This book is included in the Outdoor Survival Basics section.
Firewoods, their Production & Fuel Values
LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN, LTD. 1919.
Preface
THE reasons for writing this book are :
1. That the question of firewood
production and utilization, owing to the unparalleled scarcity of coal, was
never so acute as at the present time.
2. No book of a similar kind, in
which the value of wood as fuel is explained, has before been written; and,
3. The author's knowledge in the
matter of firewood and its utility on several of the best wooded estates in
England and Scotland has caused him to relate his experience.
A. D. W., Regent's Park,
January 1919.
CONTENTS
Chap. I. INTRODUCTION: UTILISATION OF FOREST
PRODUCE
Chap. II. SOURCES FROM WHICH FIREWOOD MAY BE OBTAINED
Chap. III. PREPARING THE FIREWOOD
Chap. IV. COMPARATIVE VALUE OF DIFFERENT FIREWOODS PERCENTAGE OF WATER, ETC.
Chap. V. HEATING PROPERTIES OF FIREWOOD SCENTED WOOD, ETC
Chap. VI. FIREWOOD VALUE OF VARIOUS HOME-GROWN WOODS
Chap.
VII. FIREWOOD AND FAGGOTS STORING, CAPACITY AND PRICE
Chap. VIII. CHARCOAL WOOD CHARCOAL BURNING-COMPARATIVE VALUE OF WOOD FOR
CHARCOAL RETURNS FROM CHARCOAL
Chap. IX. CHARCOAL WOOD FOR GUNPOWDER
Chap. X. FIREWOOD TABLES WEIGHT OF FIREWOOD MEASUREMENTS OF A CORD PRICES OF
FIREWOOD, FAGGOTS, ETC
Chap. XI. WOOD FIRES AND GRATES
Chap.
XII. STATE FUEL ORDER
INDEX
CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION
WITH the scarcity of coal, the utilization of the forest
resources of this country is now engaging the serious attention
of the Coal Controller and the Timber Controller. The timber felling
going on at present all over the British Isles represents
about 15,000,000 tons per annum, out of which upwards of
1,000,000 tons would be available for firewood purposes.
This is exclusive of the large quantities at present in stock
and the amount that could readily be procured from field and
hedgerow, which, at the lowest estimate, would readily give
a return of another 1,000,000 tons. Apart from this, commoners
in many parts of England have the right to collect
dead and dying wood, and several owners of woodlands have
granted permission to residents and others on their estate to
gather the fallen branches from woods and plantations a
practice that might be greatly extended in many parts of
the country. Dead and dying timber will also produce a
large quantity of the most useful fuel. Tree roots are also
affording a considerable quantity of the best class of firewood,
though the expense of obtaining such precludes any great
amount being obtained. But the chief difficulty in making
firewood available to the general public is transport, which
at the present time, in every form, is ruinously expensive,
often amounting in out-of-the-way districts to as much as the
original cost of the wood. With a considerable experience of
firewood and its transport on three of the largest estates in
England and Wales, we have invariably found that when the
distance of the timber from the consuming centre exceeds one
mile, both firewood and faggots are difficult to dispose of.
Trees are pruned or dressed where they fall and either dragged
or otherwise conveyed to the nearest road, where they are
loaded for dispatch to rail or wharf, or in a few instances to
the timber yard of the purchaser. The heavier branches are
dressed for firewood or other purposes and the smaller spray
collected in heaps, trimmed and faggoted before being stacked
for seasoning or sent direct to the distributing centers. Where
the manufacture of charcoal is to be engaged in the rougher
firewood need only receive a comparatively small amount
of attention in the matter of pruning, and is carted direct
to the position assigned for charring, which is usually a
clearance in the woodland or on a piece of waste ground
contiguous to the plantation boundary. But apart altogether
from the felling operations, country folk might well assist in
economizing coal, as firewood at its present price, including
delivery, is infinitely cheaper than coal. There are, however,
several drawbacks to the utilizing of wood as fuel, not the
least, especially in towns, being the question of storage room,
as a ton of timber takes up fully three times the amount of
space required for the same weight of coal, while the lasting
properties are considerably less, and the " trouble and bother "
of stacking and preparing for consumption are by no means
the least of the failings of firewood as compared with coal.
