Hi. I am new here so please be patient if I do something wrong. I have a woodstove that I use to help heat the house in winter. At work I can get some dunnage wood which is used to protect steel brought into our steel mill. The steel is not treated with anything and rusts before it gets to our mill. This rust is transferred onto the wood protecting it. The wood is not treated with anything either. Is it safe to burn this rusted wood in the woodstove? Will it give off toxic gas? I can't seem to get a definitive answer on this from anyone I know. Can you please help? Thanks in advance, Bill.

Is the woodstove inside you're home?

The wood stove is a closed system so not problem with any nasty fumes since they go up the chimney. The rust on the wood is just a coloration that is absorbed. If you do not burn it someone else will.

The stain is a combination of a reaction between metal,water and the tannic acid inside the wood.

The woodstove is inside the house.

The wood stove is a closed system so not problem with any nasty fumes since they go up the chimney

Just be sure the wood is dry.

That wood will burn well. Crate-shipping wood is usually hard as a rock.

As long as the wood is not chemical treated wood, I say no problem. And since it is probably kiln dried wood they are buying it should be high in BTUs. It's mostly tree sap rather than water that needs to dry out of fresh cut wood as it seasons. We have areas of woods on our farm with high iron soil that grows trees with a lot of iron in them, we call it iron wood the trees grow somewhat slowly and look a little stunted sometimes. It burns well but produces more ash that other firewood.