Thread: Black Walnut as firewood

I don't need to tell anyone here that there are better uses for walnut than as firewood....

But, long story short, a friend cut up a black walnut tree that fell in his yard before I could save it. I graciously accepted the firewood The wood has been split and stacked (cross-hatch) since february, and I am now getting around to burning it. Could maybe wait another summer to be fully seasoned, but its pretty well dried-out. My conclusion is that walnut does not burn very hot. It does burn long, and coals fairly well, but not that great in terms of BTU.

On the other hand ELM...well lets just say I put ELM right up there with Locust for heat....nearly impossible to split but sure does burn hot...and forever. No smoke, no ash and great coals with ELM. I often see ELM on firewood rating charts as somewhere in the middle...as a medium hardwood, along the lines of walnut. I call foul. Anyone else have experience burning ELM? Its great for heat but such a PITA to deal with.

Anyway...great site here...glad I found it. Stay warm.

I think elm sucks as firewood.

My favorite wood to burn is redtips

Originally Posted by Jimfound

I don't need to tell anyone here that there are better uses for walnut than as firewood....

But, long story short, a friend cut up a black walnut tree that fell in his yard before I could save it. I graciously accepted the firewood The wood has been split and stacked (cross-hatch) since february, and I am now getting around to burning it. Could maybe wait another summer to be fully seasoned, but its pretty well dried-out. My conclusion is that walnut does not burn very hot. It does burn long, and coals fairly well, but not that great in terms of BTU.

On the other hand ELM...well lets just say I put ELM right up there with Locust for heat....nearly impossible to split but sure does burn hot...and forever. No smoke, no ash and great coals with ELM. I often see ELM on firewood rating charts as somewhere in the middle...as a medium hardwood, along the lines of walnut. I call foul. Anyone else have experience burning ELM? Its great for heat but such a PITA to deal with.

Anyway...great site here...glad I found it. Stay warm.

Welcome to AS

I think Elm sucks for firewood as well!! Walnut is a good hardwood and burns nice, also has a nice arouma to it!! Enjoy it!!
Andy

Originally Posted by Jimfound

I don't need to tell anyone here that there are better uses for walnut than as firewood....

But, long story short, a friend cut up a black walnut tree that fell in his yard before I could save it. I graciously accepted the firewood The wood has been split and stacked (cross-hatch) since february, and I am now getting around to burning it. Could maybe wait another summer to be fully seasoned, but its pretty well dried-out. My conclusion is that walnut does not burn very hot. It does burn long, and coals fairly well, but not that great in terms of BTU.

On the other hand ELM...well lets just say I put ELM right up there with Locust for heat....nearly impossible to split but sure does burn hot...and forever. No smoke, no ash and great coals with ELM. I often see ELM on firewood rating charts as somewhere in the middle...as a medium hardwood, along the lines of walnut. I call foul. Anyone else have experience burning ELM? Its great for heat but such a PITA to deal with.

Anyway...great site here...glad I found it. Stay warm.

I've only burned about five cords of black walnut, seasoned one year outside, one year in, and I agree, it's middle of the road at best. Not desirable for heating in low temps (ten degrees + wind). I love ash, so everything seasons longer than it because ash is drier when cut green.

I'm burning elm now in low temps and high winds. Ash with bark burns poorly initially - little heat! Slow to heat things up. But it does coal with the best and they last, IF you can wait. Elm cut standing dead with falling bark is IDEAL IMO. Dense, and burns hot thruout.

I have elm (green - crap) seasoning in the yard now and I swear I won't burn it until it's dead dry, probably two years.

da hack

I've burned many elm varieties and have found it sometimes burns hot, or not. THe dead standing, no bark, for a couple years does seem to burn nice and hot, but anything that has had the bark on and is kinda heavy in the hand doesn't seem to good. I'll be doing an experiment on this next year, just for personal insight and kicks. Walnut, medium heat in my opinion.

About 2 yrs. ago we took down a blk. walnut tree in absecon n.j. it was 58" at the base and had a straight run of 15 ft. and no one wanted it. Called the mills and they said because it came out of a home oweners yard they didn't want it. So it was cut up for firewood. If anybody knows of anyone that would take it in south New Jersey please let me know. Thanks Tony

Originally Posted by Dr. Hackemoff

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I have elm (green - crap) seasoning in the yard now and I swear I won't burn it until it's dead dry, probably two years.

da hack

Good luck on that. My experience is that it will rot before drying.

Originally Posted by Dr. Hackemoff

I'm burning elm now in low temps and high winds. Ash with bark burns poorly initially - little heat! Slow to heat things up. But it does coal with the best and they last, IF you can wait. Elm cut standing dead with falling bark is IDEAL IMO. Dense, and burns hot thruout.

I have elm (green - crap) seasoning in the yard now and I swear I won't burn it until it's dead dry, probably two years.

da hack

Dead standing Elm without bark is great wood, although a bear to split. my 372 normally splits the elm..lol.

now, green Elm with the bark....I have about 2 cord left from last year. it was the base of a dead stading tree i took down. it is still green, wet, heavy and rotting... Been split and stacked since it was cut down....

I like Ash. Little dry time and great heating properties. if I don't have ash, i use the normal red and white oak. Gotta throw some wild cherry in their too. Burns good, gets the fire going good for the longer burning oak.

Originally Posted by wdchuck

I've burned many elm varieties and have found it sometimes burns hot, or not.

I agree with that. I've also burnt several different varieties and found a great difference in splitting ease and burning quality. I don't think I've ever seen as much difference in different varieties of other types of trees as I've seen in elm. Weird stuff...

There's three or four elm varieties growing on my property, I need an expert to help identify everything, specifically, that is here, over 15 species in all, then there's the bush size stuff. oyvae.

i picked up some english walnut log sections that someone was giving away for possible firewood.
now it's destiny will be as some woodturnings and native american flutes.

i have a whole pile of pecan also,more than i'll ever use for craftwork.
have offered it at swaps and give to other woodworkers,not too much interest thus far..i'll probably burn some in my worshop woodstove this winter. the colds finally set in here in LI,NY.

I would rate Walnut as about a 7 to 7.5 on a scale of 0-10; it has a nice, unique aroma, but you're right, it doesn't overwhelm you with heat. It burns okay, but sometimes it kind of "chars" rather than burn completely; yet, I too, keep taking it for use! It must be the aroma that attracts me?

I find walnut leaves a lot of ashes to clean out.

Originally Posted by Freakingstang

Dead standing Elm without bark is great wood, although a bear to split. my 372 normally splits the elm..lol.

now, green Elm with the bark....I have about 2 cord left from last year. it was the base of a dead stading tree i took down. it is still green, wet, heavy and rotting... Been split and stacked since it was cut down....

I like Ash. Little dry time and great heating properties. if I don't have ash, i use the normal red and white oak. Gotta throw some wild cherry in their too. Burns good, gets the fire going good for the longer burning oak.

Well I know some one here likes ElM...here in MI we have so much of it here that its a really good choice its allways dead and no bark. I have never cut an live tree down to heat with...used the wood to but not just for heating.