White Ash, Wet or Dry

I'll be damned! Having burned or try to burn wet wood, I was HIGHLY skeptical of the claims in the firewood poem. Fortunately I was able to put it to a scientific test! I had just split a half cord of White Ash a day earlier (Saturday 2/21) and I grabbed a piece from the pile. Did it burn, yes! Don't get me wrong, it still emitted some moisture, but it wasn't like burning a piece of wet oak. It took to the flame almost as good as my dry wood. I'm really excited about next Winter, this Ash should burn very nicely dry.

I'll take some high resolution shots of not only the tree but also the split wood, soon.

Firewood Poem

Source unknown:

Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut's only good they say,
If for logs 'tis laid away.
Make a fire of Elder tree,
Death within your house will be;
But ash new or ash old,
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold.

Birch and fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last,
it is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold
But Ash green or Ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown.

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke,
Apple wood will scent your room
Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom
Oaken logs, if dry and old
keep away the winter's cold
But Ash wet or Ash dry
a king shall warm his slippers by.

Firewood BTU/Energy Ratings

Wood Type	BTU Low	BTU High nge
Osage Orange (Hedge)	32,900
Rock Elm	32,000
Shagbark Hickory	27,700	30,600
White Oak	25,700	30,600
Bitternut Hickory	26,700	29,200
Sugar Maple	24,000	29,000
Beech	24,000	27,800
Red Oak	24,000	27,300
Eastern Hornbeam	27,300
Ironwood	27,100
Beech, Blue	26,800
Birch, Black	26,800
Locust, Black	26,800
Locust, Honey	26,700
Apple	26,500
Yellow Birch	23,600	26,200
Mulberry	25,800
Red Elm	21,800	25,400
White Ash	23,600	25,000
White Elm	19,500	24,500
Red Maple	18,700	24,000
Tamarack	20,800	24,000
Beech, High	24,000
Black Cherry	19,900	23,500
White Birch	20,300	23,400
Black Ash	19,100	22,600
Green Ash	19,900	22,100
Juniper, Rocky Mtn	21,800
Silver Maple	21,700
Coffeetree, Kentucky	21,600
Hackberry	20,800
Birch, Gray	20,300
Birch, Paper	20,300
Walnut, Black	20,200
Cherry	20,000
Elm, American	19,500
Sycamore	19,500
Manitoba Maple	19,300
Large Tooth Aspen	18,200
Fir, Douglas	18,100
Hemlock	15,900	17,900
Boxelder	17,900
Trembling Aspen	17,700
Butternut	14,500	17,400
Balsam Poplar	17,260
Alder, Red	17,200
White Pine	14,300	17100
Pine, Jack	17,100
Pine, Norway	17,100
Pine, Pitch	17,100
Basswood	13,800	17000
Catalpa	16,400
White Cedar	12,200	16300
White Spruce	14,500	16200
Spruce, Black	15,900
Balsam Fir	15,500
Pine, Ponderosa	15,200
Aspen	14,700
Butternut	14,500
Willow	14,500
Fir, Concolor (White)	14,100
Buckeye, Ohio	13,800
Cottonwood	13,500

Firewood Energy/BTU by Type

As I mentioned in the last post, all firewood is not created equal. The following information was compiled through searches across the web. Thanks to the Burner Boys and ChimneySweepOnline for the BTU ratings. There's a large BTU chasm between some varietals, I guess a lot depends on where the tests were done.

In future posts I'll start to post photos both split and unsplit so you can identify the firewood easier. Whether you're finding your wood for free or purchasing it, you should know what you're burning.

Firewood Part 2

As I mentioned in the previous post, if you have to buy your firewood, you won't save as much on home heating. If you do find yourself purchasing some firewood, here's some helpful hints:

1. A true cord of firewood is 4ft H x 4ft D x 8ft L. When shopping firewood make sure you clarify that you want a true cord, not a "face" cord which is only 4ft H x 8ft L and only as deep the first row of firewood.

2. Buying firewood is a very frustrating process. It's literally the wild wild west of commerce. Even after specifying a "true cord" you'll likely be short changed just the same. I don't want to demonize ALL firewood salesmen, but I've never received a full, measured cord. Just another reason to find your OWN firewood if you can.

3. Not all wood is created equal. Different woods put off different amounts of heat/energy. Paying $200 for a full cord of Oak (great wood, high BTU output) vs. a full cord of pine (highly recommended that you don't burn in your wood stove) is completely different. Wood will be listed as Mixed, Mixed Hardwood, All Oak, etc. Mixed could very well include softwoods, which isn't desirable. This is one point I hope to address further in future posts. I'm still learning how to identify wood in the pile.

4. You can likely buy wood from your local lawn and garden store, but you will pay a premium. Usually the best place to start is contacting local tree trimmers. You can find wood salesmen on Craigslist but be careful and ask lots of questions. Show them you're knowledgeable and make crystal clear you will not be ripped off.

Firewood Part 1

I recently told a friend, heating your home with wood heat is a full time job. It's often backbreaking, sweaty and dirty, but it's very rewarding. A lot of the work is preparation, splitting, stacking, etc. Below is one of many observations after heating my home with wood heat for three years:

Observation 1: If you are buying your firewood, your energy savings are going to be greatly marginalized. True 4x4x8 firewood cords will cost you in the range of $125-$200. When you're heating your house with firewood, you will burn through a cord SHOCKINGLY fast. Depending on how fast your home loses heat, you might find that you'll spend as much on wood as you would on gas or electric. To truly realize home energy savings on firewood, you need to get it for free. You can do this several ways...

1. Finding wood is pretty easy if you're looking for it. Typically during the Spring, trees are being felled because of disease, age, damage, etc. Some tree trimmers will leave the wood on the curb, free for the taking. You can find 90% of your wood this way, but be quick, there are others just like you looking for the wood too!
   
2. I've never done this, but I've been told some local forests will sell yearly permits for $10-$50 which allow you to take dead trees. You are responsible for sawing and hauling the wood out.
3. Did you know some municipal dumps have a LARGE amount of green waste? Typically tree limbs, branches and sometimes good chunks of wood. Local municipalities dump the wood from city owned trees. It's a shame really, particularly in this economy, they could split and season the wood themselves and sell it back to citizens at a discount...
   

In the beginning...

Before there was electric or natural gas heating, there was wood heat. Since the dawn of man we've used fires and wood heat to not only keep us warm but also cook our food. There's something very elemental and soothing about a roaring fire...

There are millions of wood stoves in operation across the US and another million + being sold every year. With home heating costs through the roof it's a great way to cut down on your costs. Being fairly new to wood heat though, I was SHOCKED at the lack of information on the internet, particularly relating to wood types and firewood. Buying and installing a wood stove is the EASY part, but there is no one firewood information source (that I've found). For example, which firewood types should you burn, which create more heat, which are readily available in your locale, where do you buy firewood, how do you split firewood, etc. Hopefully this blog resource with help!