[AT] firewood

[Ed Stewart]

Hi, I live about ten mile west of the eastern continental divide in PA. 
I heat with wood and backup with oil. I burn redoak, black or 
rockoak,and whiteoak, Black birch(which I like best because of the 
amount of charcoal it makes) Soft maple, hard or sugar maple, beech, 
black cherry some popular, cucumber. the eastern pines have to much 
pitch even though they burn hot, they will load the chimney with cresote 
and then catch fire. which has burned many houses in its day. My furnace 
is outside the house and all the mess stays out there also which is much 
better than it used to be with the stoves indoors. We also have a lot of 
quaking aspen here but it will not burn till dry and then it burns like 
gunpowder, It was a favorite of my mothers for baking biscuits in the 
wood cook stove when I was a kid, it burned fast and hard and had the 
oven up to baking heat quick and then went out so the kitchen didn't get 
to hot..It takes me about 12 pickup loads of wood for the winter here. Ed

John Wilkens wrote:
> Out West in Oregon my favorite firewood by far is Tamarack (Western 
> Larch) which is not a hardwood but is deciduous (kinda unique). 
> Western Larch gets big--like Douglas-fir and Ponderosa Pine but it is 
> more dense and burns long and hot. It is usually straight grained and 
> splits nicely. We have the smaller lodgepole pine too but it burns a 
> little too fast. Sometime I'd sure like to try some oak or other 
> hardwoods like you easterners have. I burn 5 to 6 cords per year to 
> heat the house and shop--with a little help from my backup propane 
> furnace. Stay warm! John
>
>
>
> At 04:58 PM 11/25/2006, you wrote:
>> I'd like to see your part of the continent some time. I'm a bit of a 
>> tree
>> nut and I like studying the woods. Our woods here in Ohio and 
>> Pennsylvania
>> are very different from what you have up there. We have lots of what is
>> generically called Poplar here but it is the Yellow Poplar variety
>> (Liriodendron tulipifera) and not a true Poplar but a member of the 
>> Magnolia
>> family of trees. We do have some Black Poplar and Cottonwood here but
>> neither is fit to use as firewood. By the time Cottonwood dries 
>> enough to
>> burn there is almost nothing left of it. It weighs almost nothing dry 
>> and
>> burns like paper (instantly). Black Poplar here (also called Lombardy
>> Poplar) is a fast growing, short lived tree which has loads of small
>> diameter short upright brittle branches that form a narrow column-like
>> crown. The trunk is the only part that ever gets big enough to use as
>> firewood and with all the limbs the tree produces it is miserable to 
>> split.
>> The limbs are usually 2" diameter or less before they break off in 
>> the wind.
>> It was often densely planted in rows to create windbreaks and 
>> shelterbelts.
>> Black Poplar (Populus nigra) is a true Poplar (part of the Willow 
>> family)
>> and is not native to North America but was introduced here from its 
>> native
>> Western Asia and part of Europe.
>> Mark
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Ralph Goff" <alfg at sasktel.net>
>> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" 
>> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>> Sent: Friday, November 24, 2006 3:23 PM
>> Subject: Re: [AT] firewood
>>
>>
>> > Its all poplar wood here Mark. That in the picture was all dead 
>> fall wood
>> > pretty well and his farm has many acres of it still. As a person ages
>> those
>> > logs just get heavier and heavier. I can recall years ago when he 
>> had some
>> > huge logs in that woodpile that took at least three of us to pick 
>> up and
>> get
>> > on the saw. We do grow some big poplar here if they are left long 
>> enough
>> > without drought or fire. I have some pictures of a tree I helped 
>> remove
>> from
>> > a local churchyard. A huge black poplar or maybe cottonwood that 
>> must have
>> > been over 4 foot diameter. The tree must have been 80 years old at 
>> that
>> > time. Not the greatest firewood though.
>> >
>> > Ralph in Sask.
>> > http://lgoff.sasktelwebsite.net/
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> AT mailing list
>> Remembering Our Friend Cecil Monson 11-4-2005
>> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>
>
> In the wide-open spaces of NE Oregon
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> Remembering Our Friend Cecil Monson 11-4-2005
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>

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Ed Stewart
Reynoldsville, PA.
15851
Using DSL connection.