# Burning Walnut shells, anyone try this?



## Ithaca (Sep 21, 2008)

Can Walnut shells be used to fuel a wood stove?  Maybe crushed shells would work better in a pellet stove?

I'm in Walnut country and have tons in my yard.  Funny how I look at things now.  I look around and think ' Oh, I can burn that!'.

Thought I'd ask here first before I destroyed my new stove.


----------



## begreen (Sep 21, 2008)

I've burned shells from time to time. They burn fine. Right now the stove has a small mountain of pistachio nut shells that have accumulated over the summer.


----------



## Ithaca (Sep 21, 2008)

Great!  Now to find the kids to collect them all!


----------



## bcnu (Sep 22, 2008)

I've burned  hazelnut shells from time to time.  Sure would hate to gather cords of them for the winter  ;-)


----------



## mtaccone (Sep 25, 2008)

I have saved and burned nut shells 1 time to see how they do and they put out one hellish heat.


----------



## Ithaca (Sep 25, 2008)

The walnut shells burned very well.  I did some research and they have been used as a biofuel in electric plants.  'lb. for lb.' you get more BTU's then wood.  The hard part is collecting a ton of them!  Still a fun way to clean the yard.


----------



## OldOwl (Sep 26, 2008)

I'm laughing.  I thought I was the only "nut" fascinated by how well pistachio shells burn.

There's an electric plant near my property in Maine that burns wood chips mixed with peat moss to power the grid.  whatever is plentiful seems to work.


----------



## skinnykid (Sep 26, 2008)

Don't they also put walnut shells on roads instead of or over dirt?

I think they do it down south.

I love walnuts, maybe ya'll just gave me another reason to buy them!


----------



## sl7vk (Nov 19, 2008)

My wife has taken to burning the hazelnut shells that she consumes, and she showed me how it worked tonight.

Quite the little glow of heat!  Looks like we aren't the only ones that have gone nuts.


----------



## jetmech (Nov 19, 2008)

Dont know how they work in a stove but they are used to clean gas path of a jet engine. Crushed walnuts are sucked into intake and clean dirt from the blades. Also when i rebuilt my intrepid there were acorn shells in the refractory package. Maybe i should have left them there. Just kidding.....


----------



## Cearbhaill (Nov 19, 2008)

Wha???

How about hickory? 
If I could burn hickory shells/nuts I would never have to worry about wood ever again- I am swimming in them!
You seriously can't walk in my woods because they are so deep.


----------



## Corey (Nov 19, 2008)

Hickory nut is a member of the Walnut family, so I would think they should work.  I've also read the Hickory nuts usually have a pretty high fat content.  Are you considering burning the whole nut or just shells?  You'd probably get more energy burning the whole nut as the 'meat' is where a lot of the fat is stored.  Although, if there is a market for the nuts, you might be better off selling the meat.  Don't know as I've ever seen 'hickory nuts' for sale though??  Maybe a regional thing.  The big deal around here is pecans.


----------



## polaris (Nov 19, 2008)

Hickory nuts are a real pita to crack(really hard thick shells) but they taste great. Your right about a bumper crop in Ky. though. I don't recall ever seeing so many nuts. They were practically pulling the trees over a month or so ago. It's supposed to mean a tough winter. We'll see.


----------



## billb3 (Nov 19, 2008)

how do you keep the larvae and mice/rats out of the nut bins ?


----------



## phishheadmi (Nov 19, 2008)

What about acorns from oak trees?  I remember throwing them in the campfire as a kid just to hear the pop!


----------



## branchburner (Nov 19, 2008)

I tossed in a small load of about 60 whole black walnuts (2 years old) last night on top of a good bed of coals. They cranked... still pretty solid after nearly an hour, lots of heat - looked like a pile of charcoal briquets. The fat in them may have gone rancid, but the BTUs were sure there.


----------



## Vic99 (Nov 19, 2008)

We burn the shells of chestnuts sometimes.


----------



## Cearbhaill (Nov 19, 2008)

cozy heat said:
			
		

> Hickory nut is a member of the Walnut family, so I would think they should work.  I've also read the Hickory nuts usually have a pretty high fat content.  Are you considering burning the whole nut or just shells?  You'd probably get more energy burning the whole nut as the 'meat' is where a lot of the fat is stored.  Although, if there is a market for the nuts, you might be better off selling the meat.  Don't know as I've ever seen 'hickory nuts' for sale though??  Maybe a regional thing.  The big deal around here is pecans.


Are you seriously telling me I can burn these?

I don't believe there is any market for the nuts- heck, I can't even find a viable recipe of any kind that uses pignut hickory nuts.
Not that I have looked all that hard   :down:


----------



## Custerstove (Nov 19, 2008)

More BTU's than wood? Well that does it, I'm going to burn some walnuts, Brazil nuts, and peanut shells tonight. I remember doing this last year in a fireplace but noticed that a lot of the peanut shells didn't burn down to ash despite a hellish fire of oak wood. So I stopped burning them. But with all the testimony here, I suspect my stove will burn these shells without a problem. Glad to hear this is working for others. . . I always hated throwing shells away.

What else have you guys been burning? Or what other "plants" burn well? Coconuts?

Do pinecones have more BTU's than pine wood? Ahhhhh I think I have something there?


----------



## karri0n (Nov 19, 2008)

Custerstove said:
			
		

> More BTU's than wood? Well that does it, I'm going to burn some walnuts, Brazil nuts, and peanut shells tonight. I remember doing this last year in a fireplace but noticed that a lot of the peanut shells didn't burn down to ash despite a hellish fire of oak wood. So I stopped burning them. But with all the testimony here, I suspect my stove will burn these shells without a problem. Glad to hear this is working for others. . . I always hated throwing shells away.
> 
> What else have you guys been burning? Or what other "plants" burn well? Coconuts?
> 
> Do pinecones have more BTU's than pine wood? Ahhhhh I think I have something there?



