Seasoning time for willow

[rguseman]

I just had a load of what I believe to be black willow dropped in my yard by a tree service. Tis my favorite kind of willow-free. As I assume most of you will say go ahead and burn it in your fireplace, I will move on to the more important question. If you burn willow, how long do you typically let it season?

 

[hornett22]

you can't be serious!

can you? i know drinking is popular in wisconsin but come on.

 

[mga]

i've burned willow before. seems to take a long time to dry, but when it is, it burns like paper.

 

[CylinderService]

I just had a load dropped in my yard too, probably by the same thunderstorm! The worst part is all the branches - I get my exercise dragging them all to the burning pile.
Willow & poplar seem to take a year to be really dry, unless they're split fine & put in the barn for the summer. Otherwise the first month or 2 they keep sending out shoots. If you put it on damp ground I think the woodpile would turn into a new willow grove.

Don

 

[rguseman]

can you? i know drinking is popular in wisconsin but come on.

a) Beggars can't be choosers. The wood was free from a tree service. I know it is not good quality wood but I am following the advice of others on this site who have said the best way to score wood from tree services is to take the bad with the good and not be picky

b) If one can burn properly seasoned pine, I don't see why you can't burn properly seasoned willow.

c) I don't plan on burning all willow night after night after night. It would be mixed in with the oak, maple and ash that I normally burn

d) The fact that we enjoy our adult beverages here in Wisconsin is one of our endearing qualities. It tends to keep us from behaving as uptight, high-strung New Englanders.

 

[computeruser]

In my limited experience with willow it seemed, to me at least, that willow required substantial airflow to dry. Some other woods will dry all on their own, simply as a function of time, but the willow seemed to want good access to a breeze for best results. Otherwise it seemed like it wanted to try decomposing before it even tried drying out.

 

[turnkey4099]

I see a lot of misinformation on Willow. Almost every post. The Willow I burn, and I heat my house almosts solely with Willow, is Black Willow (I think). Grows big, grows tall.

The facts (not opinion):

Willow burns and heats just fine. It does not 'burn like paper'. I just fed my stove a chunk to warm the house up. Restarted from a chunk I put in there 8 hours ago. Of course I burn more Willow than good hardwood but that stuff just isn't available here (inland PNW). My esstimate is that I burn about 1/3 more Willow than I would Red Fir or Tamarack.

Drying. I stack mine rick to rick with no attempt to optimize air flow. It seasons just fine in one year. My stacks run up to 15 ricks (all stacked tightly together).

It does not ldetiorate any faster than pine, fir or the like once it is split and it does not need to be split 'fine'.

It does not send out shoots except for the occasional chunk. Limb wood seems more prone to that than the others. Not a problem anyhow. I have heard that they will re-root but it has never happened to me the few times I did see shoots on chunks on the ground. I even tried planting Willows in the creek by planting a green limb - no go.

The "Willow is no good" is on the same level as "don't burn pine", i.e., wood snobs. Burn what is available at the lowest cost per BTU is my practice and for me, in my location, that is Willow hands down.

Harry K

 

[olyman]

the willow around here--is junk!!--and i burn lots of soft maple, and cottonwood----so--i aint no snob--i like free also--but the willow you speak of--must be ok--here in ia----ive burnt basswood--now theres a piece of junk also--burns faster than balsa when dry--

 

[luvthetrobag]

the willow around here--is junk!!--and i burn lots of soft maple, and cottonwood----so--i aint no snob--i like free also--but the willow you speak of--must be ok--here in ia----ive burnt basswood--now theres a piece of junk also--burns faster than balsa when dry--

I live in pa and i would never give somebody willow or pine. People who take wood from me have to take popular once in a while but thats about the worst they get. On jobs with junk wood like pine and willow i tack on a dump fee for willow ect. That stuff is not worth your time and energy to proccess it. Call around and be reasonable but explain you dont want willow or anything else thats garbage. Call there bluff and chances are youll still be getting would from them. I personally wish i could give every scrap of firewood away that i get from tree jobs. There isnt much money in it any way. I had a guy once offer to pay my fuel cost for driving to his house with free wood. I said sure that would be nice. so he gives me ten bucks to bring it to him. Now i make sure he gets some good stuff. A gesture like that made me really like the guy and now i do treework for him. Really its a win win for the both of us.

