flame temperature of various woods?

[unclejohn]

I can find heat content (Btu/lb) of various hard and soft woods from various sources. However, I have heard that some woods, such as cedar, which is available in abundance here in Missouri, burns hotter than other wood, even though it doesn't have as much heat content as hardwoods, such as hickory, oak, locust, or osage orange. Can someone please provide a table of flame temperature of various woods? In searching on google, if you look for words "combustion temperature" it is sometimes confused with "ignition temperature" which is not what I am looking for.

Some old timers here claim that cedar burns the hottest of all because of its sticky sap content. Any comments on cedar or flame temperature would be appreciated.

Yes, there are maple syrupmakers in Missouri, mostly in the hill country of tributaries of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, and in the eastern half of the state. I have met about a dozen of them, and some of us are already boiling! We had a 15" snowstorm in mid Missouri a week ago and the subsequent days, though foggy and cold, led to some good sap flow. We now have an arctic air mass, so the trees are sleeping for a while.

Good luck to readers in New England who are getting a snow blast tonight. Your sap will flow in a few weeks! John

[ecolbeck]

That’s an interesting question. I would guess that while it may be true that some types of wood burn hotter than others, the differences would be negligible, especially when compared to other factors such as cost, availability, and moisture content. In other words, burn what you have on hand and make sure it’s dry.

[Mark]

If I remember right all wood has the same btu's per pound. Pine pitch can add some btu's. The temp depends on getting the fuel to air ratio correct and less moisture to interfere with mixing.

[Keitha333]

https://www.environmentalchimneyserv...burns-hottest/

[Keitha333]

This may be more what you are looking for:
http://worldforestindustries.com/for...d-btu-ratings/

[maple flats]

Unless you are just curious, don't worry about it's flame temperature. Just give it all the oxygen it needs and keep adding wood according to a timer. I've burned everything from Bass wood, to oak, cedar, cherry, locust, ash, sugar maple, pine and hemlock plus many others. While each species may need a longer or shorter refuelling interval, they all boiled just as well as any others, you just need to figure out the time for adding more. On mine, once I added AOF (air over fire) has been 8 minutes on the softer woods to 9 if all harder woods. Just make sure it's dry and split to wrist size in at least 1 dimension and not over 2x wrist size in the other.

[red dorakeen]

I came across a bunch of cedar in the wood I had put up for last year's boil. I decided I like using it.

Burns a little quicker and so I had to adjust stoking time.

It doesn't leave as much hot coals so shutting down for the day is easier to control.

Plus I'ld rather use the hardwoods for the wood stove.

This year I believe I have enough cedar in the shed for the maple season.

[Helicopter Seeds]

If you find it, it would be incorrect to take that as your operating temperature..
the fire temperature can get hotter for any wood if there is good oxygen and insulation in the burn chamber. It gets lower as a result of moisture. So regardless of type, if it is very dry, and plenty of oxygen, it can burn hot. Cardboard for example can burn very hot since it is typically dry and the corrugations trap air. Splitting smaller kindling size of any type will allow a faster burn, making more heat in a period of time, and thus being hotter. So a given type of wood or any other fuel can have a wide range of operating temperature. Oak is know for good btu value, but that is really based on cord, or volume purchase. If you get dry wood, they are all similar btu per lb dry. Since often is available green, the ratings are easily comparable by volume. In your arch, the lighter wood may actually burn faster, and hotter, if it is dry, than hardwood.
Hope this helps.

[Ed R]

I've boiled with several types of very dry punky wood in the past and have had trouble keeping sap in the pans without using a lot of defoamer ( especially dry punky hard maple). I like boiling with lighter weight wood of all types as long as its dry. I am still boiling with cottonwood that has been in the woodshed for 6 years now. Have several more years worth in there.

[TapTapTap]

I agree with some comments that BTUs seem generally related to dry density. And, more moisture means more BTU to extract the water. Also, I don't think the burn temperature matters but the burn time does. Lighter wood generally means less BTUs and a shorter burn time. More moisture means more BTUs towards drying.

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