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Melia azedarach/ chinaberry as firewood

Started by caveman, April 16, 2011, 08:37:07 PM

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caveman

Do any of you use chinaberry for firewood?  We have a lot of it growing along fencelines and irrigation lines on an out of shape farm that we are turning into a hay field.  If it is useful as firewood, it will save me from just piling it and buring.  Thank you.
Caveman 
Caveman

Tom

If it is big enough to saw, it makes beautiful cabinetry and furniture wood.  Turners love it for the rich reddish-brown color and its ability to take a high polish.   I 'spect it would burn OK too.

caveman

Thanks, Tom.  I read that it can make nice lumber on the FF a week or so ago.  Most of what we have has coppiced from cut stumps and is either small dbh or the larger trees do not have much straightness.  I may save some for turning but really what I want is for this stuff to disappear.  Caveman
Caveman

WDH

I find it marginal for firewood.  If you have access to oak and hickory, it will be in the bottom quartile for firewood desirability.  However, you might not have access to the best firewood species, and it is about as good as yellow poplar or sweetgum, so if you don't have many options it will work OK.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Dodgy Loner

What makes good firewood depends a lot on your perspective. If you live in Canada and want to heat your whole home with firewood, then you would want to get as much bang for your buck as possible. If, however, you just want to make a little heat and and a little atmosphere (and seeing as how you're in Lakeland, FL, I would assume that is the case) and do a little property improvement to boot, then Chinaberry is hard to beat. If you're going to be cutting it anyway, then what the heck, why not make a little firewood? It splits easier than red oak, and that's saying something! Certainly more enjoyable to work with than sweetgum.
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

caveman

Thanks for all of the comments.  I have some that are essentially weeds.  Also, one of my students has a firewood business.  He usually sells oak (water, laurel, and live in order of preference).  I talked him in to taking some Australian Pine.  His customers liked it.  Based on what I've read in all of your posts, I will probably just push all the chinaberry into piles and burn it.  If I can find any straight pieces, I may make a board or two out of it.  I do not have a fire place.  The a/c is running now and it is almost 11p.m.  Caveman
Caveman

Dodgy Loner

I didn't realize you were trying to sell it. Yes, pushing it up and burning it is probably the way to go. People who buy firewood generally expect more dense woods than Chinaberry.
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

Pullinchips

Yea if you buy it you want top tier for your area quality, unless you pay a bargan price. If he is selling water oak his customers are getting shorted if thats his preferred wood. Its easy to split but not as dense as red oak or white oak Rubra and Alba. The live oak is a different story. If i had a splitter and or was buying it i would use all live oak if it was given to me. It really has a twited grain most of the time. But the heat that stuff will throw of is unreal!
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Clemson Forestry Grad 2004
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