Neighbor Gave Me One Cord of 8yr Old Hardwood...Okay to Burn?

[jscs.moore]

I have an elderly neighbor who her fireplace converted to propane approximately 8 years ago. She knows I burn wood so she stopped by the other day saying she had an old cord of hardwood stacked in her backyard that she never got rid of and asked if I wanted it. Said sure and lugged it over in my wheel barrow. Most of it seems fine with checks throughout and basically bone dry. Some of it is a little punky, but most of that easily brushes off with work gloves. Burned some over the last two nights and it goes up like a match stick. So I have two questions:
Any concern/problem with burning 8 year old wood?
I realized after I lugged & stacked in my yard that the splits are a little long for my Hampton HI300...I think about 20" so is there any easy way to cut them down? In order to use them now I can only place one or two diagonally in the firebox?
thanks

 

[peakbagger]

No problem burning 8 or 80 year old wood if its not rotten. Unless its soaked the weight will pretty well tell you if it rotten.The length issue is PITA most folks rig up a temporary frame to hold the wood and use chainsaw to cut off a lot of "lilypads" which are great kindling. The biggest concern is keeping it from the sawblade catching and spinning the wood.

 

[Handsonautotech]

I was reading on the forestry forums that wood that is too dry does not provide as much heat because you do not get as much secondary burn from resin and such...

 

[pma1123]

An inexpensive way to shorten splits - I have a skid with a plastic milk crate screwed to it which I load full of splits and cut to length that way. I've thought about doing the same with a 5 gallon pail laid on its side screwed down to a skid also. Just a suggestion.

 

[Lakeside]

Where are the pic's -- I recall the rule pic's or it didn't happen.

You lucky dog !

 

[iamlucky13]

I was reading on the forestry forums that wood that is too dry does not provide as much heat because you do not get as much secondary burn from resin and such...

I don't see how that can be true. That claim amounts to saying the wood isn't completely combusting.

I could conceive of getting less heat from an overly rapid burn - if wood doesn't want to settle down from the initial off-gassing, you can't close down the air without getting too rich. More air through the stove can carry more of your heat away. But then again, you wasted less heat boiling water. I don't know where the balance lies.

Related to that, some burners have reported trouble controlling the burn rate with extremely dry wood, and ending up over-firing. Mixing wetter wood in is one of the recommended solutions.

 

[Supersurvey]

I use a miter saw with an old blade to cut oversized splits for my Hampton HI200. Makes fast work of it.

 

[xman23]

If you can get it in, mix it with shorter splits. Don't do work that's not needed.

 

[jscs.moore]

If you can get it in, mix it with shorter splits. Don't do work that's not needed.

Yeah...since I don't have a miter saw or special frames to hold and cut the wood, I think I'll take your advice and just mix them in with my shorter splits

 

[woodhog73]

I've burned wood that was 7 or 8 years seasoned. Oak, maple, and birch.

Just burned very fast. I don't know what the moisture level was but it was light and hollow sounding when banged together. Fast burn but good heat output

 

[Wood Duck]

I'd cut the splits in half, and then they'd fit north/south in my stove. That is better than cutting a little bit off the end of each one, in my opinion.

 

[Handsonautotech]

I don't see how that can be true. That claim amounts to saying the wood isn't completely combusting.

I could conceive of getting less heat from an overly rapid burn - if wood doesn't want to settle down from the initial off-gassing, you can't close down the air without getting too rich. More air through the stove can carry more of your heat away. But then again, you wasted less heat boiling water. I don't know where the balance lies.

Related to that, some burners have reported trouble controlling the burn rate with extremely dry wood, and ending up over-firing. Mixing wetter wood in is one of the recommended solutions.

The reasoning is that a lot of your heat comes from the secondary burn processes. The off gassing of resins and such provide for what they say is 50% of the heat generated "during the burn time of the wood" I say during the burn time because as folks seem to agree here overly dry wood burns faster. How much faster is the amount of heat over time you loose when it is too dry.

TLDR dry wood fast burn less heating time.

 

[Lake Girl]

If the wood is burned through the shoulder season, probably doesn't matter as much as during the cold depths of winter.

 

[niceguypmp3]

I, too, am having issues with wood that's too dry. We had cut some trees that we standing dead last winter and had split them and put them under our big lean-to. I noticed that this season when i went to light our wood furnace, that it heated up fast and put out lots and lots of heat. Currently I have the damper turned all the way down and the spin draft only half turn open and still everytime i load the furnace then it will get up to around 80 or so in the house before the wood starts to die down. I'm not for sure on types of wood, but it's a mix. I need to find a few pieces that aren't quite as dry to mix in with it. My wife isn't complaining about the heat, but I am lol. 78-80 is too warm for me inside the house although it's good cheap heat and shouldn't complain. BTW, this is my first post on this site. I've been reading through it for days and figured i'd go ahead and join so I could post. Great site!

 

[Jags]

If you find the super dry wood difficult to control, just mix it with your normal stash to temper it a bit. It will work out just fine.

And welcome to the board, nice guy.

 

[MDFisherman]

Get a bigger stove


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[Handsonautotech]

Im thinking of adding a flue damper to help with this, I found with very dry wood it does get uncontrollable just shutting down the intake.