Wood Burning Guys -
My experience has always been "Ash wet or dry, good to warm a Kings slippers by." (To reference an Old saying.)
I have now come to believe that Black Gum, fits in the same realm.
It burns very nice, somewhat uncured, unlike Oak, Beech, Birch, Poplar, etc. Have been spltting up some large Blackgums dropped off by my Cousin, it burns nice. 12-20" diameter cuts. Split.
I have previously come across this wood with a fair amount dropped on my back property. 1-2 years old, it burns very nice. Have a decent amount.
Thoughts?
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Before cutting it down, I thought it was Black Walnut. (Takes forever to dry before being able to burn.) The bark and the leaves, looked just like it. (Worked at a Sawmill, as a heavy equipment operator.) Very good at identifying species. This one surprised me. Knew as soon as I cut it down, looking at the wood, it was not Black Walnut.
It burns good. No hissing/excess moisture. Give it a year to dry - excuisite.
Doubt it is out West, Jim.
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Unfamiliar with "Larch," as you are unfamiliar with Blackgum. A regional thing, I would imagine.
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Black gum may be better known as Tupelo in the deep south. Decent wood, can be hard to split. Hickory, Ash and Oak are very high on my firewood list, along with apple (pruning my small orchard) IMHO, the 3 best firewoods are Osage Orange, Live Oak and Black Locust. They are about 1 notch off the heat value of coal. 0 -
Yes the Black gum seems to be hard to split. If a decent grain structure presents itself, not too bad.
I have a decent amount of Red Oak, White Oak, Birch, Beech, Black Gum, etc. To split.
If cured/dried, obviously the White/Red Oak is superior. If somewhat uncured, the Ash/Blackgum seems to shine.
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Ken, Is Black Gum and Sweet Gum the same? Sweet gum leaves look similar to maple and have prickly balls about 1.5" in diameter. Some say Winchester used Sweet Gum for late model '37 Win. stocks when they ran out of nice walnut. Neighbor next to my Va. property is huge wood burner(2) swears by locust. 0 -
Lucust is by far #1. Red/White Oak, #2. Ash/Blackgum #3.
Blackgum leaves look identical to Black Walnut, as does the bark. Nothing resembling maple.
I have a few Locusts to drop, but they are hell on your chain. Still need to drop them. Best wood going, to burn.
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I had to cut down a gum tree in a fence row. I blocked it out and tried to split it. That stuff was so stringy, I gave up.
I let it season for about a year and it split very easily. Good wood, though.
I am fortune to have a lot of dead locust to cut and burn. Lots of wild cherry trees, too.0 -
“ (Worked at a Sawmill, as a heavy equipment operator.) Very good at identifying species.”
Were you a pilot?
You know, they saw it and you pile it?0 -
Speaking of Wild Cherry. Retired General I use to work with at West Point, a former professor in EE, came to me one day to ask what I knew about Wild Cherry since I was a country boy from Va. I admitted I knew very little about Wild Cherry. Then the story came out. He cut some Wild Cherry and his neighbors Champion Black Angus bull ate it and killed him dead as a door nail. Well, he came to me about a month later and said that bull cost him way over $5,000.
Fast forward about a year and I am at my 2nd home in Va. cutting a Wild Cherry out of my neighbors fence row and a lot of it landed on other side. This huge Black Angus bull on my neighbors side got curious and headed my way looking for a quick meal, I guess. You never seen anyone clean up Wild Cherry branches and throw them on my side so quick.0 -
I would just use a hair dryer to warm the king's slippers. 0 -
Ran out of firewood.
Good news is I've found lots of cow chips for the fireplace.
Bad news. wife don't like to use the cow chips in the wood cook stove.
More bad news. Cannot find any Buffalo chips.
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Western Larch (Larix occidentalis) is more commonly referred to as tamarack. Makes a real nice crackly fire and puts off good heat. It has needles like an evergreen but looses them in the fall. Not many things prettier than a stand of Western Larch with their fall colors on!KenK/84Bravo said:Unfamiliar with "Larch," as you are unfamiliar with Blackgum. A regional thing, I would imagine.
There's also an Eastern Larch that's found in the NE U.S. and down into West Virginia.0 -
Wild cherry , among others , has leaves that produce hydrogen cyanide when they wilt .
