Is willow worth burning?

[pabst79]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has experience with splitting/burning willow? I have access to about 3 full cord for free and its super easy to get at, however I'm not familar with it. ??

[stumper]

It is worth what you are paying for it.  I would burn it to dispose of it but I would not waste fuel or time to get it to burn. 

[pabst79]

Thanks for the reply, I assume your saying its going to be soft or punky in the center and pain to split?

[woodmills1]

smells like urine when it burns

[pabst79]

Okay, i won't even mess with it.

[Al_Smith]

It's low btu but like all wood it produces heat .FWIW I have some basswood which has about the same heat value .I burn it .

[pabst79]

I burn birch and aspen for my lower heat starter wood and it works, but if willow smells like urine when burning, I'll look elsewhere.
thanks for the response

[martyinmi]

Willow burns very well in a gasser.
When my dead ash supply runs out in the next decade or so, Willow from my neighbors muck fields fence rows will be my next free fuel for home heat.
I burned a little bit of it this winter, and I could have easily gotten 24 hour burns out of it had I wanted.

Makes me wonder whether those BTU ratings for the different species of wood are as accurate and updated as they ought to be. I guess I don't know whether those who come up with the BTU ratings include the smoke given off during combustion as a potential fuel source, as our gassers perform better with smokier wood species.

I've burned walnut,ash,hickory,oak,elm,willow,birch,poplar,boxelder,hard and soft maple,etc., and it all burns fine, and the burn times don't necessarily reflect what btu charts imply.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm..... ???

To get back to the original question, the answer would be "yes" from me, as long as it's well seasoned, and more importantly, free! 8)

[thecfarm]

I saw a bunch of weeping willow at the dump. I have my own wood,no need to go to other places to get it.

[trapper]

normally splits easy.  I use it and dont notice any bad smell. Most of what i get is dead standing with the bark off.  Burns good with little ash but wouldnt go very far to get it.

[doctorb]

Listed with other softwoods when comparing BTU value.  If it's seasoned well, it will burn OK.  While I prefer the hardwoods, throwing peerfectly good fuel away becasue the BTU value is less than optimal makes little sense to me now.  If our OWB members in Colorado can burn spruce all winter and have little issues, then why throw out wood thats burnable?  Just dry it well to maximize the heat output and possibly help decrease the creosote buildup.

[r.man]

I knew an older guy that would burn poplar when he had access to maple but he had to cut the poplar up anyway to get it off his fields pastures and roads. If labour time is not an issue the important word is "free". Maybe you should try a small amount first to see if the smell is a problem.

[pabst79]

Well r man, your advice sounds best! I'll try a bit and see how it works. No harm no foul.

[LAZERDAN]

Martyinmi speaks only the truth in post no.7
  I burn willow any time I can get it.  Because it has a bad reputation, it light, its NOT oak,maple,hickory,elm,locust but if it's cut up and frree  it's for me,  I burn about 20 cords a year and 40% is usually willow.  The big chunchs are a little intimadating, but a wedge and a sledge you can quarter them in no time.  If you have to go and cut it down and buck it up and its big it's not worth it to me, but when the tree trimmers drop it in the yard already cut up, you  bet i'm burn'n it.  Don't store it long, don't let it get wet,  don't let it lay on the ground.  It will burn wonderful for you.  When it's below zero I do a 50/50 willow and oak mix, the oak will provide coals , you will find willow buns all up and has no staying power,it's a very fine ash. No big deal !       Try some if ya don't like it don't do it next year                Lazerdan   

[LAZERDAN]

No bad smell ?  Now cottonwood thats a different story ( PU ) It smell like wood,  All wood has different smells.  We could start a post on wood smell, I did'nt search but i bet'n there has been talk here.                  Lazerdan 

[Al_Smith]

I always figured a BTU is a BTU .You obviously don't load the stove down at zero degrees for the night full of bass wood or tulip poplar but during waking hours it's not a big deal to toss in a stick or two every hour .

Now Swampish has a thing for maple but the rest of us poor folk have to get by with whatever we have . ;D On the other hand us flat landers have hickory for those nights that could freeze the business off a brass mokey .Poor old Swamp only has his maple . 8)

[DDDfarmer]

I will burn just about whatever is available BUT I will not split willow. The trees around here have such a twist to them that after you split them, they can't be piled up right. If it will fit in the door I cut it up, larger than that its scrap.

I think our willow has even less BTU's than bam wood, could be wrong but that's just what it seems like.

[SwampDonkey]

Now Swampish has a thing for maple but the rest of us poor folk have to get by with whatever we have . ;D Poor old Swamp only has his maple . 8)

It's a matter a reastate my friend. I store my wood in the house and if it were willow and aspen instead of maple and beech I would be frozen solid by mid January. I'm not like some folks that leave their wood out in the snow and rain and 2 or 3 times the volumes required to heat the house. I've got other things to do with my time. :D

Is 'bam wood' slang for balm-of-gilead  aka balsam poplar?

