And if you're in a pinch, like I usually am, standing dead elm that has shed its bark (but still solid) is what I go for if I can find it. Turns the arch doors cherry red.
And if you're in a pinch, like I usually am, standing dead elm that has shed its bark (but still solid) is what I go for if I can find it. Turns the arch doors cherry red.
Now I have an outdoor hobby for all 12 months. Like I need anything more to do
About 1000 taps on gravity tubing, MicRO2 RO, 2.5 X 8 Leader King, and a 1953 Willys Jeep to run around the maple woods with.
http://www.gihringfamilyfarm.com/
For the smaller operators and backyarders pound for pound the fastest hottest burning wood is old pallets. Usually available free. Some work to cut up but they really add the heat....
An option for those limited on fuel supply
From Chapter 7 of the 2006 edition of the North American Maple Producers Manual.
Heat Equiv of Hardwoods.jpg
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
https://mapleresearch.org
Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu
A lot burn whatever they can get. Hemlock burns hot but quick, more times stoking, more coals.
Find a tree service company, ask about they do with what they take down.
I used one that took down some with their cherry picker and standing dead. They left 3’ x8’ stalks, cut stand dead hemlock and took to a farm store that they use for outdoor furnaces and chipped up branches and rotting 2’+. I had to pay the crew.
Then 2 other times they cut down and grown stumps, I processed wood for sugar (hemlock,maple, beech, birch and hardback).
2020 same
2019 RB10 26 taps
2018 RO Bucket RB5 taps 20, leg tank in shed w/2 5/16
2017 18 taps
2016 20 taps
2015 21 taps
2014 30 2 gravity line, 2 hotel pan concrete arch 35 g leg tank
2013 LP hook up in shack buckets 12 taps
2 burner cook top 2012 finisher on a bbq tanks
2011 rookie 2+ gal
8 taps w/ milk jugs
turkey cooker
50-60 up back maybe
i used to use the same wood in the arch as i did in the camp stove but as red said, i now prefer to keep the maple and ironwood for heating my home and camp. i look for any punky wood that's in the woods. i have a lot of basswoods that come down in storms. popple n spruce burn hot. you get a lot less coals to choke the draft and i'm not concerned about firing up more often. i'm watching water boil; it's good to have something else to do!
I typically burn oak and locust but when I am getting close to syrup, I like a hotter flame so I will burn red maple or poplar. I believe that it gets the syrup to migrate better. I may be wrong but in my experience, I have watched sap bounce 2 - 3 degrees below syrup for a long time before becoming dense enough but when I make the fire hotter with softer woods, the sap gets to syrup quicker.
In short, I agree that some wood burns hotter but gives less btu's. But those hotter burning woods usually burn faster.
Last edited by minehart gap; 03-11-2019 at 04:41 AM.
Matt,
Minehart Gap Maple
I burn red maple black cherry red oak These are just blow downs around the woods around the house.I saw on Dr. Tims sheet ash is good,there is a little poem that oak is dense and burns well but ash shall heat the hearths of kings.
I burn a lot of ash (mixed with box elder, elm, maple, etc). Definitely gives off its BTUs faster than a lot of other woods but still not too frequent firings. Makes the evap boil really well and it's a noticeable difference compared to say armloads of box elder or oak. Elm is a close second in my favorites to use. Firing with both elm and ash makes serious heat.
42.82N
2015 - Small operation. 25 buckets. One excited 5 year old and one 35 year old that feels 5 again.
2016 - One year older. New Homemade 2x4 Arch, Smoky Lake Pan and looking at 52 maples, 17 box elders and 2 walnut trees.
2017 - Shurflo 4008 hooked to 42 stingy silver maples and a few Norways. A couple buckets on sugars and Norways. 10 box elders.
2018 - ...a few more taps.
2019 - ...more taps on 3/16 gravity. This spiral is heading downward in a hurry.
2020 - 4x400 RO - RB20 (uh-oh!)
Something else that I have found is that the softer hardwoods seem to burn at a more even temperature. With locust and oak, my temperature readout is constantly fluctuating around 1/2 a degree but red maple and cherry seem to only fluctuate about 1/10 a degree. Drawoff is much more steady with the softer woods.
Matt,
Minehart Gap Maple
The Firewood Poem
Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut's only good they say,
If for logs 'tis laid away.
Make a fire of Elder tree,
Death within your house will be;
But ash new or ash old,
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold
Birch and fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last,
it is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold
But ash green or ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke,
Apple wood will scent your room
Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom
Oaken logs, if dry and old
keep away the winter's cold
But ash wet or ash dry
a king shall warm his slippers by.
Fuel+Temperature+Oxygen=Fire There are an infinite number of permutations in this formula that result in getting firewood to boil sap, but a lot of the heat still goes up the stack unused. Terrible efficiency.
Last edited by Daveg; 03-14-2019 at 11:58 AM.