2 x 4's In The Fireplace

[Fred Wright]

Tuba fors and other construction wood - "real" wood - have a very low moisture content. It burns hot and clean. Personally I wouldn't use the stuff for regular firewood... but if it's all ya got and ya gots plenty of it, use it.

 

[Homelite410]

Id take a dump truck load of kiln dried!!

 

[c5rulz]

Years back my neighbor worked in a factory that made high end cabinets. He got me a 6x10' trailer piled as high as they could pile it. Extremely nice wood, oak mostly of scraps. Burnt great, extremely dry. The only problem is it doesn't stack well at all.

 

[zogger]

Years back my neighbor worked in a factory that made high end cabinets. He got me a 6x10' trailer piled as high as they could pile it. Extremely nice wood, oak mostly of scraps. Burnt great, extremely dry. The only problem is it doesn't stack well at all.

Every wood shop I have worked at I drug home scraps. Kiln dried maple/birch/oak/fir, etc. Some was free, some was cheap, the best wood was 3 bucks as much as you could fit in your pickup, that stuff was primo because they were picky on the wood, any minor hardly could see it defect, cull pile, Some small but some larger pieces which made it nice. . And yep, you had to watch loading the stove or fireplace, too much you would get that jet engine effect.

 

[ash man]

My bil drives semi and hauls mostly oversized loads which require a lot of blocking. He's got a whole barn full of 4x4 and bigger that is all made out hard wood. I'm out I'm the wood felling, bucking, splitting and hauling out, while all he's gotta do is us my llittle ms170 I gave him to fit them in his wood burner.

 

[GeeVee]

Hot fast clean.

 

[Whitespider]

...If it's free, put it to use is my theory.

And that's a damn good theory.

A friend of mine works at a "wood products" manufacturing plant; he brings home scrap and cut-offs by the pickup load... heck, they even let him use the "equipment" to load. He puts it all down his old coal chute and uses a grain shovel to load the old cast iron furnace. He heats 100 percent with wood and ain't started his chainsaw in near 5-years I'm bettin'. He burns whatever's in the scrap bin without sorting it, mostly pine, fir, spruce and the like, a little hardwood and even a few bits of plywood end up in the mix. In my book that ain't being cheap... that's being damn smart.

Besides... he feels like me. Ain't no way either of us would ever "buy" firewood... if'n we're gonna' "pay" for heat, we'll just pay for the convenience of gas.

 

[Fred Wright]

When I lived in Madison an oak flooring plant down the road sold pickup loads of scrap for 5 bucks. They'd even load it for you. It was bits and short pieces - mill ends, bug bore holes and the like. Nothing over a foot in length. The local firewood sellers would bag it and give it to customers as kindling.

All kiln dried, planed smooth and clean. Man, that stuff burned hot. I had a stack of poplar at the time, loaded oak flooring scrap in with the poplar just to get rid of it all.

 

[sb47]

Some call it cheap, some call it frugal. What’s wrong with it? He is using a waste product for heat, I say, good job!

 

[farmer steve]

ain't 2x4's but it'sall kiln dried oak

 

[djones]

I like the free theory, I tend to burn anything that gets left behind from any of my projects. I burn what's on my property and that is (by percentage) 60% pine, 20% maple, 10% cherry, 10% beech. I only burn maple if wind knocked it down, the rest are for maple sap, I cut lots of pine, beech and cherry, some ash and poplar fill in the rest. I've only got a hand full of oak on the place so I leave it alone to grow. So I say let the man burn pine if that's what he can afford, he'll find out that he needs more of it to keep afloat.

 

[Icehouse]

I am hoping you are joking but if not:

If burning pine "burns the house down" were true, there wouldn't be a house standing out west. It is an old wive's tale.

It doesn't sell for firewood where you are because...wait for it...wait...because there are better woods available, duh. That's not true in most of the west and northern climes.

Harry K

I think I may be able to shed a little light on the old wives tale. Actually it isn't, it was the truth, back in the day everyone here in the west had an "air tight" stove. If you have never seen an air tight stove you haven't missed anything, air tights were made from tin about the same as stove pipe, everybody had one, maybe 2, all of the logging camp bunk houses and cook houses had these stoves. When I was a pup it was common knowledge you never burn pine in a wood stove. Actually you should never burn "ponderosa pine" in your airtight, the pitch in PP is very combustible and you can have a runaway fire because these stoves were anything but airtight. These stoves will turn white hot and disaster is not far away. Many older cabins in our area burned because of pine in an airtight. There are still folks in this area that won't burn PP even in a new high end stove. All the cast cook stoves here burned white pine because it burned hot low ash and very easy to split for cook stove wood.

 

[Rsquared]

I just got a load of "cut offs" from the local truss company. All 2 x 4 scraps. Some have gotten split up for kindling, some have gone in to kick up the fire. It is good stuff. No problems burning them for me.

 

[flotek]

The only think you gotta be careful of is if its treated wood especially in a open fireplace . Treated and composite wood emitts harmful toxins and I was told even contains arsenic which is lethal

 

[Rookie1]

I have a pallet full of 2x4s that my work used for forms when they made some sidewalks. They have a little concrete stuck to them but are burning just fine. I use them as kindling mostly but have tossed full ones in also.I also burn 4x4s similar to Steve but in my woodburner,no wasting good wood for campfires!

 

[turnkey4099]

I just got a load of "cut offs" from the local truss company. All 2 x 4 scraps. Some have gotten split up for kindling, some have gone in to kick up the fire. It is good stuff. No problems burning them for me.

You have a point about those tin box heaters. I never heard them call "air-tights" tho as they were anything but. Your "back in the day" probably isn't as far back as mine though and EVERYBODY burned mostly pine (also North Idaho Craigmont/Orofino) including PP. I only know of one house that burned and it burned in the middle of the summer in about 1945 (never heard the cause).

Yes, "burn your house down" IS an old wives tale. It can be done but only by being stupid such as burning green pine or throwing a big pitchy chunk on the fire.

Harry K

 

[Whitespider]

Hey, those old Air-Tight Stoves had one good attribute... one guy could pick 'em up and carry 'em up, or down the steps.
L-O-L
I remember the flue pipe fitting would expand and warp... the flue pipe would get so loose you could look in the fire box through the gap.
Yeah, the good-ol'-days, when men were men and houses were... well... firewood...

 

[Trx250r180]

doug fir 2x4 scraps are great firewood ,make great kindling too ,stuff like osb burns ,but if in a neighborhood ,may offend the neighbors if they are close ,definatly don't burn stuff like old power poles or railroad ties ,they are full of real bad stuff

 

[farmer steve]

a friend of mine makes oak stair steps. all kiln dried. talk about heat.even sell a few at $35.00 a bin.

 

[cantoo]

I burn 2x scrap in the fall and spring in my Hotblast, I also use 2x10's for kindling split small. I have an owb now so I use bigger pieces of pine in it.