The "I've never burnt this kind of wood but would like to see what the hype is about" thread

I would live to live dangerously and try some PINE.

i have tried about all the hardwoods i know of and of those the hornbeam and hedge burned the hottest ..beech is not that far behind in my book though

CrawfordCentury said:

Bigg_Redd said:

Luckily I live in western WA where God himself perfected the perfect firewood tree - the Douglas Fir. I feel nothing but pity for you east coasters and your 3 year long drying cycles.

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Yes, and God also graced you PNW folks with some of the mildest winters to go along with that fir (which isn't a true fir as I understand). We have hemlocks back east too. They come in handy for them that don't plan their firewoding far enough in advance.

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We have hemlock here too and it ain't got nothin on Douglas Fir.

I'd like to try some of the Osage Orange too. Sounds awesome. Can it grow here in lower NY?

I do have a few persimmon drivers that I didn't like. I may rip out the shafts and give them the heave ho into the stove. Afterall, they seemed to send my golfballs into their brotherern woods in the past.

Flatbedford said:

I'd like to try some of the Osage Orange too. Sounds awesome. Can it grow here in lower NY?

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Flatbedford, Here is a map. http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=MAPO Looks like it, Merry Christmas.

CrawfordCentury said:

Bigg_Redd said:

Luckily I live in western WA where God himself perfected the perfect firewood tree - the Douglas Fir. I feel nothing but pity for you east coasters and your 3 year long drying cycles.

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Yes, and God also graced you PNW folks with some of the mildest winters to go along with that fir (which isn't a true fir as I understand). We have hemlocks back east too. They come in handy for them that don't plan their firewoding far enough in advance.

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It gets colder here than most of you think, especially the further away you get from the ocean. PNW is a pretty broad statement, it covers all of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Canada's British Columbia, western Montana, and Northern California

I have been burning a mixture of Doug Fir and Hemlock these past few weeks, the hemlock kinda sucks so I mix it with some Fir

i don't know if there is any "hype" about this, but I think that a couple of 16" long rounds from a 10' diameter sequoia would be cool. i'm no math wiz, but that should be 6+ cords of wood. it's not so much that I'm interested in burning it, I just would like to see it (and then brag about how I split it without a Fiskars)

Nonprophet said:

firefighterjake said:

Locust and oak grow around here . . . but I have seen very little on the family property and what little is there will be left to mature and hopefully grow more locust and oak. I do however have some oak that was cut this past summer, so I'll be trying that out for the first time in a couple of years.

I would love to try osage orange and hickory . . . and walnut . . . but if I must admit with the walnut I'm just curious as to whether or not you can actually harvest the nuts and eat them or if they're like the apple trees in the "wild" . . . small, bug-riddled, etc.

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I salvaged some Walnut from a nearby farm this fall and I looked into Walnut a bit to find out what I was getting. What I discovered is that the walnuts that are marketed for consumption come from English Walnut trees, not Black Walnut. Most walnut orchards graft English Walnut (for the nuts) onto Black Walnut trees (more resistant to diseases apparently....). The Black Walnuts are edible, but supposedly quite a bit more bitter than English Walnut. Both have the same BTU rating as far as firewood. I have some smaller Black Walnut trees on our property that drop LOTS of nuts, but they are a real hassle to process (unless you like havng brown hands for two weeks.....) and so I let the squirrels have them!

NP

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Grew up in the middle of a walnut orchard, and all of this is correct. We burned a lot of walnut growing up, because that's what we had. It burns pretty hot, if I remember right, but also fairly quickly in comparison to other "known" firewood species.

I'd like to try some hedge and beech. Neither are common in Northern California.

I wish some of you midwest and east coast guys could get a chance to try some almond. People around here swear it is the best, but I don't know if it is truly one of the best around, or just the best available here.

kestrel said:

Brazilian rosewood and mahogany. I'm thinking about chopping up my Martin guitar to see what the BTU values are like. :cheese:

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Bwaahaha. Gives a new meaning to a flamed maple PRS, huh?

just checked the map and osage orange is here in western mass???? hampden county and below me in ct.... WOW
is there any other names for it? never heard of it here before going on this web site!

[quote author="smokinjay" date="1261687017
walnuts yes you can you have to wait til that thick green outer layer falls off still have a couple 100 in the yard I leave for the wild life. They are a tuff nut to crack[/quote]
I bet if you picked up all thoses nuts and dried them they would burn really hot. But it would take alot to make a cord.
leaddog

iceman said:

just checked the map and osage orange is here in western mass???? hampden county and below me in ct.... WOW
is there any other names for it? never heard of it here before going on this web site!

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Iceman, Around here in Central IL, it is just called Hedge (grown mostly as a fence/hedge row) Some times it is called hedge apple because of the large grapefruit size fruit.

mesquite - the first batch would be held in a place of honor for the smoker
hedge
chestnut - i would like to see one growing on the farm too.
giant redwood - it would look nice and probably be a conversation starter with guests.

Agree with all the votes for Hedge Apple/Osage Orange. Grew up burning it, Chinese Elm, and Cottonwood in Nebraska. The CE was miserable wood to split. The OO was like burning coal and cutting iron. The Cottonwood was like burning pallets (I think that is what most of them are made of.)

Currently have access to the following in the Southern Sierras, in order of preference:

1. Several varieties of Oak (love it, except splitting the gnarlier pieces.) Warming the place with a piece now.
2. Cedar (heart wood from 200 year old dead tree is pretty good, sap wood not so hot)
3. Occasionally some Manzanita (think Mesquite/Sage Brush like stuff) that is big enough to be worth cutting up. Burns great, but hard to get enough dead stuff to be worth chasing.
4. Sugar Pine/Fir/whatever conifer is about to fall on the house. (yeah, I burn pine; the pine borers keep me in a never-ending free supply of dead ones.)

leaddog said:

[quote author="smokinjay" date="1261687017
walnuts yes you can you have to wait til that thick green outer layer falls off still have a couple 100 in the yard I leave for the wild life. They are a tuff nut to crack

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I bet if you picked up all thoses nuts and dried them they would burn really hot. But it would take alot to make a cord.
leaddog[/quote]

Walnut shell is a super-hot fuel. It contains a lot of oil. We heat our work building (30k square feet, steel shop) with nothing but crushed walnut shell in an industrial sized stove with a forced air blower.

kestrel said:

Brazilian rosewood and mahogany. I'm thinking about chopping up my Martin guitar to see what the BTU values are like. :cheese:

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exotic species burn super hot, they're awesome.
(i get to burn KD 4/4 lumber scraps)