Burning willow

[Hatrackr]

Anybody burn willow? I have a huge willow tree down on our property and I'm wondering if it's worth the effort to cut it up and split it. Does it burn similar to pine? I would like to use it for early season and save my good stuff for when winter really gets here

 

[pen]

Never have but if you can get it split, stacked and drying, it should be go to go as other soft woods.

Sounds like you have a good plan for it.

pen

 

[brenndatomu]

Pine lasts longer, but willow will keep ya warm (cuttin it, splittin it, stackin it, haulin it in the house, loading the stove every 10 minutes, JK...not really ) It will work for the small heating loads of spring and fall. If it's already on your property and you need to clean it up, my motto is if I hafta handle it, it's goin in the stove.

 

[WiscWoody]

I've never burned any of it but I asked a local logger about two he took down on his spread and he said not to bother like they say about the Poplar. but if its right there where you'll be tripping on it all of the time I'd css it and use it with other hardwoods. and btw I've burned a good ten Popple trees and I didn't think it was so bad for the price of my time.

 

[Hatrackr]

I have a couple chunks in the stove now- I cut a couple pieces today to see what it was because the bark is gone. It's already really dry, it metered around 18% right off the splitter it seems to be burning pretty good it got my stove up to temp in a hurry! I'm sure the burn times will be down but I'll make my splits bigger than I normally do. I know a guy in northern MN that burns nothing but poplar cause that's all they have- he seems to stay warm clear up there!

He wiscwoody I saw in another post you have Black and Tans are you a bear hunter? I'm in SE WI and me and my plotts trek up to north west wi to chase bears around from July to October!

 

[WiscWoody]

I'm not a hunter. It's from being raised by my granny and two older sisters,no father or brothers when I was young but that's ok since all of the men in our family worked for the Rock Island Line and the only shooting they did was shots of whiskey until they all were in the ground in their mid 40's. I wish that I did hunt though living up here now and of course the dogs would be ok with it too!! I see the hunters up here often with Hounds and it's true that each one has a bark that's easy to recognize from distamce. Here's a picture of my favorite guy, Punch who I found at the Barron Co Humane Society. he is a purebred but not registered from what I see in him as well as others that know the bread. Some have said he is near show quality and is such a good friend to have for sure!


Md

 

[branchburner]

he said not to bother like they say about the Poplar

Poplar isn't too popular, but it's the reason I'm sitting here with no shirt... it's good enough to make it hotter than mid-August inside my house right now.

 

[Phoenix Hatchling]

Sounds like my boy would have a field day over there !!

 

[Hatrackr]

That's a good lookin hound! About the only thing I love more than sitting in front of a roaring fire is being out on a crisp fall morning in northern wisconsin listening to the dogs work out a track! If you ever want to give it a try ask around someone up there would probably be happy to take you along-fair warning though once you try it you may be hooked! I went once and before I knew it I had 4 dogs and trek 4 1/2 hours north every weekend for 3 months to feed the addiction!

 

[WiscWoody]

Poplar isn't too popular, but it's the reason I'm sitting here with no shirt... it's good enough to make it hotter than mid-August inside my house right now.

You bet!! And I heated my rather too large of a home with it for the first two years that I burned since like you say it was a easy scrounge to get. And I burned it on the coldest of nights too. Nights that werent fit for any man nor beast to be anywhere else but in with your stove a goin!

 

[WiscWoody]

Sounds like my boy would have a field day over there !!

View attachment 143201

He looks like a handsome Weimaraner? He's got the ears for one no doubt!

 

[Charles1981]

I split and stack willow and cotton wood on my property. Only because it is there and I have easy access to it.

I use it for shoulder season like now (although it was 20 degrees last night and had to start eating into the good stuff).

It burns good, seasons quickly, but also get punky fast as well.

A full firebox load can get me 5-6 hours of quality heat in my smallish cat stove. I don't think that is anything to complain about.

But sometimes I do wonder if it is worth the effort but I just can't leave a "man down" on my property and go to waste.

 

[Hatrackr]

That's why I had to ask, it's close, dead, and free! Just wanted to make sure before I put the saw to wood that I wasn't wasting my time. I've seen just about every other wood discussed on here but not willow. I'm going on 2 hours with what's in the stove still plenty of wood and the secondaries are going crazy! Looks like I found my shoulder season wood

 

[WiscWoody]

I've been letting the White and Yellow Birch lay to rot in my two acres of woods since it punks up quickly if not split right away and I have too much wood as it is. We have lost many Birch up here since a drought in '07 made them go suicidal and give off that smell that Bronze Birch Borers can't resist.

 

[Sodbuster]

I burned some for the first time the other night, took down a willow, and it seemed like a waste to not use it. I intended it for shoulder season, and for shoulder season only. I wasn't impressed.

 

[Badger]

I burn about a cord of poplar a year in the shoulder season. It works great when the highs are over 50 and I just need a fire at night to keep the chill off.

I have half a cord of willow stacked up for next year, it was lighter green from a standing tree than my oak is two years seasoned. In not holding out much hope for it.

 

[Hatrackr]

I was actually surprised, I put in 2 big splits last night at 8 the secondaries were really firing at 10 when I went to bed at 7 this morning I had hot coals- not like I do with hardwood but for shoulder season I'll take it!

 

[firefighterjake]

I've been letting the White and Yellow Birch lay to rot in my two acres of woods since it punks up quickly if not split right away and I have too much wood as it is. We have lost many Birch up here since a drought in '07 made them go suicidal and give off that smell that Bronze Birch Borers can't resist.

Understandable . . . but yellow birch is actually a pretty decent wood . . . quite a bit better than white birch if I remember correctly.

 

[firefighterjake]

Poplar, pine (all softwoods in my area actually) and willow . . . if they're quick and easy to grab . . . do so. Good for kindling and shoulder season fires. I wouldn't go out of my way for these types of wood though.