Yeah I’d re-asses the choice here. Willow and cottonwood. And horse chestnut. That stuff STINKS when burned. I dunno but red oak actually smells good compared to it. The cottonwood is ok I just find that it’s been overdone. Better smelling burning wood but like tamarack said, better than a snowball and hope it’s dry!
Just took one down at my dad's property last weekend...it's really that bad? Bummer...I might just give this stuff away then, rather than waste time and effort on it. Lots of other fish in the sea!
Elm is #1, I'm pretty sure I burn more energy trying (trying, not actually spliting) to split it than I get burning it. Box elder #2, I don't mind how it burns (fast I know...) but for some reason I strugle to split big rounds, it's so soft my ISO core just sinks in with no split. Problem is I have a huge pile waiting to be split from converting pasture ground to tillable, and more waiting to come down...
I've processed a little bit of walnut this Fall. I've noticed that after a couple months after cutting, that the bark peels right off. I'll let you know if the stack I have at home peels off the bark like it did at my buddy's house. My least favorite wood to burn, probably box elder. That or poplar. Both are ok for shoulder season though.
Box elder in WV, that stuff must grow everywhere! Don't get me wrong, I'll still burn it if I got it. Perfect for shoulder season.
Elm is a great wood to burn. It sucks to split with an axe or maul, so you really need a hydraulic splitter to deal with it. It makes great flames in the secondaries. Dead standing barkless elm is so plentiful around where I live that I could heat my house on nothing but that for a long long time. If you have any amount of elm that could be firewood, a hydraulic splitter will have you liking elm a lot more.
I disagree. I've shared it, in the past, with my BIL and he had the same results I did. After the burn, it left almost full size bricks of very hard ash. So much so that it would not break up and go through my grates (wood/coal stove). I had to break them with a poker to eventually knock them down enough to start getting shredded when I agitated. And as stated, I have a 34T hydro. It's not that it won't split it, you just end up w/ this:
Ahhhh. That takes the cake. I won't even cut that crap. White birch is great firewood once seasoned. It just needs to be cut up before the tree dies, and split within a few weeks otherwise it goes punky quickly. 22 mbtu's a cord. Lights quickly with that firestarter bark.
Yeah I really like birch what ive burned so far. Perfect stove wood sized that I split, smells great when burning and actually looks good too. Clean too! I’m finding I don’t need to knock any of this stuff off because I grabbed it and split it so no dirt really got into it. The smooth bark repels it! Either way it’s probably not the btu’s you may be saying (warmer climate) but I enjoy this stuff just the same. It made heat outside in a test but deserves to be burned inside.
Unless you are swimming in wood, I wouldn't get rid of it. It dries quickly, so if you are not years ahead it will get you there.
1. Willow 2. Cottonwood 3. Austrian Pine, for some reason I can't get it really dry. I've got a boatload of it too. 4. Tree of Heaven
Rots fast, burns fast but it does season fast. I'd say try it out, you might like it more than me. But ultimately I figure box elder is a garbage tree.
