alder- hardwood or softwood?

[skyhuck]

Alder is the "softer" of the hardwoods. Bit like Lime, Willow and Poplar. Thats why they are crap for burning. I think the exception for softwood is Cedar. That stuff is pretty damn hard. We use them to make rustic picnic benches (two 3 ft legs in the ground 2 ft and a 6 inch thick piece of cedar on top).

 

Rubbish, they just have a very high MC when felled and need to be dried correctly.

[Chris Gagen]

The alder we get around here burns great, more than happy to have it on the heap

 

i strated off my firewood business with alder alone! brilliant stuff:thumbup1:

[Chris Gagen]

oh and BTW, now selling cm bags of cricket bat willow as closed fire logs £70 delivered. people love it!

 

(sorry, de-rail!)

[tommer9]

Alder is the "softer" of the hardwoods. Bit like Lime, Willow and Poplar. Thats why they are crap for burning. I think the exception for softwood is Cedar. That stuff is pretty damn hard. We use them to make rustic picnic benches (two 3 ft legs in the ground 2 ft and a 6 inch thick piece of cedar on top).

 

Matt- i dont know where you got this from, but it is pretty misguided im afraid.

Willow and poplar make excellent firewood, as does alder. if, as Skyhuck says, they are dried properly, they burn VERY cleanly with alot of heat and very little ash left over.

Cedar is not a very good wood to burn in the grand scheme of things, larch being a better softwood for example, although cedar will burn better than hemlock for example.

Cedar is also a pretty soft timber in general, especially thuja plicata, although cedar has excellent decay resistance. cedar of Lebanon is the 'poor cousin' to a certain extent though, as it can be brittle, rendering it pretty useless as a structural timber, but excellent for the likes of cladding etc.

you certainly couldnt put western red cedar down as flooring- you can push your thumbnail into it. Those funky log benches in your pic (very nice BTW) are probablly hard due to the exposure they have had- alot of wear and weather. When green it is very soft.

Alder has very good rot resistance underwater or in boggy ground- very good fencing stakes in marshes etc too.

[chainsawdom]

iam burninig alder in my wood burner tonight its burning a treat thats why iam roasting my nuts off as iam writeing this.

[Matthew Arnold]

Sadly its info from my colleagues. They have this single mindset that any wood which is really light is naff for burning. I've burnt dry willow and alder and it burns very well. They are amazed that i take a truck load home whenever we fell willow n alder. I will let them know that it infact burns very well. Coz im the "runt" of the group i get the naff stuff and they get he Ash, Sycamore and dead elm. And i get the stuff that takes two years or so to dry out.

[dave28]

Have to agree with T9 on this one. I used to discard willow,poplar and the like but last year I tried burning some small well dried willow from a pollarding job.

It was some of the hottest burning wood that I've used, wouldn't last long though.

[Andrew Reed]

I notice alder seems to season quite quickly. It is then very light to handle, seems to burn OK, bit like willow, quickly but nice and bright.

[Mark Bolam]

It's all burnable when dried correctly. Longevity and heat given off will obviously vary.

 

That stupid old firewood rhyme must be responsible for millions of tonnes of logwood being binned every year!

 

For the record, I find 'Ash green' to be crap, certainly not fit for a Queen!

[openboater]

I burn as much alder as I can get . Split cord lengths as soon as you can to stop the wood turning pithy and just pile it up to season. Rings and thicker cords are a joy to axe when well seasoned, my kids love doing them for me. They leave me all the gnarly oak and elm.

I start a fire with seasoned willow if the house is cold and just keep throwing the chumps in for half an hour. When the room has warmed up change to a slower burning wood.