Rough cut lumber, in BK stoves?

[Hass]

at my work, they pay guys to take away their extra wood that nobody will take.
My boss burns some at his house in winter (not very much)


All of the wood we make pallets with is some kind of hardwood, looks to be some kind of Oak... White Oak I think, I'll grab some pictures tomorrow.
It's all rough cut lumber, and Kiln dried. (then it sits around in our warehouse for a many months before we get to using it)

I do recall reading that you're not supposed to use mill-ends in stoves, when I looked around for what specifically a mill end was, it said it was any dimension lumber.
Rough cut lumber, is dimensional lumber.

Is this stuff usable in BK stoves? Or any stove in general?
I see guys burn pallet wood here commonly (thanks to searching), but couldn't find too much about using it in modern cat stoves.

Probably over 30k lbs is scrapped over the course of a spring and summer, and I'd like to get my hands on that... since it's free :]
at least 15-20 4x4x4 crates full of it we scrap.
It's all 1x6 and 2x4s, a usually some 4x4s as well.

Any issues?

 

[smokinj]

I would burn it just be careful not to overfire the stove.

 

[Wood Duck]

I would burn it as long as it isn't chemically treated. It is going to burn fast and hot because it is so dry, so you may have to re-learn how to load the stove and adjust the air settings. I would start with small loads to get the hang of it, but other than that I don't think there is any problem burning it.

 

[Hass]

BK has the auto draft control, so i wasn't too concerned about overheating or fiddling with air settings.
Plus I'm only heating 800sqft, so I wouldn't be running anywhere near full open all the time :]


I was mostly concerned about if these are actually considered end mills, because they said lubricants from the saws used to cut them can get in to the wood and then cause damage within the stoves which then void warranties and cause problems.

But yeah, I figured it would burn hot and fast... especially after I store it all summer giving it even more time to dry out.

 

[smokinj]

BK has the auto draft control, so i wasn't too concerned about overheating or fiddling with air settings.
Plus I'm only heating 800sqft, so I wouldn't be running anywhere near full open all the time :]


I was mostly concerned about if these are actually considered end mills, because they said lubricants from the saws used to cut them can get in to the wood and then cause damage within the stoves which then void warranties and cause problems.

But yeah, I figured it would burn hot and fast... especially after I store it all summer giving it even more time to dry out.

Saws are not going to put enough oil's to make any difference! Soulds like an awesome deal for you!

 

[North of 60]

Hass, you can pack a BK cat to the gilles. It will snuff that fire out in 50 paces walking away from the stove, and not have to worry about it for the rest of the burn. No chemicals, then no problem.

 

[bogydave]

Take all you can get. It will season fast. (even kiln dried needs some "air time".
Burn Baby Burn!
Start selling it if you get too much. Primo dry wood is hard to find & the BK cat stove really do well with dry wood.
I'd stack it in the BK with some space between 1/4" or so in the middle & let it burn
for many hours.
Like North 60 say "to the gills" BK has a good inlet air regulator to prevent run-aways.
Do some test burns with various stacking methods in the stove. tight stacks with some room for air.'
or throw it in haphazard. N/S & try some E/W. Find out which works best.
The thicker the better. The 4X4 would be PRIMO wood
rough cut 2X4 is 2" X 4", good size fire wood.
The 1" stuff i'd try packing it pretty tight first few times.
Lucky you, & Oak ta-boot!
Can they/you cut it to 16 or 17" lengths too :lol:
Pictures of your first load ?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum Hass.

Sounds like a good wood supply there! However, I would not count on all the pallets being made from oaks. Indeed sometimes pallet makers get orders that call for specific types of wood but usually pallets are made from the less desirable woods. That could mean burr oak, popple, cottonwood, etc. We have some mills near us that have made pallets for many, many moons. Even when I was a young lad.....and that was a long time ago there were making pallets. I recall when they were hammered together. I never could understand how those people (both sexes) could swing those hammers that much day after day after day. Now, of course, it is done much easier. But those mills just sort out the logs as they come in. The lesser logs go into making pallets. The rest is good lumber.

Still, you have found a good supply of wood. Just be sure that stove doesn't overheat.

 

[Hass]

Can they/you cut it to 16 or 17" lengths too :lol:
Pictures of your first load ?

Yep, Shipping dept does it when it's slow, or I can do it whenever I'm bored, on a break, or come in early then stack it all up nice and neat in a wood crate then load it in my truck :]

Welcome to the forum Hass.

Sounds like a good wood supply there! However, I would not count on all the pallets being made from oaks. Indeed sometimes pallet makers get orders that call for specific types of wood but usually pallets are made from the less desirable woods. That could mean burr oak, popple, cottonwood, etc. We have some mills near us that have made pallets for many, many moons. Even when I was a young lad.....and that was a long time ago there were making pallets. I recall when they were hammered together. I never could understand how those people (both sexes) could swing those hammers that much day after day after day. Now, of course, it is done much easier. But those mills just sort out the logs as they come in. The lesser logs go into making pallets. The rest is good lumber.

Still, you have found a good supply of wood. Just be sure that stove doesn't overheat.

Thanks! I've been there two and a half years so far, and it's always been the same wood we've used. I'm not talking about scrap pallets that come in on deliveries or anything, I'm talking about the lumber that we order to ship out 5+ ton production units out on. Can't ship it out on a cheapo pressboard pallet, or it will probably fall apart at the first sight of seeing what will get loaded on it :]
I meant to grab a picture of the wood stacks today, but we've been working 6-6 and rushing along so it slipped my mind.

 

[bogydave]

Can they/you cut it to 16 or 17" lengths too :lol:
Pictures of your first load ?

Yep, Shipping dept does it when it's slow, or I can do it whenever I'm bored, on a break, or come in early then stack it all up nice and neat in a wood crate then load it in my truck :]

Bye the way ******That's cheating******
Good deal sounds better all the time! (when time permits, on the clock when cutting the scrapes for your use is "Spoiled")
Sounds like a great outfit to work for. Makes for good moral & workers happy & willing to do the extras that make the company successful
Tax free "money in the bank "
Don't overload the truck (too much)

 

[Hass]

lol yeah! :] As long as we're not busy with work, they don't care.
As long as we "appear" busy, in case one of the higher ups come out. But if they see us standing around twiddling our thumbs or talking to someone, then we're in some trouble... and so are the foremen for not getting us to work
But if we're doing something for ourselves, or in the case of cutting up wood which has to be done anyway... It's no problem! :]

and yeah, I actually wanted to load up a 4'x6' utility trailer with it, but then i realized it can only carry about 1500lbs, which isn't very much at all.
Truck can pull 3 tons, but can only hold 1 :[
so I've got to do a bit of number crunching to see how much I can actually load up a crate with.

 

[Hass]

I was told this is white oak, can anyone confirm/deny?
I know can only tell apart stuff like pine/fir/cherry... easy stuff.
All I know is that it's very heavy compared to other woods.. and dry.

kinda crummy pictures, but the last one is decent at least :d

 

[lukem]

Top picture is definately oak.

 

[North of 60]

I thought maybe the end grain is the good way to confirm oak. Yes/no.

 

[lukem]

I thought maybe the end grain is the good way to confirm oak. Yes/no.

I'm not great at IDing from pictures...but pretty good in person. The top pick of the board was a dead give-away for oak for me from the cross grain. I'm pretty worthless on end grain unless it is obvious (walnut, cherry, etc). I'm sure others are good at end grain IDs though.