# Burning Weeping Willow



## 12pack (Dec 8, 2012)

Any one burn weeping willow? I cut and split one last year.

It burns pretty quick and man it stinks. Just wondering.......


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## Boom Stick (Dec 8, 2012)

I cut some for my parent's camp upstate.  Strictly outdoor firewood.  A waste of energy when compared to the work you need to put in to getting it.  Featherweight stuff too.


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## StihlHead (Dec 8, 2012)

That stuff burns, but... I will not fall, cut and split WW again. It is hard on chainsaws, and hard to cut even with a sharp chain. The bark seems to have a lot of grit in it, and my chainsaw chains sparked a lot cutting it (hint: use semi-chisel on WW). Once cut and stacked (no need to split, it was for an OWB), it dried OK, but it was pretty light and there was not much heat in it when burned. It seemed to rot fairly fast in the racks as well (after 2 seasons it was getting pithy). We burned it in an OWB so did not notice the smell.

I no longer cut willow for firewood, nor will I cut: cottonwood, aspen, poplar, cedar or grand fir. Low value heat from wood for the same effort, not worth it.


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## 12pack (Dec 8, 2012)

Boom Stick said:


> I cut some for my parent's camp upstate. Strictly outdoor firewood. A waste of energy when compared to the work you need to put in to getting it. Featherweight stuff too.


I agree, it weighs nothing, yes a waste of energy but the tree came down and burning it is better than paying someone to haul it away.


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## firefighterjake (Dec 8, 2012)

I did a few years ago . . . as mentioned burns up quickly. I don't go looking for it, but would burn it again for the shoulder season.


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## Highbeam (Dec 8, 2012)

StihlHead said:


> I no longer cut willow for firewood, nor will I cut: cottonwood, aspen, poplar, cedar or grand fir. Low value heat from wood for the same effort, not worth it.


 
Odd to see cedar on your list. Our western red cedar is actually fairly high on the btu charts and it is a pleasure to cut and split.

I don't like to waste wood so have burned all of the woods on your no-cut list and in a modern stove, even the non-cat hearthstone, they all performed surprisingly well. The willow was the worst to process since it seems to be twisted.


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## bogydave (Dec 8, 2012)

Like most willows, burns fast. 
Shoulder season wood at best.
Wonder if weeping willow is a native species to the US.  ?
Have never seen them in the woods, just in yards.


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## Boom Stick (Dec 8, 2012)

I mistook a downed WW for a hardwood tree (while driving by from the road).  I stop, introduced myself and asked for permission.  Go home get the saw, etc.  As soon as I sink my chain into it I see huge flakes floating in the air and think this isn't a hardwood.  Just out of courtesy and respect for the nice lady who allowed me on her property I took a truck load of rounds home.  Split it stacked on pallet for about 9 months and took it to my folk's camp.  cannot believe how light this junk is.  good for a camp fire I would not even waste my stove's time on this stuff.  I took a poplar last year and it burned OK for shoulder season......lots of ashes though.  completely fill up my firebox in two days.    

Let's just say I learned a good lesson and I started to pay more attention to indentifying trees at that point!


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## Gark (Dec 8, 2012)

A neighbor with ~7 acres took down about 12 big willows and was kind enough to ask if I wanted it - "no, thank you". The poor guy still has a big pile of rounds laying there after 3 years, mostly compost now. It's maybe 400' away from our stacks.


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## Backwoods Savage (Dec 8, 2012)

I've cut a couple willow we had by the creek and just let them lay. But if someone really needs wood, you can get some heat from that stuff. Awful, but still burnable if in a pinch. Once you get past the smell....


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## JOHN BOY (Dec 8, 2012)

Campfire woodpile they go.   And yes they stink...


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## Boom Stick (Dec 8, 2012)

I thought they burned well after split and stacked and dried.  I did not notice any bad smell as I have read so much about on here.  under no circumstances will I ever touch the stuff again but my folks were sure pleased to get a 1/3 cord of c/s/s free wood that was dry.


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## Wood Duck (Dec 8, 2012)

I used our weeping willow for campfire wood. I think adding wood to the campfire is half the fun, especially for boy scouts, so we let the scouts burn it. One really convenient feature of willow in a campfire is that it burns away fast and doesn't leave a lot of coals, so it is easier to extinguish than denser woods. I hate to put oak on a campfire only to have a huge pile of coals that would heat my house for a week, and then have to haul water to put out the coals.


