anybody here burn any box elder? Iknow it is soft, but free woood is freee woood.........................
anybody burn any box elder?
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ps, could just be the few trees I've run across, but it get's all squishy and really wet when left just sitting around in the rounds. then I'd just thud right into it with the maul and it would just squish some water out and not make a split. If I split it sooner, rather than later, it seemed to last longer and stay drier. YMMV. let one of our local "elders" comment on their experiences with them...
Get it split a.s.a.p. Dry it - burn it. Its gonna go up fast and hot. If you tarp your wood, stake the ends of the tarp down so that the seasoned box elder doesn't blow away with a stiff breeze. :lol:
I hope it's good to burn. Just got two loads from a tree guy. It's was one of his own trees in his yard; says it's ok, but since I took that stuff he will give me all the maple from his backyard! If I didn't have a splitter though I would have passed; very wet stuff.
I've burned it. It's not the best wood. Burns fast, and the smoke smells bad.
I'll still keep some of it around if I get it, and burn it in the fall or spring.
But it ain't no way close to a decent firewood in my book.
I'll still keep some of it around if I get it, and burn it in the fall or spring.
But it ain't no way close to a decent firewood in my book.
A box elder round in the truck is worth ten oaks in the bush.
It's fairly light, and therefore has a high moisture content, but it burns fine dry. I've noticed the tendency towards punkyness, progressing to spongeyness, which makes it hard to keep soft-hardwoods dry unless it's out of the rain, but if it's cut live and stacked promptly it shouldn't get to that point.
It's fairly light, and therefore has a high moisture content, but it burns fine dry. I've noticed the tendency towards punkyness, progressing to spongeyness, which makes it hard to keep soft-hardwoods dry unless it's out of the rain, but if it's cut live and stacked promptly it shouldn't get to that point.
I've burned lots of it and it burns just as good as any other soft Maple. Good shoulder season wood and works well when mixing with harder woods to get them going. Some of it can be a real pain splitting, it's not the most straight growing tree.
Todd said:
+1 Bet I have burned at least 3 cord every season the last three , burns similar to silver maple. I mix some in anytime thru the season except on cold nights where I need a longer burn.
Like you said free wood is free wood
We've burned it in the past. Not a good wood for holding a fire through the night but still burns well. I certainly would not go out looking for a box elder tree but will not hesitate to cut one and burn it.
Just had one blow down this week. Almost all of them around here are hollow in the center and full of ants. They seem barely able to support their own weight.
I bucked it up and left the bigger stuff in a pile and offered it to the two nearest neighbors. They elected to throw it into the quarry instead of taking it home...
I almost always take the wood for myself, but not this stuff.
I bucked it up and left the bigger stuff in a pile and offered it to the two nearest neighbors. They elected to throw it into the quarry instead of taking it home...
I almost always take the wood for myself, but not this stuff.
It's almost extinct around here do to box elder bug. All I,ve come across has been full of grubs and punky.
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