Like the title says... I am cleaning up a lot of undergrowth trying to slowly make more pasture and am clearing out a lot of what I think is called iron wood. Is it worth keeping the larger pieces for the furnace? I`ve also read where some call it muscle tree???
I am not sure about the BTU content...I would think it would be high...but it is called "muscle Tree" because it is often used for horse hitches. That is because if a horse happens to lay down upon the hitch, the wood is so strong that it will bend but not break. Myself i dislike the wood. It is really hard on a chainsaw chain, and anything of size is typically rotten. It rots really quick! But use what you got...
Gotcha. My lace is polluted with it in areas. You`re absolutely correct on being hard on chain. The stump area seems to collect and grow rocks out it. I`ll stack it up off the ground and see what happens next fall...
I only burned one tree, once. I don't remember it being hard on the chain, it might of. But that was 25 or 30 years ago. I seem to remember it burned well. I'd take it if I owned it on my land.
Awesome wood! Burns hot and coals well. A couple of my properties are loaded with it it the low lying areas close to wetlands. I've cut many a cord of it over the years clearing it out for more profitable hardwood regeneration. Doesn't dull your saw any more than any other wood. Called muscle wood because of the way it looks ,,, as if you stripped away the fat and skin of a body !
Ironwood. a/k/a American Hornbeam, but not to be confused with hop hornbeam. a/k/a Blue Beech, but it's not beech. Carpinus caroliniana. 23.7 MBTU/cord, slightly better than black locust, mulberry and sugar maple. An excellent firewood, hampered by the tendency of the trees to be very small and branchy and thus a lot of work for small reward. I have a few of them in my woods and I leave them alone. If they die, they rot quickly.
I kind of like it for this fact. Most of it around here is under 8" which for me = no splitting. And it does dry well fairly fast unsplit.
Great firewood, I find it does take the edge of a chain pretty quick. Take it all. Stack it, save it for those arctic blasts. You will be happy
I like it because I can cut a lot of it up quickly without cleaning a ton of branches and no splitting. Great btus out of small pieces. No messy bark either.
I have that stuff, some are much smaller than others. Seems the largest is around 8" with the common size 2"-4". I haven't cut any yet but there's an ugly one growing beside one of my tractor roads. I'm thinking about cutting it once I get caught up on everything that's already down or dead. This one is about 6". Doesn't look like I'll get much from it but I consider it similar to red bud and dogwood...get what you can and save it up... kind of like your pennies.
That is definitely blue beech and yes, it is super hard. Yes, it burns nicely too. Sad that it doesn't grow bigger. The only bad part of it is that it does not keep well. If you don't cover it, the stuff will rot fast. As hard as it is one would expect it to be a good keeper but when we cut it, I like to burn it within 12 months or a maximum of 2 years. One year is best though.
Went for a hike after work and snapped a pic of one of the large blue beech growing near a spring. I wear a size 12 for reference.
