Dimensional Lumber vs. Cord Wood?

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Kankujoe

Member
Jun 8, 2008
20
West Central Missouri
I just scored access to an unlimited supply of 1x4 & 2x4 pine(?) in 4 foot lengths (brought home 2 pallets stacked 4'x4'x4' yesterday. I can get 1 to 2 stacked pallets every few weeks indefinately as this source (industrial box printing company) was paying someone to haul it away. All I have to do is drive my trailer there, they load it with a forklift. The owners are personal friends so its a win-win all around. The wood is dry, clean and no nails (almost too pretty to burn). I run my Skil saw across the stack a few times and its ready for the firebox.

Now my questions...

Do I burn this dimensional wood primarily, mix it with cord wood or burn cord wood primarily?

Should I stack it tightly in my firebox or ramdomly? It burns fast and hot.

Can I add some less than fully seasoned cord wood to a hot fire without trouble?
 
You'll want to be careful, the wood is probably drier than normal firewood. As you've noticed, it wants to take off quickly. Mixing it with semi-seasoned wood may be a good plan. Just keep an eye on the flue and clean regularly. If you run a smaller fire with just this wood, don't stack it in the firebox randomly, try packing it tightly instead to slow down its burn.
 
Kankujoe said:
I just scored access to an unlimited supply of 1x4 & 2x4 pine(?) in 4 foot lengths (brought home 2 pallets stacked 4'x4'x4' yesterday. I can get 1 to 2 stacked pallets every few weeks indefinately as this source (industrial box printing company) was paying someone to haul it away. All I have to do is drive my trailer there, they load it with a forklift. The owners are personal friends so its a win-win all around. The wood is dry, clean and no nails (almost too pretty to burn). I run my Skil saw across the stack a few times and its ready for the firebox.

Now my questions...

Do I burn this dimensional wood primarily, mix it with cord wood or burn cord wood primarily?
Mix it with dry cord wood.

Should I stack it tightly in my firebox or ramdomly? It burns fast and hot.
Either with mixed cordwood with it. I would not put alot of the pine in at a time.

Can I add some less than fully seasoned cord wood to a hot fire without trouble?
No, you will create creosote. Burn dry wood, whether dimensional or cordwood.
 
Kankujoe said:
I just scored access to an unlimited supply of 1x4 & 2x4 pine(?) in 4 foot lengths (brought home 2 pallets stacked 4'x4'x4' yesterday. I can get 1 to 2 stacked pallets every few weeks indefinately as this source (industrial box printing company) was paying someone to haul it away. All I have to do is drive my trailer there, they load it with a forklift. The owners are personal friends so its a win-win all around. The wood is dry, clean and no nails (almost too pretty to burn). I run my Skil saw across the stack a few times and its ready for the firebox.

Now my questions...

Do I burn this dimensional wood primarily, mix it with cord wood or burn cord wood primarily? ***Mix with larger seasoned splits. Small 1-1/2" thick wood is going to burn up pretty quick***

Should I stack it tightly in my firebox or ramdomly? It burns fast and hot. ***even stacked tight, it will burn quick, hard to stack tight
& still leave some air gaps between say 4 stacked tight, But "try it" when you'll be there to monitor the burn & see what happens***

Can I add some less than fully seasoned cord wood to a hot fire without trouble? ***yes you can; But Don't, that's like throwing water in the stove, heat killer & creosote maker***

*** after ? above , my opinion.
I'm guessing pine?? I don't think you'll get very long burn times. Great for morning fires. Mix with good wood sounds best for burning. May have to adjust the inlet air until you get it right.
Stack a 2 wide 6 - 8 tall tight pile in the middle, add some split on the outside, give it a go. Jut try some when you'll be there to watch it first few times. Allot may depend on how your stove burns it.

With an endless supply, stack some on end & glue together on 2 - 2X8s, great solid work bench, on 3' or so legs.

Many uses, including camp fires. Great score.
 
Lifetime supply of kindling.

Split it, box it, and give it to all the woodburners you know for Christmas gifts.
 
I noted lately that the kindling that I pick up from a regular source, has included some 2x4 pieces lately (obviously pine). I use them as such (Kindling) but not much else.

My head tells me that Pine is going to burn (as said already) faster, and leave more creosote behind than other woods. Cutting it up for kindling is fine, but I'm sure I wouldn't use it as my primary source of heat.

Having said that, I know of at least ONE individual here (and there may be more) who will chime in and say that Pine is ALL he burns, all year long.

-Soupy1957
 
Stack it outside uncovered in the rain, and give it a few months to 'unseason'. Cover a month before you want to use it to remove surface moisture.
 
soupy1957 said:
My head tells me that Pine is going to burn (as said already) faster, and leave more creosote behind than other woods. Cutting it up for kindling is fine, but I'm sure I wouldn't use it as my primary source of heat.
-Soupy1957

Not trying to be nit picky, but I've never heard the notion that burning faster equates to "more creosote". Most of the Western US is heating with soft woods, and I would think a great deal of Alaska and Canada are, too. Yet I don't see tons of posts about those folks have creosote problems and chimney fires.

