Best wood to burn?

[buckwheat]

The red oak I am burning has been split and stacked for two seasons. Many of the trees were/are dead before I drop them, so it's very low moisture.

 

[turnkey4099]

Yep, you takes what you can obtain for the least effort and cost. I like your motto: "Max BTU; min $$".

There are ppl I know who refuse to burn "softwoods" of any description due to their belief that it will clog their chimney with creosote leading to a fatal chimney fire. They have nice dry standing dead jackpine all around their place but will BUY scrub oak or birch that they still have to cut up and split. They pay $$ plus still have most of the work to do anyway.

I call those type "firewood snobs"

Harry K

 

[bwalker]

In the fall when the temps are not real cold I burn Hemlock, Tamarack, Aspen, Red pine,Spruce and white pine thats cut off my property. I have been trying to improve the deer and grouse habitat on my property by removing the pines and letting the maple and aspen regenerate so I have alot of junk wood to burn up.
I burn this stuff green for the most part and dont really notice any excessive cresote buildup in my wood boiler.

 

[bwalker]

Max, the name of Negaunee, which means “pioneer” in Chippewa.

 

[matthorn]

If it's free It's for me. Almost

 

[Marky Mark]

Morningwood???

Nice boots that cleaning wench wears EH.

 

[max2cam]

Max, the name of Negaunee, which means “pioneer” in Chippewa.

Thanks. I never would have guessed "pioneer."

 

[turnkey4099]

Boots?

Harry K

 

[derbyguy_78]

best wood

I was told Black Cherry, Walnut, Black Locust, Black/Red/White Oak in that order....any truth?

OSAGE ORANGE has the highest BTU rating in all north american hardwoods

 

[RatliffLogging]

Hi, I'm new here. I have a wood burning stove in my house that I made 5 years ago (I'm also a welder). Anyhow, I mostly burn red oak and that seems to do well. However, I don't know that much about the different properties of wood and wondered what you guys burn and why? Also, does different wood take different lengths of time to season? Do some types of wood last longer before rotting while stacked and covered? What wood gives the best coals? Thanks for the help!

Ted

Osage Orange has the highest BTU rating of anything in north america. i like hickory, ash, and cherry as the flame and color when burning seem to make the female of the night happy if you know what I mean. hickory gives a little crackle to the fire cherry a good smell ad ash burns clean......

KR

 

[Peacock]

OSAGE ORANGE has the highest BTU rating in all north american hardwoods

You mean this stuff?:jester:

 

[derbyguy_78]

that stuff

yep..thats the stuff

 

[Diesel JD]

I like laurel oaks and water oaks. They tend to have straight grain and thus are easy to split by hand or with a hand operated hydraulic splitter. Live oak burns hotter, but I can't stand to kill them for any reason. If I get some of one that has to be cut down I gladly take it, but it is uneconomical for my business because of the time and effort needed to split that stuff. Its tough becaue of the fibrous, twisted grain.

 

[RatliffLogging]

I like laurel oaks and water oaks. They tend to have straight grain and thus are easy to split by hand or with a hand operated hydraulic splitter. Live oak burns hotter, but I can't stand to kill them for any reason. If I get some of one that has to be cut down I gladly take it, but it is uneconomical for my business because of the time and effort needed to split that stuff. Its tough becaue of the fibrous, twisted grain.

Florida Oaks suck they dodn't have the denisty to brrurn rightt evern when driiedd for months s and monsths.

KR

 

[wdchuck]

That Osage Orange bark resembles Black Locust, which is the hottest around here. I have found Buckthorn seems to burn hotter than oak, it grows pretty slowly to good size diameter, and is hard on the cutters, other than Black Locust nothing has dulled my chains faster than Buckthorn.

The university extensions have all the technical data on wood species and btu ratings.

 

[Spotted Owl]

Didn't read everyword so far so this may have already been put up. This is the best BTU chart I have seen and was able to find again.

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

As far as rot on the stack if ya keep it off the ground you should be alright. We lay up about 12 cords a year and usually only have 1/2 to 3/4 of a cord left by spring, so rot does seem to be a big problem for us.

As far as drying time depends on how wet the wood is. Generally dense dries slower than loose. How ever soaking wet dense wood will take longer than loose woods that is not as wet. Common sence type stuff.

Dense wood will coal out the best. You're gonna have to play with your stove to find out the overnight set. If you can get it packed in tight enough you can get loose wood to burn all night and have plenty of coal to restart the next morning.

Owl

 

[jhellwig]

You mean this stuff?:jester:

OH for the love of god tell me you are cutting it for posts. That stuff is worth it weight in gold. The only firewood that comes from that wood around here is the scraps after cutting posts out of trees or 50 some odd year old posts. We use it in steam engines to make lots and lots of heat for lots and lots of fun.

 

[IchWarriorMkII]

In western Colorado I'm burning juniper wood, its about the best wood I've found... but tough cutting. The bark holds a lot of sand, rocks and dirt. They are also small trees, so there is a lot of work to get a little bit of wood...

Fruit trees are available to cut if you find an old orchard thats been abandoned... it burns okay I guess...

Im looking to burn some Douglas Fir next year, I may burn it entirely just so I don't have to mess with juniper anymore.

I've got a good bit of Russian Olive drying out, its okay for heat as well, but a pain to limb up and find decent sized trees.

I guess there just aint enough o2 for the trees to breathe here....