Free willow worth taking

[fsk2]

Adds on craigs list offering free willow and free pine.
Typically go after hardwood, ash and maple, cherry, but free wood is free wood.

Should I go after it or is it not worth the effort.

Thanks

 

[savageactor7]

Welcome to the site woodhog.

We burn willow but only because it's an easy take. It's an excellent for cold mornings and shoulder season...you don't need much of it. I guess it would depend on how how easy it is to grab.

 

[SolarAndWood]

We burn willow as well but it comes from a 1/4 mile down the road and is usually already blocked in a place I can back my trailer to. I can be back with a cord in half an hour or so. I also grab pine when it is easy. I have a little more than a cord drying now that I split small for quick fire revitalization.

 

[firefighterjake]

Free wood is free wood in my humble opinion . . . but that said, willow typically is not a highly desirable wood as it tends to burn up quick . . . as Savage mentioned, it's good for the shoulder season fires and for a quick fire to warm things up on cold mornings so if it's free and easy to grab and you have the space I would grab it . . . but I don't think I would want to have my entire winter's worth of wood be all willow.

 

[mayhem]

Hmmm...free wood that you can use for quick heat and save your noce hardwood for colder weather? What are you doing on the internet? Go get your free wood!

Seriously though, unless its a pain to get to, is rotten or infested, I'd take it.

 

[Vic99]

I've burned a lot of both.

If free wood is tough to come by in your situation, take it. If you know that you're going to have access to more wood (potentially denser species) in the future and you are not desperate, hold off. Free wood availability, of course, depends on where you live, potential reliable supplies, how much time you have, and what you are willing to do.

Personally, if I was limited by distance or storage space, and I could only take some of the wood, I'd take the pine over the willow. Pine seasons faster and doesn't smell bad. BTUs are about the same, but most pine species are a bit higher. Pine is good shoulder season wood and is also good for getting a fire going. Just don't fill up your stove completely with pine on the first go. Pine burns hot. Experiment and see what makes sense for your set up to avoid overfiring.

If you split that pine this month to small or medium splits, it should be ready by December. Smaller is better for quick seasoning.

Elm (tough to split, only mod BTUs, and takes forever to dry) and willow are 2 species that I pass up now because I am 2 years ahead and I end up with many scrounging opportunities. This is because of where I live, because I pay attention, and my wife is understanding that I am boarder line obsessed with my semi new hobby.

 

[gzecc]

Unless your desperate for wood, I'd would not get it. Its too much work! Its the same amount of work for high or low BTU's. Choose high every time. More and better will come.

 

[LLigetfa]

Willow is a swamp wood that grows fast and is mostly water. I heard it's worse than Poplar and not worth the effort. It just eats up your time and space for the better woods.

 

[burntime]

I agree with LLigetfa, a lot of work for little reward. Pass on the willow and keep looking.

 

[savageactor7]

LLigetfa reminded me of the time I cut down about 40 willows on the advice of a DEC officer that was on site to give me a free beaver trap permit.

He said I could drain this perennially wet standing water area if I just cut down all the willows there. I did as he advised and found that the sun would evaporate 10x+ the amount of water any tree would drink. Year after I cut all those trees was the first time it was ever passable to wheeled vehicle traffic without getting stuck.

 

[mayhem]

I burned about 3/4 cord of willow last year. It was felled in late spring, split and stacked in July and burned in November. Really stinky for the first couple weeks of seasoning and then the smell goes away...burned nice and clean, no hissing, no heavy creosote or tarry windows on the stove and plenty of heat.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I burned about 3/4 cord of willow last year. It was felled in late spring, split and stacked in July and burned in November. Really stinky for the first couple weeks of seasoning and then the smell goes away...burned nice and clean, no hissing, no heavy creosote or tarry windows on the stove and plenty of heat.

I did about the same thing last year except it came down in late February and I never smelled it.

 

[stee6043]

The willows I see around here are all super gnarly, twisted and crazy looking. For the amount of work it would take to process these I'd certainly pass. Just like I pass on pine....but only because I have that luxury for now....

 

[maplewood]

I stay away from the softwood, but mainly because I have lots of hardwood. If I'm burning a light load for the spring/fall, a couple of pieces of nice dry softwood mixed in with hardwood helps start up a cold stove, but if the draft is open too long it gets hot hot fast. It can damage your stove if you burn too much of it. And as others have mentioned, this low btu wood takes up a lot more space than higher btu hardwood.
But it does burn. Give it a go and you'll have the experience we've all had once or twice.

 

[Dune]

Take the pine, leave the willow.

 

[Creek-Chub]

To each his own, I guess. We burned probably half a cord of willow last year. Those October and November "shoulder season" nights and mornings for the most part. The stuff is light, splits easy by hand, and seasons crazy fast - at least as compared to the Oak I burn. The willow was good to go in probably three months. From split to burning, and there was no hissing or other concerns. I certainly wouldn't pay for it, but if the stuff was free and relatively easy to access I certainly wouldn't turn it down.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I had a couple of willows in our woods and just cut them down and left them lay. I'd have to be pretty hard up before I'd choose to cut it up for firewood.

 

[LLigetfa]

The ratio of branches to trunk is way too high on Willow to be worthwhile taking if you have to clean up the branches. Now if it were just trunk rounds bucked to length sitting by the curb, I might stop and think about it for a second but then probably still drive away.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Just about everything I scrounge is bigger diameter. The towns around here take everything up to 6". So, people get that to the curb, then their buddies come and do everything they can with smaller saws. Then, the bigger stuff sits there. I am more than happy to come along and take all the 12"+ diameter stuff no matter what it is as long as I can get my trailer to it and its not rotten. I have two reliable sources of high quality hardwoods. One is an hour away, the other is an hour and a half. They are both pleasant places that we go anyway. However, the local softwoods drastically reduce the amount of hauling every year.

 

[mn_jon]

the only difference between pine&willow;, and other hardwoods is how often you load the stove. I think the distance and how easy the wood is to get out has more to do with it for me. A popple or pine in my yard is as appealing as anything else I have to drive for. I live in northern minnesota and we routinely get -40 or more with windchill. It last for awhile (january+), we heat entirely with the wood everyone else would throw away (pine&popple. It's mostly what's here, and it burns plenty hot.

"Pine - it's not just for November anymore"

new slogan ?


Jon

 

[North of 60]

Your a good man Jon, and behind ya 100%. If it didnt give off heat Id freeze to death. :ahhh:

 

[Dune]

the only difference between pine&willow;, and other hardwoods is how often you load the stove. I think the distance and how easy the wood is to get out has more to do with it for me. A popple or pine in my yard is as appealing as anything else I have to drive for. I live in northern minnesota and we routinely get -40 or more with windchill. It last for awhile (january+), we heat entirely with the wood everyone else would throw away (pine&popple. It's mostly what's here, and it burns plenty hot.

"Pine - it's not just for November anymore"

new slogan ?


Jon

Pine and poplar are both well worth burning. Willow is not.