Article: Burning the right wood

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Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
Good one Tony, it's a lost art to many, just a case of burn whatever is to hand.
One thing though on holly. Personally I wouldn't cut & burn it 'cause I'm a superstitious old wood cutter, but always believed it to burn very hot, so hot in fact that it was used in iron production.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
 
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Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
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McBride, BC
Maybe the summary applies to round wood. I suppose that some round wood fires are more easily controlled than others.
The observations seem rather subjective to me.

The issue of heat units for mass burned has been studied to death here by the Council for Forest Industries .
Douglas Fir is even better than Spruce and they are both superior to hardwoods.
One kg of spruce occupies a much greater volume than 1kg of walnut, we all know that.
Squish all the air out of each of them.
That's essentially what my wood pellets are: very dry and highly compressed spruce & pine.
Just finished ton #2 and about 6 bags into ton #3.
 
Thanks Tony!

This is always worth a revisit. I'm constantly coming across 'new' firewood like Acacia or Hazel and thinking: "Now what did that poem say again?..."

Here in France, Hornbeam (or 'Charme' in French) is regarded as the most calorific and Acacia is prized in wood ovens because of its aroma - the original (biblical) incense apparently.
 

fenrir

Member
Dec 12, 2014
32
0
Austria
Based on scandinavian research, the content of energy per kg of wood is identical, pretty much regardless of the kind of wood (with the exception from birch bark and birch twigs). It's the density between different kinds of woods that do differ. For those interested, feel free to read in more detail: "Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way"

However, with respect to 'burning fast and slow', there are some interesting aspects described in the book that mimic the aspects described above. For that very reason, it's recommend do make fire 'top to bottom', to make sure wood-gas is effectively used and not simply evaporated.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
I agree that there is no profound difference in heat release for kg burned, soft/hard woods.
The superlative difference appears to be the available and flammable resin which does not exist in hardwoods.
I'll go with Forintek, our national research agency, The Pellet Research Association of Canada and the COFI research.
They appear to have done enough to demonstrate the bioenergy values to the world.

But the difference is enough, when combined with price for scandanavian countries to buy unit trains
which are a mile long, of wood pellets, made in British Columbia. Then railed all the way to out to the east coast.

We, in BC, have 18,000,000 ha standing dead pine to sell you.
Stay warm.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Brits often scratch their heads at the sheer volume of firewood that is deemed necessary in books by the North Americans for overnight.
Mors Kochanski came to the Moot, and we were burning oak and ash, etc., and he commented then that he understood why we were puzzled. Hardwoods burn for very much longer than the pine does. We need a fraction of the timber for fuel.

Just as well really in a large population/small landmass :)

M
 

weekender

Full Member
Feb 26, 2006
1,814
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54
Cambridge
Good article, I had heard that Elder was dodgy to cook over as there was something in it that was not good for you, other then that I don't know what wrong with it. Didn't know that about poplar which is a shame as I have loads of it I was going to burn on my open fire in the living room!!! 😉


Sent from somewhere in a galaxy far far away...
 

Palaeolite

Member
Jan 13, 2016
20
0
West Berks
Hornbeam produces the best charcoal, if you can get hold of enough and sell it, restaurants that use charcoal will pay a premium for it.

I find hazel to be a remarkably reliable firewood. I know in Scandinavia they love birch because it grows so well, and I think hazel is quite comparative. It's surprisingly dense and produces both great kindling (its fibrous nature means it catches fire quickly), small (the coals of hazel I find hold together well provided a good bed of hot embers rather than turning to ash and being suffocated by other ash) and large, though large hazel can be hard to come by since so much of Britain's hazel, probably the vast majority, was coppiced and so maidens are rare.

As far ash burning green... well it burns acceptably, I find, but only just. It does not burn well, albeit a lot better than other wood burning green (which will rarely even take) but still, I would avoid burning ash green if I could help it. We have split ash that was seasoned for a year in six inch lengths and it is still not as good as the oak seasoned for a year and then split. That said, it was spalted so I think the fungus attack will be permanently holding moisture and never come true.

Hawthorn is a very underrated wood for firewood I find and blazes insanely hot!

I burnt a large amount of laurel, cherry laurel, and it didn't burn with a flame for long, so maybe we are talking about different laurels (since there are many called laurel, and are scattered over various genera). However I would add that whilst cherry laurel doesn't burn with a flame, it burns HOT and it burns LONG. With no added wood, an outdoor pit was simmering away into the night, bright red, and the wife and I could stand around in the October night air in front of it. However, it is ill-advised to burn this indoors due to risk of accumulating toxins, which are negligible if outdoors.

I can't tell what "Thorn" relates to, since there is already black and haw in the list. Would it be possible to at least get Genus names in here?
 
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Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
A wood that surprised me and became a staple fuel in my woodburning kitchen range at the time was rhododendron. We were clearing swathes of it from our district so I thought I'd experiment. The wood has some turpentine oils like a softwood and burns well with little seasoning, burning hot and for a reasonable amount of time due to its dense nature and leaving little ash.
Luckily the stuff we were clearing was of a good age so were burning as roundwood, this meant little splitting but more saw use... Luckily in order to pile it in the back of the landie & trailer we tended to saw it into handy lenghts anyway.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
 

ged

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jul 16, 2009
4,976
13
In the woods if possible.
Tony, I'd add to the 'Larch' notes that hot embers from larch fly everywhere on the wind and burn holes in groundsheets and stuff like that.

Don't ask me how I found that out, but visit Britton Wood sometime. :)
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Burn what's cost effective. Look at the firewood in my avatar.
You can't see even 1/2 of that log. That was free.

The Scandanavians are smart enough to buy boat-loads of conifer pellets from BC.
Both for domestic and industrial heat.

Winter home heating is unavoidable here. I expect to burn my annual average
of 10,000lbs before mid-May.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,293
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
The Scandinavians also buy lots of Birch from Russia. Used in stoves.

They buy pellets from you because they use their own to make paper, pulp and timber from.
Better profit in that.

I am surprised you sell it so cheaply!

Or is it some kind if a trade deal? We send you Ikea Furniture and Åhus Absolut vodka and you send pellets?
In fact, son texted me yesterday and asked if Sweden and Canada had a trade deal, as Absolut was so affordable!
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
We have 18,000,000 ha bug-killed pine in British Columbia that we have not pulverized yet.
It is not worth the price of a faller and gas for their power saw to cut it down.
The pellet people will get to it, eventually. Don't forget how big this place is.
The wood is essentially free. The pellet plants generate their own electrical needs from it as well.
The Scandanavian countries are too small to create the annual biomass needed.
Here, it's just standing there. If you got the urge, go chop some up for a camp fire.

I use pellets which are made about 300km west of here. Probably 30-50 other homes as well.
I have no appetite whatsoever to buy logs or use round wood. Yes, I have power saws.
The pellets are clean, neat and tidy. Almost no ash and approx 1/2 the price of the oil for my central heating system.

It's worth noting that the best long-fiber, bleached wood pulp comes out of the 3 mills in Prince George, BC.
Many countries use some as an additive in their paper-making to ensure adequate dimensional stability.
Modern printing presses run with paper speeds like 100+ kph so web strength is important.
You've seen this: newsprint tears straight in one direction but not the other.
 

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