Fact or Fiction?

[karri0n]

I ran into something one time and a guy said it was iron wood. I avoid it. Hard as nails.

Personally, I think ANY wood will feel hard as nails if I were to run into it... But I agree that smacking into a big ironwood(or hop hornbeam, persian ironwood, or one of other 30 species called ironwood) tree is probably something to avoid.

 

[kenny chaos]

I ran into something one time and a guy said it was iron wood. I avoid it. Hard as nails.

Personally, I think ANY wood will feel hard as nails if I were to run into it... But I agree that smacking into a big ironwood(or hop hornbeam, persian ironwood, or one of other 30 species called ironwood) tree is probably something to avoid.

We certainly don't have much of it around here that I'm familiar with. I may be wrong but I'm guessing it isn't as prolific as our "regular" hardwoods?
On the otherhand, we do have a native paw paw grove in one section of the woods.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

In the northeast, ash is better than oak... at least for the old timers that sometimes burn greener/wetter than they should!

Locust is better dry, as are apple and hickory, for BTU/cord values.

 

[ansehnlich1]

I'm gonna tell ya, when it comes to pickin' an overnight hunk to throw in the Oslo, I always reach for HICKORY.

I have 10 cord of Oak split

I'd pick any of locust, oak, or hickory as my favorites, but I'll burn any dang thing that grows around here.

 

[gzecc]

My favorite at this point is locust. I like to mix with it. I mix elm, ash, norway maple and oak with it, for overnight burns. Too bad I'm running out.

 

[jpl1nh]

I have to say that red oak is my favorite firewood. Easy to split, smells great fresh (many would argue with me there ;-) ) burns forever, pretty to look at. But other woods that I think some might argue are better are any other oak such as white and pin, hickory, apple, black locust, and sugar maple. I have to say, I cannot find a definative difference between "rock" maple and sugar maple believing them both to be Acer Sacchrum, correct me if I'm wrong. I also think both black and yellow birch are right up there. Yeah ash is nice too but not quite as much heat. If you add splitting ease to the mix that narrows it quickly to ash, black and yellow birch, and ..red oak! For aroma, hickory and apple.

 

[JerseyWreckDiver]

Osage Orange, Hickory, Locust, Rock Elm, Madrone to name a few. Ash is close but not quite.

don't think we have those in the north east

We have all of the Hickory's, Locust, Elm, Not to mention Black Birch (just got a major scrounge of that), Hornbeam, Beech, Walnut, Sugar Maple.... I'll take all of the above over ash or oak any day. Oak is fine, just a pain because it has to dry a long time compared to almost any othe wood, I know because it is 60-70% of what I burn. Nothing wrong with Ash, I find it easiest to split, certainly better then oak, great coaling properties but it does have low BTU value compared to many. Couple years ago I had mostly ash to burn for the winter, I used about a cord & a half more wood than years when I have predominatly oak or maple. Now that I've learned a little, I burn the Ash in the warmer months and save the Oak for deep Winter.

I'll thow another BTU chart on the fire.

 

[Dune]

Not to be a parrot, but if I had to choose one best wood for New England, locust is it. I burn lots of oak, but if for whatever reason,if the oak isn't stored perfectly, it starts to rot, while locust in the same area of the same stack or pile never rots. Oak may have slightly longer burn than locust, but I don't turn down any wood exept willow.

 

[waynek]

There are very few tree species in southwestern Wisconsin that out-perform oak. I group the following species into oak...White Oak, Red Oak, Swamp White Oak, Bur Oak, Chinkapin Oak. Black Oak and Northern Pin Oak. I am blessed to have them all growing in my woodlot and when one dies on the stump or blows down it is processed for the wood stove, except for the White Oak and Red Oak logs are sold.

Shagbark Hickory and Black Locust is my fuel wood of choice and is also plentiful in the woodlot. The downside of Shagbark Hickory is it has a tendency to build up more coals in the stove than I like so I mix other wood in with it.

Honey Locust is another good fuel wood that I think highly of. I cut it and Black Locust for fence posts. The posts last longer than White Oak.

Hophornbeam has been discussed here...both species are present in my woodlot. Eastern Hophorn beam and American Hornbeam. They are tough to split, but seem to burn pretty hot.

Rock Elm and Red Elm ranks next on my desirable fuel list.

Black, Green and White Ash come next on my list.

Black Walnut and Black Cherry bottom out on the list of fuel that I burn.

The old timers agree with me on the fuels of choice...actually I agree with them

Jackpine

 

[lexybird]

i have some dense black oak that is not quite fully seasoned that i have unfortuantly been dipping into in those january frigid nights ,thats stuff is like gold in my eyes it. burns long and very hot with blue flames almost looks like natural gas ,awesome wood and in my experiance is much better than typical red oak

 

[waynek]

i have some dense black oak that is not quite fully seasoned that i have unfortuantly been dipping into in those january frigid nights ,thats stuff is like gold in my eyes it. burns long and very hot with blue flames almost looks like natural gas ,awesome wood and in my experiance is much better than typical red oak

Yes, I would agree with your comparison and burn observation. I would add Black Oak splits out easier than red oak. Black Oak is deceiving when you inspect the ends of a split...soon after it is split the ends check making it look like it is well seasoned.

Jackpine

 

[jdemaris]

here in the northeast everyone dies for oak because of the high btu value...
but from asking an old wood burner .. yes oak is good but it seems there are others that are MUCH better .. is this true?
i know there may be a couple but he says in our area (northeast) there are many more that are better???????

Can't be answered without a working defintion for "much better." Better to cut? Better to dry fast? More heat value? Smells better? Etc, &c;.

Red and white oak are very good for high heat value and long burns as long as you get the wood dry. Takes two summers here in central New York. Only local wood we have with similar qualities and a bit more heat value is Pignut Hickory.

If you don't have time to get it dry, then ash, red maple, etc. are better.

If you want to make root beer - stick with the birch and sassafrass, and if you want the best for maple sugar, stick with hard and black maple, with red okay in a pinch.

 

[iceman]

okay please post pics of wood never heard of black oak , blue oak ,, and some others so if you could please post pics of your favorites