Is Basswood a good wood to burn in an evaporator?

[claystroup]

Found a large stand of mature bass wood that I can have if I cut it down and haul it away. If split and dried for a couple years would this be a good wood to burn? I know it's a softer wood but does it have a good heat output with AUF?

[Dennis H.]

It is all about BTU's.
Basswood has about 13.7 MBTU's per cord. White pine has 13.2 MBTU's per cord.
White Oak has 24.2 MBTU's per cord. Now MBTU = one million BTU's.
So as you can see Basswood is on the lower side of the BTU range. All wood will burn and produce heat you have to decide weather cutting and splitting and then stacking that wood knowing that you will use more of it per gallon of syrup produced is worth the effort.
Me, if the distance that I have to haul it isn't too far and if I had enough other hard wood that I could mix in I would go for it.

[motowbrowne]

Basswood is great wood for making syrup. I've never run a rig with forced draft, but on my natural draft 2x10, my favorite wood is soft wood split small. Basswood and poplar are two of my favorite. Also, it's not very desirable for other folks, so as you've discovered, it's usually free for the taking.

[MapleMark753]

We have some Basswood here in the woods, and like most everyone I've heard from neighbors and town people alike that Basswood is bad.
Bad, bad, bad. Nooo Boddeee likes Basswood.
But, for us anyways, its fine as a small part of a good hardwood mix. And, since Basswood split small and dried well burns pretty quickly, it can make a real hot fire fast. As in getting the evap up to operating temp quickly. If you've got Basswood, or its available why not use it?

[maple flats]

Any wood is good for syrup, where basswood would not be good for heating your home. It burns up too fast, but that is not an issue with making maple syrup. By the way, it is easy to split too.

[mudr]

I will reuse the saying I had the first few years I had a wood stove to heat the house, was a poor grad student living off of my wife's salary, and was open to any and all firewood I could get my hands on cheaply:

It burns better than snowballs!

:)

[adk1]

I burn allot of white pine and hemlock split down to wrist size. Basswood sounds familiar. Burns hot but fast and that is what u want. I load s few splits every couple of minutes. Go through allot of wood. Basically have run out most years. That is why I bought an ro for my 2027 season!!!

[maple flats]

That is why I bought an ro for my 2027 season!!! 2027? or 2017?

[WestfordSugarworks]

From what I've learned, basswood leaves are great fertilizers for your woods. I've heard a lot of people say they will never cut basswood down. Maybe if you had a large stand you could take some of them, but maybe want to consider cutting them all down (maybe talk with a forester first).

[maple flats]

Another good way to use up basswood, is if you have any traditional decoy carvers around. Basswood was the preferred wood for carving duck decoys. There may not be any who still do that with all the molded decoy options today.

[lpakiz]

Years ago, late 60s, I hauled basswood "bolts" to a company that built bee keeping equipment. Seems that was the wood of choice for hives and other wooden components.