How much punk is too much punk?

Yes it dries, yes it burns (QUICKLY). The punk will be noticeably lighter and lower in density: you are losing some heating ability with the punk. As for judgment to process or not: it does get messy and shed in the house etc the more punky it gets. If these are 18-20" rounds, a 3-4" pith isn't that big of a deal, grand scheme of things. 9-12"...probably a no go (for me).

For scrounge wood it depends on how good the wood is in the first place. If it's Poplar and it's punky at all forget it. If it's Maple some Soft is ok. I was given 5 cord of Hickory that was going to rot that had some punk in it and I kept anything that had any good wood at all. Some of it I passed on but I took most of the pile.

If its 1/3 or less I would definitely use it

1750 said:

Yes, this is a pretty big ash. The rounds are about 20 inches in diameter. It's good to know that it will dry out. I might just split around the punk and toss that part into the fire pit pile.

Thanks!

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I should have caught that it was Ash... You will be AOK and it should burn lovely! On a old long standing tree it's called the dead wood part of the tree and the outer part is the sap wood. I've cut up old Black Ash that were 190 years old where the trunk was hollow but the tree lived until a storm took it down... Some punk but lots of good Ash to burn!

Punk is very common in birches. I throw it on the seasoning rack with everything else, but burn it early in the shoulders.

Not a lot of heat value in it, but some. Also, be aware it will take up a lot of water very quickly if allowed to get wet.

Keep it top covered away from the rain and snow

I run my chainsaw down sides of the punky part so the cuts meet in the center and the wedge pops out... cuts super quick through the rotten part.

1750 said:

Yes, this is a pretty big ash. The rounds are about 20 inches in diameter. It's good to know that it will dry out. I might just split around the punk and toss that part into the fire pit pile.

Thanks!

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I dropped a standing dead oak that had that much punk on it. I shaved it all off down to the good wood with a machetti.

Dry punk burns fine, but if it's not covered it's just a sponge. It will soak up rain and continue rotting. So if you're going to leave the punk you need to protect it from getting wet.

Keep it covered never pass on ash . It's a dying breed and good fire wood

I find for me punked wood leaves lots of ash, burns cooler, and isn't worth the time. I try to stay away if possible.

I'll take punky oak anytime. Even half way around still when dry burns great.

Just got done burning a load of dried punky stuff. It burned fine, just not as long. I mainly used it to get the family room back up to temp.

Paulywalnut said:

I'll take punky oak anytime. Even half way around still when dry burns great.

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Good to know cause I started processing a Red Oak that had been laying on the ground for quite sometime. The last block I cut off measured right at 24" Some of the top had some punk in it and some here and there. Once I got down halfway to the bottom there was no punk. Just solid Red Oak The bark was all falling off to as I was sawing it up, extra plus to me. Let that mess stay down in the woods instead of falling off in my living room.

I'll burn anything that fits in the wood boiler. A couple of years ago my oldest son was tasked with yard cleanup during his summer vacation. He had 100% responsibility for collecting any and all downed branches, old firewood, rotten logs, and junk. Also responsible for feeding the wood boiler (we heat DHW with wood all year long). He fed that thing with some firewood that had been in a pile since we cleared the land for the house ten years ago. I told him that if it looked more like wood than compost, burn it. I don't think there was a solid, non-punky piece of wood placed in that boiler all summer long. Free heat from organic material - that's my plan. Punky wood is just wood to me.

Poindexter said:

Punk is very common in birches. I throw it on the seasoning rack with everything else, but burn it early in the shoulders.

Not a lot of heat value in it, but some. Also, be aware it will take up a lot of water very quickly if allowed to get wet.

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I have many Birch falling from Bronze Birch Borers after a drought. Most I've left to rot in the woods since I have other wood scrounge. I love to collect the bark for fire starters!

Except for oak, more than 50% I'll just leave it on the ground n the woods to finish decomposing.
Oak I'll make some effort to slice off any bad parts in the splitter.
I top cover so the punk doesn't collect water and freeze in the Winter.
Sometimes the punky parts also have carpenter ant galleries.
I don't believe I've ever had carpenter ants find my c/s/s wood attractive for a home but there can be some hanger -ons not leaving their little homes . 99.9% of the time by the time I'm bringing oak in to the wood stove any splits with galleries in them are empty. Dry stacks are a rather hostile environment for them.

I don't mind a little punk. Everything on our property is oak. A band of a couple of inches on otherwise good oak is no problem. I rarely bother to trim the punk off. Dry punk acts like built in firestarter!
But it can surely soak up water like a sponge so keep it dry.