Wood burning stove- wood question
Discussion
Tampon said:
I am all for "if it burns, it burns" in my wood burner, but I wouldn't take that article as gospel. Bio of the author
"Karie Fay earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology with a minor in law from the University of Arkansas at Monticello. After growing up in construction and with more than 30 years in the field, she believes a girl can swing a hammer with the best of them. She enjoys "green" or innovative solutions and unusual construction."
She says things like "supposed 'professionals'" and advocates drying wood for 6 months before burning it. The reference she uses says that it is unseasoned would that creates creosote, so not exactly "well researched."
Not great credentials to bank a chimney fire on.
I would say get a moisture metre and when you get near 20%, wack it in, you will be amazed that sometimes some wood that you think would be ok to burns turns out to have a 30% odd moisture content. Nothing worse than wacking it in and hearing the sizzle of boiling water coming out of the logs.
good point."Karie Fay earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology with a minor in law from the University of Arkansas at Monticello. After growing up in construction and with more than 30 years in the field, she believes a girl can swing a hammer with the best of them. She enjoys "green" or innovative solutions and unusual construction."
She says things like "supposed 'professionals'" and advocates drying wood for 6 months before burning it. The reference she uses says that it is unseasoned would that creates creosote, so not exactly "well researched."
Not great credentials to bank a chimney fire on.
I would say get a moisture metre and when you get near 20%, wack it in, you will be amazed that sometimes some wood that you think would be ok to burns turns out to have a 30% odd moisture content. Nothing worse than wacking it in and hearing the sizzle of boiling water coming out of the logs.
but its on and burning well
I took down a conifer a few weeks ago. It won't be burned until next winter now. I'll be interested to see how well it goes. I think that's part of the pleasure of having a woodburner, watching the flames, listening to the sounds they make and feeling the temp with different kinds of wood. It might be that I split it smaller and use it to put on top of kindling before the bigger logs go on.
I'm fortunate to have quite a lot of seasoned oak and ash this winter with a few hazel and blackthorn/hawthorn logs. Meeting some old family friends who are getting into their 80's I've been told I can take any wood I want if I help thin their developing 25yr old woodland, so looking forward to some crisp blue-skied winter weekends to replenish the store. It's better than going to the gym...
I'm fortunate to have quite a lot of seasoned oak and ash this winter with a few hazel and blackthorn/hawthorn logs. Meeting some old family friends who are getting into their 80's I've been told I can take any wood I want if I help thin their developing 25yr old woodland, so looking forward to some crisp blue-skied winter weekends to replenish the store. It's better than going to the gym...
RedLeicester said:
dirkgently said:
PugwasHDJ80 said:
My little 18" bar managed to cut up a 3 foot oak tree that weight in at over 15 tonnes last year- we now have enough wood to last 4 winters!
Was it a very thick 3 foot oak, or made out of very dense wood like a neutron oak.?the 3foot diameter 40ft trunk definitely weighed more than 15tonnes
PugwasHDJ80 said:
RedLeicester said:
dirkgently said:
PugwasHDJ80 said:
My little 18" bar managed to cut up a 3 foot oak tree that weight in at over 15 tonnes last year- we now have enough wood to last 4 winters!
Was it a very thick 3 foot oak, or made out of very dense wood like a neutron oak.?the 3foot diameter 40ft trunk definitely weighed more than 15tonnes
captainzep said:
I took down a conifer a few weeks ago. It won't be burned until next winter now. I'll be interested to see how well it goes. I think that's part of the pleasure of having a woodburner, watching the flames, listening to the sounds they make and feeling the temp with different kinds of wood. It might be that I split it smaller and use it to put on top of kindling before the bigger logs go on.
I'm fortunate to have quite a lot of seasoned oak and ash this winter with a few hazel and blackthorn/hawthorn logs. Meeting some old family friends who are getting into their 80's I've been told I can take any wood I want if I help thin their developing 25yr old woodland, so looking forward to some crisp blue-skied winter weekends to replenish the store. It's better than going to the gym...
Going through some seasoned conifer in ours right now. Huge flames! I now have a stash of small conifer logs behind a chair in the lounge for throwing on whenever we have visitors who want the full log burner effect without face melting heat. I'm fortunate to have quite a lot of seasoned oak and ash this winter with a few hazel and blackthorn/hawthorn logs. Meeting some old family friends who are getting into their 80's I've been told I can take any wood I want if I help thin their developing 25yr old woodland, so looking forward to some crisp blue-skied winter weekends to replenish the store. It's better than going to the gym...
I find softwood is great, precisely because it burns hot and fast. I generally light the stove at about 5pm, and it only has a few hours to heat the room before we go to bed - so I want it to pump the heat out as fast as possible, rather than burning slow and steady.
I burn a mixture of artificial heat logs (which I think are a mixture of soft and hard woods), plus pallet wood (mainly very dry softwood), and a mixture of soft- and hardwood logs. But I run my stove pretty damn hot, and chimney sweeps always comment on the nice dry, powdery nature of the stuff that comes out of my flue.
So I'm 100% convinced that burning softwood is absolutely fine, if the wood is nice and dry and you run the stove hot.
Edited to add: Wouldn't want to burn softwood on an open fire though (except perhaps with a decent fire guard); it pops and spits quite a lot.
I burn a mixture of artificial heat logs (which I think are a mixture of soft and hard woods), plus pallet wood (mainly very dry softwood), and a mixture of soft- and hardwood logs. But I run my stove pretty damn hot, and chimney sweeps always comment on the nice dry, powdery nature of the stuff that comes out of my flue.
So I'm 100% convinced that burning softwood is absolutely fine, if the wood is nice and dry and you run the stove hot.
Edited to add: Wouldn't want to burn softwood on an open fire though (except perhaps with a decent fire guard); it pops and spits quite a lot.
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Friday 24th October 18:07
PugwasHDJ80 said:
the 3foot diameter 40ft trunk definitely weighed more than 15tonnes
I doubt it, to be honest Green oak normally comes in at around 940kg per m³.
A cylinder with a radius of 460mm (diameter of approx. 3') and length of 12192mm (approx. 40') will have a volume of 8.11m³.
So your trunk weight = 8.11 x 940 = 7623.4kg.
Approximately 7.6 tonnes
Rosscow said:
PugwasHDJ80 said:
the 3foot diameter 40ft trunk definitely weighed more than 15tonnes
I doubt it, to be honest Green oak normally comes in at around 940kg per m³.
A cylinder with a radius of 460mm (diameter of approx. 3') and length of 12192mm (approx. 40') will have a volume of 8.11m³.
So your trunk weight = 8.11 x 940 = 7623.4kg.
Approximately 7.6 tonnes
120ft.
So a third of that and weighing in trunk only (circa -25% of total to allow for branching / snedded load and chipped foliage) would bring that down from 8.2 to 2.73, minus the limbing so ending up around 2 tons.
Simpo Two said:
And on top of all that, have a flue thermometer so you can judge the fire by the actual heat output not the size of the flames.
Oh don't worry about that. I have all the gadgets I even have one of those fans. Two chainsaws with all kinds of gubings.Logging mates. Log holders axes. Splitters, mauls.
I thought I was saving money lol.
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