Wood

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Hey every one. I just got a new mini log splitter and I've been putting in wood like crazy. If I put up some pretty fresh cut wood, that is some what still green, do you think it'll be okay if I split it and be able to use it this spring? Just wondering what every one thinks. Oh, what do you guys think is the best hard wood for fueling your evaporator.:confused:

[Brent]

If you split is small, stack it criss crossed where there is lots of air movement and hopefully some sunshine and cover the top of the stack, it should be pretty good.

The rule of thumb here seems to be that the splitting should give you peices that are no bigger than the size of your wrist..

You'll get lots of opinions about what to burn. I was surprised to read here that lots of people think softwood burns hotter, and faster, which means you'll need to add wood more often and have a bigger pile.

We boiled with a Half Pint a few years ago. We put a small blower in the ash door and got it going so good that after dark the smoke stack was glowing dull orange/red in the night. If you do that you'll boiled about 50% faster, and use 2 to 3 times as much wood.

[C.Wilcox]

If you're splitting green right now it probably won't be very dry by spring unless you store it in a heated building. If you split really small it might dry enough to be usable, but really you should aim to cut and split wood a year in advance of when you plan to use it.

The best wood to burn is whatever you can get the cheapest (free is best of course).

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Yeah I had a fan going in the sap house last year for steam release and another under the evaporator draft door. I was feeding the fire every 30 min with a arm of wood pieces. I usually have maple to burn but I know that some people will burn with pine or other soft woods. I like hard woods and maple the best, besides burning pine makes cracking noises and it stinks like pitch.:o

[Greenwich Maple Man]

Hey every one. I just got a new mini log splitter and I've been putting in wood like crazy. If I put up some pretty fresh cut wood, that is some what still green, do you think it'll be okay if I split it and be able to use it this spring? Just wondering what every one thinks. Oh, what do you guys think is the best hard wood for fueling your evaporator.:confused:

Good dry hardewood will give you the most BTU and boil the fastest handsdown.Softwood works but you will not get the same evap. rate per hour. I ran some Red Pine through my evaporater this past season and could tell the difference in how fast the sap was coming into the floatbox. There was that much difference. If you put fresh cut wood in now it will not burn as well as it should. Force draft will help.

[3rdgen.maple]

This never ending wood debate makes me chuckle. I have to say that when it comes to burning wood in a conventional evaporator you can throw the btu stats right out the window. BTU's are going to be higher in hardwoods than softwoods for one reason. It burns longer. Meaning you get more heat out of a cord of hardwoods than softwoods due to the length of the burn. Softwoods especially pine burns hotter for shorter periods of time getting you less BTU's per cord. What I think is happening to some is that the key to burning the softwoods/pine is the consistancy in firing the evaporator. I have proven to my dad time and time again with him on the wood debate. I can boil my headtank out alot faster burning pine than I can with hardwood, and thats only a visual the math on gph doesnt lie. Pine is 95% of what I burn.

[Greenwich Maple Man]

This never ending wood debate makes me chuckle. I have to say that when it comes to burning wood in a conventional evaporator you can throw the btu stats right out the window. BTU's are going to be higher in hardwoods than softwoods for one reason. It burns longer. Meaning you get more heat out of a cord of hardwoods than softwoods due to the length of the burn. Softwoods especially pine burns hotter for shorter periods of time getting you less BTU's per cord. What I think is happening to some is that the key to burning the softwoods/pine is the consistancy in firing the evaporator. I have proven to my dad time and time again with him on the wood debate. I can boil my headtank out alot faster burning pine than I can with hardwood, and thats only a visual the math on gph doesnt lie. Pine is 95% of what I burn.

When you have to open the door and shut the blower down to keep putting in softwood you loose alot of heat everytime.If you talk to the major evaporater companys they all say that hardwood is best. Have to agree with them I can boil twice as fast with DRY hardwood as opossed to pine and that is even with a Inferno arch. 3rdgen. if pines working for you that go with it. Like the old saying goes "if it ain't broke than don't fix it".

[3rdgen.maple]

When you have to open the door and shut the blower down to keep putting in softwood you loose alot of heat everytime.If you talk to the major evaporater companys they all say that hardwood is best. Have to agree with them I can boil twice as fast with DRY hardwood as opossed to pine and that is even with a Inferno arch. 3rdgen. if pines working for you that go with it. Like the old saying goes "if it ain't broke than don't fix it".

Ahhh see I said conventional evaporator, you had to go throw an inferno arch and blowers into the equation. lol Im sure having air over fire and under fire makes a difference. Probably would have to be loading pine in one every minute. But I stand by the point pine burns hotter just not as long, now if you have to open the doors and shut blowers off your going to kill your gph with loss heat out the door. I think we just solved the pine/hardwood debate once and for all. :rolleyes: So lets say if your running a high effiecient arch with blowers hardwood is the way to go, if your running a conventional arch with maybe air under the fire pine is the way to go. Makes perfect sense to me now. See debates are great we get answers when we listen to each other. Greenwich your a good man.

