# Burning skid wood?



## clr8ter (Nov 8, 2010)

Has anyone ever run into a problem burning skids? I hear they may sometimes be treated chemically for insects or what-not. Especially if they come from another country. I have a large supply at work, a lot of hardwood, too, but have been hesitant to use it indoors. I do know that some of our stuff comes from other places. One time I found paperwork in Russian between 2 sheets of aluminum. But it would be good for the shoulder season........


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## fishingpol (Nov 8, 2010)

I've burned them on a few occassions.  We get clean ones at work with no visible stains on them.  They burn quickly though.  I've heard people cut them into 12" lengths and stack and nail 3 or so together to make them a little more dense resulting in a longer burn.  Just the flat piece will go real quick.


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## SteveKG (Nov 9, 2010)

I occasionally chop one or two up and use the "chunks" in the fireplace, where an accumulation of nails is no big deal. I use a chainsaw. I don't use any that have paint, grease, etc. on them [or odor or evidence of any other chemical].

My experience has been they burn fast and hot.

Some friends told me they piled some up and had a bonfire. Said it burned so furiously it scared them. I can't comment further on that one, as I've never done that.


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## clr8ter (Nov 9, 2010)

Your buddy's not kidding. Stack 4x4's up 4' high, light it off, and you'll be looking into the Gates Of Hell in about 15 min. My friend burns them, but we all like bigger fires, no such thing as too big a fire. (Except for that time I piled up 8" x 10' long pine logs 10' high, as soon as it got going, a stiff wind came up, I thought I was going to chit my pants, 30' flame going sideways......)


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## CarbonNeutral (Nov 9, 2010)

I've heated for half a season with them - they were great in a pinch, but I'm glad to be back to splits


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## n3pro (Nov 9, 2010)

I also burn quite a bit of them, mostly because with my schedule and only get 4 - 5 hour burns I use them for the way too often restarts, rarely had problems.  Every now and then I find one with a heavy grease - since there free I don't much chucking away.


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## Badfish740 (Nov 9, 2010)

clr8ter said:
			
		

> Has anyone ever run into a problem burning skids? I hear they may sometimes be treated chemically for insects or what-not. Especially if they come from another country. I have a large supply at work, a lot of hardwood, too, but have been hesitant to use it indoors. I do know that some of our stuff comes from other places. One time I found paperwork in Russian between 2 sheets of aluminum. But it would be good for the shoulder season........







The stuff on the far left is all pallet wood stacked 8' deep.  I mostly use it for starting fires.  If you have a few coals in the firebox its pretty easy to toss in some pallet wood and have a good strong fire in a few minutes.  Then I load regular splits.  I use a circular saw to cut them up-it goes quick once you get a good rythym going.


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## ozzy73 (Nov 9, 2010)

Great way to get the stove up to temp. Mix it in with your regular splits.

As long as you stay away from anything that is painted, you should be fine.


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## firefighterjake (Nov 9, 2010)

I burned a fair number in my first year of burning when I had wood that was OK, but not great . . . worked great as kindling to get the fire started and is useful when attempting to burn marginal, semi-seasoned wood.

I don't burn a whole lot now though since a) it can be a pain to process with the nails, b) stacking the flats is easy, but the larger, odd-ball sized pieces do not stack as neat, c) since I have decent wood now I don't find I need as much of this wood (although I still have some left over "flats" for use in starting fires and d) since there are nails in the ash I cannot spread the ash in my garden or driveway without spending quite a bit of time picking out the metal.

As others have said you also don't want to load the firebox to the gills and touch it off . . . avoid wood that is painted or stained by mystery fluids . . . if memory serves me correctly many pallets will be stamped HT which I read here at hearth.com stands for Heat Treated . . . can't verify that to be absolutely true or not though.


