got a friend who has bunch of 2x4s not pressure treated can he burn them

mix them in like 4 splits to one 2/4 and you should be fine Load up a stove and walk away hopefully its only the stove that gets damaged and not the house


Stoves are designed to burn cord wood not kilm dried construction lumber mixed in probably ok 3 pieces to startup a fire ok loading the entire firebox forumular for trouble.

Actually, we burnt then for a couple of years without problems (wife used to work for a lumber co).
2X4', 2X6's, and 2X8's, all about 12"long, wood room was clean, no bark or dirt.
I found that you had to stack a few on top of one another to form a larger "split", and have a few of these little stacks fairly close together. If you keep the fuel load fairly tightly packed together, and not too much at a time it works okay.

Keep an eye on the chimney though, it gets dirty quicker!

I am currently burning a lot of 2x3 lumber. I find that if they are loaded tight against one another, alternating directions with each level, I can load a few rows tall and the temps stay in check. BUT, if you leave air space in between, watch out. They make a lot of heat in a hurry. You definately want to be around when doing it to avoid overfiring.

Burn 2 by 4's, its immoral. Them puppies are like bed rail and , well, 2 by 4's you use em for everything and all but the shorts will come in handy. I use all all but the small stuff any more since each became a tad expensive in recent years. Hell I even use rough cut for most things anymore. Lets me promote the local saw mill guy and due to our cash and carry arrangement I get an 8% discount without having to contribute to the Evil Empire ( state) tax scheme. It's all good like that, just the way it ought to be.

Jimbob said:

Actually, we burnt then for a couple of years without problems (wife used to work for a lumber co).
2X4', 2X6's, and 2X8's, all about 12"long, wood room was clean, no bark or dirt.
I found that you had to stack a few on top of one another to form a larger "split", and have a few of these little stacks fairly close together. If you keep the fuel load fairly tightly packed together, and not too much at a time it works okay.

Keep an eye on the chimney though, it gets dirty quicker!

Click to expand...

How can a chimney get dirty when it's burning kiln-dried lumber that burns much faster and hotter than most wood fires? Are there "additives" in the wood that cause this?

I have always burned 2x4s mixed in with my cordwood,but never,never by themselves. They burn way to hot. Of my 4 woodshedswe keep one dedicated for the 2x4s, and I discovered (the hard way) not to stack this wood "it won`t dry". So I just throw it in there in piles(the quantity is minimized somewhat but it air drys much better). Happy heating...

castiron said:

Jimbob said:

Actually, we burnt then for a couple of years without problems (wife used to work for a lumber co).
2X4', 2X6's, and 2X8's, all about 12"long, wood room was clean, no bark or dirt.
I found that you had to stack a few on top of one another to form a larger "split", and have a few of these little stacks fairly close together. If you keep the fuel load fairly tightly packed together, and not too much at a time it works okay.

Keep an eye on the chimney though, it gets dirty quicker!

Click to expand...

How can a chimney get dirty when it's burning kiln-dried lumber that burns much faster and hotter than most wood fires? Are there "additives" in the wood that cause this?

Click to expand...

Because you have to reduce the air quite a bit, to keep it from overfiring. :coolsmile:
I don't think there are any additives, just that the pieces are smaller. 4X4's and 6X6's would have been ideal.

All I burned last year was pallets and skids ( 2x4, 4x4 2x6), I had no cord wood. Just be sure not to over load the stove and you will be fine. I got a good coal bed going from the smaller dimensional lumber than added the 4x4's, heated me up real nice just do not over load!!