[DDDfarmer]

Opps forgot the " L "   ya its balm- of- gilead or go-fer-wood or bam, all sounds the same doesn't it?

[stumper]

My time has value.  Gas and diesel costs need to be factored as well.  I see no need to travel even a couple of miles to get willow to burn.  I think my time and expenses would out weigh the BTU's gained.  Now I would burn it it I needed to clean it up off my land, and I would burn it if I got paid to clean it up off someone elses land. 

Now what if an arborist were to drop it off in my wood yard?  Well I guess that would depend on the arborist and the long term prospects.  Would it mean future good wood for free?  Would it mean future stump grinding jobs for me?  If yes I would probably take it, cut it up and burn it.

[gspren]

  Maybe there are different species of willow but the one and only willow that I cut and burnt just wasn't worth the time and effort. When it was green it was just as heavy to carry as cherry, worse to split, and when dry it was lighter than poplar and burnt too quick to be worth the effort.

[woodmills1]

I use my willow to make chainsaw cut furniture for the fire pit
couches chairs and even thrones
hack em out with the 660
when they look bad burn em ina pile

[mrcaptainbob]

I didn't measure it pound for pound, but I did have a large amount of willow this past winter to burn. What I found was that at the end of the week I used just about as much willow as I did any of the other species. It did burn fast. It did burn hot. But it appeared to me that it just heated the water up faster. The stove didn't keep on burning it. Just allowed it to flame up when the water temp went down enough. Works the same way with any other species, except other species take longer to 'heat up'. Something akin to a lower flash point it seems to me. I did like it because of the fine ash left. Just like burning ash. Oak and hickory have to be stirred to get the coals to completely burn to ash.

[Al_Smith]

  Oak and hickory have to be stirred to get the coals to completely burn to ash.

Might be so in an OWB but it a stove they burn to powder .Actually everything burns to powder .

[Ianab]

It's not that willow wont burn, and once dry, pound for pound it probably puts out a similar amount of heat to other woods. There isn't a big difference between different woods when using that measure.

It's just that green it's VERY wet. So you haul home a heap of green wood, and get less dry wood to burn, by a noticeable amount.

So if you have a willow tree or an Oak or Eucalyptus (both good dense firewoods) you would of course choose to drag the better wood home. Same amount of work, but maybe 2X the dry wood mass to burn, so it's a no brainer which one to choose.

But if the willow is just sitting there, easy to get, or you need to move it anyway, then there is no reason not to dry it and burn it in a fireplace.

There are very few woods that wont burn. Sure some burn better than others, and different styles of fires handle woods differently. Here in NZ the most common firewood is pine, because that's the most common tree, and most sawmills sell slabs and offcuts as cheap firewood. So the fires are designed to burn it properly, and everyone is happy.

Doesn't mean you don't keep your eyes open for a bit of Eucalyptus or Manuka that will burn much longer.  ;)

Ian

[SwampDonkey]

mrcaptainbob,

Seems to me if your getting lumpy charcoal behind and not gray ash, that it's not getting enough air. The denser wood is more energy per volume. There is a distinction here between volume and weight. ;)
I'm not one to ask about OWB's, but my furnace in the basement will turn any of our natives woods to ash. That being said, I like a 7 hour burn and not a 2 hr one. ;)

[Al_Smith]

I give a lot of the lesser BTU woods away for people to use as campfire wood .I do however burn a little of it exception being pine .

Now keep in mind I don't actively pursue the stuff it's just stuff one of the trimmers if they are close might haul off to the land fill .Landfill wood is such a waste .

What's funny though is since this use of outside burners the trimmers can sell the stuff .They don't get a lot out of it but it pays the help and fuel money.Cash deal too--- ;)

[doctorb]

mrcaptainbob,

Seems to me if your getting lumpy charcoal behind and not gray ash, that it's not getting enough air.

I agree.  My oak and locust do form a lump charcoal appearance in my OWB, but just keep right on burning to powdered ash.  The coal bed stirring in my OWB is to assure airflow down through the coal bed, IMO.  So coal stirring may certainly assist more complete combustion, as it helps airflow through the coals, but my hardwood fuel would turn to ash anyway without it, in most situations.

[Al_Smith]

What's kind of funny is one might assume some of those softer woods would split easiley .Not so .

Take something like bass wood ,cotton wood or tulip poplar you can bury an axe the the handle and it won't split .Then you have to unbury the axe .
In a splitter it just fibers so badly you have to run the wedge clear to the end then you might have to sledge hammer the round off because it's like glued together .

[SwampDonkey]

I suppose that wood would make good kindling if you had it instead of cedar. I actually don't need kindling because my wood is dry enough to start with a wad of newspaper. No sizzling/boiling of water to be heard. One less thing to gather.  Oh, I've got some cedar in the basement, but it's the same little pile I put there 20 years ago. I might use one block all fall for the heck of it. :D ;D

[thecfarm]

I use cedar just like I would hard wood for firewood.  ;) I did some cutting in the bog and there was alot dead and some alive. I'm cutting some on the sawmill now.

