Anyone burn kiln dried wood scraps?

Does anyone burn kiln dried wood scraps? At work we generate a significant amount of wood scraps, all of which are around an inch thick, but vary in species, length, and width. I was once told to avoid this due to it burning too hot too quick and overheating a stove. This seems plausible to me, although with airtight stoves would this not be able to be controlled? Truth is a buddy at work is thinking about getting a stove and is excited to burn all the scraps. I advised against it, for the overheating reason, but I thought I would throw it out there for you guys. And go.

 

As long as the incoming combustion air can be controlled, shouldn't be a problem. I've burned some, but just mixed in with cord wood.

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What stove do you have?
I use some cut offs from a cabinet shop sometimes...more as a "booster" than anything else..use too much and things get very hot very quickly.

 

Thanks man

I dunno 'bout a cat stove, but a tube stove will go nuclear on a full load of kiln dried...in my experience...

 

BTDT!
They become very "radiant" at that point, don't they?!

 

In the Woodstock Fireview I don't see any problem burning a load of kiln dried. (No secondary air and very good air control)

And I think BrianK burned full loads of 8x8 kiln dried in the Woodstock Ideal Steel. (The IS has secondary air and very good air control)

Start with small loads and work your way up. If it's not a good air tight stove, you'll want to put a damper in the flue pipe for better air control.

When I switched from the Fireview to the Ideal Steel I found that I am using very little kiln dried because there is always plenty of coals to get a reload started.

If I have less than perfectly seasoned dry wood I'll use some kiln dried to get the fire burning fast and hot.

What part of PA are you from?

 

A friend who burns a Dutchwest small cat stove works at a cabinet shop and has unlimited access to beautiful cutoffs (1" thick boards). He says even though his DW is normally well controlled, he can't fill it with only cutoffs - it goes nuclear. He still has to burn cordwood and uses the (hardwood) cutoffs to supplement reloads and cold starts.

 

I've had some luck with KD shop scraps in my tube stove *if* I stack it carefully so that there's no significant air space between pieces. If you just shovel in piles of the stuff it will go off much too quickly.

 

I don't see why you couldn't burn a half load at a time, if it's free and dry I'd be burning as much of that as I possibly could. You don't have to fill the stove entirely full every time.

 

You can burn half loads on your days off.
But when your leaving for 11-12 hours, you need big splits

 

I've burned kiln-dried wood blocks from pallets almost exclusively for 2 seasons in my stove, and no problems. Like others have said, being able to control the air is key.

 

I have burned a fair amount of dimensional lumber (regular framing lumber) and found it has little heat value (because it is so light) and burns far too fast. With an air- tight stove, the wood makes a huge amount of smoke and once enough oxygen finally gets into the stove through the vents, it back- puffs rather.... er, alarmingly.

It is fine for starting fires if used in small amounts and OK if mixed in with cordwood but I have not been successful filling a stove with framing lumber and having it yield decent results.

On the other hand, I did have a relative who heated his garage with a pot belly stove and any scrap anything and it worked well enough because we fed it small doses of fuel and it burned hot and fast (no smoke, no back- puffing). But that building was only heated while people were actually working in there and throwing a few sticks in the stove constantly was possible.

Brian

 

I get kiln dried also.. I also have Woodstock Ideal steel.. great stove.. I basically use it to start a fire. and in cold spells when coals are getting too deep.. a few chunks on top of coals to get heat and burn coals down for a full refund load.. really depends on stove you have..

 

Thanks for asking this. Ive got plenty of a mixture which is likely kiln dried and some that isn't.
Its just lumber that often gets to me dry, wet(rain logged but dry mostly and green. For the dry Its either the pit or wait for the stove. I have built up quite a collection for fast fires haha! This is best for the morning when I just need it to get the house warm quick. I have learned to look through this stuff carefully though: some of it can be pretty sneaky. I've caught wood that looks like its been in the MB bath and some that is labeled that it was.Wood looked kind of distinct,I couldn't say what it is but its definitely a hardwood they use. Ive come across small pieces and then a wood crate that looked good for storing wood but I can't use that if I can't burn it up later. Wood looked very similar even though it was found in different places.

 

store them outside in the wood pile, raise the moisture content, never thought you would hear that on a wood forum, huh?