Now back to the original post. When you said you only load an armful every 30 minutes throws up a red flag for me. You are running a halfpint and to get the max gph your would should be burning up faster. So I am thinking that maybe you are not splitting your wood small enough. I went through the best year and worst year I ever had last year due to running out of wood with the amount of sap I got. I ended up using wood that was not completely dried. It was slabs of mixed hardwood and pine that was cut in the fall. My gph was half at best and made for some fustrating boils with sap piling up fast. If you can get your hands on drier wood I wouldnt hesitate for a second to get it. You might be fine with what you have but might not so I would play it safe.

Now back to the

[Haynes Forest Products]

Fellow producer has all the wood he wants from his saw mill and all he burns is the cedar, pine, hemlock and any soft fast burning wood. I'm with 3rdgen soft pines are fast and furious.

[maple flats]

I mix mine about 30% soft. I prefer all hard but I like to use up some of my slab wood off my sawmill. I do fuel it sooner however when using slab. I have high pressure AOF and I fuel every 11 minutes with the mix and every 12 on just hard. I do not shut the AOF off to fuel and nothing comes out the door as I open except some heat. The door is open about 10-15 seconds. As soon as the door closes I have a full boil, no waiting.

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

"Now back to the original post. When you said you only load an armful every 30 minutes throws up a red flag for me. You are running a halfpint and to get the max gph your would should be burning up faster. So I am thinking that maybe you are not splitting your wood small enough. I went through the best year and worst year I ever had last year due to running out of wood with the amount of sap I got. I ended up using wood that was not completely dried. It was slabs of mixed hardwood and pine that was cut in the fall. My gph was half at best and made for some fustrating boils with sap piling up fast. If you can get your hands on drier wood I wouldnt hesitate for a second to get it. You might be fine with what you have but might not so I would play it safe." Is what one of you said.

Now back to the[/QUOTE]

I burn mostly hard maple. I split the pieces small for the half pint but when I'm at a full boil I'll feed it small pieces and a arm full of bigger ones. I still get around 5 gph, which is better than I got when I was boiling outside. Also the forced air is a big factor in how fast I come to a roaring boil.
:D

[wally]

i burn about 80% pine. softwoods in general produce more heat on a weight basis than hardwoods. you just need a bigger pile of softwoods to equal the weight of hardwoods.

another advantage is that pine dries more quickly than most of the hardwoods around here, and can often be procured for less $$ than hardwoods, for those who have to purchase their wood.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Lets throw the word seasoned into the conversation. For our rental cabins we have the wood sitting out side unprotected from rain. after sitting inside for a day it will burn just fine. Now take unseasoned wood and leave it inside for a week and it wont dry out or burn. Unseasoned wood takes allot of BTU to burn. Wet seasoned wood not so much.

[red maples]

yes dry is the key word there. if its green now especially hard wood then it may not be ready by then to burn as hot as you would like it to for sap. If yoru wood is too green for the wood stove it won't burn good either and you get too much creasote buildup. I don't get a creasote build up in the stack for the evap and if I do I just let it burn itself out!!! I use hardwood for the house and pine, hemlock, spruce for the for the sap!!!

By weight wood gives off similar BTU's so there for you need alot more pine because it is so light!!! there is a great breakdown in the North Amercian maple book about BTU's vs wood type.

1 more thing 1 arm full of wood every 30 minutes. yes some one else said it not splitting wood small enough. should be the size of you arm. As I get more and more experince with my rig I tend to like the wood just slightly bigger. and bone dry this make things a little easier for me. I can get a more consistant longer boil with less mixing and fire about every 8 minutes. Its alot more fun than firing every 3-4 mintes for 8 hrs!!! Although you do loose some weight and sleep good when you do sleep!!!

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Hey just a thought. Have any of you burned poplar before? Just wondering, cause my neighbor has a ton of poplars and two huge ones just blew over in that hurricane last weekend before last.:confused:

[heus]

I burned alot of tulip poplar last season. Burns hot and fast with alot of sparks out of the stack. It seasons pretty fast and probably would be good to go by March if cut small. If you are talking about Aspen then it burns even faster.

[red maples]

Poplar / aspen same thing depends on where you live just a few different types. It burns pretty hot and fast but it needs to be dry can't stress dry enough for the poplar.

[heus]

Red Maples I think we may have had this discussion before but a tulip polar is not the same thing as a quaking aspen. Same family I think but tulip polar actually makes pretty good lumber. I realize there are regional differences in the names of trees. Where I live the tulip polar has bark almost exactly like an ash. Large tulip shaped leaves and large yellow/orange flowers in early summer. Very straight grained wood. Quaking Aspen has the leaves that "wave" and often have almost white bark like a birch. Wood is more like a cottonwood. Very low density and rots easily.

