Choosing and finding wood

[scotland]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

thanks for the quick reply as I have a lot of family coming to my place on friday and the only wood I have is pine as I get it out the college where I lecture in construction, by the way I love your design of your new oven looks great.

[david s]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

I find the best wood to burn is free wood. I collect a fallen branch or some small sticks every time I walk my dog in the park. I try to use only hardwood, nothing bigger than my wrist. It is easy to stomp on to break or find a fork in a tree to snap a thicker piece. Because my oven is small it only consumes a couple of buckets full of wood rather than a wheelbarrow full at a time.

[RC's Firewood]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Hello, we at RC's Firewood in Torrance CA have some awesome seasoned Red Oak for sale. We can deliver by the 40 lb bag, box, bundle, fraction or multiple cords. The wood can be produced as small log lengths or in chunks. As a point of reference, a 40 lb bag goes for $7.50. We're a small family owned business in the Los Angeles area that has no problem producing the wood exactly the way you like it. If anybody is interested, please call at 310-344-8721 or email at tracyrickc@verizon.net.

Thanks

[whall]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

I am new to this forum and have not yet built a wood fired oven, but I spent about 10 years of my youth tending the wood fired stove which heated our house. We used primarily almond wood which is fantastic wood. It burns very hot, long and leaves very little ash. We occasionally burned walnut. While it burns hot, it burns up quickly and leaves more ashes.

[heliman]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

In Perth, Western Australia we use White Gum (Wandoo) or Jarrah for a lower temp. Must be totally dry for best results. If you want to get insane heat go with Mallee Roots, but I find this a bit excessive, preferring White Gum.

Swanbourne Woodyard is the best place to get wood from if you don't feel like driving down south with your trailer. It is quite pricey at $15/per bag for White Gum/Mallee Root and $10/per bag for Jarrah but well worth the investment I have found. Burns clean and long...

[peter]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Now that I have had some time with my WFO I realize how foolish my original question was. Since the door is only used after the flame has been pulled from the oven the materials of the door won't be subject to flame therefore won't be burned. Over the summer I threw a huge party. The evening before the two over achievers I put in charge of making pizza pushed the heat well beyond one thousand degrees. Since the door was sitting in front of the doorway the walnut became warm enough to burn...fortunately it was not severe enough to require the replacement of the thing.
Here on the farm I am fortunate enough to have a nearly inexhaustible supply of fuel. Yesterday I filled my mule and its little wagon to the brim with red oak scrap, that will cook a pizza in short order. Sunday pizza with friends, life is good.

[Archena]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Hi,

I haven't yet built an oven but I have been reading a great deal. I'm not sure, but I think I read somewhere that some people soak the door before using it. Purportedly, it prevents charring from the heat.

Maybe someone who actually knows what they're doing can say for sure.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

some people soak the door before using it. Purportedly, it prevents charring from the heat.

it does prevent charring as well as adding steam to the oven which i understand is good for baking bread,,,

Mark

[Spunkoid]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Preferred species really depends on where you are and what is available locally unless you can afford to import firewood from long distances.
For the most part, I will be burning pine, clean construction cut off pieces, some poplar, a little birch when I can get it, and even some tamarack. It burns the hottest, the equivelent to a low grade coking coal. These are the species that are most readily available to me in Alberta.
The key is making sure your wood is seasoned and dry. For the gentleman in the Phillipines, I suspect that part of his problem would be not having the wood well seasoned before trying to burn it. That would make for a cooler fire.

[Bartondad]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Hey gang-
This is my first post as a part of the community. I am going to build this spring and hopefully enjoy my oven this summer, but I am intrigued by the wood supply. I live in Oregon where fir and pine are plentiful and everyone uses them in their wood stoves. Are these not good for ovens as well? Or is it a case of- use what you want but some is better? Thanks for the help.
Thom

[peter]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

You wil find that the harder the wood the better the heat. Generally the conifer family of woods provide great amounts of smoke and tar. As time progresses and you are able to build a fairly decent stock you may like to start with a softer wood and then progress to harder wood to "finish off" the heat. I.E. you can go so far with softer wood and the harder ones take you to the heat threshold you ultimately want.
Hope this helps
Peter
Michigan

[Spunkoid]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

I burn mostly Pine, pretty much because it is readily available. I have been known to burn a lot of lumber scraps as well... The key is to make sure the wood is seasoned and dry. I can get the oven pretty much as hot as I want it, just build a bigger fire.... The denser the wood, the hotter it burns but you can compensate to a degree by building a larger fire. You probably have more choice than you realize considering the area you live. My grandparents burnt mostly spruce and poplar in their oven on thier homestead way back in the day....

[heliman]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

I don't use pine type wood in my oven. Last time I did I got a tar residue running down the SS flue and it was really difficult to get off. That wood had been seasoned 5 years so it would appear that the impurities are contained within the wood itself and no amount of seasoning would fix this.

That being said, I like spend a bit more to get the right wood and I have to say it's worth every cent spent. It sounds like false economy to buy the cheapest wood available just because it would "burn" and "give off heat".

Rossco

[RTflorida]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Rossco, I have to agree with you on the wood. Not all free wood is good wood. I picked up a ton of free kiln dried scraps that came from molding and door plants here in FL. I guess this group of guys tried to make a new ecco friendly fire log from these scraps, and failed. Long story short.....50% of the wood I picked was poplar. I knew that poplar tends to smoke a little so I only chose the smaller 1x1s, 1x2s, and 2x2s to use for the initial start up. Man, was I wrong about 'a little smoke'....this crap is nasty, acrid black smoke that continues to pour out of the oven even when it is up to temp.
It may have been free but was certainly a mistake. I will porbably have to pay to get someone to get it out of here. I'm sticking with the woods I know - oak (no swamp oak), hickory, citrus and other fruit trees.
Maybe you can help with this one - Australian Pine, several wood suppliers sell it here, they call it iron wood and say it burns long, hot, and clean. One supplier even has references from several Miami restaurants that burn it. It is not a native species here (considered a pest) and is becoming readily available. I don't know much more, other than it is not in the same family as the soft pines native to America. IS this a true Aussie tree as the name implies? Any experience burning it?
These guys get a premium price for it, so I don't want to waste money of more smokey garbage.

RT

[BurntFingers]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Hey gang-
This is my first post as a part of the community. I am going to build this spring and hopefully enjoy my oven this summer, but I am intrigued by the wood supply. I live in Oregon where fir and pine are plentiful and everyone uses them in their wood stoves. Are these not good for ovens as well? Or is it a case of- use what you want but some is better? Thanks for the help.
Thom

Welcome to the board. In the US as far as I know, all clean dry not-chemically treated wood per pound gives off the same heat which is about 7 to 8 thousand BTU's. See: http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f16/...wood-9872.html for more posts on this topic. The difference is the amount (pounds or kilos) of wood needed to reach the desired temperatures for pizza or baking.

With reference to the door issue. Some WFO people have multiple doors. I have 3 each with a different purpose. An inner door (steel and insulated) for bread baking or roasting with no fire. An outer door (vented) to build up heat with a roaring fire. A wooden inner door to use to dry wood between firings.
Bill