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## StihlHead (Dec 9, 2012)

Highbeam said:


> Odd to see cedar on your list. Our western red cedar is actually fairly high on the btu charts and it is a pleasure to cut and split.
> 
> I don't like to waste wood so have burned all of the woods on your no-cut list and in a modern stove, even the non-cat hearthstone, they all performed surprisingly well. The willow was the worst to process since it seems to be twisted.


 
Well, for one red cedar cannot be collected/cut/harvested in BLM cutting areas. I have some dry red cedar logs in my stacks now that I got with a load of Doug fir, but it has about half the weight and half the heat as Doug fir. I do not see how it puts out the BTUs that they claim in many lists. I believe it has the same heat as Eastern redcedar and on Chimneysweeps site cedar is listed below cottonwood at 12 MBTU per cord. Other sites list eastern and western red cedar as high as 17 MBTU, but I bleive that is bull. Cedar is easy to split, but that is about it. I do not waste wood, and I do have some cedar and cottonwood in my stacks now that fell near here or I got with other wood, but I do not go after those species any more. There is always free cottonwood, willow and poplar on CL. It takes the same time and energy to get them as black locust, madrone, Oregon white oak and Doug fir, and they all have far better heat value. Pine is my borderline wood; I have a lot of black pine on my property and I burn what falls here, but I do not go a long way to get more of it. It is good shoulder season wood, and if I want heat fast in the house I will burn it.


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## Pallet Pete (Dec 9, 2012)

12pack said:


> Any one burn weeping willow? I cut and split one last year.
> 
> It burns pretty quick and man it stinks. Just wondering.......


 
I burned it for half a season because it was all we had one year good lord does it stink ! Our stove was pre EPA at the time and smoked the whole neighbor hood out we got so many complaints.  I have avoided willow and paper bark since ! I will if I have to but only if I have to !

Pete


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## 12pack (Dec 9, 2012)

Yea, it does stink pretty bad. I have 4 willows in my front yard that gotta come down soon. They make a mess with the limbs and are about 60' tall and in bad shape. I worry about the dog and kids.

Had a 8" limb snap on a calm sunny day, almost took out my nine year old. I will have all I can chipped and will have to split the rest..


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## Lumber-Jack (Dec 9, 2012)

12pack said:


> Had a 8" limb snap on a calm sunny day, almost took out my nine year old. I will have all I can chipped and will have to split the rest..


Had a area in the front yard where my kids use to play that was under a big sycamore tree, that tree use to regularly drop large branches right were they use to play. They had their swing and sandbox, that sort of thing there. Fortunately it only happened during strong winds, so rather than moving all that stuff, they just weren't allowed to play there during storms. Still it was unnerving to go outside after a storm and sometimes see a 200 lb limb lying right across their sandbox.
Weeping willow trees have a lot of character, but they are notorious for having limbs break off when they get big and old. Makes lousy firewood, ok for bonfires though, if you can put up with the smell.


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## Augie (Dec 9, 2012)

I don't know what everyone is having issues with burning willow.  It burns beautifully. Maybe it is the fact that I have an arborist that drops off free wood in my driveway every few weeks. If one out of five loads is willow or some other poorly burning wood I still go out and give him a beer for the favor. He usually drops 1-2 cords at a time. 

I guess wood no matter the species is like beer. The best burning/tasting are the free ones.


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## Pallet Pete (Dec 9, 2012)

Augie said:


> I don't know what everyone is having issues with burning willow. It burns beautifully. Maybe it is the fact that I have an arborist that drops off free wood in my driveway every few weeks. If one out of five loads is willow or some other poorly burning wood I still go out and give him a beer for the favor. He usually drops 1-2 cords at a time.
> 
> I guess wood no matter the species is like beer. The best burning/tasting are the free ones.


Its the smell that gets me it reeks    .  I think it burns really nice for the shoulder season fast and hot but then there is the smell and neighbors complaining outside issue. 

Pete


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## 12pack (Dec 9, 2012)

Pallet Pete said:


> Its the smell that gets me it reeks    . I think it burns really nice for the shoulder season fast and hot but then there is the smell and neighbors complaining outside issue.
> 
> Pete


 I dont give a hoot about my yuppie neighbors, but it stinks ha ha ha


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## Augie (Dec 9, 2012)

All smoke stinks, especially for those of us who are runners. Gives me incentive to burn as efficiently as possible.


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## StihlHead (Dec 9, 2012)

Augie said:


> All smoke stinks, especially for those of us who are runners. Gives me incentive to burn as efficiently as possible.


