Sticky firewood properties?

[David oakman]

I agree mr ed and the woodman before me said alder would not burn rubbish if it is well seasoned brill and why is it then that alder is one of the best woods for charcoal. did they also make something out of alder oh i remember CLOGS british clogs lets all make a pair then we will know each other when we meet:thumbup1:

[firewoodman]

david, firewoodman comes from south wales and been in firewood for over 8 years.

 

when i started in firewood i was told of lots of woods which were rubbish to burn, but as demand grew and ALL of my wood is sourced from arborists (at the momment) i didn't have much of a choice in the species.

 

i just separate hardwood from soft and sell it cut and split. My business grew from there and still going strong.

 

i have built up quite a knowlege of woods and thier uses mainly from talking to customers (the older ones) and others in the trade. but i will always belive my own results.

 

alder was used for gunpowder...hmm was that stuff any good???? did it burn???

[Tom D]

Have to say i don't really see the point of separating soft from hard but a good coppice is definately the sustainable option. Does anyone know how much timber per annum you could reasonably expect from a coppice on a per acre / hectare basis?

 

Although when you think about it tree surgeons timber is equally sustainable, there is a constant supply of people going down the garden centre buying little trees which will in time require our services and produce logs for us to sell.

[firewoodman]

absolutly tom.

there are web sites out there that push the public away from arb firewood regarding it as rubbish.

although there are also sites that say only buy FSC and what a waste of time that is in our country, thats another thread subject.

 

i only separate cos thats what the cusomer wanted when i started but in the future it may not be what the customer gets.

 

I too would be interested in the volume of coppice.

 

maybe Nick Hilton will know?

[Jack-Arb aka Tiago Sinclair-Julio.]

Hi Rentachimp,

 

The one tip I know about wood to burn is quite obvious but good to know.

 

Ash burns well when fresh because its water content is about 50%, beach as about 90% water content and elm around 140% signifying that green elm is more water than wood.

 

Sycamore logs stood vertically will soon produce a poll on the ground at its base. Water retained like this is known as free water, when wood has lost all its free water, it is said to be at fibre saturation point which in most hardwoods is around 30% moisture content. (green woodworks -Mike Abbott)

 

Tiago

[firewoodman]

ok i've recently been told the following and looked into it and it kinda makes sense.

 

ash burns well when fresh if only added to an already lit fire. true

 

but ash does not always have a 50% moisture content.... this comes from thoes web sites

 

ash burns well when fresh because it is from the oleaceae genus. the same as the olive tree

 

it has now been suggested the tree contains a high enough oil content to sustain flames when fresh so giving this fresh burn quality.

 

remember fresh wood will tar your chimney no matter what the species

[David oakman]

I live next door to the gamekeeper he fells an ash tree and puts it on the fire i dry mine first.if you drive past look up at the chimney his cap is black and my smoke is white his is blue. the man in the big house burns only ash and i have to season it for three years.

[firewoodman]

got a customer that burnt wet ash all winter (not bought from me) had a call from him to bring some dry wood as he just had a chimney fire and was convinced it was from burning the wet wood and tarring the chimney.

 

he wont be doing that again

[David oakman]

I got called to an old mans house because he was getting smoke in the house, he was burning green wood i took the six inch pipe off and it was blocked apart from a tiny hole the size of a pea. he was lucky he never died.

[firewoodman]

I got called to an old mans house because he was getting smoke in the house, he was burning green wood i took the six inch pipe off and it was blocked apart from a tiny hole the size of a pea. he was lucky he never died.

 

heard of that one too

happened to a mate of mine living in a caravan