Douglas Fir burns great, and when I come across it in the woods, I pounce on it! LG Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
You know, I get a bunch of back and forth about Doug fir. Some compare it to a rock while others say you burn the heck out of it when you can get it. I'm just one to say, it grows around here its All over. Not to say its bad but you cant really turn a corner without seeing it and that goes for anyone's wood bin. What's your take on it for that?
Douglas fir isn't bad at all for firewood. I've burned it when out west, because that's what we had. It burns fairly fast and hot.
Yes it is hot and fast. It suits the mild weather out here. Most people like in the Icicle States would say absolutely never put it in their furnaces because of the amount of pitch that would gum up a chimney. Their point is taken since it isn't a wood that leaves long lasting coals but compared to the cedar out here, it's plenty good on heat retention as long as its well seasoned. Makes awesome kindling as it splits easily and dense sap/pitchwood can be found and dried for storm-proof firestarter.
There's no Douglas fir here in the Midwest, but I've been processing some kind of fir, and white pine too. At bare minimum it's a quick lighting wood to take the chill off. No, it doesn't coal up like hardwood, but it's good stuff, when used correctly.
Horkn what kind of burning apparatus(es) do you have in your house? Just have an outdoor burning pit for now... Its a bit shoulder-season here in WA now. Im a little off topic but... Honestly I wish I had wood burner in the house but I've got a small house so I will be able to heat it quickly with a stove should I get the go-ahead to install one. There's a caveat here though. I'm looking often for hardwoods online but If I do use that, my home may get too hot. Used sparingly, It would be best. Im really looking for hardwoods for my piles as this pine and whatnot softwoods are somewhat going the way of the Do-do for me. That is to say Im finding a new-found respect for hardwoods and in the next year or so, I might be able to fix this so I can have opportunity to burn both in my stove and not touch that dial! seriously Id be using a fan to just get the heat moving around here. The good thing is that Im able to find those small wood pieces that would sit in a pail next to it and toss them in like dog kibble! They take no time in drying out
And when you get to that point, consider this- put a simple box fan (at floor level, on "low" setting) at the farthest point in the home, blowing towards the stove room; this will move the heat better and do wonders for making the most of your BTU's!
I've got a Quadrafire 4100i insert on the end of my 1700 sq ft open concept ranch. It's in the brick fireplace where I used to have the open fireplace with a heatilator grate. I burn all sorts of wood. While I primarily cut only high btu primo hardwood when I cut from my woodlot, but I'll cut elm and cherry, and even take the basswood which is about as similar to white pine in how it burns and BTU rating. I just use the lower btu stuff for warmer weather, and move up to the mid grade stuff as it gets colder. When it gets frigid outside, I burn the heavy hitters like Sugar maple, beech, ironwood, and shagbark hickory. If the wood is close to home, or better yet, dropped off fit free at my house, I'll take nearly any wood. Except willow that is. That stuff just burns poorly.
You've burned your fair share sir and thats no slouch. The ridiculous thing is that Ive probably burned only maple as a hard wood. Alder grows out here like a weed too but maple is just here and there. Ive managed to get ahold of some oak too so still have some experimentally burning to do now. The cool thing about the variety is now that I have it, it won't be hard to figure out what will be best on a certain night or day. Im dreading the power outages they dont often stay off for long but about a month ago we had bad snow and thousands had power out for days. So this leads me to push on for a stove. Tiny. The heat will work.
