Preferred indoor fireplace wood.

[gitrdun]

I'm having a minor disagreement with my dear wife. She always prefer to purchase those logs from the grocery store to burn in our fireplace, due to safety reasons, but they are EXPENSIVE. I recently was gifted a pile of Douglas Fir (kiln dried) from a neighbor. He is a post frame home builder. I include a picture of my haul on my quad trailer. When I burned the first batch, I had a blond moment as I forgot to open the chimney flue. Yeah, I know that I'm a dork. Anyhow, soon after the fire was going strong, I realized my mistake. I opened up the flue, but the smell of smoke permeated our home. It smelled as though I brought the smoker in the house. It's all gone now, all good. Anyhow, I figured that the smell which gave her a headache was entirely due to my own mistake. But hey, trying to reason that with her is akin to fighting a grizzly bear for a sirloin steak. So....my question is: are some of you folks burning Douglas Fir in you indoor fireplace. And if so...does it stink?

[70chevy]

When we purchased our house the previous owner burned those store bought logs.we found out every time we had a fire we would get a terrible smell.we had a chimney guy come down to do an inspection and he told us the smell was the residue from these logs,We had our chimney cleaned and no smell since.Hope this helps

[amosfella]

It's easier to get forgivness than permission... I honestly burned a lot of old pallets and other things like that. And trimmings from elm trees and caragana around the yard. Got to clean out the ashes every time I burn elm though... It leaves a pile of ash...

[coreya3212]

Dont argue with her. Just forget he flue the next time you light one of her grocery logs...that should do it.

PS-no fir don't stink, Douglas or otherwise.

PPS- what safety reasons?

[gitrdun]

Originally Posted by coreya3212

Dont argue with her. Just forget he flue the next time you light one of her grocery logs...that should do it.

PS-no fir don't stink, Douglas or otherwise.

PPS- what safety reasons?

She figures that if I don't burn anything other that the store bought logs, I'm gonna start the house on fire. I've burned some of those Douglas Fir logs just a few minutes ago. And with the flue opened as it should be, there's no smell. Duuuuhhh, try arguing with a freaking grizzly bear for a minute.

[gitrdun]

Originally Posted by coreya3212

Dont argue with her. Just forget he flue the next time you light one of her grocery logs...that should do it.

PS-no fir don't stink, Douglas or otherwise.

PPS- what safety reasons?

Dude, I've been married to the Queen of the castle now for 40 years. I know where the dog house is and I've customized it to be wicked comfy.. LOL

[Bigwoodsman]

Dry wood. Some prefer birch we always burnt good dry split well seasoned poplar wood.

BW

[bubba 96]

Originally Posted by gitrdun

I'm having a minor disagreement with my dear wife. She always prefer to purchase those logs from the grocery store to burn in our fireplace, due to safety reasons, but they are EXPENSIVE. I recently was gifted a pile of Douglas Fir (kiln dried) from a neighbor. He is a post frame home builder. I include a picture of my haul on my quad trailer. When I burned the first batch, I had a blond moment as I forgot to open the chimney flue. Yeah, I know that I'm a dork. Anyhow, soon after the fire was going strong, I realized my mistake. I opened up the flue, but the smell of smoke permeated our home. It smelled as though I brought the smoker in the house. It's all gone now, all good. Anyhow, I figured that the smell which gave her a headache was entirely due to my own mistake. But hey, trying to reason that with her is akin to fighting a grizzly bear for a sirloin steak. So....my question is: are some of you folks burning Douglas Fir in you indoor fireplace. And if so...does it stink?

I'd burn the spruce before the toxic log..
the nickname we call those store bought things..

[marlin1]

I burn construction wood , all free keep the curtain closed

[HighlandHeart]

I've burned fir, larch, and spruce in fireplaces and woodstoves and had no problem with any of them. If the wife is worried about the house burning down, get one of those fire extinguisher envelopes that you can throw into your stove that will put it out. Next step is to get a few cords of wood dropped off. I like larch because it burns hot and makes little ash. I don't like spruce because it burns quickly and it burns dirtier.

[CaberTosser]

I burn whatever I collect from local arborists. It's been a few years since going on a collecting spree so I'll be due again this year. I do avoid poplar though, hate the wretched stuff. Getting the urban trees means a bit more variety in terms of hardwood species compared to the forests around here. My favorite is green ash both for good BTU content but also because when I swing my splitting axe on that stuff it explodes apart as though I was Superman himself.

Sometimes I chance upon some oak dunnage at suppliers and get permission to take it, those hardwoods burn a good long time.

[couleefolk]

We don't have a fireplace, but my friend has a woodstove and his wood of choice is poplar. He says that with poplar you can go for years without cleaning the chimney, and when he gets someone to do it they are amazed at how clean his chimney is. Don't know if the same rules apply to fireplaces.

[3blade]

I'd guess the smell was residue from those store bought "logs". I've done the same thing and it just smelled like wood smoke, nothing bad. Best get your chimney cleaned.

We use whatever trees die or need to be taken out in the yard. Birch, apple, pine, spruce, poplar, elm, whatever. It all burns. Always keep some oak and birch around for power outages, lasts a lot longer.

