I'd like to burn some hickory. And beech. And from the West Coast...madrone and doug fir. In fact I'd to get my hands on that European beech you see in the chainsaw videos. Straight grain. Looks like fun to process.
Thats a generous offer.... I have plenty of hickory to trade... Seems strange hearing you talk about the hardwoods living in AZ. I often have been in Phoenix and Tuscon but not often north of that. Don't remember seeing many trees that I'm familiar with back here in the Midwest. I've been to Sedona once, which was really pretty. Sound like you may live in an interesting area.. You should post more pictures. I'm sure we would all like to see what its like where you live at. You my friend, win the national apple hoarding award! who would have thunk you can get that much wood from apple trees? I would love to burn some someday. Very impressive and I remember your apple live edge pics from before. Crazy nice looking wood!
I'd like some of that Douglas fir fatwood that FatBoy85 finds! Also Osage orange, live oak, persimmon, and eucalyptus (fat chance). And I highly recommend hawthorn.
Gets the fires starting quick. I actually have a slightly new project with this stuff, I just haven’t gotten around to showing what’s been done. Anyways I better say something here so I’m not off topic but osage Orange is something I want to try but the sparks I hear they crack out worry me slightly. Maybe some shagbark.
Mulberry is great. I just split and stacked a bunch today. Kind of a shame I had to take the tree down but it was awkward and looked pretty bad. In fact it looks way better split and stacked. As far as woods I would love to have...id say Osage Orange, rock elm, mountain mahogany....i know the last two aren't practical but we can all wish. Overall our everyday wood varieties in upstate NY are great, so I can't complain.
For me, osage orange tops my list, followed by Douglas fir, pecan, almond and madrone. All stuff I can't get around here. I am happy to be in a part of the country on a particular piece of land that has a huge diversity of species. Plus, within ten miles I can find nearly anything that isn't growing here and scrounge some of it. Last year I snagged a mulberry tree, first time for me, it's great stuff.
Wow! I can just imagine what that would look like in any wood project. Maybe inlaid together somehow and bookmatched as a table top.
I would like to try a nice variety of tropical hardwoods. Is there an online split of the month club?
donated as in free cut, split and stacked in my yard for $0.00 that would be nice (well maybe not if it was willow)
You're going to love it. You'll still have to shovel ash, but way less than without using pine to burn up coals. I let coal mountain get up past the edge of my fire box and load a few pine splits once a week or so, or as needed. I like to do it on a day off when I can keep an eye on things, as pine can be tough to relight itself with the draft fan once the coal bed is burned up. It's great to kill the coal bed before a cold snap so you have plenty of room for the hard stuff, and good to mix with hardwood once temps are back in the sane range to keep coal mountain from coming back. Aside from the occasional shovel full of ash scattered around the boiler for traction, I've only taken one good load of ash out of my Woodmaster this year - a wheelbarrow about 3/4 full.
As a few folks have mentioned, orchards are plentiful in the northeast. If you're lucky (I'm not, yet) you'll find one that's culling their old trees and make out like a bandit. I've gotten a few from landscaper hookups - seems every place around here with more than half an acre has an apple tree or two, and they tend to be a pretty fragile tree, especially with deer gnawing on them all the time. I've landed probably a cord or so over the last couple years just keeping an ear to the ground. -edit- wood I'd like to try, some of the tight grained pine or spruce from way up north, to compare it to our rapid growth stuff we get down here in MA.
I have never burned beech!!! Would like to try an 18 to 24 inch diameter tree with a long solid trunk. It is around just not common in my neck of the woods. I would be hesitant to cut down a healthy one though, the wildlife so love the nuts.
I have more box elder than I would like to admit and would trade it for about anything. It burns less than average, dries poorly unless perfectly stacked, punks easily, and is a major pain in the butt to split!
When I was a teenager, we burnt Persimmon out of a large thicket we had. I was horrible. Sopping wet. Cut then burned, one truckload at a time. I'd like to try that again dried a few years. Osage makes awesome heat, its like coal that grows on a tree . Watch the fireworks if you open the stove door. And you better be able to control your stove, it would be bad during a runaway. I'd like to try Live Oak. A dead one, too beautiful to cut a live one.
Could you imagine exchanging a small box of wood from your area for another's that you might want to try? Your idea is great!!!
