Been a while

[IndyIan]

I'm with you max. I was playing around with some calculations for heating the house we're going to build. We have more softwoods that need to be thinned or culled than hardwoods so we are going to burn softwoods when we can.

I found that White Pine and Sugar Maple have nearly the same BTU's per pound. Actually almost all wood has the same BTU's per pound, you just need more of some species.
For those -20 nights I'll load up the firebox with maple but other times softwood will be OK.

Ian

 

[Grateful11]

Originally posted by django

Elm pretty much stinks.

Does it smell worse than Sweet Gum? I'm with you guys, if it's dry burn it.

 

[django]

As there is no sweetgum trees near me, I can't say. Elm is kind of acrid, almost a burning paper smell. Hickory, on the other hand ,makes me really hungry for bacon.

 

[Sylvatica]

I can't see having a complaint with burning maple (soft or hard) or elm (though can be stringy to split) as long as they are dry.

I'll feed the stove as much black cherry as I can find. It coals beautifully. Too pyrotechnical in a fireplace though - will burn the house down by shooting flaming artillery across the room.

If it comes from a deciduous tree and burns, it's game. Still can't imagine white pine with the same BTUs as sugar maple, lb for lb

But poplar is one wood I just won't bother with trying to heat with.

 

[Stumper]

The key is pound for pound. Cellulose fiber is pretty much cellulose fiber.Cord for cord is another matter since some woods are much denser than others and have many more pounds per cord. The other factor besides weight/density has to do with the volatiles in different species---In addition to cellulose fibers wood contains resins. See if you can find Btu ratings for Pinyon Pine compared o common hardwoods-It stomps most of the hardwoods since it is LOADED with flammable resins.

 

[Sylvatica]

Thanks Stumper. You're right, I was thinking more in terms of comparable volume as opposed to weight. Makes sense now (duh!)

 

[Fish]

Smell? That's just Cincinnatti!

I like Ohio, might move back there someday. But the older I get,
the less I like cold weather. My mother's family is in Knox Co.

What was the off-topic again?

 

[django]

Piles, Fish. Cleveland smells a lot worse than Cincinatti.

 

[jbrody44]

I am lucky enough to have mostly red and white oak, maples of many types, hickory, and ash on my land. I like to burn these hardwoods the best, but I will burn whatever is around. I take some firewood from my 8 acre plot, but whenever I have a chance to get it elsewhere for free I always do so. This chart might be interesting to some of you:

http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm

-JB

 

[Fish]

You mean their football teams?

 

[django]

It could apply.

 

[bwalker]

Personlay I will not waste my time cutting crap wood like aspen and pine. If it isnt oak, hard maple, or yellow birch I wont mess with it. It just isnt worth the time it takes to cut and process it.
anyone know if cherry is good firewood. Just got aload of "mixedhardwoods" and it has some cheery in it. Mostly oak and maple though.

 

[django]

Well La-de-freakin' da! ( a quote from Chris Farley, playing Matt Foley, Motovational Speaker) Some of us don't get to pick and choose. Cherry, and pretty much all fruitwoods are excellent. Apple actually has more BTU's than Hickory.

 

[glens]

Cherry is not quite excellent, but it <i>is</i> a pretty good mid-grade wood.

Apple takes a couple years to season.

I liked that link to the chimney sweep's page.&nbsp; They state 85 ft³ to the cord after deducting the air space the dry measure value requires.&nbsp; I'd considered doing some research to see what the equivalent solid measure for a cord would be and that figure sounds reasonable to me so far.

Glen

 

[buckwheat]

I like the fact that the chart gives btu's per cord, rather than like most that list it by the pound. Some woods will give off a lot of heat per pound, but because of their low mass, won't burn all that long. For most that heat with wood, we want to be able to load up the stove and burn for 8-10 hours without tending.
If I could get it, I would burn mostly hedge or oak, but I still need some "softer hardwoods" to get the fire going and sometimes, to keep it going if I have the dampers turned back pretty far.
I've been fortunate in that I get calls all year long from folk who want a tree down or cleared, so its all been free. But then I can't really say "sorry, but I only cut oak." The upside is that I get so much of it that I give a lot away to people that need it.

ps: at the moment, the stove is loaded with locust and some black cherry that I put in last night - 9 hours ago. I need to let it burn down today to clean out the ashes from the last week, which are mostly from poplar.

 

[bwalker]

I thought I might add to the above post. I had 10 federal cord delivered and am in the process of cutting ten more myself. I am doing all the cutting and hauling myself. The wood lot I am able to cut in is full of good oak, maple, and yellow birch. It also has basswood, popplle, white birch. It just doesnt make sense for me to cut and haul the lower quality wood as the good stuff= less work.

 

[Sylvatica]

I only get the occaisional load of apple wood from a pruning job or takedown. (I know an orchardist, but not well enough to get much wood from him, unfortunately.)

So I put apple aside for the barbeque pit, where it can really be appreciated. Wish I had enough to throw it in the stove, but even then I would be hesitant to "waste it", but I guess I just cant imagine having cords and cords of it to burn. And it does take a while to season, but the food is worth it.

 

[JimL]

Ive got 45 cord, 90 rick for the hill jacks like me, split and stacked up. Brought a load home almost every night this summer.
Probably won't sell much this year but we will find out.
All hickory, red oak, and locust. Got a few piles of cherry and walnut layin around.

 

[jokers]

85ft³ equates to a nearly 34% void space in a 128ft³ cord. That sounds pretty loosely stacked in my opinion. Consider that by Gypo`s experience, 165ft³ of loose thrown chunk wood is equivalent to a solid, tightly stacked 125ft³ cord which results in only a 22.5% void for loose thrown. If 85ft³ is the standard quantity for a cord of stacked wood, I know alot of guys who should be charging more. What do you guys think about that?

Russ

 

[Weatherby]

The rule of thumb I always heard was around 80 ft³ for a cord of logs. Not too sure what that would work out to stacked. Didnt someone say that round wood stacked would have more ft³ in it than stacked? I thought i remembered readign that somewhere, of course, im wrong alot.

Rob