What to do with your slab wood........

[wiam]

My slab rack is made out of wood.  If the chainsaw drops too far when making a cut it only marks the wood. 

I have no experience with other outdoor boilers.  When I bought my central boiler the dealer told me it was like no wood stove I had run before.(He was right)  Green hardwood is my choice this time of year. 

Will

[Robert Long]

Some more great ideas 8)

Thanks to all of you who have offered suggestions so far!

This rack I am planning I hope will be mounted to wheels and a hitch so I can move it around with the tractor.

I will get pictures after it is built and when I figure out how to post the pics :-[ :-\ :'(

Robert

[jpgreen]

     
                                                                                                                                    I burn the most of my slabs there pine and most people want burn pine   :(                                 

I'll use pine slabs for firewood any day, as it burns hot, and has no ash hardly cause it's all sap wood.  I actually prefer it to many types of firewood these days, slabs that is.  Easy to stack, easy to carry, and the greener stuff mixed with dry makes for a long lasting hot fire..  8)

[SwampDonkey]

Maybe enough of it could be used to influence the outside air temperature. Well, maybe in the vicinity of the yard. ;D

[LT40HDD51]

When I worked in Halifax, the HRM was under quarantine for the brown longhorn spruce beetle. We bought our chipper for that job, chipped a lot of contaminated slabs to be composted.

[SwampDonkey]

[Dana]

FarmerDoug, Are you burning pallets? If so, how many does it take for say a 12 hour burn?

[farmerdoug]

Dana,  I burn pallets in the fall.  What I do is replace the pallets that I use in the greenhouses every year so I have a big pile of them in the fall.  At that time I am just heating the house and if it gets down to 25°F running the heat lines in the greenhouses to keep them from freezing.  I can heat with about 4-40x48 pallets cut in half for 12-18 hours.  At this time I am heating one greenhouse so pallets will not do it.  If I was heating just a house then I could burn pallets most of the winter unless it is as cold as it has been lately.  Burning pallets would work in our house down to about 12°F but our house is old and poorly insulated.  I know a few people that heat with pallets most of the winter around here.

Are you thinking of burning pallets?  They are easy to find around here in the spring, summer, and fall but when it drops below freezing everyone grabs them.

Farmerdoug

[slowzuki]

I spoke to a fellow who chips slabs and uses them in a stroker chip boiler for his house.  He hires the chipping to a neighbour who has a bigger version of the same boiler and uses it to heat his house, shop, and barns.

The first fellow bought his boiler in 1989 and it has been running ever since with very little maintenance.  It has a forced draft fan that blasts air at the chip cup like a pellet stove then when no heat is demanded it just pushes a few chips out every 10 minutes as a pilot.

[farmerdoug]

Slowzuki,  Do you remember what the make of the guys boiler was?

Farmerdoug

[clif]

There was a post last Feb titled " firewood jigs" That had some good ideas made from metal and one that I made from wood.  I do not know how to reference, but maybe some one else does. Clif

[SwampDonkey]

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[url=https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=16462.0] Firewood Jig[/url]


Firewood Jig

[Dana]

Doug, I hadn't thought of heating with pallets until you mentioned it. There are a lot of throw-out pallets  at the stores in our area. free for the taking. Sounds like it could be an alternative when wanted. Just have to watch the nails in the ashes.

[Engineer]

I've got a local feed store that uses and gets rid of a lot of pallets.  Usually the owner just builds a big bonfire with 'em in one of his fields, but I can get 'em for nothing if I want them.  I usually pile up a couple dozen, use 'em for firewood, use 'em for stacking firewood on, and just general convenience, keeping stuff off the ground.  For firewood, I head out with a cordless sawzall and sharp blade, just cut 'til the battery dies.  I can get through five or six pallets, don't have to worry about killing a saw chain, gives me something to do while tending the fire.

[farmerdoug]

In Michigan a big pile of pallets burning will get you a visit from the fire dept and the DNR.  It is illegal to open burn processed products in Michigan.  Logs, stumps and brush are ok but no lumber, paper, trash, etc, And maybe slabs too.  You can burn pallets for a small bonfire for a party though.  The fines have been quite big for companies her in Mcihigan doing that.  When I first started as a carpenter a builder had a pile of scrap from several houses in one pile.  One Saturday while we were framing a house the builder set the pile on fire.  Within 20 minutes there was 6 fire depts there putting it out.  The fire depts charged him around 10,000 dollars for putting it out and the DNR nailed him for 20 grand in fines.  On top of this he had a half burnt pile to load in dumpster to get rid of too. :

Farmerdoug

[Robert Long]

THANKS SWAMPDONKY FOR SHOWING ME THE SITE ON SLAB WOOD FRAMES....

