# firewood ?



## Richard_ (Sep 18, 2006)

how does cottonwood compare to other woods for heat , I will be using it in my insert as primary heat , I prefer oak , but there is a price difference , $150 cord for cotton wood , $200 for oak


----------



## fishhuntcutwood (Sep 18, 2006)

Boy, I can't speak with absolute authority, but I have some year and half old stuff that I litterally just starting burning last night. Holy crap it burned hot. Maybe it's first fire of the year, maybe it's because it's not cold out, but seemed to burn a heckuva lot hotter than fir. Maybe just me. 

Burned well though.

Welcome to AS.


----------



## turnkey4099 (Sep 18, 2006)

There is firewood and then there is firewood. If you have a scotchman's view on things, the question on firewood is "what is the cheapest wood to burn per btu". I don't turn up my nose at anything but will go with the cheap wood realizing that I may burn more but as long as the overall cost stays below the good stuff...

I only did up one cottonwood, don't know the species, and will never touch a saw to another one. Wet, heavy, wouldn't split, wouldn't dry. I finally cut the blocks in half (8" long), split them (still tough), let them set another year (3 years total) and it was still only half cured, and was starting to rot.

Harry K


----------



## Gark (Sep 18, 2006)

*Cottonwood for firewood...?*

Welcome to the site.
As for cottonwood used for heating, I wouldn't. Looking down the "BTU's per cord" column of the attached list, cottonwood is way down at the bottom. And it never dried well for me, either. IMHO.


----------



## Rspike (Sep 18, 2006)

Buy the OAK ! Cottonwood is bad low grade stuff . The only time i cut cottonwood is if I'm paid to do it and even then we take it and dump it off at all the local lakes and camp sites , for FREE . Camp fire is about all its good for. When cutting cotton wood it cuts like the hard woods and is heavy , once dry its like burning paper or 2x4's . Makes a LOT of ash and very low BTU value. "$150 cord for cotton wood , $200 for oak" Your firewood dealer should have to PAY YOU $150 a cord to take his Cottonwood.


----------



## fishhuntcutwood (Sep 18, 2006)

Ooops, I didn't read all thew way to the end of your original question! If it's oak OR cottonwood, well then yeah, go oak. The cottonwood I have was a deadfall I had easy access to. It did split pretty easily and as I got it split quickly, it's dried well and probably have a half a cord of it. But I wouldn't've payed for it. I didn't read that part of or your question. Sorry.


----------



## Richard_ (Sep 18, 2006)

thanks guys for the info


----------



## Husky137 (Sep 18, 2006)

fishhuntcutwood said:


> Ooops, I didn't read all thew way to the end of your original question! If it's oak OR cottonwood, well then yeah, go oak. The cottonwood I have was a deadfall I had easy access to. It did split pretty easily and as I got it split quickly, it's dried well and probably have a half a cord of it. But I wouldn't've payed for it. I didn't read that part of or your question. Sorry.


 

Get with the program and try and keep up!:greenchainsaw:


----------



## John Paul Sanborn (Sep 22, 2006)

Gark said:


> Welcome to the site.
> As for cottonwood used for heating, I wouldn't. Looking down the "BTU's per cord" column of the attached list,



Even better is the column of Units to produce 1 MBTU, where red oak is .06 and cottonwood is .106. So you need near twice the wood.

200*.06 =12
150*.106=15

So you are $3 more per MBTU of dried wood for cottonwood then oak.

The cottonwood will probably give better fire though, my understanding is that steam coming out of wetter wood creats more of a draft. This keeps the flame going longer, vs the coal bed that heats more, but burns slower.


----------



## olyman (Sep 25, 2006)

hmm--ive burnt about everything--cottonwood to me is in the same area as soft maple--and while some wont burn it--all wood i get is free--so--i split and stack ctwd the same as the rest--stacked in a long row--and split right--drys right out--and burns as good as soft maple--burn it for the first month of heat season--then as gets quite colder--ash--acually--i think it burns longer than soft maple----hmmmmm


----------



## Frantic7 (Sep 28, 2006)

COTTONWOOD...........stay away from it!!!! Man I hate that stuff, almost as much as Poplar!!!! Oak baby!!!! I burn alot of Fir, Maple, White Oak, Black Walnut and Red Alder. Gonna get some Hazelnut tomorrow!!!!:greenchainsaw: :greenchainsaw: :greenchainsaw:


----------



## windthrown (Sep 28, 2006)

*Cottonwood...*

Hmmmm... I read once that cottonwood was crappy firewood. But... it will brun. I had to cut down 5 very branched out black cottonwood trees last summer from our smallest pond dam to keep it from leaking.  Man, getting the root balls out was a :censored: task. I had the Kubota in there for 3 days... I tilled the dam soil with bentonite and it holds more water now. 

I cut it into firewood on the spot and left it to dry stacked out in the open on a metal panel last summer. We burned it last year and I still have a rick (face cord) of it left over this year. It is good for fast heat. Burns fast and hot, and leaves a lot of ashes. I use it in the outdoor wood boiler below large alder or fir logs to rekindle the coals and get the logs going faster. I also use it in the house fireplace to start a fire with. 

It burns fast, but the heat value is not that great. As the others say here, go for the oak. Oak is uaually great firewood. Though I got some 'free' red oak in California once that was so hard to burn in the fireplace I finally just took it to the dump. It can be heavy too, so lifting and splitting large logs can be a real back breaker...


----------

