03USMC51
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Anyone else burn this magnificent specimen of fuel?
Thoughts on Ironwood?
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Crofter
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I never pass it by but it rarely gets over 6 inches dia. up here. I think it is our hardest heaviest and most BTU wood but you seldom get enough of it to make yourself sick! Lol!
Griffbm3
ArboristSite Guru
Yes:
I have 160 acres of forest that was once a pasture, and gradually grew in, so I have a lot of REALLY big ironwood. The folks at Stockbridge in Amherst have been by to see them because they are huge, and used them for examples in some studies... when they get ready to go, I sneak in and take em... Pain in the butt to split though. Great fuel. (Hophornbeam)
Jason
03USMC51
ArboristSite Lurker
With a bit more research I've discovered there are over 100 different species of "Ironwood" in the world! Now I am curious as to what I burn up here, I'll have to post some pics and maybe y'all can help figure this out for me. I pretty sure however that it is not hophornbeam, and most assuredly is not Black Ironwood (Krugiodendron ferreum). Neat trivia: South americans call this wood "Quebracho" or "Axebreaker"
Crofter
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What we have here is hop hornbeam. North shore of Lake Huron
We had a hillside covered with Ironwood (Eastern Hophornbeam).They would grow to 6-8" diameter and, because they were so heavy, uproot themselves.Great stuff, saved it for the nights that were 20 below or colder.
Also called Blue Beech, hardly ever seen over 6" dia around here. Good wood though!
MNfarmer
ArboristSite Guru
I burn one here and there.. but leave a lot of them. On one of my river points I have quite a few Ironwood. There is one that's almost a foot in diameter.. biggest I've ever seen!! My grandpa told me when he was a kid they would make splitting wedges out of ironwood, I made on last winter and it worked pretty good!! I guess it's called ironwood for a reason! 
03USMC51
ArboristSite Lurker
At $10,000.00 a cord I wouldn't burn it either, besides that's some gorgeous wood! At any rate, what I've managed to come up with is this: I have the Eastern Hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) not American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana)also called "Musclewood" around here; it's from the Birch family, very shredded bark, grows in a tight spiral or twist creating it's density and strength. Again, it burns phenominally if you care to take the time to cut and split (if required, rarely do I find one that big). Dad used to tell me the story of how when he was young and dumb he tried to cut one up with an axe for Grandma's fireplace not knowing what he was in for, the stubborn SOB actually finished the job though....perhaps that's where my bull-headedness comes from, he always said it came from Mom....
03USMC51
ArboristSite Lurker
By the way, what are your plans for that Desert Ironwood? You didn't buy it to burn did you?
Ostrya virginiana or American Hophornbeam, is what I have a lot of around here. Most gets up to about 6" diameter before it dies or uproots itself. It's not a shade-tolerant tree and doesn't grow fast enough to be a dominant species, apparently. There is some American Hornbeam (no "hop"), Carpus caroliniana, which is a different genus, also called blue beech, which rarely gets much bigger than 4-6" in my area. The Hophornbeam has the shaggy plated bark and catkins. Both are nicknamed ironwood but I usually refer to the hornbeam as ironwood and the hophornbeam as just "hornbeam".
I harvested a 20" DBH Hophornbeam last year, it fell in the road as a result of an ice storm. Not only was the stuff a bear to cut, but having barbed wire in the tree didn't help me much. There's a few more in the 12 - 16" range in the woods nearby, most are growing deep in rock ledges and are "wolf" trees that survive the overstory shade.
The stuff makes fabulous tool handles, it turns like a dream on the lathe.
I harvested a 20" DBH Hophornbeam last year, it fell in the road as a result of an ice storm. Not only was the stuff a bear to cut, but having barbed wire in the tree didn't help me much. There's a few more in the 12 - 16" range in the woods nearby, most are growing deep in rock ledges and are "wolf" trees that survive the overstory shade.
The stuff makes fabulous tool handles, it turns like a dream on the lathe.
ShoerFast
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No!
Knife handles.
Fun to work, but you need a respirator. End product dose not need sealer and just wipes clean.
03USMC51
ArboristSite Lurker
Wow! Absolutely magnificent! What do you charge for those suckers?
ShoerFast
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Thanks for the kind words!
Price, one word...
Ouurraah!
