Worst firewood you’ve ever burnt?

[GeeVee]

 

[InTheNorth]

Beautiful work on the cabin Bill....nice to hear you giving credit to our Lord for his creation. Stay in the word and prayer daily brother and witness to others that Christ died for their sins was buried and rose from the dead according to the scriptures whenever possible. God bless

 

[Cody]

You do know that Boxelder is a maple, right? Not the hardest, of course, but it still burns ok.

I do know that but always thought it was a "soft" maple. This particular tree I cut down seems really decent and I'll find out next fall. Most of the boxelder I've come across was rather obvious, this one not so much.

 

[ElevatorGuy]

cottonwood. I won't take even if it's free

Sounds like me with poplar. Sweet gum too, The last 2 I dropped I gave them to a buddy. I loaded the smaller gum into my ranger with the tractor and forks. I cut them 6-7’ and dropped them off. My buddy asked how I got them in the truck lol.

 

[SCHallenger]

Seriously! Cut some basswood and try to burn it, then report back. It is the antiwood. Even dead dry it has a hard time burning. The only thing it is good for is duck decoys and trim for a house and that is marginal! Cj

Wood carvers love basswood.

 

[SCHallenger]

It's pretty simple. Trees with leaves are hardwoods. Trees with needles are softwoods. Really has nothing to do with how "hard" the wood itself actually is, or how well it does as firewood.

There is an exception to that. Tamarack is a needled tree that sheds its needles like a leafed tree & is, therefore, a deciduous tree. The wood is harder than Aspen (poplar), so it is really not a "soft wood" as are all of the other needled trees. I should have included yellow pine as not being a soft wood even though it falls into that classification because it is not deciduous. If you're trying to nail it, it can be as hard as your MIL's head!

 

[Bearcreek]

There is an exception to that. Tamarack is a needled tree that sheds its needles like a leafed tree & is, therefore, a deciduous tree. The wood is harder than Aspen (poplar), so it is really not a "soft wood" as are all of the other needled trees. I should have included yellow pine as not being a soft wood even though it falls into that classification because it is not deciduous. If you're trying to nail it, it can be as hard as your MIL's head!

I'm quite familiar with Tamarack. I heat primarily with Tamarack, Doug Fir and Lodgepole pine. Love the colors the Tamaracks go through throughout the year.

It's not an exception to what I said though. It has needles, and is therefore classified as a softwood. Whether a tree is deciduous (like Tamarack) or not is irrelevant to it's classification as a hardwood or softwood. There are plenty of trees with leaves (mostly in the tropics) that are not deciduous. They're still hardwoods.

 

[SCHallenger]

I'm quite familiar with Tamarack. I heat primarily with Tamarack, Doug Fir and Lodgepole pine. Love the colors the Tamaracks go through throughout the year.

It's not an exception to what I said though. It has needles, and is therefore classified as a softwood. Whether a tree is deciduous (like Tamarack) or not is irrelevant to it's classification as a hardwood or softwood. There are plenty of trees with leaves (mostly in the tropics) that are not deciduous. They're still hardwoods.

You are right. The classification is based on whether the tree is needled of leafed. Yeah, I really like the colors of the Tamaracks when they turn. And, around northern Michigan, they are the last to shed except for many of the Oaks which hang onto their leaves throughout the winter & wait for the spring buds to push them off.

 

[ken morgan]

about 7 years ago right after I got my cabin and my first woodstove I went on a scrounging mission to a location next to a river that the local area had cleared on the banks of the river for water flow purposes and they let the public have at starting in November time frame.

The wood was a deciduous not a SPF so I was not too concerned...it might not be as good as Oak, or the other hardwood but it couldn't be that bad i thought... wrong answer that stuff burned like paper gave almost no heat and left several bucket loads of ash for every single burn. I have no clue what type of tree it was, nor its name....

then I found something worse.

Ichio tree's (Ginko) the ones hear smell like rotting flesh when you burn them. the only way to prevent the smell is to let them dry for two or three years until they are bone dry...then they only smell a little bit, but they burn really fast....

I know what to watch out for now.

 

[pdqdl]

I do know that but always thought it was a "soft" maple. This particular tree I cut down seems really decent and I'll find out next fall. Most of the boxelder I've come across was rather obvious, this one not so much.

That "soft maple" isn't really an arborist's term. The firewood & lumber guys invented that to distinguish the really good maple from the crappy, fast growing varieties. Technically, all maples are hardwoods, despite the fact that many of them are softer than some of the conifers (also erroneously called "softwoods")

 

[Cricket]

I do know that but always thought it was a "soft" maple. This particular tree I cut down seems really decent and I'll find out next fall. Most of the boxelder I've come across was rather obvious, this one not so much.

When I moved here - it's an old farm turned auto junkyard (since the twenties - interesting stuff to be found) - there were a lot of box elders as the pastures grew over. It turned out to be pretty decent firewood. I wonder if the fact that I live on six and a half acres of mostly sand has something to do with it? They grow slow here...

