# Favorite Species of wood to burn.



## Greg123 (Aug 23, 2006)

Just curious as to what your favorite species of wood to burn is and why. Allot will have to do with what is available in your area. In my are area there is abundant supply of Maple, Oak, and Ash I would have to say ash is my favorite so far, because I like the excellent coaling qualities, although it doesn’t burn as long as or as hot as the Oak does.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Aug 23, 2006)

pine is fine!


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## Jags (Aug 23, 2006)

I love burning oak, but ooooooh that hickory and hedge (osage) are the real deal to long burning, high btu fire woods. ;-)


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## Mike Wilson (Aug 23, 2006)

Black Locust... the closest wood there is to coal!

and I have tons of it growing (and dying) in the yard too!    


-- Mike


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## bruce56bb (Aug 23, 2006)

i feel sorry for ya msg.........nothing to burn but pine
i'm with jags on the osage orange and the oak but i've never burned any hickory.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Aug 23, 2006)

bruce56bb said:
			
		

> i feel sorry for ya msg.........nothing to burn but pine
> i'm with jags on the osage orange and the oak but i've never burned any hickory.



Its not to bad, at least there is very little ash. I burn the same amount of wood as you hardwoood people. But i wish i had some osage!


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## suematteva (Aug 23, 2006)

Apple, hard hack, sugar maple, beech, ash, cherry,yellow birch


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## jabush (Aug 23, 2006)

Definitely Apple...good burning and good smelling!!


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## Jags (Aug 23, 2006)

For anyone that has never had the chance to burn hickory, here is the closest I can come to describing it.  Take good seasoned oak for its friendly burning nature and ability to produce long, hot heat.  Now mix it with osage (Black locust is also very good) for its coal like burning properies, and BAM-O - you got hickory.


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## Harley (Aug 23, 2006)

Apple, when available.... I don't have any in my yard.  Then probably Maple, Oak and Birch.  Unfortunately, must of what I cut this year was Cherry.


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## mikedengineer (Aug 23, 2006)

I like Oak as a good all round type of wood to burn.  But I LOVE burning Hickery most of all.  To me it burns like coal being it puts out allot of heat (though I have never burn coal).  Then there's apple.  Man that stuff puts out the heat BIG TIME!  It's just hard for me to find.

-Mike


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## suematteva (Aug 23, 2006)

Does someone have a picture of osage....never heard of it up here in Vermont...wondering if it is similar to what we call hardhack..Do you get it a health spa....ha ha ha.....cracking myself up today...


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## MountainStoveGuy (Aug 23, 2006)

For you pine burners out there, dougless fir is far by the best, next would be spruce, and last would be ponderosa and logepole. At the altitude i live at, you would be very suprised at the density of it, Doug fir almost weighs as much as oak. Stuff grows very slow up where i live.


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## bruce56bb (Aug 23, 2006)

Vintage 181 said:
			
		

> Does someone have a picture of osage....never heard of it up here in Vermont...wondering if it is similar to what we call hardhack..Do you get it a health spa....ha ha ha.....cracking myself up today...




here ya go 181.
http://www.osageorange.com/Osage_Orange_P.html


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## Greg123 (Aug 23, 2006)

MountainStoveGuy said:
			
		

> For you pine burners out there, dougless fir is far by the best, next would be spruce, and last would be ponderosa and logepole. At the altitude i live at, you would be very suprised at the density of it, Doug fir almost weighs as much as oak. Stuff grows very slow up where i live.



MSG – Do you find burning pine requires more frequent cleaning of the chimney and stove parts?  I always though pine would cause more creosote ect.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Aug 23, 2006)

This is 3 cords worth.....


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## BrotherBart (Aug 23, 2006)

My favorite bar none is Beech. Clean hot burn, dries fast, good coals, paper thin bark and for some reason seems to resist decomposing with age.

If I got to design a tree it would be just like a beech. Of course red and white oak are the predominate trees around here so they are most of what I burn. They actually deserve their own catagories in the poll, they are so different.

And there is always a cord or two of pine fed through each year. If I had a soapstone stove like MSG's I would probably do like him and burn the pine flat out and then enjoy the carryover heat from the stone.


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## suematteva (Aug 23, 2006)

bruce56bb said:
			
		

> Vintage 181 said:
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Thanks Bruce...learned a new tree today.

You guys are rugged to be cutting that stuff..must be worth the prize...not what we call hardhack...the fruit on that Osage gets pretty big..


