Is Russian Olive decent wood?

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burleymike

Feeling the Heat
Sep 17, 2010
279
SE Idaho
For the last 6 years we have lived here I have looked out my back patio door at two huge Russian Olive trees. They were growing in an old field drainage ditch. Many times I have thought about how they would burn.

A few weeks ago we had a thunderstorm with more wind than anything and one of those Russian Olives blew right over. It's roots were ripped out of the ground. I talked to my neighbor that is leasing the property and he said I could take all I want. He is happy to get it out of his pasture before he cuts the grass.

The trunk looks to be around 16-18". This is one of the largest Russian Olives I have ever seen. They are usually pretty small. Is this a decent hardwood or is it more like cottonwood?
 
Never burned it. However, watching the stuff grow, it grows very fast. This usually means it is really soft wood. I would probably expect it to be a bit like willow.

btw, that stuff is running wild all over Michigan. It grows like wildfire and new stuff pops up every year. I hate the smell of it when it blossoms in May. Nasty stuff.
 
A tree service dumped a load off for me last year. After researching and having 4 + years of wood, I gave most away and some was very light. I've heard that it's the wood to burn when you are upset with your nieghbors (stink). Makes for great wood working though. If I was not so far ahead, I would have kept it, and still wonder if I made a mistake.
 
Smoker wood??

KC
 
iskiatomic said:
Smoker wood??

KC
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I would not think so judging by the smell of that chit, I wouldn't want that flavor anywhere near my dinner. A C
 
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Sorry, but the russian olive we burned (C.S.S. a year) was rated very poor. It is light as balsa wood when dry and hardly burned in the stove - it just sat in the fire glowing, no flame, and needed other wood burning beside it just to keep it glowing. Wierd because by the fingernail test on the endgrain it seemed dense and hard.
 
I think it is considered a "weed tree", or invasive species. Although I've never burned it, if it is much like other weed trees (Alianthus, Buckeye, etc) it probably isn't worth your time to make firewood out of. Stack the brush and burn it in the yard, not in your stove.
 
I have burned some Autumn Olive (closely related to Russian Olive) and it wasn't great. That said, I would cut up a big one if it fell over in my backyard. Free wood is free wood.
 
When I was a kid, my folks yard had a hedge of Russian Olive. If you keep it trimmed to under 7-8', it's a great hedge as it has thorns and all. For some reason; when a kid also, the folks hedge got some sort of "blight" and they got rid of the Russian Olive hedge slowly over time and replaced it with Honeysuckle.

Have no idea how it burns though.
 
I am going to go and cut some up tonight, as long as I can get the yellow jacket nest out of my truck. If it turns out to be decent wood I will cut the others growing along the ditch. We don;t have much variety of wood here in the west. Pine is considered premium wood and cottonwood/willow/siberian elm, is what most of the tree guys sell for $150 a cord.

I know what you mean about them being weed trees. There is an empty pasture near here that has so many of these trees it has become a forest. They grow more like shrubs than trees. I have never seen one get as big as the one that fell. It was probably 30-40' tall.
 
I got this much in about 2 hours. The tree was growing near the bottom of the canal. I can only access it from the top down which has made it fun. I spent most of my time clearing all those $&%& sharp nasty branches out of the way of the good stuff. The bottom half of the tree is laying in the canal pretty good. I don't know if I will be able to drag it out. If I can't pull it out I may have to give up on it. I still have several loads that are easily accessible to haul out though.

My first impression of this wood is that it is harder than the pine we have always burned in the past. I guess I won't know for sure until it seasons. The bark is like a magnet for silt so it wore my chain pretty good.

wood.JPG
 
That stuff in the picture looks like Osage Orange aka Hedge or Hedge Apple. If it is; it burns HOT, about the hottest, but spits sparks something awful. Keep it in a stove or you'll have problems with sparks burning things that shouldn't burn! :eek:
 
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