Which wood supply for the future?

[DiBar]

OK, we have a choice here: I have a source of split ash for 57.50 a face crd delivered if I get 10. Anything less is 60 a fc. Or I am waiting to hear from someone who has a mix of black walnut, ash and hard maple advertised for 55 a fc and a small delivery fee. If the prices are similar, which would be better? Last year we burned mostly hickory, a bit of walnut , a bit of cherry and some maple. this year, some hickory, mostly hard maple and some miscellaneous. We have never burned ash so I am not sure how that will compare to what we have been burning. Thanks! (we were going to collect from our own woods, but my husband hurt his back, which is why we have to have it delivered and already split

 

[smokinj]

I think the ash will yield more btu

 

['bert]

Just wondering, if you have to buy all your wood c/s/d is there still a savings to be had over dino heating? I am not sure that there would be where I live.

'bert..

 

[Dune]

Go with the ash.

 

[fossil]

Just wondering, if you have to buy all your wood c/s/d is there still a savings to be had over dino heating? I am not sure that there would be where I live.

'bert..

Perhaps we're not all motivated by the minutia of the economic details. Our backup is a modern (1 y/o), efficient central electric forced air furnace, and our electric rates here are quite reasonable. Yet, we choose to heat primarily with wood (most of which we buy), simply because we enjoy it. I've never even bothered to figure out the cost differential, because to do so with any meaningful accuracy would mean going a heating season without burning. When I'm so old and tired that the whole woodburning thing just becomes too much, then we'll set the thermostat and sit in our rockers and remember when the woodstove warmth was so comforting. Until then, we'll burn and not give a thought to whether or not burning actually might be costing us a bit more than not burning. It's worth the price of admission to us. Rick

 

[rdust]

I'm a fan of ash and if this is going to be your wood for 2010/2011 the ash should season nicely by the fall.

 

[SolarAndWood]

From the sounds of things on the EAB front, those of us in upstate NY are going to be burning a lot of ash in the coming years.

 

[Todd]

What kind of Ash? White Ash is close but not quite the same BTU's as Oak and Hard Maple. You might be better off with the mix if cheaper.

White Ash 25.7 mill BTU/cord
Green Ash 24.0
Hard Maple 27.0
Black Walnut 23.6

 

[Wood Duck]

I think the two choices are about the same. Assuming that the mix has about the same amount of walnut as hard maple, then the BTUs are about the same as all ash. Maple has slightly more BTUs than ash, while walnut has slightly fewer. Average them together, and you have about the same as if it was all ash. I think I'd choose the mix just for the variety, and because it would give me some hard maple which would be slightly better fo overnight, long burns than ash. not a big difference, but it would be fun to see if it is noticable.

 

[rdust]

What kind of Ash? White Ash is close but not quite the same BTU's as Oak and Hard Maple. You might be better off with the mix if cheaper.

White Ash 25.7 mill BTU/cord
Green Ash 24.0
Hard Maple 27.0
Black Walnut 23.6

Todd, just curious what you're using for your btu chart? (broken link removed to http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm) only has black walnut at 20.2, sugar maple at 24 and white ash at 23.6.

 

[jmhpsu93]

Just wondering, if you have to buy all your wood c/s/d is there still a savings to be had over dino heating? I am not sure that there would be where I live.

'bert..

Perhaps we're not all motivated by the minutia of the economic details. Our backup is a modern (1 y/o), efficient central electric forced air furnace, and our electric rates here are quite reasonable. Yet, we choose to heat primarily with wood (most of which we buy), simply because we enjoy it. I've never even bothered to figure out the cost differential, because to do so with any meaningful accuracy would mean going a heating season without burning. When I'm so old and tired that the whole woodburning thing just becomes too much, then we'll set the thermostat and sit in our rockers and remember when the woodstove warmth was so comforting. Until then, we'll burn and not give a thought to whether or not burning actually might be costing us a bit more than not burning. It's worth the price of admission to us. Rick

+1...yeah, what he said

and +1 to the ash

 

[savageactor7]

Hummm I dunno.

Even though ash is my favorite wood I was always taught to mix my hard woods up for burning because it's supposed to be better. Truthfully I dunno, but that's the way we do it and are pleased with the results.

The only wood I separate is soft wood like poplar, willow and punky wood for shoulder season/campfires. Because of the demands of the wife this household has an incredibly long shoulder season.

