# is Cedar worth burning in a wood stove



## wood4heat (Feb 24, 2009)

Just got an e-mail from my Mom. Some friends of hers had a Cedar land on their porch last night. It's already cut and stacked they're just looking for someone to come haul it away. 

Anyone ever burn it? Does it burn clean/dirty, fast/slow, hot/warm etc..


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## Cedarkerf (Feb 24, 2009)

Burns fast makes great kindling tho it will make heat if its the best ya can do


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## Lignum (Feb 24, 2009)

I have burned it, it burned fine. Kind of popped a bit, but no problems.


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## Mike Van (Feb 24, 2009)

Split up small, it makes better kindling than firewood. Light it with a match when dry -


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## 7sleeper (Feb 24, 2009)

wood4heat said:


> ...is Cedar worth burning in a wood stove
> ...



Every wood is worth burning as long as it is free wood! 

7


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## outdoorlivin247 (Feb 24, 2009)

I love the smell and the sound of a cedar log on the fire...Almost to nice to burn in the insert...It does pop so make sure the door is closed or the screen is in place...


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## andyboy (Feb 24, 2009)

Like others say, it burns very fast, but it is great firewood! The rumor around here is that if you build a cedar fire now and then, it helps clean out the chimney. I don't know for sure if that's true. I always look for cedar when cutting wood. It's light to carry, easy to split, and smells great!


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## AOD (Feb 24, 2009)

Cedar burns very hot when dry, guys that run steam engines use it to get their boilers up to temp in the mornings. 

Split it up small for kindling and keep it really dry, it's great stuff for starting fires and making your stove pipe glow.


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## Kansas (Feb 24, 2009)

wood4heat said:


> Just got an e-mail from my Mom. Some friends of hers had a Cedar land on their porch last night. It's already cut and stacked they're just looking for someone to come haul it away.
> 
> Anyone ever burn it? Does it burn clean/dirty, fast/slow, hot/warm etc..



I like it especially around Christmas time I usually drag a small piece out on the hearth to smolder and make the room smell good.

It burns pretty fast and hot, some say it has creosote but I dont know about that. We have lots of it here but its usually entangled with poision ivy so I pretty much stay away from it as firewood unless its free of the itchy stuff. 

Kansas


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## Rusty99 (Feb 24, 2009)

I have a bunch of cedar shakes (shingles) from last summers re-roof of my house. They are about 30yrs old and very brittle and dry. I'm planning to burn them all up in my new insert.

As mentioned they make great kindling but tend to burn up quite fast.

Any wood thats free is good wood in my books


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## rbtree (Feb 24, 2009)

As you're in western Wa, I assume the tree was a western red cedar...my favorite kindling.

But there's many many cedar type trees.......alaska cedar (yellow) port orford--white cedar, really hard to split, a bit higher heat value........cedrus deodar and atlantica....not native....hard to split.... incense cedar, and many more.....


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## Labman (Feb 24, 2009)

In trying to build cooking fires in Boundary Waters Park year ago, cedar was about the best we could find. Very little hardwood, and spruce is terrible.


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## Gologit (Feb 24, 2009)

Go get it. It's great for warming up the house real fast and you'll have all your kindling wood for a long time.


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## trailmaker (Feb 24, 2009)

If it's cut and stacked and free then take it. I came in to some free seasoned cedar and redwood and they burn hot and fast, good for a first load to get the night going. For some reason I seem to get a better burn when I mix a little in with my regular Madrone and Live Oak. Cedar also seems to burn down to nothing, I could burn for weeks, it seems, before I have to empty the ashes.


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## KsWoodsMan (Feb 24, 2009)

wood4heat said:


> Just got an e-mail from my Mom. Some friends of hers had a Cedar land on their porch last night. It's already cut and stacked they're just looking for someone to come haul it away.
> 
> Anyone ever burn it? Does it burn clean/dirty, fast/slow, hot/warm etc..



Yes, and I can point you to 600 acres of it that you can have alllll you want or can haul. I will even help you cut it.


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## myzamboni (Feb 24, 2009)

go get it and store a couple splits in each closet :Eye:


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## Spotted Owl (Feb 25, 2009)

We burn lots of cedar. Old pieces of cedar poles are what we use. The old cedar pole are not treated with anything around us. Most are over 50 years old, plenty dry and ready to burn. We use it mostly in early fall and late spring to get a fast hot fire going to take off the morning chill.

Go get it. Stack it in the back and forget about it until next winter. You will have very hot fast fires.


Owl


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## mtfallsmikey (Feb 25, 2009)

I bought around 1800 B.F. of Eastern Red a few years ago, make a lot of cedar chests out of it, scraps work great in the OWB, especially when the coals die down, the planer shavings even better...I give those to friends, put them in netting to hang in their closets.


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## MJR (Feb 25, 2009)

I always keep some cedar in the box for kindling. I burned ½ cord of eastern white cedar at the beginning of this season. It was from the scrap I milled in the spring. Burns pretty in the Oslo, hot, fast, no coals, and a ton of ash. The pretty yellow sap is icing on the cake. I love milling the stuff so I am sure I will be burning more.


