Advice needed for douglas fir

[roberth42]

Hi everyone,
Need your advice with some free wood I was able to scrounge. I know it's soft wood but thought it would be good for the shoulder season which is about to begin.
This wood was used to support some large equipment during transportation and then was being sent to the dump so I went with my saw and cut it up.
My main question is should I leave them as square blocks or should I split them into smaller pieces? I haven't tried to burn it yet in my stove so I have no idea how it will burn. From what I have read this stuff burns fast and hot so I'm worried about the large pieces over firing my stove.
Thanks for your help!!

 

[weezer4117]

No reason to "split" them. Cut them into blocks and enjoy!

 

[madrone]

Douglas Fir doesn't burn as fast as other conifers, but faster than dense hardwoods, for sure. Any dimensional lumber will also burn faster than cord wood. I'd leave them as is. Doug is one of my favorite firewoods. Higher heat output than many "hardwoods", but longer burn times than most softwoods. Good stuff. You'll like it.

 

[Hass]

x2 on the leave it as it is.
I have about a cord of mixed doug fir/pines to burn this year from pallets... with much more to come.
From all I can gather it burns very nicely.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

What size are those bigger blocks? will they fit in the stove?

 

[MrWhoopee]

Here in the mountains of northern California, doug fir is second only to oak of the available choices. I like to leave mine in the largest chunks possible, giving a long overnight burn. No pitch, good solid, dense wood. Seems a shame to burn those timbers, though.

Craig

 

[pdxdave]

I've got a big block of douglas just like that heating my house right now.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Yep, put as big a chunks as you can in your stove for longer burns. The smaller the splits you make the faster and hotter it will burn. Just make sure you adjust your draft accordingly so you don't get an overfire once it gets going.
No need to save it just for shoulder season, I can get overnight burns with douglas fir in my stove anytime of the year.

 

[blacktail]

Of the wood readily available in the PNW, Doug Fir is probably the most sought after for heat.

 

[roberth42]

What size are those bigger blocks? will they fit in the stove?

The biggest ones are 7.5" square and I have cut them to about 17" long.

This is great! With all the responses I'm feeling pretty good about leaving them whole and using them in the stove.
Thanks Hearth.com

 

[DBoon]

Some of the worst advice I ever received was to take the Douglas Fir rounds to the dump from a tree I felled in my backyard - I ignored the advice. It is good, hard, dense "softwood", similar to black cherry, I think, in burn time and heat output. It seems to coal pretty well also. If you can fit three or four of the big blocks in your stove, I wouldn't split it further. You'll get a pretty good long burn with chunks that big.

 

[Battenkiller]

I wouldn't use that stuff. They test EPA stoves with doug fir and I don't have an EPA stove. ;-P

Leave it as big as will fit in the stove, it will burn longer and cleaner that way. Never had enough of it on hand to give a long-term opinion, but I had a couple scrap DF doors (very dense stuff in these) I burned in the stove last year and I'd have to agree it burns as good as cherry... which is one of my favorite woods. Way better than pine IMHO.

 

[shawneyboy]

EZ..... burn it, mix it in with other stuff and get those BTUs.

Shawn

 

[PNWBurner]

I'd leave it big but doug fir splits very easily and nicely so it makes good kindling too.

 

[Duetech]

Overburning the stove is less likely to happen with concerned & cautious damper/draft setting. Too big a draft will over fire any good stove with just about any wood supply.

 

[pdxdave]

Of the wood readily available in the PNW, Doug Fir is probably the most sought after for heat.

It's not exactly 'sought' after very hard, these things are beyond abundance at least here in the Puget Sound. I've literally got mole hills at the edge of my driveway sprouting Douglas Firs.

 

[blacktail]

Are douglas firs abundant? Yes. Are they available everywhere to cut for firewood? No. I'll take fir if given a choice, but my property is mostly alder and maple. My friends' properties where I can get firewood are mostly alder and hemlock. Get a USFS or DNR wood permit and you cut what's near the road. My dad will get fir if he can, but the three truckloads he just cut on a USFS permit contained very little of it.

 

[pdxdave]

Are douglas firs abundant? Yes. Are they available everywhere to cut for firewood? No. I'll take fir if given a choice, but my property is mostly alder and maple. My friends' properties where I can get firewood are mostly alder and hemlock. Get a USFS or DNR wood permit and you cut what's near the road. My dad will get fir if he can, but the three truckloads he just cut on a USFS permit contained very little of it.

Yes I hear you, they could be tricky to get. The particular area I live in is replete with them, so that coupled with the fact that my neighbor is tree guy means nearly unlimited access to it.

 

[wazzu]

Man, that is some good firewood in my part of the country!! I would rather deal with that stuff all day than any "hardwood".

 

[dafattkidd]

I love the smell of doug fir when you burn it. I almost wish it was an open fire so I could smell it more. Then I throw some locust in there and the whole smell of doug fir nostalgia turns to crap.

 

[begreen]

I love the smell of doug fir when you burn it. I almost wish it was an open fire so I could smell it more. Then I throw some locust in there and the whole smell of doug fir nostalgia turns to crap.

That will be our winter burning mix this year.

 

[dafattkidd]

I love the smell of doug fir when you burn it. I almost wish it was an open fire so I could smell it more. Then I throw some locust in there and the whole smell of doug fir nostalgia turns to crap.

That will be our winter burning mix this year.

That's a good mix. How long do you let it season, BeGreen? Are you pretty strict on the one year minimum?

 

[begreen]

Yes, normally I would let the fir dry for a year. But we split a lot last year so this year the fir is 2 years old and the locust is 3 yrs old.

 

[dafattkidd]

Yes, normally I would let the fir dry for a year. But we split a lot last year so this year the fir is 2 years old and the locust is 3 yrs old.

whoa momma. That's way better than my stuff. Well the doug fir I burn is from 2X material, but the locust is usually less than a year seasoned. This year I have about two years worth so next years wood should be better than this year's stuff. This year's wood ranges from 1 year-8 months seasoned. The doug fir helps when I mix it with the less seasoned wood.

 

[begreen]

The doug fir we will be burning came from a tree that was a baby when this country was being discovered.