I know some have said that they don't burn bark or just compost or throw it away. BUT, I do believe that Doug Fir bark, especially that thick stuff from around the base is something apart from most other barks. I stack it in the woodshed just like the splits. When the stove burns down a bit, nest a few chunks of thick DF bark on top of the fire and stand back. When it reaches the coaling up stage your stove will be throwing some serious radiant heat out the door glass! The neighbor Lady that I give all my shorter splits to, is always gathering up all the bark from the splitting area. She knows a good thing when she sees it!
With the OWB, I clean up all the bark, small chunks ect and toss it in and burn it, it still burns and makes heat, may make a little more ash but I just grab the shovel, scoop it out, turn around and toss it in the pasture right by the boiler so that doesn't brother me at all.
This thread inspired me to light up some bark today. The winter chill is creeping into northeast Pennsylvania, and now I have to make sure the house is warm when the Mrs. comes home at 530. Plus I tossed in 3 cartloads of wood into the bin to top it off, and knew I would get more bark, so I better empty the box. About 2/3 of a copy paper box in the stove lasted from 230 to 630.
Yup! That too is heat. I burn Doug fir bark, ponderosa, and what ever else is big and chunky enough to bring in. Right now I’ve got some thick white fir bark going that I wonder if it doesn’t have more BTUs than the wood itself! If it burns, burn it! Free heat.
I showed that to my kids and told them “this is why we wash our hands on a regular basis, especially before eating.”
Bark has some serious heat to it. A few years back, I was cleaning the racks by the house in early spring. Tossed all the bark I collected on to the coals in the stove. A few minutes later, I had to shut the air control down because the stove raced up in temp alarmingly fast!
I was moving some spilts to my rack closer to the house yesterday and I had a boat load of bark falling off of everything. The majority will go in the fire pit and will use some for the fireplace as well.
I collect a few bins of bark for kindling each year. Summer’s heat makes it super dry and the fire takes right off. Plus I don’t like wasting it.
I bang my splits together before bringing them to the stacks. At least the ones with loose bark. Gets rid a lot of dust and dirt and bugs and whatnot. I use it for mulch or throw it into the burn pile. More valuable to me keeping mud at bay than burning it
I'll use loose bark as kindling. I set it aside to thoroughly dry, break it into straps and stack it scattered on the wood rack on the deck. I scatter it in my stack, to refill my kindling/stick bucket as I come across it.
