# Stained wood ok to burn?



## mitchinpa

So I have been cleaning up my garage, organizing the mess that is in there, and came across a bunch of smaller 2x4's (not treated lumber) that have been stained with an interior based stain. The biggest piece is probably 5 inches long. Most are cut at angles, and pretty worthless as far as future use in any project I may build. My question is, would using these pieces hurt my fireplace insert at all, if I use them in small quantities, mainly as kindling?


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## burntime

I will probably be blazed for saying this but I would toss it in.  I would not load it full but if you have a hot fire going a piece or two would find its way into my stove...  This is just stained and not sealed right?


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## mitchinpa

Correct, no sealant on it.  I wouldnt be loading the stove full of it anyways, just a piece or two at startup.


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## nate379

I burn it.  I have about 1/4 cord of oak flooring I have been burning even.  Little bit of stain/varnish ain't going to stop the world from spinning.


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## CarbonNeutral

I wouldn't - for the real amount of heat they would give you, toss them. Pollution is all about the small amounts we release


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## midwestcoast

I wouldn't either. Not much heat there anyways, so why create the extra pollution?  Using it as kindling would release the most toxins, since it would be burning at a very low temperature.


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## oldspark

Good topic, I tend to not burn that kind of stuff any more either, so a piece of wood with water based paint on it OK for kindling?


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## Lumber-Jack

Probably more pollutants in a pack of cigarettes than on that stained wood. I'd say as long as nobody is inhaling the smoke directly into their lungs you should be fine. 
Now for those morons supporting the tobacco industry while simultaneously shortening their own life and hurting those around them,,, I say STOP NOW


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## midwestcoast

There was a similar thread a few weeks back about burning OSB & neither I nor others could find any actual data on what compounds in what volume are produced from burning it. Probably the same case here.  In a case of unknowns like that some will go ahead & some will be cautious. On the spectrum of what some people actually burn (woodstove, burn barrel, garbage heap...), I agree this is rather mild.


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## Battenkiller

Carbon_Liberator said:
			
		

> Probably more pollutants in a pack of cigarettes than on that stained wood. I'd say as long as nobody is inhaling the smoke directly into their lungs you should be fine.
> Now for those morons supporting the tobacco industry while simultaneously shortening their own life and hurting those around them,,, I say STOP NOW



+1

+1 on quitting smoking as well.

As far as tossing it to prevent pollution, where are you going to toss it?  In the landfill to get leached into the ground water?  Burning is probably a much better option, it will be diluted and carried away by the air.  Heck, ordinary wood burning releases a tremendous number of toxic substances into the air.  Why don't we all give up the wood entirely and huddle around an oil-filled electric space heater?


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## firefighterjake

Probably not a big deal . . . that said I don't burn this type of wood in my woodstove . . . but I do burn it in my outdoor fire pit . . . I think there is a special place in Hell for me.


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## CarbonNeutral

I agree that it's not much, no way I'd get all militant about it...

With the argument about burn vs bury, the act of burning in incinerators without scrubbers (i.e. stoves) does change the chemicals into much more potent things than perhaps they were before. Just FYI, again, if you want to, go crazy, I chose not to.


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## Battenkiller

Never mind a little stain, the wood itself in an environmental nightmare.  Dioxin is the boogieman in the wood burning pollution picture.  Low, smoldering burns are the worst when it comes to wood, but don't think your EPA stove was tested for dioxin emissions because it wasn't.  Incinerators burn extremely hot and can actually break down the dioxin that is formed by lower burn temps.  A pound of wood will produce about 0.00001 grams of dioxin when burned at low temps in a wood stove.  Over the course of a 7-month burn season burning 100 pounds a day, the average 24/7 user will produce about 0.1 grams of dioxin.  Doesn't sound like much, but the stuff is one of the most toxic substances known to man.

Save the planet... burn as hot as you dare.



> *Dioxin and furans*
> 
> The most publicized concerns from environmentalists about the incineration of municipal solid wastes (MSW) involve the fear that it produces significant amounts of dioxin and furan emissions.[15] Dioxins and furans are considered by many to be serious health hazards.
> 
> In 2005, The Ministry of the Environment of Germany, where there were 66 incinerators at that time, estimated that "...whereas in 1990 one third of all dioxin emissions in Germany came from incineration plants, for the year 2000 the figure was less than 1 %. *Chimneys and tiled stoves in private households alone discharge approximately 20 times more dioxin into the environment than incineration plants."*[14]


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## midwestcoast

Hey BK, good info, what temp is considered "low temp" for that data & how much would it be reduced by burning at higher temp?


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## Bspring

Carbon_Liberator said:
			
		

> Probably more pollutants in a pack of cigarettes than on that stained wood. I'd say as long as nobody is inhaling the smoke directly into their lungs you should be fine.
> Now for those morons supporting the tobacco industry while simultaneously shortening their own life and hurting those around them,,, I say STOP NOW



LOL, that's a great way to look at it.


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## nate379

The 2x4 scraps made great fire starting wood, keep that in mind.  I have a big box full of cut offs from building a garage and that is what I have been using.  Put one of my firestarter things I made in teh stove, couple 2x4 chucks around it, hardwood on sides and over top, light firestarter and fire is heating the house in 5-10 mins.


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## mitchinpa

Normally I start my fires with unfinished lumber scraps from my father in laws woodshop, so my fires start very fast and very hot.  That very dried oak, cherry, hickory and walnut are unbelieveable.  I havent had to use sticks/twigs or newspaper in quite a long time at startup.  One little 1"x1" firestarter square has the thing blazing in a few minutes.  I'll probably include 1 of those 2x4 pieces each time.  It's either burn it or bury it I guess.


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