Oak vs Hickory... the best firewood?

[Preston]

Now the hottest oak I've ever had was water oak mixed with dogwood. We always called it water oak but it may have another name. I was heating the house with a old chicken house wood stove and it turned cherry red. I thought I was going to fry the house. I started cooling that thing down as fast a I could. Don't think I've ever burned locust.

 

[haveawoody]

Preston,

I find locust to be much like white oak for burn.
Maybe just a tad hotter and longer burn than white oak but not much in it.

Good stuff but steer clear of the thorny locust it's nasty to cut and split and stack.
Although apple can be just like it.

 

[Eecho]

Preston,

I find locust to be much like white oak for burn.
Maybe just a tad hotter and longer burn than white oak but not much in it.

Good stuff but steer clear of the thorny locust it's nasty to cut and split and stack.
Although apple can be just like it.

I have a fifteen acre field full of that thorny honey locust that stuffs brutal. Black locust is the firewood you want kinda pressure treated looking in color. I had one of those honey locust thorns stab me in the tendon , my hand blew up bad from it .

 

[jdc123]

Both are my most used woods but I prefer hickory.

 

[johnha]

That's kind of like asking folks if they prefer Husky, Stihl, Jonsered, Mac, or Echo.

They're all good and all have different postitives and negatives. Need some wood fairly soon? Then you want ash. My buddy heats with wood too and his favorite is cherry. Me? I think Beech may be my favorite but its not easy to find one that's not hollow.

Of the two you asked, I like burning the Hickory better but prefer splitting and curing Red Oak. I hand split the first Shagbark I ever cut down, and it was a big reason I bought a hydraulic splitter.

BTW, yours is a good problem to have I hope you know.

 

[gregfox]

More oak and hickory than I know what to do with. Yes, a very good problem so I let a load go to the mill today and probably a couple more? I know, too much thinkin but I try not to let my little stove go out for 2 weeks at a time mid winter and extra ashes loses burn volume. I've got enough hickory to smoke enough wood for every body on here to eat for a long time, whos got the meat(and beer)? MMMMMM smoked meat and beer:msp_thumbsup:

 

[Preston]

I know the original question related to hickory or oak, but one wood I burn just cause I had no other at the time and really like it was red maple. Sorta light in it weight but really burned well.

I don't think I know what the shag bark hickory is. All I have on my place is a smooth kinda bark. I'll look it up and find out. Now I gotta know what I've been cutting. I know it's got big nuts. All about the size of a bow hunk marble.

Okay.........I did some searching and all I have on my place is pignut hickory. And the tree sites are calling the pecan tree a hickory. That don't know sense. I've never split shag bark but this pignut is off my list of hand splitting woods.

 

[haveawoody]

Eecho,

We are lucky in my area with locust having no thorns.
I've seen pictures of the thorny ones and wonder how people even tackle them.

I had a similar experience with an old apple tree, went to roll a log over to cut it on flat ground and discovered it could fight back.
My thumb was messed up for months.

 

[haveawoody]

gregfox,

What i would do with that quantity of wood is rent a flattie and a bobcat.
Load the entire works in a day and take it all home in log format.

Then take your time at home doing the cut to size and split and stack and miller time.

I bet in the long run the equiptment rental will be less that the fuel bill to move that much wood in a pickup.

 

[gregfox]

gregfox,

What i would do with that quantity of wood is rent a flattie and a bobcat.
Load the entire works in a day and take it all home in log format.

Then take your time at home doing the cut to size and split and stack and miller time.

I bet in the long run the equiptment rental will be less that the fuel bill to move that much wood in a pickup.

I am fortunate enough to own a single axle dump truck from my days as a contractor and have a buddy who lets me use his skidsteer. I can easily haul 2 cord at a time(14' bed with 4' high sides). The landowner on this piece has agreed to let me stack up long logs and take the next year getting them. I was gonna haul everything home in logs but I'm thinking about cutting there to keep the mess there and I'm running out of room. Thinkin about puttin up a cl ad to sell 2 cord loads of logs delivered to try to make a quick buck on it.

 

[4seasons]

Okay.........I did some searching and all I have on my place is pignut hickory. And the tree sites are calling the pecan tree a hickory. That don't know sense. I've never split shag bark but this pignut is off my list of hand splitting woods.

Yes pecan is hickory. I have had a little pecan a time or two and in the stove or smoker you will never know the difference from pecan or shag bark. Processing it is easier though, closer to pignut. Not as hard on chains and easier to split than shag bark but still has plenty of fibers that want to hold the wood together like any hickory. I treat it like apple, I don't get much and it is too good on the smoker to put in the stove so the little pecan I have had goes in the smoker pile.

 

[Ontario Firewood Resource]

Eecho,

We are lucky in my area with locust having no thorns.
I've seen pictures of the thorny ones and wonder how people even tackle them.

I had a similar experience with an old apple tree, went to roll a log over to cut it on flat ground and discovered it could fight back.
My thumb was messed up for months.

We have plenty of the hybrid honey locusts with no thorns in Ontario's big cities. Its an ornament tree. Very good to burn, easy to split, takes long to season