So does anyone here have some experience burning apple? I see it rates super high on the btu chart but on a simple Google search most say it burns really hot but very fast. The guy has 4 dead ones in his orchard I can take down and have for free but it's a bit of a drive. He sent me some pics and they look like your typical orchard sized tree and there are definitely 4. 25 terribly slow and mountainous miles one way though. I don't mind the drive, but how good is apple to burn? I'd like to see your opinions on the wood before I commit to heading up there..
Someone here uses a lot of Apple. But I can't remember. Great smoking wood, if nothing else... I wouldn't shy away from it personally. But I don't have any personal experience, just what information I've picked up from the last 5 or 6 years. Good Luck. Edit: search option ... Firewood Bandit ....
Currently smoking with some cherry. No way I'll ever use 4 full trees..lol.. There's some cherry under that Kingsford that sure does a nice job on chicken.
like you said high on the btu charts. I have never burned it myself but there is alot of it on my local craigslist that people bring over the mountains from the orchards in Eastern Wa and are asking premium prices for it how big of diameter are the trees? here is some interesting info on it http://www.ehow.com/info_8668974_can-burn-apple-wood-fireplace.html
Tough to say on diameter. Probably similar to this ornamental maple in my yard but cut lower to harvest the apples. The wood is free but would take up my Friday that I have off.. Really curious how good this stuff actually is..
I have heard its great, but like I said never burned it myself, even though I live in the apple capital of the US. That said i would be all over it, let it season a couple years and give it a shot http://www.ehow.com/info_8668974_can-burn-apple-wood-fireplace.html
It's good burning wood but a tree won't yield very much. Depending on its age it probably will have some rot and hollow spots. It also will have a lot of very small branches. It is a very slow growing tree and doesn't grow big and tall like oak. So getting the wood alone might not be worth your time
Paul is right. There is not a lot of wood to be had from most apple trees. Mostly made up of skinny branches.
Ok good info.. Sounds like it burns good so I might give it a shot. He has four trees so it might be worth the ride..
Quite dense,same weight as Honey Locust & White Oak at 48lbs/cubic foot.Excellent fuel,especially prized for smoking/grilling various meats.Not many large old full size trees still around since most nurseries/orchadists switched to the smaller dwarf trees some years ago/ Here's one I pruned from someone's backyard on southside of town. in Sept 2013.Very heavy fruit production that year,all the weight just laid that limb down.Plus I removed another one almost as big that was about 80% dead with just a half dozen apples on it.If I remember entire wood haul was just about 1.5 large pickup loads,plus 3 or so loads of brush.Normally I don't remove brush unless they pay me but this was a special situation.
I live not far from orchard country, adams county, pa. I have burned some apple and it does burn well, but you don't get a whole lot of firewood out of an apple tree. A long time to season too, like red oak, figure 3 years for rounds, minimum, splits may season a bit faster, longer it sits, better it is. Sitting on the piles of fahrwood I have right now, if I was in your shoes, I'd..........pass. If I didn't have 15+ cord sitting around, I'd maybe go for it.
No experience with apple yet but I'll be able to let you know next spring. I harvested about 1/4 cord of apple by doing a long overdue pruning on an old apple in my yard. Some of it was old dead branches as much as 8 inches in diameter so I will be burning some next season. It sure was nice splitting considering how many knots were in those branches. The Fiskars just went right on through. The wood is very heavy compared to the ash of similar size that I have been handling.
Apple is great burning wood. The difficult part is most of the wood is small and very little of it is straight. In addition, many get hollow. For me, 25 mountain miles would probably cause me to pass on it. But other factors can come into play. Sometimes it is worth it; sometimes not. It is sort of like we say around here; there is a reason most old orchard trees get burned right in the orchard.
Talked to the guy today and I'm gonna make the ride up there. He has some other stuff laying around too so if nothing else I'll totally top my 16/17 stacks and add some more to 17/18. In a little less than 9 months I'll be losing a lot of time for other obligations so I'm gonna gonna get as much wood as I possibly can over the next few months while I have time, ambition, and sleep!!
