Oak fuelwood

People, who want to buy a fuel wood often say that they are looking for the best and hardest types, for example beech or oak. While beech wood is normally used as a fuel, oak fuel is not so commonly used. 

Oak fuelwood – characteristics 

In terms of wood density, it is really high, comparable to beech and ash, but again it is not the highest (lower than hornbeam and others). Oak wood is heavy and hard and certainly has a high calorific value and combustion efficiency, but it also has a number of other less positive properties. The drying time of oak wood is very long and it is the result of physicochemical properties. Some believe that oak should be stored for up to 3 years. Probably few of us at the current pace of life have time and space for such long storage of wood. Oak fuel has a very large part of the bark, which exceeds 20% of the total weight of wood. For comparison, the proportion of bark in hornbeam and beech is only 7%, which is 3 times less than in oak.

Oak wood has specific characteristics, it contains many acids and tannins (fresh wood has a specific smell of acetic acid). A large amount of acids and tannins in oak wood can cause greater fireplace pollution. It often happens that the oak fuelwood comes from slowly growing trees that have many humps and knots. In practice, this will mean that chopping is very difficult. 

As we can see, oak fuelwood has many disadvantages, yet it is still a searched product. The reason is probably that oak as an industrial (non-fuel) material is a valuable and sought-after raw material. Oak wood is extremely strong and durable, also in the conditions of high humidity. Oak wood has its reputation in premium class furniture, stairs and other products, and oak fuel probably followed this view. The role of an oak as a fuelwood is very often overestimated. Oak fuel has many disadvantages which disqualify it. The purchase of an oak can be a good investment if it is already processed and properly dried, or if you can afford to store for several years.