firewood

[whitenack]

I thought about putting this in the free firewood thread, but it doesn't fit exactly.

I got an outdoor fireplace for christmas. Coincidentally, I have some trees to cut down. A silver maple, two blue spruces, and a huge hemlock. I am going to have a lot of wood on my hands. Someone said the evergreens would be too sappy to burn.

Is this true?

Thanks,

 

[PowersTree]

if you have an outdoor boiler you can burn anything. I have several guys I dump wood to that have these boilers. The one guy almost prefers green Pine. He says that he gets good BTU's out of it and it is lighter to pick up. He burns anything I dump to him, cottonwood, willow, pine, elm. The quality of the wood just determines how often you have to go out and fill it.

 

[whitenack]

Sorry. By outdoor fireplace, I meant one of these things:


http://www.charbroil.com/fireplaces/index.asp

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Evergreens burn just fine. Think about the distribution of wood across the north American continent - most people burn evergreens.

For some reason (not related to reality) some folks think if you burn evergreens you'll have gallons of creosote buiild up in a matter of days and you and all your family will be consumed in a chimney fire. Why, it's so dangerous, you'll probably even burn down your cousin's house 3 miles away!

Just burn it!

 

[whitenack]

...For some reason (not related to reality) some folks think if you burn evergreens you'll have gallons of creosote buiild up ...

This was what I was told. That, plus all the sap build up.

But, that's why I came here. To see if it was true!

 

[cord arrow]

as for outdoor boilers...........
i know a guy who has a pallet sized one.
he burns tires in it. smokes like a smolting plant. smells great, also. no ash, just the steel belting.
talk about a conservationalist.......

 

[Big Woody]

How big is the Hemlock?

I am going making some inside doors for my log cabin in Versailles out of Hemlock 2x12's (I bought from Danville). Maybe it could be milled into some lumber if it is huge. I was wondering about getting some more Hemlock.

 

[whitenack]

its probably not huge by your all's standards. It is 1-1/2 to 2 stories tall, trunk maybe 1' in diameter. The reason I think it is huge is because someone planted it right up against the side of this house, and now that it has grown big it takes up the whole corner of the house.

 

[turnkey4099]

This was what I was told. That, plus all the sap build up.

But, that's why I came here. To see if it was true!

Creosote build up is in chimneys, not something like you show. The stuff you have will burn just fine after it is dried (6 months in summer after splitting) or even green but it will be a bit more smokey green. There is no "sap buildup", it is evaporated and goes up the chimney to condense out as creosote if allowed to.

BlueRidge is correct. If all the old wives tale were true, very few people west of the mississippi would be able to burn wood and no Canadians.

Harry K

 

[Crofter]

It would be difficult to burn in any of the new EPA stove though. Their draught works hard at burning the volatiles and the amount of steam coming off green wood seems to give them a hard time, but anything like an outdoor boiler or an old box stove with the draught opening low on the front will burn green wood once you get it going. It is not easy to keep a low fire going with it though.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I DID mean burn it when it's dry, of course.

 

[PWB]

If all the old wives tale were true, very few people west of the mississippi would be able to burn wood and no Canadians.

Harry K

Uhhhh...................

I'm a canadian, don't burn any pine.........

Region I live in is carolinian. Stove has elm and maple in it right now. Was cutting maple, oak, cherry, and beech this weekend. next winter's pile is mostly locust and maple. Even found some ironwood. There's tulip and Kentucky coffee tree here, sassafrass,.......
Careful with those blanket statements............

Canada is north (mostly) of the WHOLE country, all the way from washington state to maine. I'm about 60 miles noth of cleveland! somewhere south of the 43rd paralell if I remember right.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

How does ironwood burn PWB? Are you anywhere near Kingston?

 

[PWB]

I'm probably about 6 or 8 hours southwest of Kingston. Kingston's north of Syracuse. Go west about a lake and a half, I'm pretty much north of Cleveland. Hour and a half tops to put me in Detroit.(Got to go north to get to detroit, REALLY!!)

Ironwood burns pretty good if I remember right, really heavy stuff. Not much around, I think it grows pretty slow. Wound up with one today , found it knocked over under a big maple that the top came out of over the summer. Cleaned up the top today, waiting for a day when the wind is right to drop the tree.

 

[rjh245]

I have a Harman, EPA non cat. stove and it burns pine just fine. But it must be DRY. Any wood i burn in the stove must be dry.
Rob

 

[ontario026]

Blueridge, I'm about 45min east of kingston....

 

[logbutcher]

Oh Canada !

We all thought that there's no wood on the tundra.
Give anything to have those species--elm, ironwood,etc...Downeast.