Importing hardwood profitable?

[JuniperBoss]

So, in the "Wyoming Firewood" topic, there has been some talk about regions where softwood is the only wood available. In my part of the woods, juniper, lodgepole pine, ponderosa pine and maybe a few rare douglas furs are available within 50 miles or so. Where I live, even pine has to be imported from a good distance away, but it's a lot closer than hardwoods. We have more Juniper than we can deal with. People give live trees away to be cut as firewood, and sometimes people get paid to cut them up just to get rid of them.
     The closest hardwood species that can be cut are 65+ miles away. They are White Oak and I've heard they are much better than the softwood that we have. A bit beyond that, (say 100 miles away), Madrone trees grow. They are hard as a rock. They have no bark, which means no mess. They burn forever (many times longer than our softwood), burn hotter than Mount St. Helens and they are said to make some of the best firewood in the world!  I believe Madrone goes for $220-240+ per cord split and delivered where it is native, and White Oak goes for somewhere around 200 per cord where it is native. Would there be great demand for hardwood in a place where only softwood is available within 70 miles? What would this wood bring? Does anyone else import quality hardwood firewood to places where there is none?

[mesquite buckeye]

Madrone is awful pretty if you can get any good pieces while you are at it. Lumber and carving blocks always bring more than firewood. It also turns well and can be used for food containers, no bad tastes. They make sugar bowls out of it in Mexico.

Just a thought.

[mesquite buckeye]

Madrone is also supposed to be one of the best trees to use for charcoal for making black powder. Boom. ;D 8)

[JuniperBoss]

Yes, Madrone is good stuff. If I ever did this I would probably just focus on Oak. It's a little closer and not quite so purdy. Man that Madrone is amazing though. The wood is so hard it's insane. smiley_whacko

[mesquite buckeye]

White oak is about as good as it gets for firewood. Not too many sparks, burns slow and long. Not terrible to cut if you cut it green.

Probably worth twice the price of pine. Good luck getting it unless you give people samples to try first if they aren't used to burning it.

[JuniperBoss]

Samples are ok, I can do samples. One slice of that stuff will get these guys hooked! I do agree though. When they notice it's more than twice the price of the softwood, they'll say "no thanks". The thing they might not realize is it burns twice as hot and more than twice as long! They're not really losing money at all! Just making the wood-burning experience more convenient. 8)

[mesquite buckeye]

How good is your juniper (heavy)?

Better than the pine? ???

[JuniperBoss]

Western Juniper is a bit denser/heavier than lodgepole/ponderosa. It's good stuff, but it's really messy, with that shaggy bark. Really, I'd say our pine vs. juniper are about the same as far as firewood heat and burn time goes. Juniper might be just a slight smidge better in that aspect. Pine is real easy to split, easy to cut, clean, not much mess in the fireplace. Juniper can sometimes be a bear to cut or split. It's sometimes full of knots, and some trees are almost like a big round bush, which makes them hard to fall and hard to limb and buck. There is good market for it though. It's a bit cheaper and a lot more abundant and easy to find here in the eastern side of the Cascades of Oregon. I might try to dig up a photo later for those that don't know what the stuff looks like. It's unique.

[Migal]

Im not sure Last time I was at wal-mart there was some fire wood for sale for 10 bucks for a good start on a fire but I just walked by it as I have so many slab's to cut up for fire wood but have noticed my summer stack of slab's has dwindled a bit lately  8) Hind sight I'm thinking I should have two wood burners  ;D Excluding fire ring outside for sitting by and enjoying a fire  8)    :new_year:

[mesquite buckeye]

Our mesquite crap and slab piles seem to disappear in the winter here too.......

[JuniperBoss]

Manzanita bushes are close here. They are hard as a brick, but are small and sparse. Another weird wood.

[mesquite buckeye]

How big do they get there ??? ???  We have a manzanita here that can get maybe 6-8" thick, big enough to cut up for specialty wood. The wood is a really nice, even red color. I think it would be good for carving, maybe better with power tools. It also burns really nice, just watch it explode into flame during a wildfire. About like gasoline. :( :(

8)

[JuniperBoss]

Yes, that is a big cause of really bad fires in the desert here. Maybe we've got the same kind as you, because it can get 10'' or so in diameter. I went on a hike last year to this weird spot I saw on Google Earth. It has very lush and grassy, and had a perfect slope for snowpack and shade. This spot, which is just on the other side of our property, was thick with what I believe was either manzanita or mahogany. I get pretty confused with the difference. Anyone want to explain? Sagebrush is really hard too, but now we're talking crazy stuff as far as harvesting it goes smiley_whacko.

[mesquite buckeye]

Mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus) is about twice as heavy and hard as manzanita and will sink in water. Manzanita has urn shaped hanging flowers in spring.

[JuniperBoss]

Thanks for the help. I always heard that one of them has big, roundish leaves. Is this true?

[mesquite buckeye]

The leaves on mountain mahogany are generally rounded and small, maybe 1/2 -3/4" long, ours have little teeth along the margin. Manzanita leaves are larger and don't have teeth.

Really, though, they are really easy to tell apart from the bark. Manzanita has smooth mahogany colored bark, while mountain mahogany bark is gray to black and treelike with age.

If you can get some big mountain mahogany logs, don't waste them on firewood. They are amazing inside. Lots of them are fiddleback.

[JuniperBoss]

Thanks for the help mesquite buckeye, I added you to my buddy list  ;D.

[mesquite buckeye]

thanks