Wood Lore not "woodlore"

[Lodian]

Just wondering about mahogany?

 

[john scrivy]

this is a really good reference which woods to burn ect very usefull thanks for the interesting tread

 

[dwardo]

Gorse is also a great burner and cooker

 

[Boon]

great post very helpfull. thanks.

 

[Mistwalker]

Thanks, another good property of Ash is that, at least with the younger ones over here, is that the younger ones put off so little smoke when burning. We used to burn that in our fire barrels on our boats when running our trott lines in the winter. The winds coming down the Chattahoochee river in the winter were darn cold and our hands would literaly start freezing after being submerged so we set 20 or 25 gallon steel drums with holes punched around the side down by the bottom rim on an area of thin rocks in the bottom of our boats and took our fire to work with us. We used ash because as we drove up and down the river the smoke coming back in our faces wasn't nearly as bad as with other woods.

 

[susi]

Birch: This has good heat output but burns quickly. The smell is also pleasant. It will burn unseasoned. Can cause gum deposits in chimney if used a lot. Rolled up pitch from bark makes a good firestarter and can be peeled from trees without damaging them.

Yup, and nice not to peel too much off a birch tree

 

[verloc]

aarrggghh there's only so much space for stuff in my head, something will have to give in order to try and remember the above - oooh there it goes "we need to finish the decorating on the front porch before Christmas" - wooosh and now there is space.

Porch? what porch?

great great posts.

 

[rivermom]

I love that song - I thought of it the minute I read the first line of the post, and was glad you'd included it! It's a great one for singing round the campfire - imparts some useful knowledge as well as being nice entertainment

Song? Whats the tune? Can anyone write music down, I would love to learn that one and teach it to the local kids.

 

[Intertidal]

Very interesting and useful thread. I'm glad its sticky. Thanks all who have contributed.

I recently took delivery of about 3 cubic metres of seasoned Beech logs for the woodburner. Previously I've had Ash and Oak, together with some Hazel that I was allowed to coppice from a friends land, but this was the first lot of Beech that I've had. First impressions - Jeez, these must have been some real gnarly trees, because the logs are nearly all weird twisted shapes, which makes for difficult stacking and even more interesting splitting. I've hit a few of the better ones with the 4.5lb axe on 'max' and got nowhere - the twisty grain seems to add immense strength.
However it burns beautifully - hot and long. At £80 for the lot delivered I think it was good value.

Intertidal

 

[dangerpie]

What great posts! Thanks all, just the kind of info a beginner like me is after!

Pete

 

[ganstey]

Enjoy folks- I've got it in pdf if anyone wants it

I'd love a copy if its still available.
G

 

[demographic]

Some more stuff about Ash.

Mythology and Folklore of the Ash
Yggdrasil, the World Tree in Viking mythology, grew on an island surrounded by the ocean, in the depths of which the World Serpent lay. This ash tree’s trunk reached up to the heavens, and its boughs spread out over all the countries of the Earth. Its roots reached down into the Underworld. A squirrel ran up and down the tree carrying messages from the serpent gnawing at the roots to the eagle in the canopy, and back. A deer fed on the ash leaves and from its antlers flowed the great rivers of the world. A magical goat grazed by the tree, and its udders dispensed not milk but mead for the warriors in Odin's Great Hall. The gods held their councils under the canopy of their guardian tree.


Odin, the foremost god of the Vikings, hung himself on Yggdrasil as a sacrificial ordeal, during which he lost an eye to ravens. Ultimately though, he was rewarded with insights and wisdom, notably knowledge of the system of the Runes. Both he and Thor, the god of thunder, were said to possess magical spears made of ash wood. Mortals’ spear shafts were also typically made of ash (as were bows, in the absence of yew, and arrow shafts). The words for ash and spear seem to be related in that a poetic Anglo-Saxon word for spear was aesc and the Norse word for ash was ask (influencing Highland place names such as Port Askaig). The Vikings were also referred to as the Aescling meaning ‘Men of Ash’.

Like the Vikings, the Gaels also thought of the ash tree (which they called uinsinn, pronounced ooshin) as protective. Of the five legendary guardian trees of Ireland, three were ash. Ash is also the second most popular tree growing beside Irish holy wells, and on the Isle of Man ash trees were said to protect the purity of springs. In England the ash is the commonest tree as a place name element after the thorn.


In British folklore the ash was credited with a range of protective and healing properties, most frequently related to child health. Newborn babies were popularly given a teaspoon of ash sap. Ailing children, especially those suffering with rupture or weak limbs, would be passed naked through a cleft in an ash tree or ash sapling, to cure them. The cleft was often specifically made for the purpose and bound together again after the ceremony to heal over as the child also healed. Some folklore then suggested an intimate bond between the welfare and fate of the now related tree and person, with harm to the tree being reflected in the healed person’s life, leading people to become understandably protective of ‘their’ ash tree.

Though there does not appear to be any religious reason why this tree should be associated with Ash Wednesday, the mere association of the words is obvious, and in parts of England children used to bring a twig of black-budded ash to school on this day. Any child who failed to remember this risked having his or her feet stomped on by other ash-twig-bearing children!

Ash wood is very strong, tough and elastic, and it is said that a joint of ash will bear more weight than any other wood. Chariot and coach axles were made of ash as were oars, tool handles and the weaponry already mentioned. The tree coppices well, giving strong straight poles for bean poles after five years or oars after twenty. Ash coppice stools seem to be able to go on producing poles almost indefinitely and an eighteen-foot-diameter stool in Suffolk has been estimated to be over a thousand years old. The density of the wood also makes it an ideal fuel, as is reflected in its Latin species name Fraxinus meaning firelight. One of the traditional woods used as the yule log was ash. In some areas the ‘log’ was actually a faggot, that is a tightly bound bundle of coppiced ash rods. To this day ash is the most highly valued firewood, burning for a long time with an intense heat, whether seasoned or green.

And more HERE

 

[steven andrews]

Gorse is also a great burner and cooker

Tell me about it!..


Gorse is a superb fuel for the Kelly Kettle. It burns hot and leaves very little ash.

 

[smoggy]

I shall be returning to this post often for reference....

You have unfortunately omited what I consider to be the most important wood and one which I use as often as possible......FREE wood! LOL

Smoggy.

 

[Le Loup]

Moisture in the wood creates creosote, not the sap. The sap never leaves the wood. Season wood for at least a year and make sure it is dry if used in an indoor fire.
Le Loup

 

[Asa Samuel]

Tell me about it!..


Gorse is a superb fuel for the Kelly Kettle. It burns hot and leaves very little ash.

That's handy to know! Got plenty of gorse around here

 

[maddave]

Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year.
Chestnut's only good, they say,
If for long it's laid away.
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 a churchyard mold,
E ' en the very flames are cold.
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke.
Apple wood will scent your room
With an incense like perfume.
Oak and maple, if dry and old,
Keep away the winter cold.
But Ash wood wet or Ash wood dry,
A king shall warm his slippers by.

 

[shogun]

excellent...post...thanx..allan

 

[roglet123]

Enjoy folks- I've got it in pdf if anyone wants it


id love it if its still going!

 

[hog]

Yes Gorse is a scourge here on the Island, my Wife tells me they used to have an anual burn but that no longer happens and as a result it has spread like...well wild fire.