[Greenwich Maple Man]

Red Maples I think we may have had this discussion before but a tulip polar is not the same thing as a quaking aspen. Same family I think but tulip polar actually makes pretty good lumber. I realize there are regional differences in the names of trees. Where I live the tulip polar has bark almost exactly like an ash. Large tulip shaped leaves and large yellow/orange flowers in early summer. Very straight grained wood. Quaking Aspen has the leaves that "wave" and often have almost white bark like a birch. Wood is more like a cottonwood. Very low density and rots easily.

Red Maples,you are 100% correct. Quite a defference between "Poplar and Tulip Poplar". Same family but very different tree.Sell a log truck load and you will know for sure.

[lastwoodsman]

Very differenty family Tulip Poplar is liriodendron tulipifera. Tulip poplar is the genus liriodendron not a true popular at all, while Quaking aspen is Populus Tremuloides of the genus populus.

This is a family that contains cottonwoods, balsam poplar and many other species within this genus.

liriodendron tulipifera is a zone 5 and warmer tree. While Populus Tremuloides is hardy to zone 2.

In the upper midwest such as Minnesota tulip tree will not grow.
Although populus Tremuloides makes fair firewood as it is a softwood it does make nice lumber for use in tounge and groove paneling and lumber. The inside of my sauna is v joint groove lumber and is bright in color.
Woodsman

[3rdgen.maple]

Hey just a thought. Have any of you burned poplar before? Just wondering, cause my neighbor has a ton of poplars and two huge ones just blew over in that hurricane last weekend before last.:confused:

Burns pretty good. Just make sure its dry of course. I really dont like it for one reason, it stinks and permeates the whole sugarhouse while its stacked inside with that awful smell. The only wood I know that can be burnt green with good success is Ash.

[Z/MAN]

Had a willow uprooted last week. Can that be burned this winter? Seems like a dry soft wood.

[RileySugarbush]

My experience many years ago is that it is almost impossible to burn. It formed a thick ash that stayed on the wood and insulated the rest of the log.

[lastwoodsman]

Along with birch oak and maple populus tremuloides was the main wood we burned in the furnance as a kid. 70% of what we and folks in our area burned for heat was populus tremuloides(Quaking Aspen.)
When dry as with any wood it burns clean, being a soft wood it burns fairly fast.
Poplar (Populus Tremuloides) coals in the fire pit make the best grilled steak you can have. My favorite by far.
Woodsman

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Burns pretty good. Just make sure its dry of course. I really dont like it for one reason, it stinks and permeates the whole sugarhouse while its stacked inside with that awful smell. The only wood I know that can be burnt green with good success is Ash.


Why, what does it smell like. I have heard that locust makes a bad smell when it burns. Any one ever heard of that one?:o

[C.Wilcox]

My co-worker spent a winter heating his house with common buckthorn. The dry pieces burned fine, but his wife told him if he tried it again she was filing for divorce. I was never there when he was burning it, but his wife tells me it stunk up the whole house. Something like a cross between old socks and rotten vegetables. Of course, her complaints only encouraged him to burn more, but that's another story.

[heus]

Had a willow uprooted last week. Can that be burned this winter? Seems like a dry soft wood.

In addition to tulip poplar I actually burned about 1 cord of weeping willow. Seasons to feather light and burns hot and fast.

[bees1st]

talk about stink, in my real job,I work in a boat shop , I have access to lots of cutoffs . Last year we made a keel out of angelique ,a tropical hardwood, worst thing I've ever smelled. I don't care if it's free I'll never burn that again!

[3rdgen.maple]

Why, what does it smell like. I have heard that locust makes a bad smell when it burns. Any one ever heard of that one?:o

You ever smell male cat urine when it marks its territory? If you have thats the only way I can desribe it. ONce its dry its not as bad but putting it up green its nasty.

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Yes I've heard that too, about the cat urine smell from green burning locust. I guess I'll try it but the wood will be very dry if I burn it.

[Red-bellied Woodpecker]

How about wood pallets?

[xyz5150]

Red-bellied Woodpecker

How about wood pallets?

That's about all i burn, I own a landscape supply company so have a ton of FREE pallets/lawnmower crates. They burn hot and fast little bit of a pain to cut, still faster than cutting big stuff and splitting it down to tooth pick size.

[jdgordon]

DITO on the pallets, I have used them when I can get them free. Burn hot and fast, have to load pretty regular. Be aware that the nails can be a pain depending on your grating system. Also, plan first before disposing of ashes with !!nails!!

[Red-bellied Woodpecker]

Thanks guys....I have a friend that can get as many as I want from where he works for free. Looks like I will be geting some loads from him.