After moving my split/seasoned walnut onto the porch I was left with about 3 wheelbarrows of the bark. Seems like a waste of heat to not burn it. thoughts?
Keep the bark?
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After splitting or in the spring when cleaning up around the pile I dry chips, bark, small pieces as starter and if there is a lot (wheel barrows full ) I fire up the stove using just dry bark and chips.
I haul it all back into the woods. The crap is too smoky for my tastes. I keep all of the splitter debris for kindling but the bark goes back home to fertilize more trees.
I put an ad in the "free" section of Craigslist: Free pinion bark, great for mulching gardens, waterproofing muddy walkways, etc. It was gone in two days 
Bark is kind of ashy when burned. ISome of it does make decent kindling. I just dump all the extra across the street with the leaves = compost.
BrotherBart said:
My thoughts exactly. Too smokey to burn unless you have no neighbors. I use it almost like mulch, to keep the weeds from growing under or around my stacked wood (I always put down a layer of bark first before adding pallets, and stacking the wood.
Red oak bark makes great fuel once dry. Other bark, if it falls off during splitting, I generally pitch over the back retaining wall.
I guess I was thinking more along the lines of what's left over when splitting, although bark is among it.
The smaller you split, the more you have.
The smaller you split, the more you have.
"After moving my split/seasoned walnut onto the porch I was left with about 3 wheelbarrows of the bark. Seems like a waste of heat to not burn it. thoughts?"
I remove all the bark prior to stacking and put it on the ground between rows. It keeps the weeds down, there is less mess bringing wood in and I find the wood dries quicker and holds less kooties.
I remove all the bark prior to stacking and put it on the ground between rows. It keeps the weeds down, there is less mess bringing wood in and I find the wood dries quicker and holds less kooties.
Agz,
I use that as an integral part of my starting/kindling. Without it I would be using much more paper and making splinters of wood to create that same kindling. I also use a firestarted the assist in the starting.
I use that as an integral part of my starting/kindling. Without it I would be using much more paper and making splinters of wood to create that same kindling. I also use a firestarted the assist in the starting.
My father-in-law has schooled me in just about every aspect in wood burning, right down on what to do with all the pieces left over from splitting. He ran three wood stoves in his farm house in Southern VT for 28 years before giving it all up for a warmer climate.
What he did was take all the pieces and put them in long shallow card board boxes and stack them in the loft of his barn for the summer. The stuff was so dry from the summer heat that you didn't need much paper to get it going. I have a large 2 car detached garage with walk up steps to the loft. I have been putting all my pieces up in the loft for three seasons and have had great success with it. It has to be cardboard boxes though. Plastic containers don't let the moisture escape and it becomes moldy. As far as insect issues I have not had any problems doing this.
What he did was take all the pieces and put them in long shallow card board boxes and stack them in the loft of his barn for the summer. The stuff was so dry from the summer heat that you didn't need much paper to get it going. I have a large 2 car detached garage with walk up steps to the loft. I have been putting all my pieces up in the loft for three seasons and have had great success with it. It has to be cardboard boxes though. Plastic containers don't let the moisture escape and it becomes moldy. As far as insect issues I have not had any problems doing this.
I don't like burning bark.
I work for the city government and I get the parks dept to bring all the wood down to our work site. There the logs sit for a year or two and most of the bark falls off before I even process it for wood burning.
Any bark that makes it to my yard hits the campfire ring and that is about it.
I work for the city government and I get the parks dept to bring all the wood down to our work site. There the logs sit for a year or two and most of the bark falls off before I even process it for wood burning.
Any bark that makes it to my yard hits the campfire ring and that is about it.
I use the larger splitting debris, which includes bark, either as kindling or as mulch in the garden patch. Real small bits and sawdust go into the garden where I'll till them in to add biomass to the soil. Big peices of bark go in my "chunk box" with other bits of wood that are large enough to pick up, but to small to be treated as splits - say small fist size up to about 12" or so. In part because I had a bunch of splits that I had to cut down when going from my smoke dragon to the Encore, I have a HUGE pile of chunk wood this season, approx 1.5 cords worth! I will probably burn most of it this spring as the stuff on top is mostly still green.
Gooserider
Gooserider
If the bark comes off easily while splitting or stacking, or handling, I pitch it into the woods. I may be way off on this but, 
I thought I read someplace that the bark of the tree was like a natural fire retardant and did not readily burn. So, I thought to myself, :shut: "Self, why do you want to put something in the stove that don't burn good?" Well, me being the smart person I am :-/ said, "I dunno." So, I pitch it. :ahhh:
I thought I read someplace that the bark of the tree was like a natural fire retardant and did not readily burn. So, I thought to myself, :shut: "Self, why do you want to put something in the stove that don't burn good?" Well, me being the smart person I am :-/ said, "I dunno." So, I pitch it. :ahhh:- Status
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