gyrfalcon said:
gzecc said:
gyrfalcon, I bet your oak is not as dry as your other woods!.
I'm sure it isn't. Because I haven't burned a stick of it yet. Since I haven't had the experience of burning it, I'm just wondering from folks here whether it's worth getting more of it in for futures if I've got access to higher-BTU (and faster-drying) stuff like beech and black birch.
Not to knock blue beech or black birch, but there is more to firewood than just the BTUs listed on a chart.
Hickory is right up there with those two woods BYU-wise. I burned dry cherry all day yesterday, and today - nothing but the driest hickory I've got. I got much more heat out of the stove yesterday with the cherry, which has only about 75% of the stored energy that the hickory has.
Why?
Well, both burned hotter than hell. Started right up as soon as I dropped them on the coals. No sizzle from either. But the cherry burned hotter and a lot faster, so I was able to fill the stove more frequently. Folks who are lucky enough to have good dried pine know about this phenomenon. Makes lots of heat because it burns fast.
A BTU is a unit of energy, and the BTUs in wood charts refer to the total potential energy stored in the wood. Stove
output, however, is given in BTUs/hour - a
rate. Just like a KW is not a KWH in electricity. Both are units of
power, or work done over time. Hickory and oak have more potential energy per cord than most woods, but they burn relatively slowly and they are coal forming. Yes, lots of energy per unit volume, but not as much per unit time. But I only had to fill the stove twice today because of the hickory. It was a relatively warm day, so a rest from tending the stove was really appreciated. It burned away (nice and clean without a trace of smoke from the stack) while I snowblowed the driveway and shoveled the walks and drove to the store and back and wasn't ready for a new load until about 5 PM. The house, however, was only 72ºF at the same time it was 74º yesterday.
Still, I have burned plenty of beech and it is one of the very best, slightly above hard maple IMHO. Burns hot and fast, just like hard maple but with (maybe) slightly more heat output. So I can't blame you for extolling it's virtues. I'd much rather burn beech than oak or even hickory or black locust (another great but long burning wood), but it's hard to get someone to cut it for me. If someone says they have beech and the price is the same, I always have them throw it on the truck. Maple can be iffy because I might end up with red or even silver maple which I really don't want. But well seasoned
rock maple is a juggernaut in the stove, so if I can get it I can be assured of the best heat all day long during cold snaps.
Red oak is great wood, but I think a lot of folks complaining about not getting the heat output they expected from oak can be attributed to its relatively slow burn rate, not just poor seasoning. If you're paying for it like I do, it's a real good total value because it has more total energy in it (but don't forget the money you have to tie up for three years to age it properly). But if you're cutting your own and you have a choice, I do believe hard maple will outdo it in BTUs/hr in most stoves and in most situations... and it's ready to burn in a year.