Querying Pacific Northwest burners...or anyone with answers

[fossil]

Anyone have experience burning any of the following woods? What can you tell me about them?

Madrone
Tamarack (Western Larch)
Tanoak (Beech family)
Oregon White Oak (Garry Oak)
Juniper
Douglas Fir
Ponderosa Pine

I've been burning cords and cords of Lodgepole Pine. Readily available, easy to split and handle, burns hot and fast. Looking at options on other woods that might be available around here from time to time. Thanks for any input, Rick

 

[Jimbob]

I burn Tamarack from time to time. It burns good and hot. :coolsmile:

 

[myzamboni]

Anyone have experience burning any of the following woods? What can you tell me about them?

Madrone HOT
Tamarack (Western Larch)
Tanoak (Beech family)
Oregon White Oak (Garry Oak)
Juniper
Douglas Fir
Ponderosa Pine HOT AND FAST

I've been burning cords and cords of Lodgepole Pine. Readily available, easy to split and handle, burns hot and fast. Looking at options on other woods that might be available around here from time to time. Thanks for any input, Rick

 

[TMonter]

Doug Fir - By far the most plentiful long burning wood available in the PNW. Seems to have more creosote formation than most woods except pine. Great long burning firewood if burned hot and well seasoned. Splits easy when seasoned or frozen, even splits pretty easy when green. Easy to find standing dead trees in excess of 24" diameter. Goes for about 175 dollars a cord.

Tamarack (Western Larch) - Great firewood, fairly hard to find on government land (Forest Service) nowdays. Easy to cut and split because of really straight grain. Beyond finding the rare fruitwood or oak, far and away the best firewood you can lay hands on in most of the PNW. Goes for 200 bucks a cord.

Tanoak (Beech family) - Only burned a bit, close to hardwood if I remember right, very dense, must be split immediately to prevent rotting. Similar to birch. Good heating value when properly seasoned but has to be seasoned at least a year even when standing dead.

Juniper - Good firewood, lots of oils burns hot. Hard to find in larger sizes, grows pretty small in most cases. Not a super long burning wood but a good heat producer. Be careful about overloading your stove with juniper as the hot fires from the oils can easily overfire your stove if you have it on high.

Ponderosa Pine - Plentiful, easy to find on forest service land. Splits easy but produces creosote in large amounts if burned slowly even when seasoned. Makes great day fires when weather is cold and reloading the stove is not an issue. Works great for short fast fires during the shoulder season when you only need heat for a couple hours in the morning and evening.

No experience with the white oak.

 

[Highbeam]

I've burned a single madrona tree and can agree that it is a very dense wood. It has smooth bark and is easier to split green than dry. It is a little difficult to get going but once it gets going it just burns and burns without going away. This wood sells at a premium here of around double the normal fir/alder/maple mix.

Doug fir is very common and the typical wood for sawmills and the timber market in the NW. I have 4.3 cords of it split and stacked right now for next year. It burns well and for a good while. There is very little or no ash made with this wood so the coaling stage is short and overall shorter burn times since there are no nice coals hiding in the ash to restart the fire with. I can make it overnight on Cottonwood since the ashes hold the coals, but the fir will release more btus sooner in the burn cycle.

Haven't burned the others you asked about but want to give good praise to red alder if you can find it. I would be happy to have a mix of alder and fir.

 

[fossil]

Jimbob, myzamboni, TMonter, Highbeam - Thanks very much for your responses...that's useful information, and I appreciate it. Rick

 

[RedRanger]

Yes,Highbeam recently advised me that if you want a longer burn using softwoods then lots of alder will produce the neccessay coals. So alder,alder and lots of it. At least for this guy.

 

[begreen]

I've burned a fair amount of madrona. It makes great firewood. Burns hot and long. If you get it and plan on splitting it, do it green when it splits easily. Once the wood has started to dry out, it is tough to split without machinery. Doug fir is my second choice. I've burned several cords of it. It burns a quicker than some other wood, but I just use large splits. Creosote has never been an issue for me, though I burn seasoned fir only. Alder and soft maple are my third choices.

The folks I know from eastern WA burn tamarack and like it for firewood. It's pretty dense and puts out good heat.

 

[fossil]

I guess we managed to move ourselves to "No Wood's Land". The most commonly available wood here is Lodgepole Pine, of which we've burned a boatload. We've also burned some Ponderosa Pine, and a bit of Larch, and some Juniper. I've seen Madrone on Craig's list a couple of times, but never gotten an answer back to my queries. Probably sells too fast. That stuff, and Oak, have to come a long way from the other side of the Willamette Valley to get here. Have yet to see anyone advertising Alder. Sure wish I could get my hands on some of these woods and burn them for myself. Makes me wish I were 30 years younger with a BIG truck and I could run over to the coast, scoop up all these good woods, and bring them back to sell to the Central Oregonians who want them as an alternative to Lodgepole. But then, if I were 30 years younger, I'd still have a real job, and no BIG truck. Rick