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## SWNH (Nov 9, 2010)

I've been know to burn pallets occasionally...like every day! It's generally the only wood I use for my shop stove. I have 20 bins (4x4x4) filled, so I'm set for heating for a couple years. I don't burn them much in the house is because of the frequent reloading needed (shop stove has a MUCH larger firebox) and the fact pallet wood doesn't stack well on my front porch. Pallets are generally heat treated to kill insects, so as long as they are basically clean (i.e. no chemical or oil stains), they get burned.


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## billb3 (Nov 9, 2010)

I used to burn pallets  and stayed away from  any that came from overseas.
If the guys in the shipping department wore gloves and avoided splinters because of the  chemicals they used to fumigate them , I wasn't burning them. Same with any  stained wood.

Supposedly the ones marked HT are baked with heat and should be safe and the ones marked BM or MB  have been sprayed with methyl bromide or bromomethane which is a pesticide. It's one of those ozone depleting chemicals that are supposed to be  getting phased out so it may not even be used any  more.


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## Badfish740 (Nov 9, 2010)

billb3 said:
			
		

> Supposedly the ones marked HT are baked with heat and should be safe and the ones marked BM or MB  have been sprayed with methyl bromide or bromomethane which is a pesticide. It's one of those ozone depleting chemicals that are supposed to be  getting phased out so it may not even be used any  more.



"HT" indeed means heat treated-free kiln dried firewood!  Methyl Bromide is not a liquid so it's not "sprayed" onto the wood like say DDT, etc...  MB works on the principle that all insects and nasty critters that like to live in wood have to breathe or take in oxygen somehow.  The idea is to put the pallets in an airtight container, pump in the gas, let the critters breathe it in, and then let the gas dissipate.  Basically, once the pallets are removed from the container the gas defuses into the atmosphere (hence the ozone issue) and you're left with a sterile pallet, nothing more.  I would never burn pallets that were painted, pressure treated, or that had obvious signs of liquids/chemicals that soaked in, but there is no reason why methyl bromide treated pallets should pose a risk.  Come to think of though, I can't even remember the last time I saw a stamp on a pallet other than "HT", so I would be that in a few years you'll never seen them again anyway.

A little informational reading:

http://www.palletenterprise.com/pests/fumigation101.asp


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## spirilis (Nov 9, 2010)

ya I try to make sure it's labeled HT, but they do burn.  I typically use one short slat on top of every fire to help it heat up faster.  Not entirely sure if it works but I think it does 'cause the pallet turns to coals much, much faster than the woodbrickfuel stuff I burn.

A stove full of the stuff will billow smoke out your chimney like madhouse in a smoke dragon and gunk up the glass pitch-black.  Once enough of it has turned to coals (if the coals are close enough to the glass) the gunk will burn off but yeah.  I'd imagine doing it in an EPA Phase II stove would be much cleaner but holy crap that'll be one roaring inferno from hell.

Might make a good fuel source for Masonry Heaters (or Rocket Mass Heaters)?


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## sksmass (Nov 9, 2010)

Question for all you pallett burners:  What happens to the nails and staples?  Do they survive the fire?  I like to spread my ashes under some pine trees in my yard to amend the acidic soil.  Would I be safe doing that with pallett ashes or would I be spreading nails around the yard?


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## spirilis (Nov 9, 2010)

The nails stay in the ashes.  You should find a strong magnet that can pick them up and stir the ashes around to make sure you got 'em all before you dump them outside.  I usually toss mine in the metal can first to cool and then eventually bag 'em and throw them in the trash.
Next year my wife wants the ashes for the garden so I'll have to get a good magnet to clean 'em up.


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## firefighterjake (Nov 10, 2010)

sksmass said:
			
		

> Question for all you pallett burners:  What happens to the nails and staples?  Do they survive the fire?  I like to spread my ashes under some pine trees in my yard to amend the acidic soil.  Would I be safe doing that with pallett ashes or would I be spreading nails around the yard?



As mentioned the nails survive the fire . . . I tried to use a magnet and sift through the ashes to pull out the nails . . . but later on I still found some that had eluded me . . . especially "partial nails" . . . which is why I now put any ash that had pallets with nails in it out back and not on the garden or on the driveway.


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