Bass Wood first time burning

[Wood Shed]

Not new to burning firewood in anyway as I have been heating with wood for decades but I have not intentionally cut up a bass wood tree for firewood until this past spring.  After a strong thunder storm, I got on my tractor and drove through the woods looking for any damaged trees.  What I found was a large bass wood tree that had been struck by lightning and literally blown to pieces.  I decided to cut it up and bring it up to the wood shed to be added to the pile.  A large amount of bark had been separated from the tree completely and most of the wood was splintered.

Now in the past few days I am just getting into the bass wood just as the temperatures are plumeting and have been plesantly surprised at how the bass wood is burning.  Unlike poplar, one of the other soft/light hard woods that I rarely cut for firewood the bass wood is burning rather well and producing good heat.  Although it burns more quickly than ash it still produces good heat to my surprise.  Have you burned any bass wood?

[g_man]

When I saw the name of your post I started to chuckle - no offense intended. I did exactly the same thing not knowing anything about burning basswood. Found a blow down and added it to the firewood pile. My reaction was different than yours though. It burnt good and was hot but it didn't last long enough to say boo. I put it in the same category as popple/aspen or pin cherry. Fine for a quick spring or early fall fire but nothing I would use to take up space in the wood shed for my winter wood. Guess I am spoiled having northern hardwood here.

On the other hand I am a firm believer in burning what comes easy. So I see no problem with what you did.

gg

[Al_Smith]

I've burned bass wood,cottonwood .Dry they burned well it just takes about twice as much wood .

[beenthere]

Pound for pound dry wood, produces the same BTU's. So for sure, basswood can produce heat. 

[KEC]

I don't go out of my way for basswood, but when a wind put some on my lawn, it went into the stove. Also, when someone gave me some trees  that were cut and the brush all chipped, I took some in appreciation for the hickory, ash, and hard maple. He wanted it all gone. I'd do it again.

[Al_Smith]

I'm not that particilar what it is I use it .This winter it's mostly ash and red oak with a small amount of black cherry .What ever is dead I cut it up and unless it's a hazard or nuisance live tree I pass it up .With  the exception of the oak logs all my stash was wind blown dead ash and cherry  .It's been standing grave yard dead for about ten years and eventually the roots fail and the wind drops them .It really doesn't take me a long time to do it because it's all within 500 feet from the house . Fact I doubt I even fire a saw up until spring .A good thing because I detest cold weather .

[Gearbox]

Basswood is one of my favorites for summer campfires it smells better than any other wood .  

[Ianab]

Pound for pound dry wood, produces the same BTU's. So for sure, basswood can produce heat.

Yep, per pound of dry wood, it's energy is about the same as any other wood.  But you need 2X the volume compared to a denser wood. 

If you are buying firewood by the cord or cubic meter, then it's not so great. If you have a fallen tree, that needs to be cleaned up anyway, then may as well grab it. Lighter woods like that are great for getting a fire started quickly before you throw on the denser slower burning wood. 

[KEC]

Any time I feel bad about burning low heat value wood, I think of something I saw about very poor people in Africa. They take cow pies and roll them with a rolling pin and dry them to burn in a stove to cook on. But wait, they are desperate for cash so they sell the dried pies to other people because they need cash to buy medicine and other necessities. Makes a stack of basswood look pretty good.

[barbender]

I always say, I've never failed to feel warm from a fire no matter what kind of wood it is. It just depends how long the fire lasts. 

KEC, that's a good point- there's a lot of places in the world where a stack of basswood firewood could be a very valuable commodity! 

I spend a lot of time out in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. Basically, Lodgepole Pine is what you have for firewood. I've never heard anyone complain about the heat that comes off of it at the end of a long day afield.

[SwampDonkey]

Dad always confused basswood for maple looking at the bark. The bark looks a like here on the farm. I've seen some maple in other woods with more scaly bark. So anyway, we have burned some here over the years, mistaking it for maple. Of course you know right away when handling it and especially dry. My experience with burning wood, is don't believe the twice as much wood bunch. One load of aspen and fir in the wood stove will heat the shop all day and night. It's never froze out there yet and if I load the stove a second time, after the first burned down to coals, I can drive the heat up over 100°F.  I find with one load of the 'lesser species' door and windows have to be opened up to do any work. With the place all opened up I'll drop one stick in every couple hrs when working. And it's been in single digits here for a week.  Which is good in it's own right because I like fresh air. The biggest factor above all is how well the place is insulated. In my stoves here,  a stick of maple might burn 20% (at best) longer than aspen wood of the same dryness. And it's easy to prove. Also two different types of stoves. A force air furnace needs to drive heat with a fan, if the fan ain't on, you don't heat more than around the perimeter of the stove within 5 feet. A small woodstove has no fan, heats up fast and can actually heat a certain space within parameters just as long with less wood. Will a small ductless stove heat a full house with 2 stories and full basement? I doubt it unless your winters are 40 degrees and warmer. You'll heat the basement though. I lived in a house with a gravity fed furnace in the centre and a kitchen stove. Nice and warm in the kitchen, and over the grate of the furnace. Better pile the blankets on the bed. 

