A serious question...what is it like burning Pine?

loadstarken said:

Do they give permits to your neighbors to the South? I'd love to load my truck up with lodgepole pine! I wonder how much I could pile on my truck? It probably wouldn't be allowed to cross the border though. Dang!

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Lol customs might object!

mass_burner said:

How is it that you smell it while burning? While loading? I don't mind splitting, but its too hard on the stihl. The mess!

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I like the smell when it's split and when it's burning in outdoor fires.

Seanm said:

Im a bit late to this party but here in the Elk Valley of BC we burn lots of Lodgepole Pine. Its easy to split, not to sappy, and is close by. I dont use lots of gas driving to distant lands to gather my firewood in fact I rarely have to go more than 15 minutes from my house. We have the beetle kill here as well but it seems that there is less in recent years but still available and between that and all the blow downs its easy pickings. Not all pines are created equal and some are lower on the btu charts than others!. This is my go to wood when I need a hot 4-5 hour fire on a 3/4 stove load and after that I switch to Larch for overnight burns. Very low ash as well.

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We also burn pine but unfortunately the beetle kill was several years ago and most of the pine is on the ground . It rots very fast when it's down. The firs that were killed by the tusic moth are still standing and we are trying to get as many as we can before they fall. I envy the Larch my brother in law lives in your area and burns Larch, seems like a fairly fast burn but huge heat. We have to go hard on the dead trees as forest regeneration is slow here in the desert.

BurnIt13 said:

Not to derail....But I've got a half cord of cottonwood mixed in with next years wood as a tree came down on my property. What is so bad about it?

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If you have not split it already.....good luck. It is like cement after it seasons a bit in the rounds. Cottonwood has to be split immediately while green

windchaser said:

There are a few pine varieties that have a very heavy sap content and are very difficult to split and take much longer to season but will still burn not bad

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Not to confuse pine with fur. Most pine has low sap content. Now Douglas Fur on the other hand.....

1970roadrunner said:

Lol customs might object!

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In S.Ont., it is illegal to transport wood out of the area. Too many problems with Asian beetle, ash borer, spruce budworm, dutch elm, pine beetle, birch borer ... the list goes on & on. I have so much dead wood from bugs and downed wood from wind & ice that i will never need to cut another live tree in my life for firewood. Makes you wonder if there will be any decent trees in a decade.

I save the big chunks of pine for my kids for bonfires but I use the smaller pieces for kindling. As noted, dries fast and burns fast.

PA. Woodsman said:

Here in Pennsylvania I am very blessed and fortunate with so many hardwoods that I don't have to burn Pine, but I was just wondering what is it like burning Pine? I know that you have to make sure that it is dry and it burns fast, but I'd like to hear from you guys that burn it and I know for some of you guys it is the only wood available for you to burn; I wish that I could share all of these hardwoods down here with you guys! Just curious what it is like, how it differs from hardwoods, etc.

Thanks!

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I've burnt some over the years. . . it burn just fine.

After all this talk of pine I decided I would maybe burn a few loads of it. Have almost 1 cord CSS's for 2 years. Went out to the stack and split a few pieces to check MC. All were approx. 23% ?! This stuff is drying slower than my oak!

How does pine burn? Well,
Tonight i didnt shut the air down all the way on the 30 after re-loading like usual. 10 minutes later the stove top was 800F Yikes, i immediately shut down the air all the way and trained a box fan on the stove. Slowly dropped to about 650 which is where it cruises. All pine.

I burn about 50/50 pine and hardwood as we have lots of white pines that went down over the past fews storms and had 6 very large ones that were to close to the house taken down. I am burning 2 1/2 year old oak/ hickory/maple and 10 month CSS pine that reads 15-17% on the mm.
I love the pine as a fast warm up fire or mixed in with the hardwoods but if it took me 2+ years to season it I would not bother either.

I started bur ning last year and of course didn`t have any decent dry wood to burn. So I cut standing dead pine and spruce, and just love it! In fact, I cut over 12 cords of it this summer in order to get a few years ahead with dry wood, and then I`ll start cleaning up the other downed trees on my property. As everyone has said, it burns hot and fast, has very little ash, and easy to carry.

All this praise of pine, we should keep it a secret from those who still believe it is NOT good for firewood.

Soon we will never get any pine for free, once word gets out.

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Hey, do you guys notice or know of any major difference between pine and spruce





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CenterTree said:

All this praise of pine, we should keep it a secret from those who still believe it is NOT good for firewood. Soon we will never get any pine for free, once word gets out.

