Truth about black walnut

So what’s the deal with black walnut? I’ve seen it said here that it is not that great for firewood. But our BTU chart shows it ranking higher than all the elms, which are pretty much my staple firewood.
There’s a bunch of pretty good logs at the town tree dump along with the honey locust I’m trying to get. If I’m there with a machine to load with, it will be an easy score also. I got plenty of room at work to keep the logs until I have time to process it. Probably even do it on company time and use it for the shop.
So what’s the skinny on it? Is it worth getting. How long will it keep in log from before it starts going bad. How does it split? Etc
Seems to easy of a score to pass. But the locust comes home first

 

Yeah I can’t get that out of my head whenever I think about walnut. It’s funny AND true

 

What's the biggest complaint ? Seasoning time ?

 

It’s better than pine and poplar. I’d grab it, splits easy. Stack em up

 

Some say it causes creosote and a toxin called juglone

 

It makes a lot of ash. Also, the juglone is said that even in any smoke form can irritate people's eyes/ nose/ throat. I only burn it in the dead of winter when nobody's outside, but I rarely bother with BW unless I have scraps from my buddy's milling projects.

I will gladly take ANY elm over BW for burning. Elm burns better and hotter too. I am a bit leery of many BTU charts, when it comes to certain tree species.

 

Without any actual science to prove otherwise I'd tend to believe it breaks down in the environment rather quickly as the leaves do and by the time the wood is seasoned there's not much juglone left.

 

I would agree with you on this. I just don't chance using it as campfire wood for this reason. Not with the risk when I have other firewood to use.

 

There's nothing wrong with walnut. I wouldn't go out of my way for it, but if the pickin's are easy, get to pickin.

 

I figure the same, like most wood when it’s dry there is few issues. I burn a lot of Maple, if it was wet, one could say that the sap was sticky and caused fly ash build up.

 

Splits like butter, seasons fairly quickly but does leave a good amount of ash. It is more rot resistant than soft maple. I would also question that btu chart that puts it ahead of elm…I’m not feeling that. All in all it’s decent and if it’s easy pickings, I’d pick away.

 

I’ve burnt a fair amount and rather like it. Seems to burn slightly faster than ash, but gives good heat. Splits very easy so that’s a big plus in my book.

 

Get it if available, it burns well, splits easily & seasons in about 2 years. The chips & dust can cause skin irritation for some folks. I have a friend that is allergic to the sawdust so he has to be very careful when doing wood working with it.

 

I’ve burned several cords of black walnut it produces 10x the ash as elm or oak and I don’t think it produces near the heat or burn as long as Elm.

 

Ive only scored a small amount and after a year and a half the splits are light weight. Id take it again of easy, but wont go out of my way for it. More of a curiousity thing for me. Grab the locust first. Walnut heart wood is very rot resistant.
Id love to find some nice BW logs for buzz-saw's mill!

 

Absolutely locust first