Willow wood for burning?

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snoluver1

Active member
Found it surprising that Willow is considered a "hard" wood. Fingernail test tells me otherwise. How well will it burn in a fireplace? Tried to split some of this stuff and my maul went in like I was splitting a block of wet clay! Maybe just to wet yet? Will it dry out and burn ok, or is this stuff just useless?
Thanks
 
snowfish

snowfish

Member
The simpleton explanation is................

Hardwoods have leaves (deciduous)
Softwoods have needles (coniferous)

So Balsa wood is really considered a hardwood! Go figure.

To answer your question, I burn what I can get. I don't know why the willow wouldn't burn just fine. Sounds like it's way green right now though. Probably should let it dry a bit.
 
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anonomoose

New member
Willow is soft wood. It also can stink pretty good. If you burn it in a wood burner, you can use it but you won't like it in the fireplace because the smell will cause your wife to leave you and your kids to be stoned at school.

If you're lucky, you can find some unsuspecting victim and give it to him, but remember it will ruin friendships so be picky on who you off-load the wood on.

Don't ask me how I know all of the above!
 
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snoluver1

Active member
I did notice it was pretty pungent(spelling?-Nash input needed). Maybe I'll just split it up and burn it in the fire pit outside.
Thanks Guy's
 
F

frnash

Active member
<font color="0000ff">snoluver:</font>
<font color="0000ff">Pungent</font> is correct.
But plural forms, like <font color="0000ff">"Guy's"</font> do not take an apostrophe, that's for possessive forms!
No capitalization either, just guys.
happy.gif
 
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dooski

New member
I lost a big ash in August. It is out of the way so I did not get past the top limbs. I did cut up some and split and stacked it. How long should it season for optimal fire place fodder?

Is there a rule of thumb for whole or split wood? 1 or 2 years?

Thanks and I can not spell myself out of a wet paper bag.
 
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lenny

Guest
this site has some additional info that is good

http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html

I like many people burn many kinds of wood. I heat my entire house with a wood stove. I had a huge Hemlock fall 2 years ago on my cabin property and people said do not burn it in the stove. I went against their advise and tried it and I honestly like burning hem. When it's dry it burns hot, cracks and pops a bit but I burn it in a air tight stove so no problems there with sparks. I burn hot enough to have virtually NO creosote build up. I'm not sure why people don't like burning hemlock. Most of it slit well, it was a very large tree yielding me almost 2 cord with none of the branches
 
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lenny

Guest
dooski, I burn ash and it is nice, splits very good, at least mine did. I would wait at least 1 year before burning
 
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dab102999

New member
anonomoose you mean I could of blamed my high school years on my dad burning willow!! Dang guess I missed the boat there...
 
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ezra

Well-known member
I think I am going out to but 3 or 4 cords of willow on anonomoose advice. sounds like a win win as long as you don't have to be a teen in high school for it to work.
 
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anonomoose

New member
Yes, sadly we think kids are shunned because of behavior problems, or being doofuses...but when the truth is told, blame it on wood that stinks.

All wood dries differently, but all wood benefits from being split...so stop procrastinating and get that brother-in-law of yours over and tell him to get all that ash split so you can use it sooner.

I believe ash doesn't need as much dry-time to work well in most stoves, a bit more for fireplaces which requires a very dry wood to burn hot enough to prevent the dreaded build up of you know what....

Usually, according to my wood cutter guy, who sells vast quantities of wood for wood burning people (a breed of their own....) ash, if split and dried for 3 months, is good to go. Oak and hickory require longer drying times, and cherry can dry in the same time as ash. Since ash has been decimated in my neck of the woods (thanks to globalization of cheap Asian products being imported complete with nasty critters ready to devour everything they encounter) lots of folks are burning ash these days, including me. I lost one that was huge of perhaps 70 inch diameter variety, and what a beautiful piece of wood it was...absolutely furniture grade material. It has a very straight grain, and is quality wood for tables and other larger pieces.<font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font> was truly a shame to cut it up and split the wood...which I am still working on since spring.

Ash burns very well, and won't cause your kids to be spurned by their playmates.
 
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ripcord

New member
Burn it in the fall and spring when you just need a quick fire to take the chill out.<font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font> burns fine if dry but it burns up pretty quick and doesn't leave you with any nice hot coals, just burns down to ash so it would require constant tending to keep an all day fire going. Try splitting it when it's frozen, it should crack open easier.

So yes, it will burn OK when dry, just less BTU's per pound (or cord) than some other types of wood. You do need to get it split though because whole rounds will never really season properly since the bark holds in moisture and the stuff can actually begin to rot before it dries. You're probably better off burning it indoors to get SOME heat from it as long as you have good chimney draft that'll suck the smoke up and out... as stated above, the stuff stinks and is probably about the worst when it comes to sitting around a campfire.
 
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bart

New member
please do not burn the willow wood, it is favorite place to stop for a beer on the Willow Flowage! LOL...
 
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