A good neighbor recently gave me permission to cut all the Hackberry trees on his property I could possibly want. That's great! Seems I heard once that Hackberry is EXTREMELY hard and may be very difficult to cut, even with a good chain saw, and may damage the blade. Is my memory failing me or what? Also, is it a good wood to burn, say better than white oak or black walnut? Will be burning in a closed wood stove and attempting to heat a large home with a second story. Also, have any advice about heating that second story with that wood stove? Thanks, all Brian

-- Brian McCabe (scout@kanokla.net), November 28, 1999

Answers

Hackberry is a hardwood and cuts about the same as oak. It can be a bear to split if its really dry or knotty. Hackberry burns about the same as oak but doesn't smell as good.

-- Sam Mcgee (weissacre@gwtc.net), November 29, 1999.

Haven't burnt hackberry, but have heated with wood for twenty-four years. Heating the second story depends too much on the house to make an educated guess. Some houses get too hot upstairs when the heater is downstairs, others no hot enough. In the latter case, it's often nice to have it a bit cool upstairs, if that's where the bedrooms are.

ALK

-- Al K. Lloyd (all@ready.now), November 29, 1999.

Brian,

Hackberry burns great, and you'll be glad you were able to get this firewood. Been heating our home with a wood stove exclusively for many years; hackberry is always a wood we want to have quite a bit of on hand. It puts out a great deal of heat, lights easy. You will want to have sharp chainsaw blades, though, because it can be tougher to cut than some. Well worth it, in our opinion.

As a matter of fact, one of our friends let us clear some hackberry trees from his acreage last weekend, too. Stocking up for next year.

-- Wilferd (WilferdW@aol.com), November 29, 1999.

Brian If the second story does not have the stove pipe running exposed and is too cold you can use floor vents. Remember heat RISES so in the corners (or the wall sides) you can cut a hole and put in a floor vent (I use the metal ones incase someone STEPS on it!)I use this in my one story house to heat the master bedroom (High on the wall in the Living room, matching vent in bedroom) works very well with a 12 volt computer fan between the two vents to blow the heat from one room to the other. Hope this gives you some ideas.

-- d bruce (dbruce@repairman.com), November 29, 1999.