Peanuts aren't nuts, they are legumes(beans). As such, the shell is not a shell at all, but a rind. That probably accounts for the difference in burn. The fact that they are so much less dense than other nuts would also lead me to believe they would be ebetter suited for kindling than fuel. They take off really quickly, but are usually gone real quick. However, we did an experiment in health class that involved testing the difference in burn times of fats and carbohydrates(to show why the body metabolizes carbs faster than fats), and the peanuts burned for quite some time with all their fat content. Whole peanuts , then, are fairly interesting as they would be fuel already wrapped in kindling!


Edit: It would appear this thread is turning into an "Alternative" Alternative fuels thread!


----------



## homebrewz (Nov 19, 2008)

I've heard about using crushed walnut shells to clean out the intakes of automobiles as well. I guess any leftovers are incinerated in the combustion process. 

I'm burning leftover feed corn with just a small amount mixed in with the pellets in the pellet stove. The cobs go into the wood stove.


----------



## Cearbhaill (Nov 19, 2008)

I would assume these nuts have to be seasoned.... right?
If they are ripe and dried out enough that the shells have split, would that be considered seasoned, or do they need to sit longer?


----------



## karri0n (Nov 19, 2008)

I would imagine the shells would season pretty quickly, but the meat probably takes much longer. I don't think the shells have much moisture content once the green husk is removed. If the shells split, then I would say they are seasoned.


----------



## ozarkjeep (Nov 20, 2008)

I fully intend to try burning some hickory nuts this winter.

as posted above, BUMPER crop this year, I cant even walk in the back yard without slipping on them.

I am happy to have maybe found another use for them ( burning)

so far the only use I have gotten out of them is to hurl them, baseball pitch style, at my sons rooster.


----------



## tc21 (Nov 20, 2008)

I bought 2 pairs of retread tires from treadwright tires and the tec told me they use wallnut shells to 
give them extra grip. Interesting. They run great.


----------



## staplebox (Nov 20, 2008)

Anyone here burn Black Walnuts?  Is it worth collecting and staining yourself?  I harvested some to try eating a few years ago and it was definitely not worth it.


----------



## thebeatlesrgood (Nov 20, 2008)

you guys are just catching onto nuts. i have a dealer in northern mass, cut/split/delivered $200 a cord.
if you must split yourself, martha stewart makes some nice tools


----------



## branchburner (Nov 20, 2008)

staplebox said:
			
		

> Anyone here burn Black Walnuts?  Is it worth collecting and staining yourself?  I harvested some to try eating a few years ago and it was definitely not worth it.



The ones I burned last night I had harvested two years ago with the intention of eating. Guessing they were now bad, they made great fuel, but if I figured time and effort, no way is it worthwhile. I'd put the price as equal to about $1000 a cord. 

Pine cones, I figure the same, but I have to clean the yard anyway, so in the stove they go (just the open, dry ones). I'd love to find an easy way to turn all my dead leaves into stove fuel!

I guess I'll stick to gathering dead twigs and branches - got a 100-year supply of those.


----------



## moondoggy (Nov 20, 2008)

umm, you gotta figure, squirrels eat nuts, maybe i have a new use for road kill. lotta good btu's in those grey compressed nut slabs.


----------



## smokingolf (Nov 20, 2008)

How will I make it through the winter guys?


----------



## karri0n (Nov 20, 2008)

Make sure they are kiln dried. Their moisture content is around 70% and trying to season them open air can attract predators as well as vultures.


----------



## tryin.not.to.burn.the.house.down (Nov 20, 2008)

branchburner said:
			
		

> I tossed in a small load of about 60 whole black walnuts (2 years old) last night on top of a good bed of coals. They cranked... still pretty solid after nearly an hour, lots of heat - looked like a pile of charcoal briquets. The fat in them may have gone rancid, but the BTUs were sure there.


We just moved in our home in June. We have 3 black walnut trees in our yard......picked up literally 10 wheelbarrows full. Squirles must come from miles for them because they too are everywhere. I never considered them as a fuel source. Wouldn't they cause some bulid up in the pipe? How was the smell when they were burning? By the way, has anyone burned a squirel? How is their heat output? Smell?


----------



## Cearbhaill (Nov 20, 2008)

tryin.not.to.burn.the.house.down said:
			
		

> By the way, has anyone burned a squirel? How is their heat output? Smell?


I fried many a squirrel back in husband #1 days.
Tastes like chicken.


----------



## branchburner (Nov 20, 2008)

tryin.not.to.burn.the.house.down said:
			
		

> branchburner said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The trouble is removing the outer shell, a real mess. Then you'd need to season them, maybe a year (?), but in a spot where nothing will feed on them. Mine were originally going to be eaten by humans but they just sat around for two years (the humans and the nuts). I would not burn them as a habit - too much work. Noticed a bit of smell, nothing too pungent.
I'm talking walnuts here, not squirrels (or humans).


----------



## karri0n (Nov 20, 2008)

Outer shell on the squirrel is easy, once you get a good rhythm.


----------



## deadon (Nov 20, 2008)

Nut shells are a great  fire starter in a stove. At camp there is always a pile of shells from setting around eating nuts and drinking beer. I would be careful  at putting a whole walnut or any whole nut in the stove. Moisture inside the shell could act like a giant popcorn and explode.  Boy that might be exciting during deer camp. Can place bets on how long until it goes bang.


----------

