A few winters ago I had a 70 ft, 100 inch diameter Ailanthus tree fall in my back yard.The base was eaten out by ants and a huge wind driven snow storm did the rest.Come spring I sawed it up,split and stacked it.The next winter to my surprise the two cords of wood from the tree burned real well.The tree grows fast and if I had enough land I'd plant this tree and would be able to harvest in five years for firewood in log form.The trees wood be the size of splits that you would just have to cut and not split.Dry them and slide into the stove.
I've never had any experience with the white pine.Is it a fast grower ? Anyway it seems like Ailanthus is here to stay.
In theory thats a good idea, but you'd need to plant a lot of trees and keep planting to have a steady supply. Not sure what the BTU rating is on it though. Small rounds that you dont have to split are convenient and ideal for extended burns in stoves and inserts, just takes a LOT of trees to make up cordage.
Hey Rich L , welcome to FHC! Glad you like the Ailanthus/Tree of Heaven. Not to sound like an azz, but you're the only person I've ever heard speak well of that stuff for firewood, or anything else for that matter. For quick dry & lower btu wood, my go to around here is Silver Maple or Tulip Poplar. I can't recommend planting the Ailanthus, but glad it worked out.
Ive burned whole pizza boxes in the insert...throws a lot of heat. Dunno how many to make a cord. I like pizza but dont wanna eat that much! Not that im gonna go cut ailanthus any time soon either amateur cutter
Tree of Heaven is fine to burn if you've got it. The only time it makes sense to actively search out the tree for firewood is if you want to rid your property of it. For "low" btu wood I love me some boxelder. That's not an endorsement of the tree, because I hate the tree itself, but the wood isn't bad and they're plentiful with no reason to not cut them down
Tree of heaven. I just had a post about that. I can’t find a btu on it but it is used a lot for firewood in China. Saw a descriptor as moderately hard. Somewhere between tulip and ash would be my guess. Your right about the cat. Makes heat from just about anything.
This tree grows like weeds.It replenishes itself very well.It grows like no other tree that I know.The BTUs I don't know but it gave me heat I was happy with and the wood burned for a good length of time.
I find it hard to imagine even cutting that thing. 100" (a bit over 8') diameter is bigger than huge. What did you cut this with? That is even bigger than this cottonwood!
Ya that cardboard box the pizza comes in could cause a problem.I burned some once and the draft sucked the burning cardboard up my chimney.It was burning in the cap.Too scary for me to try that again as sparks drizzle down on my roof.
I made a mistake.I should have said circumference not diameter.Thanks Backwoods for helping me see the light.Anyway it was big enough for me to use my 460 with a 32 " bar.
LOL I’m referring to a catalytic combustor but your right there’s no mention of one in this thread. Must’ve been reading something in a different thread and got mixed up.
I said the same thing...8' tree is beyond huge. When you said two cord i thought there mustve been a lot of rot as the yield wouldve been a LOT more.