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## fishinAK (Aug 23, 2006)

Right with ya MSG.  I Just got our stove and have not begun to burn yet.  but I will be burning exclusivly what is available...Spuce, Hemlock, and alder.  Not sure which of the 3 Ill like the best yet.
  at least they seem to dry fast


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## PAJerry (Aug 23, 2006)

Ash might not be the hottest or longest lasting, but it sure is nice to cut and split. All of mine is very staight and tall with few side branches.  Absolute worst I've dealt with is spruce.


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## BrotherBart (Aug 23, 2006)

Well I'll be darned. I grew up with Osage Orange all around me down in Texas and never heard that name until the Forum. We used the other name for them, Bodark.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Aug 23, 2006)

If i had something else to burn, i probably would. But i have learned to like pine. It lights fast, burns hot, produces very little creosote, and most importantly, i dont have a choice. $300 a cord for oak is a little out of my price range. Whats intresting, is a burn the same volume of fuel as most the other members here.


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## Jags (Aug 23, 2006)

Hedge, Osage, and Iron wood are all common names for the stuff in my neck of the woods (northern Illinois)


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## Shane (Aug 23, 2006)

The pine here is really dense too.  Lodgepole and Ponderosa.  We have trees cut down that are 100+ years old and 8-12 inches at the base.


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## MountainStoveGuy (Aug 23, 2006)

Shane said:
			
		

> The pine here is really dense too.  Lodgepole and Ponderosa.  We have trees cut down that are 100+ years old and 8-12 inches at the base.



Im burning some ponderosa this year that had a 28 inch base, imagine how dense and old that is growing at 9000'! My maul bounces off of it.


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## BrotherBart (Aug 23, 2006)

Our Eastern Pines don't get over maybe ten to eighteen inches. They do all of their growing toward the sky. Up about seventy or eighty feet and then break off and land on your car or house. I did a frame up rebuild on a garden tractor of mine five years ago. Like a brand new machine. Pine tree snapped off and flattend the sucker like a pancake.


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## Roospike (Aug 23, 2006)

I voted OAK . That Hedge, Osage orange is a nice hot hard fire wood but a he(( of a lot of sparks come off of it . The best way to burn it is all night burn and let it be . If you burn it durning the day and reload your about 90% to get a face full of sparks . When i cut it and get in my wood pile i normally just burn it out in the shop . Them sparks are bad for the carpet in the house . 60% of what i have this year is ELM ...... just one of them years i guess .


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## berlin (Aug 23, 2006)

true ironwood is actually eastern hophornbeam, not osage or as i've always called it "hedge"


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## wg_bent (Aug 23, 2006)

Oak or Apple, then Ash, Maple and Elm.  Actually pine seems o.k.  Burns good for a while puts out good heat, then poof it dissapears.  I also like Hickory, but don't get much of it.


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## precaud (Aug 23, 2006)

MountainStoveGuy said:
			
		

> If i had something else to burn, i probably would. But i have learned to like pine. It lights fast, burns hot, produces very little creosote, and most importantly, i dont have a choice.



I also burn almost exclusively pine, the pinon variety. It's density is somewhere in between the oaks and ponderosas which we have here, but probably a bit pitchier than the latter on average. Ponderosa makes the best kindling though; it's straight, large grain splits very controllably and neatly.

There's a little oak around here too, but the price is about as ridiculous as it is up MSG's way.

The thing I notice most about the difference between the way oak and pine burns, the pine produces much longer flames and predominantly yellow in color.


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## brian_in_idaho (Aug 23, 2006)

I put other just due to what we have locally.  Around here in order of preference its tamarack (western larch), red (douglas) fir, grand fir, lodgepole and ponderosa.  Ponderosa=evil stuff.  Soaks up water like a sponge, splits terribly, lots of ash.  Tam is great stuff, splits like a dream.  Red fir is a close second, and a lot more available right around my property.  

Bri


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## Roospike (Aug 24, 2006)

Warren said:
			
		

> Oak or Apple, then Ash, Maple and Elm.  Actually pine seems o.k.  Burns good for a while puts out good heat, then poof it dissapears.  I also like Hickory, but don't get much of it.


Ha ........ You said the "E" word there Warren . I didnt see that it wasnt voted on ............O' thats right "love to hate" was the wording for that wood .


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## begreen (Aug 24, 2006)

Locally madrona is the primo wood to get. Not on the list, so my vote is for 'other'.