I burn 2 cords of pine every year. Properly seasoned, it is some of the cleanest fuel I run through my stove. The first month of two of heating we do, we use nothing BUT pine.
 
I have been burning quite a bit of scrap lumber. Mostly pine and fir. It has been sitting outside for years. Some stacked, some in piles. I don't see anything wrong with what woodgeek said about unseasoning it. I bring in wood, put it in a loose pile for a few days, then stack it and burn it. Very hot, no sizzling but not very long lasting. Mixing it with splits will be your best bet for longer burns. Be careful about treated lumber and plywood they can give off nasty gases.
I have mixed not completely seasoned wood in with it and it works. Not great but will hold a fire longer.
It's like the old saying "whatever floats your boat" Some will only burn hardwoods, some only have crappy wood like me, some like pellets, corn or coal. As long as it is safe, keeps you warm and you don't mind sawing it, buying it or the time it takes to fill your stove, use it.
 
soupy1957 said:
I noted lately that the kindling that I pick up from a regular source, has included some 2x4 pieces lately (obviously pine). I use them as such (Kindling) but not much else.

My head tells me that Pine is going to burn (as said already) faster, and leave more creosote behind than other woods. Cutting it up for kindling is fine, but I'm sure I wouldn't use it as my primary source of heat.

Having said that, I know of at least ONE individual here (and there may be more) who will chime in and say that Pine is ALL he burns, all year long.

-Soupy1957
Soupy,... what?
After all the reading on here, you still have this stuck in your head?
From personal experience, I can tell you that the pine that I burn leaves no more creosote than the popple, oak, or maple that I also burn. The KEY, is that it's all dry.
If I burn un-dry oak, the flue will clog up with creo pretty dang quick. Had it happen the first 2 years here, until I got the wood right. ALL OAK the first 2 years.
Try it yourself.
 
As others have said, mix with cord wood and burn away. DO NOT load up firebox with it, or you will go nuclear. But free BTUs are free BTUs.
 
I supplement dimensional lumber and pallet lumber with my cord wood all the time. Its best use if for burning down coals leftover from an overnight fire. Put a few pieces of pallet or 2x4's on top of the coal bed, open up the air,,and burn down them coals. Gives ya a lot more room in the firebox for the next fire.
 
woodgeek said:
Stack it outside uncovered in the rain, and give it a few months to 'unseason'. Cover a month before you want to use it to remove surface moisture.

I thought about that, but I wonder how strong the hysteresis effect is with this wood. Bringing wood up to EMC from kiln-dried usually results in a lower MC than drying it down to EMC. I've read it can be up to a 3% difference, but I don't know for what woods and under what conditions that would occur. Probably not important since they don't dry dimensional lumber down that low in the first place.

You can always nail them together and make EPA test loads. %-P

I can't imagine trying to heat with a big stove using thin pieces of pine. I have an unlimited source of kiln-dried pallet wood and I never even consider it. I had nightmares with that stuff many years ago, and it was all beautiful hardwood. Every once it a while I drive over to bug my buddy who runs the shop and come back with the back of my wagon full. It does make the very best kindling wood, but I'm a "the bigger, the better" thinker when it comes to wood size. However, if all you have is that and some marginal wood, it will surely help get those internal temps up where you need them to be.
 
Kankujoe said:
I just scored access to an unlimited supply of 1x4 & 2x4 pine(?) in 4 foot lengths (brought home 2 pallets stacked 4'x4'x4' yesterday. I can get 1 to 2 stacked pallets every few weeks indefinately as this source (industrial box printing company) was paying someone to haul it away. All I have to do is drive my trailer there, they load it with a forklift. The owners are personal friends so its a win-win all around. The wood is dry, clean and no nails (almost too pretty to burn). I run my Skil saw across the stack a few times and its ready for the firebox.

Now my questions...

Do I burn this dimensional wood primarily, mix it with cord wood or burn cord wood primarily?

Should I stack it tightly in my firebox or ramdomly? It burns fast and hot.

Can I add some less than fully seasoned cord wood to a hot fire without trouble?

KJ, it sounds like you got some education on this post! lol

I'd be very happy to find a supply like you have. What I would do would be to put some in every fire along with whatever else you burn. It was rightly said that if you fill the stove with only that lumber then you risk over-firing the stove.

One more thing is that this will come in very handy during spring and fall when you want a quick fire to just take the chill from the air. Put some of these pieces in the stove, light it and then just let the fire go out.

Good luck.
 
Couple years ago, a buddy build a large barn. Or, he bought one disassembled and reassembled it on his place with new wood beams and joists in places. He used 2 x 6 and 2x 4 lumber. He stacked the old lumber and told me to have at it. Very dry. Not rotten, just twisted and warped and bowed, so not much use as lumber. I hauled about six large pickup loads home, cut it down, and burned it in the stoves. Did great. No problem.

