Willow Seasoning Time

[KenLockett]

Made a score today of some freshly cut willow rounds. will be CSS in single row from Mid July to Mid November with average of 6-8 hours of sunshine per day with good breeze. Do you guys think this stuff will be ready to burn for shoulder season purposes this fall (15-25% MC). Splits are a little larger than I typically do but the stuff is pretty lite and I find with the softer woods the larger splits seem to burn a little better in my gassification boiler. Any feedback appreciated.

 

[Higgs]

I wouldn't count on it.

 

[blades]

I have an acquaintance with a gassification unit says willow plugs up the jets because it creates too much ash. Willow sucks up a lot of water, likely will not be ready by this fall, and the dang stuff is like a sponge when rained on as well. I still have a 6'high by 10'dia ( cut and split)pile of the stuff from the last one I took down 3 years ago. More than likely it is going to be fed through the chipper just to get rid of it, as it is mostly getting punky. I have burned it in shoulder seasons and it does leave a lot of fluffy ash in the 30nc stove. Only other use is fire pits. Heck it is not even much good to make pellets out of because of the very low resin content. So all in all My assessment of willow is not worth the time and effort if other species are available . I would rather fight with Box Elder or Mountain Ash than deal with Willow again.

 

[JA600L]

Willow is junk firewood. No matter how you go about it.

 

[Missouri Frontier]

Willow is junk firewood

second. amen. Praise the lord and pass that man some real firewood.

 

[Higgs]

Split it, dry it, burn it. It gets my stove as hot as anything else, just not for as long. Free is good!

 

[JA600L]

Your neighbors will love the scent.

 

[KenLockett]

No neighbors nearby but what exactly does the scent smell like?

 

[arbutus]

It has a sharp acrid smell. The smell does go away when it burns down to coals, but with willow, the coals don't last long. I burned a lot of willow because I had a HUGE tree taken down in my back yard and couldn't get rid of it any other way ... 12 full cords a year for a few years in a row. Some of the willow pieces that were split from the lower trunk sections never dried out, even after sitting for five years. The stuff that did, shed 2/3 or more of the original weight. Figure a year to dry smaller splits, two or more to dry larger splits, and you need to have it covered because it will absorb every drop of rain that falls on the pile.

 

[tsquini]

My biggest issue with willow is when it burns it spits out sparks. I would not recommend it for a fireplace. It well dry quick if you keep it covered, but not 3 months quick. You might be able to burn it at the end of the burn season in February and March 2015. For sure next fall 2015 it will be ready.

 

[Paulywalnut]

It's free . I wouldn't burn it in my stove but a boiler might be ok

 

[wildlingabovethebridge]

I know guys with outdoor burners that say any wood is good wood. Maybe you could find a friend like that and trade him some?

 

[JA600L]

I'm not saying it won't burn. All I'm saying is it isn't worth the work to process it. I use it occasionally in my 2nd back up stove when temps hit 0 so I don't waste my good wood. If I feed it constantly it burns enough to get the stove temps up. To keep it going I would have to fill it every hour. I get the stove hot enough to raise the house temperature then the primary stove takes it from there.