I'll burn 6 cord of aspen and fir or darn near 6 of maple if I choose in this house. I always have 1 to 3 cords more than I'll burn all dry and ready. This year it came in handy after I had seen my shop was going up. So half of the basement wood room is empty before I started burning, aspen and fir. I've got over 4 cords dry left, part of one rank of 18" in the basement, rest under the porch. By the sounds of my friends here who are experiencing the same cold, they are going through their maple darn near as fast as I am with my aspen and fir. Now how about that?   I am also going on 5 months now of burning and I have not supplemented heat with oil, gas or electric. A lot of folks here do use two heat sources. So lets just be honest. ;) Another 4-1/2 months to go.

[doc henderson]

We are burning ERC, Elm. and cottonwood this winter.  Using it up but also can wait to add wood when we feel cool.  heating house and shop.  Only for comfort.  Our base is NG boiler with floor heat.  My wife is hot all the time and often opens a window but that is just her.  she is 61.  Yesterday had a little fir in the shop to get to 60.  could work in a t-shirt, and go outside for 5 minutes in a t-shirt, knowing I would warm back up I the shop.  SD I hope you are not going through the change.  

[SwampDonkey]

No Doc, I'm just hot stuff. 

[Spike60]

Everybody who burns wood has favorites, least favorites and plenty in between. If we all listed 10 species, there wouldn't be 2 lists that are the same. But one reality for all of us is that being fussy is in part driven by availability. Unless you have an unlimited supply of your favorites, it's better to add lesser wood to the pile than be a wood snob and walk away. Location is another variable I consider. On my own property, anything that dies or blows over is going in the woodshed. Not just to avoid wasting it, but to keep my woods neat and easy to move around in. Cutting and hauling from somewhere else, I'm pretty much only going to mess with the good stuff. Burn time is another factor, that is more important to some than others. If you're home, or working in a shop, long burn times aren't as important as when you are away for the day or overnight fires. 

In the end, like many of you have pointed out, it all throws heat. And if you've ever been in one of those "I don't have enough" situations, you're not all that concerned about species. 

[Ianab]

a stick of maple might burn 20% (at best) longer than aspen wood of the same dryness. And it's easy to prove.

Maple isn't 2X the density of Aspen. About 0.45 compared top 0.6 to 0.7. That puts your only 20% longer in context. 

But if you compared Basswood @ 0.32 with Maple, then it would be closer to 2X. And throw some NZ Southern Rata at 1.1, then you are getting around 3X the heat per volume.

And yes when you start burning those super dense woods, you do notice the extra burn time. Or the red glow coming from the flue pipe if you haven't closed the damper a bit. 

[SwampDonkey]

Hate to break it to you, but wood density isn't linearly correlated to burn time. Burn time increases with density but it's not 1:1. Real world burning will prove that.

[Al_Smith]

Of all things I let the fire go out last night but I did find out how to fall asleep in a chair .Be old and sit in a chair with full belly of pork ribs and baked potatoes .It doesn't happen that often 

[SwampDonkey]

We had a power outage here all afternoon. Planned outage, although we never got any notice at all. Called in, recording said. So I never hauled out the generator. I just put in 2 or 3 sticks of aspen or fir and not to have a big roaring fire. All morning I was applying finish to a bunch of sticks in the shop. Had lots of heat and very dry air. The finish was cured in no time and so I hauled all them sticks inside the house and started mounting them on the loom. Two hobbies in one. 

[Ianab]

Agreed, burn time isn't directly related to wood density. Some woods simply burn hotter / faster than others. Resin filled pine for example, quite dense, but burns like rocket fuel. LOTS of heat, short burn time. 

The point is the total energy available from a lump of wood depends mostly on it's (dry)  weight. That's not quite the same as how long it burns for. 

Heck I've been known to throw bit's of paulownia on the fire. If burns OK, but it sure as heck doesn't last long, compared to a chunk of rata at 4x the density. 

