# Burning Dogwood tonight



## ChillyGator (Feb 25, 2010)

Bottom pieces are splits from 6" limbs and top is 3" limb from big old dogwood in parents yard that we cleaned up from a storm last June.  Softwood.... drys fast, burns hot.  

41 °F and raining tonigiht  30 °F daylight.......couple cold days ahead....woodpile can't take too many more  :coolgrin:


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## PA. Woodsman (Feb 25, 2010)

Softwood.... drys fast, burns hot. [/quote]


Why do you refer to Dogwood as softwood?


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## ChillyGator (Feb 25, 2010)

I may be in error....assumed because it drys fast it had to be soft.....and that it is already coals?


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## PA. Woodsman (Feb 25, 2010)

ChillyGator said:
			
		

> I may be in error....assumed because it drys fast it had to be soft.....and that it is already coals?




No, it's a very good hardwood; great fuelwood, very heavy even when dry.


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## ChillyGator (Feb 25, 2010)

PA. Woodsman said:
			
		

> ChillyGator said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I noticed it is kind of heavy for small pieces......but it torches off into nothing in about 20 minutes and a piece of oak in the back is still solid end to end.  Put out the heat though.


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## Captain Hornet (Feb 25, 2010)

We have a ton of of oak and other woods saved up. We are ahead for three years.  That said, I always want and need dogwood.  It dries good and is SUPER in the wood smoker.  BBQ a load of ribs with dogwood and you'll throw rocks at most other wood for smoking. Apple and pear are also very good.  David


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## FireAnt (Feb 25, 2010)

WOW Captain. Dogwood for BBQ I would have never thought that. A women up the street has a dead Dogwood in her front yard. I have been thinking about taking it out for her.


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## billb3 (Feb 25, 2010)

From cutting dogwood branches  with handsaws after storm damage and trimming back growth,   I'd  guess it burned like beech.

I had some big enough in a wood pile but it got lost in the mix.


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## FLINT (Feb 26, 2010)

Dogwood is SUPER SUPER hard wood.  In fact, It may be the hardest woods that I've cut.  Its probably not on any of the charts because the trees never get very big, so its not the most efficient use of your time to try to make firewood from.  Ask anyone who works with wood and they will tell you that dogwood is the preferred wood for making something that will be exposed to a lot of friction as it will outlast almost anything.

me and my dad cut a decent sized standing dead dogwood that was very dry, and a 6' log that was probably 6" or so in diameter was a very hefty piece of wood.  In contrast with the similar size paw paw that we cut right next to it that weighed less than air.


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## Redburn (Feb 26, 2010)

I was working at a house that was neglected and the new owners cut allot of trees and two where the biggest dogwood I ever seen , the base where the size of a small garbage can and 25ft high great burning wood its got a high btu output to..


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## floridaboy (Feb 26, 2010)

Looking Good ChillyGator  Im going to try that dogwood myself .


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## tickbitty (Feb 27, 2010)

As long as it takes to grow, it ought to be hard!
They only get so big.  There's a lot of disease in the ones around here, it's very sad to see the old ones go.  Dogwood is our state flower.  (Cardinal state bird, Brook trout state fish, Tiger swallowtail butterfly state insect, fossil chesapecten jeffersonius, not to be confused with state shell, the Oyster. State Dog the American Foxhound.)


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## RustyShackleford (Mar 6, 2010)

Well, the best thing about dogwood is that it takes virtually forever to rot.
So if you need some burnable wood QUICK, just look for a dead standing
dogwood, or one fallen but propped off the ground a little, and you'll have
some ready-to-burn awesome wood !     Sourwood also works this way, and
sourwood trees tend to get a lot bigger.  It's IMPOSSIBLE to split it (by hand)
though.


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## wsorg (Mar 7, 2010)

Dogwoods are very hard for sure.  Looks like a good burn!


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## Cluttermagnet (Apr 6, 2010)

RustyShackleford said:
			
		

> Well, the best thing about dogwood is that it takes virtually forever to rot.
> So if you need some burnable wood QUICK, just look for a dead standing
> dogwood, or one fallen but propped off the ground a little, and you'll have
> some ready-to-burn awesome wood !     Sourwood also works this way, and
> ...


Yes indeed. I just cut a standing dead Dogwood with about a 5in trunk recently. Totally ready to burn and coals beautifully like Oak. Also splits very easily, unlike that Sourwood. Straight grained, pops apart when you get near it with an axe. ;-)


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## madrone (Apr 6, 2010)

Easily one of my favorites. Nice hard stuff, decent burn times. HOT. Can definitely be hard to split at times though.


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## oldspark (Apr 6, 2010)

FLINT said:
			
		

> Dogwood is SUPER SUPER hard wood.  In fact, It may be the hardest woods that I've cut.  Its probably not on any of the charts because the trees never get very big, so its not the most efficient use of your time to try to make firewood from.  Ask anyone who works with wood and they will tell you that dogwood is the preferred wood for making something that will be exposed to a lot of friction as it will outlast almost anything.
> 
> me and my dad cut a decent sized standing dead dogwood that was very dry, and a 6' log that was probably 6" or so in diameter was a very hefty piece of wood.  In contrast with the similar size paw paw that we cut right next to it that weighed less than air.


Yes it is on some of the charts and I believe it is in the top 3 or so.


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## Woody Stover (Feb 4, 2011)

FLINT said:
			
		

> cut a decent sized standing dead dogwood that was very dry


I recently cut one that I figured would be fairly dry. Standing, dead, no bark and the 8" trunk split by a big check. It doesn't hiss but it still must have some moisture...doesn't flame up very quickly.
We've got quite a bit of it around here, but I have to be careful what I cut. It can have a big void in the trunk, but still be growing and flowering.


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