In going through and sorting some of my piles and piles of info that I have accumulated over the years I found this. Maybe it will help somebody who is planning on using wood for fuel -

Characteristics of Wood for Fuel:

Listed by name of wood, ease of splitting, ease of starting, smokiness, sparking, and quality of the coals you get.

Apple - hard,hard,no,few,excellent Ash - medium,fair,no,few,good Beech - hard,hard,no,few,excellent Birch - medium,easy,no,moderate,good Cedar - easy,easy,yes,many,poor cherry - medium,hard,no,few,excellent cottonwood - easy,easy,medium,moderate,good elm - hard,fair,medium,few,good Hemlock - easy,easy,medium,many,poor Hickory - medium,fair,no,moderate,excellent Locust - hard,hard,no,few,excellent Maple - medium,hard,no,few,excellent Oak - hard,hard,no,few,excellent Pine - easy,easy,medium,moderate,fair-poor Poplar - easy,easy,medium,moderate,fair Spruce - medium,easy,yes,many,poor Sycamore - medium,fair,medium,few,good Tamarack - easy,easy,medium,moderate,good Walnut - medium,fair,no,few,good Willow - medium,fair,no,moderate,poor

I will post other "goodies" as I come across them. I have really got a lot of info around here! I guess moving has it's good points after all...heh...makes you sort through all that stuff!

Bobbi

-- Bobbi (volfnat@northweb.com), November 23, 1998

Answers

I'm enjoying some shag Juniper tonight. Two cords this fall, three cords next. Burns great, smells even better.

-- Bill (bill@microsoft.com), November 23, 1998.

Bobby, thanks for this info, it's right on time for me since we have a new stove insert installed today.

Could you please repost your info with html tags? I assume you cut/pasted it. Do that again, but type in

 at the begining 
and 

at the end of it. This will allow your info to be listed exactly as you cut/paste it.

Thanks again :)

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), November 23, 1998.

Oops..hehe..those darn html gnomes ;)

the tags are <.pre> at the begining and <./pre> at the end (without the periods inside.)

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), November 23, 1998.

I typed it in. I know html...but I didn't cut and paste it. I just typed it from this old paper I have here which is almost unreadable. I will try to do a better and clearer one and post that.

-- Bobbi (volfnat@northweb.com), November 23, 1998.

dunno if this will work, but here goes.....

Characteristics of Wood for Fuel:




Type	Ease of		Ease of		Smokes	Sparks?		
Quality 
	Splitting	Starting	Heavily?		of 
Coals



Apple	
	hard		hard		no	few		
excellent
Ash	
	medium		fair		no	few		good
Beech	
	hard		hard		no	few		
excellent
Birch	
	medium		easy		no	moderate 	good
Cedar	
	easy		easy		yes	many		poor
cherry	
	medium		hard		no	few		
excellent
cottonwood
	easy		easy		medium	moderate	good
elm	
	hard		fair		medium	few		good
Hemlock	
	easy		easy		medium	many		poor
Hickory	
	medium		fair		no	moderate	
excellent
Locust	
	hard		hard		no	few		
excellent
Maple	
	medium		hard		no	few		
excellent
Oak	
	hard		hard		no	few		
excellent
Pine	
	easy		easy		medium	moderate	fair-
poor
Poplar	
	easy 		easy		medium	moderate	fair
Spruce	
	medium		easy		yes	many		poor
Sycamore
	medium		fair		medium	few		good
Tamarack
	easy		easy		medium	moderate	good
Walnut	
	medium		fair		no	few		good
Willow	
	medium		fair		no	moderate	poor

-- Bobbi (volfnat@northweb.com), November 23, 1998.

That list could come in quite useful if I could find an honest fire wood provider. Most fire wood peddlers I meet are the ones that come around our neighborhood on the weekends and they have that "let's take these city slickers for everything they got" look in their eyes and smiles. Anyone in Northern Virginia that knows of an honest one with fair prices? And speaking of prices and loads, I have forgotten what a cord is and how much it should cost. Again, the peddlers seem to be asking for $400 for a full pick up truck full of supposedly one year dried, split oak pieces. How long do you think this pile of wood would last if I had the fire burning 12 to 16 hours a day?

Thanks for your assitance.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), April 22, 1999.

Has anyone else considered using wood pellets? These are made from compressed sawdust etc. and look like rabbit food. They are designed for use in an automatic (electric) pellet stove, but I have found they burn quite well in my wood stove. You will have to make a wire basket to hold them so they don't fall through the grate, and to provide for circulation of air around the mass of pellets.

The advantages are that they are cheap ($2.95 for a 40# bag here), stack compactly, and there's no danger of not getting what you paid for.

-- Ned (entaylor@cloudnet.com), April 22, 1999.