The deep, rugged, thick and tight-green wood of black walnut is a prized type of wood that Woodworkers appreciate for its energy, color, and grain.
Most people think of nuts when they hear walnut trees, but that’s not all that it’s known for. Its wood can be polished to perfection, and it has several interesting uses as well.
In case you were wondering is walnut good for firewood? We’ll tell you all about it in the next sections. Let’s find out!
About Walnut Wood
Walnut trees are hardwood and known for their delicious nuts. There are several different varieties of walnut trees, but all have certain similar characteristics that differentiate them from other trees.
Leaves
Walnut leaves appear similar to feathers, and on the other side of the leaf axis, they reflect each other.
Size
Walnut trees are between 33 and 131 feet high depending on the species.
Bark
The bark will differ from one species to another. The Black Walnut has a dark brown bark against a grayish-black bark, which is cut into a diamond pattern of thick furrows.
The bark of the English Walnut is silvery gray especially when the tree is young.
Fruit
The shell of the walnut is revealed when it’s ripe. The nut-meat inside the shell can be consumed raw, candied, fried, pickled, or as a part of a recipe.
Types of Walnut Firewood
There are approximately 20 varieties of Walnut trees, but in the United States, only two are typically grown and harvested.
Black Walnut
Because it makes delicious noodles and lovely wood, it is one of the best known and most valuable trees. It is mainly found in eastern America and to the west, as far as Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas.
They are not really grown as much as English walnuts. These trees like soil that is dark, rich, moist, and well-drained. They’re known for their strong, earthy taste. The coats are heavy and hard to open and will stain your palms when attempting to unseal them.
English Walnut/Persian
English Walnut grows nuts which are simpler to harvest and have a milder flavor than the Black Walnut’s nuts. In California, they are widely grown. The English walnut grows rapidly, reaches 40 to 50 feet long, and survives for around 60 years.
Does Walnut Make Good Firewood?
Finding the best firewood can be challenging. Some wood burns great but put an awful smell away. Others are hard to clean. This is why you should think twice before using walnut trees as firewood.
You will at least get one cord when you cut down a single walnut tree, but you can get more. Walnut makes a great source of firewood for many reasons and this is one of them.
The firewood should be burning clean, and you won’t need to think about making a smoky mess at home.
The wood has a moderate density, and a good aroma is produced when burned. This mixture proves that walnut trees can make decent firewood for just about everything.
The only problem is that the British Thermal Unit (BTU) rate would be much smaller than any other alternatives. It would be less than oak and other hardwoods. However, it’s much more superior than pines, fir, and other softwoods who have an even lower BTU rating.
Considering this, it basically means that Walnut makes very fine firewood but does not yield as much heat as other hardwoods.
Because of its relatively high value, the trees are not commonly harvested for firewood. Most wood from the walnut tree is turned into fine furnishings and is one of the precious trees per foot.
An urban walnut tree is used mainly as firewood because the wood is not of good quality anymore. Urban cultivated trees are typically short, and they’re defined by their many branches.
Even though the wood can be considered of less superior quality, one of its advantages is that it burns well, and it doesn’t leave much smoke in its wake. It has a good scent and it’s easy to burn up.
Black walnut gives out the same heat intensity as oaks, but it can warm up much faster than the latter. In general, the firewood can be good, as long as adequate supply is available.
These trees can produce up to 20 million BTUs per cord. Usually, Urban trees are cut into wood and one or more cords of walnut can be firewood in one tree.
How Hard is Walnut to Split?
It’s really easy to separate walnut trees without the tree getting knotty and forked. Walnut trees cultivated for landscape purposes often do not have a straight form.
If you can choose, it is best to find walnut trees which come out of a stand of trees. That makes them grow up straight and tall. This configuration helps in producing better wood.
How Does Walnut Firewood Compare to Other Types of Firewood?
Walnut is fine firewood because of its medium density and its fast burning compared with other firewoods. It is clean, simple to begin with, and has a good fragrance.
It is not likely that walnut generates as much heat as other hardwoods like Oak, but can generate much more than softwood such as cedar.
In terms of the BTUs per line, Walnut, with its 20 million BTU, falls right in the center. The Eucalyptus trees have the highest BTUs, with 34.5 million per cord. The second highest is the Osage orange with 32.9 million.
On the lower edge, you have 12.1 million BTU per cord from the Ohio Buckeye and 13.8 million from Linden Basswood.
Using Walnut As Firewood: The Pros and Cons
Like everything, there are plenty of pros and cons to using Walnut as a source of firewood.
Pros
- It has a good smell.
- Creates strong heat with few to no gases
- Burns Clean
Cons
- Walnut trees contain a poison, which influences the ecosystem of many plants.
- Not widely accessible in the U.S.
Conclusion
In the end, we hope this short guide helped clear up some of the questions you might have about using Walnut as firewood.
In short; yes, Walnut makes decent firewood. It burns pretty easily and it produces a fine aroma that will not make your house smell weird. It might not be the best source of firewood, but it works decently if you have access to a good supply.