Punky wood

[Ironworker]

I am new to wood burning, 4 years cutting my own but would like to know if this is punky and can I burn it in my wood stove

Thanks, all help will be appreciated
p.s. here is an update on load I got last week

 

[pook]

looks good 2me

 

[savageactor7]

Sure go ahead. Dry punky wood is something you might burn when your home on a Saturday watching football.

I use it as a shoulder season wood too.

It's not a wood you want to see in your hardwood purchase buy but heck if it's there in the back yard burn it...you can either burn punky wood or dollars.

Nice deck you have there.

 

[indiansprings]

No question about it, I would burn it without hesitation. Is there better wood to burn?, yes, but it all will put out heat.

 

[TreePointer]

Punky wood can be deceiving. Take red oak, for instance. The outside inch or so can be punky, but cut/split/season it, and you won't know the difference.

 

[pook]

drive a hammer into it?

 

[Ironworker]

drive a hammer into it?

what do you mean?

 

[woodbooga]

Critical question for me is what was paid for that load.

I see nothing there I'd hesitate to burn. But if you paid the going rate for a grapple load, I'd ask for a partial reimbursement. Maybe 20 unless the seller was up front about the conditions of the logs.

There's 3 issues with punk wood. Lower heat content. And it sponges up moisture. Direct moisture from rain and snowmelt if you don't have a wood shed. And it also absorbs environmental moisture more than solider wood when the relative humidity of the air is high. Finaly, when splitting punky wood, it seems to 'chunk off; when you hit where a branch shot out or at a crotch.

Still, if that load was free or real cheap, there's a good load of heat there.

Like earlier said, there's some wood like oak that rots outside in - sapwood gets flakey but the heartwood remains damn solid. Black cherry (not pin cherry) is like this too - though less forgiving in terms of time than oak that can sit in length for many years before being unusable.

Looks like you have a lot of maple and some black birch. These species rot from the inside out. Much less forgiving before going to punk. But what's pictured is still some good firewood for personal use, if not for retail sale.

 

[woodbooga]

what do you mean?

Don't want to speak for another, but I use my truck key to determine if a log's worth it. If with hand strength it goes in too easily too deep (think on the ground popple after a few years, I'll move on.

I usually sometimes use the pike point of my peavy to the same effect.

 

[Oldtimer]

That wood is not punky. It's the colored "heart" you are seeing.

And even if it was truly punky, which is another term for rotten, WGAF. Burn it. Your stove can not tell the difference.

I have a saying, as I sell log truck loads of wood for firewood all the time...

"Into every load a little punky wood must fall."

I don't know a maple (it's almost always a maple that is punky) is rotted until I cut it most times. Looks solid, but the heart will be rotten.
What can I do? I have to pull it out, and I have to sell it. I can not separate a few punky trees, so it goes right on the truck with the rest. If there's a LOT of it, then I adjust the price to reflect it. But it's a rare load of firewood that doesn't have a little punk in it in NH.

BTW, the second picture down...is that Hard Maple? Hard Maple that has been tapped for syrup will have that pattern in the wood.

 

[Gypo Logger]

I am new to wood burning, 4 years cutting my own but would like to know if this is punky and can I burn it in my wood stove

This log is interesting, would make some nice boards. Not sure if it's ingrown bark or bird peck.
Often times the wood around a punky area is alot tighter and harder than the rest of the sapwood or heartwood. Just the way nature bolsters up a weak area in a tree.
Also, an Asian log buyer once told me that the most interesting grain is immediately around a hollow or rotten area.
John

 

[Oldtimer]

Could be bird peck. Good call John.

 

[Gypo Logger]

Could be bird peck. Good call John.

At first I thought it might be just mineral deposits, but if that was the case I would think that it would have a much larger and darker heart.
John

 

[Wife'nHubby]

I wonder how that would compare to pecky cypress?

Shari

 

[England14]

I know some wood turners that wold to love to have a log like that or just part of it me included. :biggrinbounce2:

 

[stint]

Punky wood can be deceiving. Take red oak, for instance. The outside inch or so can be punky, but cut/split/season it, and you won't know the difference.

My old farmer pal loved to sell that kind of wood.
Called it "yuppie wood" because it was so easy to get a good fire going when both come home from work late and tired

Don't need boy scout fire starting skills with that stuff

That outer inch is best 'starter' wood you will ever find

 

[Gypo Logger]

Usually those types of inclusions are endemic to some sort of mechanical damage to the sapwood, such as tapping for maple syrup.
In this case it looks like it was repeatedly shot with a low powered gun, but then there would be evidence of a slug.
Maybe a trapper repeatedly drove nails to secure a leghold trap.
Regardless, it's a strange situation.
John

 

[Rickochet]

Burn it and you will NOT regret it!

 

[Gypo Logger]

Nothing wrong with anything punky, but I won't take it to my customers as it 'looks' BTU challenged. The farther north you go, the less fussy a wood burner is..
It all burns and when it's 30 below, you just keep feeding the firebox with both dampers open. You won't notice any difference when it's this cold.
If anyone balks about punky, just tell them it's 'magic firewood.'
John

 

[Guido Salvage]

Also, an Asian log buyer once told me that the most interesting grain is immediately around a hollow or rotten area.

A former coworker of mine has gotten into turning wood to make upscale pens. He buys the ink cartridges in bulk and turns the pens out of 1" blanks. I have been supplying him with some wood, he started out wanting walnut but now I have him turned onto dogwood. Harder wood and tighter grain. He told me the most interesting grain came from knots and branch forks.