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## wg_bent (Aug 24, 2006)

Roospike said:
			
		

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I only added Elm as being on my favorite list since:

a: I burn a lot of it since every dead friggin tree around here is an elm
b: It's not a bad burning wood.  

BUT:
Elm sucks it's natures cruel joke.  It's impossible to split and when it burns it leaves clinkers stuck to your fire brick that eventually destroy your firebrick.  Litterally cause it to crumble.  But it heats your house night after night for the price of a two firebricks per year...It's a good deal in my book.  

Plus by splitting that 5 cords of elm in the yard a peice of 30" white oak might as well be a peice of 12" ash as far as splitting effort goes.

Yup...I sure love (to hate) elm.  I'm thinking Roo is right up there with elm...He seems to love to poke me on this "issue I have"  LOL


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## MountainStoveGuy (Aug 24, 2006)

Intresting "other" is as popular as "oak" what would you guess the btu's per lb are in "other"?


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## wg_bent (Aug 24, 2006)

Whatever is in Pine would be my guess.


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## Roospike (Aug 24, 2006)

Warren said:
			
		

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 LOL  I would have to agree with your list . We get a lot of Elm around here . We also have a lot of OAK but i cut trees as there are needed to come out. Most of the time the ole Oak tree is fine with no problems , healthy and no big reason to be felled . Now Elm on the other hand is alway "falling apart" and has issues so the take down is needed. I would rather burn a tree that is needed to come out over a tree that is just fine as it be. I guess the big reasion i poke so much at you over ELM is because you take the words right out of my mouth . If some one says "ELM" you always seem to beat me to your famous lines over it . Also Warren you mentioned the Elm breaks up your fire brick ............. I for one havent run across this issue . In the past 15 years of burning wood i might of replaced 2 fire bricks total of all the stoves i have run .I know there are a few different types of Elm . Maybe you have a different type of Elm where you are located ?...?...?


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## wg_bent (Aug 24, 2006)

No idea if it's different.  The Elm I'm burning is all cut from a a couple peoples yards.  Some of it was big, some small.  But it was all dead as a door nail.  No bark on the standing tree.  Some if it seemed to take a month or two to season, then it would burn well.   The higher smaller limbs I would burn right away.  It was the bigger splits that seemed to cause the problem more.   I'm still searching for a good theory on this clinker thing. This happened only just in front of the air intake at the front of my stove.  Most times I could just scrape it off and it was fine, but I guess when the stove was allowed to get full of ashes, I found this stuff completely bonded to the firebrick.  When I poked at it to remove it the fire brick crumbled and left a divot in the firebrick.  I tried cementing the peices back in place with refractory cement, but that didn't work.  The other point to note here is the firebrick in the stove is, in my opinion, is a lousy quality firebrick.  It looks like cinder blocks or those 6x12 patio blocks.  It's very light.  The stuff I got to replace the two in my stove looks just like the stuff in the pictures of Kevin's new Morso 7110.  That stuff feels like a brick should.  It's very dense, very heavy.  I weighed the two bricks with a kitchen scale, and one is around twice the weight of the other.  I'm hoping that this year, more well seasoned wood cut much earlier in the year plus the higher quality bricks will solve that problem and I'll just have to hate ELM a litte less.


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## Greg123 (Aug 24, 2006)

Any body ever burn CottonWood, (I think it is also called Poplar or related to it some how) I just picked up some free stuff yesterday, it splits really easily but the inside smells like horse manure  :sick: . I couldn’t imagine burning this stuff indoors; maybe the smell subsides once it is seasoned. My intentions where only to burn this stuff in my out door fire pit anyway.


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## precaud (Aug 24, 2006)

Greg123 said:
			
		

> Any body ever burn CottonWood, (I think it is also called Poplar or related to it some how) I just picked up some free stuff yesterday, it splits really easily but the inside smells like horse manure  :sick: . I couldn’t imagine burning this stuff indoors; maybe the smell subsides once it is seasoned. My intentions where only to burn this stuff in my out door fire pit anyway.



Cottonwood is not poplar... around here it's also called Chinese Elm but bears no resemblance to the elm that others here are so fond of...  

