Whatcha burnin'?

[the westspartan]

Winter finally came to our hill for a few days. It went bellow 0 for the first time this winter last night. We are burning a mix right now, ash and walnut while were awake and black locust and osage when we go to bed. Last night never got bellow 65 or so in the house and there was a nice bed of coals in the morning that woke right up with some dry ash wood thrown on it...perfect!

Today its supposed to get back up to 40 degrees! It's easier to control the temperature in the house when it is ripping cold outside.

 

[BloodOnTheIce]

I burn whatever is on top of the pile, but mainly chestnut, walnut and some
left over oak.

The stove I have now is mammoth 32" x 24" 24" and I only have to load it 2 times
a day.

 

[MacLaren]

At my dads we mainly oak (white and red) and a lot of locust. We mainly use it for the fireplace though.

 

[DSS]

I get most of mine from a tree service for free, so I burn whatever. Birch, rock maple, spruce, ash, poplar, elm, you name it. It's been really warm here. I think this morning was the coldest yet, 6 degrees F.

 

[Gink]

If I had the setup you have Eric I wouldn't be picky at all. Those outdoor units aren't racist at all! Now my wood stove it about as racist as it gets It only likes Red Elm and Hickory, anything else is a inferior race.

 

[stihl sawing]

Red oak mostly, Have some cherry mixed in every now and then.

 

[WKEND LUMBERJAK]

I'm using up some hackberry, walnut, and some cherry. have oak and osage orange for when the weather gets cold. Pretty warm winter so far.

 

[Special Ed]

It was difficult for me to come to terms with this, but jack pine is the absolute best fuel for my Central Boiler. I have a very mixed selection, as I get mine from a tree service too. I have red and white oak, spruce, white and red pine, soft and hard maple, poplar, and even some huge rounds of willow. Jack pine lasts the longest, and heats the quickest by far. I have never been able to keep it lit in any kind of stove or firepit, but this boiler thrives on it. I figure it is the way the pitch builds up during idle time. If I fill the stove with oak, it is empty in 12 hours. Fill it with Jack, and when you open the door 12 hours later, you better stand the f@ck back, or you'll lose some hair.

 

[the westspartan]

Pine has it's place for sure. Even in my stove I burn a little white pine every so often mixed in with the other stuff. We live in the middle of the woods (literally) and there is a fair amount of standing dead pine. It is easy to start and burns just right to take the chill off on those fall and spring mornings that you don't want a fire going all day or to get the good stuff going. I am not picky at all, most of my stuff is scavenged so I take what I can get. We heat with nothing but wood and we have yet to pay a dime for it so far!

 

[Chainsawwhisperer]

The first few months of Winter I was using mostly ash & maple...real nice straight clean stuff. Now I seem to be into elm...not my favorite, It's a P.I.T.A to split, never seems to split straight & and takes forever to dry. At the end of the pile is more maple and ash, but that was split in the late Summer...not totally dry yet.
At the rate this Winter is going here in NY, I'll have a bunch of wood left for next year.

 

[jrepairsk70e]

started the season with some maple and ash ,mostly left overs from last year mixed in with all the splitter scraps/chunks/knots. the stack im into now is mostly red oak and hickory ,there was a noticeable increase in heat output and burn time . jk

 

[BloodOnTheIce]

Since the house has completely electric heating, I try and run the stove as much as possible.
And going from a small cast iron stove that would fit inside the firebox on my new stove has made a
HUGE difference in the electric bill.

 

[Spike60]

Right now, almost all oak. Both red and white. Early part of the season was a lot of cherry and maple. That might seem logically thought out, but it was really just the order in which things were stacked. :) Like Jimmy said, there is a welcome improvement in burn time with the oak.

I've been doing a little splitting and stacking the past few mornings. As some of you who have been here recently have seen, the amount of wood I have blocked up far exceeds the capacity of my woodshed. (which is 5 cords). So, I'm returning somewhat to my pre-woodshed days by stacking wood between trees and I also made a couple of face cord racks with those "jiffy-joints". Yeah, not as good as the shed, but the more wood I get split and off the ground the better.

 

[NORMZILLA44]

Black oak, live oak, pepperwood/Ca bay laurel. Madrone and Eaucalyptus. Tell ya what the Eaucalyptus, and Madrone will spoil ya.

 

[WoodChuck'r]

Usually in the fall/spring I burn silver maple doesn't last too long which is good for warmer weather burning. I've got quite a bit of it and it has it's place. In the colder months I stick to red oak, white oak, locust, ash, hophornbeam, apple, hickory, and cherry.....

 

[BloodOnTheIce]

Since it's been warm I've been burning cookies, mainly basswood.

 

[jrepairsk70e]

Iam into the good stuff now ,oaks,hickory ,locust seasoned 1.5 years ,burns hot hot hot ,been throwing in a partially seasoned split to extend the burn time . my propane furnace hasnt run more than 2hrs in 24 for quite some time

 

[Dh 1984]

started the season with some maple and ash ,mostly left overs from last year mixed in with all the splitter scraps/chunks/knots. the stack im into now is mostly red oak and hickory ,there was a noticeable increase in heat output and burn time . jk

same here i mostly cut red and white oak. but if i see a hickory that's been blowed down i'll cut it up as well and add it to the fire wood stacks.

 

[jrepairsk70e]

you musta been reading some old threads to bring this one back to the top of the heap :bananatrance:started burnin on the cooler nights lately ,just chunks /knots and scraps ,not touchin the good stuff yet . relighting each eve ,lotsa kindling prep now :woowoo:

 

[WoodChuck'r]

you musta been reading some old threads to bring this one back to the top of the heap

Yes a new thread would have made more sense! :yup: