I burn locust in my woodboiler and I am cutting stuff that has been down for several years. As long as it does not touch the ground it does not fit, if the branches hold it up it is good and it burns hot and long. It does dull blades and I have even seen sparks comes off as I have been cutting this stuff!
Cut locust on a dark day and ya sure can see the sparks fly. Locust burns so hot I've herd of it burning a hole clean through the bottom of some of the older stoves. I burned a lot of honey locust. That shit got some nasty thorns.
Personal experience: Hickory burns hot, has long lasting coals, little ash and smells like heaven when it's burning. Mesquite burns fast, smells good and will wear you out trying to keep the fire fed.
I helped my son do a grade school project when he was in grade school years ago. I put two bricks on each side of the firebox and built a hot even bed of coals, and then placed even sized pieces of various woods on the grill I set on the bricks. FWIW hickory burned the longest, don't know if it was the hottest. But I love burning hickory when I can find it. We were at the epicenter of the invasion of the emerald ash borer and I have been burning ash for over 15 years from my lot and the adjoining lot. Just about depleted the inventory, it's been great.
I don't know what Elm that chart is referring to, but my experience doesn't match.
I had a 60' Red Elm taken down a few years ago. Wasn't difficult to split with a maul -- I may have used a wedge twice. It was all split 2 days after the tree came down.
And, after sitting for a couple of years, it burns nicely with no noticeable odor.
It all depends on what kind elm, and where it's grown. American Elm, known as "Piss Elm" by loggers, can be straight-grained when grown in the woods, though Dutch Elm Disease has killed off most of them.
Anything grown in an open area or edge, with heavy branching, will be a bitch to split. Most places with heavy snowfall tend to sort genetics to straighter trees, disease tends to kill off trees with broken branches.
I think they are referring to Chinese elm. It has a spiral wood grain. It will slow down a 30 ton splitter. If you cut it when the sap is up, it smells like cat piss. Needs at least 2 seasons drying to burn decent.
There is an elm stand, I think the trees are American elm, adjacent to camp. Some of the trees in the stand are dead and we took a couple down to use for firewood. It is almost impossible to split with a maul and/or wedges. it does burn hot. Hotter than well seasoned oak and about the same temp as rock maple(sugar maple). Our wood stove is welded 1/4" plate with a smoke shelf doing a small amount of secondary burn. The bottom and sides are lined with fire brick to prevent burn through. When there's elm burning the top plate of the stove glows dull red.
They didn't mention hedge or Osage Orange. That stuff burns about as hot as coal. You do not want to burn it in an open fireplace the stuff pops even when well seasoned. Don't remember any odor.
Farmers used to use that stuff for fence posts-harder than hell to cut and just as hard to get a fence 'steeple' into it. But, the posts never rot out.
I'd kill for maple or oak. All I have access to up here is birch and spruce. The cottonwood isn't worth the effort to cut. Oak pallets are like gold if you can find them. The one maple tree I tried to grow got about as big around as a pencil after 10 years; I couldn't keep the moose off it.
There is a hickory handle factory nearby. The slabs and unusable handles work well when pit cooking. Quick and hot. You can supplement with firewood to slow it down as necessary.
There use to be an outfit that made walnut gunstocks for the Army during WWII-things slowed down until they finally went out of business about 25 years later. We used to pay $5 to haul off a pickup load of their oldest scrap slabs from way in the back of their lot. I even made some simple furniture, though it played hell with my planer getting the stuff down to a true 1". And, the stuff we burned made for a mighty hot fire.
Burnt a lot of Chinese elm and ash when I was a kid. Don't remember ever having any good wood for the stoves. Also used corn cobs. We'd get a ton or so of coal every once in a while.
Our area had a lot of Chinese elm planted to replace the American elm killed by dutch elm disease. I had two on my property. I thought the Chinese elm was a 60 foot weed. They looked awful. In the fire pit, they smoke and spark too much.
If I didn’t have a big ass wood splitter I’d never be able to split my swamp maple. Twisty, can explode when splitting. I have 30 acres of swamp maple, Norway maple, sugar maple, red oak, white oak, white birch, golden birch, paper birch and black birch. Also cherry, ash and worthless yellow poplar (low heat, lotsa smoke). I prefer the ash (the ash beetle is killing huge trees around here so I have plenty of standing dead) as it is the easiest to split.