There is also the question of space required for the logs indoors,
and the oft renewal of a wood fire as compared with that of
coal. The amount and quantity of ashes produced by a fire
of wood is another drawback, especially as wood ashes, being
light, are readily disseminated in the room and on the furniture.
These are, however, minor details which at a time like the
present will have little or no weight in the consumption of
wood as fuel.
That a very considerable quantity of the produce of our
woodlands, in the shape of rough trees and branches, is annually
consumed for fire-lighters and fuel is not sufficiently recognized
by those who are directly connected with the trade. Returns
to hand from the London firewood dealers alone show that
the quantity is greater than would be supposed, and the
normal trade has been much increased by the exigencies of
war. Vast quantities of firewood are being sent to France and
Flanders in addition to charcoal and fire-lighters, with the
result that there is a dearth of all these fuels at home. In
many of the suburbs of London, indeed, it is impossible to
purchase firewood of any kind, and much inconvenience is
the result, especially as the many forms of fire-lighters are
becoming rare on the market.
In ordinary times faggots and firewood are sent to the
London market ready for use, the latter being bound up in
bundles of the required size, and the former cut into billets
ready for the fire. Large faggots, or "bavins," as they are
called in Kent, have also a ready market for fire-lighting as
well as being extensively used for kiln purposes.
With the present unprecedented scarcity and abnormal
price of all kinds of fuel, the utilization to the very fullest
extent of all available firewood, whether of trunk, branch or
root, is imperative and will alone enable us to assist in carrying
out the words of the popular war song, "Keep the home fires
burning."
How much of the annual fellings of home-grown timber is
used as fuel is a question that is more readily asked than
answered. That a very considerable quantity of the produce
of our woodlands is consumed as firewood without first answering
any other end will be apparent on a moment's reflection,
though little is heard about it, probably owing to the fact that
firewood does not appear as an article of commerce beyond the
spot on which it is produced. The state of the weather will
have much to do with the consumption of firewood, and
during a long and cold winter the quantity sold in certain
districts has been known to be fully double the amount disposed
of in normal seasons. To give even a guess at the
amount of firewood that is annually consumed would be
hazardous, though returns from firewood merchants give a
good idea of what is actually disposed of in the open market,
without reference to the quantity that is sold directly from the
woodlands of private estates. That the total is less than it
might be is acknowledged, and it is hoped that the present
outlet will be the means of fully utilizing the large quantities
of firewood that, for want of a market, have in the past lain
and rotted in the woodlands. One great obstacle to doing this
will be the comparatively large outlay in proportion to the
return, but when the raw material is on the spot it seems a
pity that it cannot be fully utilized, and especially at present
when other fuel is scarce and expensive.
Chap. II. SOURCES FROM WHICH FIREWOOD MAY BE OBTAINED
THERE are four principal sources from which firewood can
be obtained: (1) Where tree-felling of home-grown timber
has recently been carried out; (2) from field and hedgerow
trees; (3) from dead or stag-headed trees, and
(4) from roots
of trees that have been left in the ground. From these sources
combined it is calculated that fully 2,000,000 tons of excellent
firewood can be obtained. Labor is scarce and expensive,
but coal is scarce too, and the principal difficulty in connection
with preparing firewood for the grate will be the initial
cost of so doing. This can, however, be greatly minimized
by employing lame and partially disabled men to carry out
the by no means hard work attending sawing and splitting
the firewood into logs of convenient size for fuel. But better
still, movable saw-mills might cut up the wood into blocks
in the plantations where the trees are felled, the delivery to
the various places of consumption either being by the purchaser's
own horse or by the State at a reasonable charge
per load. On several private estates with which the writer
has had to do, delivery of the firewood in an unconverted
state was largely carried out by the owner's teams of horses,
the cost of so doing being only a few shillings per load which
varied with distance and condition of the roads. Farmers,
as a rule, carted their own firewood, and in some cases cottagers
employed the farmer to deliver their lots at a small fixed price
per load. Centers of distribution would also be a great aid in
the dissemination of firewood, in such cases preference of
purchase being given to dwellers in the neighborhood.
