Amure cork tree?

[Splaker]

Hey folks, first time posting!

Two quick questions - has anyone burned amur cork tree for firewood and if so, was it a good wood to burn?

I cannot find any info on burning it.  I cut a decent size one on my property and would like to burn it. Tried a couple of pieces but hard to tell from a small sample size as my box had other quality wood burning in it..

thanks!!

[Mzanger]

I have burned some, as it is a frequent invasive in Boston where I live, most likely escaping from the Arnold Arboretum which has old collections from Asia. It is shallow rooted, grows tall and handsome, but falls down in high winds, and park workers cut them to get them out of the way, and logs sit there for years, because they are insect and fungus resistant. These were attractive features for urban street trees, but problems in an invasive since they don't contribute to natural cycles as much as the trees they displace. So I took a few logs home and cut them into stove lengths and dried them out for a year or so, and here's what I think:

1. They burn, and they keep a lot of weight for year, so they are firewood.
2. The bark is stuck on pretty good, so it doesn't come off hardly at all, so that's not so good.
3. They split nicely, but only when dried for a year or so. They can't be split green hardly at all.
4. Since they are used for furniture and everything else in their native range in Mongolia, and possibly in Japan, the big ones might be interesting to mill. When cut, there is a characteristic yellow cambium layer under the rough, corky bark, which may have folk medicine use in Asia or as a dye. The wood itself initially looks reddish, but ages to a milder yellow color, like a light oak stain.

So while Boston is full of red oak and maple branches for me to gather after storms or when a tree goes down in my neighborhood, I will collect fallen Amur River Cork and try longer aging to see if the bark comes off. As invasives they fill open and dry spaces where I would not necessarily cut them if I owned it, depending on the prospects for maple and oak. I respect their pioneering value, although they do seem to shade out and perhaps poison out other trees -- one doesn't see a lot of understory in a cork grove around here. I've never seen any edible mushrooms around them at the Arboretum or elsewhere, which is another reason I prefer the maples and oaks and other native species.