Is willow worth scrounging?

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RoseRedHoofbeats

Feeling the Heat
Oct 7, 2010
374
San Antonio, TX
There's some for free on Craigslist, but it's WAY the hell and gone out there, and I'd have to borrow somebody's truck and chainsaw. I know free wood is free wood, but is willow worth going after?

~Rose
 
RoseRedHoofbeats said:
There's some for free on Craigslist, but it's WAY the hell and gone out there, and I'd have to borrow somebody's truck and chainsaw. I know free wood is free wood, but is willow worth going after?

~Rose

Not for me unless it drops right in the back yard. One of the lowest btu/volume wood out there, but if you've got nothing else to burn....
 
I guess it depends in part on whether you need wood desperately or not. One time I thought I was being smart and traded 2 cords of seasoned poplar for 5 - 7 cords of willow.

I got the short end of the deal and it was only a mile from my house.

If at all possible I will avoid burning will ever again.

Then again, I have the luxury of having access to virtually unlimited Ash within a mile of my house, all the box elder I can burn for free delivered to my home, and some oak within 2 miles of my home.
 
For kindling at best. I would not waste any effort or gas to get it...it is litterally that light...
 
I'm burning hybred Willow
(hybred doesn't spread like river Willow, but I don't know if the wood is different)

Anyway, it is light, and burns fairly fast, takes about 1/2 hour to an hour to burn a split.
It lights easy, smells great, and is keeping me warm...
Mine was free...


Rob
 
I'm an equal opportunity burner . . . and I have burned willow . . . but like poplar and pine . . . I'll burn it if and when it is handy or in my way, but I will certainly not go out of my way to get any due to it burning up fast and being a low BTU wood.
 
Willow burns best on a brush pile. I certainly would not go out of my way to get any. We have a few here on our place and most I just cut down and let lay.
 
Willow IS worth burning as long as you don't have to spend too much time, effort and fuel to get it. I got a few cords 2 years ago. The wood was sopping wet/fresh and heavy. I rolled it into my trailer and let it sit in rounds for a few month where it lost a ton of moisture. Split and dried it is light. I burned some in the shoulder seasons last year as well as mixed in with some good wood. I would save the splits to throw in in the morning to get the fire ripping hot again before some hardwood for the day while at work.

For free and close by, i would grab more in a second.
 
what kind of willow
feline willow doesn't get very big and rots pretty quick unless it's cut up and stacked. sorta like beech
and the only weeping willow I've had had it's roots in a cesspool, didn't smell very nice (while wet)and iirc, burned fast like pine.
 
CTwoodburner said:
Willow IS worth burning as long as you don't have to spend too much time, effort and fuel to get it. I got a few cords 2 years ago. The wood was sopping wet/fresh and heavy. I rolled it into my trailer and let it sit in rounds for a few month where it lost a ton of moisture. Split and dried it is light. I burned some in the shoulder seasons last year as well as mixed in with some good wood. I would save the splits to throw in in the morning to get the fire ripping hot again before some hardwood for the day while at work.

For free and close by, i would grab more in a second.

+1
 
RoseRedHoofbeats said:
There's some for free on Craigslist, but it's WAY the hell and gone out there, and I'd have to borrow somebody's truck and chainsaw. I know free wood is free wood, but is willow worth going after?

~Rose

I depends. For me, no.

For my dad, yes. There's nothing that man won't burn
 
I been burning a wheelbarrow of split willow a day for over a month now. You can either burn willow or dollar bills...how's it feel to be in the big chair making all the decisions?
 
Don't seem like hed be many BTUS . . .

Willow-willow-the-movie-6017669-100-100.jpg
 
Let's not forget what Rose stated, that "it’s WAY the hell and gone out there." Meaning she would have to haul this stuff a long distance. With the price of gas I would not even entertain the idea for a minute.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Let's not forget what Rose stated, that "it’s WAY the hell and gone out there." Meaning she would have to haul this stuff a long distance. With the price of gas I would not even entertain the idea for a minute.
Good point, I agree with that. Prior thought was more about willow in general vs this case.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Willow burns best on a brush pile. I certainly would not go out of my way to get any. We have a few here on our place and most I just cut down and let lay.

+1 people make things out of the branchs all that I know its god for.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Willow burns best on a brush pile. I certainly would not go out of my way to get any. We have a few here on our place and most I just cut down and let lay.

+1 people make things out of the branchs. All that I know its good for.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Let's not forget what Rose stated, that "it’s WAY the hell and gone out there." Meaning she would have to haul this stuff a long distance. With the price of gas I would not even entertain the idea for a minute.

That is why some added the caveat...

We don't know what the actual cost of 'way the hell and gone out there' and borrowing a truck is.
 
It's only worth it if you don't have to go too far to get in. I burned about two cords of willow two seasons ago, but it was dropped right on my property by the tree service. It dried fast but produce not a lot of heat. It is also not too easy to split.
 
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