Just looking for thoughts on whether or not you’d burn certain processed/machined timber in a woodburner.

We’ve been burning ash and other dried timber this winter but seem to have an abundence of this stuff coming into work from the US. And never one to say no to free stuff thought I might ‘repurpose’ it.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/S9usHa]
Timber[/url] by IngwerFuchs, on Flickr

I was hoping the markings on the wood might hint as to whether or not it’s been treated but I’m not getting any relevant info from Google.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/QS2ZFE]
Timber[/url] by IngwerFuchs, on Flickr

Yay or nay?

Yay.

yes it’s wood, it burns

Yup

It will burn hot and fast. Mix it with seasoned hardwood for best results.

…or you could whittle a job lot of wooden spoons.

Given I once put some BBQ charcoal on our old wood burner (it got quite hot), I’m not going to say no.

…or you could whittle a job lot of wooden spoons.

Another yes. If I have any doubts if a load of wood has been treated, I’ll get a stove hot on untreated wood before adding the treated stuff. I think I read somewhere that preservatives are more corrosive as a fire gets going, and more likely to be vaporised (comparatively) harmlessly when hot.

When we shipped anything wooden out of America it needed that stamp on it. Pretty sure it was just heat treated to kill any bad stuff.
They actually look like the wooden sliders used on our engine containers.

No… Send it to WCA for his next piece of engineering art. 😉

When we shipped anything wooden out of America it needed that stamp on it

😆

Question…should I burn it?
Answer…..does it burn?

Looks like southern Yellow pine, a shame to burn it as it’s great for joinery.

Rorschach you don’t want to be burning treated wood due to the pollutants it will release. Chromium salts used in tannalising are not good to breathe!

This markings will be all about phytosanitary regulations – you need to be able to prove the wood has been sterilised of any living pests and diseases to get it through customs. One way to do that is to pasteurise it – get it hot enough to kill anything living – the other way is to douse it chemicals. Often the markings prove that the de-bugging has been done but they don’t indicate how its been done

(same goes for burning pallet wood at home – if its got these kinds of stamped markings it shows they’ve been prepped for import/export, but again with what/how isn’t clear)

Chromium salts used in tannalising are not good to breathe!

And these and others don’t necessarily go up the chimney – it ends up amongst the ash

the markings on that wood are similar to those on a pallet. the ‘HT’ means its heat treated, not chemically treated, so its safe to burn if dry enough. It might not be that dry yet, heat treating can be short and hot to kill bugs/fungus, and not long enough to dry it

http://www.1001pallets.com/pallet-safety/

Smell it – does it smell of chemicals? Chop it down the grain. Treated timber doesn’t always get treated through to the middle so will be stained at the edges.
If it looks ok, I’d split it and use for kindling, burning decent hardwood logs for sustained heat.
Rich.

The problem with burning treated wood is not the fumes when it’s burning, by golly who gives a s*** about that, it’s the heavy metals, arsenic and cyanide left in the ash, happy raking.

Erm, thanks… I think! 🙂

I think the wooden spoon idea is best so far.

Flog it on eBay/ to a local woodturner.

Do some qualitative emission analysis on it. A white/silvery flame shows Cr present.

To be honest I’d burn it. If worried hold you breath when getting the Ashes. There’s not a huge risk in such a small amount.