spring. not checked. not seasoned..still burns..burns long..just doesn't put out the heat that is should..I hate it when I don't plan right. would be perfect for next year. supplement what little maple I have left with some oak to keep it going the rest of this year. really need to pay attention to what I keep and how long it's seasoned by burn time from now on
got into firewood sales this year..had about 25 cord split and stacked..kept approx. 3 cord or red oak for myself..well start of the season..didn't want to burn oak..burns too hot and too long so every load I sold..grabbed some ash and silver maple and threw it in the garage..well gettin to the oak now that I am outta wood to sell..sum beech..I just cut this oak this spring. not checked. not seasoned..still burns..burns long..just doesn't put out the heat that is should..I hate it when I don't plan right. would be perfect for next year. supplement what little maple I have left with some oak to keep it going the rest of this year. really need to pay attention to what I keep and how long it's seasoned by burn time from now on
cjnspecial
ArboristSite Guru
Live Oak is the best down here. It burns forever and really hot.
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