What kind of stove would you buy if the only wood you had was scrap lumber?

[KP Matt]

People have often asked 'can I burn 2x4s in my woodstove'?

The answer is alway, 'yes of course, but not exclusively, the stove will overfire because the wood is too dry.'

But what if that was the only wood you had? There must be a stove, or a type of stove, that could handle this problem.

Related to the overfiring problem - and also I big problem - would be the need to fill the firebox too often... so I guess you need something that had a big firebox, and that could burn slowly... and also had some margin of safety.

I just ask because I'm currently living in a place where this is the case - lots of free scrap lumber, absolutely no firewood.

 

[elkimmeg]

Cheap a## Home depot, Lowes type stove so when you over fire it you do not have too much investment to loose.
I say Zolzang but safety still is a factor here. My philosphy is why ruin a good stove or more costly stove.

Damn I promised to tone it down for MSG so instead of cheap a## cheap rear end

 

[saichele]

There might be a middle ground. Wouldn;t be a cat stove, and the key would be to really be able to cut the amount of air to the fire. There must be a lot o reasonably good quality pre-EPA "airtight" stoves around. I have an old Garrison (c1978) destined for my woodshop that would seem nearly indestructible, and (assuming the door gaskets are in good shape) you could really shut it down in a matter of minutes by turning the air controll off. Formed boilerplate, all seams welded, only gaskets are the doors.

They're out of business now, but there were lots of similar stoves out there. I'd avoid the vogelzangs and such because they are so tough to restrain, and putting dried lumber in is half a step down frm kero or a stack of pine cones.

Steve

 

[wg_bent]

A masonry heater. One of these perhaps if you didn't want something to big.

(broken link removed to http://www.woodmasonry.com/standard/standard.html)

 

[webbie]

Probably a steel stove....

Something like an Englander - ugly but smaller glass and functional.

Maybe non-cat .....just thinking out loud that turning down a cat in this case could use flashbacks etc, when you go to load or even possibly at other times.

 

[Roospike]

I have built a few scrap lumber stoves in the past and they worked out very well , the stoves were 16" wide and 48" long - 20" tall and the all sides except the top were made of 3/8" think steel and the top was 3/4" thick . All the way around the stove i welded "fins" made of "C" channel to displace the heat faster off the box and to prevent warping . 1 was built for a basement and the other was for an automotive shop that was next to a wood shop that made oak cabinets . Wow would them stoves get hot if you let them. I was told the automotive shop was running the stove at around 800° - 900° on a standard idle run in the deep of winter , just unreal . After 4 years they never cracked or warped . That scrap lumber is a wood stove killer on a standard stove . I wouldn't think you'll find a standard stove with a cat or non cat burn chamber that will take that kind of heat , i used triple plates of stainless steel baffles on the inside of these stoves and they were 3/8" thick each and they took a beating .

 

[Homefire]

People have often asked 'can I burn 2x4s in my woodstove'?

The answer is alway, 'yes of course, but not exclusively, the stove will overfire because the wood is too dry.'

But what if that was the only wood you had? There must be a stove, or a type of stove, that could handle this problem.

Related to the overfiring problem - and also I big problem - would be the need to fill the firebox too often... so I guess you need something that had a big firebox, and that could burn slowly... and also had some margin of safety.

I just ask because I'm currently living in a place where this is the case - lots of free scrap lumber, absolutely no firewood.

Maybe you can build a small masonary heater for cheap that can take those temps and more.

 

[Burn-1]

A friend showed me these stoves. Although they won't win any beauty
contests, the refractory lining might be able to burn large amounts of
kiln-dried scrap lumber without much trouble.

Is anyone else familiar with this design, somewhat like a portable masonry
heater?

(broken link removed)

 

[smirnov3]

Since the stove is going to run so hot, could you use a slab of copper to wick the heat away from the steel? or would the price of copper make that prohibitive?