Oak vs madrona vs maple

[Jwilson2309]

Hey guys, firewood supplier has madrona, oak and maple all multiple years seasoned. Great reviews, even offered to let me come over and check it all out.

Question is, oak and madrona are same price and maple is about 75 cheaper per cord. What would you pick and why? Is oak/madrona 75 dollars better than maple? In the PNW if that matters.

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[stoveliker]

Madrona has the most BTUs per cord.

I don't know how fast it dries tho, because if you're buying now to burn this winter, you're going to be sorely disappointed if you have a modern stove. Sellers almost never have actually dry, as in <20% moisture content (on a surface you just exposed by resplitting a split!). They sell "seasoned" wood, that might have been laying around in log form for a while and got split within the last three months.

So, that said, get the stuff that dries fastest if you intend to burn it this winter. Otherwise get madrona.
(Maybe madrona dries fastest but I don't know that.)

 

[PDXpyro]

Assuming the maple is the usual PNW bigleaf, I'd pay 75 more for an honest cord of madrone or oak any day. Bigleaf is commonplace here and yields much lower BTUs-- only about on par with Doug fir, for example. Oak and madrone are golden in comparison. I'd go look at the wood and just pick whichever of those two looks the most choice.

 

[stoveliker]

Get a moisture meter, split three of the splits *before they unload the truck*, and measure them on the surface that you just exposed by resplitting them.

Because if it's 20% or more, you'll have to mix it with dry wood (clean lumber cut offs? or sawdust logs). If it's 25% or more, a modern stove will be problematic. Still, you can get it, stack it off the ground and top covered, and maybe it'll be okay next year.

If it's fresh oak (35% + moisture content), then you'll have to wait 2 years...
(I dry my wood 3 years...)

 

[begreen]

That's correct. Madrona is slow drying, like oak. Both need at least 2 yrs. seasoning after splitting. It's really late to be buying firewood and the odds of getting fully seasoned wood now are very slim regardless of what the seller says. There are a few reputable companies that have seasoned firewood, but it comes at a premium.

An alternative to consider if just buying now would be seasoned Douglas fir. That is my prefered wood for burning west of the Cascades. It has decent BTU content and produces very little ash. Maple on the other hand produces a lot. I have a stash of hardwood in the shed for very cold days, but mostly burn doug fir. If DF is bought split in April, then stacked top covered in a well-ventilated location, it will be ready to burn typically by late October.

 

[sirlight]

If all the wood is truly dry, the answer is pretty simple. Check a firewood BTU chart and divide the price per cord by the BTUs per cord. Whatever has the lowest price per BTU is the best deal.

 

[qwee]

If it was me, I would get some of each. The maple could come in handy. It could be used in combo with those denser woods to get things going. It could also be handy in the shoulder season. If I was getting 3 cords, I would get 1 cord of each. You could compare the White Oak to the Madrone to see if there are any differences for future purchase considerations.

 

[begreen]

The maple out here is mostly all soft, big leaf maple. It has less heat content than madrona and creates a lot of ash. I have never seen oak for sale in this area. My guess is that it's not white oak, but another species. What I do like, when I have been able to get it, is locust. It burns the hottest and longest of any wood that I've burned here.

 

[Highbeam]

You don’t see many people selling cords of madrona or oak in western Washington. If that’s where you are you may have stumbled into a boutique situation. Is this extra 75$ per cord the difference between 575 and 650$? Or 225 and 300? The best answer is comparing percentage of upcharge to percentage of btu difference per cord assuming equal moisture content.

I’m burning maple this year after years of Doug fir. I bought a whole log truck of maple. It’s great stuff with thin bark, no slivers, good smell, nice long burn due to ashing a bit more and higher btu content than most pnw woods.

 

[begreen]

Another hardwood one will see here sometimes is apple or cherry. Some of it will be wild cherry, but a lot comes from clearing out orchards in eastern WA. Eastern WA also sees a fair amount of tamarack, another good firewood.

 

[Slimdusty]

The maple out here is mostly all soft, big leaf maple. It has less heat content than madrona and creates a lot of ash. I have never seen oak for sale in this area. My guess is that it's not white oak, but another species. What I do like, when I have been able to get it, is locust. It burns the hottest and longest of any wood that I've burned here.

Agree on the locust, I burn a good bit of it. Excellent firewood. I find a fair number of people around here go right past locust to get to doug fir or other conifers.

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

You don’t see many people selling cords of madrona or oak in western Washington. If that’s where you are you may have stumbled into a boutique situation. Is this extra 75$ per cord the difference between 575 and 650$? Or 225 and 300? The best answer is comparing percentage of upcharge to percentage of btu difference per cord assuming equal moisture content.

I’m burning maple this year after years of Doug fir. I bought a whole log truck of maple. It’s great stuff with thin bark, no slivers, good smell, nice long burn due to ashing a bit more and higher btu content than most pnw woods.

Do you know what kind of maple? I have probably 1/2 cord of silver that will be burning this year. Have heard mixed feelings on it.

 

[qwee]

As a kid growing up on the Southern Oregon coast, I skipped high school a few times to go Salmon fishing on the Elk/Sixes rivers. I remember seeing Oak trees standing alone in pastures. They weren't really big trees (50' high) but were broad. So, between Bandon, Oregon, and Brookings, Oregon. I think it was some sort of white oak relative - but Oregon White Oak is shown as being inland a little ways. The Chinook salmon fishing was great.

 

[Highbeam]

Do you know what kind of maple? I have probably 1/2 cord of silver that will be burning this year. Have heard mixed feelings on it.

Almost certainly big leaf maple since I'm in the PNW west of the cascade range. Compared to the other common options it is excellent but it's not great compared to eastern hardwoods like oak.

 

[begreen]

I think it was some sort of white oak relative - but Oregon White Oak is shown as being inland a little ways. The Chinook salmon fishing was great.

Yep, Garry oak, the Oregon white oak, and the California black oak are all found here.