Anyone Burn Photinia Firewood?

[Oregon Bigfoot]

I have an overgrown photinia tree on my property, and I think I will just cut it down. It's more nuisance than anything. Some of the lower limbs are 4-6" and the trunk is 8" give or take, and the tree is about 30 feet tall, most of which is small branches and massive amounts of evergreen leaves. It has massive amounts of flowers and bees in the growing season, and I'm just tired of it. I'm tired of trimming it every year away from brushing up against the house.

Has anyone burned this wood? I'm wondering if I should put the firewood "free" on Craigslist for someone to "scrounge", kind of like "good karma", or if I should keep the wood and season for a couple years for the wood stove. There will not be that much wood from it. I'm guessing no more than 1/10 cord of burnable wood.

Oregon Bigfoot

 

[Wood Duck]

I have never burned photina, but I would keep the wood. All of the shrubs and small trees I have burned are at least mid-range in density and burn just fine.

 

[pdxdave]

I came across a small score of Photinia on CL so I went ahead and picked it up - not much 1/8 cord at most. But as soon as I handled it I was shocked at the weight, even small pieces almost felt like carrying concrete blocks.

So being experimental in nature, once I got it home I split one of the larger pieces at about 6", it was the 3rd piece I tried the first 2 simply would not split. Came in the 22-26% range MC.

Still wondering more about it, I weighed this same piece, then measured the volume (it sunk did not float), calculated density with MC corrected to 15% and it came out to a density of 54 lb/ft3 Very high, by comparison White Oak is around 45 lb/ft3. I also erred all my measurements to the 'safe' side so it could easily be higher. By feel it is far and away the heaviest wood I've felt, noticeably more than Madrone.

I don't have much, maybe enough to pack like 6 or 7 good loads, but I'm looking forward to trying it out. Some of the small pieces I'll try out this winter but really have to wait until next to load up the bigger pieces.

 

[planner steve]

I love this forum. Based on Oregon Bigfoot's earlier thread on how well Photinia burns, I grabbed some that was on Craigs List today. These folks had cut down three of them, one about 10 inch in diameter, the others maybe 7 inches. I probably got about a third cord in total. This is normally pruned into a shrub, but it does want to be a tree if left alone. As for splitting, this one is going to be tough. I hit it with the 6 lb maul and it just bounced off. After a few times, I managed to get a indent large enough to start a wedge. It wasn't too bad with the wedge, but there will be no one swing splits with this. But most of what I got was 3 to 4 inches, so I won't split that. I suspect the larger pieces are going to need two years. Of course I'll report back when I burn some.

 

[pdxdave]

I love this forum. Based on Oregon Bigfoot's earlier thread on how well Photinia burns, I grabbed some that was on Craigs List today. These folks had cut down three of them, one about 10 inch in diameter, the others maybe 7 inches. I probably got about a third cord in total. This is normally pruned into a shrub, but it does want to be a tree if left alone. As for splitting, this one is going to be tough. I hit it with the 6 lb maul and it just bounced off. After a few times, I managed to get a indent large enough to start a wedge. It wasn't too bad with the wedge, but there will be no one swing splits with this. But most of what I got was 3 to 4 inches, so I won't split that. I suspect the larger pieces are going to need two years. Of course I'll report back when I burn some.

Yup I found this wood nearly impossible to split. Taking a full swing at a 6" round 1 foot long I had trouble getting the blade to even plant.
Seeing a fresh split read in the mid/low 20s moisture makes me think a year of seasoning would be more than enough.