what wood is best to burn?

[andy-37]

To settle a heated dispute im having with a friend at the moment, could someone give me their oppinions as to what wood is the best to burn i.e oak, ash, and so on.

[Ed]

Depends what you want it for....???
For example... for cooking fires it depends what you are doing. For boiling stuff..... ie quick heat and alot of it, then you are looking at soft woods like pine... something with alot of resin will help with quick heat output, but it burns quickly.... for a roasting fire you want hard woods like ash, beech and oak... they burn for longer but not as hot.... and a nice heat for an oven.....

So what do you want your fire for?


Ed

[Paganwolf]

exactly what Ed says , hey Ed how come your not a super moderator

[Ed]

All mods are now super-mods ;-)
http://72.36.134.230/community/showgroups.php? scroll down a bit and you'll find the list.


Ed

[Paganwolf]

so how comes it sayssupermoderators under others but not yours? sorry off topic,im going off to thrash my self with nettles

[Gary]

Theres an old poem called - woods to burn - which covers the uses and burning properties of most common woods Andy you'd find that interesting!

[Ed]

I hadn't noticed..... the others were made super-mods yesterday and I guess their titles changed with it... I was alredy one but marked as a mod..... so still have my origional title.

Any way.... back on topic please
...... what other woods do you use for what?

Ed

[Ed]

Theres an old poem called - woods to burn - which covers the uses and burning properties of most common woods Andy you'd find that interesting!

Wasn't this posted on the forum some time ago?


Ed

[Abbe Osram]

To settle a heated dispute im having with a friend at the moment, could someone give me their oppinions as to what wood is the best to burn i.e oak, ash, and so on.

its not only a question what is the best wood but how is the wood.
Dead standing pine gives you fast a strong fire but no ember, in that way you have cold fire for the night. The typical feel of a hot face but cold butt. But fresh birch tree gives a lot of head and hot ember. I would start a fire with some dead dry pine and put some fresh birch on the fire. Then there is a question how you build the fire, for a all night fire I would choose two dead standing pine logs laying over each other. The size of the logs are my whole body lenght, in my case 185. So my two logs would be around 2 meters long, laying over each other. This type of fire burns very slowly between the logs and gives a lot of heat around your body and pretty low not only giving you a hot face and cold body.

cheers
Abbe

[Gary]

Wasn't this posted on the forum some time ago?


Ed

Yep by Moi but I cant find it - I have it on word somewhere and when I get time I might PM it but again its finding it!!

[Wayland]

Hickory makes the hottest coals in stoves when winter's bleak,
Apple wood like incense burning through the hall both fragrance seek,
Elm wood fires have little smoke and warm both serf and lord,
Oak logs split and dried this year make good next winters hoard,
Beech burns bright and fill a the room with warmth and dancing light,
Maple sweet, not white or red will burn throughout the night,
Birch logs cut, need ne'er be stored they blaze, then heat the pot,
Ash, straight grain and easy split the kettle sings, and stove is hot,
Poplar logs must need be dried lest smoke both then ensue,
Pine and fir midst showers of sparks burn fast and line the blackened flue

[Ed]

Cheers for that

Ed

[bombadil]

Yep....depends what you want it for, but ash is generally assumed to be the best, no? However, if you happen to be in a region where there is cork oak (Quercus suber, I can honestly say it's flippin' awesome. You can light a log as thick as your arm without need for kindling, and it burns long and slow after the initial roar of the bark burning. Not a great deal in dear old Blighty tho......

[shinobi]

Hiya,
Here's a rhyme for you to remember;

These hardwoods burn well and slowly,
Ash, beech, hawthorn oak and holly.
Softwoods flare up quick and fine,
Birch, fir, hazel, larch and pine.
Elm and willow you'll regret,
Chestnut green and sycamore wet

As well as a link to a document on firewood from the scouting association;Properties of firewood

I hope that helps?

Martin

[Keith_Beef]

Hiya,
Here's a rhyme for you to remember;

These hardwoods burn well and slowly,
Ash, beech, hawthorn oak and holly.
Softwoods flare up quick and fine,
Birch, fir, hazel, larch and pine.
Elm and willow you'll regret,
Chestnut green and sycamore wet

As well as a link to a document on firewood from the scouting association;Properties of firewood

I hope that helps?

Martin

I vaguely remember that from the post mentioned, and from my old Scout Handbook.

I think that some other lines are something like

cherry logs across the dogs will smell like flowers in bloom

Ash logs are best, burn them green or old,
Buy up all that come your way, they're worth their weight in gold.