 

[hornett22]

i like your attitude.

a) Beggars can't be choosers. The wood was free from a tree service. I know it is not good quality wood but I am following the advice of others on this site who have said the best way to score wood from tree services is to take the bad with the good and not be picky

b) If one can burn properly seasoned pine, I don't see why you can't burn properly seasoned willow.

c) I don't plan on burning all willow night after night after night. It would be mixed in with the oak, maple and ash that I normally burn

d) The fact that we enjoy our adult beverages here in Wisconsin is one of our endearing qualities. It tends to keep us from behaving as uptight, high-strung New Englanders.

i'm actually from michigan and wisconsin is cool except for madison (liberals).i have tried burning a couple kinds of willow and it all seems useless.kind of like space filling wood.i'd take it to the landfill.i cannot get any heat out of it.the good thing about it is,when dry,it weighs nothing.you can impress the neighbors by walking around your yard with big logs on your shoulders.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

I see a lot of misinformation on Willow. Almost every post. The Willow I burn, and I heat my house almosts solely with Willow, is Black Willow (I think). Grows big, grows tall.

The facts (not opinion):

Willow burns and heats just fine. It does not 'burn like paper'. I just fed my stove a chunk to warm the house up. Restarted from a chunk I put in there 8 hours ago. Of course I burn more Willow than good hardwood but that stuff just isn't available here (inland PNW). My esstimate is that I burn about 1/3 more Willow than I would Red Fir or Tamarack.

Drying. I stack mine rick to rick with no attempt to optimize air flow. It seasons just fine in one year. My stacks run up to 15 ricks (all stacked tightly together).

It does not ldetiorate any faster than pine, fir or the like once it is split and it does not need to be split 'fine'.

It does not send out shoots except for the occasional chunk. Limb wood seems more prone to that than the others. Not a problem anyhow. I have heard that they will re-root but it has never happened to me the few times I did see shoots on chunks on the ground. I even tried planting Willows in the creek by planting a green limb - no go.

The "Willow is no good" is on the same level as "don't burn pine", i.e., wood snobs. Burn what is available at the lowest cost per BTU is my practice and for me, in my location, that is Willow hands down.

Harry K

I've tried some Willow here in Pa., and I found that some of it isn't too bad-I believe that the Black Willow that you speak of is the one that I remember being kind of decent. But other kinds of Willow don't seem to be real good, especially here in PA. where it is very, very easy to turn up your nose at Willow, Poplar, Pine, etc. because we are "spoiled" (fortunate) to have many choices of hardwoods to take instead of them. You're making the best out of your situation there, Harry, by using what you have and I guess that like you say Willow is better than the other softwoods that are your other choices. Do you ever get your hands on any of the better burning hardwoods? I sure wish that I could send some out your way as you seem like a good guy!

 

[turnkey4099]

I've tried some Willow here in Pa., and I found that some of it isn't too bad-I believe that the Black Willow that you speak of is the one that I remember being kind of decent. But other kinds of Willow don't seem to be real good, especially here in PA. where it is very, very easy to turn up your nose at Willow, Poplar, Pine, etc. because we are "spoiled" (fortunate) to have many choices of hardwoods to take instead of them. You're making the best out of your situation there, Harry, by using what you have and I guess that like you say Willow is better than the other softwoods that are your other choices. Do you ever get your hands on any of the better burning hardwoods? I sure wish that I could send some out your way as you seem like a good guy!

Yeah. There are a lot of diffeent types of any tree. To say Willow is bad, or Willow is good, one really needs to limit to one type. I have done some that I call "scrub willow", doesn't grow very big, usually right on or in water, isn't worth much even as bonfire wood.

Occasionally get a shot at some take downs in towns, oak, some red maple, ash. Few and far between as everybody else is also chasing them. Just used the last of an ash last winter in the really cold spell. About the only way is to have an "in" with a tree service.

I am eyeballing an old, abandoned homestead that has ancient, mature black locusts, My chainsawss get a woody everytime I drive by it.

Harry K