Most are gone now - but the box elder bugs persist. Sigh.

 

[Cody]

When I moved here - it's an old farm turned auto junkyard (since the twenties - interesting stuff to be found) - there were a lot of box elders as the pastures grew over. It turned out to be pretty decent firewood. I wonder if the fact that I live on six and a half acres of mostly sand has something to do with it? They grow slow here...

Most are gone now - but the box elder bugs persist. Sigh.

That "soft maple" isn't really an arborist's term. The firewood & lumber guys invented that to distinguish the really good maple from the crappy, fast growing varieties. Technically, all maples are hardwoods, despite the fact that many of them are softer than some of the conifers (also erroneously called "softwoods")

To be fair, most of the boxelder I've cut up on my property was because it was dead or down and seemed pretty poor. The one I cut down this past fall for a guy was because it was competing with some evergreens he had planted. As stated, I didn't think it was boxelder until I noticed the red in it and took a closer look at the leaves. It's not silver maple but I'll find out next fall. I'm sure it'll burn just fine, I mix woods when I burn anyhow.

 

[Kanscruzer]

Boxelder, sweet gum and nobody has mentioned hackberry , burning it smell like wet Chinese cardboard from a fish house

 

[esshup]

Cottonwood, Tulip Tree and Sycamore. Sycamore more for the twisted grain and PITA splitting, but all 3 don't give off near as much heat as Oak, Maple or Locust. There's plenty of wood here so I can be picky.

 

[Grateful11]

Definitely Sweet Gum for me, not much heat and a lot ashes left behind but I'll pretty much burn anything regardless. Working up a bunch Hickory and Oak for next season.

 

[CaptainMauw]

nobody has mentioned hackberry , burning it smell like wet Chinese cardboard from a fish house

I was waiting for this one. I clear a lot of windrows and wooded areas for local farms here as part of field expansions and maintenance. Hackberry is by far the single most numerous tree around here.....its probably 60% of what I cut and makes up about 85% of what I burn in the stoves here on my farm. It stinks, leaves little coals, and ashes like an SOB (have to empty the ash daily), but it throws decent heat and has ok burn times. It is far from my favorite, but its a great shoulder season burner for temps >20*F. I never bother trying to sell it as I'd rather sell the more premium oak/ash/hickory/cherry and net more money. Im yet to meet a person that wants to buy hackberry.

The other issue is that it rots the instant its cut and hits the ground. You have to buck, cut, and split it quick and store it out of the elements for it to season otherwise it goes punky quick....like 12 weeks quick depending on the conditions and even if the logs are off the ground on rollers. I converted the sides of the old grainery corn crib here to house it. Can store and season roughly 12 cord at a time.

I don't "like" hackberry, but I tolerate it just fine for here. My personal distaste is silver maple.....which is the next most common tree here. Burns quick, not a lot of heat output, and again, goes punky fast if not processed and stored indoors. I give silver maple away or use it for bonfires.

 

[fishdrivel]

I got some red oak going right now and some pine tops about a month old. This pine doesn’t burn worth a crap, but I’m sure there’s worse….any stories?

Cut down a Phoenix Canariensis and you'll have literally, tons of "firewood"
Let it dry for a year and you'll have about 100 pounds of newspaper.

 

[fishdrivel]

When we had those 85-110’ Cedars taken down, we had no shortage of Cedar for kindling, I set aside the straightest grained pieces for kindling, a couple years worth, and still had 1.25 cords of firewood size pieces left to burn.

I still have about half a dozen 7-8’ long logs 22-28” diameter that I am thinking about using for log picnic tables or other projects. That would undoubtedly leave some firewood, and those may just end up becoming BTU’s in the end, I just haven’t had much time for projects the last 2 years


Doug

There are a lot of different c"edars" being talked about here. There are no cedars native to the US or Canada.
Everywhere you go in the US you will find an aromatic tree that is commonly called "cedar"
Up your way, there are several species similar but not "cedars botanically speaking.

Anybody interested can read about cedars here - and the difference.
https://www.treehugger.com/identify...ar of Lebanon, deodar cedar, and Atlas cedar.

 

[fishdrivel]

All of the poplars are hardwoods. Hardwood comes from deciduous trees, softwood comes from conifers.

Hardwoods that are soft.
Note that poplar sold as lumber for cabinets, pallets picture frames or whatever, is not a poplar. It is liriodendron Tulipfera, which is plentiful here in the southeast and most of eastern us and into Canada. It is the tallest eastern hardwood and pretty decent firewood.
I have a bunch in my yard if anybody wants some!!!!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lirio... chinense), and the tallest eastern hardwood.

 

[fishdrivel]

So popple (big tooth aspen, quaking aspen) is considered a hardwood? Just curious how pulp wood can be considered a hardwood.

https://www.animascorp.com/is-poplar-a-hardwood/