I think there’s a FQ to this, but if it should be IMHO then so be it.
I’m putting in a new hardwood floor. Occasionally something goes wrong. Could be a bad board or a misfire of the stapler, but every once in a while I have to remove a board, which usually comes up with the 2" staples still in it. Removing these is a nightmare.
So I’ve done quite a few floors in my day (note, this is NOT pre-finished, just plain old maple) and I use the scraps to start the wood stove. It’s great starter material.
I can’t see any reason a few staples will hurt anything, beyond having to come out of the ash before going into the compost bin.
Anyone think of a reason I should NOT put these in the stove as-is?
I once told someone I was burning cutoffs from my wood shop in the fireplace and he warned me that the fire burns fast and hot, so that could cause trouble. I suspect “fast and hot” is probably easier on a wood burning stove than a cheap fireplace.
He’s likely more worried about his chimney than his stove. We’ve been burning our stove 15+ yrs, and have experience burning things with nails, no big deal, and, off cuts from a woodworking shop, they were a treat to burn no issues at all.
(The woodworking shop would cut up the off cuts to exactly fit whatever boxes they had at hand. It was like a flat pack, OCD much?)
They sell those creosote prevention logs for woodstoves to prevent creosote buildup.
I recall reading in pioneer days, they just let the creosote in the chimney burn when it caught fire, because it would do much damage with a thick rock or brick chimney. With modern metal pipes, you probaby want to be more careful.
What’s funny is that I had a small delivery (1/4 cord of wood) for the season. When I had them drop it off, they mentioned I had 2 empty wood pallets out back (leftover from a late summer project and I hadn’t gotten rid of them yet).
He said he could tell they were untreated based on weathering, and suggested I add them to the fire.
Internally, I was going “Dude, I’m buying wood -from- you, don’t you want me to buy more rather than burn garbage?”
Instead I thanked him, but said I was looking forward to the kiln dried fir and hardwood mix he had just brought.
I didn’t burn the pallets, because I had similar worries to the OP about the nails/staples, as well as the concern that there are degrees of treatment, that could lead to extreme weathering in the yard, but still spew toxic smoke into the house or neighborhood.
Another reason to be careful with scrapwood you haven’t created/sourced yourself is that you never know what was on it previously. Using the pallet example above, even if it was only heat/pressure treated and theoretically safe, what if it had been used previously to transport something toxic and had absorbed a minor spill/leak.
Last, and probably least if you’re a careful burner, and back to the OP’s specific scenario, if you’re using a sappy or otherwise burst-prone wood, do you really want the (minute) chance that a pop blows a red-hot nail back into your house? That’s going to hold and transfer the heat to various objects in your house a LOT faster than a burning wood chip!
Thanks for the thoughts. I decided to cut off the parts with the staples in them.
Interestingly, I think the staples look like they ARE galvanized, but nowhere on the packaging does it seem to say so (Bostitch flooring staples). I know for sure the maple scraps are fine. Like I said, it’s just milled maple.
While my stove has a place for a catalytic (whatsitsname), I don’t have one installed.
Also, as I mentioned, I mostly use them as kindling. Because they are super-dry and only 3/4 inch thick, they burn fast and throwing a handful into a mature fire is like burning paper.
Well, I don’t run the stove with the doors open, and it’s a top-loader so this is nearly impossible, I think.
Your call of course, and you seem content with your decision.
But it seems like a lot of work to avoid heating up a few potentially galvanized nails and/or staples. Not sure how heating a galvanized staple is going to kill you, especially as 99% of whatever it goes off is going out of the chimney. Seems much ado about nothing.
I’m sure you’re right. It was the comment about the catalytic exhaust that’s become more common on stoves (though I’m not running one) and I got thinking about what weird chemistry might go on putting zinc in there.
I would assume that if your woodstove and chimney is working as intended, you wouldn’t get smoke and included contaminants inside the house. (At least nowhere near enough to worry)
The rule of thumb I recall is that you don’t burn pressure-treated preserved wood, i.e. wood that’s been pressure-infused with preservatives - the sort used for decks and fenceposts. At one time (not sure now) that included arsenic to keep the pesky wood-eating critters away. I would assume anything nowadays, “safer” is a relative term. It’s still a chemical intended to kill things.
The odds you’ve discovered a pallet where they not only spilled something fairly toxic but then re-used it for a more menial load to end up at your home is a pretty low risk. I’ve never heard of anyone worrying about nails in wood - if they won’t come out or broke off clean, people would just burn the board as it was.
I lent a guy my circular saw when he was building a swing set for his kids.
When I stopped to pick up my saw he was just about to light a fire to burn all the pressure treated wood scraps. He offered me a beer, but I declined. I got out of there quick.
I knew a guy who didn’t hesitate to burn pressure treated wood, wood with nails, or anything else in his wood stove. Must have been bad for his health because he died shortly after his 96th birthday.
OTOH, a friend of mine had to call the fire department because their CO detector went off. Fire department came, and with their monitors determined the worst reading was outside thier back door. Seems the neighbour a few houses down had their wood stove going, and by some odd atmospheric mechanism the chimney output was blowing down to where their air exchanger’s fresh air intake was.
Yeah, due to a quirk of my roofline and prevailing winds, about 10% of the time my wood stove blankets my backyard with a light smoke. And yes (because someone will ask) the flue is installed in accordance with all requirements.
I fully acknowledged it was a minute chance, especially since I said prior to that:
I just always try to be mindful that while I have (high) expectations of posters here, there are always people who may read this without ever posting, or blow-ins from the internet that aren’t as smart, careful, or prudent as I would expect of a 'Doper.
And even we, in our august glory, often screw up even when we know better dammit!
Not trying to get into a disagreement, but goodness gracious, but how minute is minute?? If one is going that far into the weeds to find an issue, you’d never leave the house out of fear.