Black Walnut?

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Firefighter938

Firefighter938

Feeling the Heat
Dec 25, 2014
440
Central Indiana
I was cutting some standing dead black walnut today. It was a fairly hard dense wood and I have burned it before and liked it.

I was curious were it ranked on peoples meters and was a little surprised it fell so low on the charts.

I was curious what others have to say. Do you like it?
 
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image.jpg A little of today's haul.
 
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It is all relative, do you have 4 acres of all walnut, or is it a walnut beside an oak.

https://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm

The above chart helps me know what to burn and leave behind. Black walnut is 20 million BTU/Cord, the best wood i have in my woodlot is bitternut hickory at 23.7million BTU/Cord. That being said I like the fast heat from the walnut but it has AWFULL coaling characteristics. If burned with the same air settings the hickory (or oak) turns into mostly light fluffy ash where the walnut leaves some serious pile of coals which i find a nuisance to burn down to make room for more wood.
 
Walnut is a beautiful wood, tons of uses.. I'd try to sell it to a woodworker or a mill before splitting it into firewood, maybe trade for oak. Just seems like a waste...
 
I have a close friend who mills lumber and builds furniture. He is going to come mill some from a large walnut. The rest I will probably just burn though. Everything I am cutting is standing dead and only 10-12" dbh. I don't know if it is attractive for wood workers.
 
I have been burning a lot of Walnut lately and have found the heat is good, burns a bit faster (MC 18%), sparks and pops quite a bit, and leaves more ashes than Red elm and Green ash. It's good wood, just not top of the chart.
 
Have burned some of it this year. The best use for it is furniture. It's worth far more in board foot the cubic feet of firewood. A whole firebox of black walnut leaves a big pile of black coals but it still heats.
 
I'm burning a lot of it and like it. Long steady heat and it catches quickly.


fv
 
Makes a nice stock for a rifle or shotgun also. I have some in my stacks, somewhere. Haven't gotten to it for this season yet but I burn about anything that's free
 
Oakwood5 said:
The best use for it is furniture. It's worth far more in board foot the cubic feet of firewood.
Click to expand...
I agree that its better for furniture or other items. All of what I burn is from inside of a town, no one will buy it due to the possibility of someone nailing a birdhouse or squirrel feeder to it. Nails and sawmills aren't a good mix. All of the logs 18" and larger that I cut in the country are sold.
 
I personally dont like it for firewood i find it takes quite a while to dry and doesn't seem to give me very good heat and lots of coals. Around here the mills will cut big walnut even if it is a yard tree.
 
bholler I saw your signature. Do you have a picture of your stove? They are possibly the best looking stove built.
 
I must have a special kind of walnut. Seasoned a normal amount of time, burns hot (500F with a normal amount of splits), and ashes really well.

Yes, it's walnut.

fv
 
It's okay for fuelwood, not the best but certainly not the worst. I don't get real excited if I can get some, but I always take it. Although a few years ago I had some real dry Walnut from a pretty big tree that burned incredible! The aroma is always nice though.....
 
I wonder if there are regional differences? I am in central Indiana and notice that some from Illinois and Ohio say they like it. I find it coals well, burns hot, and seasons in a year. I burn it alone sometimes, but prefer to mix it with black locust for this type of weather. My in laws own farm ground and there are places where the ditch/creek lines are 90% black walnut and hackberry. Maybe the field runoff makes them denser?
 
S Roche said:
bholler I saw your signature. Do you have a picture of your stove? They are possibly the best looking stove built.
Click to expand...
Yes they are pretty and for their age they work great i do not have a pic i guess i have to take one
 
I have burned lots of Black Walnut and I like it. Similar to Ash, Elm, Soft Maple, etc. in terms of heat and burn times.
 
Wood Duck said:
I have burned lots of Black Walnut and I like it. Similar to Ash, Elm, Soft Maple, etc. in terms of heat and burn times.
Click to expand...
I find it similar to elm but no where near as good as ash
 
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