Is willow worth burning?

[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 .