Bored and trying to learn my firewood

[firefighterjake]

So beech is hard wood right? My few beech trees I have here keep their leaves throughout the winter

Not only a hard wood . . . one of the better hard woods in my neck of the woods to burn. It's primo wood for me.

 

[firefighterjake]

Another basic rule...lol...or fun fact?
The definition of Softwoods and Hardwoods.
Hardwoods arent necessarily "hard" as in heavy with high BTUs.
Hardwoods are all trees that go dormant and shed their leaves every year. Period...end of story.
Softwoods are trees that hold their leaves for 3- 5 years (evergreen).
Some softwoods are denser and heavier than some hardwoods and have higher BTUs.
Trees are generally split into these two groups. Deciduous and Coniferous. And...hahaha...according to Hearth.com you can burn ALL of them.
Technically when you buy firewood softwood substitution is not considered ethical. And hardwood species like poplars are often classified as softwoods. But they are not softwoods.
The hardwoods that you purchase when money transactions are involved are generally Oak and sugar maple hickory beech ash locust mulberry etc..

Well . . . about that "hardwoods are all trees that go dormant and shed their leaves every year. Period . .. end of story." Like any thing in nature, there are always some exceptions. Tamarack (aka hackmatack . . . or up this way some folks mistakenly call it juniper) loses its needles every fall . . . but it is a softwood. That said, generally you are correct . . . evergreens . . . which tend to have needles rather than leafs . . . do tend to stay green all year long and do not lose all of their needles (although anyone who lives near white pines will attest that these trees do drop a fair amount of needles every fall).

You are also correct . . . in general hardwood is heavier and has more BTUs . . . but that is not always the case as mentioned. Poplar and cottonwood as you no doubt know (mostly writing this for future readers) is a hardwood (deciduous tree) that is relatively soft, light weight and has lower BTUs than some evergreens.

 

[D8Chumley]

That's what I thought but Applesister said all hard woods lose their leaves every winter, period. Just trying to clarify. I have a few beech trees here but I wouldn't cut down a live tree with all the blowdowns and standing dead here, and all I scrounge from the job sites and adjacent woods. If I ever come across some down/dead I would definitely go out of my way to grab it

 

[firefighterjake]

That's what I thought but Applesister said all hard woods lose their leaves every winter, period. Just trying to clarify. I have a few beech trees here but I wouldn't cut down a live tree with all the blowdowns and standing dead here, and all I scrounge from the job sites and adjacent woods. If I ever come across some down/dead I would definitely go out of my way to grab it

Honestly . . . Applesister is 99% correct . . . all the hard wood species that I can think of in my neck of the woods do lose their leafs in the winter . . . and almost all of the softwoods keep their needles (leafs) in the winter . . . but there is always that one exception as I pointed out.

As mentioned . . . beech is a great wood. That said, while different species result in more or less BTU or more or less burn time . . . my own experience has been that you can get some good burns in a modern stove with both softwood and hardwood . . . just don't expect as long a burn time with most softwoods most of the time.

 

[D8Chumley]

Thanks for the explanation Jake!

 

[Applesister]

There are exceptions to every rule...and rules are made to be broken.
Why Tamaracks do lose their needles every year, I believe its actually how they reproduce that puts them in the softwood classification. By means of a pinecone. Lots of factors. Lots of exceptions. Lots of fun...
Tamaracks are similar to Larches which are a northerly cousin. Larches being the monsterly trees of the northern Yukon.
But hardwoods are generally a tree that goes dormant as part of its life cycle. And poplars are most definitely a hardwood genus. Its just that generally people use the word "hardwoods" to define BTUs. And there are many softwoods that rate higher on the heat scale...for example...Tamarack.
At 19.5 MBTU/cord it rates the same as Black Cherry, where Cottonwood is a lowly 12.3 MBTU/cord.