Newhouse Farm

[tedm]

Alder: Poor heat output and short lasting. A low quality firewood. Produces nice charcoal that burn steady and is useful for homemade gunpowder.



Apple: Great fuel that bums slow and steady when dry, with little flame, sparking or spitting. It has a pleasing scent. It is easier to cut green. Great for cooking.



Ash: Considered one of the burning wood with steady flame and good heat output. It will bum when green, but not as well as when dry. Easy to saw and split.



Beech: Similar to ash, but only burns fair when green. If it has a fault, it may shoot embers out a long way. It is easy to chop.



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.



Blackthorn: Burns slowly, with lots of heat and little smoke.



Cedar: This is a great wood that puts out a lot of lasting of heat. It produces a small flame, a nice scent, and lots of crackle and pop. Great splitting wood. Best when dry but small pieces can be burned unseasoned. Good for cooking.



Cherry: A slow burning wood with good heat output. Has a nice sent. Should be seasoned well. Slow to start.



Chestnut: A mediocre fuel that produces a small flame and weak heat output. It also shoots out ambers.



Douglas Fir: A poor fuel that produces little flame or heat.



Elder: A mediocre fuel that burns quickly without much heat output and tends to have thick acrid smoke. The Hag Goddess is known to reside in the Elder tree and burning it invites death. Probably best avoided.



Elm: A variable fuel (Dutch elm disease) with a high water content (140%) that may smoke violently and should be dried for two years for best results. You may need faster burning wood to get elm going. A large log set on the fire before bed will burn till morn. Splitting can be difficult and should be done early on.



Eucalyptus: A fast burning wood with a pleasant smell and no spitting. It is full of sap and oils when fresh and can start a chimney fire if burned unseasoned. The stringy wood fiber may be hard to split and one option is to slice it into rings and allow to season and self split. The gum from the tree produces a fresh medicinal smell on burned which may not be the best for cooking with.



Hawthorn: Good firewood. Burns hot and slow. Traditionally gathered as bundles or 'faggots' for burning in winter.



Hazel: An excellent fast burning fuel but tends to burn up a bit faster than most other hard woods. Allow to season.



Holly: A good firewood that will burn when green, but best if dried a year. It is fast burning with a bright flame but little heat.



Hornbeam: Burns almost as good as beech with a hot slow burning fire.



Horse Chestnut: A low quality firewood with a good flame and heating power but spits a lot.



Laburnum: Completely poisonous tree with acrid smoke that taints food and is best never used.



Larch: Crackly, scented, and fairly good for heat. It needs to be seasoned well and forms an oily soot in chimneys.



Laurel: Produces a brilliant flame.


Lilac: Thinner branches make good kindling, whilst the thicker burn well with a clear flame and a very pleasant smell


Lime: A poor quality fuel with dull flame. Good for carving though! A bit of a waste to burn it.



Maple: A good firewood.



Oak: Oak has a sparse flame and the smoke is acrid if not seasoned for two years after WINTER FELLING. Summer felled Oak takes YEARS to season well. Dry old oak is excellent for heat, burning slowly and steadily until whole log collapses into cigar-like ash.



Pear: Burns with good heat, good scent and no spitting. Needs to be seasoned well.



Pine species generally: (Including the dreaded Leylandii) Bums with a splendid flame, but apt to spit. Needs to be seasoned well and is another oily soot in chimney wood. Smells great and its resinous wood makes great kindling. Best used on an outdoor fire in the cold evening of a day out in the garden!



Plane: Burns pleasantly, but is apt to throw sparks if very dry.



Plum: Wood provides good heat with a nice aromatic sent.



Poplar: A terrible fuel that doesn't burn well and produces a black choking smoke even when seasoned.



Rowan: A good firewood that burns hot and slow.



Rhododendron: Old thick and tough stems burn well.



Robinia (Acacia): Burns slowly, with good heat, but with acrid smoke. Not a problem in a stove!



Spruce: A poor firewood that burns too quickly and with too many sparks.



Sycamore: Burns with a good flame, with moderate heat. Useless green.



