Hurricane Sandy and White Pine

[Jerry_NJ]

Hurricane Sandy brought down a lot White Pine on my property... estimate 3 cords.

I have used very little softwood, some Eastern Cedar and a very little pine. Will well seasoned (1 year or more) White Pine cause problems with creosote buildup in an airtight insert? I have a 6" stainless steel inside my masonry chimney to vent the insert.

I have to do a lot of work to clean up the mess of down Pine and would like it if I can get some use of the Pine in my airtight insert. Is there a best time to split Pine, e.g., immediately or is it better to let the rounds season for a few months before splitting?

I have read about burning pine many time and it best I can recall many parts of the USA use a lot of pine for firewood.

 

[jdp1152]

Cut and split in the dead of winter when the sap is frozen and not flying all over you. If you season the wood, I wouldn't worry about burning it. We burned a lot of it when living in the south.

Tons of white pine down in my area from the storm as well. Have two or three on my property and will wait until January/February to bother with them. Between those and a massive willow tree, I've probably got several cords of wood I'm not sure I even want too waste my time with. Guess I might go ahead and do it for outdoor fires.

 

[pen]

Let them splits dry and burn'em up. You won't get the burn times of hardwood, but there's definately heat there. Well seasoned, you should not worry about creosote.

pen

 

[weatherguy]

Ive got quite a bit too thanks to Sandy, Im gonna split it over the winter and use it next shoulder season, it is a sappy gooey mess sometimes but it burns nice when seasoned.

 

[RED FRONTIER]

Burning Irene white pine now. My friend who burns wont listen to me. So I get all his pine. At least a full cord a year. Save the good stuff for Jan and Feb.
I can wait longer to burn my red oak. Three years out and that oak will be super.

 

[peakbagger]

One thing with white pine is that the borers start to munch them the second they hit the ground until you split them or take the bark off. Soon after the borers have doen their deed, the wood retains moisture and the rot starts. Aint no way around the sappy goopy mess aspects

 

[bogydave]

Pine is BTUs.
Like any wood, dry it & it'll burn fine & not cause creosote.
Burning green or wet wood of any kind causes creosote.
Airtight insert or old pot belly stove , burn dry wood, no creosote,
The word "Dry" is the important part

 

[Jerry_NJ]

Thanks, just got around to looking up this post. Seems I don't have my profile marked for email notification. I'll fix that next.

I'll plan to make some use of the pine, I can't just let it lay and rot, if fell in my "formal" yard, not my woods. They (at least a three trunk group) also hit my boat and one yard tractor, rats!!

 

[Gasifier]

Pine is BTUs.
Like any wood, dry it & it'll burn fine & not cause creosote.
Burning green or wet wood of any kind causes creosote.
Airtight insert or old pot belly stove , burn dry wood, no creosote,
The word "Dry" is the important part

I agree with bogy on this. He did not mention it should have a low moisture content though. LOW.

 

[Bacffin]

I agree also, Burn it. I like my splits of pine 18" to 20" long. You will be surprised how long it will burn if the splits are decent size. Here is my late winter work.

 

[mcollect]

I have hemlocks down do I just treat them like pine?

 

[jeffesonm]

Well this certainly is an interesting thread. Not doubting anyone here, but conventional wisdom I've heard/read/seen from just about everyone says not to burn pine in fireplaces. Any idea why people say this?

 

[weatherguy]

I have hemlocks down do I just treat them like pine?

yes, same thing, I like working with hemlock mbetter than pine.

 

[jdp1152]

I have a pile of eastern hemlock that I use for outdoor fires. Stuff spits and pops like crazy. Fine in a box, but be aware when you're opening to load. Folks I know up in PEI burn it almost exclusively since it's free and on their property.

One of my favorite trees here even though it's not native. Have an 80 ft one I love on my side yard...except the fact that my power line has a gentle sag from it's growth. Had to cut down some 10ft tall ones recently since I don't have the means to transplant that size root ball. Bothered the heck out of me do it. Great tree for deadening sound or building a gorgeous and natural looking tree hedge. At least I managed to transplant 9 really small ones to line my lot by the road. Found a few more in the 1ft range recently. Hope they keep popping up as I'd like to line my entire wooded property with them. They grow great in shade or not so great soil conditions....transplant pretty easily too.

 

[Shane N]

Well this certainly is an interesting thread. Not doubting anyone here, but conventional wisdom I've heard/read/seen from just about everyone says not to burn pine in fireplaces. Any idea why people say this?

From my understanding, green pine will generate more creosote than other wood. However, once seasoned/dry, it won't be any worse than the others.

 

[pen]

Found a few more in the 1ft range recently. Hope they keep popping up as I'd like to line my entire wooded property with them. They grow great in shade or not so great soil conditions....transplant pretty easily too.

That's the reason Pa's DCNR (dept of conservation and natural resources) uses them as the tree of choice to give to school children as saplings on Earth Day.

pen

 

[Gasifier]

Well this certainly is an interesting thread. Not doubting anyone here, but conventional wisdom I've heard/read/seen from just about everyone says not to burn pine in fireplaces. Any idea why people say this?

