Punky Wood?

[Pruning@trunk]

Is there any redeeming value in wood that is punky? I am not talking about rotten wood but punky. The wood isn't the best to burn with (box elder) but I was wondering if it is worth the time to split to use for either bonfires and heating the shop.

 

[olympyk_999]

Punky is rotten...it will dry out and burn but not very well...and since grain structure is basically non existent, it sucks to split...pretty much just breaks up into chunks...
Not worth the hassle imo

 

[Pruning@trunk]

Well the stuff I'm splitting isn't in chunks and not wet. It splits well. When I think of rotten I thing wet and unsplittable.

 

[SteveSS]

Anything is worthy of the fire pit or bon fire or any other type of ambience fire, IMHO. Whether or not it's worthy of providing quality BTU's to heat a home is a totally different conversation. If it's just a fire to have a few beers and conversation around, I say burn it.

 

[kingOFgEEEks]

If it's not too punky to split, it goes in my stacks. Good to get fires going or for shoulder season.

I'm not as picky as some, and I have an abundance of hardwood.

 

[SteveSS]

"punky" probably means a lot of different degrees of wood rot to a lot of different folks. Going from 999's description, Punky is rotten, and I'd just leave it lay. In my head, Punky might have a soft outer ring and a good solid center, or just be flecked with the early stages of rot. I guess the real question is......what do you consider Punky?

 

[WoodTick007]

Is there any redeeming value in wood that is punky? I am not talking about rotten wood but punky. The wood isn't the best to best with (box elder) but I was wondering if it is worth the time to split to use for either bonfires and heating the shop.

Put up some signs and sell it by the wheelbarrow. You can get $20-$25 for a heaping wheelbarrow. Box elder should not be cut or brought home for home heating purposes unless you are freezing.

 

[GVS]

Is there any redeeming value in wood that is punky? I am not talking about rotten wood but punky. The wood isn't the best to best with (box elder) but I was wondering if it is worth the time to split to use for either bonfires and heating the shop.

Burn it!

 

[alderman]

I cut and burn punky wood. Just burns a bit faster. Mostly Alder though, no elder.

 

[mallardman]

It keeps mosquitos away in the fire pit.


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[Dirtboy]

Sometimes I'll get punky centers in a round. I'll split off the outsides and the punky center goes in the fire pit along with the bark.

 

[Pruning@trunk]

Yes--punky wood is a form of rotten wood and is in the process of getting unusable. When I think of rotten wood I think wet as a sponge, unsplittable and one could kick it and it would break apart very easily.

This is wood I have on my property which fell and have been laying on the ground for a few years. Yes, not the best of wood to heat one's house with but I do use it for the firepit, the pole barn and to make maple syrup.

Just wondering how much one loses in btu's when burning it--maybe that is to hard of a question to answer.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

If it burns, it goes in the stove, it's not picky.

 

[Husky J]

I'm in the same camp with most of the other posters. I recently cut down a standing dead pin oak on my ditch line that I have been eying for the last year or so. Most of the wood is perfect, dry, and ready for the stove. A small portion was fall-apart rotted which went to the bon-fire pit out back. The remainder is what I think the original poster is referring to. It's dry but has less pronounced grain, lighter in color, and can be around half the weight of a normal piece from the same tree. It takes a hotter fire to get going and seems to leave more ash. I find myself leaving the air inlet on the stove wide open and sometimes even crack the door to get it going. I spot check the thermometer on the stove top and it seems to burn a little colder, but not a ton. I have been trying to burn this stuff first due to the warm temperatures in SE Michigan we have been experiencing lately. I think it is worth burning, especially since it's already stacked in the garage where I store my wood, I certainly wouldn't move it twice. If it's easy to get and free, it's fine for shoulder season.

 

[svk]

If you have it at your house and it still splits then process and burn. One it starts shattering rather than splitting I'd throw it in the woods.

 

[Fred Wright]

I was taught that punk is the softer, pale wood that encircles a standing dead stem or limbs. The heartwood is still solid. Punky wood doesn't burn very well, it mostly glows and turns to ash.

 

[Patvetzal]

Around here the poplar can start to turn punky in the core while the outer 75% of the wood is fine, or as fine as poplar gets. Either way it should come out of the bush and the easiest way to dispose of it seems to be the woodshed.

 

[Fireaxman]

I know nothing about Box Elder, but I am burning a lot of "Punky" oak this year. It was from standing dead trees I took down as a favor to a neighbor. The sap wood is soft and will not split, comes off in chunks, but the heart wood is still good and I can get the sap wood to stay together if I split a little heart wood off with each piece of sap wood. At first I thought I was wasting my time and threw a lot of it away, but then I discovered what Husky J reported . It burns slowly, with a lot of ash, but adequate for a cool spring evening or morning or a bonfire on a night that is not too cold. Slow burning is not all bad, since it means fewer trips to the wood pile to replenish the fire, but on a big bonfire one night it threw so much white ash into the air it looked like it was snowing. Actually, kinda fun for those of us in SE Louisiana.