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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Marie McHarry wrote:
> I'm curious about the quality of the wood. You said it was good for 
> lumber, but I'm suspicious of fast-growing trees. I don't think 
> Chinese elm is good for much of anything except maybe making sorghum
>  because it burns so cool. It's even worse than willow -- not worth 
> the trouble of splitting. Of course, I'm partial to Mason County coal
>  -- Osage orange -- for heat. Or locust.

I understand your suspicions, as we were there, too.  It is an excellent
furniture wood.  It is even rot and insect resistant.  It doesn't split
or warp.  The first link has the wood's physical characteristics and the
second link has a bunch of pictures of things made with Paulownia,
including Jimmy Carter's cabinet.  He has 15 acres of Paulownia..I'll
have about 1 acre or so.
As to firewood, on the characteristics page, "Paulownia is a very good
insulator. Paulownia log homes are said to have twice the R factor as
pine or oak logs. This temperature resistance serves to give the wood a
high fire resistance. Ignition temperature is approximately 400 deg. C.
which is almost twice many conventional American hard and soft woods."
That doesn't sound like it would make a good firewood, but I don't know.
I've got 11 acres of oak and hickory forest, so I'm set on heat
production.

http://www.paulowniawood.com/characteristics.htm

http://www.paulowniawood.com/uses.htm


--
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public
debt  should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered
and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed
lest Rome become bankrupt.  People must again learn to work, instead of
living on public assistance."

--Cicero, 55 BC
http://erthnsky.blogspot.com/