Urban wood VS Forest

[Ignerence]

This is my first season preparing, and getting ready to burn with my Sirocco 30.1 for the season.

Over the course of the summer I gathered enough wood for 2 seasons.
-The first half was mostly forest grown Pine, Spruce Fir, and some Aspen.
-The second half was scrounged in the city and is 90% Spruce.

Where I live these are the choices. Even Birch would be nicer but it would be a 2+ hr drive to even start finding any.

Anyways, what I have noticed is the growth rings in the forest grown wood are much tighter then anything from the city. The growth rings on the mountain grown spruce/pine area ~1/16-1/8", where the Urban spruce is over 1/4" sometimes.

When burned do people notice that Urban wood is less dense/less BTU's then the corresponding species grown in the wild? this is almost looking the case so far, but I have yet to burn any.

As this second half seasons I'm trying to notice a difference in weight but its hard to tell.

Thanks

 

[lsucet]

I am not educated in regards to that subject but I think all what you need is low MC wood to burn hot and efficient. The type of stove you have is good with any type of wood as long is well seasoned. I don't know if you will notice any differences. If any, I don't think that it will be enough to take into consideration. Remember, dry wood and get the hang out of the operation of the stove and enjoy/stay warm. I am sure you will love the stove.

 

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

A tree ring measures the amount of growth in a season. A smaller ring means less growth not the same amount of growth packed into a denser area. Tree ring size tells you more about the historical environment than about the qualities of the wood.

 

[kennyp2339]

The biggest thing I noticed between urban wood and forest wood is forest wood tends to have less twists due to being less exposed to prevailing winds, urban wood is usually a bear to split between the grain twists and many more knots. I suspect the reason why urban wood has much larger rings is because its exposed to more sun light and can grow more than a tree in a forest, forest wood has to compete for the same nutrients, same water, and less sun.

 

[Poindexter]

Fewer nails driven into forest trees.

 

[Woody5506]

It's an interesting thought, but in the end when you're burning all that wood in your stove I think it ends up being an afterthought, or in other words I'd be pretty surprised if you noticed the slightest bit of difference when burning.

 

[BigFir]

I got some urban spruce given to me last year. I noticed the same the growth rings were huge, most likely due to ideal growing conditions. I can't compare it to forest spruce as I never burn it, but it sure didn't match up to the doug fir that is preferred.