Nails/Metal and Cat

[Brick (ware)House]

I have some pallets that either need to be thrown away or burned. I'd rather spend my time splitting and stacking real wood than pulling nails out of pallets so they will get tossed if the nails can't go into the firebox. Is there any risk of damaging the catalyst by having nails and/or other metal in the stove?

 

[begreen]

Good question. I was wondering about that recently myself. My guess was that straight steel or iron nails wouldn't be much different from the steel in the stove. But zinc plated (galvanized) nails concerned me. Not sure about that. Anyhow this was just a guess. It would be good to ask the folks that make the cats.

 

[Ashful]

This has been discussed before, without any real chemist (hey , isn't Adios Pantalones a chemist?) to weigh in on the matter. The informal consensus opinion was that a few nails here and there were probably no harm, but if your primary wood was pallets, there might be some concern.

 

[Jags]

But zinc plated (galvanized) nails concerned me.

Agreed. Plain steel - no problem. Plated - not sure. Zinc is some really nasty stuff when heated.

 

[Highbeam]

I recall that the zinc on the nails is a real problem and it's not worth the risk to burn the nails. So here's what I do, I chop them up so that the nails stay on the side and center structural 2x4 and only burn the flat 1x4 type material from between the "stringers".

Just don't burn the nails. You can get lots of wood from the non-nailed portions. Saves your saw too.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yup. Just use a saw and cut out that part that has the nails. No problem then. And yes, zinc is bad for the cats.

 

[GENECOP]

Just did a search and found this thread...you guys have covered just about everything...anyway not far from my place is a pallet company.....they leave CRATES of wood out every day, the wood comes in two forms, Blocks that measure 5" long x 4"x4" approx.....these blocks are yellow pine, Oak, Maple...lots of hardwood.....the other form is Boards, they measure about 44" in length and vary in thickness, again lots of oak, yellow pine, maple etc....There is a group of us who do drive bys and load up, the crates get sucked up pretty quick in the winter, much slower in the summer...The wood is DRY, very dry....I use this wood to start, or if I want a quick hot burn, 10-12 block with some split oak goes up quick and hot...the only downside is the Nails, when I clean out the ash it is littered with nails, the nails actually make the ash harder, they almost become part of the ash, some parts are almost blocky..I have no idea if they are Zinc, steel, galvanized...whatever, never gave it much thought..So the question is aside from maybe needing to clean more often what is the danger or harm of burning nails? I have the Greenwood 100.