what wood to burn

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oneway

New Member
Jan 25, 2014
11
hilton ny
hi folks. after my first season of burning, i cant believe i waited so long to get a stove. now that the cold weather is over i was wondering if i can burn 'junk' wood? i have access to alot of willow and boxelder. i have used these i my outdoor firepit and they seem to burn ok. are they ok to use in the stove? i would like to load in the a.m. , run the stove to about 500 then let it die down. just enough to take the chill away. still close to 30 at night here. again, thanks for the help / advice during my rookie season, GREAT forum, oneway.
 
Assuming its seasoned, absolutely!
Your stove won't be offended. ;lol
 
I don't see why not. This time of year, it'd be a waste to burn prime wood just to take the chill off and chase the damp away.

Folks think I'm nuts for working up sweetgum but fall and spring are for burning junk wood. Save the good stuff for when it's really cold out. :)
 
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Agree with Fred and the others. Burn primo wood in the middle of winter, burn less than ideal stuff now, in early fall, and outdoors. Right now I'm burning some pine and maple that's bit punky, but all I want now is to take the chill off and this wood will do that.
 
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Early fall and late spring = burning the "junk" wood like pine, poplar, etch.
 
You mentioned the two worst firewoods known. By all means dry it and burn it though.
 
I burned 1/2 cord of Quacking aspen last fall. Then I burned 1/2 cord of basswood this spring. The basswood is not worth the work but it did keep the good wood pile from shrinking. Aspen is good stuff in the boiler. Fast coals, fast heat and dry as can bee. Just throw a load of it in and ya keep the floors warm with my hydronic and keeps my water heater hot.
 
what wood to burn = the dry kind ::-)
 
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hi folks. after my first season of burning, i cant believe i waited so long to get a stove. now that the cold weather is over i was wondering if i can burn 'junk' wood? i have access to alot of willow and boxelder. i have used these i my outdoor firepit and they seem to burn ok. are they ok to use in the stove? i would like to load in the a.m. , run the stove to about 500 then let it die down. just enough to take the chill away. still close to 30 at night here. again, thanks for the help / advice during my rookie season, GREAT forum, oneway.

Welcome to the forum oneway.

Box elder is good in spring and fall for sure. You can burn the willow too but it is one of the poorest. We do have some willow here but although I've dropped a few of the trees, they still lay where they were dropped.

One thing to keep in mind too is that it really does not take any longer to cut the better wood than the poorer wood and it takes a lot more of the poor wood to heat the home. This is why many will stick to oak or locust or hard maple, or ash etc.
 
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Lots of ash and cherry on my property I'm a lucky guy. I got a lot from jobs this past year also. Free wood is me wood
 
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The folks had a dead mimosa fall in their yard. I cleaned it up for them and gonna try it. It's bone dry, <20. Anybody have any experience with it?
 
Lots of ash and cherry on my property I'm a lucky guy. I got a lot from jobs this past year also. Free wood is me wood

I feel very lucky too. Have 100 acres of cherry, soft maple, pine, all oaks, hickory, beech. Only thing we don't have is ash. I've found one or two on the property and they are huge! 40+" diameter. Is it kind of odd I don't have very much ash or am I just not in an ash area? Central ms is my location
 
With that selection you have I wouldn't mind not having much ash :) Not sure about your location maybe someone else could answer?
 
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The folks had a dead mimosa fall in their yard. I cleaned it up for them and gonna try it. It's bone dry, <20. Anybody have any experience with it?
Mimosa is harder than tulip poplar, but not anything like a good hardwood. Not extremely dense, but decent. I wouldn't drive far to get it, but if it is next door, I would take it. I would burn it before I burned red cedar or poplar (though it dries just as quick as those woods).

I do burn red cedar cause it smells so good and dries so fast.......
 
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