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We have a lot of black and honey locust. Just have to be sure it is dry or you WILL have a chimney fire. If you have one of those outside furnaces this probably doesn't matter, but it does when your furnace is in the basement. 0 -
Have 1 sweet gum and 1 beech tree to remove off a property soon. Wood will be stacked just off easement of road with a Free sign on it, cut in 3' lengths. 0 -
I burn mostly red or white oak. I tried some poplar (tulip) & it was surprisingly good. 0 -
kannoneer: 31535095454363/comments/31535102158491
We have a lot of black and honey locust. Just have to be sure it is dry or you WILL have a chimney fire. If you have one of those outside furnaces this probably doesn't matter, but it does when your furnace is in the basement.Just out of curiosity, why would burning Locust before it is fully dry, cause a chimney fire? Excessive Creosote build up?
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Do not have gum or locust just oak so that is all that I burn. I own a tree farm that is mostly red and white oak that I thin annually. I have a logging winch for my tractor that I use to get trees to my landing. Then I cut and split and put the wood into my trailer to haul back to house for stacking. I try to let wood dry for at least 1 1/2 to 2 years before burning,
i have two two wood stoves. One is a Pacific Energy insert in living room.l I burn that when temp is around freezing, it keeps the house warm. When it gets really cold for an extended period I have a Harmon wood furnace hooked into to hot air system, it will heat the whole house and only needs to be tended every 8 hours.0 -
Burning locust before its fully seasoned causes excess creosote in the chimney. I have burned sweet gum, but find that it dries out very light and burn time is not real long. If I pack my stove at night with sweet gum, I wake up cold with the wood having burned up in the night. Pack it with oak or hickory and wake up with a good bed of coals and a warm house. The sweet gum when dry does light very easily and has something in it that sparks, pops and crackles quite a bit. My favorites are white oak, hickory, red oak and apple. I own some land in the mountains of Virginia and its covered with locust, but its very rare here in Eastern Virginia. My Dad burns a lot of ash. Some kind of disease is killing a bunch of ash trees in southwest Virginia, so Dad is utilizing it. 0 -
Do you think dead standing Locust would be good then?
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Dad cuts dead standing locust all the time. Very hard on the chain as the dead wood has cured and hardened. It could still have some moisture content, so you may want to season it some before burning it. It is the #1 choice of firewood for most people in Southwest Virginia. Dad sells firewood for extra cash, but he keeps all the locust for himself. His second favorite is wild cherry. Plentiful there, but not much of it here. Excellent firewood though. 0 -
The emerald ash borer is what is killing the ash trees. It is happening all over the country.
Absolutely wilting cheery leaves will kill stock. You have to be on the lookout for falling limbs or trees when cherry trees are close to your pasture.0 -
You may be interested in this from the Farmers Almanac:C&PDo you use firewood to heat your home? Here is a list of the best types of firewood to burn—sorted by high, medium, and low heat value—as well as a few important wood-burning tips.
What makes some types of firewood better for burning than others? It comes down to two factors: density and water content. The denser and drier the firewood, the better it will burn and the more heat it can produce.
Because of this, hardwoods, which tend to be denser, generally make for better firewood than softwoods.
Best Firewood: High Heat Value
1 cord = 200 to 250 gallons of fuel oil
- American beech
- Apple
- Ironwood
- Mesquite
- Red oak
- Shagbark hickory
- Sugar maple
- White ash
- White oak
- Yellow birch
Medium Heat Value
1 cord = 150 to 200 gallons of fuel oil
- American elm
- Black cherry
- Douglas fir
- Red maple
- Silver maple
- Tamarack
- White birch
Low Heat Value
1 cord = 100 to 150 gallons of fuel oil
- Aspen
- Cottonwood
- Hemlock
- Lodgepole pine
- Red alder
- Redwood
- Sitka spruce
- Western red cedar
- White pine
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I got a truck load of locust from the yard of my brother's girlfriend last summer.
This was dead standing locust and, the biggest locust tree I have ever cut, and I cut a lot of locust. About 22 inch diameter.
It was rough on the saw. Green wood cuts better than dry wood, and crummy firewood, such as pine, cuts easier than good firewood like locust. However this stuff is worth the trouble this is the best load of firewood I ever have gotten. I use an electric moisture meter, available from Lowes for 30 bucks. You need to split a stick that is at room temp. You want 17 percent or less.0 -
Alphebetic listing. How about the real deal?
I pretty much know what wood, burns at the highest BTU'S.
Bottom line, how much does the wood weigh = BTU's. The more dried wood weighs, the more the BTU's.
The heavier/denser it is, the better it is.
