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Nobadays
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2019 12:48pm
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I know that Aspen doesn't make the best firewood but with an acre of primarily Aspen.... some dead and down and at last count still 18+ standing dead, Aspen is what we will burn!
My biggest beef with Aspen is I can't tell without cutting into it if it's solid or punky. I have cut up downed logs that were completely devoid of bark that were solid to the core.... and others that were burn pile wood.
Same goes for standing dead. I'm originally from "pine country" where if it's still standing 9 out of 10 will be solid, good firewood.... bark on or bark off. With Aspen it's a crap shoot. Yesterday I fell a tree that was all grayed out, no bark so obviously been dead for several years. Solid wood from stump to tip! Great firewood. I also fell another that still had the bark on and several small branches in the crown. It looked like it couldn't have been dead more than a year or two at the most.... you guessed it! That tree was punky all the way from the butt end to the top! It would have made a bunch of firewood but now it's destined for the burn pile. I felled a similar looking tree a week ago that was still full of sap.... will make great firewood when it seasons.
Ok.... done venting! Always lots of work bringing trees down so just hate it when they are so rotten they don't even make good firewood!
Anyone have any tips on picking solid - standing dead Aspen?
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Atlincabin
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2019 01:34pm
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I use aspen all the time, burns well, splits easier and less creosote than pine. As for finding rotten vs. solid, best thing (which is still pretty hit and miss) I've found is to look around the immediate area. If one is rotten, likely others are similarly rotten. Remember aspen propagates through the roots and shoots, so one stand may effectively be a single organism and if one part of it is not resistant to rot, the other parts are probably not very resistant either.
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ICC
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2019 01:51pm
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Pound for pound Aspen contains as many BTU's as any other wood. After it is dried it is the amount of cellulose that creates the heat.
I sort hate Aspen for the same reasons you gave. You can't seem to tell a lot about it until you fell it and start to cut into shorter lengths. I will often drag sections off to a burn pit.
I don't like leaving any standing dead trees of any kind in areas I pass by frequently as you never know when they might fall. And I'd rather fell a live or dying tree than a tree that has been dead long enough to get dried out, more or less. Especially Aspen as they can rapidly go punky at the base and surprise you when you go to drop it.
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2019 01:55pm
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Atlincabin.... it is pretty good firewood just used to the Alligator Juniper and Oak we burn in AZ..... burns longer and less ash. Our little VC Aspen woodstove has a pretty small ash tray so if the fire is going all day/night, we have to dump it once a day.
Hit and miss must be right because the two trees I put down yesterday weren't 20 feet apart. Who knows! I still have at least 6 or 7 above the cabin (read - easy to roll down to the driveway) so I'm hoping at least half of those will make good wood. Most of the rest of the dead standing are lower down on the property and will require yarding them out with cable. Still not too bad but not as easy as giving them a kick down the hill!
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2019 03:04pm
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ICC.... "surprise you when you go to drop it." Felling some of these Aspen has been an adventure! So far I've only fell 7-8 Aspen.... but I used to cut firewood in the fall for a ranch, usually 12-15 cords a year for several years, and I built a storey and a half 3000sqft log home and fell every pine tree in it. I've heated with wood most of my 60+ years. I used to think I could put a tree just about where I wanted to if I wasn't trying to pull it too far or rotate it beyond reason ( of course the last 30 years I haven't done much chainsaw work!). Aspen... if it is solid I've done fairly well at hitting my target. If it is punky inside, all bets are off! I hung one up in a fir tree yesterday. Fell right where it was likely to fall, I was trying to pull it only about 10* so it would miss the fir.... made a proper undercut and sawed through about 1/3 the way, noticed the sawdust looked rotten.... just getting ready to put in a wedge and POP! About an inch of solid wood around the outside was all that was keeping the tree upright. Had to get the snatch block and cable out to get it on the ground.... this is the one in the other thread I was complaining about being rotten from top to bottom.
I guess the moral is to expect the unexpected and know where your safe zones are!
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Aklogcabin
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# Posted: 12 Aug 2019 12:31pm
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It can be said that pound per pound comparisons between wood species and btu/lb are proportionate. But I would rather burn birch which is probably 3 of 4 times heavier than Aspen, or Popular. One cord of wood compared to 3 or 4 cords of wood. And ash. A woodstove full of birch is 3 to 4 times hotter.
Maybe I’m wrong again. I try to burn the best I can get. Where I can get it. Around our house is mostly birch and popular. The cabin has lots of spruce. I don’t use popular. But if it’s what I had. You bet. Popular Aspen also good for other uses.
Pound for pound yes. Volume for volume not so much.
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hueyjazz
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# Posted: 12 Aug 2019 06:00pm
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Nobadays
I'm with you. I hate cutting these trees and I've had to drop a bunch a crooked tall ones as of late.
First, you would swear by the visible center of gravity that a tree would drop there. But no, a big hidden hollow changes all the dynamics. And the hollow may not be where you are cutting.
And oh, there's the fun death from above from rotten limbs dropping.
When I can get the help, this is a two man job with rope and even then tough to drop in tight quarters with hidden damage.
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 12 Aug 2019 07:59pm
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Ak.... "Volume for volume not so much." Yep wish there were other hardwoods to burn but with so many dead Aspen needing cut down.... and that is the primary tree on our property, it's what I'll be burning. Going to go look for a small dead pine tomorrow to cut and make kindling out of. As severe coming in from town today I spotted a road I'm going to go explore.
Huey.... duck and run! Yeah I got smacked pretty good from some falling limbs the other day.... I was driving a wedge in and bam... right on the shoulder. Fortunately not too big of limbs but reminded me I need to be cognizant of what might come down!
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fiftyfifty
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# Posted: 12 Aug 2019 08:42pm - Edited by: fiftyfifty
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I agree with the frustration regarding punky aspen, but when it is sound and dry, I think aspen makes a great firewood. For me, ease of splitting trumps all else. And the BTUs per cord are not nearly as bad as people believe them to be. Red oak is 24 million BTU per cord, Paper birch 20, eastern aspen 14. Aspen is great during the day when the kids all want to feed the fire. We save the oak for at night when we want it to last longer.
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 12 Aug 2019 08:52pm
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The best thing for us about Aspen is that it doesn't have the pitch evergreens have so less creosote in the chimney to cause a chimney fire. We have nearly 18' of exposed single wall stove pipe so pine, fir, etc would creosote up that much pipe pretty quickly. Aspen, not so much.
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