salty wood?

[green pacific]

Hello,

I have been reading about the dangers of salty wood.

I bought wood from a neighbour and didn't notice how wet it was until I was stacking it. It was very heavy, measuring up to 40% moisture -- very wet (soaked three inches deep). A friend tonight told me fir should not get wet like that .... So now I am very concerned that this might be wood that was "harvested" from the ocean.

I tested some of the stuff that is on the surface (soft granular fluffy stuff, I don't know its name) by soaking it in water, straining, then boiling the water until it disappeared in a pan, thinking I'd see salt residue if the wood had been in the ocean.

Does anyone know a way to test for salt? I definitely don't see colours when it's burning.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Hello,

I have been reading about the dangers of salty wood.

I bought wood from a neighbour and didn't notice how wet it was until I was stacking it. It was very heavy, measuring up to 40% moisture -- very wet (soaked three inches deep). A friend tonight told me fir should not get wet like that .... So now I am very concerned that this might be wood that was "harvested" from the ocean.

I tested some of the stuff that is on the surface (soft granular fluffy stuff, I don't know its name) by soaking it in water, straining, then boiling the water until it disappeared in a pan, thinking I'd see salt residue if the wood had been in the ocean.

Does anyone know a way to test for salt? I definitely don't see colours when it's burning.

Give it a lick.

 

[paulnlee]

I was gonna say that but being a newb I kept quiet.

 

[jetsam]

I would honestly just lick it, too.

Those raised in cities could do a chemical test. Silver nitrate and sodium chloride when mixed in solution will precipitate out silver chloride, which is white.

If you throw salt on a fire it burns orange, but I don't know if you'd notice slightly salty wood from flame color, though you definitely wouldn't want it in your stove.

 

[Kevin Weis]

Why don't you ask you neighbor where it was sourced?

 

[jetsam]

Why don't you ask you neighbor where it was sourced?

Because it's less fun!

 

[Manly]

Give it a lick.

Most definitely. A good long lick can tell a lot about a round. I have been routinely licking my wood for many years. Rarely do we get a salty batch, but it has happened. Try not to feed too much salted wood at one time. Seasoned and salted wood shouldn’t be of too much concern.

 

[blacktail]

I tested some of the stuff that is on the surface (soft granular fluffy stuff, I don't know its name)

That could be a layer of punky (rotten) wood. It won't hurt anything if you burn it, but it will soak up water like a sponge.

 

[green pacific]

Why don't you ask you neighbor where it was sourced?

Haha. Yes, I guess that sounded funny. But a guy who sold me wet wood as firewood for my woodstove, knowing I needed to use it within weeks? I suppose because I would not expect that guy to tell me the truth if he'd sold me wood that would ruin my stove. (When I said "neighbour" I created some misunderstanding, I think; he's not a near neighbour; I had never met him or seen him before. We're semi-rural; he lives ten miles away. That counts as a neighbour here ... ... not sure what that face implies -- a tired moon...!!). The wood's not green, it's about 18% consistently if I split it and use the moisture meter but it's really wet from the surface about 3" in and I don't have enough experience to guess why. When a friend tells me fir should not get that soaked just lying in a field, I worry that it's from the beach and will ruin my beloved 3-yr-old BK stove. I am licking bits of wood. On bark that IS from the beach, I can taste just a bit of salt. Nothing so far on the firewood. ... many thanks for suggesting the obvious. I really do feel very new at all this and the cautions about ever putting salty wood in the stove make me fearful. Happy season to you all. Enjoy your stoves' warmth and friendliness.

 

[green pacific]

That could be a layer of punky (rotten) wood. It won't hurt anything if you burn it, but it will soak up water like a sponge.

I have never noticed it associated with "tracks" before. But this chunk seems to make it clear that insects have been involved in creating it.

 

[firefighterjake]

I assume folks who suggested licking the wood were just being funny . . . I wouldn't keep licking the wood . . . unless you want to see how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie roll center in the middle of the wood.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Haha. Yes, I guess that sounded funny. But a guy who sold me wet wood as firewood for my woodstove, knowing I needed to use it within weeks? I suppose because I would not expect that guy to tell me the truth if he'd sold me wood that would ruin my stove. (When I said "neighbour" I created some misunderstanding, I think; he's not a near neighbour; I had never met him or seen him before. We're semi-rural; he lives ten miles away. That counts as a neighbour here ... ... not sure what that face implies -- a tired moon...!!). The wood's not green, it's about 18% consistently if I split it and use the moisture meter but it's really wet from the surface about 3" in and I don't have enough experience to guess why. When a friend tells me fir should not get that soaked just lying in a field, I worry that it's from the beach and will ruin my beloved 3-yr-old BK stove. I am licking bits of wood. On bark that IS from the beach, I can taste just a bit of salt. Nothing so far on the firewood. ... many thanks for suggesting the obvious. I really do feel very new at all this and the cautions about ever putting salty wood in the stove make me fearful. Happy season to you all. Enjoy your stoves' warmth and friendliness.

Hi Green- I'm glad to see you took my earlier suggestion seriously. The idea came to mind from a very distance high school chemistry course where they described the taste of certain chemicals. Plus I thought it sounded funny, but I was serious.

I totally understand your desire to keep salt out of your stove, it's a totally different problem than I'm familiar with as an inlander, but if I lived near a coast, I'd definitely be looking for beach wood, because that's what I think when I'm at the beach and see driftwood.

Here's what I would do- I'd find someplace to wash it off, either in the rain, or through a dunking, rinsing, and redrying process. Salt is really soluble, it should come out, keeping in mind punky places will require additional attention. Will be time consuming and laborious, but we do what needs to be done.

I wash off peices that wind up being real muddy. For normal folks, it seems weird. But, The Woman appreciates it, and I'm happy to have clean wood to handle. The house is also cleaner for it.

 

[mellow]

That cat in the BK will NOT like any amount of salt in the wood, if you think it has any chance of having it and you absolutely need to burn to keep warm then keep the bypass open.

 

[green pacific]

I assume folks who suggested licking the wood were just being funny . . . I wouldn't keep licking the wood . . . unless you want to see how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie roll center in the middle of the wood.

Excepting tongue slivers, the tongue seems like a happy and reliable diagnostic tool. My ex-forestry friend who as a kid did commercial firewood said the same thing to me at a gathering the night before last. "Just lick it". He wasn't kidding and it works . At least I can say that even old, sundried, long out of the ocean, liberally rained upon wood tastes a bit salty, betraying its life journey; recently floated to shore and dried for the brick hearth fire bark does too.