Two Frugal Chicks

With the recent storms a lot of us had tree damage. Now the question is what to do with all that wood. Please don’t try to burn green wood as it smokes too much. It’s best to let it dry.

We have heated our house with fire wood for years. I’ve gotten pretty choosy about what type of wood we will burn. Different woods produce different btu’s. It’s worth researching before buying firewood. Certain woods are more valuable/desireable than others. I have had many people try to sell me cotton wood. I am not interested. It’s very fiberous and difficult to split. I also do not desire an entire load of cedar. It’s great for getting a good coal bed going but burns much too quickly. I prefer hard woods for long lasting fires. Wood stored 1 year under cover dries to 20% moisture and ends should be cracked.

I asked my step daughter to help me stack wood one afternoon and she asked why we were going to so much work. I explained to her that we could save thousands of dollars a year in heating oil. She asked “Well, if it’s so valuable, why don’t you SELL it and BUY oil”! Smart kid, but seriously,,,,,,, GET BACK TO WORK!!!

Here is a list of different trees and their equivelant in gallons of oil. You can see it widely varies.

hickory 206
oak 202
beech 195
birch 190
ash 171
walnut 168
maple 164
tamarach 161
sweet gum 158
tupelo 152
elm 152
cherry 152
magnolia 149
sycamore 149
douglas fir 146
hemlock 139
pine 142
willow 118
alder 125
spruce 119
sasafrass 140
cottonwood 111
basswood 113
redwood 114
fir 115
cedar 116
butternut 116
aspen 117

.