thoughts on basswood

[066blaster]

I've been burning some 2 year seasoned basswood splits , and they really throw the heat. I have a arrow insert with a blower on each side. I know it doesn't last real long ,but not bad. I do have access to a lot of it. What do you guys think of basswood?

 

[Dogsout]

If you want to cut and split double for the same amount of heat that you get from most decent hardwoods then by all means have at it.

 

[olyman]

basswood,,is what carvers LOVE!! and it is also,,what all the old circus wagons of years ago were made of!!!

 

[mainewoods]

Double the work for half the return. Unless it's all you have, there is a lot better wood to spend your time on.

 

[chucker]

basswood was used for caskets back when. now it's just a dieing tree for the slash piles! except for the lucky few that will make veneer!

 

[Wood Doctor]

Basswood might have the same heat content as cottonwood and willow. It's a surprisingly slow growing tree. Some guys like to carve with it. When it comes to heat content, willow, cottonwood, and basswood are all on the same page. And, they all work very well for fireplaces, campfires, and patio fires.

Wood stove burners seldom go near it except for kindling.

 

[H-Ranch]

I wouldn't go out of my way to get basswood, but I have burned it - if it has to be handled (downed tree or the like) it goes on the firewood stack. I also wouldn't turn it down if it was bucked and ready to picked up. I've been taking pine rounds from a friend in town because he's taking down a line of trees 20"+ diameter. But he's also given me oak, hickory, and cherry which I probably would not have gotten if I wasn't taking the pine too.

 

[ponyexpress976]

I'm in the same boat...took a few loads of it from the same tree company that has fed me mucho quality wood just to keep them happy.

 

[Tim in NY]

I have burned it whenever one comes down - often I seem to find them in swampy areas and they uproot easily. One thing I noticed - its about the only wood beside birch that you can tell what it is by the smell of the smoke outside. It has a very distinctive odor - kinda sweet. It also makes real good kindling if you split it small and get it dry.

Tun

 

[Iska3]

Sorry to say this but the Basswood trees are starting to die like the Ash. Most of the trees in our woods are dead and many have snapped off so they must rot from the inside out. I took home a trailer load once and never took another because it burns so fast. My wife calls it daytime wood, she said that I'm home all day so I could fill the OWB with those logs during the day. I don't think a person could sell it to any wood burning customer.

 

[Streblerm]

I have burned a bit of it. When it is dry it is kind of like a wood prop. It looks like hardwood but it weighs like paper mache. I have gotten some laughs from taking a good size dry piece and tossing it to somebody. When they catch it the look of surprise regarding weight is priceless.

If I had to choose between pine and basswood I would take the pine. That being said it has a place in my woodpile. I don't go out of my way to get it but if it is easy and free it's for me. A piece or two mixed in with better hardwood makes for an easy to start hot fire.

 

[lindnova]

I have never burned basswood. In my area they are relatively healthy and the rotten hollow ones are usually on steep hillsides that are hard to get to. Not worth the trouble. If one fell in my way I would make it into firewood.

There are a lot of young ones around. The leaves make really good toilet paper.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I have never burned basswood. In my area they are relatively healthy and the rotten hollow ones are usually on steep hillsides that are hard to get to. Not worth the trouble. If one fell in my way I would make it into firewood.

There are a lot of young ones around. The leaves make really good toilet paper.

Those sound like large-leaf lindens. I have one growing in my back yard, imported from Minnesota. The small-leaf variety is preferred around here because the growing season is longer. Regardless, I believe the heat content of the firewood from both of these varieties is the same, and some charts rate it at 14 MBTU/Cord, actually below cottonwood at 16 MBTU/cord.

 

[066blaster]

I have to heat my whole house with my stove, which requires the blowers being on high at all times. So I am looking for a high temp to keep it blowing hot air. I have been burning oak and hickory , and get long burn times but not real hot, plus takes a good hour after lighting to throw decent heat. I'm thinking I can use some basswood to compliment the harder woods, to get quicker and hotter heat. My only other option for heat is baseboard electric. So I'm willing to do some extra work to not have to turn them on.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I have to heat my whole house with my stove, which requires the blowers being on high at all times. So I am looking for a high temp to keep it blowing hot air. I have been burning oak and hickory , and get long burn times but not real hot, plus takes a good hour after lighting to throw decent heat. I'm thinking I can use some basswood to compliment the harder woods, to get quicker and hotter heat. My only other option for heat is baseboard electric. So I'm willing to do some extra work to not have to turn them on.

Basswood or cottonwood mixed might help. In your neck of the woods, I believe poplar is another strong possibility for a mixed hardwood fire. I like soft maple also for what you are trying to do. The idea is to get the fire roaring with the hardwood that's easy to light and then mix in the longer burning fuel woods. I just sold a truckload of mix that included American elm, cottonwood, and ash. This is another good combo. When they burn down together, there are practically no cinders, only fine ashes. It's as if they work as a team.

 

[Streblerm]

Not to beat a dead horse but if you are struggling to get a hot fire with good hardwood then it probably isn't truly dry.

I understand the need to do what you need to do to keep warm and I'm not preaching.

It has taken me a few years of burning to realize the benefit of truly dry wood. A load of greenish or freshly split wood in my stove and I will struggle to get to 400f stove temp with the draft wide open. Fairly dry wood will start and burn easy. I can close the draft down a bit, not have too much smoke, and get about 500f stove temps. Three little splits of really dry wood, regardless of species will get the stove up to 600 degrees in short order and I can close the draft all the way.

In my stove a couple splits of really dry soft maple will provide more heat for a longer duration with a low draft than a stove full of wettish oak burning with the draft WFO.

 

[TRTermite]

The Firewood needs to be split through the heart. I have seen walnut logs culled at my mill for being to short. Years later (15+) I saw them on the hill and they were nearly rotted away. Cut them short enough to manhandle and they were green as a gourd on the inside. Split the wood as soon as you can so it will start curing . Some woods like to be contrary if you cut them with the sapp up, splitting through the heart helps this a lot. So many people think the wood is small enough to fit in their stove and do NOT account for moisture trapped in the wood. That moisture is what cools the smoke/draft in the chimney then the creosote forms and it just doesn't go right.

 

[bitzer]

I have to heat my whole house with my stove, which requires the blowers being on high at all times. So I am looking for a high temp to keep it blowing hot air. I have been burning oak and hickory , and get long burn times but not real hot, plus takes a good hour after lighting to throw decent heat. I'm thinking I can use some basswood to compliment the harder woods, to get quicker and hotter heat. My only other option for heat is baseboard electric. So I'm willing to do some extra work to not have to turn them on.

With the amount of dead ash around here I'd drive about 10 min east of you and start knocking on doors. Seriously. I've been gettin a lot of calls to look at woodlots that don't have much for merch timber but they would be a firewooders dream.

 

[Deleted member 83629]

beats a snowball.

 

[svk]

Basswood is the easiest splitting wood out there but I wouldn't process it unless I was out of other wood sources and it was drive to access.