Oh, and beech bark. That's my favorite thing about beech, smooth bark that's easy on your hands, and nice and clean
I'd love a tree that burned like white oak, put out the heat and longevity of hedge, coated up like locust, smelled like a blend of applewood and hickory, weighed like seasoned tulip, seasoned fast like silver maple and split like a tall, straight forest-grown red oak.... And have the bug - resistant properties of cedar....yep, that'd be my pic.
Nice hearing all the different good qualities of woods that I don't have access to. My local trees to blend wood be... Ash for splitting- the rare oak for coals/btu- aromatics of juniper- growth rate of aspen-regenerative ability and fall color of sumac-the yum factor we will have it fruit apples-dry down of silver maple.
I'd throw this in there. Not effected by any bug to kill the tree off. Termites, powder post beetles, ants and any other bug won't eat it. Like Scotty Overkill said. Oh yeah, Virginia creeper, poison Ivy or grape vines won't grow on it. Wood won't rot or get doty and doesn't warp. Tree always falls the direction of your wedge cut no matter how it's leaning. Is that enough dreaming?
I'd take just about anything, as long as it stayed about 8" diameter from the roots all the way up to the top so it doesn't need split. If it grew in a triangle or square shape that'd be nice too, as rounds don't tend to stack as stable on their own. Oh yeah, it needs to be free too.
No miracle tree wishes for me...I like the variety nature has provided. I'm fortunate...ironwood, sugar maple, beech, hickory, little bit of ash, cherry, white birch, tulip, basswood, pine, hemlock, cedar. Everything your heart could desire, and nice variety in fires, both in heat output and color of flames. Love my woods, not interested in trying to better Mother Nature. That said, I wouldn't mind if all the wood was straight and easy to split.....
All the shagbarks I've cut have been hard on chains. Fencerow trees are always tough, but try a shagbark in a fencerow. You'll be wishing you never took it on and swear you'll never touch another again. I'm sure it's the bark catching all the dust in the air. The wood is nice, smells good that's for sure! I hate the bugs it draws to the woodpile though. Oh, and it splits tough. I swear the damm grain always seems to spiral.
and cuts and splits itself. Then we could cross breed it so it could carry itself inside and stack it too
It would grow as fast as Box Elder, season like White Ash, weigh like dry White Pine and put out the BTUs of Black Locust. And provide some type of tasty food for you to eat while you cut it. And repel all bugs so it would not become infested. Oh, and be drought and flood tolerant
Pine is pretty close to perfect for my needs. Of course I'm comparing it to sweet gum, punky tree of heaven, and elm. But in all honesty, I like the nice straight trunk, it has few branches, is easy to split, smells good, and dries quickly. I can restart a fire from the coals left from an overnight burn, and it puts out all the heat I need. I better stop hyping it or people might start wanting it!
My combination of about 65-75% White Ash and 25-35% White Pine seems to heat my big house/garage/DHW just fine.
