I'm gonna preface this by saying that I've not run across this with any of the other species of wood that I've burned; since I've been heating with wood. Those species being....................white oak, silver maple, cherry, ash, elm, pine, and some mulberry. When I'm gathering wood from my stacks to bring forward to the house; much of my 2yo box elder is darn near feather light...........................but then I get one split of box elder that weighs 3-4 times the one it was stacked around with for 2+ years!!!!! What's up here??? Have not run across this with the other species I'm burning.
Whitey, we run across this many times with many species. It has been many years since we've had any box elder but I don't recall it being odd like that.
I've noticed it once in a while with boxelder as well as others. I think you are realizing it more with the boxelder as it does get very, very light when dry. So the weight difference is a lot more noticeable!
The only Box Elder I have here is really old. Probably been split up now 4 years and it is very dry and lite. I do not think it burns all that great either. I would rather burn some of my seasoned cotton wood than the box elder.
I get this with all of the wood species. My stacks aren't covered so rain runs through the stack, but it doesn't run everywhere. The rain follows distinct paths as it runs down one split and falls onto the next. I think there are some pieces of wood that are in the right spot to get a lot of water on them, and if those splits are a little punky or they are concave so they hold water, they don't dry out like the rest of the wood.
Methinks your cottonwood is just a tad different from what is found further east so no doubt it is better than the box elder. Enjoy that cottonwood like many do out there.
I suppose that could be possible. One thing for sure is that I've never kept box elder very long before burning it. I don't think I've had much more than a year in the stack.
I lump basswood and cottonwood together as they burn the same, and have the same low btu ratings. The box elder, yeah, is a little odd burning wood, but it has about 25% more btu's than cottonwood or basswood. I like to mix the elder in with a different species of wood like pine, elm, or basswood.
If the heavier splits are located lower in the pile you may need to keep the pooches from rehydrating splits while showing you which splits are theirs.
About a year and a half ago, I scrounged some box elder from across the parking lot at work. Finally getting into the big stuff for the OWB this past couple days. One two foot long piece of truck I thought I would split (by hand) before I lifted it into the stove. Wrong! Had to settle by just slabbing off some of the outside pieces of it!
yooperdave I've never had great luck splitting box elder with anything but hyrdos. It chunks off with an axe or maul.
Once chunks get frozen, it is always easier to split. This one was just too big, too ugly, and too thawed to help me out! If I had cut it shorter once I got it home it would have made all the difference in hand splitting. I will load it up this afternoon.