Firewood from Field and Hedgerow. Apart altogether from
trees that are of plantation growth, the number of such as
grow by field and hedgerow is very considerable, and should
be largely utilized in our present unprecedented demand for
all classes of timber and firewood. Everywhere one travels
in the home counties hosts of big elms, oaks, and other trees
may be seen occupying positions from which they can well be
spared, whether the good of remaining specimens or of the
surrounding land and fences be taken into account. This
could be done without in the least altering the general appearance
of the adjoining country, but, if carefully carried out,
with the greatest advantage to the trees that may be left as
standards as well as to the adjoining land. In many
cases trees on fields and along hedgerows are much too
close, and a thinning out would greatly facilitate an increase
of timber in those that are left growing, as also in a better
developed and more ornamental appearance. And what a
quantity of useful timber and firewood could be got in this
way, for it has been estimated carefully that in one part of
Kent alone a million cubic feet of elm and oak could be spared
from field and hedgerow. Take, as an instance, the fields
adjoining the road leading from Bromley to Farnborough and
onwards, and some excellent elm and other trees could be
removed without in the least interfering with the amenity of
the adjoining landscape, but with infinite benefit to the trees
that would be remaining.
We have here a vast, hitherto untapped source of fuel,
which, with the permission of the landowners and farmers,
might yield a great quantity of the needful firewood. Timber
cultivated by field and hedgerow is usually rough and branchy,
so that, taken tree for tree, the yield of firewood from that
grown in the open, as compared with that from woods and
plantations, is fully double and of better lasting quality.
Road surveyors are well aware of the damage that is being
occasioned to public thoroughfares by overhanging trees, and
a little co-operation with adjoining owners would be the
means of procuring, at small cost and removable by good
roads, thousands of cords of useful firewood. But the main
quantity will be procurable from hedgerow and field, and as
this is usually of rough quality owing to being grown in isolated
positions where the branches got room for free growth and
development, is well adapted for firewood purposes. In the
removal of hedgerow and field timber on one of the largest
English estates with which the writer had to do, a strict
account was kept of the quantity of firewood and faggots
that were obtained from each tree. The general run of trees
were such as contained an average of 39 cubic feet, and were
mainly composed of elm, oak, beech and alder, in the proportion
of 58 per cent, of elm, 22 of oak and 20 of the
remaining two. Taking a general average of nearly four
hundred trees, the yield of firewood was just over three-fourths
of a cord for each, all timber under 9 inches being included as
firewood. The quantity of faggots worked out at twenty-seven
per tree. From this it will be seen what a vast quantity
of fuel can be obtained from trees that occupy positions in
fields and hedgerows. The removal of these trees, if carefully
and judiciously gone about, would, as before said, be, in many
parts of the country at least, highly beneficial to the remaining
standards as well as the adjoining agricultural land. In many
parts of the country where felling operations are being carried
out on a big scale, the main drawback to fully utilizing the
firewood is inaccessibility and cost of removal, which is just
the reverse with farm and roadside trees, these being removable
at the least possible expense owing to the presence of good
roads.
Dead and dying trees. Throughout every part of the country
are to be found numbers of diseased, "stag-headed" and dead
trees, the timber of which could readily be converted into
useful firewood. Dead wood, if not actually rotten, makes
excellent firewood, which, owing to its sapless condition, and
being bone dry, can be used when removed from the trees.
Large quantities of such are available at little expense from
our park and woodland trees, and in the London area alone
hundreds of tons of the most valuable firewood could be
pruned from trees growing in such situations. In one park
alone that is known to the writer, it is computed that five
hundred loads of wood could be thus obtained ; and in another,
equally accessible, treble that quantity could be removed from
old and stag-headed trees. Taking one instance with which
the writer had to deal where the trees were old and with much
dead wood at top, the average quantity of firewood procured
per tree operated on was one and three-quarter loads, but this
amount would be greatly exceeded in the case of existing park
and garden trees. There can be no doubt that the removal of
dead and dying wood from trees has a most beneficial effect
on their health, and also in reducing the breeding-places of
injurious insects and fungus growth. The appearance of trees
from which the dead wood has been removed is distinctly
improved.
