How is ash to burn, compared with oak or maple? That sems to be all that's available in my area righ
Burning ash wood
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Ash is better than soft maple, but not as good as oak. I'd say right in between. It puts out awesome heat, burns down to powder, and it seasons fast (around a year C/S/S). I have tons of it in my hoard, and I take it whenever I can.
My favorite wood to burn due to it's fast seasoning, easy splitting and nice burning. I personally don't see much difference in the burn times/heat output between red oak and white ash. Not much ash left around here, in a few years it will all be gone. 
Currently it makes up at least half of my stacks.
Currently it makes up at least half of my stacks.
Richprint29
Member
Ash is awesome to burn. I heard you could burn it almost immediately after you cut it! And I found that to be true this year. I cut a couple of Ash trees down for a friend recently and split it within a few days. I let it sit for about 2 weeks, then tried to burn it. Guess what? It burned great. I was really surprised, but I guess its true that you really don't need to season Ash. As far as heat value, I always thought Ash was fine. It delivers plenty of heat, and has a fairly long burn time. Although not as good as Oak. Back in the day in England, this wood was referred to the King's wood. Because of it's desirable qualities mentioned above, only the Kings men were allowed to take it from the forest. I give Ash 2 thumbs up!
"Ash wet or Ash dry a king shall warm his slippers by"
wood burning cop
New Member
ash makes up about 80% of my wood stack and oak is the other part. it burns great and dries quick and splits easy. i like it and it seems to put off good heat.
jdp1152
Minister of Fire
Ralphie Boy
Minister of Fire
I concur with all of the above. I've got many cord of ash, than's due to the 'little green monster.'
In August, I bucked up, split, and stacked a small ash that my neighbor dropped in February. Less than an hour ago, I resplit a couple of pieces and checked the moisture content. It was at 25%.
What did you burn that ash in?
Backwoods Savage will be along shortly to conduct ash school.
In August, I bucked up, split, and stacked a small ash that my neighbor dropped in February. Less than an hour ago, I resplit a couple of pieces and checked the moisture content. It was at 25%.
What did you burn that ash in?
Backwoods Savage will be along shortly to conduct ash school.
25% is completely burnable even in an EPA stove.
swagler85
Minister of Fire
Yes backwoods recently posted a thread about burning green ash. In reality any wood can be burned green, put enough air and small splits in an old stove and you can make it burn. That does NOT mean that this is safe or efficient. Just boil the water out and send the heat up the the chimney 
Welcome to the forum Rich.
That is an old wife's tale about burning it right away. Yes, it can be done but it should not be done. If you split that ash and stack it for a couple years you'll be amazed at the difference.
Good stuff - due to the BUG I am burning a lot of ash as well as some maple but because there is rarely, if ever, only maple in the stove I cannot compare. All my oak right now is 2-3yrs out but I am sure most would take oak over ash if given the oportunity. But very, very few would turn down ash. One of the better woods for a lot of reasons and quicker seasoning is one of them. A year in single stacks exposed to the wind and sun and it is heating my home well. The stuff that has 18+ months is better and I am so looking forward to testing Dennis' findings and burning it 2-3+yrs seasoned as I have 90% ash in my stacks and I am adding it by the cord as we speak. Split a cord or so today
Yes backwoods recently posted a thread about burning green ash. In reality any wood can be burned green, put enough air and small splits in an old stove and you can make it burn. That does NOT mean that this is safe or efficient. Just boil the water out and send the heat up the the chimney
Right on Swagler. I'll never forget that winter when we burned freshly cut ash. Not good memories at all.
Good stuff - due to the BUG I am burning a lot of ash as well as some maple but because there is rarely, if ever, only maple in the stove I cannot compare. All my oak right now is 2-3yrs out but I am sure most would take oak over ash if given the oportunity. But very, very few would turn down ash. One of the better woods for a lot of reasons and quicker seasoning is one of them. A year in single stacks exposed to the wind and sun and it is heating my home well. The stuff that has 18+ months is better and I am so looking forward to testing Dennis' findings and burning it 2-3+yrs seasoned as I have 90% ash in my stacks and I am adding it by the cord as we speak. Split a cord or so today
Hey Bob, if you really want a test, give it 6 or 7 years! We've done that many times.
Like Bob, we've cut a lot of ash and still plenty to cut. All our ash trees are dead.
Dennis if I continue on my pace of 10+ cord CSS'd each winter and burning 3-4 per season I should be there in 5 years with wood that has been aged like fine wine!! Living in the sticks has its benefits - I, like you, have room for a lot of wood and no one around to complain that I am filling the yard with stacks. Best part is that the more I get CSS'd the less I have to mow all summer. I just take a trip around the stacks with the sprayer a time or two per summer to keep the grass and weeds from growing up in there and I can just ride my mower around them
Hearth Mistress
Minister of Fire
All we have is ash here too, ash s pretty much ALL we have. While some folks cut it and burn it the same day, my stove doesn't like it. I have done it, in a pinch with some pallet wood but right off the saw, it's usually 25-28%. I spilt it small so it dries a bit faster but even when I bring some fresh cut in the house, it gets under 20% in about a day. Until an hour ago, I never had anything else to burn, it's kept us warm for a year now
All we have is ash here too, ash s pretty much ALL we have. While some folks cut it and burn it the same day, my stove doesn't like it. I have done it, in a pinch with some pallet wood but right off the saw, it's usually 25-28%. I spilt it small so it dries a bit faster but even when I bring some fresh cut in the house, it gets under 20% in about a day. Until an hour ago, I never had anything else to burn, it's kept us warm for a year now
Under 20% in a day? Is that testing a resplit or the old edge? I have noticed the exposed surface dries very, very fast.
Richprint29
Member
In August, I bucked up, split, and stacked a small ash that my neighbor dropped in February. Less than an hour ago, I resplit a couple of pieces and checked the moisture content. It was at 25%.
What did you burn that ash in?
Backwoods Savage will be along shortly to conduct ash school.
I burned it in a Harman Oakwood. It burned as good as the seasoned wood i was burning. In fact I proceeded to burn that fresh Ash for 4 days until it ran out. Clean burn, good burn times ( overnight) no problem.
Richprint29
Member
Thank you for the welcome. This seems like a really good place for information. All I can tell you about the Ash is what my experience with it was. It was pretty good. It was really just a test to see if what I heard was true. I season everything I burn. I cut and split all of my own wood. I like to give it all 1 year wether it's Ash or not.
In a pinch burn the tops and CSS the trunks for a yr or two. Tops will be rather darn dry if they have been swaying in the breeze for a couple years w/o bark
Hearth Mistress
Minister of Fire
I had some we re-split, it was 24 on the fresh cut side when I brought it in, next night, same side, 19. Granted my splits are small, 12-14" but in my living room, with the stove, about 6 ft away, they dry out fast, really.
That stove appears to have a catalyst. I'm not sure how less than fully seasoned wood affects catalytic stoves, but I suspect someone knowledgeable regarding catalytic stoves will comment on it shortly.
I had some we re-split, it was 24 on the fresh cut side when I brought it in, next night, same side, 19. Granted my splits are small, 12-14" but in my living room, with the stove, about 6 ft away, they dry out fast, really.
I respectfully suggest that if you had resplit it immediately before measuring, you would have had a higher reading, probably close to the 24% you had the day before.
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