 
"All smoke stinks?" Quite the sweeping generalization there. I beg to differ. Try eating BBQ and you will change that tune. The smoke gets into your blood and it will smell great. I love burning alder, maple, cherry and oak. The smoke from those woods all smell good to me. Cottonwood and willow smell like burning piss. There is a difference. I am also a runner, a cyclist, and an avid snow skier, but I guess I am the exception to your sweeping generalization there as well.

I grow several types of native willows on my property here, and they are great trees and they suck up a lot of water. But cutting, splitting and burning it is not on my list of good qualities about willow. I have the same opinion about cottonwood, but I do not grow that stuff.


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## Boom Stick (Dec 9, 2012)

Considering that you put the same effort into finding, cutting, splitting and stacking with willow as with any wood.....the return that you get is significantly lower than say getting oak.  you invest the same for both and get less from one.  I like a higher return for my effort.   plus it takes up the same amount of space in your yard......why waste that space on a poor btu producing wood?  even if it is free, which it will always be, as it is crap.  I burned some poplar this season and it performed so so....not great and now that I have gotten into my hardwood I really see how poorly it heats compared to that.......I can only imagine what willow would perform like.


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## Pallet Pete (Dec 9, 2012)

12pack said:


> I dont give a hoot about my yuppie neighbors, but it stinks ha ha ha


 
Fortunately my neighbor are good people for the most part ! 

Pete


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## tfdchief (Dec 9, 2012)

I have to tell a story about a Weeping Willow from my child hood........It grew in my neighbor's yard and the roots from that thing stopped up our sewer over and over.  One day when my dad was rooting out the sewer, and cussing that Weeping Willow, he mumbled something about copper nails in that dang thing would end his problem.  Sooooo, being the adventuress type that my brother and I were, we found the copper nails Dad had for gutters I think, and drilled that ole weeping willow.  Much to my Dad's surprise, it died....we never told him why


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## jatoxico (Dec 9, 2012)

tfdchief said:


> I have to tell a story about a Weeping Willow from my child hood........It grew in my neighbor's yard and the roots from that thing stopped up our sewer over and over. One day when my dad was rooting out the sewer, and cussing that Weeping Willow, he mumbled something about copper nails in that dang thing would end his problem. Sooooo, being the adventuress type that my brother and I were, we found the copper nails Dad had for gutters I think, and drilled that ole weeping willow. Much to my Dad's surprise, it died....we never told him why


 
Always heard that copper would do that but wasn't sure it was true. Maybe he said that in front of you boys for a reason but wanted to maintain his "plausible deniability" . You guys are crafty out there!


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## tfdchief (Dec 9, 2012)

jatoxico said:


> Always heard that copper would do that but wasn't sure it was true. Maybe he said that in front of you boys for a reason but wanted to maintain his "plausible deniability" . You guys are crafty out there!


I am guessing you are right.  And I have no idea whether copper nails really kill a tree or not, but that old Weeping Willow sure did die after we did it.


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## jdp1152 (Dec 9, 2012)

Had the same issue with a white willow in my back yard.  Sandy put the top third on my house.  Paid to have it cut down due to proximity to the house.  My boss was going to come get it, but has conveniently changed his mind.  The tree crew was going to quarter it up and put it through the shredder.  Now I've got probably two cords of it needing split and stacked.



12pack said:


> Yea, it does stink pretty bad. I have 4 willows in my front yard that gotta come down soon. They make a mess with the limbs and are about 60' tall and in bad shape. I worry about the dog and kids.
> 
> Had a 8" limb snap on a calm sunny day, almost took out my nine year old. I will have all I can chipped and will have to split the rest..


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## scotvl (Dec 10, 2012)

I scrounged a trailer full last year and after burning it I won't make that mistake again.


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## Kaptain (Dec 11, 2012)

I've been burning willow this year and it does burns hotter than I expected but it does burn quick.

It was free and already bucked so I took it.  It's probably near impossible to split without hydrolics - every piece was like a big knot which also made it tough to stack.

I wouldn't bother with it again but it's at least saving me from using my good stuff so far this year.


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## fire_man (Dec 11, 2012)

According the the Sweep's BTU table, Willow stacks up like this:

Willow                  14.2 MBTU/Cord
Cottonwood        12.6 BTU/Chord
Red Oak               22.1 MBTU/Cord         

I burned a ton of Cottonwood the past 3 years, it was a bittersweet experience.


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## loadstarken (Dec 20, 2012)

I have a neighbor that burns his willows, cottonwood and probably his garbage at night when it is harder to see the smoke.  When I can't sleep and go for walks it is amazing how much smoke he is putting out!


