Oak wood is one of the woods used as firewood. It is known as the best quality wood to ignite a fire. A fire that burns from oak wood stays for long hours and provides the heat that any other wood cannot offer.
Moreover, the heat it generates neither creates black fumes nor pollutes the environment badly. Oakwood contains less moisture which can even be reduced more by using conventional techniques of air drying for six or months or can be dried by the latest oven-baked process. Firewood with less moisture produces sustainable heat.
A question in consumers’ minds is, does oak make good firewood?
The answer is yes, red and white oak trees are best for firewoods, as the wood these trees produce provides the best heat that stays longer.
North America is considered to be the main hub of oak trees. The only trouble oak tree users face is the growth duration of this wood.
Yes, it takes one to two years to grow fully and become available to be used. Oak wood is easy to handle when you split them from the tree because it grows as a straight grain, which is easy to break through an axe, chainsaw or gas and hydraulic splitter.
Does Oak Make Good Firewood
Oak trees are of many types; red and white oak trees are preferred for cutting wood, which could be used as firewood.
Oak trees took 1 to 2 years to grow timber and more than two years to fully mature. Many types of firewood are available in the market, but does oak make good firewood?
Yes, because every wood in the market has its deficiency; some provide the fire for a very short duration while others are very tough to split.
However, oak wood has no such case; its straight grain makes it very convenient for users to extract the wood and split it even manually.
Moreover, it provides fire for a long duration at a slow pace. Oak wood has a very calm and nice fragrance when burnt and does not harm the environment with bad black fumes.
The best Firewood Is Oak Wood, Why
Generally, people in remote areas use firewood for their main wood heat stoves. They prefer to use wood that is easy to extract, does not pollute the environment, can be split manually without any heavy equipment, and should provide quality heat at a slow pace.
Such people should go for oak wood which fulfills all the features they want in good quality wood. America has the most oak trees, with North America being the main hub of oak trees.
The only thing bothered about oak trees is their growth; they grow gradually between 1 to 2 years and can take more than two years to mature completely.
Features of Oak Wood
- Easy to Chop
Oak wood has long, straight grains, making it convenient to break wood into small pieces without using heavy equipment. They can be cut down manually using an axe and gas hydraulic splitter.
Cutting oak wood straight grains causes less bark to fall on the surface means less part of the wood gets into waste. However, some other trees with not-so-straight grains are difficult to split; even when broken, they are not of use due to their rough-cutting, which causes high amounts of bark to fall on the surface.
- Nice And Gentle Fragrance
Oakwood, when burnt, spreads such a nice fragrant, which is difficult to explain in words, but it has some very calm and peaceful effect on the surroundings. Not only users of firewood but the rest of the nearby surroundings also enjoy that gentle fragrance.
Some people claim that they prefer to use oak wood just because of its gentle and peaceful smell, which gives a very pleasant vibe to the environment. Others say they use oak wood for the bonfire to add a nice and soft vibe to the gathering.
- America Is Oak Wood Main Hub
America is the main hub of oak wood; more than 90 species are found around America. However, some special species are available in North America, which are more preferred by consumers.
Cutting Edge Firewood is a source available throughout America that eases consumers’ work by delivering oak wood of their preferred spice to their doorstep.
- Less Moisture Wood
Oak trees possess 75% moisture, while other softwood trees possess 100% moisture, requiring a lot of drying before it’s available.
Conventionally, wood moisture was dried by keeping it in the air for around six months which dried the wood; however, in modern times, the latest drying methods are available to quicken the process.
Nowadays, kiln drying is used where oak wood is kept in an oven, baked for some time, and turns out to be dry wood.
This even reduced the wood’s moisture exceptionally, which conventional methods can not do even in six months. Convincing more people with the mindset does oak make good firewood, uses it, and believes in its distinct features.
- Substantial Heat
According to one research, firewood that is extracted from red oak trees when burnt and produces heat can produce 24 million British Thermal Units (BTU).
A substantial amount of heat is produced by oak trees; whether it is red oak, white oak, or any other oak tree, it has heat at a slower pace, which enhances the quality of heat as oak wood burns at a slower pace, the duration of burning increases due to the hardwood density of oak wood.
- Eco-Friendly
Oak firewood is considered environmentally friendly as it does not produce high black fumes. High and incomplete combustion process leads to the rise of black smoke fumes.
Black fumes are mostly found in softwood trees, while oak trees are hardwood. However, oak firewood fully utilizes the capacity of wood while burning and produces less to no combustion.
High resin and sap content, along with high moisture, causes the formation of the combustion process. However, this raises a concern, does oak make good firewood?
It is stated that oak firewood has less resin and sap content and is dried properly with the latest oven-baked method to eliminate maximum moisture from the wood.
This makes the oak firewood eco-friendly lumber, free from black fumes, causing no damage to the environment while burning.
- Long Growth Season
As they get concerned with the time duration of oak wood tree growth. Oak trees have a growth season of one to two years on average. However, it may take more than two years to get completely mature. This sometimes sets back the consumer’s mind, and before considering oak firewood, they ask: does it make the best firewood?
If you don’t wait for the wood to mature fully and split it when it is just green wood, oak wood will not provide you with the taste of its full capacity. The heat after burning oak wood will be of low quality and burn out at a higher pace rather than at a slower speed.
Oak Vs. Other Firewoods
Compared to Aspen and Cedar, Oakwood provides the highest British Thermal Units (BTU). Moreover, oak firewood smells gentle, while other wood smells unbearable when burnt, such as Eucalyptus.
Softwood or greenwood produces more black fumes causing damage to the environment; while Oak Wood is a hardwood, it does not have any high amount of black fumes and is considered environmentally friendly.
However, compared to other firwoods, the high maturity time and long growing season of oakwood make it incompetent, but the wait for complete growth results in high-quality burning heat with a pleasant fragrance and good environment vibes.
Conclusion
The above article provides a complete consensus on does oak wood makes the best firewood. All the possible features, whether in favor of oak wood or against it, have been discussed properly to create awareness for the reader.
Oak Firewood produces very few to no black fumes and is an eco-friendly wood. It is available in America, most of which can be found in North America.
Oak wood’s late maturity and the long growing season is the only thing that bothers consumers as they have to wait for a long time to enjoy the multiple benefits of oak wood.
