worst wood species to burn

[EastwoodGang4]

I voted poplar. Poplar, willow, and Sweet Gum are the only woods I'll let go and let some other poor fool grab up.

I second that

 

[GrizzlyAdams86]

In my woodcutting adventures (or misadventures) where I cut, short of box adler poping up all over is this invasive buckthorn crap. Small, annoying and worthless, it's covered in thorns that makes prickly ash seem innocent. I usually just cut it up and leave it, but for fun I wanted to see how it would burn. It pretty much just sat there and smoldered and maybe had a flame here or there until I threw more wood in the stove.

 

[audible fart]

Butternut... The nuts stain anything they touch, the wood smells like shat while you're splitting it, and worse when you're burning it... It has no real heat value, it pops and crackles, and the saw chips make me nauseous and flemmy when I'm cutting the stuff (I might have a mild allergy, but I doubt it... I'm not allergic to anything that I know of).

Your post reads like a letter to penthouse forum. I agree; butternut smells horrible and sucks as firewood.

 

[dingeryote]

Doesn't it mean trembling, or more litterally quaking? Either way, in the few books I have, cottonwood, poplar and aspen are all generally classed very similarly.

Still don't get all the naysayers that hate pine.

Around here, all the old Dutch Farmers call Poplar, "Quakes" from the old translation.

I don't get the Pine Hate either.

It all burns cheaper than Propane or oil.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[thejdman04]

box elder

 

[J.W Younger]

I voted elm but thats just because it takes so long to dry or split.dead standing is good. sweet and black gum suk too

 

[Hlakegollum]

I split some basswood this year and really didn't mind it that much. I will have to see how it burns. My least favorite wood to burn is catalpa. I just don't like the form, seed pods or wood of the tree. And I have ready access to lots of it. My fil's farm has 1-2 acres of ALL catalpa, that is all dying and he wants me to cut most of it down.

I split a big basswood by hand, split easy like ash. But it dried to really light and threw off a lots of sparks when burning. Still better than paying the oil or propane man.

 

[SawTroll]

Alder, among those I have tried over here - willow is actually better.....

 

[BIG JAKE]

If all I had to burn was cottonwood I'd get a pellet stove. :censored:

 

[woodbooga]

Is aspen assumed included in one of these
'poll' categories? I know Carl von Linne put aspen in the poplar family. Scandinavian aspen in latin Populus Tremula
Tremula means "wobbling", the leaves wobbles

A bit of lore I've heard is that Jesus' cross was made from aspen. It quakes in memory of its connection to the crucifixion.

An aside to the poll. In addition to Box Elder, gum almost made the cut, and I considered chestnut too. But I was limited to 10.

 

[myzamboni]

I just split a cord of sweetgum, so I hope the opinions on here are because you are all spoiled by and abundance of hardwood.

 

[IndyIan]

I burnt alot of butternut this year, seemed to dry very very fast as it was split in July/08 and not one piece was hissing in the stove this winter. I always put in a couple chunks of sugar maple or white oak if I wanted coals in the morning though.
The worst wood I've burnt is eastern white cedar... hard to split as its very knotty, sticky sap, and the bark makes alot of stinky smoke... Its good for kindling though in slab format.

 

[boltonranger]

Worst wood I've ever burnt was pallet wood. It did keep us warm for a week or so till I found something else.

I've burned pallet wood also. Some is lousy; but some is hardwood and will throw alot of heat. I usually mix it into the regular split logs that I burn.

I agree about sycamore. By hand it can be wretched to split.

Former SF used to burn pallets when he worked for an International pump co.
Some of that brazilian wood burned pretty well. Smelled good too.
-br

 

[Wood Doctor]

You forgot Boxelder! :hmm3grin2orange:

Ed

+1! It's the worst of them all, closely followed by willow and basswood. At least willow and basswood don't smell like a dead bug.

I'm, surprised cottonwood is getting such a bad rap. At least it dries fast, burns fast, and kicks out some heat.

 

[woodbooga]

At least willow and basswood don't smell like a dead bug.

Posts like this one give me some insight on how you spend your free time.

Coming soon to a Web site near you: Wood Doctor's poll, "Which dead bug smells worst."

Helpful hint: don't get your sniffer too close to those winged kinds with the black and yellow stripes.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Posts like this one give me some insight on how you spend your free time.

Coming soon to a Web site near you: Wood Doctor's poll, "Which dead bug smells worst."

Helpful hint: don't get your sniffer too close to those winged kinds with the black and yellow stripes.

I'm actually kind of surprised that OP even included elm on the list. Red elm is right there with ash and oak as being the best firewood there is.

When I see a red elm tree ready to die or already dead, that turns me into a bloodhound. Not much burns hotter than red elm and with no sparks at that. :greenchainsaw:

 

[Dave]

All the willows I take down come from someone's yard. Roots usually find their way into the septic system. Smells like feces when you drop it, smells like crap while it dries and smells like colon filling while it burns. What's not to love?

 

[Lignum]

I just split a cord of sweetgum, so I hope the opinions on here are because you are all spoiled by and abundance of hardwood.

Spoiled perhaps, but I'd personally rather split any species of Elm than deal with that crap. JMHO

 

[user 19670]

Willow.

We only have birch, poplar and conifers to choose from here. 90% of our woodpile was poplar and 10% birch going into last winter. Poplar stinks like hell but I have to buy birch and poplar grows on our land.

 

[olyman]

cut down a huge basswood years ago. didnt know what for a tree it was, but had almost 4 cords out of it!!!! worse damn wood ever--burnt that all up in 1 1/2 weeks flat. burnt about like balsa wood. what a waste of my time and effort. burnt a lot of bottom ground willows, and black poplar. thats just as bad.this was when i first started burning, and it was late in the season. but box elder is of the ash family, it aint bad,just most of them grow twisty. i take just about whatever i get, cause i seperate out the soft and hardwood. the soft gets burnt at the start of the season---then into the hardwood.