I’m willing to hear anyone out on this topic because it either seems like it’s either complicated or just redundant.I did a search for this, nothing came up here but on another site and find its credibility to be “below par” at best. The word of you Wood Elders is proficient. On with it! Some of you are aware that I’ve collected loads of dunnage that has nails in it. You name the wood, it’s probably what I’ve picked up and burned. This being said, it’s controversial. Why? Because of any metal, it is assumed that it is going to harm the stove if it is burned inside. Now, alloys and galvanization of nails/ metals/ whathaveyou is continuously changing and the few that aren’t recommended to be burned are painted or galvanized surfaces. The risk may be more so with a catalytic combustor/ converter as they are likely to have sensitivity to heat reaction of these metals. I have seen wood that had burned green and blue to indicate that copper and barium or boron is likely part of the metal that may have been in it. These were just my observations that were surprises and not necessarily made up of the majority of any wood burned inside a house, the Very few that were, were outside fires. Having just received some of these words from my insert installer, they were : “burning wood with any kind of metal will hurt your wood stove”. then my having read “why would it hurt your stove?” prompts from websites one were to glaze over any missed details has to ask these questions. What if it is just plain steel or iron-alloy nails that riddle the wood and pose absolutely no effect to the catalytic combustor at all? Being very unaware of all the metals in such wood, it’s hard to keep track of which is which. Especially if the nails or metal product is either corroded or just weathered to hide its properties. Would it just be best to burn these pieces in an outdoor burner/ pit than a wood stove? Please don’t take me for inexperienced but rather uninformed, if some metals were burned it’s because they are unbeknownst to me and I don’t plan to burn any at the moment. The insert is happily burning metal-free oak at the moment and I’m absolutely goaded about it positively as it’s working well. Again I’m only seeking out that many here who likely burn pallets, dunnage and wood scrap that may have any kind of metal in the wood and want to resolve if any such metal has credible lasting effects on a stove/ insert. Thank you and hope you’re enjoying your coffee at this hour.
I think the only place you’d run into an “alloy” type fastener is a deck screw or bolt. Pallet nails are made as cheaply as possible with mild steel. As far as hurting the cat,,,,,, what’s the stove and cat made of?
Steel as far as Im concerned, cat I’m not sure but I believe steel and ceramic. It is a square honeycomb grid if that’s a factor. This goes to how much I know about catalytic “combustors” My guess is with this cat, it could be a manufactured secret but I might need to find out if this is more widely known info or not.
Not having any expertise, my first reaction is why would nails be bad for a stove? It’s MADE of metal. I understand about wood treated with chemicals but nails and screws? As long as you aren’t using a chainsaw on that wood I just don’t get it, unless they are epoxy coated screws or a cat stove...
This. I just nodded my head and said ok when I heard and I’m here just asking if I had been doing anything wrong in the first place. One thing I do know is this wood doesn’t contain a treatment or any kind of dip like creosote and usually check it well for labeling or stamp. The MB stamp is not one I find often. HT is the most common I run into and what you want anyways. No chemicals used and if you don’t find a stamp, most likely nothing has been used on the wood. I know I run into the odd bolt on a massive pallet or skid if they are about as long as a car with 4x4 or even 6x6 beams. Why the bolt is there is a little strange to me as they were at the end of the skid and not part of securing the skid together unless it was part of securing the load and another part it may have been holding was removed.(Loading these into a trailer when I find them must look comical to an observer... since they weigh about 4-500 lbs)
I’m betting you’ll get a good answer eventually. I’ve pondered the same question. My stove has cast and stainless in it,,,,,metal. A standard run of the mill steel nail probably won’t hurt anything. That being said many nails are coated,,,especially the ones that get shot out of nail guns. What that coating is I’m not sure but it’s there. I’ve seen pallets constructed with galvanized. That’s bad I’ll bet. Then you get into the whole question of exactly what alloys hurt a cat and what don’t? Add to that what alloys are present in any particular nail. There’s hundreds perhaps thousands of different formulations. Bottom line there’s probably plenty of nails you could safely burn. Double bottom line is it’s even safer to just not to burn any. That’s the way I’ve gone. Just the heavy metals in colored paper dyes is supposed to be enough to mess up a cat. No sense taking any chances. Besides the stick in the grate and jam up the ash pans.
A salesman and/or reseller is going to cover their arse, just like the stove manufacturer. If you're burning untreated wood ( and you shouldn't burn treated wood) they most likely have untreated nails. I know the 6D nail gun nails I have have a patina of rust on them. The roofing nail coils I have are coated but the framing nails are not. Maybe I buy cheap nails. : “burning wood with any kind of metal will hurt your wood stove” really should be: “burning wood with any kind of metal risks hurting your wood stove” , the keywords there are risk and hurting. You can minimize/avoid risk by staying away from treated woods that tend to have treated nails in them. "hurting" how ? catalyst ? A rusty nail might react with a cast iron grate if left there for years ? Are you going to do that ? Do I think your installer is a jerk for his statement ? No.Is it rather simplistic ? Yeah. There's a lot of idiots out there who don't think things thru or just don't care. He's just doing his job.
I see your point here absolutely. With a chimney, there wasn’t anything to necessarily to harm because it was stone. There are plenty of stoves that just have metal bellies as a firebox but most likely have the firebrick. Could metal get in between those and drop in and rust? Sure! Just like jo191145 pointed out, why risk it? My response was going to be that I didn’t want to waste the wood, but why not take the nails out if possible. Good oak wood but looks like erring on the side of caution basically means my stovesman was right along with the manuals of most burning stoves”burn dry wood”, it doesn’t say metal in there.
