If it's cold where you live, what are you heating with and what is it costing?

[5030]

Last year I took down a huge Popple tree in the front yard and gave the wood away because I don't burn wood and my buddy that takes all my wood, I had to listen to him belly ache about how hard it was to split. He sells it to the 3 local campgrounds near here. He's retired and it supplements his Social Security. I have a huge pile of Mulberry for him presently.

 

[LD1]

Some woods are just always hard to split. Elm is one of those woods.

Others always seem easy. Ash isnt bad, Red oak is cake walk, and cherry aint bad either.

But the rest, like poplar mentioned, and maple, beach, walnut, etc it all depends on how the tree grew IMO.

A lone standing yard tree, or a tree in a fencerow that is subjected to constant bending and twisting from wind, and has lots of branches....absolutly miserable splitting stuff. But same species growing in a woods where they are largely protected from constant winds.....lots easier to split.

 

[jjeff]

Some woods are just always hard to split. Elm is one of those woods.

Others always seem easy. Ash isnt bad, Red oak is cake walk, and cherry aint bad either.

But the rest, like poplar mentioned, and maple, beach, walnut, etc it all depends on how the tree grew IMO.

A lone standing yard tree, or a tree in a fencerow that is subjected to constant bending and twisting from wind, and has lots of branches....absolutly miserable splitting stuff. But same species growing in a woods where they are largely protected from constant winds.....lots easier to split.

Never looked at bending from wind making it hard to split, for me I believed and still do think the age of the tree and how tight the rings are related to ease of splitting I do think the tighter the rings the longer
and hotter it burns.

 

[Oaktree]

In recent years Poplar has enjoyed a resurrection as a firewood form small land owners looking for a renewable heat source.
I don't recall the exact acreage required but I believe it was less then 5 acres of Poplar could provide perpetual firewood
for a homeowner. If Poplar is planted and managed allowed to reach 8-12 stumpage cut split and dryed although it is a light wood when dried the btu's per ton are the same as any wood. After the first cut has been done the tree is allowed to repopulate from the stumps triming
out all the suckers except one that come up the resulting tree grows quite rapidly as it is feeding from the root structure already in place
and succeeding cuttings can be harvested much faster then waiting for new production.

You must have a different kind of poplar out your way. What we have is pretty worthless as firewood...very wet when green, and doesn't even burn very well dry, kind of smolders and puts out no heat.
Sometimes they'll put out suckers when you cut one down, but they're not very persistent. Cut 'em off once and it's done, unlike say a maple that'll keep putting them out.

 

[ovrszd]

There is a lot of firewood burnt around here and a huge variety of wood to choose from.
Growing up when the large Elm were dying it was a major source of firewood. Standing dead Elm
was kind of self seasoning when the bark started falling off it could be dropped, split (sometimes with great effort)
and burnt and provided good heat. Dry seasoned Maple was good, the various fruit trees had high heat content but a
bunch of work because of all the small brush crap to trim out. White Birch, Poplar, Pines and Hemlock were kindling and
small quick hot fires.
Standing dead Elm that has lost the bark is still a good quick source of firewood, all seasoned and ready to go.
That was growing up with just wood heat and it lucky a load of coal for cold nights.

In recent years Poplar has enjoyed a resurrection as a firewood form small land owners looking for a renewable heat source.
I don't recall the exact acreage required but I believe it was less then 5 acres of Poplar could provide perpetual firewood
for a homeowner. If Poplar is planted and managed allowed to reach 8-12 stumpage cut split and dryed although it is a light wood when dried the btu's per ton are the same as any wood. After the first cut has been done the tree is allowed to repopulate from the stumps triming
out all the suckers except one that come up the resulting tree grows quite rapidly as it is feeding from the root structure already in place
and succeeding cuttings can be harvested much faster then waiting for new production.

This is a classic reminder of what we as members should always consider. Location. Poplar trees here won't even be cut up for firewood. You'll burn more BTUs cutting it than it will produce burning it.

 

[Jstpssng]

My preference. #1 shell bark hickory. #2 honey locust. #3 mulberry. #4 orange hedge. #5 oak.

There are 10 varieties of oak in Missouri. I don't know them by name. I have 5 varieties that I know of in my timbers. I only harvest oak when they die or storm damaged. I've never tried to count them. So I'll guess I have 60 oak trees that are 100+ years old, trunk diameter 30" or more.

With those choices, I don't blame you for turning your nose up at maple. Any one of them have more BTUs than our best maple, which is sugar maple. The most common here is red maple, which has about the same amount of heat as white birch. I won't burn either of the last two.

It's too darned warm tonight for the wood stove, so I'm burning electricity. Funny thing, even though the thermostat is set for 70 it's still cold. There's nothing like the steady heat of a wood stove.

 

[CalG]

All tree species are very close in BTU output "BY THE TON".
DRY

Softwood holds an overall advantage.

But there is more to a good fuel than just heat.

 

[ovrszd]

With those choices, I don't blame you for turning your nose up at maple. Any one of them have more BTUs than our best maple, which is sugar maple. The most common here is red maple, which has about the same amount of heat as white birch. I won't burn either of the last two.

It's too darned warm tonight for the wood stove, so I'm burning electricity. Funny thing, even though the thermostat is set for 70 it's still cold. There's nothing like the steady heat of a wood stove.

When I heated my shop with wood and my house was elec baseboard I'd spend the day in the shop and come in the house for supper and be cold..... course the shop temp was probly 80F...

 

[JasperFrank]

I recently checked some of the local cord prices, Mid-western Oregon, and was a bit shocked at the pricing. For me, wood stove fuel has always been free, or nearly free. I'm not picky about what I burn. I'm within 10 miles of any national forest "cold deck" they have set out for residential use. And the permit fees have been waived recently, due to the local forest fires, and 6 cords can be had for free. Or even more, if you want to cheat. Its right now, an honor system.
Yet, on the local internet boards and Craig's List, I'm seeing $275 per cord of Doug Fir. This is just silly: Its just silly to me.
If you have the space to store wood, the mills here, beg you to come and get all their waste wood off the lot, during the summer.

 

[stumblinhorse]

A gallon of propane for me is like a 1/2 gallon at sea level.

I like the idea of waiving fees for fire mitigation on public land. Wish they did that here. It is not a big fee but it would help.