for those with wood-burning stoves

[franksolich]

Okay, since early this morning, I've been in-and-out, helping the withered little bug-eyed caretaker deal with some trees here that were blown down nearly three weeks ago.  He uses a chain-saw to cut them up for firewood, and franksolich sorts, stacks, and loads them.

I'm a great sorter-stacker-loader; no way am I a cutter.

He identified the trees for me (I don't pay much attention to trees); there's one ash, one buckeye, three cottonwoods, two elms, one locust, three maples, and one walnut.  All of these were fully-grown trees at the time of their nature-caused demise.

I don't have a wood-burner; he does, and so do many others around here.  He sells the wood for firewood.

But just out of curiosity, which of these makes the best firewood, and the worst firewood?

[JohnnyReb]

Best--------ash

Worst------cottonwood

[FreeBorn]

Okay, since early this morning, I've been in-and-out, helping the withered little bug-eyed caretaker deal with some trees here that were blown down nearly three weeks ago.  He uses a chain-saw to cut them up for firewood, and franksolich sorts, stacks, and loads them.

I'm a great sorter-stacker-loader; no way am I a cutter.

He identified the trees for me (I don't pay much attention to trees); there's one ash, one buckeye, three cottonwoods, two elms, one locust, three maples, and one walnut.  All of these were fully-grown trees at the time of their nature-caused Climate Change demise.

I don't have a wood-burner; he does, and so do many others around here.  He sells the wood for firewood.

But just out of curiosity, which of these makes the best firewood, and the worst firewood?

Any of the hardwoods make the best firewood, once seasoned. Of those you mentioned I would say ash, buckeye maple and walnut are best. I would avoid the rest for indoor wood stove use but they are all fine for campfire use. I would avoid the elm and cottonwood because of the highly wavy grain which resists splitting. That's why blacksmiths have traditionally used elm to set their anvils on, dense and long lasting and because it also resists rot. The anvil may appear to be setting on a stump placed on the floor but usually the stump extends three or four feet into the floor. Locust is also very rot resistant, locust fence posts here in the north last 50 years or more.
Don't try splitting the elm or cottonwood, after a few whacks and maybe a nice goose egg on the forehead you will know why. I've seen both elm and cottonwood break the wedge on power splitters. Good for bonfires though. You didn't mention pine but avoid that too. Pine puts too much creosote in your flue and burns too hot and too fast. it can actually burn through the steel of your stove after repeated use if allowed to get too hot. Pine can also produce flying embers which can travel a quarter mile or more but usually they demonstrate the uncanny ability to U-turn out of the flue and settle in the leaf litter in your gutters. Pine is evil.
BTW- around here a face cord of seasoned hardwood is going for about $85, $100 or more if you want it delivered and stacked.

[franksolich]

Thanks, guys, but I don't really have anything to do with it; I just sort, stack, and load.

The little old withered bugeyed caretaker gets it as a "bonus" for his work around this place, and he sells some of it for campfires, some of it for wood-burning stoves during the winter.  As he's been around for decades, I'm sure he knows what's best for what, but I myself was just curious.

He's gone now, and I can't ask him; does one suppose different rates are charged for different grades of firewood?

I just got done loading the rest of the hardwood into the trailer, where it's 107 out in the sun.

He wanted to hang around because of concern about myself being alone, but I finally persuaded him to leave, to go to town and drink the bar dry.  I lied, and promised him I'd leave it lay there until tomorrow (Friday) morning, when he comes back. 

[Wineslob]

Yup, Frank, different money for different "grades"  Here (Northern Cali) seasoned (dried one full season) Oak goes for around $250 or more per cord. One cord is roughly 2 long bed pickup truck beds filled end to end and as high as the bed it's self.

Almond, considered the best, will go for more, but since we have had a plethora of it (local orchards/storms), it's dropped to the Oak price.
Walnut is less as it has a lower BTU value and won't store as long. It will turn to "duff", almost like rot. but like it's dried up to nothing, in 2 years or so.

So far this year I've cut and hand split around 1-2 cords of Oak, as a friend of mine had a tree blow over in a storm back in April in his Walnut Orchard.

[catsmtrods]

Ash and maple burn hot and fast. Elm and locust are hell to split. Cottonwood is crap. I don't know what kind of walnut you got out there but the little bit of black walnut we have here in the northeast would be my choice out of those. Personally I like oak, hickory or cherry. Nice steady burn and smell good.

[debk]

Aged wood costs more here than green, and any hardwood is more than pine.

Pine leaves a bad residue - pine resin - in the chimney flue. Eventually it will ignite and cause a fire. Most people around here will not burn pine, but some don't have a choice if it's all they can afford, and are using it to heat their house.

