How good is Hornbeam as firewood?

[Gillsgardening]

I have recently dismantled a large Hornbeam and have never used it as firewood, is it any good?, I've herd they call it ironwood, does it take long to season?

[detritus21]

Good wood. Very tough to split by hand. It ain't called ironwood for nothing. Once split 6 months should be sufficient maybe up to 12 months

[felixthelogchopper]

Good firewood, split it as soon as you can because the longer you leave it, the tougher it it gets IME.

[the village idiot]

Hornbeam is a funny one, really weighty and tough but leave it on the ground and it rots through in no time at all! I would agree with the others in that it is very good firewood.

I find it quite difficult to split green (rather stringy) and actually prefer to split it when well seasoned as it tends to ping open when it hits the blade. Please bear in mind this is with a hydraulic splitter. I haven't tried splitting hornbeam with an axe.

[Craig Johnson]

make very good charcoal too

[the village idiot]

make very good charcoal too

 

 

Indeed it do

[detritus21]

Axe tends to bounce off seasoned hornbeam.

[skyhuck]

A tough one to ID though

[felixthelogchopper]

Axe tends to bounce off seasoned hornbeam.

 

Needs a maul and you have to nibble it like Euc.

[Gillsgardening]

Cheers!