Next best wood next to Ash

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Oct 14, 2007
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Cincinnati
Hey all, I have been burning wood for a number of years now and have enjoyed the find qualities of Ash wood for some time. Now it seems that the Emerald Ash Borer is stopping the party. The question I pose to you all is there any species of tree that is even close to the properties of Ash, specifically the way shorter seasoning time. Everybody in my family, (farmers and the like), have been burning wood that has been cut down in September and started burning it in October for years and see the prospect of seasoning as foolish. Their advice was unheeded and I do not subscribe to their theories, and I have been seasoning wood the right way. Is there anything close to Ash?
 
I've been surprised at how quickly black cherry seasons. Not sure if you have much out your way, though. As for the burning properties, I don't have much experience with ash for comparison, but cherry puts out some decent heat. It's certainly no oak, but you said you were looking for quick seasoning, so I throw cherry out there. The burn times really vary, though, as cherry can grow as a starter tree or a forest tree, so the bands and density are unique tree to tree. I've made splits and found half the diameter was sapwood, others where the logs were hard as a rock nearly through.

I still favor oak, chestnut oak the most. But damn, it's slow to season.
 
This page http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html has a table about 3/4 of the way down that claims to list various species in terms of their green burning properties. Top 3 are ash, beech, black locust. Not sure I can agree about beech, it seems like a wetter wood than that to me. But locust I can believe.
 
DiscoInferno said:
This page http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html has a table about 3/4 of the way down that claims to list various species in terms of their green burning properties. Top 3 are ash, beech, black locust. Not sure I can agree about beech, it seems like a wetter wood than that to me. But locust I can believe.
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Thanks alot for that web link, I have seen it before but I don't think I scrolled down as far as I should have. I still can't imagine how Black Locust could burn all that well greeninsh but then again I have never tried either. Damn Ash Borer, it will ruin it all in a few years. Down here in Cincinnati were are under a firewood quarentine, you cannot move any firewood out of Hamilton County, and not move Ash at all. Fortunatly I live within 2 miles of a Tree Butchering Service and since everybody is scared to move Ash, I have all I want. We still have not had any Borer outbreaks in the norther part of Cincinnati, just along the Ohio River where the Barges dock up. I guess Black Locust it is if in an emergency, maybe even the Beech but I can't see that either.
 
I have some Black Locust I cut up this spring and most is still reading 30% or more on the moisture meter. I did find some smaller splits that are dryer and will probably try them out when it gets really cold. Some people say it burns like coal? We'll see.
 
The more I think about it, the Locust probably will be ok. I have been splitting a cord of Locust for the past few days and it really doesn't seem all that heavy compared to Red Oak, or Beech. If this proves to be true that would be sweet
 
If you haven't used black locust before you're in for a treat. I'm a bit skeptical about burning it green but its not hard to just do your wood a year ahead. Black locust burns hot, clean and coals really well. That, red oak, and sugar maple are my favorit woods. Of the three, black locust is slightly ahead in heat ang longevity but the other two smell nice. Funny, I burn ash some too but its heat output isn't up there with the oaks, locust, etc. I like it but to me its not that special. Splits easy and does dry quick but I don't need the quick drying benefit cause I'm out 3years+ anyway.
 
jpl1nh said:
If you haven't used black locust before you're in for a treat. I'm a bit skeptical about burning it green but its not hard to just do your wood a year ahead. Black locust burns hot, clean and coals really well. That, red oak, and sugar maple are my favorit woods. Of the three, black locust is slightly ahead in heat ang longevity but the other two smell nice. Funny, I burn ash some too but its heat output isn't up there with the oaks, locust, etc. I like it but to me its not that special. Splits easy and does dry quick but I don't need the quick drying benefit cause I'm out 3years+ anyway.
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agreed, but I find that maple can take a long time to season. He was looking for a wood that is quick to season. Ash is it.
 
Yeah this year is the first year in many where I have the wood supply split and stacked for the next 3 winters. I have burned Locust in the past, and I did find out all the qualities that were listed, I just couldn't find all that much in years past but I have 2 cords that have been stacked since March. I tried a piece last night before I went to work and it seemed to work well, allot of secondary combustion, simply beautiful. I do have a bunch of Ash for the day time and a big stack of Red Oak for the evenings. I was waiting for later on in the year for the Locust but after what I am learning from other peoples here it looks like I wont have too.

In so far as the Silver Maples, I too have found that it takes allot longer to season it out. Over the summer I took my son fishing quite a bit and I would grab some of the maple, which had been stacked since the fall of last year in small short splits, and it didn't take off like I would have thought, smoked like I was trying to communicate with the Indians smoke signal like. I have rarely burned it and people see what I have and want to purchase some, and that stuff is usually the first to go. It would seem to all the people who are ignorant of the time it takes to do it right, 9 months is what they are looking for in any type of wood, so I give em' what they want.
 
Another vote for cherry as a wood that may not take a full year to season.
 
Warren said:
jpl1nh said:
If you haven't used black locust before you're in for a treat. I'm a bit skeptical about burning it green but its not hard to just do your wood a year ahead. Black locust burns hot, clean and coals really well. That, red oak, and sugar maple are my favorit woods. Of the three, black locust is slightly ahead in heat ang longevity but the other two smell nice. Funny, I burn ash some too but its heat output isn't up there with the oaks, locust, etc. I like it but to me its not that special. Splits easy and does dry quick but I don't need the quick drying benefit cause I'm out 3years+ anyway.
Click to expand...

agreed, but I find that maple can take a long time to season. He was looking for a wood that is quick to season. Ash is it.
Click to expand...
Guess I did wander a bit off topic, I was comparing black locust in burn qualities to sugar maple and oak. Certainly neither is a fast drying wood. How about standing dead (most anything) for fast drying. Just be careful of stuff coming down unexpectedly when you are felling a dead tree. And with my limited experience with cherry, I agree on that too as well as beech. Eric should be able to testify to that. Seems like he spends all his time at the beech :)
 
Here in Co. we have a lot of Russian olive and it seems to be a lot like ash in that even when it is freshly cut and split there's not any moisture in it.
 
I too will vote on ash for quick seasoning. However, I still much prefer seasoning it at least a year.

We used to set up deer camp in the north woods every November and we heated the tents with wood heat. We did not take any wood to camp with us and cut enough firewood the first day there to last through hunting season. Only two trees we cut; ash and cherry. They burned just fine and kept us warm.

The ash borer has hit us this summer. I've cut a couple and have probably 8 or 10 more to cut that are infested. Looks like we'll be burning ash for quite some time now.
 
When I first got my wood stove, I didn't have any wood stashed split, nothing. That whole first winter I burned skids from the print shop where I worked. A number of years ago when I first did this, all the runners on the bottom of the skids were 5 x 3's and that was perfect. I just had to deal with allot of nails mixed in with in the ash when it came time to clean the stove out. It sounded hillbilly at the time but it saved me about $1200 in heating oil that first winter. Wood was wood and free is free.
 
Use what ya have, don't pine away extoling the values of wood you don't! I have no Hickory, which looks like good stuff. I have the good fortune of tons of oak (mostly red, some white, more Chinkapin) which can lay on the ground for years and still produce tons of BTUs. I'd agree on the Ash - honestly not sure if it's white, green or black - cut it and put it in the fire. Black cherry . . . if you have to burn it, go ahead, but it's not near the top of the list.
 
Perhaps black cherry is not so good in your area but it surely works for us. We don't burn much of it but that we do burn is very similar to white ash in the heat it puts out. Also, it is still best to season it.
 
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