Hi all. I'm sawing some hemlock logs for a customer and I'm thinking of cutting up the slabs for firewood to burn in my woodstove. I've never burned hemlock before. Does anyone have any experience burning it?
We burn Western Hemlock. It does okay; the wood stove piping, never has too much creosote build up in it.
I cut hemlock for firewood whenever i come across a damaged one and burn it without any issues mixed in with my regular firewood.
I put up some hemlock slab wood every year.
Use it in the fall and spring.
Sometimes in the winter to boost a lazy fire.
It will burn OK.
BTUs are mostly proportional to weight, so lighter softwoods have less heat in them per cord than denser hardwoods, but similar per pound.
Creosote buildup is mostly due to wet wood or having a fire dampened down too much and making excess smoke. DRY softwoods burn just fine, but you will need more volume for the same heat output.
So while it's not "premium" firewood, if you are standing there looking at a pile of Hemlock slabs, may was well lop them to size and throw them in the shed to dry. Dries faster than hardwoods, so wood cut in the Summer will be good to burn after 6 months. Good mixed in with the denser wood, or to get a nice hot fire going quickly before adding the slower burning hardwood.
Hemlock will coal down some. Not like white pine, when the wood is gone so is the heat. I burned it in an asley a few winters.
Hemlock is good , get it dry and burn it, makes heat.
Thank you everybody for your replies. They have all been positive so I guess it's a go on the hemlock slabs.
Had a few hemlock logs left over from one of those GTG's we used to have here at the store. Nobody wanted it. Couldn't just leave it in the parking lot, so i took it home. Had no experience with it and only planned on burning it outside in the firepit, but was impressed with how quick it dried. Tried some in the woodstove and it burned fine, so I brought it all back up to the woodshed and used it all in the stove. Probably had a 1/2 cord of it. No problems at all.
I burn anything. Can't be worst than balsam fir or spruce, which I've burned a lot of. I doubt you'll be cold. ;D
I do recall it having a tendency to pop and toss coals more than most other woods. Been a long time since I was in Northern WI. Burnt some known hemlock that did that. We also used to camp on the Turtle Flambeau reservoir and burn lots of driftwood. You could always tell when some hemlock made the fire ring. Be careful to keep combustibles away from your stove door.
I finished up the hemlock slabs today and I've got a nice stack drying in the barn. The logs had been down a long time and were partly dry. These slabs will be ready to burn this winter.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11157/DSC05260.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1623875432)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11157/DSC05264.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1623875468)
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Quote from: cutterboy on June 16, 2021, 04:36:52 PM
I finished up the hemlock slabs today and I've got a nice stack drying in the barn. The logs had been down a long time and were partly dry. These slabs will be ready to burn this winter.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11157/DSC05260.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1623875432)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11157/DSC05264.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1623875468)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11157/DSC05267.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1623875503)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11157/DSC05270.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1623875539)
I like your 'firewood jig', I've been wanting to do something similar.
Knot free Eastern hemlock is some of the easiest splitting wood out there, great for making kindling.
As noted previously it does tend to "pop" and "spit" a lot. Not an issue in an OWB or an enclosed furnace but I've heard people who use fireplaces talk about it in the past.
Been burning hemlock every evening in my sauna. Makes a hot fast fire. If I'm lazy I just load the stove and light it with a propane weed burner. 180 degree sauna in an hour.
We gotta award you extra points for that cut-em-all-at-once rack you built. :) Plus the super neat stacking job.
But neat or not, that's a fair amount of wood and it's cool that it's going to get used and not wasted.
Thanks Spike for the kind words.
I have had an OWB for 17 years. I never cut Hemlock specifically to burn, but any slabs off the mill get cut up and used. As mentioned hemlock does not provide the btu's of good hardwoods but it makes heat. I generally use it at the beginning and end of the season and toss in a couple pieces of hardwood with it. It absolutely does not hold coals real long, thus the couple hardwoods.
Hemlock is not the best stove wood in the stack. But, its a heck of a lot better than snowballs.
Burn it up.