Quality versus Quantity

[rarefish383]

Before AS I would just cut and split it all together...when I was burning I would toss the hardwood aside for the last load of the night....then I got into categorizing everything and it just takes up too much time lol.

I don't bother sorting anything, I just through all the Oak in the same pile, Oak is Oak, all burns the same.

 

[U&A]

Take it. All of it that you can. Im almost done taking pickup loads of black locust. It smells funny when burnt but it was already bucked. Just had to hual it away.

I took it all. Still have one more load to get. That will make 9 FULL pickup loads


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[moresnow]

In the past we have left a lot of cottonwood because we assumed it would burn to quickly, leave a lot ash, etc, etc. Last winter we had some nice big pieces and since it was easy to get we put some thru the Central Boilers. Could tell little to no difference in burn times or heat........ive not tried it in a stove.

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I burned a good amount of Cottonwood in my BK indoors last year. Zero issues, it burned plenty long. At least as well as all the PINE I burn

 

[Big_Al]

Tamarack is the preferred wood out here, also red fir. I'm no where near as picky as I used to be. Lots of easy to get lodgepole around thanks to the pine beetles, burns just fine.

 

[TimberWolf530]

What species of poplar do you have that smells bad when burned?

Tulip Poplar. Actually, there are several things wrong with it. It's very soft, rots quickly, and stinks up the whole neighborhood when burned. The first two i can deal with if its free, but that along with the smell is a deal breaker.

 

[svk]

Tulip Poplar. Actually, there are several things wrong with it. It's very soft, rots quickly, and stinks up the whole neighborhood when burned. The first two i can deal with if its free, but that along with the smell is a deal breaker.

Interesting. The only thing I have burned that smells badly is boxelder, which is only really a problem with bark on wood that isnt fully seasoned.

 

[066blaster]

Interesting. The only thing I have burned that smells badly is boxelder, which is only really a problem with bark on wood that isnt fully seasoned.

when i was a kid my dad burned a lot of boxelder, so it smells normal to me and brings back memories of playing out in the snow. I am not crazy about some Elm species smell, and basswood smells like some sort of potpourri to me. I actually go out of my way for some softer woods for the shoulder seasons. They burn better in my insert when its in the 30's and 40's . I love big chunks of boxelder and silver maple for overnighters when its not real cold out.

 

[066blaster]

I guess if its a huge tree that requires a lot of work getting it out of the woods and splitting, i would prefer it to be a good hardwood

 

[c5rulz]

Red & white oak are by far the easiest thing for me to get. I can drive up to within a few feet of a pile and have at it. Of course that is not near as nice as having the trailer filled while I wait.

 

[Ronaldo]

Red & white oak are by far the easiest thing for me to get. I can drive up to within a few feet of a pile and have at it. Of course that is not near as nice as having the trailer filled while I wait.

No scrounging required, ehh?

 

[c5rulz]

No scrounging required, ehh?

Not much, but I have to "bribe" them with Honeycrisp apples I grow. Apples aren't to hard to come by either.

 

[rancher2]

I go for quality vs quantity but I am cleaning up my own land and have a lot of locust and hedge on one farm that needs a lot of cleaning so the elms go to the brush pile as there isn't a lot of people around here making there own firewood. I burn about 10 to 15 full cord a year to heat my house and shop.

 

[TimberWolf530]

Holy Crap! That's a lot.

 

[Cody]

Red & white oak are by far the easiest thing for me to get. I can drive up to within a few feet of a pile and have at it. Of course that is not near as nice as having the trailer filled while I wait.

That's a heck of a trailer.

 

[Multifaceted]

We err on quality over quantity, but I won't thumb my nose at lesser quality woods.

We only have one stove to feed, since our woodlot is small and my scrounging is limited to my time and wares (only a trailer, no pickup truck of my own) - and we already have access to a fair amount of ash, cherry, oak, and locust. That being said i don't have any problem burning anything so long as it splits relatively easy, dries quick and keeps well. Oak and Hickory are great when dry, but I'll take ash or cherry over them for to the relative ease of processing and the fact they can season well enough in six months and are ready to burn. I've burned Ailanthus, Catalpa, Sassafras, and Tulip Poplar in the stove and I'd do it again.

