Burning Weeping Willow

[jatoxico]

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!

 

[tfdchief]

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.

 

[jdp1152]

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.

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..

 

[scotvl]

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

 

[Kaptain]

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.

 

[fire_man]

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.

 

[loadstarken]

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!

 

[raprude]

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 .

 

[Augie]

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.

 

[ScotO]

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.......

 

[Augie]

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

 

[ScotO]

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......

 

[Augie]

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

 

[ScotO]

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.

 

[Augie]

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.

 

[ScotO]

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.....

 

[BobUrban]

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???

 

[ScotO]

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....

 

[eclecticcottage]

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!

 

[Applesister]

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.

 

[tfdchief]

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