A bit of research

All this talk about splitting and burning wood has made me curious so I’ve done some searching:

• According to this website a cord (4′x4′x8′) of Hickory has the energy equivalent to 146 gallons of fuel oil.
• This site here stresses the importance of burning seasoned wood. According to them (and a few other sites) it doesn’t matter what kind of wood it is as long as it’s been sitting split and out of the rain for a year. This is interesting as I’ve always been told to steer clear of soft woods like pine.
• Here’s a big list of tips.
• A list of different types of wood and their burning properties. Hickory isn’t on the list but Ash is, apparently it’s one of the best burning woods. Good for us, we’ve got plenty.
• An interesting bit on the physics of what happens when wood burns. The main site has a boatload of great wood burning info. This page in particular makes me think about moving the purchase of a fireplace insert (or a new gas furnace) further up the shopping list. We have a Cozy Grate (pdf) heater which I’m sure offsets the drawbacks listed on the Conventional Wood Fireplaces page, but I wonder by how much…