Is Walnut Good for Firewood? Here's the Answer (2024)

FAQs

Is Walnut good firewood to burn? ›

If you want to burn Walnut in your home, Walnut is a great choice. It has a beautiful aroma, burns clean, and, very pleasingly, is simple to light. Although Walnut does not create as high a temperature as other hardwoods, like Oak, it is far better for burning compared to a softwood such as Cedar.

How Long Should You Season Walnut Firewood? Walnut will need to season for at least 6 months. Because it's pretty tough to cut this wood when it's freshly harvested, you will want to split it after a few months of seasoning.

BTU of Walnut

One cord of walnut firewood can contain the equivalent heat energy output of 24 million BTUs. One cord of walnut firewood contains the energy equivalent of 20,350 cubic feet of natural gas or 152 gallons of heating oil.

Pros: Walnut is a very strong and stable wood that can take intricate carving. The color can be beautiful. Cons: Some may not like the variation from dark to light that's sometimes found on a single wide board. Walnut is also one of the more costly woods.

When hardwoods are burned in good conditions for a fire, they produce very little smoke or unhealthy particulate matter. A few examples of the most popular hardwoods for fires are white oak, ash, birch, red oak, hard maple, beech, hickory, pecan, dogwood, apple, and almond.

What kind of wood SHOULD NOT be burned in the fireplace? Don't burn driftwood in your fireplace. Driftwood is loaded with salt, and the chlorine in salt mixes with wood compounds during burning to release a toxic chemical, one that's been linked to cancer. Don't burn treated, painted, or sealed wood in your fireplace.

Overall hickory firewood is the longest burning firewood. It also has a delightful smell when burned and heats well. If you can find hickory firewood, you should get some for your next fire.

Many hardwood sawlogs are cut to 9' to allow for trim allowance; at minimum, cut your logs to at least 8'6" (eight feet, six inches).

Hardwoods such as maple, oak, ash, birch, and most fruit trees are the best burning woods that will give you a hotter and longer burn time. These woods have the least pitch and sap and are generally cleaner to handle.

What is the hottest burning firewood? ›

Red Oak is slightly softer with a rating of 1290. And American or Black Walnut is among the softest hardwoods with a Janka rating of 1010. Harder woods like White Oak will be more resistant to dents, dings, and scratches while softer woods like Walnut will tend to show wear more easily.

Maple is a slightly higher quality wood with many benefits. Still, despite that, it is a less expensive end product though Walnut offers its own advantages. But in the end, it comes down to what you, the customer, wants. That's why we have options for you at BigWood Boards.

Softwoods like fir, pine and cedar make more smoke, and therefore more creosote.

Softwoods are evergreen and their seeds have no covering, eg pine trees. The reason people use them is because they tend to be easier to cut and split, and they dry more quickly (in 6-12 months). However, they burn much faster than hardwoods so you need around twice as much to get the same amount of heat.

Oak is the slowest wood to season, at approximately 2.5cm a year and ideally should be seasoned for a minimum of two years. Because of its density, it is a wood that's slow to burn as firewood and is best used in a mix of faster-burning logs. This wood can help to keep the fire burning at night if required.

Wood that isn't stored correctly can start to rot due to regular and prolonged contact with moisture. The CSIA states that you can keep firewood stored for up to 3 to 4 years without any issues of the wood going bad if you follow these recommended procedures for storing the wood.

It can take 3-12 months or longer to season firewood. On average, it usually takes around 6-months to dry out the cut-firewood that you purchased from a store or supplier. Depending on the original timber's moisture content, it can take more or less time to season.

Wood smoke contains many toxic and carcinogenic substances including benzene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, benzopyrenes, dibenzanthracenes, and mercury. Wood burning also creates dioxin—one of the most toxic substances on earth. Children are especially vulnerable to the health effects of wood smoke.

What is the hardest wood to break? ›

1. Australian Buloke – 5,060 IBF. An ironwood tree that is native to Australia, this wood comes from a species of tree occurring across most of Eastern and Southern Australia. Known as the hardest wood in the world, this particular type has a Janka hardness of 5,060 lbf.

Black walnut timber is used in the production of furniture, door panels, trim, flooring, cabinets and more. At the time of writing this article in 2022, black walnut tree value ranges from $5 to $10 per board foot… if not higher in some cases.

As a rule of thumb, there will be a measurable loss in four to six weeks of warm (over 50 F) weather. It is just a rule of thumb. From the original questioner: What would say is a measurable amount?