THATS WHAT I NEEDED TO SEE AND IT GAVE ME LOTS OF GREAT IDEAS FOR MINE.

ROBERT ;D

[Qweaver]

[quote
In Michigan a big pile of pallets burning will get you a visit from the fire dept and the DNR.  It is illegal to open burn processed products in Michigan. 

I could not live in a place that would not allow me to burn clean materials like pallets.   I know people that burn tires and all sorts of trash at night so that the smoke can not be seen and that sucks...but pallets?

[Engineer]

Yeah, that's a bit off base.  Almost "californian" if you ask me.   :D

I do know that you need a burn permit from the local fire dept. to burn a brush pile, which may include any kind of untreated or unpainted wood - regardless of where it is on the "processed" scale.  Stumps, pallets, brush, slabs, leaves, ornate chestnut crown moldings, whatever.   ;D   Plywood and other termite barf with lots of glue, is a bit of a gray area.   As far as pressure-treated lumber scraps, I hate to bring them to the transfer station and toss 'em in a dumpster, because I know that the dumpsters head for an incinerator/energy plant in NY, so I toss small scraps (1 or 2 board feet total) in the outdoor boiler about once a week.  At that rate it'll take me decades to go through a fair size pile, but it beats the alternatives.

I actually don't "open burn" or bury stumps either.  I have a big pile that has been sitting in the open for a couple of years, and every so often I'll drag a big one out of the pile and hack it up for firewood.  Burns forever in the wood boiler.

[stonebroke]

treated wood is poison. By putting any amount in your boiler you are contaminating all you ashes. You can kill livestock by putting the ashes anyplace they can get to. I would rather put it in the trash and let people Handle it the way it should be.

[farmerdoug]

I do not know what basis they have on controling what is burnt here but that is the law.  They will nail you anywhere in the state for it.  The wood around here anyways is ground and sent to electric generators plants.  It is ground for mulch too.  Dumping wood in the dump is banned also.  After all we have to save our dumps for Canada and other states to fill. :

I burn just about all my wood scraps in the boiler too.  Brush is piled up near the woods for the rabbits or left were it is cut in the woods.  Treated wood I do not burn in the boiler.  Burning piles of wood is really stupid in this state as many people heat with wood and will gladly take it for free.  I know quite a few people that burn pallets in boilers and regular stoves.

Look at Bibbyman,  He has everyone wanting slabs and he is alot farther south of me.

Farmerdoug

[Engineer]

treated wood is poison. By putting any amount in your boiler you are contaminating all you ashes. You can kill livestock by putting the ashes anyplace they can get to. I would rather put it in the trash and let people Handle it the way it should be.

I did a bunch of quick research online since you posted this.  I guess you're right, I shouldn't burn ANY of it.  However - it's going to sit in a landfill and become a contaminant there as well.  Either way, whether the chemicals leach out over time in the landfill, or become concentrated in ash and THEN put in the landfill, it's an issue.  I can tell you right now, my local transfer station will NOT accept the stuff in either the brush pile or anywhere except in the regular trash truck.  Where does it go?  An incinerator.  I hope the incinerator can take care of the chemicals, otherwise by not taking care of my own problem, I've created a problem somewhere else. 

The solution, of course, is not to use pressure-treated wood at all, ever.  But I have a pile of it that I've been slowly picking away at for five years, and I've probably gotten rid of less than 20 lb of the stuff over that period of time.  I really don't know what else to do.  At least the ash won't be mixed in with compost or anything.

[stonebroke]

It is still safer to have it in a lined landfill than out in the enviroment especially your environment.

Stonebroke

[Ianab]

The problem with the treated wood ash is that the chromium / arsenic / copper that was used to preserve it is left in the ash after the wood is burnt. Buried deep in a landfill it's pretty harmless (it was dug out of the ground to begin with after all), but dumped around your yard where your animals or kids could ingest it.. not so good.

I would imagine the ash from the rubbish incinerator is a pretty toxic mess anyway and would be buried in a proper landfill. A few more metal salts mixed in wont make it much worse  :

Cheers

Ian

[PineNut]

Maybe you can clean the ashes out of the outdoor boiler, burn a batch of treated wood. Then take those ashes and bag them for the trash. But I would watch out which way the smoke is going.

[farmerdoug]

Pinenut,

That would be the worst thing.  Most of the metals will be in the ashes.  When you remove the ash you will get it in or on yourself and that is bad.  The best bet is to send it in the trash little by little.  At the incinerator the workers will be dress properly to deal with any containments in the ash.  I fact you should wear gloves when working with treated wood too.  And the slivers from it burn like heck too.

Farmerdoug