Anyone burn slabwood exlusively?
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I know guys that burn it...with an established coal bed try and sandwich slabs together so the fire won't get away from ya. They were getting like 10 a full pick up load which I thought was very reasonable ...and they loaded it too. But that was a few years back when we had an better economy.
One thing for sure heus if we didn't have our own source of wood I would absolutely get that slab wood cause I heard such good things about it.
One thing for sure heus if we didn't have our own source of wood I would absolutely get that slab wood cause I heard such good things about it.
I heard about how cheap you can get it from the Amish. The only difficulty that I can see is ensuring that you leave air gaps between flat pieces, but that may be a non-issue. I'd sure burn a lot if it was available.
I just got 4 cord (bundles) of pine slab waste delivered for the kiln.
I just got 4 cord (bundles) of pine slab waste delivered for the kiln.
I've been using it almost exclusively in my Vista and I love it. I also get it from the mills of the local Amish, already cut in 16-20" lengths, for much less than cord wood. It dries very easily in one summer and puts out a lot of heat. In a small stove it is the only way to go.
Most of what I burn is my gasifer is pine and aspen slab wood. I burn it "straight up," no splits added. It tends to burn a little hotter so it is dampered down a bit. The pine is almost ash free, while the aspen produces a little ash.
I bought a bundle(cord) of hardwood slabs this past summer and have finally gotten into that wood in the last two weeks. I really like it. I paid $60 for the bundle. I think it was worth it. The price went way up after I bought so I don't think I would buy again because I usually get my tree lengths for less per cord than the slabs when the price went up.
I have burnt slab wood before and think it burns very well. If it wasn't for the fact that I get my wood for free from my Mom's land I would burn it all the time.
I have a neighbor at my summer camp who lives there year round that only burns slap wood, and has been doing so for many years.
We get it for $10 a pickup truck load down here. As much as you can fit on your truck, so if you have a bed cab, you can fill it up. In fact I'm going to just go there soon and get kindling for next years heating session. For $10 I can get enough to last all year long.
I have a neighbor at my summer camp who lives there year round that only burns slap wood, and has been doing so for many years.
We get it for $10 a pickup truck load down here. As much as you can fit on your truck, so if you have a bed cab, you can fill it up. In fact I'm going to just go there soon and get kindling for next years heating session. For $10 I can get enough to last all year long.
I bought 10 "cords" (bundles) of it over the summer to supplement the other wood I had if needed, and I've burned it off and on throughout the heating season, and almost exclusively for the last couple of weeks.
Pros: It's dirt cheap. I paid $10 a bundle, although I ended up with about $25 or so in transportation - per bundle.
Cons: It's kind of a pain to process if you want uniform lengths. I ended up making a sort of crib - place 4 or 5 slabs in the crib, cut/cut/cut/cut/cut, add 4 or slabs, repeat. More handling, but it worked better for me. I also have a good amount of "scrap" - i.e., some of this stuff is veneer thin. Sure it's burnable, but I haven't started a fire from kindling in 3 months. It has worked well, but I would still rather burn oak splits. Easier to stack, easier to load into the stove, and easier to get a uniform burn.
That said, it's cheap heat.
Pros: It's dirt cheap. I paid $10 a bundle, although I ended up with about $25 or so in transportation - per bundle.
Cons: It's kind of a pain to process if you want uniform lengths. I ended up making a sort of crib - place 4 or 5 slabs in the crib, cut/cut/cut/cut/cut, add 4 or slabs, repeat. More handling, but it worked better for me. I also have a good amount of "scrap" - i.e., some of this stuff is veneer thin. Sure it's burnable, but I haven't started a fire from kindling in 3 months. It has worked well, but I would still rather burn oak splits. Easier to stack, easier to load into the stove, and easier to get a uniform burn.
That said, it's cheap heat.
In our area of Michigan , we have more than 20 different Amish sawmills within 15 miles of our house. Some as close as 2-3 miles away. So Ihave burned part hardwood slab wood for last couple of years. Requires alittle more handling than firewood cut from trees. But price around here is $20 per bundle. A bundle yields less than a cord, more like 2 to 2 1/4 facecords. Like Jim said it tends to burn a little hotter than splits and rounds of firewood. But all in all worth it if price is good.
In 2005 and 2006 I had vertebra fusion and got behind on cutting and splitting firewood. Working up and burning bundles of slabwood kept the home fires burning. The home fires are a wood heater and fireplace in the house and a wood cookstove at the cabin.
A local sawmill operator loads the slabs in a 4'x4'x8' jig and bands it. The cost was $15 per bundle. The price was great but the downside was short burn time in the stoves and fireplace. Another downside was it could not be ranked up in the woodshed so the bundles were stored under an old three-sided machine shed. Rattlesnakes took up residence under the bundles.
Jackpine
A local sawmill operator loads the slabs in a 4'x4'x8' jig and bands it. The cost was $15 per bundle. The price was great but the downside was short burn time in the stoves and fireplace. Another downside was it could not be ranked up in the woodshed so the bundles were stored under an old three-sided machine shed. Rattlesnakes took up residence under the bundles.
Jackpine
I bought a dump truck load 10 ton single axl truck, the bed was like 10x7x5 for a $100 delivered the saw mill is about 12 miles away. It lasted me about 45 days.
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