[SwampDonkey]

I think I'll burn straw this winter. :D

Cedar is nice wood if you can get some with no ants and pencil rot.

[thecfarm]

Let us know how it works out for ya. :D

[SwampDonkey]

Trouble is, I'd have to stuff the barn full. :D

[thecfarm]

You would be surprized on how long cedar last in my OWB. I know I was and still am. Keeps me warm all through those winter nights.

[Al_Smith]

Cedar is nice wood if you can get some with no ants and pencil rot.

Pencil rot Where in the world do you come up with this stuff ? Now I've heard of regional slang but nothing like comes out of that neck of the woods .--mumble ,grumble ,phooey . ;D

[mrcaptainbob]

Yeah, this CB owb will burn just about anything. It's the older style with the door solenoid. Hickory was giving me some grief this winter, as it was the worst in leaving coals. Was disappointed when doing ash removal that there was as much as there was. But, just before adding to the firebox for the night I stirred it up, shoving ash to the back and coals to the front, then  loading the new stuff. Found it didn't matter too much which I picked from the wood stack, willow or oak or whatever, about a mounded over wheelbarrow's worth lasted for an easy twelve hours. I believe my biggest problem is my addiction to cutting. I start on it and it's difficult to go in four hours later for snacks when called.

[SwampDonkey]

Cedar is nice wood if you can get some with no ants and pencil rot.

Pencil rot Where in the world do you come up with this stuff ?

Not from my lips, about every cedar mill up here uses this term in their spec sheet.
And have as long as I can remember.

Go here and use your browser 'find' feature under EDIT and type in NO PENCIL ROT and it will take you to the Hainesville Sawmill. ;D

What it is, is rot the diameter of a pencil or a bit bigger that runs vertical in the log in various diameters and lengths.

[SwampDonkey]

Cfarm, the neighbor uses cedar slabs sometimes in his OWB. He's next to someone with a Woodmizer that saws cedar a couple times a year. Still about 8 cords in his yard pile out of a 12 cord load hauled last fall. It's like burning a stack of newspapers I suppose. If you throw in a bundle it'll burn longer. :D

[thecfarm]

His OWB SHOULD smother the fire out,mine does. I burn cedar that has been dead leaning up against another one for years. I like them,no limbs. Just cut it down and hook onto it and head for the house. I have never really done a side by side test with hardwood and cedar. I know cedar don't last as long,no coals,but I would think it would last as long as fir.  ;D
pencil root? I never sold cedar. Most of mine you can shove your hand up into the first few feet.

[johnjbc]

There must be something special about Willow. If you are making gun powder, Willow charcoal is the best to use.

[Al_Smith]

Long time ago my father had a buddy who ran a line crew for the telephone company .Dear old dad must have had a brain fart because he had them drop off poles and dad cut them to burn in the fire place .I was just a kid at the time .

Good heavens he'd have been better off to fill the hearth with fireworks .Let me tell ya dry cedar really goes off with a show .

[SwampDonkey]

Just like rice crispies: snap, crackle and pop. :D

[Al_Smith]

Oh it will blow a shower of sparks that will blow right though the screen of a fireplace .

I can only think back to early days of split cedar shakes used for  roofing .My heavens if that roof caught ablaze  they would never stand a chance of getting out .

I actually witnessed a large cedar roof dairy barn catch afire when I was about 13 years old .Just the radiant heat from that thing caused a house over 400 feet away to burn to the ground .Never before or since have I seen a fire burn like that nor do I ever care to .You talk about hell , fire and brimstone ,that was it .

[woodmills1]

sure is something special think aspirin

Plant extracts, including willow bark and spiraea, of which salicylic acid was the active ingredient, had been known to help alleviate headaches, pains, and fevers since antiquity

but it still smells like urine when it is burned

[beenthere]

but it still smells like urine when it is burned

Not too helpful, as urine from different animal species smells different (my experience is not too broad here but think cow vs. horse for starters), and peoples smellers' also interpret odors differently.

Some can't stand the odor of bacterially infected oak, while others kind of like that smell. Go figure.  ;)

[pabst79]

  So is that why the swamp oak from the BRF state forest has that special odor? I think it smells kinda nice and my wife not so much. Hmmm

[woodmills1]

stinky cheese oak or smelly feet oak smells bad just sitting there
willow doesnt smell bad till I burn it

[SwampDonkey]

When rock maple and beech ferment a little, they smell like a cow shed. ;D

[Al_Smith]

I have never smelled a cow shed that smelled like maple ,it smelled like cow .

[SwampDonkey]

Well, that makes sense.  ;D

[Al_Smith]

You want something that smells bad get a wiff of half rotten oak saw dust .It would make that cow shed smell like a lilac by comparrison.

[woodmills1]

try to pick up some saw dust close to top soil then take a bucket and push it away   o man that be some stinky stuff



so who is next stinky :D :D :D :D :D :D

[SwampDonkey]

I find that wood gone soily smells like good rich earth.  ;D