I’ll say it again… dead, down, barkless, and aged (semi petrified) it’s pretty much unbeatable. Fresh(er) cut/felled, bark on… yep, I agree with you, not as impressive- unless you can season it for 20+ years!
I like Honey locust a lot, but you really need to mix it in with other types of wood to keep it happy in the stove. It needs 3 years to season, which is another thing.
Yes I was and for reference 2 different stoves one being an insert. The bark is something else I find it amazing how the bark was giving off heat as well. Especially the thick stuff that would come off as chaff in the splitting. Rot is minimal but the 3 trees that I've had experience with is one had rotted but fell over on a neighbors fence. Termites were present.. The next one was pulpy in areas but the tree was so large that it sprouted at its inception and the two trees in a spot were just vying for the main spot so it had rot spots but the rest of the tree was just perfect. The last had rot in places but a lot of the tops were dead and had some of the best firewood to date. I know oak is great it just doesn't grow around me much unless someone planted it as a yard tree. Closest is Oregon white oak. Yep some of the best wood I've burned was this dead tipped BL that a neighbor had. Whew. Hard to beat such a good thing.
