Burning Walnut shells, anyone try this?

[staplebox]

Anyone here burn Black Walnuts? Is it worth collecting and staining yourself? I harvested some to try eating a few years ago and it was definitely not worth it.

 

[thebeatlesrgood]

you guys are just catching onto nuts. i have a dealer in northern mass, cut/split/delivered $200 a cord.
if you must split yourself, martha stewart makes some nice tools

 

[branchburner]

Anyone here burn Black Walnuts? Is it worth collecting and staining yourself? I harvested some to try eating a few years ago and it was definitely not worth it.

The ones I burned last night I had harvested two years ago with the intention of eating. Guessing they were now bad, they made great fuel, but if I figured time and effort, no way is it worthwhile. I'd put the price as equal to about $1000 a cord.

Pine cones, I figure the same, but I have to clean the yard anyway, so in the stove they go (just the open, dry ones). I'd love to find an easy way to turn all my dead leaves into stove fuel!

I guess I'll stick to gathering dead twigs and branches - got a 100-year supply of those.

 

[moondoggy]

umm, you gotta figure, squirrels eat nuts, maybe i have a new use for road kill. lotta good btu's in those grey compressed nut slabs.

 

[smokingolf]

How will I make it through the winter guys?

 

[karri0n]

Make sure they are kiln dried. Their moisture content is around 70% and trying to season them open air can attract predators as well as vultures.

 

[tryin.not.to.burn.the.house.down]

I tossed in a small load of about 60 whole black walnuts (2 years old) last night on top of a good bed of coals. They cranked... still pretty solid after nearly an hour, lots of heat - looked like a pile of charcoal briquets. The fat in them may have gone rancid, but the BTUs were sure there.

We just moved in our home in June. We have 3 black walnut trees in our yard......picked up literally 10 wheelbarrows full. Squirles must come from miles for them because they too are everywhere. I never considered them as a fuel source. Wouldn't they cause some bulid up in the pipe? How was the smell when they were burning? By the way, has anyone burned a squirel? How is their heat output? Smell?

 

[Cearbhaill]

By the way, has anyone burned a squirel? How is their heat output? Smell?

I fried many a squirrel back in husband #1 days.
Tastes like chicken.

 

[branchburner]

I tossed in a small load of about 60 whole black walnuts (2 years old) last night on top of a good bed of coals. They cranked... still pretty solid after nearly an hour, lots of heat - looked like a pile of charcoal briquets. The fat in them may have gone rancid, but the BTUs were sure there.

We just moved in our home in June. We have 3 black walnut trees in our yard......picked up literally 10 wheelbarrows full. Squirles must come from miles for them because they too are everywhere. I never considered them as a fuel source. Wouldn't they cause some bulid up in the pipe? How was the smell when they were burning? By the way, has anyone burned a squirel? How is their heat output? Smell?

The trouble is removing the outer shell, a real mess. Then you'd need to season them, maybe a year (?), but in a spot where nothing will feed on them. Mine were originally going to be eaten by humans but they just sat around for two years (the humans and the nuts). I would not burn them as a habit - too much work. Noticed a bit of smell, nothing too pungent.
I'm talking walnuts here, not squirrels (or humans).

 

[karri0n]

Outer shell on the squirrel is easy, once you get a good rhythm.

 

[deadon]

Nut shells are a great fire starter in a stove. At camp there is always a pile of shells from setting around eating nuts and drinking beer. I would be careful at putting a whole walnut or any whole nut in the stove. Moisture inside the shell could act like a giant popcorn and explode. Boy that might be exciting during deer camp. Can place bets on how long until it goes bang.