Site search
sponsored by
News
ENLARGE
Got your firewood? Cutting and splitting wood a year ahead of burning is sufficient for dry, seasoned, efficient burning wood. But if you're going to burn unsplit material (scrub oak or madrone, for example), a year will not be sufficient time to fully “cure” your wood.
What kind of wood? In simplest terms: If you can cut it and split it, you can burn it. We're not talking desirability here, I'm just saying you can burn any tree available. Let's take a look at some common species utilized for firewood in the area.
Douglas-fir: It has medium heating values, moderate amounts of ash, and is probably the best of the conifers. Better than some hardwoods. A broadly misrepresented belief involves splitting: Some second-growth is extremely difficult, so don't be fooled into thinking you'll have an easy time of it. You might save time and energy by splitting the wood with your saw rather than beating it with a mall.
Red alder: Seasoned alder burns warm, but way too quickly, and wet alder puts out lots of ash and little heat. You can cut a lot of alder in a hurry — it cuts easy and splits even easier.
Oak: Oak is hard to beat. Holds a fire, doesn't spark, and much of the oak you encounter actually splits moderately well. If not adequately seasoned, it won't put out much heat and you'll be shoveling out the ash as fast as you put in the wood. And remember, your oak may have originated from another area where oak ... poison-oak … resides. And the resin from this pernicious plant stays on the wood for years!
Ash: You can burn ash wet or dry and it will produce a decent fire. However, they don't call it ash for nothing. Most ash cuts and splits relatively well. Just be sure to do it when green.
Maple: Maple is close to the quality of ash and has similar cutting and splitting characteristics. It burns slightly cleaner, creates more sparks, and doesn't heat quite as well. Personally, I don't think maple is of the quality some proclaim, but there is a lot of subjectivity when evaluating firewood.
Madrone: It has to be dry/seasoned wood, but when allowed to cure, madrone is No. 1. There is very little bark, excellent coaling properties, and limited ash accumulation. It is not always the case, but madrone has a relatively straight grain and can be processed nearly as easy as some of the lesser density hardwoods. Spendy, but worth it.
With today's firewood more than $150 per cord, burning for economic reasons is a specious argument, but if you have access and enjoy the work, then go for it. With more homes utilizing fireplaces and burning for aesthetic purposes, it is even more important to have clean, well-seasoned wood. Fireplaces will not accommodate unseasoned wood. They don't draft like a woodstove, necessitating dry wood if you want to experience that pleasant, even-burning fire. If properly processed, here's nothing like wood heat.
Steve Bowers is the Forestry Extension agent for OSU Extension Service of Douglas County. He can be reached by e-mail at steve.bowers@oregonstate.edu or by phone at 672-4461. More information on firewood values can be found on the OSU Extension Service Forestry Web page at http://extension.oregonstate.edu/douglas/forestry.
What kind of wood? In simplest terms: If you can cut it and split it, you can burn it. We're not talking desirability here, I'm just saying you can burn any tree available. Let's take a look at some common species utilized for firewood in the area.
Douglas-fir: It has medium heating values, moderate amounts of ash, and is probably the best of the conifers. Better than some hardwoods. A broadly misrepresented belief involves splitting: Some second-growth is extremely difficult, so don't be fooled into thinking you'll have an easy time of it. You might save time and energy by splitting the wood with your saw rather than beating it with a mall.
Red alder: Seasoned alder burns warm, but way too quickly, and wet alder puts out lots of ash and little heat. You can cut a lot of alder in a hurry — it cuts easy and splits even easier.
Oak: Oak is hard to beat. Holds a fire, doesn't spark, and much of the oak you encounter actually splits moderately well. If not adequately seasoned, it won't put out much heat and you'll be shoveling out the ash as fast as you put in the wood. And remember, your oak may have originated from another area where oak ... poison-oak … resides. And the resin from this pernicious plant stays on the wood for years!
Ash: You can burn ash wet or dry and it will produce a decent fire. However, they don't call it ash for nothing. Most ash cuts and splits relatively well. Just be sure to do it when green.
Maple: Maple is close to the quality of ash and has similar cutting and splitting characteristics. It burns slightly cleaner, creates more sparks, and doesn't heat quite as well. Personally, I don't think maple is of the quality some proclaim, but there is a lot of subjectivity when evaluating firewood.
Madrone: It has to be dry/seasoned wood, but when allowed to cure, madrone is No. 1. There is very little bark, excellent coaling properties, and limited ash accumulation. It is not always the case, but madrone has a relatively straight grain and can be processed nearly as easy as some of the lesser density hardwoods. Spendy, but worth it.
With today's firewood more than $150 per cord, burning for economic reasons is a specious argument, but if you have access and enjoy the work, then go for it. With more homes utilizing fireplaces and burning for aesthetic purposes, it is even more important to have clean, well-seasoned wood. Fireplaces will not accommodate unseasoned wood. They don't draft like a woodstove, necessitating dry wood if you want to experience that pleasant, even-burning fire. If properly processed, here's nothing like wood heat.
Steve Bowers is the Forestry Extension agent for OSU Extension Service of Douglas County. He can be reached by e-mail at steve.bowers@oregonstate.edu or by phone at 672-4461. More information on firewood values can be found on the OSU Extension Service Forestry Web page at http://extension.oregonstate.edu/douglas/forestry.
