I was calling around for c/s/s wood for my new to me, used Jotul F3cb stove. A local supplier has what he termed "nubbins". The usually small end pieces left over when there is not enough length left over to put in a normal length of cord wood. It is supposed to be well seasoned according to him. And at $190 a cord is is a bit cheaper than a normal $275 cord. I can see an upside to this wood. I should be able to pack more into my stove. With the secondary burn flame tubes in the top I often can't pack as much wood into it as I like leading to shorter burn times. Anyone have any experience with these?
Nubbins - ever hear of them?
- Thread starter rocksnap
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil. -
Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
- Status
Since wood dries a lot through the end grain, the nubbins as you call it, do dry fast. They are good for North/South loading but be careful not to overheat the stove with them. You might want to get some longer pieces for stoking East/West for slower overnight burns.
I burn nubbins all the time,I just mix them in with my "regular"wood.They usually dry quicker,I'd buy them
When I bought my former home and installed a stove, my wood supply was very sparse. Fortunately for me (unfortunate for him) a friend's house caught fire and the fire marshal condemned his install so gave me all his seasoned wood for free. His stove took longer wood than mine and I had to recut the 3 cords he gave me. I had little nubbins up the wazoo.
Before that there were times when I would be short on seasoned wood so I would make my own nubbins from the two dried out ends of the log and set them aside for immediate burning while the middle part got laid up for next year. You do what you have to in a pinch.
Before that there were times when I would be short on seasoned wood so I would make my own nubbins from the two dried out ends of the log and set them aside for immediate burning while the middle part got laid up for next year. You do what you have to in a pinch.
Thanks all for your input. I will buy them if for no other reason that with regular wood that I have, there is usually a bunch of unused space left in the stove. Because of the size of my stove, size of wood going into it and the secondary flame tubes taking up the upper space in the stove, this prevents me from putting anything too big in there once there is a good size fresh log on top. I need smaller wood to help fill the stove and get longer burn times out of it. Hopefully without resorting to make a bunch of small wood out of larger pieces.
On a secondary note I ordered and will receive two tons of "Liberty Blocks". The same function as "enviro bricks" or " "bio bricks" etc. These I should be able to fill up the stove at night for longer burn times. I will experiment the loading with all these being careful not to overheat the stove.
Thanks again!
On a secondary note I ordered and will receive two tons of "Liberty Blocks". The same function as "enviro bricks" or " "bio bricks" etc. These I should be able to fill up the stove at night for longer burn times. I will experiment the loading with all these being careful not to overheat the stove.
Thanks again!
I have a whole pile of them because I am so anal when it comes to the length... has to be exact, so i have alot of cut offs, stumps, etc. about 1/2 a cords worth.
I use both north south and east west loading most the time.Have use a few cords of smaller green ash that work out good!
Good for packing the stove tighter along with normal splits, and you can basically split them by hand if your nails aren't chewed too bad.
Wood is wood for the most part. No you are not gonna get long burn times with it but it will burn hot and fast.
I got lots of them from scrounging wood that is not cut to my bucking horse size. <----- which is falling apart after many good years.
I like to split-em up small for kindling, you can really get the stove hot fast with them. I have some 13% MC pine that goes up like a blazing inferno!
I got lots of them from scrounging wood that is not cut to my bucking horse size. <----- which is falling apart after many good years.
I like to split-em up small for kindling, you can really get the stove hot fast with them. I have some 13% MC pine that goes up like a blazing inferno!
An alternate term I have heard from a few folks who were tied in with the dowel industry in Western Maine was "lily pads" they were the cut offs from the end of the logs, before the logs were sawn up for boards to make dowels.
Around here I hear them called chunks. I call them runts cuz they are the smallest of the litter.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/runt
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/runt
I came across quite a few of these "nubbins" for free this past summer. Two years seasoned and am currently burning the nubbins out of my Englander 30. The only drawback for me is the extra handling and trying to fit them in the stove. It helps to place them end on end to simulate a log.
Toss all of mine on the end of the wood pile and grab as I go. I like them for burning on days that I am off and can reload every few hours. Mine are usually made out of the wood that I couldn't carry out of the woods and had do cut down to about 10" to be able to carry it. Once split, they become chunks. Burn great. Again, for me, the largest not extras are made into these. If anyone can help me carry or split in the woods a 20" long, 28" round, please let me know and I'll let you know where I can use the help.