Because it will create creosote worse than most wood. All that moisture has to go somewhere. The reason conventional wisdom says not to burn pine in fireplaces is that so many people burn wood that is not properly seasoned. So over the years they all learned quickly that Pine creates creosote and stopped burning it. However, if it is properly seasoned, it does not do this and gives a nice hot fire. Burns away faster, but throws the BTUs your looking for. It is really unbelievable how many people still burn wood that was just cut around here. They, and the people they learned it from, have been doing it for so long it is just the way they do it. One wood supplier I bought wood from last year, who owns a gassification boiler and knows how important dry wood is, told me that I was only one of a few customers he had that actually stacks there wood outside for at least six months. Almost all of them buy wood in the fall, usually September or October, for heating that year. If they only new how much more efficient it is to have dry wood.

 

[Joey]

There is so much wood available right now here in Ocean County. My wood supplier calls me a few times a week asking me if I could take anymore wood from him. The problem that is starting to happen is that there is no where to dispose of the wood. The landfills are so busy its incredible. I've seen a few very large piles of good hardwood around with signs on them "free firewood". I'm all set for next year.

 

[Gasifier]

There is so much wood available right now here in Ocean County. My wood supplier calls me a few times a week asking me if I could take anymore wood from him. The problem that is starting to happen is that there is no where to dispose of the wood. The landfills are so busy its incredible. I've seen a few very large piles of good hardwood around with signs on them "free firewood". I'm all set for next year.

Man I wish I had a tractor trailer and some cheap ass deisel to haul a chitload of wood home. Let's see, a 53' metal box trailer x 8'x8' would equal 3392 cu.ft./228 = 14.8777 cord. Friggin deisel cost too much.

 

[firefighterjake]

I would rather burn seasoned pine (or hemlock) before burning unseasoned hardwood in my woodstove. . . . but fortunately I have some of each . . . and it is well seasoned.

 

[onetracker]

this is my first year burning pine exclusively for shoulder season (after 37 years of wood burning)

here's what i've discovered:

the pines were down and on the ground for 2 years or so.
i cut them into rounds in the early spring
split them and piled them (not stacked!) on pallets in may
let them season 5 months, top covered them when it rained (not often this year)
burned this pine from late sept till right now
lights immediately
lots of CLEAN heat
NO build up on the stove glass
my chimney is CLEAN as a tin horn
i haven't touched my primo-supremo seasoned hardwood AT ALL so far.
i'm a pine convert.

there was a post a while back where someone researched this and found that hardwood actually builds up MORE creosote than softwood. (do any of you old-timers remember that post?) as has already been said here - the wood has to be DRY !!

furthermore, i wouldn't go out of my way to scrounge pine. i'm simply burning the HUGE pile of BTU's that are laying around in my yard from tree work/storms. when all the pine is gone, i dunno, seemingly decades from now, i'll probably not burn it again cuz i have access to unlimited hardwood.

you're mileage may vary

 

[TimJ]

good post onetracker...........made good use out of something that comes your way and get some good mileage to boot

 

[jeffesonm]

good info all... thanks... I will probably keep it to myself though and kindly help my friends by disposing of their useless pine

 

[weatherguy]

this is my first year burning pine exclusively for shoulder season (after 37 years of wood burning)

here's what i've discovered:

the pines were down and on the ground for 2 years or so.
i cut them into rounds in the early spring
split them and piled them (not stacked!) on pallets in may
let them season 5 months, top covered them when it rained (not often this year)
burned this pine from late sept till right now
lights immediately
lots of CLEAN heat
NO build up on the stove glass
my chimney is CLEAN as a tin horn
i haven't touched my primo-supremo seasoned hardwood AT ALL so far.
i'm a pine convert.

there was a post a while back where someone researched this and found that hardwood actually builds up MORE creosote than softwood. (do any of you old-timers remember that post?) as has already been said here - the wood has to be DRY !!

furthermore, i wouldn't go out of my way to scrounge pine. i'm simply burning the HUGE pile of BTU's that are laying around in my yard from tree work/storms. when all the pine is gone, i dunno, seemingly decades from now, i'll probably not burn it again cuz i have access to unlimited hardwood.

you're mileage may vary

Someone posted a study from Harvard I believe that showed just what your saying, softwoods created LESS creosote, of course the trick is to season but the trick is to season all wood, its amazing how many people dont do this.

 

[Wood Duck]

Well this certainly is an interesting thread. Not doubting anyone here, but conventional wisdom I've heard/read/seen from just about everyone says not to burn pine in fireplaces. Any idea why people say this?

They say it because they don't know what they are talking about. What do they think people burn out west?

Eastern White Pine is good firewood in my experience. It is kind of sappy when it is cut live (and when it is knocked over live) but that is a small pain, in my opinion. When dry it burns hot, but not as long as hardwood. It is great to mix with oak for a hot start and long burn.