Cordwood

[schmism]

the corner of my property is covered with osage (hedge) trees..... ive spent 3 days cutting up limbs that were lost between the 2 huge storms we have had this year....

My uncle (who heats with wood) requires it to be split TWICE as small as anything else so you dont overheat the stove when you toss ONE (and only one) stick in....

 

[nolefan]

I mostly burn locust in my wood stove. I can attest to its ability to put off heat. It also does a number on chainsaw chains. What is really neat is due to its rot resistance when one comes down it will still be solid years from now. I have a lot of "downfall" on my property and while alot of the other varieties like poplar and oak will rot pretty quickly especially if in contact with the ground the locust won't.

 

[cmhyland]

Up here in New England we have a lot of hardwoods. I have a huge pile of Black Locust cut and split for firewood.

Black Locust grows very fast, almost weed like and has a very twisted grain. I'd hate to split it with a maul or sledge and wedges.

I have cut lots of Black Locust from the edges of my fields. I don't think it really grows in dense forest. More on the edges of tree lines.

I still have a bunch more to cut down that are about 60ft high or so....

Regards,
Chris

 

[nolefan]

The only time I have had difficulty splitting locust with a maul is if the log has a knot on the side from a branch otherwise it usually splits pretty cleanly. Since I use the wood stove infrequently I split what I burn by hand otherwise a hydraulic log splitter would definitely be in the plans.

 

[scott_vt]

I ran accross this info and thought I'd share

Species BTU's per cord (in 000's)

Shagbark Hickory 24,600
Black Locust 24,600
Ironwood (Hardhack)24,100
Apple 23,877
Rock Elm 23,488
White Oak 22,700
Beech 21,800
Yellow Birch 21,300
Sugar Maple 21,300
Red Oak 21,300
White Ash 20,000
Black Walnut 19,500
White Birch 18,900
Black Cherry 18,770
Tamarack (Larch) 18,650
Red Maple 18,600
Green Ash 18,360
Pitch Pine 17,970
Sycamore 17,950
Black Ash 17,300
American Elm 17,200
Silver Maple 17,000
Red Spruce 13,632
Hemlock 13,500
Black Willow 13,206
Butternut 12,800
Red Pine 12,765
Aspen (Poplar) 12,500
White Pine 12,022
Basswood 11,700
Balsam Fir 11,282

Mornin Chris,
Thanks ! What I found very interesting was that white ash has almost the same BTU value as red oak ! I just cuta bunch of that up and will be using it next year. I have a pretty nice stand of it on the side of my properrty ! I guess I will be cutting up some more !

BTW I have a bunch of Hardhach also !!!

 

[cmhyland]

Scotty,
The mix on our land seems to be as follows..

Edges of fields have Black Locust, Beech, White Birch, Silver Birch, White Pine, Sugar Maple.

Deeper into the Woods we have, Red Oak, Ash, Shag Bark Hickory, Maples, Hemlock, White Pine,And a few more I'm sure I'm forgetting.

Regards,
Chris

 

[cmhyland]

What I would really like to see is some pics of posters Wood Sheds or methods for stacking,storing and covering cordwood.

As has been said earlier... some of this wood burns best seasoned for more than a year.


In splitting the wood I prefer to split nearly everything at least just once.

Smaller stacks and packs in the stove better...

Regards,
Chris

 

[WayneB]

This link has lots of info. for btu
http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1554/build/g1554.pdf

Thanks Jim, interesting site. Here in New England we burn a bit of white Oak, Maple, Apple, Birch, and my favorite Elm (not) If you want to burn up a chain, brake an axe handle, a back just work with Elm.

I cut my wood off from our property and have for over 30 years so I never know what to tell people when they want to know if it is worth it or not. I like wood heat, but must say it is much easier to just reach up and turn the thermostat a knotch or two.

Right now most of the guys around here are selling a cord of wood (128 sqft) pick up price of around $225. Delivery can be as much as 300 a cord.

Wayne

Wayne

 

[turnkey4099]

Here is a link that tells more than anyone wants to know about firewood ratings, how to, etc.

Firewood

Something that sounds totally rediculous but is true.

All species will put out about the same amount of heat per pound.

I will try to attach a pict of my storage area.

I finished the season out with about 30 cord, mostly Black Willow. About 10 cord Black Locust that I cut in 96 after a windstorm. That stuff doesn't deteriorate so I am saving it for when I can't cut for myself anymore.

Harry K

 

[cmhyland]

Wayne,
That is huge money per cord... The prices in Woodstock Ct this year was $175.00 per cord...

$300 delivered.... Wow...

A cord of Red Oak is equal to 181 gallons of fuel oil.

A woodstove running at 50% efficiency will get 12,500,000 btus from a cord of Red oak at 300 bucks.

An oil burner at 80% efficiency will put out 199.8 million btus from the 181 gallons of oil.

Woodstove btu cost = 41,667 btus per dollar

Oil burner btu cost = 55,200 btus per dollar

Guess it doesn't pay to burn wood at 300 buck per cord.

Regards,
Chris