Box elder safe to use?

[Abouna]

Well we've got a mess of Box Elder downed in our woods. Anyone know iff this is safe to use in the WFO?

I spent a few hours today cutting it up, pretty disappointing if it's a no go!

[brickie in oz]

Re: Box elder safe to use?

Google it.

[Abouna]

Re: Box elder safe to use?

I did that already.

Had I only wanted to know if I could burn it for firewood that would have been sufficient.

However, as I will be using it in my oven where I prepare food, I thought it prudent to verify it's use with a more specific information source, like say, oh I don't know, the Forno Bravo forum.

Guess not.

[Laurentius]

Re: Box elder safe to use?

[QUOTE=Abouna;149813]I did that already.

Had I only wanted to know if I could burn it for firewood that would have been sufficient.

However, as I will be using it in my oven where I prepare food, I thought it prudent to verify it's use with a more specific information source, like say, oh I don't know, the Forno Bravo forum.

Guess not.[/QUOT

Hi Abouna,

Don't take offense. Here the same questions are ask ad Infinitum and sometime its better say do some research than to say yes or no. In essence you only wanted to know if you could burn it as firewood! Google research didn't indicate that it gave off harmful toxins, but stated that the BTU ratings were low and that it smoked and produced a lot of soot. You realize that in some countries the main fuel is cow crap? So, just smile sometime at directness. Don't use your box elder to start your fire, when you have a roaring fire toss a few pieces in with your hardwood and everything will be alright. When finish cooking and the oven has cooled down, place some of your not fully seasoned wood in the oven to dry.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Box elder safe to use?

Google to the rescue again.

Scroll down to Allergies/Toxicity:

Seems its safe as there are no warnings there.

[Laurentius]

Re: Box elder safe to use?

Google to the rescue again.

Scroll down to Allergies/Toxicity:

Seems its safe as there are no warnings there.

hehehehehehhehehhehe!

[Abouna]

Re: Box elder safe to use?

Laurentius,

Thanks for the reply. Actually I didn't take offense at all. However, I did search both Google and the forum, as I always do. I either missed the answer or simply could not find it.

To clarify, I did not ask if it could be burned as firewood, as I had that answered on my first Google search, the results of which were the same as Brickie. Yes, I knew it could be burned as firewood.

My question was specifically if it could be used in a WFO. Burning as firewood and burning as a food wood aren't necessarily the same. Just wanted to be on the safe side.

At this point I'm leaning toward burning it in the WFO in small amounts as per your suggestion.

[Laurentius]

Re: Box elder safe to use?

Hi Abouna,

The reason I answered your question the way I did was, about 98% of the wood you use in your WFO will be fire wood, to bring in up to cooking temperature. If you do open flame cooking, grilling and smoking in it, most people try to selected hardwoods, nut and fruit wood. Most wood can and are used as you call (food wood), most are not harmful, but impart a not so pleasant taste. To saturate my oven for a double bread baking session, I've burned pine, cedar, broken furniture and even toxic railroad ties.

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: Box elder safe to use?

Crossing that line Laurentius. Toxic railroad ties? Really?

Not in my oven. I burn lots of pine for heating the oven for bread but would not use it for open flame cooking.

[Bacterium]

Re: Box elder safe to use?

Railroad ties......!!

I know a bloke who does rail maintenance and he says rail lines around here are full of asbestos dust from the train brake linings. which would obviously makes its way into the timber......most of its concrete sleeper now tho.

[silvfox]

Re: Box elder safe to use?

Box elder is a member of the maple family and in fact can be tapped for maple syrup. The smoke odor is more unpleasant than a lot of other woods espescially compared with fruit woods. Thats why its not the best choice for startup or live fire cooking. Relatively like weight when dry so therefore low BTU per cubic foot. Also great for wood turning when you find it with red streaks which are not UV light stable.

[Lburou]

Re: Box elder safe to use?

In my mind, there is the period of firing that is to heat the oven (when any untreated wood would do for me -BTW, I have used box elder) and the cooking phase (where I use wood with bark on it and try to use a heavy wood from my back yard. Heat with anything and cook with a known hard wood. I don't know which wood from my yard smells like a cigar, but I'll heat with it anyway. HTH

P.S. It is unwise/unsafe to burn oriented strand board and pressure treated woods.

[Laurentius]

Re: Box elder safe to use?

[QUOTE=Faith In Virginia;149937]Crossing that line Laurentius. Toxic railroad ties? Really?

Not in my oven. I burn lots of pine for heating the oven for bread but would not use it for open flame cooking.[/QUOTE

Hi Faith,

I know, but sometime when I get it pass 900degrees I use it as a furnace, at those temperature even the harmful stuff burns, I would never cook with bad stuff.

[Abouna]

Re: Box elder safe to use?

Thanks a bunch everybody.

[mikku]

Re: Box elder safe to use?

Laurentius- did not know that you were into burning nasty wood.. if you really need a nice smoky fire with lots of pollution, try burning dirty oil filters, or soak rolls of toilet paper in your used engine oil- burns great! That is if you really want to make friends in the neighborhood! Old tires and styrofoam also burn good!

hehehehehe