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## raprude (Dec 21, 2012)

almost as good as box elder, cottonwood, or sassafras sticks- good kindling/great bon fire wood.  Impress children with how big a piece you can lift. Logs between 4-8 inch diameter make great kites. It splits [shreds] like some elms .


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## Augie (Mar 15, 2013)

Just wanted to update, Im low on seasoned wood with the latest cold snap here in SE Mich, so I split a piece again. 22%. All of the willow I have was CSS in September last year. With a hot fire this stuff is keeping the stove at 550 and the house at 78.... Gotta load a little more often... but whatever.


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## ScotO (Mar 15, 2013)

I burned it once a LONG time ago.....never ever again!  It burns way too fast, leaves lots of ash, and smells like pizz when burning it.  I give all of the willow I cut down away.......


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## Augie (Mar 15, 2013)

Cant smell it from inside..... once a draft is started no smoke gets into the house when you open the door so it isn't an issue what it smells like!lol


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## ScotO (Mar 15, 2013)

Augie said:


> Cant smell it from inside..... once a draft is started no smoke gets into the house when you open the door so it isn't an issue what it smells like!lol


Apparently you don't have neighbors......


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## Augie (Mar 15, 2013)

Actually I do, this is kind of how I feel.
Skip to 38seconds



Hes not me and I know its a horrible thing to do but I need to stay warm and he isnt me.....


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## ScotO (Mar 15, 2013)

Augie said:


> Actually I do, this is kind of how I feel.
> Skip to 38seconds
> 
> Hes not me and I know its a horrible thing to do but I need to stay warm and he isnt me.....


Well, most of my neighbors are family (brother, mother and dad, cousin, uncle), and the ones who aren't I get along with like family.....I wouldn't do something like that to them.

I got waaay too much other better wood to keep than willow.......it's just downright rude to burn it in a neighborhood IMO.....
The guy I sell my willow to uses it in an OWB, he lives on a lonely back road and most of his neighbors don't like him anyway.....   I pass his house on the way to work, and it smells like piss several from miles away on the mornings when he's burning it.


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## Augie (Mar 15, 2013)

Im going to hazard a guess that there is a difference between a OWB and a Secondary or a cat burning at optimal or close to in terms of smell.


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## ScotO (Mar 15, 2013)

Augie said:


> Im going to hazard a guess that there is a difference between a OWB and a Secondary or a cat burning at optimal or close to in terms of smell.


Not sure, and I don't care to find out.  I'm sure if you split small to medium and let it season really well, that it would probably not present as bad of a stink issue.  But pound for pound, I feel it is a waste of space to stack and season that wood.  For the same amount of processing and storage I can be getting maple, ash, oak, locust, walnut, cherry, hickory........I don't bother with willow at all anymore.....


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## BobUrban (Mar 15, 2013)

Works great for bow and drill fire making.  In survival school it was one of the woods that I could get a fire going easily with - likely due to it being ultra light and fast burning???


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## ScotO (Mar 15, 2013)

BobUrban said:


> Works great for bow and drill fire making. In survival school it was one of the woods that I could get a fire going easily with - likely due to it being ultra light and fast burning???


I may have to save a couple chunks for that.  I made fireboards out of poplar, elm, walnut, norway maple, and oak......none of them impressed me.  I've made drills out of locust, norway maple, poplar, walnut.....none of them impressed me.  I did get some fires going using the maple drill and an elm fireboard, but it was hard to get a coal!  I'll have to make some out of willow this year....


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## eclecticcottage (Mar 18, 2013)

We scrounged some, it is ashy but burns fine.  We just burn when they're running the ole honey wagon on the fields across the way (spreading manure from the farm down the road).  If it smells, you'd never smell it specifically outside of that smell!


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## Applesister (Mar 19, 2013)

This is one scrounge wood that even when its free isnt really worth it. Weeping willow is not a native species.
The others mentioned I feel differently about. Poplar is SO easy to process that it makes up for its low BTUs. It fills in the gaps between those really nice firewood species that Im not so lucky to always come by.


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## tfdchief (Mar 19, 2013)

Scotty Overkill said:


> I may have to save a couple chunks for that. I made fireboards out of poplar, elm, walnut, norway maple, and oak......none of them impressed me. I've made drills out of locust, norway maple, poplar, walnut.....none of them impressed me. I did get some fires going using the maple drill and an elm fireboard, but it was hard to get a coal! I'll have to make some out of willow this year....


Propane torch Scotty


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