Hey guys and gals. So I typically am a wood scrounger. I get wood by word of mouth and craigslist for the most part. I'll take anything i can get free as it's...well free heat. Money in my pocket essentially. So, anyways I stopped and picked up a good bit of box elder from a guy down the road by me. I was gonna take it regardless of what it is because of my free wood philosophy. But I have heard people say to literally not even waste your time or energy with the stuff and leave it! I couldn't. Home it came with me. What is your guys' opinions of box elder? I've used it quite successfully for kindling (actually really like it for this purpose) but never fully burned it for heat source yet. I have about 2 full face cords of it drying for next season in my wood area. Just curious what you all think.
Sounds like the hard work is over with. Now you will get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. I wouldn't make a special trip to get box elder, but when I clean up fallen trees at my parents house or in-laws property I split and stack it also. It burns well, just not for long. That type of wood has it's place in my wood piles. I use it starting a cold stove, or when I need to time my loading before bed and normal hard wood would make me wait too long.
I like it, much like pine, works really well for shoulder season burns when its wet and damp need some heat but not a lot. Also, to burn down excessive coals in arctic blasts
It'll heat your home... if it comes home with me it'll get in the stove. Dries fast burns at a faster rate... but it's still BTU's.... good for shoulder season...
Welcome to the forum Benjamin Turner Remember, box elder is in the maple family. But it is closer to soft maple than hard maple. It will still burn well after a year of drying but as others have stated, just won't burn as long. Yes, it can also make good kindling. Here is some reading you might consider: Primer on Woodburning by Backwoods Savage
Thanks for all the responses fellas. I kinda figured this would be the consensus but just wanted to hear some others' opinions.
Free? Easy? Close by? If it's 2 of those things, almost any wood is worth it, if it's all 3, you better jump on it! Besides, making a contact that had not so great wood could lead to them letting you in on the good stuff down the road.
I cut a bunch of poplar, which some here call trash wood. It does fine down here and if I had to I could use it all winter, would just be a little more feeding the stove
I like box elder, it's a soft maple and burns nicely when dry. Don't care for the branching habit or the smell of it, but it generally will end up in my stacks.
Boxelder in my area is always hollow and rotting away on the inside. It is the first tree to go down in a storm and it also is dangerous to climb. On top of that its BTU rating is below most hardwoods.
I can't stand dealing with them...they have about 100 times as many branches than they need, they don't look good, they're extremely wet, smell bad, are sunlight hogs, and an overall trashy tree...other than all that, they burn ok.
I don't burn wood but box elder is nice for woodworking projects. Can get some really nice pink and red in the grain. Sent from my Moto E (4) using Tapatalk
Hell yeah you take it. Great shoulder season wood, dries easy, splits so easy you never have to noodle around the log, and burns nice and hot. You just reload quicker that's all. Only time I would refuse is if you are limited in what you have space to stack
Box elder was my first scrounge ever. Came from a local park that trimmed a bunch of big limbs. It was pretty straight grained and I thought it was ash and hit the jackpot. It dries quick and gives a decent flame but I would never go outta my way for it again unless I had to. Same with silver maple...
Try mixing a little Silver Maple in with a load of something harder...like Red Oak...makes for a really hot long lasting fire...I love it...that reminds me, I need to find some more SM!