That one was lost and latter found by the USPS, insured for sold amount of $750.00 . (not taking orders at this time)
Nice job ShoerFast! I'll bet the ups crew was going nutso 
to find that so they didn't have to pay up. Do you make the whole knife or just the handle?
to find that so they didn't have to pay up. Do you make the whole knife or just the handle?Joshlaugh
ArboristSite Operative
Here in Ohio I see two species of hornbeam. The eastern hop hornbeam like others say grows typically about 6" dbh and than dies. It seems to grow in the woods to about 30 feet. seems shade tolerant. I have cut a few down but never had the chance to burn it. The other species is the American Hornbeam, blue beech, or my personal favorite name, Muscle wood, since it has ripples? on the bark that feel like a person's muscle. My park has the largest muscle wood in our entire park district of 22k acres. It has three trunks each around 14in in diameter. Not pretty but massive for the species here in Central Ohio.
So the short of it is, I have not burned it but hear that it is good.
So the short of it is, I have not burned it but hear that it is good.
beerman6
Addicted to ArboristSite
No!
Knife handles.
Fun to work, but you need a respirator. End product dose not need sealer and just wipes clean.
Thats flipping beautiful...
ShoerFast
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It was not my wish to side track the thread, as I had burned a lot of Hops Hornbeam (Minnesota style Ironwood) when I could find it. Clearing line-fence seems a good habit for them?
As mentioned before, it is almost a custom to give a young woodsman (full of piz n vinegar) a dull ax and point them to an Ironwood tree!
Mine, at about 9 years oldd, was about 18" DBH and yes, I did fell it,,,,, on about the 4th trip to the wood lot, supervized by my dad and grandpa, handed a Rementon PL4 when it was real close to letting go!
We wedged that tree so it would fall on a huge old Elm that we been working on, I got to cut a lot of the blocks from that Ironwood. It was keep to the side , and latter, I got to toss most of it into the family wood furnace, only on the coldest of days. Funny how we remember things like that? We owe todays kids the same!
Ironwood has a quality of stubbornness to it.
All of it.....
The steel was a huge ball-bearing (52100) hand-forged cold (less then 1600 Deg F) About 50 heat cycles in all, normalized and spiroized* a half a dozen times, Shade-tree quenched/hardened 3 times in 165 Deg pure minurial-oil, tempered in a kitchen oven 3 times for 2 hours. The guard starts out as a chunk of brass 1.25" X 1.25" bar stock, silver-soldiered tot eh blade, the spacer is from an elk brow-ting , and the Desert Ironwood shaped from a chunk out of a firewood sized block.
The process took me over 65 hours, I am starting to get them done in less then 40 hours now, and still a lot to learn.
*key to a fine/sharp edge, take the steel up to non-magnetic and let it air cool down through the transformation zone a few times to refine grain structure,,,,,
I would be glad to share what I found with anyone here, there are no secrets! Kevin Salonek
As mentioned before, it is almost a custom to give a young woodsman (full of piz n vinegar) a dull ax and point them to an Ironwood tree!
Mine, at about 9 years oldd, was about 18" DBH and yes, I did fell it,,,,, on about the 4th trip to the wood lot, supervized by my dad and grandpa, handed a Rementon PL4 when it was real close to letting go!
We wedged that tree so it would fall on a huge old Elm that we been working on, I got to cut a lot of the blocks from that Ironwood. It was keep to the side , and latter, I got to toss most of it into the family wood furnace, only on the coldest of days. Funny how we remember things like that? We owe todays kids the same!
Ironwood has a quality of stubbornness to it.
Nice job ShoerFast! I'll bet the ups crew was going nutso
All of it.....
The steel was a huge ball-bearing (52100) hand-forged cold (less then 1600 Deg F) About 50 heat cycles in all, normalized and spiroized* a half a dozen times, Shade-tree quenched/hardened 3 times in 165 Deg pure minurial-oil, tempered in a kitchen oven 3 times for 2 hours. The guard starts out as a chunk of brass 1.25" X 1.25" bar stock, silver-soldiered tot eh blade, the spacer is from an elk brow-ting , and the Desert Ironwood shaped from a chunk out of a firewood sized block.
The process took me over 65 hours, I am starting to get them done in less then 40 hours now, and still a lot to learn.
*key to a fine/sharp edge, take the steel up to non-magnetic and let it air cool down through the transformation zone a few times to refine grain structure,,,,,
I would be glad to share what I found with anyone here, there are no secrets! Kevin Salonek
timberwolf
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I think I will cut some iron wood this weekend, was out for a hunt/walk in the bush yesterday evening and went to a area I had not been in a few years. Found lots of ~6 inch ironwood many not doing any favors to young maples.
Going to have to see how my chains hold up, been running some square chain with pretty fine angle, more like what you would see on a race chain.
Going to have to see how my chains hold up, been running some square chain with pretty fine angle, more like what you would see on a race chain.
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