I know many of the "WOOD SNOBS" here look down on it as POS wood. I'm here to tell you it's the proverbial "CAT's DUPA" as far as wood for the scrounger, newbie, and person that doesn't have a lot of time to make wood. Box Elder seasons fast..................cut and split in the late Winter/early Spring...........it'll be plenty dry by late Fall/early Winter. It'll be even better the following year though!! Most folks (wood snobs) will let Box Elder go..................big mistake....................I can heat my house with the stuff in northern Illinoiz with a little 13NC!!! It can be a "beeatch" to split if it's the twisty/gnarly stuff. However; I find much of it splits easily.............even the bigger rounds.......................and I "hand split" only. Full/big load in the 13NC give me about 4 hours of usable heat.
This is good news.......My free log loads include almost a full cord of Boxelder. I've only gotten about 1/2 bucked. I'll try to get the rest done, then split and stack before Christmas.
I'm sorry but I'm not a fan. Your avatar reminds me of elder. I remember carrying that stuff as a kid. The only reason I stayed warm was from the quantity I carried. But I'm glad it works for you. I had a friend that used to heat with sycamore. He would pick a giant tree on the creek and 1 tree would do him for the winter.
I have openly admitted on this sight of being a wood snob. The quantity of dead standing ash here is off the chart. We can't cut it fast enough. I bumped an 18" diameter 75 ft tall ash the other day with the skid steer. It snapped off 2 ft up rotten all the way up. Plenty of other hardwoods to cut also.
I have lots of box elder, don't like it at all, splits terrible, stinks when burning The rounds i have left are 24" ish in diameter, hoping by the time I get to them I can clean them up with a rake and dump it in the back, rots fast
Pipe down Whitey. Us wood snobs only burn premium wood. Most everyone with an EPA stove can appreciate Box Elder. Great for secondaries! Much better than the full load of locust I was having an issue with starting tonight. Need a hot fire to get the locust to turn over. I'm in the strange situation of having nearly all large splits of locust in the indoor rack. I think that there are only two downsides to box elder, you need space to store it, and it's reputation.
Been there done that. Sometimes you have to take it where you can get it. If it keeps the furnace from running more power to you.
We are very close where we live. I agree Boxelder is decent firewood. Also easy to get in our neck of the woods. Maybe not so much for others climate?
Box elder was my first scrounge and I thought it was ash and hit the jackpot like a total noob. I'm sorry but the stuff sucks. I seasoned it a year or more and it burned like crap.
BINGO! I put up another cord or two of BE just this past summer...kinda sad that I only have a little Silver Maple left right now though...
You burn what you got. I’ve been know to throw a split of BO in the stove myself. Cat stoves do better with it vs. tube stoves. Smoke does stink Stay safe
I'm burnin Bix Elder right now and I'm sweating my neck off! I also sweated my neck off hand spliting it, I had to noodle more than I'd like to admit! It's starts fast, burns hot, and burns fast. If your home and can reload it will keep the houses warm. I've never noticed any bad smell at all. Now if your looking for over night burns Box Elders not going to do it! It definitaly has its place though!