I have four big ones (30"+ diameter) lining the front of my yard... had five but lost one to drought and felled it last summer. You're right, it doesn't smell great but in a stove that's not an issue. I think it is essentially junk wood. Has about 75% the btu's of pine but leaves more coals, which eventually creates a problem. It makes ok kindling, and maybe you can mix one piece into a load of 3 or 4. Or you can burn it at the beginning and end of the season when you don't need full heat output. But I wouldn't go out of my way to get it. In fact someone drove up last week and offered me a pickup load of it cut and split for $20. As soon as I saw what it was, I passed...


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## brian_in_idaho (Aug 24, 2006)

MountainStoveGuy said:
			
		

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> My maul bounces off of it



It's amazing how this happens with P-pine!  Red fir or tamerack I can usually pop a 2 foot dia round with a couple wacks of the maul, its sweet stuff!  Feels good to be able to do that, I haven't seen the need for a splitter, or a wedge unless there is a bad knot.  P-pine is another story for me, I have had to work on little 10-12 inch pcs and didn't think they would ever pop.  Seems like they are fussy on when to split, green they don't do well, but if they sit on the ground more than a few months they seem to soak up water, if the maul doesn't bounce off it sticks!  Splitting at the end of a long, hot summer seems to work best for me.  Around here P-pine grows pretty fast (we're at about 2700 ft), it probably isn't as hard and dense as what you have.

Bri


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## Greg123 (Aug 24, 2006)

precaud said:
			
		

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Precaud – Thanks for the clarification between Poplar and CottonWood. With a smell that bad, I would agree that it is junk wood.


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## Roospike (Aug 24, 2006)

Greg123 said:
			
		

> Any body ever burn CottonWood, (I think it is also called Poplar or related to it some how) I just picked up some free stuff yesterday, it splits really easily but the inside smells like horse manure :sick: . I couldn’t imagine burning this stuff indoors; maybe the smell subsides once it is seasoned. My intentions where only to burn this stuff in my out door fire pit anyway.


 Cottonwood Ole Cotton Wood ........... Its A.O.K as a tree but when it comes to wood burning its not worth a P . ( i'm bad i know --------- HEY quit throwing stuff ) If i ever come across a cottonwood tree for a take down / removel I normally cut it up 24" and take it down to the lakes , camp sites , fishing holes , dam ect for any one that wants to burn it as camp fires and such . The boy scouts are often calling for fire wood to so i keep them in mind if i run across something . I just hate to take any wood ( except brush ) to the dump . I sure in the he(( am not going to use it my self in the wood stove and wouldn't sell it for such. I have seen cotton wood for sale for about $20. a truck load and the $$ is for a fee to get from point A to B is about what it amounts to .


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## berlin (Aug 24, 2006)

"Cottonwood is not poplar… around here it’s also called Chinese Elm but bears no resemblance to the elm that others here are so fond of"

cottonwood IS poplar, more specifically poplar is a name given to the eastern cottonwood if i remember correctly "populus deltoides" hence poplar. while there is a chinese elm i've found what is commonly called chinese elm is a completely different species (it is actually "siberian elm) and if you saw the two side by side there is no way you could get them confused. i have burned much poplar it burns hot and very very clean, albeit quick.

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/Plants/p/popdel/popdel1.html    -poplar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Elm -"chinese elm" or siberian elm

and just for fun; eastern hophornbeam aka ironwood one of the absolute best burning trees imho- http://www.oplin.org/tree/fact pages/hophornbeam_eastern/hophornbeam_eastern.html


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## Jags (Aug 24, 2006)

Hophornbeam (I giggle every time I say that for some reason) is one of many trees to go by the name of Iron wood.  Since an earlier post by me stating that Osage can sometimes be called ironwood (old timers around my area), I did a little research (not much, mind you).  Thought it to be somewhat interesting.  From Wikipedia:
Ironwood may refer to the following:

Any particular wood that has a reputation for hardness. Usage of the name may (or may not) include the tree that yields this wood. Species involved include: 
Androstachys johnsonii — Lebombo ironwood 
Carpinus caroliniana — also known as American hornbeam 
Casuarina equisetifolia — Common Ironwood from Australia 
Choricarpia subargentea 
Copaifera spp. 
Eusideroxylon zwageri 
Guaiacum officinale and Guaiacum sanctum — Lignum vitae 
Hopea odorata 
Krugiodendron ferreum — Black Ironwood 
Lyonothamnus lyonii (L. floribundus) — Catalina Ironwood 
Mesua ferrea — also known as Rose Chestnut or Ceylon Ironwood, from Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia 
Olea spp. — various olive trees 
Olneya tesota — Desert Ironwood (of Subfamilay Faboideae, in Family Fabaceae) 
Ostrya virginiana — Hop hornbeam 
Parrotia persica — Persian Ironwood 
Tabebuia serratifolia — Ipe 

That is all. You may return to your regularly scheduled program.