At 65 cutting, hauling, splitting, stacking, etc is getting real old. Keeps the beer gut in check tho.
No entry for black walnut either. I’ve burned several cords over the years from downed local trees. Not too hard to split, burns hot and long. However - the black/purple heart of the wood is so pretty and smells so good that I almost think it should be a crime to burn it. 😕 But it sure smells nice during splitting and while in the rack waiting to be burned. 😉
Had a friend tell me that hickory nuts will burn almost white hot due to the high oil content. Must be something to that because people sell !0# bags of the things on ebay for ~$15.00 + shipping.
No, those nuts are for eating. Hickory nuts have a really sweet meat but they're damned near impossible for me to get out because of those thick hulls. I've got a huge old hickory on the edge of my property and I always gather the nuts, peel the rind off the hulls and then burn them in my wood stove. A little goes a long way.
Sweetgums seem to be the most useless tree I can think of. With the exception of old southern grandmas using the twigs to work snuff into their gums, I've never seen them used for anything.
When I was growing up, we moved to a place with lots of locust trees. Owner told us to cut 'em down. Wore out several chains on it from all the sharpening. Old timers called it iron wood. I believe it cause it would take me all day to split a load with a double bit axe.
I burn locust in my woodboiler and I am cutting stuff that has been down for several years. As long as it does not touch the ground it does not fit, if the branches hold it up it is good and it burns hot and long. It does dull blades and I have even seen sparks comes off as I have been cutting this stuff!
ReplyDeleteCut locust on a dark day and ya sure can see the sparks fly. Locust burns so hot I've herd of it burning a hole clean through the bottom of some of the older stoves. I burned a lot of honey locust. That shit got some nasty thorns.
DeleteAnything on Hickory and Mesquite?
ReplyDeletePersonal experience: Hickory burns hot, has long lasting coals, little ash and smells like heaven when it's burning. Mesquite burns fast, smells good and will wear you out trying to keep the fire fed.
DeleteHickory and pecan are very similar. Stringy and difficult to split. I cut it to length and wait for it to drop into the teens before splitting.
DeleteSmells like heaven? Isn’t that Gweneth Paltrow’s name for her vagina scented candle that explodes?
DeleteI helped my son do a grade school project when he was in grade school years ago. I put two bricks on each side of the firebox and built a hot even bed of coals, and then placed even sized pieces of various woods on the grill I set on the bricks. FWIW hickory burned the longest, don't know if it was the hottest. But I love burning hickory when I can find it. We were at the epicenter of the invasion of the emerald ash borer and I have been burning ash for over 15 years from my lot and the adjoining lot. Just about depleted the inventory, it's been great.
DeleteLook up, The Fire Wood Poem, by Lady Congreve. I heard it first as a young kid.
ReplyDeleteI just looked her up. Both her husband and one of her sons were Victoria Cross recipients. It seems she was a pretty tough lady in her own right.
DeleteI don't know what Elm that chart is referring to, but my experience doesn't match.
ReplyDeleteI had a 60' Red Elm taken down a few years ago. Wasn't difficult to split with a maul -- I may have used a wedge twice. It was all split 2 days after the tree came down.
And, after sitting for a couple of years, it burns nicely with no noticeable odor.
Guess I got lucky.
I took down an Elm a couple of years ago. Tried splitting it by hand... screw that! It was impossible. WAY too stringy
DeleteIt all depends on what kind elm, and where it's grown. American Elm, known as "Piss Elm" by loggers, can be straight-grained when grown in the woods, though Dutch Elm Disease has killed off most of them.
DeleteAnything grown in an open area or edge, with heavy branching, will be a bitch to split. Most places with heavy snowfall tend to sort genetics to straighter trees, disease tends to kill off trees with broken branches.
I think they are referring to Chinese elm. It has a spiral wood grain. It will slow down a 30 ton splitter. If you cut it when the sap is up, it smells like cat piss. Needs at least 2 seasons drying to burn decent.
DeleteThere is an elm stand, I think the trees are American elm, adjacent to camp. Some of the trees in the stand are dead and we took a couple down to use for firewood. It is almost impossible to split with a maul and/or wedges. it does burn hot. Hotter than well seasoned oak and about the same temp as rock maple(sugar maple). Our wood stove is welded 1/4" plate with a smoke shelf doing a small amount of secondary burn. The bottom and sides are lined with fire brick to prevent burn through. When there's elm burning the top plate of the stove glows dull red.
