Pine experiment for next season.

Many folks here burn nothing but pine. I'm starting to burn some light fir species similar to pine this year and I see no problem with using it full time. Depending on what you were burning before, you'll likely have to use a little more and probably reload more often, since pine has less BTU value than a lot of other species. Actually, my biggest problem is that it likes to splatter a little pitch on the window sometimes, but that's no biggie.

I used mostly pine my first two years as the oak I had would not burn worth a darn. I actually like to use pine all season long to start fires and mixed with my red oak 50/50 . I would think the only difference you will find is 1-2 more loads per day if you must burn it hot to keep your home warm. I have enough seasoned oak now that I could not use pine but I like the way it burns. So I continue to cut and split 2-2 1/2 cord per year.

Gboutdoors said:

I used mostly pine my first two years as the oak I had would not burn worth a darn. I actually like to use pine all season long to start fires and mixed with my red oak 50/50 . I would think the only difference you will find is 1-2 more loads per day if you must burn it hot to keep your home warm. I have enough seasoned oak now that I could not use pine but I like the way it burns. So I continue to cut and split 2-2 1/2 cord per year.

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This. I like to burn pine.

J.

Boiler74 said:

This. I like to burn pine.

J.

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In the NorthWest that is really your main option, by far the majority burn Pine and some fir if you are lucky, exclusively. You will be just fine.

Sprinter said:

Actually, my biggest problem is that it likes to splatter a little pitch on the window sometimes

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I hear of this but have never experienced it. Maybe it has to do with the kind of pine? I also see lots of talk about sap on chainsaws and hands but again dont experience it. It could be due to the fact that most of my pine that i harvest has been dead for a bit. To the op I burn pine as my day time wood all winter and it makes up about 40% of my wood stacks. Glad to see you enjoy it so much, I certainly do!

NordicSplitter said:

but are there any other points of concerns I should have?

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It tends not to burn as long (for the same output) as harder woods. If you are getting burn times that make you happy, go for it.

Seanm said:

I hear of this but have never experienced it. Maybe it has to do with the kind of pine? I also see lots of talk about sap on chainsaws and hands but again dont experience it. It could be due to the fact that most of my pine that i harvest has been dead for a bit. To the op I burn pine as my day time wood all winter and it makes up about 40% of my wood stacks. Glad to see you enjoy it so much, I certainly do!

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These are people who cut down live pine trees during the peak of the year when the sap is really raging. If you wait until fall/winter, there is way less pitch. I get a lot of dead/fallen pine, so a non issue for me as well.

Glad to see someone else has a healthy amount of it, and enjoys burning it.

You guys are making me curious about trying it. If I can get past the sticky stuff.

Applesister said:

You guys are making me curious about trying it. If I can get past the sticky stuff.

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If you haven't then you don't know what you're missing! I will trade you some Lodgepole for some Apple (we will make allowances for the difference in btus of course!)

Applesister said:

You guys are making me curious about trying it. If I can get past the sticky stuff.

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Yeah, well, that is another bit of a problem. I actually have a shirt and jeans that I only use for handling pitchy wood. Pitch doesn't come out of clothes well. Wear gloves.

On the other hand, it does smell good.

Applesister said:

You guys are making me curious about trying it. If I can get past the sticky stuff.

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I do all my cutting when it's cold, so it's never been an issue. When you have to wear safety boots, chaps, long sleeves, and head/eye/ear protection I get hot in anything above 35 degrees.

I've burned almost nothing other than 12 plus month seasoned eastern white pine so far this year mixed in with some hardwood chunks and uglies. It definitely doesn't burn long but it's kept my house warm and I haven't burned any hardwood yet. I was concerned about full reloads with pine but I've found that as long as I stand at the stove to turn the air down within minutes of the reload it cruises nice and hot with almost no air going into the stove.

NordicSplitter said:

Thoughts would be appreciated....

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You'll be fine.

Hope this helps.

I always assumed pine was forbidden in woodstoves and fireplaces. This is interesting. I just emailed my son and daughter in law a link to this post and another article explaining the misconceptions about burning pine indoors. They have a ton of pine logs already cut to a decent size for burning that they were going to mostly get rid of.

Stelcom66 said:

I always assumed pine was forbidden in woodstoves and fireplaces. This is interesting.

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It's an age-old misconception. It gets discussed here a lot and frankly, I'm still not sure where it came from.

Because the pitch in pine is what people THINK coats their chimney in creosote.

We cut a red oak about 10 years ago in the spring and it had the stickiest (and stinkiest) sap coming from it that you could imagine. All trees have sap and moisture. That moisture (which causes low flue temps) is the primary culprit in creosote formation.

Ask some of the burners here from the northwest who burn almost exclusively evergreens. They don't have a raging chimney fire every season......

Stelcom66 said:

I always assumed pine was forbidden in woodstoves and fireplaces. This is interesting. I just emailed my son and daughter in law a link to this post and another article explaining the misconceptions about burning pine indoors. They have a ton of pine logs already cut to a decent size for burning that they were going to mostly get rid of.

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Now read through and send them this thread
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/your-burning-pine.133746/

I have 6ish cords of seasoned pine waiting for it to get cold to burn 24/7 with. I do have some hardwood (for the first time ever), currently CSS for next year/following year.

Checked the thread - good information. If my pine trees ever need to come down I'm keeping the wood. My daughter in law was surprised (and pleased) to hear it's acceptable to burn pine as long as it's well seasoned. Maybe it's more of an eastern/New England belief against burning it. For a few years I've had a couple of dead branches on a pine tree, they're gray and look very well seasoned. I look at them thinking - how could burning that be bad. This weeked I'll remove them for kindling.

In my new (to me) stove there's a catalyst. Should that be a concern? I guess I still have that extra creosote mindset with pine. I need to get used to the reality of it!

Stelcom66 said:

In my new (to me) stove there's a catalyst. Should that be a concern? I guess I still have that extra creosote mindset with pine.

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There are a lot of things to learn about running a catalytic stove (like don't open the door with an actively hot cat), but pine if fine. It won't contribute to creosote if you use the stove properly.

Sprinter said:

There are a lot of things to learn about running a catalytic stove (like don't open the door with an actively hot cat)...

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Doh! Why is that?

>

NewStoveGuy said:

Doh! Why is that?

>

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Well, I'm not a cat owner, but from what I've read here, it has to do with thermal shock to the cat. Others here can clarify better.

This is my first year burning a decent amount of pine ( and hemlock) ( have 3 cords seasoned and ready to go) have been burning since October 1st and haven't used a stick of hardwood yet. This stuff is PERFECT for shoulder season. I do find that you go through more of it and your loading the stove more often, but hell I can find pine for free anywhere around here. NO brainer. Lets just not let those outside of hearth.com in on this Intel though.

The hardest part about burning pine is keeping your mouth shut when someone spouts off about what a problem it is.

Around here you can't give pine or maple away. I keep a 1/2 cord of pine and maple splits around for when my kids bum firewood to take camping. The joke is on me now, it's the driest wood I have in the yard so I'll be burning it soon.