Experiences with burning old wood

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dave11

Minister of Fire
May 25, 2008
633
Western PA
I recently broke apart the large maple round I had been using as a splitting block. It was 18 inches in length, about 20 inches in diameter, and had been bucked nearly four years ago. It had sat in an open air shed protected from rain all along, and had lost all its bark after the first year. It broke apart easily into nice-sized splits that were whitish-yellow and very light to pick up. For kicks I checked them with the moisture meter and they read 8-10%. I was worried about them burning too fast so I mixed them with two-year old oak and poplar, but surprisingly, the maple burned less actively than the oak or poplar. It did burn, but not as well as the other stuff.

I've also noticed that much of the old lumber I've removed from my house--mainly douglas fir and pine--doesn't burn very actively either, at least not in my stove. This is 60 year-old kiln-dried wood.

So it makes me wonder again whether there's any truth to the idea that wood can age past the point of its ideal burning. I'm not saying that wood can get "too dry," or even get "too old to burn," but whether it can get past its "prime time" to burn.

I'm pretty sure there are studies showing how wood weakens structurally over the years. I'll look for them again. But it may be part of the same process.

If its true, it might be a reason to consider how far ahead folks should be getting with their woodpiles. Just wanted to see what other ideas people have about it.
 
Other than some stuff that was in a closed up shed with no ventilation, I haven't experienced anything that was too old to burn. We have a couple cord of 10 year old sugar maple that we save for the cook stove and when we really need some heat. Seems to burn just as well as any of the 3 to 4 year old stuff.

Now, if it was punky to start or left somewhere damp with no ventilation, that is different as it turns into paper and burns like it too.
 
Does the wood produce heat? I ask beacuse wood contains volatile compounds, mostly terpintines, that produce a brilliant flame. With older, dryer wood these volatile compounds may have dried out of the wood leaving the celluous behind. The wood should burn just as hot as any maple but wouldn't produce that nice flame you want.
 
Never had a problem with old wood not burning as active as anything else.
 
k9brain said:
Does the wood produce heat? I ask beacuse wood contains volatile compounds, mostly terpintines, that produce a brilliant flame. With older, dryer wood these volatile compounds may have dried out of the wood leaving the celluous behind. The wood should burn just as hot as any maple but wouldn't produce that nice flame you want.
Click to expand...

It's hard to tell, because I mix it with other wood. It tends to lag behind the newer wood, at least in my stove which is very picky about what it will burn. It burns fully, but "quietly," not roaring in flames like the newer wood does.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Check this:

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Different experiences will vary, maybe based on the type of wood, the type of stove, and what conditions the wood was stored/aged under. But there's no denying in my experience that my 4+ year old bone dry maple is not burning as well as my two year old oak and poplar.

I've also noticed that the scraps of pine (kiln dried within the past year, left over from woodworking) I toss in the stove burn much more actively than the 60+ year old pine and fir scraps I've been removing from the house. There's no sign that the old lumber was ever treated with anything either, which would have been very odd at the time.

It was on the woodheat.org site that the idea of firewood "getting old" was raised. Not sure if it is still on there.

I guess unless someone studies it in a lab somewhere, we'll never know for sure.
 
Sometimes I burn barn beams that have been out of the rain for 100+ years. Except for the parts that got wet, they still smell like whatever species they are.

When you drill through 100+ year old pine, even in a hot attic, the shavings still have a pleasant pine smell, so I doubt that split firewood out of the sun and rain would lose any significant heating value in a few years, but then I just throw it all in there and let it burn.
 
When my father died he had had a stack of cherry unused for 15 years.
We burned it just so it wouldn't sit another 15 years until mom dies.
Didn't burn any different than anything else.
A couple pieces ( on the end getting wet in the rain) were punky, but we didn't burn those.
 
I'm dismantling the mobile home on my lot next door that an oak tree decided to fall on. The mobile home is an early 70s model, so at least 35 years old. It has a lot of 2x2s in it I've been cutting up. Smells like fresh pine when cut and burns well-a little too well actually.
 
I had the pleasure of getting my paws on some western maple that had been cut 6-7 years earlier by a little old man. The guy was my uncles neighbor and when he passed away my uncle told me to come and get the whole works... that stuff flat out burned.
 
Last year I replaced a 6 ft section of sill that had rotted years ago from water ifiltration and woodbborer damage. The sill is 6x6 oak. The few solid remnants of that section that were left I tossed on the woodpile.

That 215 year old oak burned just fine...
 
dave11 said:
Backwoods Savage said:
Check this:

Thread
Click to expand...

Different experiences will vary, maybe based on the type of wood, the type of stove, and what conditions the wood was stored/aged under. But there's no denying in my experience that my 4+ year old bone dry maple is not burning as well as my two year old oak and poplar.

I've also noticed that the scraps of pine (kiln dried within the past year, left over from woodworking) I toss in the stove burn much more actively than the 60+ year old pine and fir scraps I've been removing from the house. There's no sign that the old lumber was ever treated with anything either, which would have been very odd at the time.

It was on the woodheat.org site that the idea of firewood "getting old" was raised. Not sure if it is still on there.

I guess unless someone studies it in a lab somewhere, we'll never know for sure.
Click to expand...

Wow! Totally different than our experiences. I do not need a lab. We have one already set up in our house and in the woods. Time has not seemed to change very many things about wood burning.
 
I did some remodeling on a old cottage built in the forty's. Old growth fir i cut up some studs to burn in fireplace to warm up. That strait grained fir burned so hot i damaged the firebox beyond repair oops I agree as long as wood is kept dry it is fine to burn.
 
dave, I've seen the same thing in several instances. Most recent was a couple years ago, I demolished a porch built in 1930, it had numerous pine vigas and support beams. It wasn't rotten at all. While it burned "ok", it didn't produce as much heat as newer seasoned pine.
 
Here in CNY, the graveyard of the clouds, I never bought into that wood past it's prime theory. But I suppose in an arid environment it could happen.

A few years ago I decided to clear out the wood shed for other things and the stored wood burned perfectly. Now this properly dried wood was stored in a completely enclosed unheated attached room. The wife, who like forever handled all cut and split wood for the stove kept it as an untouched reserve emergency wood stockpile. So it aged for 10 or 20 years...she never touched it.

A dry rotted wood or punky wood is bad wood yes...but it still burns well as a shoulder season wood. But that should NEVER happen with properly stored firewood.
 
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