Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1915-01-22
THE FUEL VALUE or WOOD

The fuel value of two pounds OF
wood is roughly equivalent to that of
one pound of coal. This is given
as the result of certain calculations
now being made in the forest service
| laboratory, which show also about
| how many cords of certain kinds OF
| wood are required to obtain an
amount of heat equal to that in a
ton of coal
Certain kinds of wood, such as
hickory, oak, beach, birch, hard ma
pie, ash, elm, locust, longleaf pine,
and cherry, have fairly high heat val
ues, and only one cord of seasoned
wood Of these species is required to
equal one ton of good coal.
1t takes a cord and half Of short
| leaf pine, hemlOck, red gum, Doug
| las fir, sycamore, and soft maple to
equal a ton of coal, and two cords OF
cedar, redwood, poplar, catalpa, Nor
way pine, cypress, Eastwood, spruce,
and white pine.
Equal weights of dry, nonresinous
woods, however, are said to have
practically the same heat value re-
CARELESS of species, and as a conse-
proposition that the heavier the wood
the more heat to the cord. Weight
for weight, however, there is very
little difference between various spe-
cies; the average. heat for all that
have been calculated is 4,6OO calor-
les, or heat units, per kilogram A
kilogram of resin will develop 9,40O
heat units, or about twice the aver
age for woods. AS a consequence, res
inous woods have a greater heat val
lie per pound than nonresinOus woods
and this increased value varies, OF
course, with the resin content.
The available heat value Of cord
of wood depends on many different
factors 1t has relation not only
to the amount of resin it contains,
but to the amount Of moisture pres
ent. Furthermore, cords vary as to
the amount of solid wood they con-
tain, even when they are CT stand
ard dimension and occupy 1913 cubic
feet of space. A certain proportion
of this space is made up of air
spaces between the sticks, and this
air space may be considerable in a
cord made of twisted, crooked, and
knotty sticks. Out of the 1913 cubic
feet a fair average of solid wood is
about 80 cubic feet.
1t is pointed out, however, that
heat value is not the only test of
usefulness in fuel wood, and since 95
| per cent Of all wood used for fuel is
consumed for domestic purposes,
| largely in farm houses, such factors
as rapidity of burning and ease of
lighting are important. Each sec
| ton of the country has it's favored
woods, and these are said to be, in
general, the right ones to USE Hiclz-
| CRY, Of the no1resinous woods, has
the highest fuel value per unit vel
| ume Of wood, and has other advan-
tages. 1t burns evenly, and, as
housewives say, holds the heat The
oaks come next, followed by beech,
birch and maple. Pine has a rela-
lively low heat value per unit vol
ume but has other advantages. It
ignites readily and gives out a quick
hot flame, but one that soon dies
down. This makes it a favorite
with rural housekeepers as a sum-
mer wood, because it is. particularly
adapted for hot days in the kitchen.
The fuel qualities of chestnut
adapt it particularly to work in brass
foundries, where it gives just the
required amount of heat, and it is
therefore in favor Coastwisa vessels
in Florida pay twice as much for
Florida buttonwood as for any other,
because it burns with an even heat
and with minimum amount of
smoke and ash.
The principal disadvantage of the
resinous pines is their oily black
| smoke