Burning Bark

[Wingman]

So, while stacking some of my pignut hickory that has been split and piled for a few months, a lot of the bark is already falling off. Most of my bark that's fallen off in the past would get burned outside, but after pitching this to the side and being amazed with the weight, I thought why waste it outside. So, how long do you think it takes for bark to season? Are the BTU's worth it?

 

[blades]

Bark leaves a lot of ash, pretty low btu content as well. I run it through the chipper and use as mulch.

 

[BobUrban]

if it makes it into the house it gets burned - otherwise fire pit or mulch for mine.

 

[TimJ]

pignut bark is very thick and solid...........if any bark could or would be burned it would be pignut
It is useful for startups

 

[Beer Belly]

When splitting, I save some of the bark for start ups. I've been using small Pine splits as kindling, but my Wife likes to burn a lot of it before she throws on a regular wood for the fire, so the bark gets used also to try and save some of that Pine.....believe me, she goes thru a lot of it

 

[foamit up]

I put all bark and saw dust from processing in old pellet bags. Stack them, tarp them for two years. Then they are ready to burn. Have stove going with good coals and dump in the bag. Close the door and watch the temperature climb. I like to burn them when i want to heat the storage tank.

 

[firefighterjake]

If the bark falls off while moving it from my seasoning stack to the woodshed I just toss it down near the stacks . . . I figure I'm helping to fertilize the soil . . . and keeping the weeds/grass down. The only exception to this "rule" is white birch . . . I tend to keep them as birch bark makes great fire starters.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

Same here, if it falls off before it makes it to the stove it stays outside. I'll send it to the firepit or it will make the compost heap.

 

[Craig S.]

if it makes it into the house it gets burned - otherwise fire pit or mulch for mine.

Same here.

 

[Applesister]

I save slivers and processing scraps, and use all that for startups. It saves me money not having to buy commercial firestarters.
I would think some bark could burn right out of the box being that its made up of cork cells. I keep my scraps in bushel baskets and grain bags and store them in a shed. I also collect pine cones.
I just cut a huge pignut but the bark is as tight as the skin on a hotdog. But I especially save Shagbark. Shagbark peels off when its split.

 

[MrWhoopee]

I use doug fir bark, which can be very thick, for barbeques. Makes very hot coals and leaves very little ash.


It's all BTUs, and you have to do something with it.

 

[woodsman416]

I keep bark in my ash pail next to my wood box. In the morning I stir the coals, throw on some bark and toss a few small splits on top. By the time I finish my coffee I have a nice fire going again.

Shagbark I save and make syurp with it.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I've known a few people who burned bark and all of them found it was more bother than it was worth. We tend to have lots of bark falling off because we are cutting so much dead wood. Most of the bark just gets left where it falls but sometimes we will use some to put in some of our walking paths in the woods.

 

[lobsta1]

My Quad 4100 insert is not the easiest to get going. The problem is trying to get flammables ignited on top of the stacked wood. The airflow is such that the heat & flames tend to go straight up instead of curling to the back of the firebox. A few chunks of oak bark usually releases enough volatiles to kick off the secondary burners. I also sometimes use larger pieces to re-direct the air flow to the wood instead of the air flow just rushing by & out the chimney.
Al

 

[PapaDave]

I put some in a box while filling the shed as it falls off splits.
Otherwise, it generally stays where it falls. Dogs love it and turn it into mulch.

 

[ColdNH]

if it falls off before making to the stove it gets used as mulch between my stacks.

 

[red oak]

I use a lot for mulch but also collect a few bins each year for kindling. It dries pretty quick and starts a fire well in my opinion.

 

[Flatbedford]

If it falls off it gets dumped in the woods. If it makes it into the house it is burned. I don't make any effort to collect or store it.

 

[CenterTree]

So, while stacking some of my pignut hickory that has been split and piled for a few months, a lot of the bark is already falling off. Most of my bark that's fallen off in the past would get burned outside, but after pitching this to the side and being amazed with the weight, I thought why waste it outside. So, how long do you think it takes for bark to season? Are the BTU's worth it?

Depends... First you have to split it and then stack it. Then, let it sit, (top covered of course) for a few years.

The final step before burning it is to split a piece and take a reading with your MM. Making sure you get the pins in far enough (with the grain). If the bark is under 20% you should be good to go. If not, wait another year or so.

Good stacking is the key though.

Oak bark will NOT be ready for AT LEAST 3 - 4 years!


Remember,,,, NEVER EVER burn pine bark,,,,too much Creosote.

 

[gyrfalcon]

I get my (kiln-dried to 20) wood c/s/d, which means after I've gotten it stacked in the woodshed, there's a big old mess on the grass (or tarp, if I remember to put one down beforehand) I have to clean up. It occurred to me a couple years ago that as long as I had to scrape it all up and haul it to the far edge of my property to dump in the weeds, it might make more sense to haul it into the house and throw it in the stove. Worked great, so that's what I do. I find it's great in shoulder season to heat the stove up just enough to take the chill out of the room. A nice pile of rock maple and white ash bark burns hot and clean and leaves a ton of soft ash with no charcoaling. I figure why use some of my nice dry splits when I just need a bit of heat and there's btus going to waste from the bark?

I also discovered that raspberry cane roots are great to burn in the same circumstances. Same deal-- I needed to cut back my raspberry patch significantly, so dug a bunch of roots up early one spring, was glaring at them after they'd been lying around for a while and decided as long as I have to pick them up and dispose of them somewhere, I might as well dispose of them in the stove and get a bit of heat out of them. They're even better than bark in the fire, but.... a lot more work to come by, so I'm not planning on "harvesting" raspberry roots to heat my home any time soon.

If you're doing your own cutting up in the woods, no, it makes no sense to collect the bark for burning. But if it's got to be cleaned up and taken somewhere else, take it in to burn, I say.

 

[Sprinter]

I use doug fir bark, which can be very thick, for barbeques. Makes very hot coals and leaves very little ash.
View attachment 119544

It's all BTUs, and you have to do something with it.

Douglas fir bark is very resinous and has a BTU/pound rating of nearly 10,000 which is actually more than the wood's rating of up to 9000. I'm not sure of the density, but it seems about as heavy as the wood, so it's BTU/cord would be pretty high as well. It can get really thick on big trees, so it's nice that it's not wasted space.

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rn480.pdf

 

[tsquini]

Bark gets tossed into the same place I put my leaves and all other undesirable yard waste.