Score! 4 Loads of Ash. Is mulberry and sumac good to burn?

[Wood Pirate]

Ran into a tree service who gave me 4 pickup truck loads of ash.

He also has some mulberry and sumac but I dont know if these are any good?
The mulberry looked to have been standing dead for a while so it was pretty dry. The sumac doesnt really look to be a good burning wood?
What do you guys think? Should I pass on the Mulberry and Sumac?

 

[begreen]

Nice score. I would take the mulberry and from what I've read, sumac burns too (as long as it's not poison sumac that is!).

 

[kbrown]

How much are they talking about? If you have an outdoor fire pit, burn the junk stuff there. For 4 loads of free ash, I would take a load of so-so stuff just to stay in good with him for better stuff down the road.

 

[Wood Pirate]

I gave the forman a few of my business cards and he said he would give me a call in the future if they have oak, ash, cherry, etc..

I just dont know much about mulberry.

 

[SmokinPiney]

Nice score. I would take the mulberry and from what I've read, sumac burns too (as long as it's not poison sumac that is!).

You aint kiddin! I got a sumac blister on my forearm two yrs ago. That's somethin that i wouldnt wish on anyone. It seriously felt like my arm was on fire.

 

[BucksCoBernie]

mulberry is good stuff....definitely take it.

(broken link removed to http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm)

 

[Redburn]

Mulberry is up there with oak in btus I find it seasons fast to good stuff a little sparky ..

 

[bsimon]

Mulberry throws some sparks & can be a tough split if you're splitting by hand. If a guy called me with free mulberry, I'd take it.

 

[Wood Pirate]

Thanks guys.
That solves that. I will go get the mulberry and whats left of the ash today.

 

[Wood Duck]

I wonder if the sumac is really sumac. There are a couple of species of sumac, but none of them gets larger than about 3 inches diameter, and that would be a big one. My guess is the 'sumac' is really ailanthus, aka tree of heaven. I haven't burned ailanthus, but it grows fast so it is probably is low density. Ailanthus stinks when you cut it, but dried out it shouldn't stink as badly, and when burned in a stove smell shouldn't matter.

 

[JBinKC]

Mulberry is one of the best overall especially when you factor in BTUs, its culinary versatility and burning properties for pyromaniacs. Sumac/ailanthus admittedly is the worst of the worst. If you have room to store it I would take it all just to maintain the good relationship with the arborist.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Here is something to remember. Almost all fruit tree wood is good wood. Apple is probably number 1.

 

[TreePapa]

We had half a mulberry cut down a couple years ago (i.e., one of two trunks removed). I found that it actually split really nicely w/ ax & maul, especially after partial seasoning "in the round." As the others have said, it's really sparky. Since I'm still using the FP, the sparkin' is quite noticiable, but not unpleasant (we have a really good screen).

As for Tree of Hades, I'd prolly burn the stuff in a bonfire just to spite that f*'ing tree. I despise those trees. The neighbor has one which overhangs the back of my driveway, where my compost and most of my firewood is, and the seeedball clusters are a bi**h. Of course, there are a number of other species that could be mistaken for sumac, esp. by someone like me who don't know much about tree ID.

Peace,
- Sequoia