Weather in southern Ohio has been pretty cool lately and I'm getting anxious to do more outside work and hoarding. My daughters were away at school and it was just my better half and Emma the dog... This weekend I got a few things done and the weather was pretty nice and not so wet finally. I brought a bunch of wood in from my outside stacks and put it in my covered racks next to the house to be burned next season. It just keeps any rain or snow off it for the next 8 months. When I store it here before the season, it gets sun and wind, but no rain or snow... Really helps to finish it off until I bring it inside the garage. It also frees up my outside stacks so I can get cutting, splitting and stacking again. Scored a little pile of Ironwood or Blue Beech from a friend just to see how it burns when it gets seasoned in a few years. I'm pretty stoked to see how well it burns, It's the heaviest wood I have ever dealt with so far. I was a little surprised when I looked up the BTU content and found it to be lower than I anticipated? This stuff is dense and heavy... like concrete heavy! I would like to hear from those of you that have burned Blue Beech or Musclewood and get your thoughts.. I would think this stuff would be killer for BTU's with over nighters on a really cold night? I have been running out of firewood storage and decided to build a small woodshed in a concrete retention wall a few hundred feet from my building. The wall has this recess cove that is roughly 8' wide and 8' deep and 9' tall. My plan is to pitch a steel roof over this small cove and have maybe 3 rows of wood. Should hold about 2 cords or so... This spot is dry, faces south and the wood will be in there for years, and covered so I think this will be a nice addition to my storage areas. I'll post some more pics when I start cutting more wood this spring and put the roof on...
I'd put wood in there too! Plus it dresses up the retaining wall, makes it more interesting to look at.
Just a thought, encase the new wood shed with clear barn siding on top and front and make a kiln out of it. Sounds like you had a good weekend.
Nice work Fan! Feels good to get back at it, no doubt! All I’ve ever read about Ironwood is that it should be split soon after it’s down....
OS, I never thought of that, but that area gets a ton of sun especially on the front... Really like that idea! When I'm working down in that area in the summer, I get baked from the southern sun exposure. Having a solar kiln of sorts would be an ideal spot. I have so much seasoned wood at this point that speed of seasoning wood is not a priority. Getting crazy low moisture readings is what I'm trying to do now.
The wood called ironwood, is a bit of an odd thing. I think the term is more of a colloquial thing. Around here, ironwood is American hop horn beam. In other areas of the world, ironwood is something completely different. I think people call ironwood, the hardest wood there is in that area. That sure looks like blue beech, from what I've seen. We have American Beech, and American hop horn beam ( which we can ironwood) in my woods. We also have some oak, but a lot of sugar maple and shagbark hickory. After burning these kinds of wood for ~30 yrs, I can say that Beech is better than sugar maple by a fair amount, and shagbark is the best btu stuff I've got, with the ironwood nipping at the heels of shag. Beech is next, then sugar maple/ oak, then..... In my readings, I've seen beech dissed by some btu charts. I know better.
Your right... It's blue beech (aka musclewood or ironwood) and not hop hornbeam which is often called ironwood also. These are very small understory trees, a huge one is 6 - 7" around. This blue beech is much heavier than the American beech I'm used to burning. I'm still curious to hear from those that have burned it. I'm not sure when you say beech if your referring the common American beech or blue beech that you have experience with?
When referring to blue beech, ironwood, musclewood or American hornbeam, the botanical name for this species is Carpinus caroliniana. I usually refer to it as ironwood, and I've burned a small amount of it. It's nice burning stuff, just haven't had a lot of it in the stacks. The other "ironwood" around here we refer to as "hornbeam" or "hop hornbeam" and it is Ostrya virginiana, a completely different species. I have a lot more of this stuff, although it's all pretty small. Tends to die at around 4-5" diameter, does not like overstory shade, and when it dies the roots rot very quickly and the tree just tends to fall over with a small root ball attached. I save larger pieces of this stuff for tool handles (chisels and screwdrivers) as it is incredibly dense and hard and has extremely tight grain.
We only have American Beech here. All the charts I've seen that have blue beech, and American beech show the blue beech higher in BTUs than American. Still less than hophorn beam, but it'take any of those. There's also local differences in how trees grow, making them burn differently, even if they are the same exact species.
Fanatical1, yes that is blue beech and yes, some, mostly in the south call it ironwood. How does it burn? Okay but not as great as you would expect. I would also advise you to keep that wood covered until you burn it and would also advise you burn it next winter. If you keep it longer you will be amazed at just how light that wood can be even though it doesn't appear to have much sap in it. We have burned a good amount of it and at first I thought it would be the best firewood. It isn't.
Well there you go... I appreciate your input. That would explain the BTU charts showing it lower than I expected... Regardless of how it burns, I sure enjoy finding new trees to work with.... Next on my list is hop hornbeam...
Dang Fanatical1 - Is that the wall separating your castle from the moat? Nice looking set up and to add to that it faces south and catches wind? I'd get it a lil higher off the ground and not place it so close to the retaining wall but you have a great looking set going there-You go my friend-nice hoard and way to maximize space. Great pics! And btw-I'm burning honey locust right now...trying to quit burning altogether given my extra cord usage...and it's open the windows kinda hot..long burning and coals that keep the Fireview toasty for 14 hour burns...I gotta think cleaning up black locust is a chore I could live with...
Didn't I show you guys pics of my castle yet??... The previous owner was building a log home and poured the retaining wall and the basement/1st floor for a walkout foundation for the home, but the concrete developed a couple significant cracks before he could frame it. He never finished the home. I'm still not sure what I will do with it. Glad to hear your enjoying the Fireview and locust! Been a long winter... And yes, I have plenty of air space between the stacks and wall.
