I hate burning oak, hickory, locust...

[Streblerm]

I think it’s powder post beetles that like the hickory. They don’t seem to eat too much but I have definitely seen the piles of sawdust.

This winter so far with the exception of a week or so has been all shoulder season for me. I noticed the geese heading back north last week. I think they know more than that stupid groundhog. I’m sure we haven’t seen the end of it yet but at this point we may have seen the worst.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I usually shut the stove down during a polar vortex. Too hard to keep the stove going and it not be 90* in the house when it's 40*+ outside.

The geese sure aren't this far north. Not for another couple months.

 

[bowtechmadman]

Wood shed gets filled and burned in opposite order. Filled with Oak/ash/maple/cherry/cottonwood. I try to mix the cottonwood w/ the oak and will definitely use the cottonwood and maple more so in the milder temps.
Wish we had hickory love to use it for smoking meat.

 

[Streblerm]

I find hickory can be a little strong, especially on its own. Cherry and Apple are my favorites and maple is a close second it’s plentiful and mild.

 

[rarefish383]

Never used Maple. The local b-b-q place uses White Oak. My favorites are Apple, Cherry, and maybe some Swamp Willow when smoking Carp.

 

[066blaster]

I try to keep my best wood for jan and feb , but you never know when the coldest weather will hit. when it gets below zero I know my electric baseboards will have to help out the stove regardless of what I'm burning. My biggest problem when its really cold is ending up with a stove full of hot coals from loading so much wood. I have found putting a pair of welding gloves on makes it easier to shovel some out. I get more and hotter heat when its cleaned out. for me i am more worried about having bigger chunks for the coldest weather.

 

[bowtechmadman]

I usually mix maple/cherry and white oak due to that's what I have. When I have hickory available it gets mixed with cherry and maple. Agreed little strong if alone.

 

[James Miller]

I’ve never burned mulberry before, but from what I read it’s going to be great firewood.

It burns hotter then oak with burn times that are the same or a little longer in my experience. It can pop and spark when you open the stove to reload so be ready for that. It's related to osage so that should give you an idea what its capable of.

 

[H-Ranch]

I usually shut the stove down during a polar vortex.

LOL - didn't consider that a polar vortex for you probably means a heat wave.

 

[Marley5]

Like mentioned, there's so much Oak around that it makes up for over 90% of my wood supply.

My only struggle is should I burn white oak today or Red oak.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Been a long time since I've had "good" hardwoods to burn, though oak is pretty close with the birch we have here.

White and red oak - 24 million BTU per cord
Alaska Birch - 23.6 million BTU per cord.


Had someone call me yesterday looking for a pickup load of wood to bring home up north. They had come down for the weekend.

Told them I had some birch and they told me they didn't burn that "junk", they wanted spruce. Birch is "no good" when it's cold, it burns up too quite. Tried to correct them, but it was no use.

 

[al-k]

We have a lot of black birch and it burns well with lots of heat. Better than red oak I believe.

 

[rarefish383]

Was trying to see if you guys were awake when I said I used Swamp Willow for smoking. Either you were asleep, or I'm not funny.

 

[4seasons]

When you said smoking carp I just assumed you were braindead.

 

[rarefish383]

When you said smoking carp I just assumed you were braindead.

I figured someone would ask how the board tasted, per the old joke, throw the fish away and eat the board it was cooked on!

 

[Bobby Kirbos]

My wood pile this year is mostly maple, with some beech, mulberry, and a few pieces of some other "quality" woods thrown in. I burn maple most of the time and keep the others for the overnight burns. So far this strategy has worked well.

 

[Marley5]

Was trying to see if you guys were awake when I said I used Swamp Willow for smoking. Either you were asleep, or I'm not funny.

Hah missed that.

Speaking of smoking, my brother and I argue all the time about best wood for smoking.
Hands down for me....Apple.
My brother....Cherry.
I know, this should be a separate thread. Lol

 

[ArtB]

Ya knows ya bin burnin' jnk wood when you clean the ash pit and it is 95% NAILS!

 

[rarefish383]

Ya knows ya bin burnin' jnk wood when you clean the ash pit and it is 95% NAILS!

I used to recycle pallets, I got $2 for rebuildable ones, $3.50 for good ones, and I charged several strip mall stores $100 a month to pick up once a week. Then I cut up and burned all the junk ones. Yes, lots of nails in the ash.

 

[Trapper_Pete]

I don't have the room int he shed to be picky about what I burn and when.

load the shed full before memorial day start burning it when it gets cold

keep a pile of logs at the farm and some stacked on pallets under plastic split.

when half the shed is empty fill with splits from farm and get cutting logs and splitting.

generally I am away or asleep long enough that I have few enough coals that I can push them to one side empty the ash pus the coals to the other side empty the ash and go 24-48 hour without worrying about ash.