Types of wood you just won't burn?

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John Paul Sanborn said:
If you burn for heat, then it's a big deal. If it's for ambiance then anything dry is good.

That is if it smells OK.

+1. I'm an ambiance burner, for the time being anyway, and though I appreciate the fire I get off of good oak, walnut, maple, and ash, the faster burning stuff is nice to have for those last few logs of the evening so the fire burns down nicely by bedtime.

That said, willow and cottonwood don't hold much interest for me. The pines are OK, in small quantity, to mix in for fire quality maintenance and fast starting.

If I was burning for heat, then I'd be much more selective.
 
colverpa said:
?????????
yo.
And for that matter why not pine if ya got it? And whats this about not burning conifers? Fir is one and I would choose it before most other woods (other than the obvious oaks and arbutus, maple etc), it be the cadillac of stove food in these parts. :)
:popcorn: :popcorn:
 
treeman82 said:
My recommendations for burning to people I meet are...

Don't burn:

Conifers of any type
Tulip
Elm
Cottonweed
Catalpa
Willow

If you lived in the NW you'd burn conifers or you'd get cold. 90% of what I burn is Douglas Fir. I can stoke the stove at 10 PM and have enough coals to start another fire the next day at 3 PM.
 
Paper

colverpa said:
why not poplar?
you might as well burn paper as burning poplar. It burns fast and retains a ton of water. Sooo... It takes forever to dry dude, and once it does its as light as a feather. It does make good kindling though. Sometimes if its down, it really stinks when you burn it also...
 
Just Say No to Popple

ciscoguy01 said:
you might as well burn paper as burning poplar. It burns fast and retains a ton of water. Sooo... It takes forever to dry dude, and once it does its as light as a feather. It does make good kindling though. Sometimes if its down, it really stinks when you burn it also...
DITTO DITTO
Native Americans from Maine use "popple" for totempole carving. After peeling the bark it hardens to like oak, yet it soft for carving. Otherwise a true PITA for firewood. Wet, wet, wet. A weed for the woods here. Rather burn spruce or fir. :cry:
And, damn stuff is heavy green.:cry:
 
ciscoguy01 said:
you might as well burn paper as burning poplar. It burns fast and retains a ton of water. Sooo... It takes forever to dry dude, and once it does its as light as a feather. It does make good kindling though. Sometimes if its down, it really stinks when you burn it also...



Poplar=Papler.


Heavy when wet, light as balsa (OK,Bass) when dry. I use it for getting the fire going from coals.



Fill the stove with Pop, 5min later its roaring, 1/2hr later its coals and you can start your hardwoods with ease.
 
treeman82 said:
My recommendations for burning to people I meet are...

Don't burn:

Conifers of any type
Tulip
Elm
Cottonweed
Catalpa
Willow


Douglas fir has the same heat value as our soft big leaf maple...and tamarack has more. I'll burn anything but poplar, cottonwood, willow. Love cedar for kindling.
 
We don't really burn fir, but that's mostly just because we don't have much of that in our woods, tho seasoned pine makes good kindling. We stay away from cottonwood, simply because it's almost impossible to split. We love dead elm! In fact we actively seek out dead elms with the bark peeling, because it splits good with my splitter, and it burns long. The only down side is the "clinkers" it leaves in the stove due to the high mineral content, and it's also a bit hard on chains for that same reason, but I have a chain sharpener so we don't mind that. We also like wild cherry because it's extremely easy splitting and good burning (even when not fully dry). We also burn quite a bit of black walnut, but I don't really like it that well. It burns good, but seems to have a lot of creosote even when dry. Of course you should avoid anythng treated. I do burn mulberry, but I leave it lay for a long time so it's good and dry.
 
Willow?

JohnH said:
Willow I will NOT burn

Man, I just cut up a willow. It's wet as all get out and it stinks, but it's better than some of the firs out there. What's so bad about willow eh? You do need to season it a year for sure before burning dude.
 
ciscoguy01 said:
Man, I just cut up a willow. It's wet as all get out and it stinks, but it's better than some of the firs out there. What's so bad about willow eh? You do need to season it a year for sure before burning dude.

