Favourite Firewood

[Stubby]

8 hours ago, sime42 said:

Interestingly, the bark of birch trees is far more resistant to rotting than the timber. You often see logs that have half rotted away inside, with bark still intact. Presumably why they use I to make Birch Tar, lots of useful compounds in there.

 

 

Its why birch rots relatively quickly . The bark is water proof so won't let the moisture escape . Best to split it early or de bark it .

[Elliott.F]

53 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Its why birch rots relatively quickly . The bark is water proof so won't let the moisture escape . Best to split it early or de bark it .

Seems like it’s best to split and stack all of those softer hardwoods like birch, alder and sycamore as soon as possible after cutting or they decline rapidly in quality, especially birch because of what you say. 
I love lighting fires with birch bark, used as a tinder or kindling. Awesome stuff and lasts for years if kept dry. 

[sime42]

23 minutes ago, Elliott.F said:

Seems like it’s best to split and stack all of those softer hardwoods like birch, alder and sycamore as soon as possible after cutting or they decline rapidly in quality, especially birch because of what you say. 
I love lighting fires with birch bark, used as a tinder or kindling. Awesome stuff and lasts for years if kept dry. 

Add Poplar to that list as well. It's pretty crap firewood but needs splitting, stacking and covering sharpish if it is to be used as such.

It turns into mush in no time at all if left around.

[Elliott.F]

38 minutes ago, sime42 said:

Add Poplar to that list as well. It's pretty crap firewood but needs splitting, stacking and covering sharpish if it is to be used as such.

It turns into mush in no time at all if left around.

Ah yes poplar. Never actually had any of that, but thought it was pretty good firewood if split and stacked early as you said. I was thinking of planting some for short rotation coppice because of the high yields. 

[sandspider]

I've planted a few things as SRC or at least a firewood source. I do have poplar and it grows well, but nothing like as well as eucalyptus, and I think euc wood is better to burn than poplar. No poplar I've planted are big enough to harvest yet, but various eucs have been.

[sime42]

3 hours ago, Elliott.F said:

Ah yes poplar. Never actually had any of that, but thought it was pretty good firewood if split and stacked early as you said. I was thinking of planting some for short rotation coppice because of the high yields. 

Yeah, I suppose I was a bit unfair. It's ok as kindling or if you want some quick heat. I had a load of it taking up valuable space in my wood stores and it just seemed to to make an inordinate amount of ash.

[Elliott.F]

52 minutes ago, sandspider said:

I've planted a few things as SRC or at least a firewood source. I do have poplar and it grows well, but nothing like as well as eucalyptus, and I think euc wood is better to burn than poplar. No poplar I've planted are big enough to harvest yet, but various eucs have been.

I’ve read a lot of good stuff about eucalyptus and I believe it’s btu rating is even higher than oak, but I have a couple of reservations about planting it, they being the field I’m thinking of using is in a valley bottom, so can get frosty and it has zero value to wildlife here. I know there are frost hardy varieties, but the frosts in that field can get pretty hard. 

[sandspider]

True. I lost a few small eucs to frost (seller told me they were frost hardy, but didn't clarify only once they were 2 or so years old). Also, they're supposed to spread and be hard to get rid of - but mine haven't. Not much value to wildlife is right- but soon we'll have koalas here!

In the meantime I've planted lots of native trees too, so I don't feel too bad. Eucs don't seem to coppice well (possibly i planted the wrong species) but they do outgrow the natives by a good margin. 

[AHPP]

One of the reasons to grow eucs is to encourage kangaroos. Firstly, they're mint. Secondly, they're large, meaty and slower than a 223.

[Elliott.F]

12 hours ago, sandspider said:

True. I lost a few small eucs to frost (seller told me they were frost hardy, but didn't clarify only once they were 2 or so years old). Also, they're supposed to spread and be hard to get rid of - but mine haven't. Not much value to wildlife is right- but soon we'll have koalas here!

In the meantime I've planted lots of native trees too, so I don't feel too bad. Eucs don't seem to coppice well (possibly i planted the wrong species) but they do outgrow the natives by a good margin. 

There’s an estate near me that has a lot of mature native broadleaf, but there’s a block where they’ve mixed in a bit of euc and it works nicely. Haven’t seen any koalas yet though. 
I think there are varieties that will coppice, but how well they do may depend on many other factors. I’m definitely going to seriously consider it. Perhaps for this winter.