# Sparking wood



## Stump_Branch (Jan 11, 2011)

Does anyone have/know of wood that throws off sparks? I am refering to when I open up the door to reload. The other night sparks where coming out. not that you could see them until they got enough air, try near my face. I have heard Locust will spark when opening the door and lots of air gets to the coals. Not sure if thats what i have but im curious as to others expirences. the wood charts I have seen pretty much say no wood sparks, I find this hard to believe.


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## shawneyboy (Jan 11, 2011)

I have had some beech spark up.  It is the Termite turds


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## Cate68 (Jan 11, 2011)

I get that too once in a while...I think it was white oak or locust - I'll pay attention next time I put a split in. Just close the door to the point where it's pulling in a draft and wait a few moments, they'll stablize and you can reload without singing your hair.


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## PA. Woodsman (Jan 11, 2011)

Mulberry is notorious for putting on a Fourth of July display; it's when air hits trapped moisture pockets inside the wood-it goes bananas!


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## Adios Pantalones (Jan 11, 2011)

Locust, mulberry, and osage- all notorious sparkers, and good heaters.  Also- all wood I don't have access to .  Pity me.


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## Mike821 (Jan 11, 2011)

Locust....it sparks like mad for me.  Sometimes I freak out thinking the sparks are still alive after they fire out of the insert.  I think they all die...well they have thus far when they fly out, or I would have to play fireman.  As for the other wood mentioned by Adios...I am sure they have the same problem as I have ran across other members mentioning this.


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## geoxman (Jan 11, 2011)

As stated above...I love my hedge, locust and mulberry! I have about 2 cords of mulberry left


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## Thistle (Jan 11, 2011)

Agreed. Mulberry & Hedge will put on a good show with tremendous heat.I burn some Mulberry every year,what little Hedge I've cut went to feed my lathe & bandsaw instead.Never burned any Black Locust,but Honey Locust is plentiful in spots around here.Intense burning,never seen any sparks from it though.


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## smokinj (Jan 11, 2011)

geoxman said:
			
		

> As stated above...I love my hedge, locust and mulberry! I have about 2 cords of mulberry left


+1 running white oak mulberry and apple mix right now! Lifes good....


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## jeff_t (Jan 11, 2011)

I burned some hickory last winter that put on a good show when I stirred the coals in the morning.


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## FLINT (Jan 11, 2011)

I've never seen anything pop and spark like Hemlock.  i burn a lot of locust and it does it some, but not like hemlock.


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## Kenster (Jan 11, 2011)

All I ever burn is hickory and oak.  The oak may spit a little but the hickory can really put on a light show.   And this wood is very low MC.


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## Thistle (Jan 11, 2011)

shawneyboy said:
			
		

> I have had some beech spark up.  It is the Termite turds


 :lol:   They love that standing dead Red/Black Oak too.


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## Stump_Branch (Jan 11, 2011)

hmm this stuff did burn quite well, my guess would be the locust. the sparks though were strange, not the pop out of the coals type, these would be 'invisable' till a point then pop and expand sometimes 2 feet or more away from the fire. they looked like a super small firework. very interesting, somewhat scary (near my money making mug of a face). 
what is the BTU of mulberry? I wonder if the sparking is more a fiber/denisty thing, or something else. seems as if people are saying that the higher btu woods spark more. of corse I know pine will pop as well.


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## lukem (Jan 11, 2011)

Stump_Branch said:
			
		

> I wonder if the sparking is more a fiber/denisty thing, or something else. seems as if people are saying that the higher btu woods spark more. of corse I know pine will pop as well.



You may be on to something there, but Sassafras sparks like a SOB but doesn't have near the BTU content of other sparking woods (Hickory, Mulberry, Osage).


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## jeff_t (Jan 11, 2011)

Stump_Branch said:
			
		

> hmm this stuff did burn quite well, my guess would be the locust. the sparks though were strange, not the pop out of the coals type, these would be 'invisable' till a point then pop and expand sometimes 2 feet or more away from the fire. they looked like a super small firework. very interesting, somewhat scary (near my money making mug of a face).
> what is the BTU of mulberry? I wonder if the sparking is more a fiber/denisty thing, or something else. seems as if people are saying that the higher btu woods spark more. of corse I know pine will pop as well.



Kinda sounds like my experience with hickory last year. Did you get a whiff of the smoke? Locust stinks, hickory smells like barbecue, and mulberry is  quite pleasant if I recall.


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## Stump_Branch (Jan 11, 2011)

jeff_t said:
			
		

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I have been running mixed bags lately, that one included some Apple wood. (After reading on here how well it smells and burns I strolled out to mine and plucked some dead branches.) 
So I cant tell you the exact aroma of it. Burned like coal though, and was quite hot. the reasoning for my guess.


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## mywaynow (Jan 11, 2011)

My 3 year old split white oak does that.  It is like a sparkler is in the stove.  Some spitting when the door is sealed, but open it up and the show is on!


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## rwh442 (Jan 12, 2011)

+1 on the hickory (shagbark here) and locust.  Pack of firecrackers also.


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## tfdchief (Jan 12, 2011)

I have had oak, hickory, mulberry, locust and hedge all put on the sparkler show sometimes.  For many years I burned nothing but hedge (Osage orange) and cussed it every time I reloaded.  It was always one or two years seasoned.  Then, this year I got in to some old end stacks of that hedge that I had just always left because it doesn't ever go bad and therefore I didn't have to re-stack ends.  This year I decided to burn some of it as the ends were starting to get a little wobbly (at least 15 years old)  To my amazement, it didn't do the sparkler show.  I guess if you season it long enough the resins in the wood that I suspect do that, finally dry out enough.  I know no one is going to season anything 15 years (except maybe Dennis ;-P ) to keep the sparking down, but just thought I would share.


