Battle of the firewoods- American Beech vs Black Birch

Actually Beech has less BTU’s

 

I cut up a huge shaggy some years back...this was before I ever knew anything about it...when it went in the furnace I got up the next day wondering why it was so warm in the house...I must have missed my guess on load size, or it didn't get as cold as they said. When I went to reload I found a nice mound of hot hot coals, way more than normal. This continued on all winter.
I've not had that experience with locust at all, especially Honey locust, which I've burnt a lot more of than black locust...but neither one stood out to me...not like the shag hickory did...

 

Hickory will have its day, as with Locust. You guys are antsy so I’ll start a new battle each day and still leave them open for one week

 

But locust still takes it for me because it doesn’t rot if left on the ground (a blow over comes to mind), it split really easily (none of that stringy hickory issues), and it seasons pretty quickly. Not to mention I love the smell and when the saw throws out those bright chips I get all giddy inside.

 

Sounds like you may have a slight case of locust mania there Joe! Im not crazy about BL smell but love seeing the chips fly!

 

Ive heard that BL doesnt generate as much flame as other high btu woods'

 

It depends on what BTU chart you look at. They are similar.

Not that I'd pass over black birch if I had the option to get some, but I hold beech only under shagbark hickory and ironwood as firewood.

 

True. I respectfully disagree with some of the btu numbers on the FHC chart. Heres it is for those members not familiar with it.
Firewood BTU & Drying Chart

 

Burning locust doesn't smell great. It also pops and Sparks. Yes, locust is more rot resistant, but the Sparks+pops, and smell, in addition to the lower BTU than shag are more negatives than shag has of less rot resistance and tougher to split. Most wood rots pretty quickly when on the ground.

They are both great for modern stoves when it gets butt cold outside though.

 

I love this site. But our BTU chart here is pretty bad as it's got some of the weirdest BTU numbers for many wood species. Shag, apple, both locusts, beech, madrone and a couple more are way off from what all the other charts show.

 

Both BL and HL are low flame producers compared to other high BTU woods.

 

If you're seeing flying ships you probably have it pretty bad.

 

contact high!

 

Reminds me of a song...

"You can cut me some Hickory,
My FHC friends,
But I'll never cut Locust
With Bradley again"

 

The one thing that I do agree with on this chart is that Locust doesn't have that much more BTU power than Red Oak...

 

I haven't burned red oak directly back to back to locust to know how I feel about this. I think I recall that oak has more flame than locust.

 

These are great woods to burn in morning some tulip poplar to burn down coals

 

Due to my location I won't know what to say on a number of woods you might have back east, but I love reading the debates on this forum.

 

Its even worse when i see the ship hit the fan!

 

I love black birch for any type of burning, especially cold nights and need overnighter wood. Smells great when processing. I havent had much beech at all. I did score about 1/2 cord of beech this summer so I know better in a couple years.