That is the first thing that caught my eye. Then I looked at the chart and they were talking about btu. There are a lot of wood types that will burn hotter than many listed. For example if I want some wood that burns hot here, I'll reach for soft (red) maple. But if I want a long burning wood (total btu) I'll grab oak or beech or hickory; even apple. Some for some reason equate the higher btu with higher heat but it just is not so. High btu will give heat for a longer period of time.
Some woods put off a big flame but are lower BTU. Been awhile for me to burn it, but I think red maple is in that department. I think sassafras is, too. Maybe cherry.
Of all those listed I only have access to hard maple. It burns hotter and a little longer than white birch, but the birch seems to me to hold coals in my stove about as long as my hard maple. That being said I prefer the hard maple, but I don’t always have it as it is not on our land, rather it grows in a relatively thin band further inland from Lake Superior from the Canadian border all the way down to Duluth. I am able to get some occasionally when a few people I know who log happen to get into it. We don’t have any oak or the other species listed up there. If the more desirable trees on our property are found standing dead (black ash and birch), they are likely to be punky. I do find the occasional smaller poplar standing dead that is okay for shoulder wood, but the big ones are always shot. I have a few areas designated for cutting live trees and that seems sustainable, even on our 12 acres. I am excited for the 1/2 cord of mulberry and black locust I got from my nephew. It was cut into rounds last year. I hauled it, split, stacked and covered it this past May. I just went out and split one of the mulberry pieces and got 14%. I got a a 1/3 cord of white ash from my brother-in-law’s place this past spring and 1/3 cord of red elm from a friend that was standing dead, cut, split, stacked and covered in April that I will also sample this winter. It is certainly one of the many simple things we here can appreciate and enjoy.
Sycamore is NOT a maple! Not even same family let alone Genus. It's not a wood I would waste too much time on. It's fast growing and not very dense.
Well that’s not very encouraging, it was taken down sometime this summer, July or August maybe. It does seem very wet and a 10” x18” Round is quite heavy. I got a bunch of it split today. I made a lot of the splits a little smaller than I probably normally do, In an effort to help it dry a bit faster. And if it makes as much heat as I have been lead to believe smaller splits should work out well
I’m surprised almond wood wasn’t on there. That has got to be the hottest wood I’ve ever burned. I’d nearly get scorched if I opened the glass door and had to wear gloves if I wanted to poke at the fire.
It takes me 4 years to dry honey locust here. I don’t have ideal drying conditions but give it time. Also it takes a little more air than other woods but makes decent heat for a long time. I like it most when I’m doing one fire a day, not much ash and almost always coals after 24 hours in the IS. Also I’ll add that I never try to start a fire with it, I only put it on a hot bed of coals. Even at 4 years css it don’t light off well.
Osage Orange is a strange breed, it originally only grew in Texas and Oklahoma, but was planted thru the rest of the US during the depression to prevent erosion. It can grow almost anywhere it just needs to be planted. There is a good chance no one planted it in Massachusetts, but most likely it would grow there.
Wow there is not a single species of trees on there that I have ever burned here in Wyoming. The ash they list is white ash what we have here is green ash. Maybe close.
I definitely never saw it when I lived in Chicago or Boston. But plenty of it here in Philly. Those giant fruits are concerning when you're walking through a bunch of those trees and you hear them dropping around you. But the kids love busting them open. Can't wait until I see one on the ground...
I'd also take Beech over Oak. In my opinion it's the best Firewood I can get in NH. Burns great and seasons so much faster than Oak that I'll go out of my way to get Beech.
Agreed. Fellow Okie here. Can’t complain that 80% of what I get is oak then pecan hickory and ash as fill in.
