burning mill scraps?

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FishKiller

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Jan 25, 2013
96
Been awhile since i last posted, made a few chimney repairs over the summer and have the stove cranking again this season. so here is my question.
I have a friend who owns a tree service business and sells firewood. he usually gives me a couple cords a year to supplement my supply in exchange for a few days work. however, a few years ago he bought the equipment to start milling logs, everything from a computer controlled band saw to a kiln. he's been giving me the "cut offs" for free, like the pieces left behind from the milling process. its all hardwoods, mostly red/white oak and hickory but it has a lot of bark. i don't have any problem with burning the pieces that have a lot of "meat" on them, and after a couple years on the rack i plan on it. my concern is with burning the pieces that are mostly bark, is there any problem with this? (its already bone dry)
 
Burning bark is fine. It may produce a little more ash, but that ain't no thing.
 
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Great! that was my initial thoughts. those mostly bark kindling pieces really take off, maybe higher sugar content in the bark?.
 
I've been burning slabs ( the wood left from squaring a log on the mill ) in my shop wood stove for 13 years. It's easy to split, stack and dry. The slabs burn faster compared to splits for the same btu's, but hey, it's free wood. I keep the splits for the house that way I don't have to tend the fire so often.
 
Most mill small mill owners regard slabs as PITA and if you take it off their hands you are doing them a favor. Large mills sell it for biomass boilers but they have to have a high horsepower chipper to break them down

You will end up with a lot of ash and long burns are harder.
 
I used to get mill scraps from a guy about a mile from my house. He would give me a truckload each year. I would cut them up and have more than enough kindling for a year. It worked pretty good but I don't get them anymore because he decided he wanted to charge me one year.
 
a truckload? i have a tundra and a tandem axle landscape trailer.... 5 loads and i haven't put a dent in what he told me to take. he burns it in his kiln, but not at nearly the rate he makes it. he's even willing to run a few loads of green scrap through the kiln for me if i need wood in a hurry. the dry stuff i have burns real quick and hot, and has good for getting it going. i have been selective in only taking the pieces with 4"-8" of meat on them and turning them into nice splits. it sounds like those thin bark pieces are good too, so i will be going back for me this weekend.
 
About the only warning is that if you stuff a stove with slab wood it might cause a bit too hot of a fire. Better to mix it with other firewood.
 
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