[Blastoff]

Them logs are chemical sticks, wouldn't touch them. I use pine or spruce

[Wes_G]

I burn dunnage that we get lifts of wood on at work and its 90% fir with the rest being spruce or pine.

If you're buying fire wood at a store you may as well open your wallet and throw the bills directly into the fireplace instead. Get a wood permit and go to the hills, cut a truck load for $5.00 plus the gas to get there and back.

[rusty99]

I used to burn whatever I could get my hands on until recently. But then I started to burn birch and I will never go back to anything else. Birch burns much hotter and much less ash to deal with. From my experience this is the way to go.

[fordtruckin]

If I have a choice I like birch maple or oak. Good luck finding those in the west so I'm pretty much remanded to p pine lodge pole or larch.

[PartTimeHunter]

I usually use spruce or pine, the best I've used was fire killed spruce or pine. Got hotter, lasted longer and far less ash than most others. The worst is poplar - if I use that I have to shovel out the ashes almost daily. With the fire killed stuff it was weekly, maybe.

[Au revoir, Gopher]

Originally Posted by Blastoff

Them logs are chemical sticks, wouldn't touch them. I use pine or spruce

Not all of them. You can now get ones that are made without and binders, they are held together just by the pressure used to form them. If you can find them by the pallet, they aren't that bad of a price, but buying them at the grocery/hardware store... well you might as well go lumber yard and buy 1x8 hardwood to burn.

Kiln dried birch is my preferred fireplace fuel.

ARG

[ORV]

[QUOTE=Au revoir, Gopher;3526387]Not all of them. You can now get ones that are made without and binders, they are held together just by the pressure used to form them. If you can find them by the pallet, they aren't that bad of a price, but buying them at the grocery/hardware store... well you might as well go lumber yard and buy 1x8 hardwood to burn.

(Kiln dried birch is my preferred fireplace fuel) X2 I don,t burn anything

but birch inside the house

Orv.

[Big Grey Wolf]

Spruce and pine burn with lots of sparks from pitch. Best wood is birch with poplar( Aspen) a good second. Just be sure it is dry, wet wood is what causes soot build up in the chimney.

[waterninja]

I was in BC recently in an area where almost everyone has an indoor fireplace or air tight. I was told that Larch (Tamarac) was the prized wood for burning.

[Thrillbilly]

Cedar!

[gitrdun]

Thank you very much fellows. You've all given me enough ammunition to tackle this minor issue.

[fordtruckin]

Originally Posted by Big Grey Wolf

Spruce and pine burn with lots of sparks from pitch. Best wood is birch with poplar( Aspen) a good second. Just be sure it is dry, wet wood is what causes soot build up in the chimney.

Seriously poplar? Yah it burns but leaves a load of ash no doesn't seem to generate much heat...

[dgl1948]

Originally Posted by fordtruckin

Seriously poplar? Yah it burns but leaves a load of ash no doesn't seem to generate much heat...

Nothing wrong with white poplar. Just about as good as birch. If you are burning the black poplar that grows in the low wet areas you will get lots of ash and no heat. There is more than one type of poplar out there v

[Bub]

I agree that poplar would probably be my last choice. Someone did mention that it is "clean burning" and it is, in fact, probably one of the "cleanest". But I definitely would not compare it to birch for the heat and birch would probably be my number one choice, but it ain't easy to find it in desired quantities. Well, oak might really be my number one choice but none is available.

I don't think there is anything better than birch for heat output; nothing that is widely available, anyway. Try barbecuing over the birch coals when camping. Good stuff. I actually do it in the backyard fairly often throughout the summer. Just picked a couple of beaver cut birches today just for that.

Any conifer, i.e. pine, spruce, fir, cedar, etc, will naturally burn "dirtier" than poplar, birch, or oak, but I would pick one of those over poplar. Maybe I just have not burned the right kind of poplar. Don't really know. Poplar also burns faster and plenty more ash in my experience.

[TUFFBUFF]

From what I know from my wood burning days the hottest I had was old Tamarac fence posts.
After that was oak pallets I cut up with a chainsaw, used mostly for kindling but it threw heat with a load of bigger stuff. Birch was next, trick was to split it and let dry for at least a year.
I also burned lots of pine beetle stuff, and it was plenty good enough although some had more moisture than others depending on how long it was "dead"
Spruce about the same as pine, but never burned much.
Poplar was the worst for me, but I mostly burned dead stuff harvested around the place, light and burned fast.
Never burned black poplar in the house, have a hard enough time keeping it going in an outside firepit.

I would guess your fir would be inbetween oak and birch, my buddy likes poplar and has never cleaned the chimney, that and birch leave more in the box and pine/spruce deposit more stuff in the chimney. After I had a chimney fire I cleaned mine every couple months.

Toss one of her logs in and put some fir on top - problem solved!

[MountainTi]

The best firewood we have in Alberta is tamarack hands down. Burns hotter than birch, burns clean, and yields minimal ash.

White poplar can be pretty good firewood when it is your only choice. Best bet is to cut live, split, stack and let cure for a year or whatever it takes.

[Big Grey Wolf]

I grew up in 50's in northern Alberta, we heated both our good sized 3bdrm home and large grocery store with white polar ( Trembling Aspen) wood in -50oc winters. So please do not tell me gives no heat.