How long does punky wood take to dry?...if ever?

[dboone]

I have a lot of soft wood that is pretty punky. This has been sitting on the ground in a pile for an uknown length of time. I am pitching some of the stuff that is really rotten, but some looks like it might be ok if it would just dry out. The core & parts of this wood is very soft and can be dug out with your finger. I don't mind waiting a year or so if it would eventually be usable. Will this stuff ever be good and if so how long does it take? Even after has dried out will it increase the creosote produced?

Thanks,

 

[branchburner]

The labor involved for the potential BTUs is probably not worthwhile. On the other hand, if you need some exercise, you could split it up and see how it dries over the summer. I will save punky wood if there is some solid core attached, if only as backup wood of last resort. It is good filler for keeping a small fire when it's in the 40s or 50s out, as long as it is completely dry.

 

[LLigetfa]

If it's real punky, it might not split very nicely. Tends to blow out the side. I've taken real punky wood and laid it down to split rather than splitting it on the end grain.

Punky wood does dry out faster than green wood because the cell structure is is broken down allowing the moisture out easily.

 

[Beanscoot]

I second what LLigetfa says, but if you have space to keep it, or want to burn it to get rid of it, you might as well use it. It will give off heat proportional to its weight. One thing you have to be mindful of is to not let it get wind blown rain on it in storage, as it will soak up water like a sponge.

 

[savageactor7]

We probably burn more than most people do and it doesn't take long at all to dry once it's split and off the ground. As was mentioned it can crumble when splitting but it a good shoulder season wood. C&S;out of the swamp and 3 weeks exposed to the sun and it's light as a feather. Good for campfires mostly we don't go out of our way for it's a woodlot housekeeping thing.

Unless it's in your own backyard it's probably not worth the effort but we make it work for us.

 

[lexybird]

i have some im using ,like mentioned the cell structure makes it dry really quick especially near a hot stove ,it has little mass and offers shortlived btus ,
this cherry i have burns quick and fairly hot but doesnt last very long and makes a mess in my wood racks downstairs
it split like butter pretty much blew apart first strong whack id only keep the logs/splits that have some decent size weight to them and arent
falling part rotten .some of mine still had very large white meal worm familes in the center !

 

[Backwoods Savage]

If we find any punky wood, there is only one place it goes; on the brush pile. It is not worth time or effort to put something in the stove that will more than likely just sit there and smolder.

 

[spiffy1]

I've been experimenting with some of the same type stuff and just a couple days ago posted a thread ranting about it. Even saving just the densest stuff [though I know, it needs more drying time], in all but the hotest fire, it seems to take forever to get up to temperature, smoldering the whole time, then poof: gone. Almost negative BTUs!

My (somewhat humorous, but likely not too far off!) conclusion [I think Backwoods Savage responded similarly in that thread too], was that I could put an excersise bike by the stove, use the same time & effort pedalling the bike as preparing the nasty wood & constantly feeding it to the stove, and wind up putting out more BTUs. However, I don't think I'll mention that plan at my next physical; it'd probably be doctor's orders! eek!

Perhaps a bit more drying and I can see where it might have the uses others noted, but I sure hope I don't find any more. Gotta love splitting into ant and worm condos at that; YUMMY!

 

[spiffy1]

Oh, I should note too, I took out a couple sections of stove pipe just yesterday for a peek. I've only burned enough of that stuff to partially fill a 5ft tractor bucket and my pipes went from clean on twice as much good wood burnt to just nasty now. Of course, I have been experimenting, so with much of that my temps fell back way too fast for any chance of a clean burn.

 

[LLigetfa]

When I was stacking my wood outdoors on the ground, I used the punky stuff as sacrifice wood next to the ground and put my good wood on top of it. When I got my woodshed built and I dismantled my old woodpiles, I let the punky stuff dry and I split it up and burned it. I wouldn't go out of my way to get it for firewood but since I had to clean it up anyway, it ended up in my stove.