Catalpa Firewood

Catalpa is one of those trees that everybody recognizes but nobody really thinks about as firewood. The big heart-shaped leaves, the long cigar-shaped seed pods, the showy white flowers in spring, it's a landscaping tree. But then one comes down in a storm and you're staring at a pile of rounds wondering if it's worth splitting. Short answer: maybe.

At 14.8 million BTU per cord, catalpa sits near the bottom even among hardwoods. Dry weight is just 2,380 lbs., but green it comes in at a whopping 4,560 lbs. per cord. That's a LOT of water weight, which tells you something about what you're dealing with fresh off the stump. The coal quality is actually good though, which is a nice surprise.

Here's the thing nobody warns you about, catalpa is a pain to split. It's stringy, fibrous wood that grabs your maul and doesn't want to let go. Plan on spending some quality time with a hydraulic splitter if you have a big one down. And the smell... catalpa firewood has a bad fragrance. Not subtle-bad. Distinctly unpleasant when it burns. Some people describe it as sour or musty.

That heavy green weight means you need a solid 12 to 18 months of seasoning. Don't cheat it. All that moisture has to go somewhere, and if it hasn't, you'll get extra smoke and that funky smell will be even worse.

Catalpa is an outdoor burn at best, campfires and fire pits where the smell disperses. Check the firewood BTU chart and you'll see it ranks near species like American Sycamore. If you've got it free, burn it outside. If you're buying firewood, spend your money elsewhere.