Any smoke value in dry rotted wood for a cat stove? Prompted from the "can I burn rotten wood" threa

[WoodpileOCD]

I've been meaning to ask this and the rotten wood thread got me thinking again. I'm new to the world of cat stoves but I know that the cats run on smoke. Would dry, structurally ok but dry rotted wood be of any value purely as a smoke generator. I have probably half a cord of willow oak that I cut into rounds a couple of years ago and instead of splitting and stacking them right away, I stacked them in a pile on the ground. The next year, I went to split them and they had fungus rot all the way through them, even to the third tier which was 3 feet off of the ground. Bitterly dissapointed to say the least. Anyone else had this experience with willow oak? I know I would have to mix it with other stuff because by itself, I'm not even sure it would generate enough heat to light off the cat.

Anyway, curious about using it in my cat stove as it's still sitting there and a real eyesore to me everytime I see it.

 

[kgrant]

Why not burn it. It's not going to hurt anything. Stove don't care. Just like a moose don't care whether it's a 308 or a 338. Still kills it. It's wood. Dry it out and burn it. It will make fire.

 

[tcassavaugh]

Why not burn it. It's not going to hurt anything. Stove don't care. Just like a moose don't care whether it's a 308 or a 338. Still kills it. It's wood. Dry it out and burn it. It will make fire.

+1 mix a little of it with some good wood and see what hapens. I burn punky wood along with the good wood. seems to work ok.

cass

 

[Big Al]

Be sure to burn it soon after you bring it in the house though. I've had some wood like that and once the "tennants" woke up from the deep freeze they started exploring.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

The worst thing about punky wood is that it is like a sponge! I keep saying that wood is not a sponge so won't soak up rainfall but once it gets punky, that theory is out the door. It is terrible stuff. Sure, you can burn it (mixing with good wood is best) but for us, I simply throw it on a brush pile if it is punky. It's been a long, long time since we've had anything that get punky though.

As for the willow oak, I'd really be curious to see some as that is another one we do not have in this area. I recall being curious for a long time about live oak and finally got to see some of it about 15 years ago. Fascinating and not like any oaks I had ever saw. It is sort of neat when traveling to see the different trees.

 

[Big Al]

The worst thing about punky wood is that it is like a sponge! I keep saying that wood is not a sponge so won't soak up rainfall but once it gets punky, that theory is out the door. It is terrible stuff. Sure, you can burn it (mixing with good wood is best) but for us, I simply throw it on a brush pile if it is punky. It's been a long, long time since we've had anything that get punky though.

As for the willow oak, I'd really be curious to see some as that is another one we do not have in this area. I recall being curious for a long time about live oak and finally got to see some of it about 15 years ago. Fascinating and not like any oaks I had ever saw. It is sort of neat when traveling to see the different trees.

Live oak are beautiful trees, much different than the red oak we have up here. I see them when I'm in Florida. The branches tend to go out sideways. They look exotic, like something you'd see a leopard sleeping in, in Africa. Btw, for those other yankees who may not know, I believe they are called live oak because they don't lose their leaves.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That sounds right to me. I sort of like them and wish we had some around here.

 

[k9brain]

I was told they're called live oak because there are so many other plants growing on them. Either way, they are majestic trees, nothing around here even compares.

 

[Big Al]

I was told they're called live oak because there are so many other plants growing on them. Either way, they are majestic trees, nothing around here even compares.

Come to think of it they always do seem to have that long, hanging moss on them. Oooops, we may get bumped to the wood shed soon....