I have gas logs in the fireplace. Doesn't scare me like real wood does. Ours is one of those insert deals that vents to outside like a clothes dryer, and had a glass pane on the front. Really heats up the first floor and turns on with a flip of a switch that looks like a light switch.

[franksolich]

No pines around here, in Nebraska.

The pines are usually around dutch508's part of the Sandhills, across the state.

Just ordinary trees here, with leaves and stuff.

[debk]

No pines around here, in Nebraska.

The pines are usually around dutch508's part of the Sandhills, across the state.

Just ordinary trees here, with leaves and stuff.

Pines are everywhere down here...

Not a good thing with wet ground and high winds either. They have a shallow root system, and are easily toppled.

[BattleHymn]

If you are looking to burn something this coming winter, I'd head straight to that Ash pile first.  Ash is a lot like another type of wood we have here, (which I have heard called a bunch of names, Hedge, Bois d'arc, Osage Orange, etc), which does not need to be aged to burn and make a lot of heat.  I don't know if you have Osage Orange up your way, but if you do, you can't beat it for heat production.

Here is a PDF of BTUs found in wood:

http://belforno.com/files/wood_burning.pdf

   

[Wineslob]

Ash and maple burn hot and fast. Elm and locust are hell to split. Cottonwood is crap. I don't know what kind of walnut you got out there but the little bit of black walnut we have here in the northeast would be my choice out of those. Personally I like oak, hickory or cherry. Nice steady burn and smell good.

Most of it is English or Hartley. All are on a rootstalk, possibly Black? However, when I get some trees to cut up, most of it is sap wood, no heart, unless I get far enough down into the trunk.

[franksolich]

Okay, the caretaker was out here this morning, until about lunch-time, when he headed for town for his afternoon drink break.....which usually lasts all afternoon long.

He gave me flak for having sorted, stacked, and loaded what I did yesterday, because I'd promised not to, but there wasn't a damned thing he could do about it.  What's done is done.

Anyway, he told me he charges various prices depending upon the sort of wood, and how well it's been "seasoned" (i.e., ready for burning).  Every autumn he just asks around to see what others are going to charge for a cord, and prices his stuff $10 a cord less.

The lesser stuff, he bundles up (I've seen him do this) a bunch by wrapping some Saran Wrap sort of plastic around a bundle, and sells it for camping firewood at the local convenience store, $5 a shot.

It's all free to him, he reminded me.

He's a shirt-tail relative of the ancient couple in town who own this place; about 60 years old, he has a bug-eye just like the lying tits primitive has, although he's bald and wizened.  He was hit in the head during the war in Vietnam.  He calls franksolich "boss" when he's drunk, and "young man" when he's sober.

[Wineslob]

The lesser stuff, he bundles up (I've seen him do this) a bunch by wrapping some Saran Wrap sort of plastic around a bundle, and sells it for camping firewood at the local convenience store, $5 a shot.

Thats not too bad. Usually the local guy, Big Dave's Good Wood, sells seasoned Almond for $6.99 for a plastic wrapped bundle in the local grocery stores. I'd say each bundle is 5-6 pieces of wood. That would make it $700-$800 a cord. Nice profit.   

[CG6468]

I haven't bought any firewood in the 26 years we've lived here. We have 3 kinds of oaks, shagbark hickory, and some crabapple and pear trees available for firewood. The pines I use for outdoor campfires.

[rustybayonet]

Down here Oak and Hickory are the predominant firewoods.  85.00-100.00 per cord delivered and stacked.  By next year though, firewood here will undoubtedly be very cheap - the tornadoes of April took down a lot of huge trees, that were cut up by homeowners, stacked for seasoning, and future sale.
In my 8 years living here, I have only bought fire wood twice - since then somebody has always given me the wood they have gotten from taking trees down on their property.  Last fall I was given over two full two cords, so since a face cord lasts me about a winter in a typical season, I'm good for a couple years, unless we have a extremely cold winter.

[MrsSmith]

Personally, I really liked burning cottonwood.  I had an enclosed wood furnace, so we didn't split it if we could shove it in whole.  Plus, we cut during the winter and had the joy of knowing we were killing the  ants that were killing my trees!   

We also burned elm.  It is hard to split, but with 2 wedges and some gumption, you can do it.  Even my 8 year old managed quite well that way.

[longview]

My choices here are pine or cottonwood.  I'll take either.  Really like the heat from a wood stove and feel unprepared if I don't have several cords ready in the fall.  I used to cut and stack my own, but now get it delivered (I still stack as I am particular) for about $75/cord.