Burning manzanita

[CeeDee]

When we bought our home, we had a huge stack of manzanita left behind in the wood barn. The former owners mostly burned manzanita in their Schrader stove. The stove doors are warped and we can see fire in there in the gap between the doors, and our first couple of fires burned really hot because we didn't know better and packed in too much wood.

But we've since learned how to moderate the heat output and really love burning manzanita.

For the new stove (possibly an Osburn 1600 or an Enviro 1200 Kodiak) we're going to pad the manzanita with gray pine from our land and oak (mostly live and white). It's my understanding, though, that burning manzanita can invalidate the warranty.

Have you had any problems with your stove or pipe from burning dense wood?

 

[Woody Stover]

Wow, I was not familiar with that high-BTU wood. You certainly wouldn't want to burn a full load in a leaky stove where you couldn't control the burn. But I don't think wood type is specified in any warranty. If you over-fire your stove, though, they may not honor the warranty.

 

[Ricknasty]

I don't see how it would be any worse than burning the compressed sawdust logs. Aslong as you have a stove in proper operating condition you shouldn't need to "damp" it down with green wood. But I could be wrong

 

[jatoxico]

Never heard of any manufacturer voiding warranty due to burning any type of cord wood. I have a lot of black locust here which is one your denser high BTU woods and although it does burn hot and a bit longer it's nothing that would cause any damage.

A stove full of kindling or even some of the softwood species with the air open would be worse

 

[CeeDee]

We have an abundance of manzanita here. We burn on down to two inch diameter branches and use it get the fire started. We've never burned gray pine, but when we had a dangerous tree taken down, we chose to save the wood instead of having it chipped. The guy said to leave it out for two years to get rid of the sap. It's looking pretty good. We'll see how that goes.

I think the idea is to burn hot enough to prevent creosote from building up. We've found that our fires are nice and hot with a small amount of manzanita, which saves us wood. But we do have problems with the wood having too much moisture. It's something I need to work on this year. It takes a lot longer curing manzanita.

 

[begreen]

Manzanita is related to madrone in WA and OR. Sometimes one is confused for the other. It's a good hardwood and fine for burning. Some lucky years we have burned it almost exclusively.

Tip: split when green is easy. but splitting it when it is dry can be a challenge.

 

[CeeDee]

Manzanita works up beautifully for projects, but it'll dull knives like crazy. It saws smoothly, leaving no splintering and sands to a buttery surface. It's always hard for me burning this wood, but with so much of it here, I can justify it.

We saved one long piece and replaced a boring spindly leg that held up the end of a countertop. Manzanita checks badly, but if you let that be a natural and welcome part of the design, it's pretty nice.

Splitting dry manzanita is definitely harder to do. Also, manzanita doesn't get very big, so much of what we burn we aren't able to split. We only have a maul, no splitter, although we'd love one.

 

[begreen]

Yes, madrone gets larger and taller. We've some 24" trunks here. It is a beautiful wood. We used to have an 8" madrone support post in our kitchen entryway.

 

[Woody Stover]

It is a beautiful wood. We used to have an 8" madrone support post in our kitchen entryway.

Don't we get to enjoy the beauty? Where are the pics, man?
Hey, didn't you used to call it "Madrona?" Madrone sounds badder-arse..I would stick with that.

 

[begreen]

Madrone appears to be a more common NW term, locally it is usually referred to as madrona. There's even a couple Madrona Parks here. It grows often in groves, but sometimes there are individual beauties.


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Madrona.jpg

 

[weatherguy]

Is marrone or manzanita similar in hardness to locust or harder? Dont have any here.

 

[Woody Stover]

Wow, red wood, that's the next level above the yaller wood we have here..Mulberry, Redbud, Black Locust, Hedge.

 

[Adabiviak]

Have you had any problems with your stove or pipe from burning dense wood?

Nope - Manzanita isn't the densest wood I burn either. I find it burns hot and clean, though it can leave coals behind, so I tend to chase it with something to finish those off).

Tip: split when green is easy. but splitting it when it is dry can be a challenge.

Splitting dry manzanita is definitely harder to do.

That hasn't been my experience? I would definitely recommend bucking it while it's green to save on your saw blade, but when I split mine (harvested in 2012 so definitely dry), I put a small wedge into whatever crack developed during seasoning that's in line with where I want the split, give it a few taps with a hammer (2# maybe), and it comes right apart (and some of these were 90-year old "rounds"). I might go so far as to say that manzanita is the easiest wood I've split? Maybe easier than cedar (though I don't have any six-year old cedar either). To be fair, I have not split it while green.

 

[CeeDee]

Nope - Manzanita isn't the densest wood I burn either. I find it burns hot and clean, though it can leave coals behind, so I tend to chase it with something to finish those off).



That hasn't been my experience? I would definitely recommend bucking it while it's green to save on your saw blade, but when I split mine (harvested in 2012 so definitely dry), I put a small wedge into whatever crack developed during seasoning that's in line with where I want the split, give it a few taps with a hammer (2# maybe), and it comes right apart (and some of these were 90-year old "rounds"). I might go so far as to say that manzanita is the easiest wood I've split? Maybe easier than cedar (though I don't have any six-year old cedar either). To be fair, I have not split it while green.

You know, I think you may be right about splitting manzanita. It saws smoothly for me compared to oak, and it checks as it's drying, so the wedge idea is great. I'll have to get out there to the wood pile and split some of the larger pieces. It's been a while.