Holly as firewood

[Aunt Maud]

It flipping well wasn't good for my maul!

 

Split it whilst green, same as Euc.

 

You need to take the burr and dry it...don't use it in the rain neither nor.

[Joe Newton]

You need to take the burr and dry it...don't use it in the rain neither nor.

 

 

Think we're talking about different things friend.

[peatff]

Holly leaves burn like Billy Ho there seems to be resin in them or something. Elderberry is associated with mystic rites and witches turned themselves into Elder trees according to old superstitions.

[Aunt Maud]

Think we're talking about different things friend.

 

 

Maybe.

 

I was talking about making a maul from Holly. I guess, now I've thought about it a bit more, you were talking about splitting Holly and not your Holly maul splitting.

[se7enthdevil]

Agreed to an extent but do you think I can get wood turners to show an interest? 'Too big', 'too small', 'wrong shape', 'it'll split'... There is the odd exception (Steve!) but most of it goes in the firewood pile.

 

Not that I study species' burning qualities but I get the impression that (dry) holly burns quietly, i.e. it doesn't spit or crack and it gives a gently flame - no roaring fire comes from it.

 

 

as good as holly is it does have it's limitations like size and drying problems.

 

when dried well it can be used for furniture but generally nice white boards are wanted and these are rare. most uses traditionally were for a hard wearing surface or for turnery and even instruments where it would be dyed to look like ebony as most chess sets were made of it usually with boxwood as the white side.

 

most turners i know would like holly to turn if they can get hold of it. the ones who say " 'Too big', 'too small', 'wrong shape', 'it'll split'... " are not proper turners in my eye as it's a raw material, you make it the right size and shape but you do run the risk of it splitting and with holly it is more susceptible to being lost if you don't take care of it.

 

 

as much as it pains me to say it this is one of those woods that will 90% of the time go for firewood.

[felixthelogchopper]

Now I'm not superstitious but in the last year I've done two elder clearance jobs. Three days after the first one my truck was written off whilst parked up.

The second job I did two days after my truck was broken into and all my gear nicked. I'd like to think it's just coincidence either that or I've annoyed the elder goddess 😠

 

Looks like I'm in trouble then because this happened in our back garden last week.

[se7enthdevil]

now that is a beautiful animal.

[humpo48]

I would never burn Holly on a fire in my house, really bad luck. We had two saws break down at the same time cutting down a Holly tree once. 👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻

[csservices]

Good firewood but split it green else your axe will bounce clean off when seasoned same as elm

[Johny Walker]

mix it with hawthorn.