Is Black Walnut Good Firewood- A Guide to Fire Grade Woods

Since humans have used fire using various kinds of wood, multiple usages occur, but counterfeiting every wood to be good firewood isn’t the case.

With versatile natural habitats, nature gifted us various trees, each based on its bark features providing multiple burning features. Some might be fast burners with high heat, or some might be slower than others. One might be a clean burning source, while the other produces toxic smoke. So, what about the black walnut? Is black walnut good firewood?

When considering black walnut, you must opt to desire fire-grade black walnut because there are many walnut species, but they are unlikely to be good firewood.

So, for better understanding, we came up with a handy guide with all the relevant facts regarding walnut as good firewood and what makes them so trending in the bonfires. 

Is Black Walnut Good Firewood

The black walnut tree produces hardwood and more stable bark, being considered good firewood with high energy generation of 22 million BTUs/ cord of wood, clean burning, and low creosote buildup.

They can quickly Turn to ash, so that they may be required in more numbers. With a sweet odor, it might turn your bonfire feel soothing with a medium warmth but is unable to be lit up all night with maximum heat generation.

It’s better to consider more highly worthy firewoods like oak. But if none is present other than black walnut, it can be a great firewood alternative to the heat for a slight warmup and pleasant smell with continuous tending for the flame to remain lit. 

Properties Of Good Fire Wood- BLACK WALNUT 

Heat Generation or Heat Value

Black walnut might be available in 02 grades, furniture grade and firewood grade; always consider using firewood grade because it will produce high heat, almost 20 to 22 million BTU/ 128 cubic feet of wood or single cord. It keeps you warm and lets the cooking or firewood burn longer. A single cord of black walnut produces a heat value similar to;

• 152 gallons of heating oil 
• 231 gallons of propane gas
• 6,185 KW hours of electricity
• 20,348 cubic feet of natural gas

A wet walnut tree is hard to split up, so ensure you have bought the dried one. Because of its hardwood nature, it’s a good wire wood possessing unique properties, making it favorable for use as firewood. Take advantage of the black walnut tree to ensure better fire and heat with remarkable properties enhancing the overall burning experience. 

Clean burning

The walnut tree has this amazing feature that, when burned, generates less smoke and spark with scented-smelling logs that enhance the campsite’s appearance and view. The heat out is better than low burring woods, but their environmentally friendly burning with lower emissions makes them more sustainable and opt-able. 

Besides this, the emission isn’t just less; rather nontoxic, toxin-free, and has a low carbon footprint. If users require clean burning, then considering walnut trees would be their most considerable and perfect choice.

The clean burning also depends upon how well the seasoning has occurred. The burning wood releases clean flames and less smoke. for a perfect season, black walnut firewood 

Seasoning time 

Black walnut is considered a good firewood because of its low seasoning time. It’s a fact that freshly harvested black walnut is considered hard to cut, so it requires seasoning for at least 06 or up to 02 years. Black walnut for fire can be a good choice based on the moisture content to make them fully dry, and the time is less considered to other fire woods. 

Before burning, the wood must have less than 20% moisture. A value higher than it could cause the wood not to burn, and chances for creosote buildup may also increase—the poor black walnut-wet wood burning sidewise releases high smoke, vapors, and toxins. 

In the case of urban harvest black walnut, it gets easier to cut them because they are harvested into small rounds holding light weight. Even the wet black walnut won’t be troublesome to cut in this case. But overall, seasoning makes the walnut wood easily split up and then opted for desired burning processes or at campsites fires. 

Creosote Buildup

The black walnut is also considered complimentary firewood because of its high heat, low emissions, and less creosote buildup. What does creosote buildup mean? As you know, the black walnut requires six months of seasoning, and after that, it becomes dry enough to act as good firewood and cut easily by use of best gas chainsaw. 

With other walnut species other than black walnut wood, creosote buildup is common, turning into excess ashes unhealthy for the chimney or environment and ending up like a sticky material inside your chimney. 

Some walnut trees produce saps that turn into sugar upon heat, which is why they initiate creosote buildup. However, the black walnut is less prone to creosote buildup than them, which is why it seems a favorable option to opt for wood. Other tips suggest you get your Chimney services before every fall to clean the buildup with any wood that produces more Ashes or sapwood.

Small rounds 

Despite its good bring capability and heat generation, the black walnut trees would be suitable as firewood would be available in small rounds. If you find any large round, consider it not firewood; rather, that suits the furniture industry. That makes quite a difference between black walnut for furniture and firewood. Remember the difference so that you are clear at the purchase time. 

Appearance 

At campsites, a unique wood makes the appearance worthy of looking, and black walnut had gathered that spotlight. A burning black walnut not only gives you warmth, a sweet smell, and clean flames, but with an elegant appearance, the campsite looks amazing. 

Coal bed

A good firewood would leave behind a coal bed after burning up, but it’s not the ca for walnut. The black walnut wood quickly Turns into ashes, and those requiring coal beds should not opt for walnut or else, if not, consider it’s pairing up with oak or elm to let the fire continues ending up with cola beds. It would ensure continuous and prolonged heat.  

Affordability 

Good firewood must be affordable, so you can easily opt for it for burning or campsites. There is good firewood that is expensive, like finding the fire grade black walnut, but overall, a normal burn wood must be affordable to commoners to make its use much easier.

Normally the walnut is known as furniture-grade hardwood. If any user desires to opt for fire burning, then fire-grade black walnut would be a good choice, and finding that outside the selected area might make it costly to purchase. For a woodlot owner, the wood won’t cost if it gets affected by moisture and shade because they are sensitive to such conditions. So, growing these trees require much care. 

Availability 

Black walnut trees are both planted for lumber and wood, but for firewood, they are mostly urban harvested. Firewood will be available at a good price when a user serves a wood lot with crowded black walnuts. 

Walnut trees are easily available in bulk in central and eastern America, making them a better option for burning and energy generation for warmth or cooking, as per the case. 

Which Woods to Avoid Burning?

Not all woods are concerned a perfect option for burning because there might be some resinous, allergic, or high smoke with toxins generating woods unfavorable to bring. Despite the wood category that offers versatile burning (slow, medium, high, extreme), our main concern is those woods that should be avoidable for burning to keep the environment clean, with human safety on top priority. 

Some woods might produce allergic smoke or scent, so ensure you avoid such woods brought at homes or bonfires. The woods to avoid burning include;

• Painted wood
• Pressure-treated lumbers
• Trimmed or varnished wood 
• Wood by-products
• Driftwood
• Plywood
• Hardboard
• Compressed paper board
• Particleboard
• MDF
• Allergic aromatic cedar wood 

Conclusion 

Whether a hardwood or softwood, fire grade or furniture grade, it’s necessary to know a major difference. To find out if “black walnut is good firewood,” consider our informative guide that seems the best solution as it focuses on fire-grade black walnut other than white.

Because it’s the black walnut trees that own a fire-grade species with shorter rounds, clean burn, 20- 22 million BTUs heat generating value, and more over low production of creosote buildup. If the wood seems available, opt for the nice scented logs to make your bonfire lit with heat, a sweet smell, and an overall better appearance. For more queries and related information, review our blog site and find the best-burning wood or fire-grade wood.