Chad
Chad
I call it "chunk wood" - Cause it's all in chunks, and it rhymes w/ "junk" - :lol: A mix of cutoff bits, and irregular splitter scraps - I try to shave off projecting knots and stubs, plus those items that break off instead of splitting cleanly, etc... I put anything in that pile that's larger than fist size, and smaller than about 14" or so. I've probably got at least a cord of the stuff saved, and make more almost as fast as I can burn it. It's BTU's and good heat, but it's a pain to deal with - I can bring in big splits on my split cart, but the chunk wood comes in via a couple of plastic garbage cans. Not harder, but just extra effort and space in the living room...
Gooserider
Gooserider
I love burning nubbin/runts/chunks in my F3. I ususally use them at startup with kindling to get a nice quick coal bed underway and then load regular splits on top.
gyrfalcon said:
It's called "If you want a different container, I'll show you where the pile is darling...." %-P We both tend to fall on the extreme end of "casual" (that's spelled sloppy) housekeeping - and the deal is if she wants me to bring in the heat, I do it in the way that makes the most sense to me... I'm not into adding additional handling steps to move wood from a transporter into a storage container instead of going straight from the transporter to the stove... I've already handled the darn stuff to many times as it is!
Gooserider
Gooserider said:
Know totally what you mean. Just yanking your chain. I have a lot of wood piled in my LR, and various boxes of various kinds of kindling and sizes, etc., I'm experimenting with, so my hearth is hardly neat. I do draw the line at plastic garbage cans, though.
Adding that I'm frequently amazed at the restrictions and conditions and rules the wives of some of the guys here apparently put on heaters. But then I'm one of those people who vacuums every six months, whether the house needs it or not, so a few boxes of wood and a lot of firewood detritus on the floor around the hearth hasn't even struck me as an issue.
gyrfalcon said:Gooserider said:
Know totally what you mean. Just yanking your chain. I have a lot of wood piled in my LR, and various boxes of various kinds of kindling and sizes, etc., I'm experimenting with, so my hearth is hardly neat. I do draw the line at plastic garbage cans, though.
Adding that I'm frequently amazed at the restrictions and conditions and rules the wives of some of the guys here apparently put on heaters. But then I'm one of those people who vacuums every six months, whether the house needs it or not, so a few boxes of wood and a lot of firewood detritus on the floor around the hearth hasn't even struck me as an issue.
Well I'm hoping to eventually get ahead on burning the chunks, and then the garbage cans will go away for at least a while... I'm also amazed at some of the restrictions, but if they are willing I won't interfere... I mean some ways you qualify as a compulsive neat freak in my book - We got a fancy vacuum three or four years ago, and I think we are now on about our 4th or 5th bag for it - one of which I filled doing the annual stove cleanout and chimney sweeping... (I shouldn't brag, it just seems like we have other stuff that keeps us busier...)
Gooserider
Burning those chunks and misc pieces is great for during the day on weekends and when getting the fire going when you do not need a tightly packed firebox.
![[Hearth.com] Nubbins - ever hear of them?](/talk/data/attachments/17/17153-385822e96bce179dbc17b5280f3eb1f3.jpg?hash=RYTQ_UTMXq)
![[Hearth.com] Nubbins - ever hear of them?](/talk/data/attachments/17/17154-d1f5ff462d1ed12d7ed0ce46dcdb967d.jpg?hash=eauM5uq3Y9)
I like small chunks for during the day or for a small fire just to take the chill off. I usually have a few pieces of week that just don't fit in my stove so I cut the extra off and use it for those times.
rocksnap said:
Burn them all the time -- I tend to call them chunks . . . although I kind of like the nubbins name. Like Gooserider, pretty much anything larger than a fist or two put together goes into my chunk/nubbins pile -- mostly cut off pieces from me not estimating very well when cutting up the stove-length wood, some odd-ball sized pieces from the splitting process, gnarly/twisted wood that just wouldn't split up, wood horribly mangled by the splitter and not easily stacked or wood that grew oddly and is not easily stackable. All these go into the cavity formed when I stack the wood on the pallets in two rows with a center opening in the middle.
Wood is wood is my personal motto . . . I tend to mostly use this wood when I'm around the house as it does tend to burn up quicker than the full-sized stuff.
- Status
Similar threads