[SwampDonkey]

That's where I come from because once the wood is burned cooling starts, so maybe the load of maple burned hotter than the aspen when burning, but the fire might not last much longer. I'm finding that all the time under the same burning conditions. I have some denser hardwood I'll burn once in a while but it ain't around in the stove much longer, hardly noticeable. This matters on a forced air furnace, heating 3 floors (including basement). If the fan is not tripped by enough heat, your not getting heat in house. You could even have a layer of coals, if it's only a couple inches deep it ain't hot enough. Great in the morning, just lay the wood in on them coals, give'r some extra air and off she goes. Dampen the air back down to normal. For me I can control air manually with the ash pan door at start up, or let the heat control the damper. I can also cut down on the wood I load in the furnace by running the fan on manual. So 3 or 4 sticks of wood and on manual fan setting instead of stuffing it full with 12 sticks of wood on automatic fan setting will throw heat just as long up through the ducts. I do that when I have the grow tent going, got constant heat feeding the tent instead of intermittent. 75-80° in there all day.  

[doc henderson]

yes, air flow affects rate of burn, and also volume to surface area.  small splits will go faster.  dryer goes faster.

[Spike60]

All this info on wood species; decimal points, weight, surface area and such is fine in and of itself. It may accurately determine how many btu's are in a given piece of wood. But it doesn't take into account the many differences in the stoves we all have. Stove/furnace, cat/no cat, with or without damper, forced air. And in general, the efficiency of any of those set ups. That's why many here have different experiences burning different wood. Also, fully loading the stove to achieve maximum burn time, vs just tossing in 2 or 3 at a time to keep the fire going will yield different results. 

And how do we define burn time anyway? Visible flames only? Or do we take into account how long we can ride the coals until more wood is needed? And that of course depends on how cold it is outside. (as if we don't already have enough variables) This past week when the overnight temps were going below zero and daytime highs in the low to mid teens required more frequent loading to keep the stovetop temp high enough that the house would not begin to lose temperature. Riding the coals wouldn't cut it like I can do when the temp is just a couple degrees either side of freezing. 

I enjoy reading and learning about everyone's experiences here. And one thing's for sure; it's a topic we'll never be able to wear out.

[barbender]

One wood that kind of defies the numbers is tamarack (eastern larch). It is denser than many softwoods, but more than that the resin in that wood makes it burn HOT. It is the wood of choice for many up here with outdoor wood stoves (me included). 

One key aspect, I think, is the low efficiency of OWB's. A lot of time, when the system calls for heat and the forced draft blower kicks on, there is a flame shooting 2' out of the chimney! I suspect that represents a lot of lost BTUs😂

My theory is, the tamarack burns so hot that the stove quickly brings the water up to temp. Less run time equals less heat loss out the pipe. Then the damper closes off and shuts everything down. There isn't much heat loss in between burn times, said differently my owb is really efficient if the draft fan isn't blowing😊

One logger told me a guy bought a load of green tamarack for his owb, but it didn't work well for him. What would happen, he'd light the fire and it would come up to temp super fast. Then the stove would shut down, and the fire would go out...when the fan would kick on again there weren't even any embers to get it rolling again.

Old timers wouldn't burn tamarack in an indoor woodstove, they said it would quickly burn the stove out because it was so hot.

I and many other OWB users prefer softwoods because they don't make nearly as much ash as hardwoods. I've only cleaned my stove once this winter. It's due again, but if I'm burning hardwood it's seems like once a week. And tamarack is the king of the softwoods when it comes to heating.

[SwampDonkey]

A nice chunk of spruce will burn nice to. I put one in the shop stove and there was a low flame for several hrs and 80 degrees.  I planted a few tamarack on my place in the wet runs. Those will grow on top of water practically. They are 24 years old and some are huge.  The bear climb them and pull them over when they are pole sized after cones, a few of them bows around, with bear claw marks. Lots of bears.

[barbender]

I'm curious as to the extent of the tamarack stands pre-settlement around here. I've read some articles that suggest they were more prevalent on upland sites, but failed to grow back after the initial wave of logging. I do know they will grow on an upland site just fine, but they get outcompeted for some reason. Not much can co.pete with them out in the swamp😊

[beenthere]

SD
Don't know how you can stand to live in a house temp at 80 deg.
71 here at most, and then only if sitting still, or have a fever.
Is that for your mother while she weaves on the weaving machine. ??

[Otis1]

Maybe something to do with soil disturbances? I see a lot of old logging roads that the shoulders will grow yellow birch, hemlock, and tamarack with none of them within sight (site)? in good upland sugar maple/ northern hardwoods. 

[SwampDonkey]

Beenthere, a dry 80 degrees is nicer than a humid one. 75-80 degrees feels nice to me. We also open windows a lot around here for fresh air as well as an exchanger that comes on now and again. Windows are always open, often the door, when working in the shop. Amazing how the temp hardly drops with windows up, of course that's with no wind sailing through and a stick of wood in the stove. 