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## CTYank (Jan 12, 2011)

Stump_Branch said:
			
		

> hmm this stuff did burn quite well, my guess would be the locust. the sparks though were strange, not the pop out of the coals type, these would be 'invisable' till a point then pop and expand sometimes 2 feet or more away from the fire. they looked like a super small firework. very interesting, somewhat scary (near my money making mug of a face).
> what is the BTU of mulberry? I wonder if the sparking is more a fiber/denisty thing, or something else. seems as if people are saying that the higher btu woods spark more. of corse I know pine will pop as well.



Yes. I've seen this from black locust. Long since dead, and almost totally air-dried. Splits that had slowly and cleanly burnt down to coals. Then opened the door a bit, and the pyrotechnics began. Multiple secondary "stars." No idea what it correlates to, but it surely won't put me off from locust.


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## Thistle (Jan 12, 2011)

tfdchief said:
			
		

> I have had oak, hickory, mulberry, locust and hedge all put on the sparkler show sometimes.  For many years I burned nothing but hedge (Osage orange) and cussed it every time I reloaded.  It was always one or two years seasoned.  Then, this year I got in to some old end stacks of that hedge that I had just always left because it doesn't ever go bad and therefore I didn't have to re-stack ends.  This year I decided to burn some of it as the ends were starting to get a little wobbly (at least 15 years old)  To my amazement, it didn't do the sparkler show.  I guess if you season it long enough the resins in the wood that I suspect do that, finally dry out enough.  I know no one is going to season anything 15 years (except maybe Dennis ;-P ) to keep the sparking down, but just thought I would share.



Regarding the extreme decay resistance & durability  of hedge,that you're already aware of: I can show you some hedge posts my Granddad set in the '30's.He's been gone almost 40 yrs & his 160 acre farm changed owners at least twice since then.Every year or so around Memorial Day at reunion I go down some of those narrow 2 lane blacktop & gravel roads in NW MO,one goes right past the old place.I've heard stories that there probably still sound fence posts in various US locations that date to the 1890's. :coolsmile:   I dont doubt it one bit. Dad said that the staples will rust away 2 times before post needs replacing.


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## tfdchief (Jan 12, 2011)

Thistle said:
			
		

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Yep, there are still a good number of hedge fence posts around here and some of them I can remember being there when my Dad took me hunting 50 years ago.  Hard to tell how old they were then.  They just DON'T decay.  Here in central IL we have a good number of tornadoes and I can show you places where they have gone through a hedge row and all it did was snap off smaller limbs, twist them up a little and otherwise didn't hurt them much.  I think the most amazing thing is that in the 70's a lot of guys were burning stoves and inserts around here, and they would cut an entire hedge row (farmers used them as wind breaks and fences for cattle) down to the ground.  Those hedge rows have now grown back up and look like they did 40 years ago before they were leveled, and all just from stumps!  When God made the Osage Orange, he wasn't kidding around. :coolgrin:


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## bboulier (Jan 12, 2011)

Happens occasionally.  It occurred this weekend and I was alert enough to notice that the wood was mulberry (identified earlier in the week by forum members).


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## Occo370 (Jan 12, 2011)

Beetle kill pine


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## modo (Jan 12, 2011)

For me it's definately shagbark hickory.  Love the heat from it, but could do w/out the sparks.


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## Stump_Branch (Jan 12, 2011)

CTYank said:
			
		

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sounds exactly like it. Ill have to scrouge the stacks to look. No the heat it gives of wont shy me away either. besides the possible fire hazard it's interesting to see. 

Any one have a shot of seasoned locust? I understand its somewhat a lime green color when fresh.


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## Thistle (Jan 12, 2011)

tfdchief said:
			
		

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That's so true. Short of dozing it out,the trees are almost impossible to eradicate,their shallow root system is extensive.One of my older cousins in NW MO who just retired owns part of the farm he grew up on.There's 2 very old hedgerows on 2 sides of the property line.Each one is easily 1000 ft in length.Different ages of trees since some were harvested for posts over the years.When I was walking through one of them last July,there wasnt one tree less than 10" diameter & 35 foot tall.Including 1 monster that's 24" with a 7 foot tall trunk! Actually was straight even,not leaning and/or crooked like most hedge.I couldnt help thinking what beautiful planks I could mill out of that,not to mention how rough it would be on my equipment :lol: Being how its 3hrs one way from me,that would definitely be an entire weekend project if my cousin & I ever worked out a deal.... :coolsmile: All over that 4 county area of NW Missouri (as well as a fair amount in E Nebraska,E Kansas & SW Iowa) there's hedge rows still standing that get bigger  each year.From what I learned,not much is harvested anymore,other than the occasional post or fuel.


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## Wood Duck (Jan 14, 2011)

Lately I have been burned a lot of Red Cedar. It doesn't spark a lot at first, but after the burn when I rake the coals I sometimes get a lot of sparks. I think the blackened knots are what cause the sparks.


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## thewoodlands (Jan 14, 2011)

Stump_Branch said:
			
		

> Does anyone have/know of wood that throws off sparks? I am refering to when I open up the door to reload. The other night sparks where coming out. not that you could see them until they got enough air, try near my face. I have heard Locust will spark when opening the door and lots of air gets to the coals. Not sure if thats what i have but im curious as to others expirences. the wood charts I have seen pretty much say no wood sparks, I find this hard to believe.



Cherry will give you a show.


zap


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## Stump_Branch (Jan 14, 2011)

does it matter what type of cherry?
how about locust for that matter?

Now i am wondering if the different sub species put more of a show on then others...


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