Tree Roots for firewood

[V-wiz]

Last year we cut down two Mulberry Trees and now im stuck with these nasty roots, im removing them by digging around the roots and cutting them out with a large sawzal/blade. Ive got some worthy roots that ive cut up and chopped. What do you guys think? Can these be used for good fire wood in the oven? One thing i noticed was these things are very wet, so ill have to dry them real well.

[V-wiz]

Re: Tree Roots for firewood

And this is the large root from above split in half.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Tree Roots for firewood

Its all carbon so will burn.

[nissanneill]

Re: Tree Roots for firewood

Get a fire hot enough, and they will burn as they are, wet!
I have burned small 'sap dripping' walnut trees that were cut down and immediately burned furiously!
I am currently burning Eucalypt red gum that was growing only 8 months ago.

Neill

[V-wiz]

Re: Tree Roots for firewood

Al and brickie thanks i agree, i was planning on throwin those in a hot fire since theyre wet but i will still wait to dry them a bit, its so wet that when chopping them water would just splash out onto the floor.

[deejayoh]

Re: Tree Roots for firewood

I was in a restaurant that cooks all it's food in a WFO the other night, and was talking with the guy tending the oven. He had a neat trick - he left a could of pieces of wood just inside the door to get up to temperature, so that they would be dry and ready to ignite when he added them to the fire. With a wet piece of root, you can definitely use the oven to help dry it out.

[Gulf]

Re: Tree Roots for firewood

V-Wiz,
Try some of it for smoking first. If it is what I think it would be, that would be a shame to waist it on heat. If not, just burn it..........in the oven.

[Laurentius]

Re: Tree Roots for firewood

Dry it like you would your other wood, rather that waste it wet. I'm sure you have plenty of waste wood to use.

[silvfox]

Re: Tree Roots for firewood

V-Wiz,
Please try Gulf's suggestion and try the mulberry for smoking and report back. My quess is that it will be milder and sweeter than oak or hickory but stronger than apple or some of the other fruit woods. You'll get plenty of smoke even from dry wood if your fire is not too hot. Keep the oven door ajar slighty. 225 F is a good target temp. for most smoking.
Around here mulberries are a nuisance. Biirds love to use them for very effective and stainig bombing fadder and they they love to sprout against house foundations.

[V-wiz]

Re: Tree Roots for firewood

I was in a restaurant that cooks all it's food in a WFO the other night, and was talking with the guy tending the oven. He had a neat trick - he left a could of pieces of wood just inside the door to get up to temperature, so that they would be dry and ready to ignite when he added them to the fire. With a wet piece of root, you can definitely use the oven to help dry it out.

Thanks for the tip, ive been doing that with other pieces of split wood when ive been curing the oven. I can do that with these also

[V-wiz]

Re: Tree Roots for firewood

V-Wiz,
Try some of it for smoking first. If it is what I think it would be, that would be a shame to waist it on heat. If not, just burn it..........in the oven.

Ill give it a try as i know green wood smokes well in a hot fire, i just wasn't sure if the roots would be a good candidate. Thanks man

[V-wiz]

Re: Tree Roots for firewood

V-Wiz,
Please try Gulf's suggestion and try the mulberry for smoking and report back. My quess is that it will be milder and sweeter than oak or hickory but stronger than apple or some of the other fruit woods. You'll get plenty of smoke even from dry wood if your fire is not too hot. Keep the oven door ajar slighty. 225 F is a good target temp. for most smoking.
Around here mulberries are a nuisance. Biirds love to use them for very effective and stainig bombing fadder and they they love to sprout against house foundations.

Thanks Fox, im very familiar with smoking meat so this should be another nice smoke. Ive smoked Mulberry before, its very similar to Peach, sweet and spicy, its strange how i can smell all that but i really can. Peach is one of my favorite smoking woods so the mulberry should be the next good wood. Its very different from Oak, apple and cherry. I will try it out and report back. Thanks guys.

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Tree Roots for firewood

V-Wiz,

Last month I cut down a jacaranda tree that had grown too close to the house and ended up keeping all but the smallest diameter roots. They appear to be very dense and looked too good to discard.

Also, I came across a tool at Harbor Freight that might work well cutting up the stubborn trunk/branch junction portions of the tree.

John

[V-wiz]

Re: Tree Roots for firewood

V-Wiz,

Last month I cut down a jacaranda tree that had grown too close to the house and ended up keeping all but the smallest diameter roots. They appear to be very dense and looked too good to discard.

Also, I came across a tool at Harbor Freight that might work well cutting up the stubborn trunk/branch junction portions of the tree.

John

Thanks John, thats a nice pile there,


That looks like a great tool, basically a chainsaw on a grinder right. That will help cutting wood yes. Does it work well?

[nissanneill]

Re: Tree Roots for firewood

V-Wiz,

i know green wood smokes well in a hot fire

I posted as to how very green, cut down only minutes earlier burns fiercely and might I also mention NO SMOKE at all in a hot fire.
A friend of ours had a 120 acre fruit orchard and also had ferule walnut trees growing within it, so he wheeled down a truck tyre, a hand full of kindling wood and a few sheets of newspaper together with his chainsaw. He laid the tyre down and started a fire with in it, inside the walls, well it was only minutes before plumes of thick acrid tyre smoke was made, he started the saw and cut down several trees with trunks around 4-6" diameter. I then had to lay these over the burning tyre and within 5 minutes and around 10 trees you couldn't get nearer than 10-15 feet from a roaring fire with absolutely NO SMOKE what so ever. A lesson that I have used on so many occasions.
Try burning old sump oil and it produces huge clouds of smoke, but put it through a jet under pressure and hit it with a large blast of air and you have a very efficient heat source, our electricity station in Adelaide, gas several huge tanks of old sump oil that they burn not only to get rid of it but to fire their boilers for steam should there be a break in the natural gas supply. This doesn't produce smoke as the public let alone the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) would crucify them.
However the fire must be hot!, not like as per a campfire.

Neill