We only have pine and some spruce available here, so that is what we burn, as far as regular cord wood goes. In several decades, using only that wood, we have never had a creosote problem. I clean my chimneys every few years, at most. Creosote has simply never been a problem for us and we do not have cat stoves.
 
As others have said burn it. In my Fisher stove in the basement pretty much all I burn in it is pallet wood some hardwood some soft wood. Now conventional wisdom says that this stove should be a creosote factory, basement location outside chimney, hot water coil. I cleaned the chimney around Christmas and all I got was about 1/4 cup. :coolsmile:

Mix it withe dry cord wood to get a little extra heat when you need it, or burn it by itself if you need a quick fire. Just don't go overboard and stuff the stove full of it, as you can over fire easily if you are not paying attention.
 
Joking aside, try to pack the pieces together (flat faces together) to slow down the burn, and make sure you don't overfire (not unlike bricks). More likely to get frustrated by short burn times and small loads (to avoid overheating) than anything else.
 
A few years ago I scored some poplar and it made just as much creosote as the lodgepole did in my old stove. It was not much, of course my cat had not failed at that point. I thought there would be at least some difference between the two types of wood. I guess poplar is not much better wood than pine.

If you can pack those pieces tight enough and still control the fire I would load as much as possible. If you have a few gaps the fire will burn hotter and you will have less control. I would start with small tight loads and work your way up once you learn how the stove handles it.

My dad used to burn pallet wood that he would meticulously pack as tight as possible into the firebox and it burned fine and lasted just as long as cord wood, this was a smoke dragon though.
 
My Dad has kind of the same deal where he works, but it's all 2x4s used as skids between stuff that comes in to the plant. They come in 4ft lengths, but he cuts them to 16"

He has been heating his shop with it for almost 20 years. Yes it doesn't burn long, but when we heat the shop someone is in there working so it's not a big deal to through a small armload of 2x4s in the stove every couple hours.
 
NATE379 said:
My Dad has kind of the same deal where he works, but it's all 2x4s used as skids between stuff that comes in to the plant. They come in 4ft lengths, but he cuts them to 16"

He has been heating his shop with it for almost 20 years. Yes it doesn't burn long, but when we heat the shop someone is in there working so it's not a big deal to through a small armload of 2x4s in the stove every couple hours.

Smart man. Think of the $$ he's saved over the years. & had a warm shop to work in. ;)
 
When I was growing up we often had "wrench parties" out there cause most of my friends just had a flattened cardboard box and their driveway to do repairs. That's not too bad in the middle of summer, but when it's -15*, dark and wind blowing snow down your butt the heck with that!


I don't mind discussing things but sometimes I think you guys might worry a "little" too much. "The sky is falling" haha. The stove shouldn't be melting down by burning kiln dried stuff. Close the draft if it's getting hot. Sure after a good fire/coals was burning when my Dad had a 55gal drum stove the sides would glow, but that stove didn't have firebrick or anything like that.
 
When I was 18 or 19, I traded some of my labor for an ancient potbelly stove.
Very pretty, with nickel bits and pieces.
Bought some stove black and made it look like new!

I didn't have a pot to p**s in, so couldn't afford to buy firewood.
Couldn't afford a saw either...
I worked for a contractor that built houses, as a cleanup boy.
Every day in the cold season, I'd gather up the 2x4 scraps they were throwing away.
I'd also gather a good handful of nails the carpenters dropped, and use them to nail the pieces together.
The scraps burned really good in the stove...which leaked like a seive...but I was young and didn't know much...about anything...

The stove kept the 10 x 50 trailer warm, too warm most of the time (had to open the front door) then the wood ran out, and the place got cold.
I didn't have a car, I walked about a mile or so to work, and carried what wood home I could manage.
It was an interesting winter!
Later in the winter, when scraps were scarce, I discovered coal, worked great, but was too expensive.
Then I got hold of an ancient kerosene heater.
Worked great till one morning my girlfriend and I woke up to a thick fog, in the house...
We were both covered in black soot (as was the house).
I got an electric heater.

Rob
 
I'd make big bricks or 'logs' out of them by packing them together outside of the stove and then go around the ends with a couple wraps of masking tape (or give each piece a dab of Elmers glue) on each end to hold them together... then throw them in the stove as big 'solid' blocks. ;)
 
Great for kindling . . .

If you use it . . . I would mix it . . . as stated . . . if you stuff a firebox full of dimensional lumber you might find it going thermo-nuclear on you . . . stuffed in with a few pieces of cordwood and you should end up with a nice, hot and controlled burn.
 
At 4' long I'd use it for work benches and all kindes of projects. You could even sell it on craigs list. It will burn fine but seems like a waste to burn good lumber. You could even get a router and finger joint bit and make 8' boards.
 
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