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## Shane (Aug 24, 2006)

That list reads like the ingredients in alot of medications.  As long as there is no anal leakage involved I'll take two.


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## Jags (Aug 24, 2006)

EEEEEWWWWWWW! :sick:


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## Shane (Aug 24, 2006)

Sorry I was just thinking of a commercial I saw the other day.  I think it was for allergy medication or something.  At any rate they listed of about 10 possible side effects and the last one being "anal leakage" whatever the hell that means.  I thought to myself gee I can have a clear nose and leak from places one shouldn't leak or simply put up with a stuffy nose.  Decision time.


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## suematteva (Aug 24, 2006)

Some stuff should just not be advertised...anal leakage..is that like breaking wind or a full set of drawers?  What is next?


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## Shane (Aug 24, 2006)

Another great one is "oily discharge".  I love how they say it too it's all upbeat "this pill will stop one ailment but can cause headache, diahreah, abdominal cramping, bubonic plague, crop failure,  and everyones favorites anal leakage & oily discharge or in some rare cases death" but hey you won't be depressed anymore.


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## BrotherBart (Aug 24, 2006)

The minute those messages get to "sexual disfunction" I am outta there.


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## Roospike (Aug 25, 2006)

Oh , He(( ..........I think i clicked on the wrong short cut on my desk top , I was looking for the Hearth fourm . Anybody seen it ?


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## brian_in_idaho (Aug 25, 2006)

Roospike said:
			
		

> Oh , He(( ..........I think i clicked on the wrong short cut on my desk top , I was looking for the Hearth fourm . Anybody seen it ?



Heck, I'm kind of enjoying the Jeff Foxworthy forum, fits in with my redneck sense of humor!  I had to quit listening to the "You might be a redneck if..." ones, with the exception of the family parts, I was sure he was talking about me.


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## KP Matt (Aug 26, 2006)

You might be a redneck if you only fire your still with the finest dried hickory.

My favorite wood is Ostrya virginiana - eastern hop hornbeam, or we just call it ironwood. Few woods are denser in N. America, it's considerate enough to die at a manageable height and just stand there waiting to be cut, or if it rots generally only the bottom foot or so rots if you catch it in time. Starts off fairly dry, and you don't have to do much splitting because it never gets more than a foot and a half in diameter. Only problem is the bark is a bit peely, so you get little shreds everywhere.

But the finest combustible I've ever seen was in a discotech/tent place in Andalucia, they were burning almond shells in this cylindrical stove thing - hopper on the top, the shells just feeding in... a heavenly aroma!


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## suematteva (Aug 26, 2006)

KP Matt said:
			
		

> You might be a redneck if you only fire your still with the finest dried hickory.
> 
> My favorite wood is Ostrya virginiana - eastern hop hornbeam, or we just call it ironwood. Few woods are denser in N. America, it's considerate enough to die at a manageable height and just stand there waiting to be cut, or if it rots generally only the bottom foot or so rots if you catch it in time. Starts off fairly dry, and you don't have to do much splitting because it never gets more than a foot and a half in diameter. Only problem is the bark is a bit peely, so you get little shreds everywhere.
> 
> But the finest combustible I've ever seen was in a discotech/tent place in Andalucia, they were burning almond shells in this cylindrical stove thing - hopper on the top, the shells just feeding in... a heavenly aroma!




Thanks for the reminder KP, my sister in San Francisco, gets almond wood for her fireplace in the city..It is nice stuff and the aroma,, wonder what that is a cord now...


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## DavidV (Aug 26, 2006)

For me, the favorite is Oak.  It's free. there is so much downed oak around here I can't imagine paying for it for 10 years.  They keep building houses around here but nobody has a real fire place so I will continue to take advantage of all the free wood. had the kids help me split and stack a courd or so last weekend and I plan to get one or two truck loads today.


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## Sandor (Aug 26, 2006)

Dogwood!


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## jabush (Aug 26, 2006)

Sandor said:
			
		

> Dogwood!



Oh man...forgot about the dogwood I burned last year.  Tree was probably 25 years old and about 7" dbh.  Standing dead due to the tree guard the previous owner never removed.  Very dense and burned well.


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