We did determine that. Check out the “Battle of the firewoods the finals” thread. Red Oak took the competition by a large margin. 38 votes compared to 31 for second place White Ash, and 28 votes for third place White Oak. Oak represented 2 of the podium spots. The only injustice imho was that Shagbark didn’t make it to the finals because his first round competitor was Black Locust.
I'd agree. There is simply no denying that SBH is really hot burning wood, it's the highest BTU species I have access to. If everyone had a chance to burn it, they wood see/feel for themselves. I wish it was as plentiful as oak.
Oak is plentiful around here. The only other really high BTU woods we have are black birch or black locust, and they arent as plentiful as oak. I like that it holds the stove temps up there for a lot longer than ash or softer maples when its cold out. As for coals, when I went to load my stove this morning, it had been 24 hours since I last fed it. There were still a lot of unburnt coals and the stove was cold (air was turned down to almost off) a few glowing coals left, so I rae them all in a pile and open the ash pan door, and I was ready for a hot reload by the time I came back in with todays load of wood to feed the stove. It will keep the house warm all day, and the temps will fall off on the overnight.
I can understand the 'hype' about oak however it isn't a big draw for me (we only have red oak around here). My 'top of the list' for where I'm at is beech. I'll take all the beech I can get as it seasons quicker then red oak and has a higher BTU. The only wood I stack separately is (red) oak and softwoods, everything else goes in community stacks, so that's another PITA with oak. As of right now, I'm a 100% scrounger (primarily in the national forest) and there is a plethora of beech, maple (red and silver), ash, and white birch so I don't need to rely on oak. I have a lot of red oak on my 5 acre property however I prefer to leave them standing. I will, however, take all the standing dead red oak I can get (that goes in the community stacks). Counting what I've already burned this season, I'm at close to 17 cords of hardwoods CSS, with 7 seasoned. My typical burning season is on average 4 to 5 cords so technically I'm on the three year plan and oak would be ok. However, for example, during the 18-19 season we had snow on the ground for 9 months and I was into my eighth cord by the time I stopped burning in June. For a 3-year plan that now puts me at needing 24+ cords (to be safe). In the event of years like that, I don't want to rely on something that takes three years to dry. I'll take beech any day over oak.
Not knocking Oak but Pine is fine and you gotta love Doug! We have a fair amount of Oak in Western WA but the king here is Doug Fir for availability, good burning, low ash and quick cure qualities. As long as we are on the subject, I would take Medrone over Oak any day as it has similar BTU's but cures much faster. I have room for the 3 year plan but barely. No place to store a wood that takes 3 years to season.
Been burning Bur Oak for over 40 years, never have had a problem, 4 different stoves with no issues. Sometimes i start from a cold stove twice in a day (fall and spring) and i mix with elm or ash and if dry starts just fine and the coals last longer and are hotter then many other woods i have available. If split small enough i could easily start fires with just oak.
I prefer “hedge” or Osage orange. Burns HOT and only take about 6 months too dry. A lot of people around here don’t take the time to dry it at all.
In Arkansas, we probably burn more oak then anything because we have a lot of it. I know I have probably burnt more red oak then anything else over the years. And I have learned on here that it should take 3 years drying time, but I have cut dead standing red oak in September and burnt it the following November, just 2 months and thought I was burning seasoned wood. I guess I was ignorant, thinking standing dead was already seasoned. However, out of my ignorance, I did not know any different, although I usually had some wood left over from the prior year. On reflection, I guess it was a little hard to start in a cold stove with it, but it worked. The coals would get deep, sometimes, but it worked and I never creasoated up, or had a flue fire. However, I usually burnt HOT, and still do. And this year, I am still burning basically standing dead, or laying down, Red Oak, and Pin Oak, but most of it was cut and split in August. And I am burning a little older dryer wood, along with some Black Locust but even it was cut this year, in August. I will have better more seasoned wood next year. I guess really though, I never started with much green Oak, it was always standing dead or already laying on the ground. Has anyone got a time frame for seasoning times for standing dead Oak vs cutting green timber? In my opinion you would have to shave at least a year to 18 months off of the required 3 years, but that's just my thoughts on it. I have never owned or used a moisture meter. At any rate, it's my guess that practically no one, waits 3 years in this part of the world on Oak to season.
3 years drying time is for green wood. Dead standing is often ready to go. The bottom trunk of the tree can be a bit wet, but once cut and split dries out pretty darned quick, even in the Winter. Only loss to dead standing is often the sapwood getting soft and beginning the decomposition process. The branches often falling off half-rotted. The heartwood is often primo stuff.
Exactly. It's not a popularity contest. There's other species that have more BTU's and dry quicker. Some are tougher to split like hickory, but despite that, it dries quicker and had more BTU's. If you want the highest BTU's, it probably hedge or madrone and then Shagbark. But those are not as widely dispersed like oak. Oak is great, I love how it splits, and stacks as well as being able to easily make squares and rectangular pieces, and how it burns (once dry). But that drying time can't be ignored. It's tough to get to a 3 yr plan if you only have oak around. Luckily even if there's a lot of oak, there's usually sure other species that you can cut that will dry much quicker. As a matter of fact, any oak I get between now and when I fill the 2nd bay of my wood shed is going in the 3rd bay, which won't be burned until the winter of 2023-24, even if that oak has been chunked up and already doing some drying this past summer.
The three year paradigm isn't just about drying time it's more about having a good supply of fuel to take you into the future. A good canon to live by along with having some money in the bank for emergencies. There are surely more but this is enough of a thread hijack.
Exactly...SBH was robbed of its throne, due to many peoples lack of experience with it (you just don't know what you don't know) As I have said before, I'd take SBH over anything else, if I'm looking for heavy hitter firewood. And as for Oak...almost seems like some individual trees burn better than others...I just went through a batch of red oak that was underwhelming, didn't burn that hot, didn't leave much for coals, and yes, it was dry...heck, it was probably almost dry enough to use when it went into my stacks 2-3 years back.
It sounds like I would love elm for the reasons I like oak. I've burned a little shagbark hickory and it's definitely better than oak. But oak is plentiful and aside from the slow seasoning time, not too difficult to work with.
I agree, it's much more then drying time. Hard times could come in lots of different forms. Having 3 to 5 years of firewood would allow you to coast if you got sick or hurt, lost a job, etc. And I suppose it's kind of like money in the bank, as you could sell some of it if you needed to. I guess the biggest risk would be having way too much and letting some if it rot down on you.
I'm in that boat right now, kinda. I've been nursing a knee injury for about a year now and was able to get some wood in spring, If i had 2 or 3 years worth on hand it would be no problem Only saving grace is I've been getting a steady diet of wood Cutoffs locally, as well as friends bringing a few loh loads over
I think the competition was more of a popularity contest then anything. I voted for Red Oak and Black Locust because that's what we have the most of. It hard to vote for a tree that is more rare. No doubt Shagbark would be very good, but there isn't that much of it on my place. And I wouldn't cut a green one, because I would want to leave it for the squirrels. And it a lot easier to find dead Red Oaks, as they are very common here.
