Growing firewood

[Peasgood]

The resin on leylandii is just on the layer between bark and wood, once it has been left out long enough for the bark to fall off the resin falls away with it. There is no resin in the wood itself or at least none that you will feel, see, get stuck on your hands.

Have run my heating/hot water/cooking almost solely on leylandii for decades, an excellent firewood and leaves hardly any ash. Only downside is it doesn't stay in overnight very easily, never found it a problem as it is so easy to light anyway.

[daveatdave]

i burn any wood that i can get my hands on which is not much these days since i retired  willow is ok but it will reabsorb moisture leylandii i find burns smashing if someone came along and offered me a load of softwood logs at half the price of hardwood  i would more than likely take the offer 

[john87]

Is silver birch any good?? Might have a load of that when the weather dries up..

 

john..

[daveatdave]

8 minutes ago, john87 said:

Is silver birch any good?? Might have a load of that when the weather dries up..

 

john..

yes that lovely wood to burn

[Stubby]

7 hours ago, john87 said:

Is silver birch any good?? Might have a load of that when the weather dries up..

 

john..

yep .

[openspaceman]

8 hours ago, john87 said:

Is silver birch any good?? Might have a load of that when the weather dries up..

 

john..

Yes but it needs splitting fast as whole logs can rot inside the bark it is so perishable. Lovely lively flame.

[Paul in the woods]

8 hours ago, john87 said:

Is silver birch any good?? Might have a load of that when the weather dries up..

 

Seasons quick and burns well but faster than ash. The birch I've processed has been from old and poorly grown trees so was surprisingly hard to split. I expect something like forestry thinnings would be much easier.

[doobin]

Burns quick but as said rots just as quick also! Wouldn't be my choice for a firewood crop and if cordwood would want to[ be cheap.

[Big J]

Speaking of growing firewood, a eucalyptus nitens I planted at the foot of the lane during April at 20cm tall is now 195cm. The stem is the thickness of your finger. 

 

It'll keep growing through winter, and I expect it'll be 240-250cm by next April

[coppice cutter]

Burning Leylandii at the minute, and have burnt it before.

 

Not the longest lasting but burns well and burns clean as others have said.

 

Only issue I have with it is the smell of the logs themselves. They're not rank or anything but they're not just as woody as most other things, if that makes sense.

 

But it's a minor gripe, well dried it's a perfectly good firewood.

 

Oh, and as for willow, I seasoned a clatter of willow whips (or slightly larger) as an experiment, stacked them in the saw horse, tied them down, and run a saw down through them to cut in to lengths for kindling. It's been a huge success, and I'll be saving more of them for the same job this coming winter.

Edited November 2, 2021 by coppice cutter