What is campfire/bonfire/cookout/outdoor wood

Generally campfire wood is "junk" wood - pine and misc small stuff. However, anything you can burn in a fire pit will burn just as well in your insert.

Well, you can burn pretty much any well cured, dry species of wood in your insert or stove. I call lower BTU stuff like sycamore and tulip poplar campfire or bonfire wood. When good and dry, both burn cleanly without a lot of smoke, an important consideration when choosing campfire fodder.

Opinions vary ~ some folks use shorts and uglies for outdoor burning, no matter the species. I prefer to save hotter burning wood for heating my home, not the great outdoors.

I like kabobs done over maple. Maple is very good cookout and campfire wood.

I am still coming up with a good way to deal with uglies - splits with a lot of twist in them are hard to stack, splits with enough sap on them I don't want them in my stove, etc.

So far I am drying them and giving them to my church's youth pastor for youth group bonfires.

I don't know anyone who likes the taste of food cooked over trees that had needles and cones when alive.

Ignore it... Its something that folks who believe all the old legends (pine will blow up your house, green wood burns longer) post on craigslist.

Around here any ad for Pine is listed as camp wood because people really believe the silly old notion that it causes chimney fires. Its a great way for those of us who know better to get a lot more wood dirt cheap or free.

newburner said:

Thanks for the replies. Here is a pic from an ad that shows what they consider "outdoor" wood. This is typical of the wood I'm seeing in this category. Some "bonfire" wood that is being offered for free, also looks like this.

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All I see in that picture is some serious HEAT for my home.

ac

I would be all over that. Not for this year but for next fall. Great shoulder season wood.

Outdoor wood for me is usually junk wood, scraps etc. I also burn pine and cedar outdoors, cedar makes the whole neighborhood smell great.
If I'm cooking, I have cherry.....
I have scrounged enough to allow me to be picky with what I burn and where I burn it....

It usually means one of two things. If they burn wood for heat, it will probably mean it's lesser btu woods like poplar and pine. But if they're not a wood burner, it might mean that they just have a small amount, probably from some tree trimming they did/had done.

poplar, box ,cotton, willow, various conifers I consider as outdoor stuff. I burn a little of it during shoulder season but really do not want to put a ton of time into splitting and stacking and space for it when higher or better quality material is available.

Campfire wood for me = pine, cedar, short chunks, or some fairly large pieces that I can't quite get split. Any of these are ok for the stove but they get burned outside first. What's left I burn inside in the fall. This saves my best seasoned hardwood for the colder weather. If I were you I would jump on any of those ads that I could.

red oak said:

Campfire wood for me = pine, cedar, short chunks, or some fairly large pieces that I can't quite get split. Any of these are ok for the stove but they get burned outside first. What's left I burn inside in the fall. This saves my best seasoned hardwood for the colder weather. If I were you I would jump on any of those ads that I could.

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Yes jump on any and all and then figure it out later, it is easier when your ahead like me and my friend Dennis....

I wouldn't give the posters on Craig's List too much credit as wood experts. Some probably think pine shouldn't be burned indoors. Some might think that labeling the wood "campfire wood' in the summer is a better way to sell wood because in the summer nobody uses their wood stove. Some just have no idea what they have or what type of wood should be burned in a stove.

On this forum campfire wood usually means low quality wood that isn't prime wood stove fuel. If wood is seasoned then it can be burned in your woodstove, but some of the guys here who have 50 cords of dry oak in the backyard don't want to bother burning willow or poplar in the stove, so they use willow and poplar for campfires.

For me, campfire wood includes willow, anything punky, and pieces of any wood that are too twisted to stack.

If it doesn't have lead on it and it isn't poison ivy....it goes in my stove. The chunks, uglies, and twisties go on top of the stack and get burnt first during shoulder season.

For me it is any wood that is difficult to split or ends up and odd length or shape. Basically, I burn the strange outdoors.

Pine has its place. Mix it with higher quality woods. Use it for shoulder seasons etc... Just remember the same effort you put into processing pine gives you 25-50% less btu's than medium to high quality hardwoods.

newburner said:

I picked up this load of free pine. All of this has been cut for over a year. All I need to do is split!

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Good haul. If you split in the next few months, it will be primo next Oct.

campfire/bonfire wood around here usually means pine/poplar or small $5 bundles usually a few splits more than the bundles at the grocery store.

I like dry white pine to get the heat back up in the stove first thing in the morning. Nice and dry, a few hot leftover coals, some maybe smaller splits, a blast of air = raging inferno.