Woods and their individual charectoristics

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mywaynow

Minister of Fire
Dec 13, 2010
1,369
Northeast
If you were to "talk up" the following wood species for burning, what would your input be:

Oak- Red and White

Walnut

Maple

Hickory

Ash

Poplar

Cherry

No downsides on the options, just positive charectoristics.
 
Oak- Red & White - Among the best for burning,splits easily (usually) one of our most abundant domestic woods used for everything from fuel/charcoal,flooring,railroad ties,rough construction,furniture & cabinetwork etc.Red Oak used for outdoor purposes like railroad ties,posts etc if creosote treated.White Oak needs no treatment,is world's premier wood for cooperage because of it being waterproof -staved barrels that contain liquids,specifically wines,whiskies,sherry & brandy.

Hickory - The hardest,strongest,stiffest & most resilient domestic wood in everyday use.Some woods are stronger,some are harder,but none have the combination of those 4 attributes.Among the best woods for fuel,charcoal & smoking meats.The best wood period for striking tool handles -axes,hammers etc.

Black Walnut - The finest & most valuable domestic cabinet & furniture wood,good for flooring though expensive,very stable once dried,the world's premier wood for gunstocks,sculpture & carving.Splits easily,works easily with hand or power tools.Decent firewood,though large clear straight logs are too valuable for that.

Black Cherry - 2nd most valuable domestic cabinet wood,after Black Walnut.Hard,strong,yet easily worked with hand & power tools.Great fuel,splits easily,smells wonderful when either sawing,splitting or burning.Very stable once dried,moderate shrinkage.Excellent wood for smoking beef,pork & especially poultry.
 
mywaynow said:
If you were to "talk up" the following wood species for burning, what would your input be:

Oak- Red and White

Walnut

Maple

Hickory

Ash

Poplar

Cherry

No downsides on the options, just positive charectoristics.

Oak. One of the very best but slow to dry. If you have the time, get all you can.
Walnut. Makes beautiful lumber!
Maple. Depends on what type it is for burning characteristics. Almost all maple are good for firewood though.
Hickory. One of the very best firewoods there are. Many folks would use it all for smoking though.
Ash. Get it fast because the emerald ash borer works fast. But one of the very best firewoods. Splits very easy and seasons quickly.
Poplar. Not much heat but works well in spring or fall for short fires. Gives you lots of ashes. Some call this gopher wood and rightly so.
Cherry. One of my favorites. Not as good as oak but still burns good. Seasons about as quickly as ash.
 
Oak- Red and White: Haven't burned any yet since it takes a while to season . . . but the rumor mill is that oak burns long and hot with good coals. I'm eager to try some in a year or so.

Walnut: Never seen any locally, but I wish we had some . . . I like eating walnuts and it looks like a pretty wood.

Maple: One of my "go to" woods, but it really depends on what you have. Sugar maple is good for burning (although I kind of hate to take these since they are also good for tapping for the sap) . . . red maple is fair . . . silver maple I don't see very often, but folks say this is mostly good for shoulder season burning.

Hickory: Again . . .don't have any of this locally, but I love the look of the wood when planed and sanded.

Ash: My hands-down favorite . . . my true "go to" woods as I have a lot of white ash. Seasons pretty quickly and burns well . . . splits like a dream.

Poplar: Gets a lot of negative press and it isn't really a very good coaling wood, but in an EPA stove it burns like a champ and is excellent for the shoulder season . . . and it practically splits itself if you talk dirty to it.

Cherry: Love the cherry . . . seasons quickly, distinctive color and is burns fairly well . . . only problem is it smells so good that I keep finding myself smelling the fresh splits which has my wife and neighbors wondering about my connection to reality.
 
mywaynow said:
Oak- Red and White - Excellent heat output...long burns.

Walnut - Average heat output. Seasons quickly.

Maple - Above average heat output. Average seasoning duration.

Hickory - Excellent heat output. Average seasoning duration.

Ash - Above average heat output. Seasons quickly.

Poplar - Yellow poplar gives off good heat for a quick fire.

Cherry - Average heat output. Average seasoning duration
 
Adios Pantalones said:
Oak- Red and White- burns

Walnut- burns

Maple-burns

Hickory-burns

Ash-burns

Poplar-burns

Cherry-burns
A lotta thought went in to that there post!
 
Adios Pantalones said:
Oak- Red and White- burns

Walnut- burns

Maple-burns

Hickory-burns

Ash-burns

Poplar-burns

Cherry-burns

Thanks for the first laugh of the day AP.
 
firefighterjake said:
Cherry: Love the cherry . . . seasons quickly, distinctive color and is burns fairly well . . . only problem is it smells so good that I keep finding myself smelling the fresh splits
Negative attribute:
If you have White Oak that's been sitting a few years in round form, or cherry of any age, you'll have to both split and sniff the wood so it'll take a lot longer to process a given amount of these. :lol:
 
Red maple - Lights quickly and burns hot. It is nice to add a piece or two of Red Maple to a load of oak to get the fire going faster. The maple starts off quickly, the oak keeps going a long time. Very abundant here and usually not taken by loggers, so it is easy to get.
Ash - splits easily and burns long and hot
Oak - great smell when splitting, longest burn and most heat of any common wood that grows here.
Poplar - lights up fast and nice to heat up the stove fast. Grows straight with few large branches, so it splits very easily and can be split small for kindling.
 
Adios Pantalones said:
Oak- Red and White- burns

Walnut- burns

Maple-burns

Hickory-burns

Ash-burns

Poplar-burns

Cherry-burns


Lowest common denominators are good


:)
 
Don't know, none of either here.
But they all have BTU's.
Would love to have 1st hand with any of it.
All good wood, from what I've read :)
 
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