Struck Gold Today

[jk96]

..........At least when it comes to firewood. What's your favorite wood to burn and how long do you season it?

My stack of seasoned wood is about gone and had to start scavenging. Found a couple of huge osage orange trees (called hedge around here) with dead branches perfect for firewood. There is not much else in comparison to hedge trees for heat output. Just make sure you have more than one chain, especially for dead trees. Chains will dull quick and even throw sparks on occasion. A good quality stove is a must as well as this stuff is known to warp stoves if your not careful. And don't forget about the fireworks show it puts on when you open the fireplace doors and give it some fresh air.

 

[Member]

This chart:
https://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm
Puts "Osage" on top at 30,000,000 BTU per cord. I've never heard of it before and I don't think it grows around here but I hope to find some someday.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[jk96]

I'm in NW Missouri. We have a lot of Osage, black locust, honey locust, and oak on the property. The burn time and heat output from the osage is really impressive. I'd like to start clearing the honey locust on the property but the thorns are really difficult to deal with.

 

[MossRoad]

This chart:
https://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm
Puts "Osage" on top at 30,000,000 BTU per cord. I've never heard of it before and I don't think it grows around here but I hope to find some someday.

Thanks for sharing.

Its sometimes called hedge apple. Here's a picture of the fruit. You'll know it when you see it.... its the size of a grapefruit!

It was originally from Texas/Oklahoma/Arkansas area, but was transplanted to every state for use as windbreaks. That's where you'll find it mostly... along farm fields. Its really an interesting wood. It was prized by native Americans for making bows and clubs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maclura_pomifera

 

[Alien]

A bit like our Australian Ironbark that is sought after for firewood. My chainsaw sparks on it sometimes. Got a fair bit of Ironbark on my place including a lot of dead ones. Ideal.

 

[Looking4new]

I use 2 year old white Birch for kindling, the daily burn is either red Oak, yellow Birch or hard Maple. Over nighters are always Beech. All my firewood is two years old. I put up 6.66 cords every year. The two wood stoves are burned daily. The chimnies are swept and inspected in the spring at the end of the burn season.

 

[melmark]

Here in the Northeast with all the natural gas pipelines going in there is a glut of firewood. I have been burning ash for the last few years. The Emerald Ash borer is killing all of our ash so there is lots of it around. My usual "go to" wood is red oak.

 

[oosik]

The only trees here are Ponderosa pine. Its low on heat output but easy on the chain saw and I have a lot of it. I aged my split pine one year. I would inspect and sweep my chimney in the spring.

 

[forgeblast]

When we were burning fire wood I would use black birch. Dense and has a sugar content, split nice and smelled good as you were cutting (wintergreen).

 

[k0ua]

Its sometimes called hedge apple. Here's a picture of the fruit. You'll know it when you see it.... its the size of a grapefruit!

It was originally from Texas/Oklahoma/Arkansas area, but was transplanted to every state for use as windbreaks. That's where you'll find it mostly... along farm fields. Its really an interesting wood. It was prized by native Americans for making bows and clubs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maclura_pomifera

View attachment 455887

And those balls are fun targets. Some people claim they can be spread around your house to repel spiders, but I don't have any proof of that.