 

[DiBar]

Turns out the guy with the mixture is the same guy as the one we already spoke to with the ash! So the price is the same. We are going to try and look at it today. We will probably end up getting 10 fc ash and maybe 5 - 10 fc of the mixture. Then, with what we have left we will be set for a few years. Just trying to figure out where to stack! We did try to figure out whether the cost was better than our furnace. We went through (or will) about a tank of oil this year, where if heating only with oil it would be around four or five. I guess cost wise, with this wood we are looking at, we would still be ahead with the wood. The 10 fc would equal about the cost of the one tank of oil I bought last summer. The other consideration is the age of our furnace - it needs replacing soon if we go back to using it full time. And yes - the other factor - we have come to love burning wood !!

 

[SolarAndWood]

Because of the demands of the wife this household has an incredibly long shoulder season.

Yep, I put that on my wife too.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

DiBar, if you could get some hard maple along with the ash it would be ideal. If you can't get a mix like that then 100% ash will serve you well.

 

[maxed_out]

Dibar...you gotta a saw and a truck? Or a friend with a saw and a truck? You can save a lot of money cutting your own wood. In western ny I'm sure there are sawmills that can help you out too. And of course theres always scrounging.

 

[Battenkiller]

DiBar, if you could get some hard maple along with the ash it would be ideal. If you can't get a mix like that then 100% ash will serve you well.

+1

That is a real nice mix. Although I'd ask about hickory as well. Maybe he has a bit, and it's really better than any of the others mentioned. Hickory and ash will both season faster than hard maple as well.

 

[JoeB]

Dibar, is your wood guy in the Rochester area? I'm looking for a reliable source. $60 per f/c is a good off season price.

 

[ansehnlich1]

I'd go for all ash.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

 

[DiBar]

Eh, we have a saw and a truck - just not enough "able" manpower. We have one guy to ask about taking some trees out of our woods for us but that doesn't look too promising.

JoeB - He is in Bergen, which is within the 50 miles of Roch (that is where he cuts, but supposedly also has storage in Medina). Look on Craigslist - Buffalo Mar5 - split green firewood (Western ny) and the ash he had advertised, the best ad, which makes him sound like a nice guy is Feb 28 - split ash firewood (Medina) farm and garden. You can only e-mail, but he gets back to you. We did get his phone # and have a call in to him to come take a look at it today if possible, but he is probably out cutting(he even said he would put some in his pickup and meet up with us!).

 

[iceman]

What kind of Ash? White Ash is close but not quite the same BTU's as Oak and Hard Maple. You might be better off with the mix if cheaper.

White Ash 25.7 mill BTU/cord
Green Ash 24.0
Hard Maple 27.0
Black Walnut 23.6

Todd, just curious what you're using for your btu chart? (broken link removed to http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm) only has black walnut at 20.2, sugar maple at 24 and white ash at 23.6.

take a look below, as you can see they are all over the place, but a general idea is ash, oak, hickory, locust, maple hedge etc are def ones to try and get


http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/W/AE_wood_heat_value_BTU.html
(broken link removed to http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPu)
(broken link removed)
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/W/AE_wood_heat_value_BTU.html
http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html
http://firewoodresource.com/firewood-btu-ratings/

 

[Todd]

What kind of Ash? White Ash is close but not quite the same BTU's as Oak and Hard Maple. You might be better off with the mix if cheaper.

White Ash 25.7 mill BTU/cord
Green Ash 24.0
Hard Maple 27.0
Black Walnut 23.6

Todd, just curious what you're using for your btu chart? (broken link removed to http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm) only has black walnut at 20.2, sugar maple at 24 and white ash at 23.6.

take a look below, as you can see they are all over the place, but a general idea is ash, oak, hickory, locust, maple hedge etc are def ones to try and get


http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/W/AE_wood_heat_value_BTU.html
(broken link removed to http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPu)
(broken link removed)
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/W/AE_wood_heat_value_BTU.html
http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html
http://firewoodresource.com/firewood-btu-ratings/

I got those numbers from a book "The New Woodburners Handbook" their table calculates at 12% moisture content.

 

[JoeB]

Good luck and thanks Dibar. I'm in Mendon so Bergen is a bit of a haul. I'm sure he would not deliver for $60 fc.

 

[Stihl Country]

Ash is an all round good wood period.. it,s cleaner you can burn it allmost green not much creosote build up. Not as much BTU as Oak or Hard Maple but Ash is allways a No. #1 choice.

 

[Tony H]

Both wood choices should work well , maybe get some of each if you can. Ash is a very nice burning wood so you really can't go wrong with that. Any chance you can get someonr that will cut some for you in return for access to your wood lot ? I have heard of folks giving back 1/3 to 1/2 of all they cut anf split in return for the wood access.