Tree roots as firewood. Firewood of great value and in
considerable quantities could be procured by the unearthing
and splitting up of old tree roots. Those of the oak and ash
are particularly valuable in this way, though in special cases
the roots of the beech, elm and Scotch pine have all been
successfully utilized as fuel. The cost of labor in such cases
is the main drawback, and especially at present, when wages
are abnormally high and workmen fully occupied in other
directions.
In not a few old plantations, however, the removal of roots
from the ground that is to be replanted will be a necessity,
and it is with such cases we have principally to deal. That
the root forms a large proportion of every tree will be readily
admitted, and in the case of the Scotch pine, ash and some
other species is the most valuable for fuel, whether considered
in the light of lasting or heat-giving properties. A century
and more ago, when large numbers of trees were annually felled
for the uses of the Navy and Mercantile Marine, tree roots,
especially of the oak and pine, were largely used as fuel, and
every farmer and cottager was provided with the necessary
tools for splitting and cutting up the roots. In many of the
peasant houses, particularly in Ireland and the north of Scotland,
firewood-splitting equipment will be found, the tools
including a short cross-cut saw, hand saw, heavy hammer and
iron wedges. From the Irish bog-lands large quantities of
excellent fuel both for fire-lighting and heating are obtained,
and principally from the roots of long-submerged oak and
native pine. With improved knowledge and the use of modern
appliances the removal of large roots and converting these into
firewood is now a comparatively easy matter as compared with
the labor that attended such work some years ago. Many
trees, such as the Scotch pine, beech and other hard wood
species, are what is termed shallow or surface rooters, and so
offer but small resistance to be pulled out, as is noticeable
by the numbers of such that become uprooted during stormy
weather. The simplest method is to remove the earth from
around the base of the stem, sever the larger roots with a pick
or stubbing axe, and, aided by the trunk, to which a rope is
usually attached, pull it over and out by the aid of a horse, a
little under leverage with an iron-shod pole assisting greatly
in the operation. From several large areas of ground in Kent
and Bedfordshire the writer has had trees, roots and all removed
by this method, which is simple and inexpensive, particularly
if the work is carried out before the trunk is severed from the
root, the leverage thus obtained simplifying the operation to
a great extent. A stout rope attached to the stem of the tree
at about three-fourths of its height acts as a powerful lever
in uprooting. With the present unprecedented scarcity and
abnormal price of fuel, nothing in the shape of firewood should
be wasted or left in the ground to rot that will help to tide the
nation over the crisis. Tree roots that are left in the ground
are not only a harbor and breeding-place for insects and
fungus pests, but they prevent the land from being successfully
replanted or otherwise cultivated. Hundreds of acres of forest
land are now being cleared of timber, and in the replanting of
such the removal of all roots from the soil will not only be
imperative but a first necessity.
Blasting tree roots. Blasting by gunpowder or dynamite is
not only the most expeditious but also the cheapest method of
clearing away tree stumps and large logs. In preparing to
blast a stump great care must be exercised to bore the hole
in the right place and not to use too much explosive. For
blasting powder the hole should be 1J inches in diameter, and
should penetrate to the centre of the stump. It must not be
too low down, lest the bottom should blow out and the force
be expended in shattering the ground instead of the stump
or log. In selecting the spot to bore for the powder, choose
the hardest part of the root and ensure an equal thickness of
wood all round, and even splitting of the log will be the result.
The following is a good way of putting in the powder : For
large stumps of from 2 to 4 feet in diameter about 3½ inches
depth of coarse blasting powder should be inserted in the hole
If inches in diameter. The end of the fuse should be put into
the centre of the powder, and left protruding for 15 inches
outside the hole, which is filled with dry sand, consolidated,
or packed around the fuse by means of a coarse iron wire.
The outside end of the fuse should be teased out and lighted
with a match, and as it will require over a minute for the fire
to reach the powder, time is given for the operator to find a
place of safety.
Burning tree stumps when not required as firewood. With a
2-inch auger bore a vertical hole in the centre of the stump
from the top towards the bottom. In the side of the stump,
near ground-level, bore a horizontal hole towards the centre,
so as to open into the vertical hole, drop some fire down the
vertical hole, and if the wood is at all dry the draught of air
entering by the horizontal hole will, like the draught of a
chimney, maintain the combustion of the fire in the centre,
until this slowly spreads and ultimately burns away the stump.