My grandfather liked it close to 90 degrees reading in his rocking chair or snoozing on the porch couch. Porch was insulated and heated. All those years sleeping on the ground at night, after working in the woods, in a Hudson's Bay robe in shack or lean to by a fire. No warm office out in the bushes.    90° is too hot for me, but I never had to work and sleep at night under the stars like a cowboy either.

Mother gets cold and digs out the sweater if it's below 75°. That's from standing at a potato conveyor in the cold picking out rocks and mud by the bucket fulls in the cold wind for 30 years.    Mother doesn't weave, what gave you that notion? 

30° and wind outside now, a fire is going to. 

[SwampDonkey]

Once in awhile here you see an old farm field that tamarack took over, more common is white spruce, aspen, fir, maple, ash, and white birch, some times a lot of black cherry. Out behind the house here in the old orchard, it's full of cherry. I planted a lot of yellow birch through it. There are a couple big old monster tamarack there to. You know how them limbs are almost as long as they are tall? I've seen turkey roost in tamarack many times.

Turkey on a tamarack branch one morning, behind here in the old orchard.



Up the road here a step I saw 30 of them buzzards in tamaracks one morning. 

[Ianab]

I'm curious as to the extent of the tamarack stands pre-settlement around here. I've read some articles that suggest they were more prevalent on upland sites, but failed to grow back after the initial wave of logging.

Forest succession? 

Where you cut down an old growth forest, but those tree types don't do well in open ground. So a different mix regenerates. After a hundred years or more, the mature forest starts to support the more shade tolerant species, and they gradually take over. 

You see that very clearly locally. In the last century there was still old growth native forest being logged. If it was left to regenerate you got a very different mix of trees. The original species like Rimu and Tawa simply wont grow in exposed conditions. But other trees will, and eventually create a forest canopy where only the shade tolerant species can thrive, so they become dominant again. A rimu can live as a sapling under a sheltered canopy for decades. just biding it's time. Any sun loving competition has died off. Then when a larger tree falls and creates a light tunnel, the rimu takes advantage of that, and goes for the light. If can out compete the other species, because it's already 9ft tall, even though it's been there ~30 years. 

So looking at a forest that was logged ~100 years ago is VERY different from one that has never been touched. You might see smaller rimu and tawa starting to break though the canopy, but it's going to take a couple more centuries for them to mature. So the effect is possibly more pronounced in our local forest types. 

[SwampDonkey]

I can't think of any native trees here that won't take advantage of open ground. The thing that influences the new stand is how fast you can grow and if there is viable seed ready to sprout or a seedling ready to take advantage, or a root system to support suckering . A pin cherry can grow from a 100 year old seed in the dirt to 3 feet the first season. It's the size/shape of a small ball bearing, 6 or 7  mm across. A maple seedling grows about an inch, from seed about the same. An establish seedling or sapling is delayed up to 3 years before it's growth takes a spirt. An aspen sucker can grow 3 feet as soon as the weather permits. You will see all kinds of aspen stands in my area full of maple and ash and some fir, but they can not out grow the aspen. Fir will not grow well in shade, but survives, some found to be 3 feet tall and 50 years old. The aspen dies off by 90 years, the hardwood grows right along and takes over. Those tamarack seed blew in from wetland around the field. We tend to clear land right up to the wet lands, not much buffer. Trees on the west side of the field shoot seed on the wind. Prevailing wind here is westerly. You should observe the yellow needles of tamarack as they fall off every year. See how far those old needles fly on the wind onto a ploughed field. Seed will go further, they are winged to take advantage. The old orchard here is surrounded by open fields. In my old orchard, I have maples, elm, aspen, cherry (both pin and black), birch, spruce, fir have all invaded. I only planted birch, the rest is wild. In the case of cherry, birds, bears and coons move it great distances. I have 2 black cherry in my woods, the bears go wild over them, they are in pretty rough shape these days. Oaks up there, the same. They have no chance against bears.  

[Tim in New York]

Have not burned any basswood in a long time.  There does not seem to be any on the hill behind our house.  One thing i always remember about basswood is that its the only wood I could smell the smoke outside and know what was in the stove.  Kind of a sweet and strong smell.  Where I grew up we would cut a few blocks from a down tree to split up small for kindling.

[Corley5]

I burned a bunch of basswood along with beech and ash that was too far gone to sell. My outdoor boiler ate it right up. As the weather got colder I had to fire with hardwood at night and was glad when the junk was gone. I couldn't beat the price on the stuff. We used to leave basswood in the woods to go back on the ground rather than wasting labor and fuel to make it into firewood.