Can someone ID this firewood?

[TylerW]

Hey guys:

I use an insert for supplemental heat each year. It is a circulator, so it heats this house well. What doesn't work well is trying to get good quality firewood here in the deep south. You either get green junk that is supposedly "seasoned", people selling red and white oak that is years away from being usable, or some unknown stuff that turns out to be a dud.

I believe this stuff falls into that category. It's very dry, but it catches slow, burns slow and produces a ton of ash. It's lightweight(not dense) and splits poorly by hand. It tends to fragment instead of split cleanly. My circulator is a "slammer" with it's well-known drawbacks so I watch and treat the chimney very frequently. Despite that, it is starting to coke because of the low and slow burning.

If someone can put a name to this I will be sure to avoid this stuff again. Thanks.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Looks like pine bark to me.

 

[pauly]

It does look like pine bark. Looks really punky like it’s been dead lying in the woods for a long time?

But…dry pine usually burns really quick. As light as the wood is, I was thinking it could be ash too.

 

[like_A_pike]

if you pinch off a bit of bark and then snap it in half, does it have alternating shades of tan? I think it's old punky elm and crotch wood at that. It's pretty poor for firewood.

I used to visit old decks on timber company land just after closed out timber sales in the winter and early spring. lots of smaller (non merch) hardwoods would invariably not make it on a truck. Often I'd would take oak that was not bigger than my thigh. One hit with a maul and it's in the stack to dry and it would season up enough for use the following winter. This was deep east Texas and Louisiana, but the wood was similar all the way across to the Florida panhandle and up through the ozarks. All that to say, find out who owns comercial timberland in your neck of thes woods and buy a "firewood permit" $50 all you can haul usually. Great excercise. (can only comfortable cut and split a load for a Tacoma in one trip these days) About 7-9 loads for 3-3.5 cord and heat for the following winter. Forest Service does it too but lots more rules and harder to find them actively cutting. -if you're further east. good luck!

 

[Sharpone]

Cottonwood maybe
Dan

 

[TylerW]

A couple of you hit on it I believe. I had another load delivered a couple weeks after this stuff, and although the first guy seemed a lot more with it mentally, the second guy took one look at the stuff I showed you above and said "that's sure some punky wood" or some word besides punky. So, that's probably what it is. The first guy dumped a load of punky wood on me and I didn't know any better. Didn't know punky firewood was a thing. I do now. I also know I'll go inspect the wood first before I ever pay another scam artist to bring any out.

 

[RustyRatRod]

You're complaining that it burns slow? That's an attribute I actually WANT in firewood. lol

 

[pauly]

Hot and slow would be the ideal wood!

 

[ProjectBazza]

A couple of you hit on it I believe. I had another load delivered a couple weeks after this stuff, and although the first guy seemed a lot more with it mentally, the second guy took one look at the stuff I showed you above and said "that's sure some punky wood" or some word besides punky. So, that's probably what it is. The first guy dumped a load of punky wood on me and I didn't know any better. Didn't know punky firewood was a thing. I do now. I also know I'll go inspect the wood first before I ever pay another scam artist to bring any out.

Good luck burning that punky stuff! We have more than our share here due to windfalls, and the vast majority of the time we just haul it to the counties yard waste recycling center to get rid of it. I’ve tried burning it in our fire pit, but it smokes and gives off a terrible smell.

In my opinion, don’t waste your time and just get rid of it.

 

[WV64Signet]

I'd fire-pit that or outdoor furnace.

 

[tom999w]

I'd have to see the VIN tag and build sheet to make a determination on what it is.

 

[pauly]

Yup. Or brushpile. Well on its way to compost already!

 

[jos51700]

It's elm. I have several pallets of it. Elm takes about 3 years to season here, and seasoned elm takes about 6 minutes to go punky after it reaches 'seasoned'.

"Burns slow" is no joke. I had a burn pile of that stuff out back a couple weeks ago and I had it set up with great airflow. That was one of the hottest fires I ever built (I hate cold fires that smoke). Give it lots of air and it'll give you lots of heat, but it won't sit and simmer at high heat like a good hardwood.

This 3' fire burnt down to a few decent charred logs, and I dumped 15 gallons of water on it to quench it, then went after it with the garden hose for fifteen minutes, turning it over twice.

The next morning, I used my thermal camera and there were several spots that were back up to 400 degrees, but it was ALL burnt down to fine ash. All that water, and I had checked it and it was all 120 degrees or less before I went in, but it kept simmering all night and reduced to nothing. It may be impossible to put it out.

If you're going to burn it in a fireplace, I'd use a couple pieces of hardwood and lay the elm across the top so it gets plenty of air. It'll keep you from freezing and extend your 'good' wood supply.

 

[Yunick13]

In MO,we use hedge for a nice hot fire.

 

[jos51700]

In MO,we use hedge for a nice hot fire.

Agreed, but splitting hedge.....

 

[TylerW]

Yeah. It's been a learning experience. The reason it is so lightweight is nearly all of the valuable properties of wood have been leached out of it. Low and slow is dangerous in my old insert, so I threw what I had inside back onto the pile and my fireplace season is over. I'll burn the remainder outside over the summer.

 

[Killer6]

Lots of standing dead Elm ftom Dutch Elm Disease, often infested with a large breed of wasp, looks like somebody drilled the thing a thousand times w/a 5/16" drill. Water Elm has red in the middle of the heartwood, grows almost as fast as the Tree of Heaven(Stinking Sumac), wet & dirty, the bark is smoother than traditional Elm. My Buddy Chris & I cut down His neighbor's standing dead Elm, 3ft. trunk & no bark left, some of the limbs looked just like that.......mushroom wood, junk for a mixed bonfire.