Hackberry good firewood?

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Newburnerwisconsin

Feeling the Heat
Jul 8, 2015
487
wisconsin
I have a opportunity to cut up a large hackberry tree. Is this good firewood? Should I bother with this or just keep cutting oak? Thanks everyone.
 
Its a mid level BTU wood...not as good as Oak, but probably worth getting if its easy...you don't always want/need high BTU wood year 'round
 
Its a mid level BTU wood...not as good as Oak, but probably worth getting if its easy...you don't always want/need high BTU wood year 'round

I've burned it and like it. I'd go for it but beware, it can be stringy.

fv
 
I burn alot of it. Good to mix with other wood also. Seasons alot faster than oak. Give it a try. I think you will be pleased with it.
 
I avoid all Hackberry... like the plague....it is difficult to split and after you have busted your backside to get it burnable the top of every piece will be covered in a thick coating of dust from some type of insect...everytime you move a piece there is a cloud of that dust...what ever insect it attracts it will be attracted to your other wood...I avoid it after trying it a couple times..not worth it to me if other wood is available
 
I'd say it's similar to maple in terms of btu output and ease of splitting--sometimes it's pops apart, sometimes it's stringy. It's worth picking up to me: I've got a ton of it in my stacks this year.
 
sometimes it's pops apart, sometimes it's stringy.

I've rarely fought so hard to split a 12" round as I did with stringy hackberry. It just grabs the head of your axe and won't let go, so you're fighting to split through AND to get your axe back. When it splits nicely, I'll keep it like anything else and it burns nice. When it won't split worth a darn, it just goes in the next brush fire.
 
Very stringy and I always thought it leaves more ashes in the stove than other types of wood. I've been walking right past hackberry for a good many years - on the way to better varieties.