Jotul - You should only burn hardwoods

[pancakedan]

Another stove manufacturer pushing the only burn hardwood message, this time it’s Arada:

“We would always advise using seasoned hardwoods such as Ash, Beech or Oak, as opposed to softwoods such as Pine or Spruce. Hardwoods burn for longer and emit
less smoke, but are more expensive than softwood”

https://www.aradastoves.com/pdf/literatures/arada_guide_to_burning_wood_web.pdf

[trigger_andy]

On 04/10/2018 at 23:59, Stumpy Grinder said:

I wonder what the Scandinavians that invented wood burners and burn mostly pine and birch would have to say about that?

Most kindling is soft wood by nature. If it is dry, then it burns well. If you keep your flue swept, how exactly are deposits harmful?

SG

Jotøl is Scandinavian.  

 

I cant speak for Scandinavians a whole but having lived and/or worked in Norway for 10 years I do not know anyone who burns softwood. Only Birch. Its the King of woods over there. There is vast Birch forests over there and to meet demand they ship in Birch from Eastern Europe. Softwood is reserved for building materials. As as 99% of houses are wood framed with wood cladding that get periodically replaced there is a huge demand for building materials. 

 

Out of interest as you're advocating what Scandinavians are doing have you read Norwegian Wood?

[trigger_andy]

On 05/10/2018 at 11:01, woodrascal said:

That's a bit odd... Jotul are a Norwegian company and the Scandinavians main source of fuel is various types of softwood and birch.

Source?

[difflock]

All I know is my observation that any brochure or promotional video for firewood processors, of Scandanavian manufacture, is the stacks and stacks, and stacks, of telephone-pole straight Birch.

I am always mighty jealous.

P.S.

Having unearthed a stack of lengths of mature Birch buried in my logpile in the shed for a few years, that I have cut into large logs, it is definately the dogs-danglies of firewood.

A large, and bone-dry lump, set on a bed of embers will burn slow and clean and hot, itself all alone. 

Which makes it much easier to keep the room at a steady comfortable temperature, it was generally too hot with the conifer, because I tended to put on more logs rather than see the fire go out.

Marcus

Edited February 10, 2019 by difflock

[Big J]

I love birch as a tree, but have burned very little of it in the past, to be honest. Much of what I've had has been waste from the sawmill, so elm, oak, beech, spruce, larch, cedar etc. 

 

I honestly don't care what I burn so long as it's dry.

 

The moment I get some land though I shall be establishing a birch woodland. For me there is no finer tree, and at least I have the chance of seeing it mature in my lifetime

[neiln]

I had a couple of m³ of silver birch this last winter/spring.  It was easy to split by hand in general, it dried well over the summer and has been burning very well with good heat. Lights ready too. Having read Norwegian wood (great read btw) I expected nothing less!

[trigger_andy]

On 10/02/2019 at 09:23, Big J said:

The moment I get some land though I shall be establishing a birch woodland. For me there is no finer tree, and at least I have the chance of seeing it mature in my lifetime

In what way? For firewood or for Milling? 

[Mark Bolam]

On ‎10‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 07:21, trigger_andy said:

Jotøl is Scandinavian.  

 

I cant speak for Scandinavians a whole but having lived and/or worked in Norway for 10 years I do not know anyone who burns softwood. Only Birch. Its the King of woods over there. There is vast Birch forests over there and to meet demand they ship in Birch from Eastern Europe. Softwood is reserved for building materials. As as 99% of houses are wood framed with wood cladding that get periodically replaced there is a huge demand for building materials. 

 

Out of interest as you're advocating what Scandinavians are doing have you read Norwegian Wood?

Great book, and lots and lots of spot-on info about seasoning and burning softwood.

[trigger_andy]

25 minutes ago, Mark Bolam said:

Great book, and lots and lots of spot-on info about seasoning and burning softwood.

Really? Lots and lots of info on seasoning and buring Softwood? I must have missed all those pages? Care to point them out?

 

The model forest on Page 32 is of course Birch. 

 

Pine gets a mention on Page 42, as kindling....Then again on Page 60 under the Spruce section its mentioned again, as a great source of, yip you guessed it, kindling.  Softwood, or here specifically Spruce is described as ''kitchen Wood'' where as Birch is described as ''Living-Room Wood''. 

 

Page 102- Elgå story. Guess what he has harvested, split, seasoned and burned all his life? Yip you guess it. Birch. 

 

There is literally picture after picture of Birch trees or Birch logs. The only mention I can specifically find on burning softwoods is not to in open fires and ''The chimney, Stove, and pipe system should be swept regularly, if you burn a lot of pine, because the oil content means it leaves a lot of dry soot.'' - Page 61. 

 

Under the Cold facts section the only species of wood to have sections devoted to it is of course the Birch. - Page 186-189;

Rate of Drying for Birch,

Volume of a Birch Tree,

Number of Kilowatt-Hours in a Birch Tree. 

 

Maybe you have another issue number to my copy with all this info on seasoning and burning softwood?

[Big J]

2 hours ago, trigger_andy said:

In what way? For firewood or for Milling? 

Neither really. I just love a birch woodland.