white spruce

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phatfarmerbob

New Member
Jan 10, 2011
108
hudson valley ny
i can get some white spruce, about 60 logs 15 feet long 18 inch dia max,, its free and i have to cut the trees down anyhow... do i dump the logs or cut them up for firewood?
 
I'ld fer sure take them! Waste not want not.
 
I'd buck em, and C/S/S. But that's me and we burn whatever's free and seasoned.
 
Buck 'em up. Why wouldn't you (unless you don't have room). It is a lesser wood when compared to others, but it burns just fine. Burn a couple of cords per year as shoulder wood and save your other stuff for the cold.
 
As long as you have to cut them anyway you may as well get something from them. Just be prepared to do lots of trimming.
 
Makes excellent kindling too. Burns very hot when dry but don't last too long.
 
burn it. If not in the stove, burn it in a great big bonfire! Set up all the trees in a big teepee and light them up!


MAtt
 
thanks everyone, i guess im gonna cut it up to burn!!! i appreciate all your advice as always.
 
so was cutting up some of the spruce today and a custormer of ours pulls in the yard and comes over to me and says whatcha doin with those logs? I said gonna burn em. He says where? i say in the house once i get em cut and split and dried out a little. he starts laughin at me and says you cant burn pine inside the house ur gonna burn your effin house down. i told him its not pine its spruce, he said yeah yeah whatever but that sap is gonna make creosote,,, so i just yessed him and changed the subject. anyway he was the 3rd person who told me if i burned "pine" in my indoor wood stove i would burn down the house, and that the wood was only good for an OWB. Sigh... sorry bout the rant but you folks might be the only ones who get it.
 
phatfarmerbob said:
so was cutting up some of the spruce today and a custormer of ours pulls in the yard and comes over to me and says whatcha doin with those logs? I said gonna burn em. He says where? i say in the house once i get em cut and split and dried out a little. he starts laughin at me and says you cant burn pine inside the house ur gonna burn your effin house down. i told him its not pine its spruce, he said yeah yeah whatever but that sap is gonna make creosote,,, so i just yessed him and changed the subject. anyway he was the 3rd person who told me if i burned "pine" in my indoor wood stove i would burn down the house, and that the wood was only good for an OWB. Sigh... sorry bout the rant but you folks might be the only ones who get it.

If he's right, folks in the Rocky Mts. & up north would all be homeless :)
Evergreens have been (indoor) fire wood for centuries.
Creosote comes from all/any wood that's burned to wet. (before it's time)
You'll have some good firewood after CSS for a year, when you see him next year, tell him you burned the wood not the water :)
For you,maybe shoulder season wood, but many wood burners, it's the only or primary wood.
I've burned spruce in my stoves for more than 30 years. (Dry spruce)
White spruce in Alaska 18,100,000 BTUs/cord, our 2nd highest BTU wood. http://forestry.alaska.gov/pdfs/08BTUFirewoodHandout.pdf
 
phatfarmerbob said:
so was cutting up some of the spruce today and a custormer of ours pulls in the yard and comes over to me and says whatcha doin with those logs? I said gonna burn em. He says where? i say in the house once i get em cut and split and dried out a little. he starts laughin at me and says you cant burn pine inside the house ur gonna burn your effin house down. i told him its not pine its spruce, he said yeah yeah whatever but that sap is gonna make creosote,,, so i just yessed him and changed the subject. anyway he was the 3rd person who told me if i burned "pine" in my indoor wood stove i would burn down the house, and that the wood was only good for an OWB. Sigh... sorry bout the rant but you folks might be the only ones who get it.

Should have told him it would be OK . . . you were planning on throwing some potato peels and beer cans into the stove at the same time to counteract the effects of the softwood.
 
funny, one of the people who told me not to burn the "pine" also told me i should be throwing an aluminum can in the stove once and a while to keep the chimney clean.
 
phatfarmerbob said:
funny, one of the people who told me not to burn the "pine" also told me i should be throwing an aluminum can in the stove once and a while to keep the chimney clean.

Honor . . . I rest my case. ;) :)
 
I find that softwoods burn better in my Jotul than hardwoods (and the hardwood is 2+ year seasoned in full sun).
 
one of the local tree companies around here sells thier pine logs to OWB owner for 200 a log truck load. once they get to know you sometimes its 100 a load if you are close to where they are cutting. So maybe you can earn a cuople of extra buck selling to boiler owners.
 
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