I burn mostly oak with a bit of black locust and there are a few chunks of hornbeam from a tree that blew down in the big stom (end of December 1999).

The charcoal I buy for the barbecue is mostly beech and chestnut, so for cooking on embers, I suppose you could burn these as wood, maybe smother them with greener wood to make smoke to keep away insects during the summer evenings.

Try cutting a piece of chestnut, around 3" diameter, and warming the thing with the bark on. Then sniff the bark; no psychoactive ingredients, but a nice smell.

Keith.

[bombadil]

Nice one, Keith, that opened up another thread altogether......which wood, in your opinion, smells the best?
Personally, I love the smell of birch bark when you're starting a fire.....makes my mouth water at the thought....(precious little of that here, tho )
Otherwise, beech is beautiful, as is Lawsons cypress, although far too lively on the fire.
Incidentally, Fig is flippin' awful......
A good piece of Chestnut always seems such a waste to burn.......mmm....causes the loins to stir

[qweeg500]

My own favourite is apple. My father in law has an old orchard as part of his garden and a year or so ago one was brought down when a larger acacia fell on it after a storm.
The aroma when on an open fire is very nice.

Matt

[andy-37]

Thanks for all the information

[match]

One important thing to note is that all wood contains roughly the same amount of energy which is released when burned - around 7700 BTUs per pound when dry, and 5000 BTUs when wet.

However, this is of course a measure by weight, so denser woods such as oak and holly will give you more heat per log than lighter woods such as pine.

A different way to look at it is to think about how you want your wood to burn, that is how quickly it lights, how intensely it burns etc. Oak will burn as embers for hours, giving off less heat but for longer, and can be difficult to light. Pine will light and burn very quickly, giving off an intense heat, but then die down much more quickly.

So it all really depends on what you mean by your question

[Hoodoo]

WOOD HEAT
Beech wood 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.
But ash wood new or ash wood old
Is fit for a queen with a crown of gold.

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

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke.
Apple wood will scent your room
With an incense like perfume.
Oaken logs if dry and old
Keep away the winter cold.
But ash wood wet and ash wood dry
A king shall warm his slippers by.



Oak logs will warm you well,
If they're warm and dry.
Larch logs of pine wood smell
But sparks will fly.
Beech logs for Christmas time;
Yew logs heat well.
Scotch logs it's a crime
For anyone to sell.
Birch logs will burn too fast,
Chestnut scarce at all.
Hawthorn logs are good to last,
If cut in the fall.
Holly logs will burn like wax,
You should burn them green.
Elm logs like smouldering flax;
No flames to be seen.
Pear logs and apple logs,
They will scent your room.
Cherry logs across the dogs
Smell like flowers in bloom.
But ash logs all smooth and gray,
Burn them green or old,
Buy up all that come you way,
They're worth their weight in gold

[Spacemonkey]

Ah, you forgot Olive wood! Burns bright but long, and smells nice to boot. Lovely stuff, but not much of that here, either...

[Mutley]

I think soft dry wood is the best burner, but short lasting, after it picks up get some hard wood on, that will keep it going.

[R-Bowskill]

The best wood to burn is what you can get, On Mayday I went to a party and there was a lovely campfire made from Hornbeam, Lit up quite easy, very hot embers, flames to see by with each new log but if you're in a really big pine and spruce forest it could take over a day to get some ash or whatever you think would burn better. In that situation burn what's there rather than have a cold night and no warm food.

[Mutley]

Wouldn't the weather also effect whats the best wood for fire? Some might be increasingly hard to light if wet but others not?

[Moonraker]

There is a nice little guide produced by the Forestry Commission with some of details on wood burning (mostly for log burners but relevant to outdoors. There is an online version and a PDFversion to download of the original leaflet too. It is well illustrated.

Wood As Fuel

Good page with some rhymes andinfo on individual woods found in Britian here:

Properties of different Trees as Firewood

and more detailed info here:

Burning Wood

[Ed]

Fantastic Moonraker.... Excellent links


Ed

[Tony]

Yeah they are moonraker....the "Link master"

[Moonraker]

LOL Happy to share the results of too much time spent scouring the web for stuff. Just as well I have organised my files now so I can find the info quicker from past searches

[gunnix]

Reading these rimes I think it would be great to have some kind of cd or song book with clever songs like these. A song on different woods, a song on making an ember, a song on ..

Does it exist yet ?