Is Hemlock comparable to Douglas or Larch as Firewood ?

[arboriculturist]

Rarely do I get offered Hemlock and when I do they rarely know if it is Western or Eastern Hemlock. Is there a significant difference Firewood wise ?

 

I know the calorific value is similar to Douglas or Larch, but as it is years since any arrived here, so does anyone know if it dries as quickly or burns as well as them?

 

My experience of Spruce is it dried out to nothing and burnt leaving no ash and I have a suspicion that Hemlock burns well but leaves little ash also.

 

[Squaredy]

58 minutes ago, arboriculturist said:

I know the calorific value is similar to Douglas or Larch

Calorific value is very misleading - most species are similar as it is usually given as energy per kilo dry weight.

 

What you need to look up is dry weight of a cubic foot, which tells you that Larch is about 36lb per cubic foot dry (European that is), DF is about 32lb and Hemlock is only 28 to 29.  So it is better than Spruce but not as good as Larch.  For comparison Ash is around 44lb per cubic foot.

 

So once you have the dry weight you can estimate the actual energy; as like you said the calorific value is similar per kilo - even most hardwoods are similar.

[arboriculturist]

7 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Calorific value is very misleading - most species are similar as it is usually given as energy per kilo dry weight.

 

What you need to look up is dry weight of a cubic foot, which tells you that Larch is about 36lb per cubic foot dry (European that is), DF is about 32lb and Hemlock is only 28 to 29.  So it is better than Spruce but not as good as Larch.  For comparison Ash is around 44lb per cubic foot.

 

So once you have the dry weight you can estimate the actual energy; as like you said the calorific value is similar per kilo - even most hardwoods are similar.

Quite agree, calorific value is, even though the FC keep banging on about it.

There is a table that documents the wood types and species dry weights, but time has passed I I cannot seem to put my hands on it.

 

Have you a copy perhaps?

[Squaredy]

13 minutes ago, arboriculturist said:

Quite agree, calorific value is, even though the FC keep banging on about it.

There is a table that documents the wood types and species dry weights, but time has passed I I cannot seem to put my hands on it.

 

Have you a copy perhaps?

This website has dry weights.  

The Wood Database

WWW.WOOD-DATABASE.COM

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Explore the woods, break out of the ordinary. Identifying and using hundreds of woods worldwide.

 

And my old Woodworker's Manual has many, which I used to look up in before everything was on the internet.

[arboriculturist]

9 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

This website has dry weights.  

The Wood Database

WWW.WOOD-DATABASE.COM

---

Explore the woods, break out of the ordinary. Identifying and using hundreds of woods worldwide.

 

And my old Woodworker's Manual has many, which I used to look up in before everything was on the internet.

Fantastic - thanks ?