Hello all firewood people! I might have something of interest, but I'm going to save the best for last. First, I must explain my current situation.
I live in a very rural community and use wood as my main (and only) source of heat. I also live on a very, very limited cash flow. (income). My home is not very efficient when it comes to holding in heat, and my wood stove is undersized and to some, an undesirable model. (boxwood stove)... I have two 90 deg. elbows running out the side of an old, heat insulated window opening that my son happened to shoot a hole in with his brand new bb gun. (save that story for a later time). I know having two 90's in the flue is not good, but it works for me. I have been cutting my firewood locally and splitting by hand. This in of itself is a blessing, having almost an unlimited supply of trees to fell. I cut every chance I get, but have been struggling to keep up, as I notice that I'm getting a little slower, and stiffer, than I did when I was 20.
Here comes the good part:
I cut most anything. The easier the better I always say. I burn Oak, Maple, Hickory, pretty much anything you can think of on the East Coast USA. Boxelder, Locust, Walnut too. I ran across some sycamore this past spring and decided since it was so easy to get to (back yard) may as well try to burn the stuff. In the past I have shy'd away from sycamore, due to the fact I don't own a splitter and the rounds are notoriously hard to split. These saplings were just perfect stove size, and wouldn't require splitting so in the wood pile they go.
My firewood don't have time to season very well. Most firewood I use has been cut the previous spring/summer. It has been in the single digits here, and I been trying to burn my boxwood stove as hot as I can with limited draft. My Oak is still to wet, as it burns really slow with low heat output.. (imagine that huh?) Most of my maple burns with little hiss, but decides to burn pretty good after 5 min of hiss. Some of my rough popular that I saved for kindling from last year, burns good but after 5 min the boxwood wants another piece. Some late cut walnut actually burns good, as does some early cut Hickory burns probably the hottest and nicest.
SYCAMORE!
I can not believe how well the sycamore burns... Lasts a med length of time, with med to high heat output, and I'm using the 3-4-8 in rounds. They tend to snap and pop when you first add the rounds, and that sounds good to the mrs, as she loves the warm pocket of air the hovers nearby my boxwood. Thank you God for putting the sycamore on the planet for us to use.
Anyone like to burn sycamore?
I live in a very rural community and use wood as my main (and only) source of heat. I also live on a very, very limited cash flow. (income). My home is not very efficient when it comes to holding in heat, and my wood stove is undersized and to some, an undesirable model. (boxwood stove)... I have two 90 deg. elbows running out the side of an old, heat insulated window opening that my son happened to shoot a hole in with his brand new bb gun. (save that story for a later time). I know having two 90's in the flue is not good, but it works for me. I have been cutting my firewood locally and splitting by hand. This in of itself is a blessing, having almost an unlimited supply of trees to fell. I cut every chance I get, but have been struggling to keep up, as I notice that I'm getting a little slower, and stiffer, than I did when I was 20.
Here comes the good part:
I cut most anything. The easier the better I always say. I burn Oak, Maple, Hickory, pretty much anything you can think of on the East Coast USA. Boxelder, Locust, Walnut too. I ran across some sycamore this past spring and decided since it was so easy to get to (back yard) may as well try to burn the stuff. In the past I have shy'd away from sycamore, due to the fact I don't own a splitter and the rounds are notoriously hard to split. These saplings were just perfect stove size, and wouldn't require splitting so in the wood pile they go.
My firewood don't have time to season very well. Most firewood I use has been cut the previous spring/summer. It has been in the single digits here, and I been trying to burn my boxwood stove as hot as I can with limited draft. My Oak is still to wet, as it burns really slow with low heat output.. (imagine that huh?) Most of my maple burns with little hiss, but decides to burn pretty good after 5 min of hiss. Some of my rough popular that I saved for kindling from last year, burns good but after 5 min the boxwood wants another piece. Some late cut walnut actually burns good, as does some early cut Hickory burns probably the hottest and nicest.
SYCAMORE!
I can not believe how well the sycamore burns... Lasts a med length of time, with med to high heat output, and I'm using the 3-4-8 in rounds. They tend to snap and pop when you first add the rounds, and that sounds good to the mrs, as she loves the warm pocket of air the hovers nearby my boxwood. Thank you God for putting the sycamore on the planet for us to use.
Anyone like to burn sycamore?
