Red Alder??

[WarmGuy]

I scrounged some wood that the highway service had cut down recently here in far northern California. The wood is a normal white color when first cut, but after a few days turns this bright red. Here are the logs mixed in with some redwood and spruce.

Is this red alder? Know anything about it?

 

[begreen]

Yep that looks like red alder. It grows everywhere locally. It is one of the first trees to grow in open abandoned fields here. I would call it a soft hardwood. We have some furniture made from it.

It's an ok firewood for our area. You'll want to keep it off the ground and dry. Try to burn it this year. Unless kept totally dry it will turn punky and worthless in a year. Alder decomposes very quickly when in contact with the ground. This is a good way to return nitrogen to the soil. But not good if your firewood is stacked on the ground.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

we sell alder here for smoking fish. its $10 for a small bag the size that regular potato chips come it. My advice is chip it, bag it, load it on a trailer and come out to the rockies and make a killing.

 

[begreen]

Wow, I'm looking out my window at a couple million!

 

[restorer]

we sell alder here for smoking fish. its $10 for a small bag the size that regular potato chips come it. My advice is chip it, bag it, load it on a trailer and come out to the rockies and make a killing.

Well, that's the Boulder bombers reading their gourmet magazines about alder smoked salmon. If you want to have the ultimate treat, attend a real Indian salmon cook and see how it's done right. My first was in 1964 in McNeal Island (yes where the Federal Pen is) done by a small group of native born guards making the finest meal in the simplest way. When I lived in Kitsap County I got the opportunity to share with many family meals near Suquamish. Sorry about the drooling on the keyboard.

When I lived in Brownsville/Silverdale I heated my shop with butt cuts of alder from Olympic Forest Products, then it was $20 per truck load, personal vehicles only (no wood dealers) My truck was bigger than they expected and we could load 2-3 cords. I burned a lot of wood those three years. Probably from 4-6, you burn on the Sound almost year round because of the coolness and the humidity. The alder burns very hot and very fast. I used it for kindling, and quick heat build, but for sustained heat I would use Douglas Fir. I had a cylinder stove, locally custom built, although the door was on the front it loaded like a top loader. Made from heavy boiler pipe I could build a fire, run it hot and leave a foot of coals in the bottom, recharge and damper down for over night heat. Many was the time I turned the lights out and could see the lower half of the stove gently glowing.

Don't expect it to last, but it is considered a trash tree so has little commercial value, like broadleaf maple and will burn well. As stated above it is like Aspen a first generation wood. It rots quickly. Needs to be sheltered from rain, and burnt ASAP when dry. If it sits dry it will self-destruct.

MSG, seems like a good side line like the guy selling boxes of pellets on ebay. You could work out an arrangement to have fresh from the northwest alder chips shipped direct and fresh for the gourmet cooks. $20, guaranteed fresh from Washington shipped Express mail for this weekends BBQ.

Come to think about it, anyone from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona want to do the same with Mesquite? I can get high quality Juniper chips (for those who like a martini flavored BBQ) and Pinion (the pine nut flavor of pesto).

Shoot we may have the first on line cooperative wood sales....... Naaaww. Just throw it into the stove.

 

[Highbeam]

Wow, uncle rich, I grew up in Bremerton/Silverdale and as a kid had a boat moored at the Brownsville Marina. Lots of chinook and silver salmon came on board out in that bay. Then we would go down at night and catch squid. Between Brownsville and Silverdale is the central valley area, it was nice and quiet.

I burned a good bit of red alder this year and got more for next year. The energy content is 17.6 vs. 21.4 for doug fir and 12.2 for cottonwood so it is a decent wood for the NW. I find it makes more ash than fir but burns long with minimal sound. It is plentiful here and easy to cut, split, and stack. Minimal twists and knots. The timber market is quite good for it too. That red sap was used to die hair by the natives and I had to come to work with oompa loompa hands after putting a cord away earlier this year.