Heat with wood? Info on BTU's

[Cut4fun]

Thought some of you would like this site if you use wood for a heat source. Most of the info is at the lower half of page. :angry2:http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/forestry/g881.htm

 

[rustyb]

Thanks for the link!

Some good info.

r

 

[mktest]

You have so many nice trees over there... A pity pine and spruce aren't as good as that Osage-Orange tree (we try to use mainly birch for firewood but many smaller spruce and pine too)

 

[rubberducky]

If I had the choice between gas or wood. Definetly "WOOD."

 

[Bills Oak]

Firewood

This is for the guy's in Sweden, Germany, etc.--you have any Oak Trees there that you use for firewood?--I never hear much about oak from you?--Just wondering, Thanks, BILL

 

[DanMan1]

Nice chart.
I have to disagree on rating red oak as 'medium' 'ease of splitting'. Around here nothing splits easier than red oak. Sometimes you can almost let the maul just fall on it, and it splits. But maybe it's different in other parts of the country.

 

[Al Smith]

Red oak,around here,splits fairly easy,green.Dry,it will make you vibrate from your toes to your nose.Black cherry is the same.Ash,maple and the hickorys seem to split well,green or dry.The key to it all is a hydraulic splitter.

 

[Lobo]

Try splitting elm that has dried completely.

 

[mktest]

This is for the guy's in Sweden, Germany, etc.--you have any Oak Trees there that you use for firewood?--I never hear much about oak from you?--Just wondering, Thanks, BILL

We (me and family) have used small oaks for firewood, oaks used to be very common in Scandinavia, a few thousand years ago they covered most of what is now farm-land or what I call farmed forests with big plantations of spruce and pine. Oaks are still found everywhere, but mostly smaller ones. With a 13" bar we have no problem with any tree around where I live. There ARE bigger trees of course, but we leave them unless they are sick. When people here buy firewood they normally get birch, spruce and pine are less valued, haven't seen oak for sale as firewood.

In the 1500s and 1600s the Crown required all big oaks for war efforts, ships, etc. And farmers had no right to cut down oaks at will. This resulted, of course, in that every farmer soon had taught his kids to unroot any little oak they saw. In the 1830s the Crown decided that they didn't need to protect all that oak, and sold the rights to them to farmers, who promptly cut 100 000's of them down within years. Since the 1860s forests in southern Sweden have increased in size again, and these days people want more big trees around. It's good for nature too, many bugs and plants relies on old oaks.

Can't speak for other european countries but I know most of the really old trees are gone. About 0.5% of what is left is estimated to be "natural forest" I reckon.

 

[DanMan1]

Red oak,around here,splits fairly easy,green.Dry,it will make you vibrate from your toes to your nose.Black cherry is the same.Ash,maple and the hickorys seem to split well,green or dry.The key to it all is a hydraulic splitter.

Yes green, exactly. And not frozen. It's one of the few varieties thats splits much harder ( by maul ) when frozen than thawed.

 

[turnkey4099]

Thought some of you would like this site if you use wood for a heat source. Most of the info is at the lower half of page. :angry2:http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/forestry/g881.htm

Oddly, pound for pound, all wood has approximately the same btu value. First time I saw that I had to think about it before I got it.

Harry K

 

[Blowdown1]

when you consider it is all the same cellulose material essentially, it makes sense. But I started to call BS the first time I saw that too, until I read more carefully and noted the pound-for-pound issue.

I have seen several charts w/ BTUs and some vary widely. Didn't compare this one posted here to see how it compares to the others I have.

 

[Al Smith]

True story about the lbs and the btu's.The best btu's, are the cheapest.

 

[Molecule]

mktest -- if you want to save big oak trees and forests, and clean up rivers and etc. in Sweden ... build the only terrorist free form of power generation ... nuclear and eventually fusion. The failure of the US to build small (10 to 100 mev) highly distributed nuclear power plants, and develop controlled fusion, is IHMO evidence of the high disregard the men of my country have for the economic reproducability of the future families of their own children and grandchildren ... The general answer is, It's too big a mess for us Men. Let's watch footballa while God sorts it out. LOL! Hey--I got mine buddy!

---
It is dangerous to presume that God is stupid!

 

[bwalker]

http://www.woodheat.org/firewood/firewood.htm

 

[Fireaxman]

What is this I see? "Few" sparks from cherry? Last time I threw a piece of our southern wild cherry on the fire I might as well have tossed in a box of .22 long rifles. One spark hit the lamp shade 5 feet high 20 feet away and bounced into the easy chair, where it burned a 1" hole 1/2 inch deep before I could get it cooled off. Glad I wasn't sitting in it.

 

[che]

Here's the same chart GlenS sorted (last year?) by different characteristics for comparison. It's a pdf file so you'll need acrobat to open it:

Firewood btus sorted

I agree that pound per pound wood all gives off the same heat BUT...since there's so much difference between the species as far as burning qualities....I'll continue to collect only osage orange. I'd much rather cut and load almost half the wood to get the same heat I'd get from something like Silver Maple or Hackberry. It will also keep coals for a long time, doesn't rot or go to punk quickly, and doesnt' seem to leave as much ash.....

 

[turnkey4099]

True story about the lbs and the btu's.The best btu's, are the cheapest.

Which is why I burn almost all Willow. Anything else would cost at least 2x.

Harry K

 

[eyeinstine]

You know what would have made all this wood BTU and weights simplier?!?!! If wood was sold by weight!

If anyone it still confused over the weight and BTU issue, and all woods being equal based on weight, just look at it this way.

If you bought 4000 pounds of wood, instead of using the cord measurement, then it would not matter what species of wood you get, the 4000 pounds will still produce the same BTU of heat. Just the pile of wood would be different. 4000# of white oak would be a fair pile, and 4000# white pine would be a LARGE pile.

Is anyone else sad the wood heat season is over?!?!
Suposed to hit a record high of near 80 today!

Ron

 

[mktest]

We use wood heat all year round, although less in the summer when we most days only need it to heat water for the shower/bath

Wood sold by weight would probably mean that most woold sold would be quite full of water Compare to frozen chicken and fish, we have to pay for frozen water basically, while getting less chicken and fish "Consumers want it that way", yeah, right.