Persimmon question

[John Vander]

A friend of mine asked me to help him cut a persimmon a while ago. He then insisted we take the wood home. It ended up at my place sitting there for some time now. Anyone here ever used presimmon as firewood? I'm not so sure if this will burn well. Advice please. ;D

[Southside]

How big is the wood?  My understanding is that they grow very slowly.

[John Vander]

This one about 30cm diameter. Was a big fellow for a persimmon at least.

[Southside]

Any idea how old it was?  We have a couple on the farm, one is maybe 6" diameter that i got a ripe fruit off of the other day - had to beat the cows to it - and the other is 14" or so.  I stuck the 3 seeds from that fruit in my tree nursery for giggles, will see what happens. 

[giant splinter]

I have actually milled some and the grain is nice with lots of detail, it is very dense material and makes nice trim as well as picture frames ..... i know he burned all the scraps in his fireplace but I never asked how it worked. I remember some of the branches where very twisted and the main part of the trunk would make some nice boards. I was told that the tree was called a Japanese persimmon.
Just got a reply on how it burns "slow and HOT" and is difficult to split.

[John Vander]

No idea about it's age. Sorry.

[John Vander]

One thing about this wood though is that it is very heavy! The fruit is great too. There are two varieties of it here in Japan, the fruit being slightly different too. Some people dry it. Tastes great.

[giant splinter]

Its dried in a sun box, and tastes almost like a fruit candy.

[beenthere]

A friend of mine asked me to help him cut a persimmon a while ago. He then insisted we take the wood home. It ended up at my place sitting there for some time now. Anyone here ever used presimmon as firewood? I'm not so sure if this will burn well. Advice please. ;D

Give it a try and see how well it burns.
Does "burn well" mean burns fast? or means burns hot? or burns with no sparks?

What do you have there in Japan to burn wood? Any wood burning regulations that you must follow?

Used to be the preferred wood that was used for golf club drivers.

[kelLOGg]

The make great wooden mallet heads; I use two around my mill. It seems like a waste to burn it although it probably would make good firewood since it is so dense.
Bob

[mesquite buckeye]

If you are burning it, you are burning ebony.  :(

Heavy, hard strong. Likes to move when drying. Great to make axe handles.

[Kcwoodbutcher]

It burns great, very hot. I've cut several logs and the biggest problem I had was avoiding blue stain. In warm weather it seems to happen overnight. I've had it stain from the outside in and the inside out. It does move quite a bit when drying. The lumber can be polished to a high gloss because of the high density. There will be a black streak along the pith which looks like ebony.( it is a member of the ebony family).

[GeneWengert-WoodDoc]

One of the more common uses was golf club heads, called "woods.  Outstanding.

[WDH]

I find it difficult to dry.  Beautiful, though. 

[caveman]

I have used it to smoke mullet on and they tasted really good.
Caveman

[Magicman]

I once sawed several Persimmon logs for a guy for making pirogues. He wanted it 3/8".  I do not know how it worked out 'cause I just saws um and leaves um.   ;D

[John Vander]

By burning well I mean that the wood will make good coals with low smoke. Here in Japan there are no actual regulations as to what wood you want to use. Didn't know that persimmon is family of ebony. The tree that I cut was not in good shape. I think it will do well as firewood. A friend of my wife sent us some persimmons from Osaka city. Exellent!

[Okrafarmer]

It should make good firewood, by all accounts.

For woodworking, it is about as hard as black locust (pseudoacacia), and is a pain in all your body parts to dry properly-- I air dried some once and it twisted into the shape of a pretzel in just five days, if I remember right. Another guy told me that he or somebody else put some in a vacuum kiln and filled it tight to the top of the kiln hoping to keep it from moving. Guess what, the wood twisted anyway and broke the kiln open. At least that's what he said. I would like to get a nice huge one sometime and try quartersawing it to see what would happen.

[pineywoods]

I think the japanese species is a bit different from the north american, of which I saw a few. Mostly cut into 2X2X6 blanks for duck calls and pens. The figure and coloring will vary quite a bit fromm tree to tree. It does warp and twist while drying and is rather hard when dry. Some slabs from one I sawed last week..


 

[mesquite buckeye]

Cool. Nice when you get that nice, ebony heartwood. ;D 8) 8) 8)

[WDH]

That one was a Hoss.  I get quite a few calls for it. 

[5quarter]

Piney...Yeah, I'd like to get me some of that. 

[Okrafarmer]

It's considered pulpwood around here.

[5quarter]

Perhaps I can dump off a load of cottonwood in SC and pick up a load of persimmon...even trade.  ;)

[Okrafarmer]

A heaped load of cottonwood weighs a lot less than a heaped load of persimmon.  :-\