Should I remove bark before burning?

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seabert

seabert

Member
Oct 25, 2013
103
Long Island
I have mostly Oak and Maple in my wood stack. I like to process my wood by hand. I am curious how many folks remove all the bark before burning and is it a good idea?
 
If bark is loose, I pop it off and it becomes mulch surrounding the wood racks. If firmly attached, it burns. Loose bark can harbor moisture underneath - better if bare log has a day in rack beside stove to surface dry.
 
If the bark falls off during splitting, it goes into the compost pile, if not, it burns.
 
I do the same, if it it loose when I load it up to bring it in I take it off, if not it burns. I have some dry Elm that most of the bark is coming off of so I have quite a lot of bark piled up around that rack of Elm.
 
Unless it falls off on it's own it burns in the stove.......
 
If it's attached its definitely getting burned. Can't imagine the amount of time it would take to remove all the bark. Curious, why do you think it would be best to remove the bark?
 
I find that barkless splits dry faster especially when top-covered. Still, way too much work to remove it all. When it falls off by itself during splitting, fine with me. Makes great mulch.
I also have the feeling that bark makes more ash in the stove but I still burn the wood with bark on. Having to scoop a bit more ash out is not that bothersome to me.
 
Grisu said:
I also have the feeling that bark makes more ash in the stove but I still burn the wood with bark on. Having to scoop a bit more ash out is not that bothersome to me.
Click to expand...


Funny you mention that about the ash. I am under the same impression as well.
 
If the bark falls off ... I glue it back on.

Yes .. I jest ... if it falls off I leave the bark on the ground around the stacks for weed control ...otherwise I burn it as I find it. Life is too short to worry about removing bark.
 
I burn the bark. Some pieces of doug fir bark can be 3" thick! Burning bark will create more clinkers. It's higher in silicas.
 
If it falls off, it's ground cover. If it sticks, it's fuel.
 
My bark is worse than my burn.
 
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