Another and equally simple method of destroying stumps of trees is as follows :
In autumn bore a hole 2 inches in diameter and 18 inches deep, put in 1½ ozs. of saltpetre, fill
with water, and plug up close. In the following spring put
in the same hole half a gill of kerosene oil and then light. The
stump will smoulder away without blazing, down to every
part of the roots.
American method of blasting. At Studley Horticultural
College, Warwickshire, the American method of blasting was
successfully carried out and reported upon by Mr. A. P. Long
as follows : --
A hole is bored with a long auger or crowbar in a sloping
direction from one side of the stump to its base, generally from
2½ feet to 3½ feet deep. The bore-hole is cleaned out, and a
number of dynamite cartridges inserted, each being firmly
pressed home by a wooden rod. A primer cartridge containing
a detonator is then placed on the top of these, and the borehole
is filled with clay and tightly rammed. The primer is
either connected directly with a safety fuse, or to a high-tension
battery, by a cable, and is afterwards fired. As dynamite
strikes downward as well as upward, the effect of the explosion
is that the roots and stump are all either ejected or loosened,
so that they can be easily removed by hand.
The American method is less costly and more speedy than
such as have been adopted in England in the matter of
removing tree stumps. If there is no man on the estate
qualified to handle explosives an expert must be employed
at about £1 per day, besides travelling and hotel expenses.
Three men - an expert and two laborers - can bore holes
and blast thirty sound stumps per day easily. If the stumps
are hollow in the centre, two or three bore-holes are necessary
for each stump, and in that case twenty only can be blasted
during the day. Taking the pre-war wages of two laborers
at 2s. 6d. each per day, the cost of boring and firing averages
2½d. per stump, exclusive of the expert's fee. The expert's
fee increases the cost to about 2s. per stump.
The explosive used is Nobel's dynamite, in the form of
cartridges, costing 9½d. per Ib. The average quantity used for
each stump is between 2 Ibs. and 3 Ibs. (about twenty to thirty
cartridges), so that the cost of the explosive is not more than
2s. 6d. per stump. The detonators and fuses required only
cost a few pence. Summing up, the cost per stump is : --
s. d. Expert's Fee ------ 2 0 Cost of boring ------ 2½ Cost of Explosive ------ 2 6 Detonators & fuse ------ 9½ Total 5 6
Misfires and partial removal of stump may require fresh
borings and further charges of explosive, thus increasing the
cost. By employing a skilled estate hand capable of using
explosives instead of an expert, the expense, however, is
greatly diminished.
By the old method of grubbing and jacking, stumps were
removed at Studley some time ago at the high cost of about
£2 5s. each butt, and even then success was only partial. In
another case, on an estate in Norfolk, where an old pasture
was converted into a plantation of mixed trees, trenching at
the cost of £18 per acre had to be resorted to on account of
the presence of roots and stumps of old trees. In this case
it would have been much cheaper to have removed the stumps
by blasting. The demonstrations at Studley showed that both
sound and unsound stumps could be successfully blasted, and
whole trees an apple and an oak were also uprooted by the
same method with equal success, using only one bore-hole and
about the same charge of explosives. The timber of the trees
so treated, however, is very much split, so that blasting is
only advisable when the timber is considered of little value.
The particular explosives used are unaffected by damp, and
in consequence, the method is applicable to both wet and dry
situations. Firing the charges was done at the demonstrations
mostly by ladies, and a photographer was able to get
sufficiently near to obtain photographs of the effect of the
explosion without danger. The principal recommendations of
this method, therefore, are cheapness, effectiveness and safety.
End of Preview.
RETURN to
Main Titles Index or
Outdoor Survival Basics
Please Read The Website Disclaimer!
Copyright 1986-2012, The Survival & Self-Reliance Studies Institute (SSRsi), All
Rights Reserved
Site conceptualized, designed, created & maintained by MEG Raven
Snail Mail: SSRsi, PO Box 2572 Dillon, CO. 80435-2572