Enviro1700 said:
Hey I work construction and have access to a lot of 2x4 scrap pieces. I have a couple cords of maple but likey not enough for the season. I live in gods country lol so I can get more hardwood if I need it. Wood is not my primary source of heat either. (typing this on my Wii sucks lol). Anyway anyone burn 2x4 pieces? People tell me not to because they claim there is more creosote but i always burn hot never oxygen starved and except for cold starts never have smoke from my chimney whatsoever and my firebox and glass are always clean. The btus are lower but you can load the hell outa the stove to then throw hardwood in after. You burn a ton of it but free heat is free heat. Anyone know if its true about softwood and creosote? Would secondary burn eliminate it if so? Is there a higher posibility of over firing using milled lumber(hardwood or soft)and overfilling a stove?
There is definitely a danger of over firing with kiln dried lumber. As for it creating more creoste,,, actually the opposite is true.
The myth that pine (soft wood) causes chimney fires is of Eastern origin, and it has a bit of biased truth to it. It probably developed something like this….
You take your typical Easterner who, year after year, burns predominantly unseasoned Oak (or other harwood), blissfully developing a good thick coating of creosote in his chimney. Eventually one day he finds, or someone offers him, some nice dry Pine (or 2x4 softwood). He then proceeds to burn a load of this nice dry Pine (softwood) in the same manner as he usually burns the wet Oak (hardwood) expecting much the same sort of results, but instead the fire burns much hotter (the way it is suppose to) than it has ever done in the past, thus igniting the creosote, that has been developing in the chimney for years, and he has a huge chimney fire. The fire department comes and puts out the fire (hopefully saving his house and family), later the fire chief asks the homeowner how the fire got started? To which the homeowner replies, “all I did was burn a load of Pine (softwood).” Thus perpetuating the myth that the Pine (softwood) was the “cause” of the chimney fire and it is “dangerous” to burn in your stove.
Unseasoned wood is where you'll get a lot of creosote, and hardwood is more likely to be unseasoned than softwood because it takes so much longer to season hardwoods, up to 3 years for some oak.