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It burns horrible. If you need to get rid of some, drop it at my house. I will properly dispose of it.

NH_Wood said:

Ha! Haven't been to Merlino's, but I've been up to North Conway quite a bit and all around the White Mountains - it is a beautiful area. But.....I normally tell folks how bad it is to live in NH - trying to keep more folks out - especially the damn southerners from MA . Cheers!

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NH reminds me of Georgia with a cooler climate....people and landscape.

It's working!

Seanm said:

Im a bit late to this party but here in the Elk Valley of BC we burn lots of Lodgepole Pine. Its easy to split, not to sappy, and is close by. I dont use lots of gas driving to distant lands to gather my firewood in fact I rarely have to go more than 15 minutes from my house. We have the beetle kill here as well but it seems that there is less in recent years but still available and between that and all the blow downs its easy pickings. Not all pines are created equal and some are lower on the btu charts than others!. This is my go to wood when I need a hot 4-5 hour fire on a 3/4 stove load and after that I switch to Larch for overnight burns. Very low ash as well.

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I wish I could find Larch around here, good thing about the pine up here is no seasoning required, its already at 15% when I cut it down

Steve

I love it. Seems to burn very hot right to the end.
I have found that my stove loves pine and I get really good burn times with very large splits.
Since I have learned this I am now splitting all of my wood very large, pine, oak, maple, cherry, elm, whatever I can scrounge.
Very large splits is the key for me.

I love pine. I usually don't burn a full load of pine. I like to mix one pine split in with a load of hard wood. It helps get things cooking. I always like to have a piece of pine in the mix for cold starts. Usually only needs one summer to season.

I split everything by hand. As stated, the trick with splitting pine by hand is you have to let it sit in the round a while before splitting it. Even then it can be a pain in the neck. Sometimes my maul just sinks in like quick sand.

*Tip* If you get the sap on your hands or clothes use rubbing alcohol to get it off. It has worked really well for me.

PA. Woodsman said:

Here in Pennsylvania I am very blessed and fortunate with so many hardwoods that I don't have to burn Pine, but I was just wondering what is it like burning Pine? I know that you have to make sure that it is dry and it burns fast, but I'd like to hear from you guys that burn it and I know for some of you guys it is the only wood available for you to burn; I wish that I could share all of these hardwoods down here with you guys! Just curious what it is like, how it differs from hardwoods, etc.

Thanks!

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I see you are in Emmaus. There is a house at the intersection of Elgin Rd and Rt100 (right by the country top ice cream stand that burnt down and the Grand Construction bus stop hut) that has a bunch of pine stacked up
in rounds by the road) Perhaps the owners are willing to part with it?

ArsenalDon said:

Not to confuse pine with fur. Most pine has low sap content. Now Douglas Fur on the other hand.....

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I stopped cutting douglas fir because of the sap, I got sick of everyone stepping in the sap oozing out around the firebox next to the stove and having it get tracked around the house. The lodgepole pine never oozes and I find it burns and produces just as much heat as douglas fir, not to mention I rarely can find any standing dead fir that is dry as I can find the lodgepole pine.
We have no problem heat our house and shop exclusively with lodgepole pine, but of course the people out East think of white pine when they talk about pine, and it's a lot closer to cottonwood on the BTU scale. I have found Lodgepole pine is closer in nature to so hardwoods I have burned, like walnut, elm or maple. Of course douglas fir fits right in around there too, and larch. I would like to get some nice larch, but it just doesn't grow close enough to where I live.

It has been standing since Sandy and they just cut it up. Does not hurt to ask.

CenterTree said:

All this praise of pine, we should keep it a secret from those who still believe it is NOT good for firewood.

Soon we will never get any pine for free, once word gets out.

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No kidding. I grabbed a load of pine from my neighbor who had a tree taken down. Stuff is tough to split. They took another tree down and offered it to me...but I don't have the space to process any more...have to get through some maple and oak first, then the pine I already have! Maybe if I get through it, I'll go over and grab the rest...

I too like pine. Seasons fast, burns hot. In VA its great except for the couple "cold" months. Only issue I have is it is hard to split. I use a splitter but many times takes a full stroke to split. not like red oak that "pops" open. So it is more work for less BTUs…but when dropped off and free…its good for me. Also, most folks are afraid to burn it…so you can get it for free and in many cases, folks will drop in in the driveway.