funny how the hickories all burn about the same but get no love outside of the shagbark. and pecan is nearly hickory, it should have been in the bracket with apple - for smoking pruposes
just cause hedge is the mythical worlds most awesome wood - doesn't mean everyone has access to it, same way my beloved Dogwood got eliminated. plus hedge is apparently really tough on chains. Cherry cuts and splits easy. seasons reasonably fast, smokes meats nicely as well. Mine just don't get large and are usually hedgerow trees covered in PI
Quick analysis of Thursdays coming match ups. In the Upper Left bracket which I will call the Northwest division we have White Oak against American Beech in the first game and Ironwood against Apple for the second. White Oak is clearly one of the all time favorites however American Beech runs close behind in performance. The White Oak team is slow to come up to top performance levels but once up there the team is almost invincible. It is quite possible that a younger American Beech team being more nimble and quicker off the stump can beat it out. In the other match its Ironwood against Apple. Ironwood or the "Hoophornbeams" have a strong following in the east, but the Apples are widespread and have a large nationwide following. It is quite possible that this match will come down to the Apple teams tendency for late performance fireworks displays. In the Southwest we have Sugar Maple vs. Pin Oak in one match and Mulberry vs. Honey Locust in the other. Sugar Maple is the hands down favorite this time of year, with sap running by the gallons many people are making the sweet stuff from it. Sugar Maple should easily progress beyond the Sweet 16. The other match is a close call. Honey Locust is widespread but it can have a nasty temperament, it gets all prickly sometimes. But the domesticated cousin is well behaved and quite commonly planted in suburban setting and readily available from many tree services and has a large fan base in the suburbs. Mulberry is also widespread, there are many varieties of it. (Osage Orange in the Mulberry family) But the most common kind is the White Mulberry which actually is an invader. It came from eastern Asia. Were it not for the mess from the berries, Mulberry would take an easy win. If the voters are more suburban I predict that Honey Locust, led by its smooth skinned domestic cousin will win in a close match up. If the rural fans dominate then Mulberry will win out. In the first Northeast match we have Black Cherry vs. Hedge. I'm going to call Hedge by its other name Osage Orange so that this can be between two fruit trees. This one is a tough call also. Black Cherry is known by almost all. Its aroma qualities are second to none, both as firewood and as smoke wood. But the Osage Oranges are stuff of legend. Some have seen it, fewer have burnt it but every one reveres it. If the fans are thinking of pulled pork BBQ, Black Cherry will squeeze out a close win otherwise the legend of the Osage Orange will rule in this round. In the other match we have Shagbark Hickory up against Red Oak. Red Oak, everybody knows it. It is another one of those teams that takes a while to reach peak performance but is a consistent top notch player once there. However the Shaggies are also a top notch performer, perhaps even a little better and with speed superior to Red Oak. It will come down to Hickory's speed vs. Red Oaks mass market appeal. I think Shagbark Hickory might just pull it off this year. And in the last division, the Southeast. In the first bracket we have Black Locust vs. Black Walnut. Come on fans, this is about legendary firewood, not legendary (imaginary?) prices for a single log at the saw mill. Black Locust wins easily. And for the last match up we have Silver Maple vs. White Ash. Two fast performers. But the potential from the White Ash team is far and above Silver Maples. Ash will pulverize Silver Maple. They won't even need to pull out their "Wilson" Sluggers to do it either. Even with the number of Ash players on the sick list due to EAB it is still one of the most favored teams and will keep that strong fan base for a while to come. Look forward to an Ash vs. Black Locust match up in the round of 8. It could be a legendary game on the scale of the all time classic final match up, the American Chestnut vs. American Elm from 1957.
Wow Paul. All I can say is that american beech is better than white oak in every way except splitting wise. Oak takes too long to season to make up that performance differential. Hedge, eh. There's none here. I'm sure it's nice, but it's like grits. Locally loved, not really available everywhere. Shagbark vs red oak, no way oak can beat the shag. Shag has a lot more BTUs, and seasons way quicker. Plus shag is a better smoking wood.
Paul B. This was a great post. Had me chuckling from beginning to end. Nicely done! PS. Horkn...a thumbs up to you as well. What's a basketball tournament themed firewood throwdown without a little trash talk.
it is a fantastic wood - small but multi-stump growth. dead trees provide that early evening or mid day blue secondary burn on a few rounds. burns best on a coal load, low and slow
