Burning Cedar lathe, any reason not to?

[lugoismad]

This weekend I'm finishing up ripping out the walls of my spare bedroom. The house is about 75 years old, and under the plaster is a layer of cedar lathe. Since I live in town, I don't really have any way of disposing of it besides paying $50 a truckload to take it to the dump.

It has alot of nails in it, but that shouldn't really hurt anything, I just cant toss the ashes out in the yard. Is there any reason not to burn the stuff in my wood furnace? Its very very dry (75 years old). I tossed in a bunch just to see what would happen. It burnt really hot and really quick, which I expected. Is there any reason not to burn cedar, or will I be fine just burning the stuff up in the furnace?

 

[edthedawg]

I use my reclaimed demolition lath for kindling all the time. Lousy for sustained burns tho - too small. But perfect for startups / restarts.

 

[lugoismad]

it'll burn too fast & if u try control it, it wont get enough adequate O2 for combustion=creosote for chimney . use as kindling or mix with green wood. i thinx

I don't really care about getting heat out of it. I just need to get rid of it.

 

[Jags]

Burn small loads with your regular firewood if you are looking to make it go away, but I have to second (or third) the point that old lath is the gold standard for kindling.

 

[begreen]

Minor correction, a lathe is used to turn metal and wood. Lath refers to the wood strips.
Burn the lath judiciously. It is very dry. A full firebox of the stuff could overfire the stove.

That said, he who has the last lath kindles a mighty fire. :coolsmile:

 

[scotsman]

This weekend I'm finishing up ripping out the walls of my spare bedroom. The house is about 75 years old, and under the plaster is a layer of cedar lathe. Since I live in town, I don't really have any way of disposing of it besides paying $50 a truckload to take it to the dump.

It has alot of nails in it, but that shouldn't really hurt anything, I just cant toss the ashes out in the yard. Is there any reason not to burn the stuff in my wood furnace? Its very very dry (75 years old). I tossed in a bunch just to see what would happen. It burnt really hot and really quick, which I expected. Is there any reason not to burn cedar, or will I be fine just burning the stuff up in the furnace?

One caution that I learned the other night as I opened my FP to put in another piece of cedar. I opened the screen about the time it popped and took a hot ember hit half an inch below my right eye! From that moment and for all time, I'm wearing eye protection anytime I open 'er up! I took that as a warning, offered up my thanks for another chance and went and got my full face shield. THAT was a close one!

 

[begreen]

Last week I went to stir the coals with some particularly popping pine. Although the door was only open a couple inches, an ember popped out of a log and up into my ear! Fortunately it was a small one, but it still smarted. From now on I'm wearing ear protection when I open up the stove!

 

[chunkyal]

I got three scratches between the eyes from an exploding coal. I thought the coals were pretty much dead and was torching some kindling with a propane torch (like I do most days). Guess I heated the coals too much and - boom. Wont be doing that again.