Firewood slabs

[Snagglefoot]

I noticed some folks around here have been buying log cut-offs, the four slabs with bark and a bit of wood that come from the initial cuts of a log. The trees are typically pine. I take it they are quite a bit cheaper than normal firewood. Quartered seasoned pine firewood here sells for about the equivalent of $170 US per cord, delivered but not stacked.

A friend mentioned they are bad for chimneys as the high bark content causes creosote build up. Anyone have any experience with this? Thanks.

 

[ls1mike]

I burned wood for years for heat and I am in the Pacific Northwest. Seattleish, . At any rate I burned similar stuff, basically anything that would burn that wasn't processed.
I usually threw one of those chimney sweeping logs in once a season and it was like a 150 USD to the chimney clean every year. They always said the chimney looked really good.
I have always been told wet wood causes the most creosote, never heard bark would do it.

 

[ragtoplvr]

I have used Oak slabs. Slab wood contains more of the sap wood and thus more moisture and creosote if not well dried. There was more buildup.I use some but did not like it it burned too fast. It does make good fire starter.

Rod

 

[64bawagon]

Pine has a lot of moisture and sap in it. Unless you plan on cleaning your chimney regularly I would avoid it.

 

[maxdustington]

You burn softwoods for heat? We could always get Oak or Apple up here, makes a big difference.

We have a wood fired sauna at the cottage and you need hardwood to get it over 100C in a reasonable amount of time

 

[Clarkbug]

Slabwood is cheap because it tends to be harder to deal with in general.... Its not very easy to stack in a way that it will stay standing, and so that it will dry properly. Lots of guys use it in their evaporators for making syrup because its cheap, and you can get lots of heat out of it fast when you need it.

The creosote comes from burning wet wood. The old adage that pine starts chimney fires is because it does tend to burn hot, leading to higher flue temps, which can ignite existing creosote build-up if wet wood has been burned all season.

I would consider some to use as kindling/fire starter, or if you needed some fall/spring shoulder season wood where you just want a quick fire to take off the chill in the morning or evening. If you can figure out a way to get the slabwood to stay stacked for you so it will dry, its a cheap way to buy wood, but you might pay for it in the extra labor to handle it.

 

[IndyIan]

If its dry and you burn it hot, then you shouldn't have a problem. If you are trying to get semi wet pine to last overnight all the time then you will get lots of creosote.
I think the bigger issue is how messy slabs will be, and its hard to get a reasonable controlled burn time with small pieces of wood. Either you damp it too much and get a cold smokey burn, which creosotes the chimney or its a super hot fast burn which is hard on the stove and may start a chimney fire if there's lots of creosote already. My wife has a tendency to leave the damper open too much after starting and while it wastes a bit of wood, it does also keep the chimney clean.
A computer controlled gasifier stove would probably love slab though as it can run the damper to keep the burn temps ideal .

 

[53' Stude]

I get slabs from the amish near me

FREE, and my one cousin that works at specialty lumber mill gives me some oak, cherry and others pieces FREE.

 

[loneryder]

Slab wood burns too fast and the bark creates a lot of ash to deal with. It's great for having a campfire or starting a fire but not good for heat. I use an outdoor boiler and tried it.

 

[BrocLuno]

Heated with firewood all through my childhood and Pop was still burning wood at 90 a few years ago. I do both gas and wood at our house.

Pine and Fir will all load up a chimney if you don't add some hardwood and keep the heat up ... So get a 10# salmon weight and a chimney brush on a rope and clean it at the start of each season. No biggie. Takes about 1/2 hour if you work slow.

 

[KD0AXS]

The idea that pine causes chimney fires is pretty much a myth. As long as it's dry, it's perfectly fine to burn. Any wood that's too wet will cause creosote buildup in the chimney, which is what leads to chimney fires.

Usually what happens is someone will have excessive creosote from burning wood that's too wet and not cleaning their chimney. Then they burn pine and get a really hot fire going and end up with a chimney fire. The pine gets the blame when the fire should really be blamed on burning wet wood and/or lack of maintenance.

 

[jayg]

Originally Posted by KD0AXS
The idea that pine causes chimney fires is pretty much a myth. As long as it's dry, it's perfectly fine to burn. Any wood that's too wet will cause creosote buildup in the chimney, which is what leads to chimney fires.

Usually what happens is someone will have excessive creosote from burning wood that's too wet and not cleaning their chimney. Then they burn pine and get a really hot fire going and end up with a chimney fire. The pine gets the blame when the fire should really be blamed on burning wet wood and/or lack of maintenance.



This.


We use birch here. It's about $250 a cord delivered. Some is a little green and there is always bark. Birch bark doesn't scare me since it burns so well. Using our chimney thermometer, we don't let the temp get down below 300F if we can help it and with the secondary combustion on our Jotul stove we get very little smoke out of the chimney even with wood that hasn't been seasoned for a full year.