A high-quality walnut veneer will be put on top of another solid hardwood. Steer clear of laminate veneers and particle board interiors– what you'll save will quickly dissolve when the furniture degrades in 9 months. Our solid walnut furniture is guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Hardwoods are generally more dense than softwood and therefore burn for longer and produce more heat. Hardwoods are also less resinous than softwoods and are therefore less likely to result in a build up of tar deposits in your flue, reducing its efficiency or increasing the risk of a flue fire.

Oak Is the Most Common

In the United States, oak is probably the most common type of firewood. Regardless of where you live, you can probably find full cords, face cords and half cords of oak firewood available for sale.

Restrict the air flow into your fire

Simply start closing the vents off once you add your logs (without completely shutting them down) and your fire will burn slower which means it will last longer.

Pine Wood. Pine, a softwood, is resinous. That means when burned, it emits a lot of soot that adds dangerous creosote to your chimney walls. It also burns more quickly than hardwood, so it's less efficient, though it can be used as kindling.

Oak, ash, hickory, and maple are good examples of low-smoking hardwoods. Hardwoods that tend to smoke more than others include eucalyptus, poplar, elm, and others (see below).

Check your fuel. Soft wood will burn faster than hard wood. You will still get a good amount of heat from soft wood but it will burn faster. Check that all your vents are closed/shut down once the fire is burning fully.

What kind of wood is used for pizza oven? ›

Kiln-dried oak firewood is the perfect wood for pizza ovens. Praised for its high heat output, long burn time, and subtle aroma, oak is the only type of firewood you'll find in truly authentic Italian pizzerias.

The innermost wood of the black walnut causes toxicity after oral or skin contact. Bedding containing as little as 20 percent fresh black walnut shavings made from old or new wood can cause toxicity.

The walnut tree releases sulfur gas. As it is heavier than other gases in the air, it collapses and stuns stuns the one who sits under the walnut tree. This misunderstanding comes from there. It settled as a false conviction in public, no harm in real.

For example, if we have a light oak piece or finish we want to contrast, we'll likely pair it with a dark wood like walnut or stained maple. Designer note: If the wood tones in your space seem overwhelming, try balancing them out with a neutral-stained wood piece in black, white, or even light grey.

Good pairings

Here's a short list of wood species that tend to play well together in designs: walnut and maple. white oak and walnut. cherry and maple.

Well, the Black Walnut was in fact part of many native American diets but most of the walnuts we eat today are actually English walnuts, which have a milder taste and broader appeal. They also have thinner, easier-to-crack shells. Black Walnuts on the other hand have a bolder, earthier flavor.

Mahogany has a more 'classic' and antique look while walnut is more modern and understated. This means that some home aesthetics may suit one more than the other, but solid wood generally can work well in most settings, whether it's rustic or more contemporary in style.

Hickory is among the hardest domestic hardwoods with a Janka rating of 1820, while American or Black Walnut is among the softest with a rating of 1010.

Walnut wood is considered a premium wood and is more expensive than other hardwoods. Walnut lumber is usually not available in long lengths and usually has more knots and sap wood than other woods, requiring the purchase of more lumber to make furniture, making it more costly.

Is oak or walnut better for firewood? ›

Walnut is a good firewood when compared to other firewoods because of its medium density and ease of burning. It burns clean, is easy to start and has a pleasant aroma. Walnut may not produce quite as much heat when compared to other hardwoods such as Oak, but it is much better than burning a softwood such as Cedar.

Walnut firewood is a hardwood. Hardwoods burn hotter and cleaner which means you actually burn fewer hardwood logs than softwood to obtain the type of fire you want. Hardwoods leave less creosote, a sap residue that can clog chimney flue and even cause fires in extreme cases.

Durability. Walnut is rated at a 1010 on the Janka Hardness Scale. European Oak is a 1360 on the same scale. This means that Oak is more durable than Walnut and will stand up better against constant use and daily wear and tear.

On dry sunny days, drying takes 3-5 days, in unfavorable weather, the time increases to 5-12 days. Alternatively, walnuts can be placed in a single layer on trays in stacks or on a grid (rack) at a height from the ground. Due to the air circulation between the trays and the nuts, it will take less time to dry.

There is no difference between Walnut wood and Black Walnut wood. In the Forest 2 Home shop, Walnut wood is manufactured from Black Walnut trees that grow responsibly and are sustainably harvested within a 100 mile radius from our manufacturing facilities.