Sweet Chestnut: Burns when seasoned but tends to spits continuously and excessively.



Thorn: One of the best firewoods. Burns slowly, with great heat and little smoke.



Walnut: Low to good value to burning. It a nice aromatic scent.



Wellingtonia (Giant Sequoia): Poor for use as a firewood.



Willow: A poor fire wood that must be dry to use. Even when seasoned, it burns slowly, with little flame. Apt to spark.



Yew: This burns slowly, with fierce heat. The scent is pleasant. Another carving favorite.

(Thanks to John Burdis)
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Ted
The Age of Plunder is nearly at an end. The Age of Healing is ready to be born.
And whether it arrives or not depends upon two people: you and me. - John Seymour

[camillitech]

great stuff guys and i'm looking for some advice am i better burning a limitless supply of well seasoned spruce or coppicing my own birch? cos despite doing both on and off for 18 years i can't make my mind up the spruce is much easier to deal with (it's straight allready cut and seasoned) the birch is again limitless but stunted and iregular, hard to cut and does leave a deposit in the chimeny any ideas chaps
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'we shall not cease from exploration, and at the end of our exploration we shall arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.'

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[jswright]

Can I add a couple?

Olive: Little smoke, throws out a huge amount of heat, and burns for ages. All in all, very good firewood. Also good for cooking with. Needs to be seasoned well (1 year)

Almond: Smokey, but burns well - slowly with good heat. Can be oily until dried out well (min 1 year)

[Burning Fat]

I have a large hardy giant bamboo growing in the garden which I have used in the past for building but has anyone tried to use bamboo in a woodburner? I have a load that has sat for the last 6 mths which I dont know what to do with.
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[Kathy]

Hello,

How can I tell the difference between Chestnut and Sweet Chestnut?

We have some felled chestnut wood and I am now not sure how well it will burn once season.
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[john burdis]

There's not much difference between them.
They both spit out lots of sparks and embers and both give medium heat.

If you're using an open fire use a spark guard, if you're using a stove just watch out when you open the door.

Either way use it up at the beginning or end of the 'cold season' when you don't want high levels of heat.
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ATB
John

Mother nature made the cake, it took 400 million years to bake, we've eaten most of it in just 200 years! When will we get the message?

[Kathy]

Thanks for that speedy reply and for the tip about when to use it.

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[Numpty]

[MrRatty]

Great information - I've added it to the wiki:

http://mrratty.wikidot.com/inebg-energy:firewood-guide
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NHF wiki

[Hairyloon]

[KevB]

A bit of an exotic species for us Brits but I've just started trying some of the ample pile of Ceanothus or California Lilac that I stacked when I cut down a giant specimen in my garden. It has only been drying for a few months but has split extensively and feels much lighter than when cut. It already burns well but quite quickly, with good heat and little spitting.
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Gardening is the only unquestionably useful job. -- George Bernard Shaw

[AnnieR]

Ive got a lovley open fire grate, and a good supply of (unknown) wood,
but how do I go about setting and lighting the fire,
my few attempts so far have resulted in a poor fire, with little flame,
is there a guide on how to make one correctly?

Thanks, Annie.
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Starting Life Afresh...... at my age!

[Ecocentric]

Have a look Here Annie You may have a different grate but principle is the same.

Hope you get things warmed up by Christmas. Let us know how you get on. After the Forum Move, I may move this as part of the Pre-Spring Clean
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200 yr old farmhouse and land - a few hundred £k. Livestock, more buildings and kit - a few more £k. Greener business and lifestyle - ***king priceless.!!

[licoricetwist]

To add, from my own experience:

[Ecocentric]

Hi licoricetwist and welcome to the warm side of the F'rum

Thanks for those contributions. We have the odd gorse thicket or twelve around here some of which needs whittling. I knew the dried tops burned fiercely but it's good to know the thicker bits are also useful. Yeah, handling is not for the faint-hearted...
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200 yr old farmhouse and land - a few hundred £k. Livestock, more buildings and kit - a few more £k. Greener business and lifestyle - ***king priceless.!!