Because we only burn while home, the high quality, dense woods I often save for overnight burns, days when we're working outside a lot, or the really cold days. Otherwise middling hardwoods burn just fine only you have to tend the stove a little more often. The trade-off is that we don't get it too warm indoors. I've had to open windows in the winter because it got too hot inside while burning oak. Not complaining, but it has happened. Once the brickwork in our stove chimney heats up, maintaining a moderate fire with good coal bed is enough to keep it comfortable.

 

[c5rulz]

That's a heck of a trailer.

Actually there is more to it than meets the eye. Had the following upgrades too

18' x 83"
1. Upgraded to 5200 axels with electric brakes on both
2. Cross member bracing on 12" centers rather than 18"
3. Knee braces on split tail gate with spring assist. Will handle 7,000# machine

Truck, F250 Super Duty has 6.2 Liter gas, 4.30 rear end and load range "E" tires.

Hauled a measured 3 full cord at once this fall and was still a legal load.

 

[James Miller]

I'm not far from @Multifaceted so the high btu hard woods are pretty easy to get oak, locust, and mulberry are most common around me. Lots of people pass on mulberry and dont know what there missing. I've also got racks of the lesser hard woods like cherry, ash, and maple.

 

[Cowboy254]

I'm lucky in that all my wood comes from a tree guy, I drive up to the pile load. While it's definitely great when he texts to say there is Oak, locust, and such on the pile, I'm happy to do my bit and take lesser woods. Soft woods have the advantage of good kindling wood, good at getting things going and look good with lots of flames. I wouldn't go out my way particularly for hardwoods. They have more btu but only about half as much again so it's not worth twice the effort.

I'm a bit of an opportunist. I'll burn anything that doesn't make a big mess and softwood would be fine - during the day that is. I don't mind chucking more wood in more often if it's not so dense. The lower density eucalypts near me (candlebark, manna gum and peppermint) have BTUs in the oak to locust range and specific gravities of 0.75 - 0.82. but they only just get through the night due to limitations on how far you can shut the heater down. Blue gum at 0.9 will get through the night even if it is more ashy and that's what I generally use. However, I have located a red/yellow/grey box (specific gravity 1.05 - 1.12) scrounge spot, the only catch being that there's a bit of a drive to get it. But it appears to me that the burn rate vs density is non-linear so for the nights, the slower heat production but much longer burn time could be worth the travel for that purpose.

I have enough dry blue gum for next year's winter nights and that'll give my box varieties two summers to dry. I have about 7 cubes of box which I think will be two winter's worth when we're burning lighter stuff through the day.

I think you're right about the environment they grow in causing a big difference in the density of the wood and plantation eucalypt grown outside Aust being less good as a result.

 

[svk]

I think you're right about the environment they grow in causing a big difference in the density of the wood and plantation eucalypt grown outside Aust being less good as a result.

We still have a few old growth pines around here (they survived the original logging operations 100 years ago because they were too small). Those Norway pines are significantly more dense than reprog and especially more dense than windbreak trees that were planted in the last 40 years and grew to maturity quickly.

 

[Multifaceted]

I'm not far from @Multifaceted so the high btu hard woods are pretty easy to get oak, locust, and mulberry are most common around me. Lots of people pass on mulberry and dont know what there missing. I've also got racks of the lesser hard woods like cherry, ash, and maple.

Ash and Black Cherry will be basically all I'll be burning this season, love the stuff! Not the highest BTU, but still quality in my book. I've got a little Black Locust to use for the overnight burns, but otherwise I'd burn ash and cherry almost exclusively if I could. Makes just the right amount of heat for our home layout and I'm already used to the timing intervals of tending the firebox.

Don't see much mulberry around these parts, if any at all. I know you're not far from me, but I almost never see it! Would like to try, have never burned it before. I hear it needs time like oak to dry, but is very dense and makes good smoking wood.