DeleteNemo
They didn't mention hedge or Osage Orange. That stuff burns about as hot as coal. You do not want to burn it in an open fireplace the stuff pops even when well seasoned. Don't remember any odor.
ReplyDeleteFarmers used to use that stuff for fence posts-harder than hell to cut and just as hard to get a fence 'steeple' into it. But, the posts never rot out.
DeleteI'd kill for maple or oak. All I have access to up here is birch and spruce. The cottonwood isn't worth the effort to cut. Oak pallets are like gold if you can find them. The one maple tree I tried to grow got about as big around as a pencil after 10 years; I couldn't keep the moose off it.
ReplyDeleteSince I've been here in Tennessee, I've burned hickory, locust, maple, oak, pecan and ash. I prefer them in that order.
DeleteThere is a hickory handle factory nearby. The slabs and unusable handles work well when pit cooking. Quick and hot. You can supplement with firewood to slow it down as necessary.
ReplyDelete"Nothing like a nice piece of hickory."
DeleteThere use to be an outfit that made walnut gunstocks for the Army during WWII-things slowed down until they finally went out of business about 25 years later. We used to pay $5 to haul off a pickup load of their oldest scrap slabs from way in the back of their lot. I even made some simple furniture, though it played hell with my planer getting the stuff down to a true 1". And, the stuff we burned made for a mighty hot fire.
DeleteSurprisingly, I see no mention of Morning Wood.
ReplyDeleteEd
Post of the day right there.
DeleteIf your Morning Wood burns, SEE A DOCTOR!
DeleteBurnt a lot of Chinese elm and ash when I was a kid. Don't remember ever having any good wood for the stoves. Also used corn cobs. We'd get a ton or so of coal every once in a while.
ReplyDeleteOur area had a lot of Chinese elm planted to replace the American elm killed by dutch elm disease. I had two on my property. I thought the Chinese elm was a 60 foot weed. They looked awful. In the fire pit, they smoke and spark too much.
DeleteGeek
I've heard that it is better to split some wood when green and others after they season due to ease of splitting. Any feedback on that?
ReplyDeleteLocust is one to split green. After it seasons it is harder than the hubs of hell.
DeleteI don't remember maple being hard to split. Oak, ash, & soft maple are what I burned a lot of.
ReplyDeleteIf I didn’t have a big ass wood splitter I’d never be able to split my swamp maple. Twisty, can explode when splitting. I have 30 acres of swamp maple, Norway maple, sugar maple, red oak, white oak, white birch, golden birch, paper birch and black birch. Also cherry, ash and worthless yellow poplar (low heat, lotsa smoke). I prefer the ash (the ash beetle is killing huge trees around here so I have plenty of standing dead) as it is the easiest to split.
DeleteAt 65 cutting, hauling, splitting, stacking, etc is getting real old. Keeps the beer gut in check tho.
No entry for black walnut either. I’ve burned several cords over the years from downed local trees. Not too hard to split, burns hot and long.
ReplyDeleteHowever - the black/purple heart of the wood is so pretty and smells so good that I almost think it should be a crime to burn it. 😕
But it sure smells nice during splitting and while in the rack waiting to be burned. 😉
The poem I mentioned earlier. It aint a cutesy tootsie poem. It's about the characteristics of different wood and how they burn.
ReplyDeleteHey, nice info thing there!
ReplyDeleteBut it left out "Morning Wood"!!!
@luis-WeGotWood
Had a friend tell me that hickory nuts will burn almost white hot due to the high oil content. Must be something to that because people sell !0# bags of the things on ebay for ~$15.00 + shipping.
ReplyDeleteNo, those nuts are for eating. Hickory nuts have a really sweet meat but they're damned near impossible for me to get out because of those thick hulls.
DeleteI've got a huge old hickory on the edge of my property and I always gather the nuts, peel the rind off the hulls and then burn them in my wood stove. A little goes a long way.
Sweetgums seem to be the most useless tree I can think of. With the exception of old southern grandmas using the twigs to work snuff into their gums, I've never seen them used for anything.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up, we moved to a place with lots of locust trees. Owner told us to cut 'em down. Wore out several chains on it from all the sharpening. Old timers called it iron wood. I believe it cause it would take me all day to split a load with a double bit axe.
ReplyDelete