IMHO.
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Was just out enjoying the nice weather, (40° out, not spitting rain/snow.) splitting up some Red Oak, and Blackgum. Getting some inside for when it is not so nice out.
Do any of you all stack it around your Woodstove to facilitate drying/burning?
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Here is an easier to understand firewood chart. FIREWOOD BTU OF WESTERN HARDWOOD SPECIES
Species Million BTU's per Cord Pounds Per Cord
GreenPounds Per Cord
DryLive Oak 36.6 7870 4840 Eucalyptus 34.5 7320 4560 Manzanita 32.0 Pacific Madrone 30.9 6520 4086 Dogwood 30.4 6520 4025 Oregon White Oak 28.0 6290 3710 Tanoak 27.5 6070 3650 California Black Oak 27.4 5725 3625 Pepperwood (Myrtle) 26.1 5730 3450 Chinquapin 24.7 4720 3450 Bigleaf Maple 22.7 4940 3000 Red Alder 19.5 4100 2600 Quaking Aspen 18.0 3880 2400 Cottonwood 16.8 3475 2225 FIREWOOD BTU OF WESTERN SOFTWOOD SPECIES
Species Million BTU’s per Cord Pounds Per Cord
GreenPounds Per Cord
DryDouglas Fir 26.5 5050 3075 Western Juniper 26.4 5410 3050 Western Hemlock 24.4 5730 2830 Port Orford Cedar 23.4 4370 2700 Lodgepole Pine 22.3 4270 2580 Ponderosa Pine 21.7 4270 2520 Jeffery Pine 21.7 4270 2520 Sitka Spruce 21.7 4100 2520 White Fir 21.1 3190 2400 Red Fir 20.6 4040 2400 Incense Cedar 20.1 3880 2350 Coast Redwood 20.1 4040 2330 Grand Fir 20.1 3880 2330 Sugar Pine 19.6 3820 2270 Western White Pine Sequoia Redwood FIREWOOD BTU OF EASTERN HARDWOOD SPECIES
Inconsistency between charts may exist due to different laboratory variables
Species Million BTU’s per Cord Pounds Per Cord Dry Osage Orange 32.9 4728 Shagbark Hickory 27.7 4327 Eastern Hornbeam 27.1 4016 Black Birch 26.8 3890 Black Locust 26.8 3890 Blue Beech 26.8 3890 Ironwood 26.8 3890 Bitternut Hickory 26.5 3832 Honey Locust 26.5 4100 Apple 25.8 3712 Mulberry 25.7 4012 Beech 24.0 3757 Northern Red Oak 24.0 3757 Sugar Maple 24.0 3757 White Oak 24.0 3757 White Ash 23.6 3689 Yellow Birch 21.8 3150 Red Elm 21.6 3112 Hackberry 20.8 3247 Kentucky Coffeetree 20.8 3247 Gray Birch 20.3 3179 Paper Birch 20.3 3179 White Birch 20.2 3192 Black Walnut 20.0 3120 Cherry 20.0 3120 Green Ash 19.9 2880 Black Cherry 19.5 2880 American Elm 19.5 3052 White Elm 19.5 3052 Sycamore 19.1 2992 Black Ash 18.7 2924 Red Maple (Soft Maple) 18.1 2900 Boxelder 17.9 2797 Catalpa 15.9 2482 Aspen 14.7 2295 Butternut 14.5 2100 Willow 14.3 2236 Cottonwood 13.5 2108 American Basswood 13.5 2108
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When I was studying at Speed Engineering at University of Louisville a few (more than I want to think about years ago) I met some guys that had done a study of woodburning and creosote production.
Their final finding after burning cords of wood and weighing the creosote produced was simple: Creosote production is directly related to the amount of wood burned, not the type of wood burned.
When you think about it it makes sense: You have to burn more green wood to get the same amount of heat as burning dry wood.
They did say some types of wood produce more than others, but the amount of wood burned is the major factor in creosote production.
I'm currently burning whatever species the discarded pallets contain so I'm not worried.0 -
Makes no sense to me that Creosote production based on amount burned is major factor. Well maybe not in all cases. I use to help Grandpa haul pine slabs from sawmill and we cut up and feed to fire in fireplace. Real fast and heavy Creosote build up resulted in huge Chimney fire that neighbors could see for miles in night sky. Bellowed like a freight train and we all got out of house. It finally burned it self out. Scared the hell out of me as a ten year old. 0 -
Larch is the bees knees. 0
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