Are you thinking about burning apple firewood? Of course, you are or you wouldn’t be here. Well, I personally haven’t known many people who burn apple firewood for heating purposes. It is mostly used for cooking and making furniture. It’s a very sought after type of wood. People pay a good penny for it compared to other kinds of firewood. With that said, let’s explore how it is as firewood.
Apple makes great firewood. Apple firewood will burn for a good amount of time and keep you warm at the same time. It has a sweet burning aroma that’ll you’ll love. It will also leave you a nice bed of hot coals to keep the fire going.
It’s almost the perfect firewood except for the price of a cord
or rick. Because there is a demand for applewood and it’s considered a specialty wood. So, if you’re looking to buy some, be ready to pay.
The best place to find applewood is at an orchard. Apple trees get old and don’t produce as well or they flat out die. The orchards have to replace these trees and remove the old ones. So, stop and ask at your local orchard for apple firewood.
Splitting Apple Firewood
As mentioned earlier, applewood is dense so splitting it with a maul or splitting axe would be a great work out. You’ll save your back and some sweat by using a hydraulic log splitter. But in my experience, apple trees don’t get too big around, so you might not have to split it. I’m not saying it doesn’t get big, I just haven’t seen many that do. They never seem to live long enough for that to happen.
Pro tip: Split it as soon as you can. If you let it dry and then split it, it’s going to be more back-breaking than if it was green.
Seasoning Time For Apple Firewood
You got the wood cut and split. Now it’s time to stack it so it dries. So, how long does it take? Well, much like oak, it will take a year, sometimes two to dry so it’s safe to burn. Like all good firewood, you have to wait it out and you’ll be rewarded. Totally worth the wait though.
Some quick tips about stacking firewood of all kinds.
- Keep it off the ground. That way moisture can’t soak up into the wood and rot it.
- Keep it in the sun.
- Make sure the wind can hit the stack
- Only tarp the top of the pile, not the sides.
You might want to look into a moisture meter to test the moisture content before you burn it. You can find them on Amazon for a decent price. Here is a link to the one I have. Moisture Meter (Link To Amazon). Just make sure its 20% or lower and it’s safe to burn.
BTU of Apple Firewood
BTU stands for British thermal unit. How it works is simple, the higher the number the more heat it gives and, of course, the lower the number the less heat the wood gives off when burning. With that said. I was shocked when I saw how many BTU’s it is. It’s 25.8 million BTU’s per cord!
That’s up there with locust and hickory. This stuff will definitely keep you warm during the winter. But as I mentioned earlier, it’s tough to get your hands on. But if you get a chance to get applewood, take it.
Also, watching this wood burn in your fireplace is a treat. And I’ll show you why.
Conclusion
All in all, apple trees make great firewood, in fact, some of the best stuff you can burn. But there is a lot of competition for it. Which in turn drives up the price. And because of that, I would pay an arm and a leg for it, when there are other kinds of wood you can burn that is just as good.
