# burning wood containing nails



## Gunks (Oct 21, 2013)

Is it ok to burn wood with nails in it?  I have a lot of pallet wood with nails in them.  Would my stove be ruined if I burn them without taking out the nails first.


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## USMC80 (Oct 21, 2013)

I burned em in my old furnace. No problems


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## Backwoods Savage (Oct 21, 2013)

The only problem is what to do with the ashes later. If you plan on throwing them perhaps with your weekly trash, they won't hurt. However, I would not put them with the trash until they were at least a couple months old. The reason is there can and no doubt will be some hot coals in there. It makes a terrible mess when a trash truck catches on fire and they can from hot coals. Dumping them has a tendency to stir things up and hot coals that were previously insulated by ash could start other things on fire. You don't want that! You would also not want to dump the ashes on a garden or in your driveway for obvious reasons.


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## maple1 (Oct 21, 2013)

Won't hurt your stove.

Might not be good if you spread ashes on an icy driveway in the winter like I do.


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## Bret Chase (Oct 21, 2013)

I have no qualms about burning nail embedded wood...  I do screen my ashes before they end up on the garden...  the nails go in the scrap pile.... the potash certainly helped in creating the ridiculous amount of eggplant I got out of 3 plants this season...


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## Dix (Oct 21, 2013)

I see no reason why  not. Just remember when you are dumping them (I dump mine in flower beds, raised gardens beds, & the compost pile), that the nails might not fully be incinerated. .

Non nail containing ashes go in the driveway, etc to help melt ice/snow.


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## Insomnivore (Oct 29, 2013)

Gunks said:


> Is it ok to burn wood with nails in it?  I have a lot of pallet wood with nails in them.  Would my stove be ruined if I burn them without taking out the nails first.


Been doing this for decades. No harm to my stove. If you want to use the ashes for some other (agricultural) use, run a powerful magnet such as neodymium over them and collect the nails. I burn 2 dozen+ pallets a season as kindling.


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## Bigg_Redd (Oct 29, 2013)

Gunks said:


> Is it ok to burn wood with nails in it?  I have a lot of pallet wood with nails in them.  Would my stove be ruined if I burn them without taking out the nails first.



How/why would they ruin your stove?


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## valley ranch (Oct 30, 2013)

For a while we were burning pallets at the Nevada ranch. Then you have to deal with them in the ashes.


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## Bret Chase (Oct 30, 2013)

valley ranch said:


> For a while we were burning pallets at the Nevada ranch. Then you have to deal with them in the ashes.



if you're plan on extracting potash or lye... just make a simple screen.... hardware cloth over expanded metal....  that get 95+% of them... or a magnet....


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## xman23 (Oct 30, 2013)

For a few years I didn't burn any wood with nails in the fire pit or stove. Only not to get them in the ash pile. Thinking I might use the ash for something. I gave up when I had a lot of pallets to burn in the fire pit. The ash pile is 13 years old and haven't been used.


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## WarmGuy (Oct 31, 2013)

Backwoods Savage said:


> However, I would not put them with the trash until they were at least a couple months old. The reason is there can and no doubt will be some hot coals in there. It makes a terrible mess when a trash truck catches on fire and they can from hot coals. Dumping them has a tendency to stir things up and hot coals that were previously insulated by ash could start other things on fire. You don't want that! You would also not want to dump the ashes on a garden or in your driveway for obvious reasons.



I agree with this, but "months" sounds like way too long to wait.


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## red oak (Oct 31, 2013)

Just have a way to remove nails from the ashes if you're going to use them anywhere.


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## CMAG (Oct 31, 2013)

I double bag my ashes with nails as they tend to tear the plastic and make a mess


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