Osage Orange (Hedge) Maclura pomifera 4,845 30.0 Hop Hornbeam (Ironwood) Ostrya virginiana 4,250 26.4 Persimmon, American Diospyros virginiana 4,165 25.8 Hickory, Shagbark All those species may be available around here but I am unaware. I have always heard that Hedge (Osage) was the most dense, highest BTU North American hardwood. That may be incorrect. I personally have never burned anything that compares. When it's dry, you knock two pieces together it sounds like stone.
Eh, I don't go by every btu chart. Some charts are all over the place on a few species. I don't know what the one you are using shows for shag, but shag is well and above beyond what ironwood is in the stove. Ironwood is really, really good too. That's how much better shag is over ironwood.
I've seen persimmon rated high on the charts. I have about 1/2 a cord from a large persimmon that blew over at my friend's house. There's a grove on my place of about five 10"-12" persimmon and lots others scattered about... One is about a 24" dba. Shagbark is all over too but they never die or fall over. I should take a picture of the MONSTER shagbark on my place... I think I'll do that tomorrow afternoon. Persimmon mixed with some cherry:
From what I gather, the Osage Orange is the king of all East Coast hardwoods, BTU-wise. The south and west have significantly higher top-end varieties (eucalyptus, live oak, manzanita, etc), which is ironic considering the relatively low necessity for nuclear firewood. The good Lord does have a sense of humor.
Took awhile but here's the huge shagbark. The pictures really don't do it justice. I can't walk to to it at the moment but it had to be close to 30" dba if not more. One of my favorite trees on the property...one other being an equally large persimmon.
I have a lot of it, but the only real"commercial" use that I know of, is being used for hitches for horses. It is so tough that when the horses lay down on it, it won't break. But I put "commercial" in parenthesis because lets be honest, how many of them is a guy going to sell? A paper mill will take the wood, but I dislike how it dulls my saw cutting it so I avoid it. Another use...but limited I know, is that like basswood, it is an indicator of really good soil.
