Does anyone have first hand experience with this type of wood? I have three pretty big trees to cut down and it's all mine. I know that free wood is good wood, but is it worth taking and aging? I found it on the BTU chart, and it's about in the middle. Better than some, not a good as others. I appreciate any 1str hand experience.. cutting, splitting...etc. I'd have searched the forums to find any prior postings, but darned if I could find a search option here. there' got to be one, right?
Search is at the top right, right below your name. Depending on screen size, it may just show as a magnifying glass. Catalpa used to be used for furniture, abd i think even as a tone wood.
Search is top right under your uname/ Inbox/ Alerts Haven't burned it, have handled it, posted up some big chunks in the milling forum here. It beats white pine on the BTU chart and the whole buncha messy chart.... and I take and burn that so my vote is yes.
Catalpa retains HUGE amounts of moisture, which obviously has to be encouraged to leave before going into a stove.
Catalpa is a lot like poplar IMO. Yes it's a waterhogging wood, but once C/S/S, it seasons quickly and puts out very good heat. It doesn't last real long in the stove, but if you're needing wood, it's worth using......
Around here they have worms that eat the leaves. People let them eat the leaves so they have fishing bait readily available.
The trees were "girdled' last year. so, if I can get them down over the next few weeks. I'll be ahead of the game regarding drying out/seasoning.
In the south it is often called the catfish bait tree. The worms are actuakky caterpillars and supposedly dine exclusively on the catalpa's giant leaves.
I've burned it. I wouldn't make it a priority over some other stuff, but wouldn't walk past it either. I used to be a wood snob, no more.....I find a purpose for all the species that grow around here. It makes for good bowl turning.
If you need it take it. If not I'd let it go. You'll get more heat cutting, splitting and stacking if than burning it. They use to make railroad ties out of it back in the day. Mostly because the trees grew so big around and the wood wasn't much good for anything else. Soak almost anything in boiling creosote and it will be tough and last a long time.
I've burned it. It kinda sucks for firewood. Granted, I'm a bit spoiled with all the gear tree varieties here. I bought a dump truck load of it years ago, and it was dry, but still crappy. It burns fast, and doesn't have a lot of btu's.
