Blaze King install puzzle

[Slate Dale]

woodsplitter67 has one (or more) very informative thread on solar kilns, how to build, what to to expect for moisture content. Search and you'll find it.

Thanks. I just found those threads, probably the ones you mean, showing the plastic wrap method.

I'm hoping to plant long hedges of hybrid willow, hybrid poplar, and locust here, to eventually produce enough fuel to keep the buildings heated. Willow and poplar dry very quickly, and if they are cut very young in a sustainable coppice regrowth system, mostly at around 6 inch diameter, they can be dried with the bark on and will need very little splitting. The problems are that willow and poplar produce about half as much heat as slower growing hardwoods like oak, and that poplar makes a lot of sparks (it pops) when it burns. However the locust wood burns longer, so I can mix some in with the willow and poplar for longer burn times or more heat.

I've been experimenting with hybrid willow for years. It's probably all I would need but adding poplar and locust for some biodiversity.

 

[bholler]

Thanks. I just found those threads, probably the ones you mean, showing the plastic wrap method.

I'm hoping to plant long hedges of hybrid willow, hybrid poplar, and locust here, to eventually produce enough fuel to keep the buildings heated. Willow and poplar dry very quickly, and if they are cut very young in a sustainable coppice regrowth system, mostly at around 6 inch diameter, they can be dried with the bark on and will need very little splitting. The problems are that willow and poplar produce about half as much heat as slower growing hardwoods like oak, and that poplar makes a lot of sparks (it pops) when it burns. However the locust wood burns longer, so I can mix some in with the willow and poplar for longer burn times or more heat.

I've been experimenting with hybrid willow for years. It's probably all I would need but adding poplar and locust for some biodiversity.

Personally I wouldn't bother with the poplar for firewood. It is very low btu per cubic foot. It is honestly one of the few woods I won't bother processing for firewood if I have to cut it. Locust is great firewood. But doesn't dry fast. I have no experience with willow

 

[stoveliker]

You'll need a chit-load of coppice wood to get you through a winter. Because 6" dia will need a couple of years to grow. So you need to have enough trees to supply firewood for e.g. 5 years. Great idea if you can grow your own wood and have the space, but I think you'll still have to source wood elsewhere (and season it on your property).

 

[begreen]

Local woodcutter gives away poplar. He calls it chitwood.

 

[Slate Dale]

You'll need a chit-load of coppice wood to get you through a winter. Because 6" dia will need a couple of years to grow. So you need to have enough trees to supply firewood for e.g. 5 years. Great idea if you can grow your own wood and have the space, but I think you'll still have to source wood elsewhere (and season it on your property).

Yes it is a long term goal. In the meantime there are plenty of dead and dying oaks, ash and other trees to cut, and still a plentiful supply of wood available for free off the property.

 

[Slate Dale]

Local woodcutter gives away poplar. He calls it chitwood.

The main coppicing species I had in mind was the hybrid biomass willow, with poplar and locust secondary.