NOthing at all wrong with willow. It is well down on the list of btu value/pound but it still heats my house almost 100%. Wouldn't burn it myself if there was a source of better wood at the same cost.

Your 'stinking willow'. BTDT and found that after it dries, the smell disappears...at least my one tree did.

Harry K
 
colverpa said:
why not poplar?

I burn poplar but I hate it. There were four big ones in the yard and one more to go. The only reason I burn it now is it was easy to get to, it splits very easy and I hate to waste it. All the same, anything with a knot or a crook gets thrown over the bank. I should be done with it next year. The water that pours out of them when you make your first cut is incredible and it does take a long time to dry. I knock the rounds in half and stack it under a shed roof so it's good to go in a year. It does burn fast so hardwood goes in the stove overnight and in the morning before we leave for work.

All the same, I can't wait to be done with this crap!

tree.jpg
 
turnkey4099 said:
NOthing at all wrong with willow. It is well down on the list of btu value/pound but it still heats my house almost 100%. Wouldn't burn it myself if there was a source of better wood at the same cost.

Your 'stinking willow'. BTDT and found that after it dries, the smell disappears...at least my one tree did.

Harry K
The last willow I dealt with was what we call 'American willow', pretty different from 'weeping' variety, has a huge shock of little white flowers in the spring and seems to die off at around 40-50yrs, the bark is a bit like alder and the branch structure can only be called crazy. And wet? OMG, I had to drop a 'dead' chunk about 20ft high and 20"dbh, what came out of my poor wee saw resembled porridge, stuck to everything within 4 feet (me mostly). I stacked it at the back of my shed figuring it'd be fine by spring, ya right, it got burned about 2yrs later, and what I said earlier about the dead cat burning smell was being polite, yuck! I must say though that it did burn nicely with very little ash (not a whole whack of heat but it burned). It was interesting to see that a couple of years later just about every chunk of branch that was left on the ground (we lived in a managed forest area at the time) had 1-2ft sprouts, the conservation group that wanted to revert the land back to a natural state is going to have fun with those lol.
:cheers:

GO LIONS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!:rockn:
 
Sprig said:
The last willow I dealt with was what we call 'American willow', pretty different from 'weeping' variety, has a huge shock of little white flowers in the spring and seems to die off at around 40-50yrs, the bark is a bit like alder and the branch structure can only be called crazy. And wet? OMG, I had to drop a 'dead' chunk about 20ft high and 20"dbh, what came out of my poor wee saw resembled porridge, stuck to everything within 4 feet (me mostly). I stacked it at the back of my shed figuring it'd be fine by spring, ya right, it got burned about 2yrs later, and what I said earlier about the dead cat burning smell was being polite, yuck! I must say though that it did burn nicely with very little ash (not a whole whack of heat but it burned). It was interesting to see that a couple of years later just about every chunk of branch that was left on the ground (we lived in a managed forest area at the time) had 1-2ft sprouts, the conservation group that wanted to revert the land back to a natural state is going to have fun with those lol.
:cheers:

GO LIONS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!:rockn:

Different stuff that what I get. I don't know the species but it grows big and tall. 30" and up butts and 70 to 80ft tall, not unusual to see the first crotch 40 or more ft up. Takes one year to cure. I cut one year and aim to burn the winter after after so the stuff has 1 full and one partial summer to dry.

Odd facts about it which one wouldn' suspect.

1. It used to be a prefered wood for charcoal making.
2. It is still used for smoking meats. Local gun club won't use anything else for smoking their annual sausage production.

Harry K
 
woodchux said:
I wont burn any hawthorn inside
Why? Toxic? Smelly? Just curious as any hawthorn up here isn't big enough to bother with. Quite the roots on 'em though and a real biatch to rid & slash imo (bring the peroxide and band-aids), if this is the species with big honkin' spikes everywhere I am (unfortunately) familiar with. If not, kk.
:)
 

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