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## Zodiac45 (Feb 25, 2009)

I get one pickup load every other year. I use it too start the cookstove every morning. Best kindling there is. Usually split it into slabs and stack them. You can easily crack off kindling with a hatchet or kindling axe or just take a wheelbarrow full over too the splitter and knock them off. You only use about an inch or two of the splitter stroke and they pop right off.


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## wood4heat (Feb 25, 2009)

Thanks all, I'm going to go get it Sunday. I think I'll do as recommended and put it aside for kindling, maybe mix a whole piece in every once in a while when I feel like a crackling fire. The people who have it only asked I leave a small pile for them. After reading all your thoughts on burning Cedar I think I'll take them some Fir instead.


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## MishMouse (Feb 25, 2009)

KsWoodsMan said:


> Yes, and I can point you to 600 acres of it that you can have alllll you want or can haul. I will even help you cut it.



Wish I lived closer to you. 

Since cedar burns fast and hot, it is a perfect combination to mix in with some of the less seasoned wood or a quick way to heat the house up when it is below zero outside.


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## MJR (Feb 25, 2009)

I wish I lived closer to. Maybe a two week vacation with the mill....


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## LANNY (Feb 25, 2009)

Woodforheat, you're dead on about the uses for cedar, always start my fire with it. Had a BIG cedar blow down this year, stored it in rounds and just whack off a piece to keep by the stove. Small pieces for kindling topped with maybe 4" piece, add wood normally and go inside...done,,,,Lanny


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## Old Goat (Feb 25, 2009)

If it is Cedar Juniper I would jump on it, I doubt it is though, it mostly grows in the Mountain West states. I love Juniper, has the best smell, hard on chains, and burns hot and fast, but the house is well insulated so one good fire a day is all we need most of the winter. I feel sorry for you guys that have to feed your stoves in the middle of the night. Actually I would jump on it if it was almost any kind of wood except Russian Olive, you would have to pay me to even touch that stuff.


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## wood4heat (Feb 25, 2009)

Old Goat said:


> If it is Cedar Juniper I would jump on it, I doubt it is though, it mostly grows in the Mountain West states. I love Juniper, has the best smell, hard on chains, and burns hot and fast, but the house is well insulated so one good fire a day is all we need most of the winter. I feel sorry for you guys that have to feed your stoves in the middle of the night. Actually I would jump on it if it was almost any kind of wood except Russian Olive, you would have to pay me to even touch that stuff.



Yup, I love the smell of Juniper but I'm sure this is Western Red Cedar. It's only costing me a trip across town so I'll find a use for it. :greenchainsaw:


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## wood4heat (Feb 27, 2009)

*Just got some pics of this wood sent to me*

I guess it's not split but cut into rounds. Doesn't look like cedar to me but these pics aren't great. Anyone want to take a stab at identifying what type of cedar or wood this is?


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## Zodiac45 (Feb 27, 2009)

It sure doesn't look like the cedar I use (Easten White) nor does it look like red cedar you have out west. It looks like it's spruce, to me or maybe western larch.


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## blackdoggy (Feb 27, 2009)

Looks like PINE RUN!


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## The Discoverer (Mar 2, 2009)

*Guess on the wood*

From your location, Camas, WA, and from the highly fissured bark, I'd say it was some species of Pine, most likely Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta). The bark doesn't have large enough plates to be Ponderosa pine, and the size of the rounds mean it came from a quite tall tree.

Here is a decent picture of Ponderosa pine bark, I couldn't find a good one for lodgepole pine.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...w&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image&cd=1

The Discoverer


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## The Discoverer (Mar 2, 2009)

*Guess on the wood*

From your location, Camas, WA, and from the highly fissured bark, I'd say it was some species of Pine, most likely Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta). The bark doesn't have large enough plates to be Ponderosa pine, and the size of the rounds mean it came from a quite tall tree.

Here is a decent picture of Ponderosa pine bark, I couldn't find a good one for lodgepole pine.

http://tinyurl.com/bgym4c

The Discoverer


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## wood4heat (Mar 2, 2009)

So I got the low down (and a good cord and a half of free firewood ) According to the owner of the property this is Deodara Cedar. What is shown in the earlier pics was actually just a branch that had fallen. The tree is still standing and it's HUGE! I would guess four to five feet across at the base. 

Thanks for all the input!


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## The Discoverer (Mar 2, 2009)

*Deodara Cedar*

Thanks for letting us know. When you say it, I say "Of Course" because my office used to have this huge deodar cedar on its lawn. BUT, I thought that the wood was _native_, so didn't suspect that cedar. It is a commercially important tree in the western Himalayas and grows very well in parts of the US when planted. Cedrus atlantica is a very beautiful bluish tree. Deodar is much greener. And, you're right, the central bole can get huge, as can the limbs. 

Just for interesting information, there are three other species of the Cedrus family, none native to the USA. Cedrus atlantica (Atlas cedar) growing in the Atlas Mountains of northern Africa; Cedrus labani (Lebanon cedar) still grows in Lebanon; and Cedrus brevifolia grows on the island of Cyprus.

What we call 'cedar' is actually in a different family, the Cupressacea, which has five genera. Western Red cedar is Thuja plicata. 

Somebody has given you a great gift.

The Discoverer


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## Kemper (Mar 2, 2009)

Cedarkerf said:


> Burns fast makes great kindling tho it will make heat if its the best ya can do



:agree2:


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