1 cord of pine so far.

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Roundgunner

Feeling the Heat
Nov 26, 2013
360
Rural CT
I’m heating 2 houses (72 & 74 degrees) and it got cold early so I’m not complaining, I’m happy. My wood this year is dry and cut to the right length with big splits. I moved a second cord into the wood shed today. When it is cold at night I mix in some cherry or maple but during the day and for most nights I’m burning plain old pine.

I encourage people who are having a hard time finding free wood to gather pine and let it dry, when it’s cold dry pine is better than wet anything. Around here people can’t give pine away fast enough.
 
There has been more than one winter I'd have traded my wet Hickory for dry pine. Everything has a purpose and a best application.
 
Wish I still had a load of pine left in the basement. I got a super dry face cord hidden at the back of the wood pile. Gonna take a few more weeks before I get to it.
 
Since I've learned on here that pine isn't the chimney fire causing devil it was made out to be I've been adding it to my piles. I haven't got any seasoned yet but a few huge pines came down recently and the electric crew just came through and cut down all the trees under the power line that goes across my land, a fair amount is pretty decent size pine and hemlock. I'll probably season it separately and use it as my shoulder season wood.
 
I also made a mental note to grab some pine rounds when I see them and split them up for early season burning.
Dry pine. Sounds good
 
Pine saved my butt last year, and is a big reason I'm now all set for the next three.
 
Add me to the pine posse. As Roundgunner said it's super easy to find around here. Picked up a cord last spring and it's already good to go (~18% MC). Thanks to this forum I ignored the creosote wives tales and found it easier to split by hand than rumored, and the sap (even on a hot) day wasn't that big of a deal. As stated it starts super easy, burns hot and lasts longer than I thought it would. I have another 1.5 cord ready for next year plus a cord or so of rounds that need to be css. I say we keep this info in-house :)

Only thing I don’t like is that it smokes up the glass pretty good especially when I back it down a bit (still keeping it above 300). Not sure why. Maybe some of it isn’t all the way seasoned? Do I have to always burn it real hot. If its covering up the glass is it also doing the same to my flue?
 
Add me to the pine posse. As Roundgunner said it's super easy to find around here. Picked up a cord last spring and it's already good to go (~18% MC). Thanks to this forum I ignored the creosote wives tales and found it easier to split by hand than rumored, and the sap (even on a hot) day wasn't that big of a deal. As stated it starts super easy, burns hot and lasts longer than I thought it would. I have another 1.5 cord ready for next year plus a cord or so of rounds that need to be css. I say we keep this info in-house :)

Only thing I don’t like is that it smokes up the glass pretty good especially when I back it down a bit (still keeping it above 300). Not sure why. Maybe some of it isn’t all the way seasoned? Do I have to always burn it real hot. If its covering up the glass is it also doing the same to my flue?

Good for you. It's great to have stove ready wood straight off the saw.

I can make it last 12-18hrs in the Blazeking.

It does gunk the glass a little but that's the give.

I like the smell of burning pine. It makes me feel warm just like an open flame
 
Only thing I don’t like is that it smokes up the glass pretty good especially when I back it down a bit (still keeping it above 300). Not sure why. Maybe some of it isn’t all the way seasoned? Do I have to always burn it real hot.
Try your moisture meter on it. Keep in mind that with calibration adjustments if youre reading 20% you may be 25%! Im not familiar with your stove but 300 is low. If im doing a reload I do so from 250-425. A running temperature of 300f on my stove would be at the lower end of the coaling stage. I can have a few rounds of lodgepole in the stove and be at 650f stove top in no time flat. A few thoughts I have..... either your turning it down to fast (which the glass should burn off as you get up to temps) your pine isnt dry, its to close to the glass or its very, very dry and it off gases faster than your stove can reburn the smoke. I have had this a few times. My Pine brothers and sisters will back me on this. If it doesnt register on your moisture meter than this might be the case. Pine left in the round will not get to acceptable burning moisture content unless you have ideal conditions.
 
Also during mild weather I can have a few splits in there and max out at 525F stove top and not have any darkening of the glass.
 
I'll get blackened glass if I shut the air down too much at the beginning of the burn. Like Sean says 300 F would be the temp at the end of the coaling stage, 300 C would be a good burn temp.
I must have ideal conditions because most of the rounds I burn are in the 14% or less MC range. I Usually leave the tops of the trees in rounds because they are the smallest and don't need to be split, and also the driest part of the tree. The very butts of the trees are closer to the 18% MC range.

Here's a short video of the lodgepole pine grove we've been working on for the last 3 years. In three years we've been cutting all our wood and loading the truck in virtually this same spot. We try to back the truck up as close to the fallen trees as we go, and I think we've only had to back up the truck about 50 feet,,, so far. I'm pretty sure we'll be able to get another two years worth of firewood out of that area. (unless somebody else gets in there) <>
In the video the truck is nearly full, we've already dropped all the trees and just finishing bucking them up, and I'm pointing out some of the dead standing lodgepole trees we'll be falling next time.
My son is running the saw.
 
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hey fellas - been a couple of years

all seasoned wood has the same btu's per pound. thankfully - cuz i've got lots of pine due to having 9 HUGE pines dropped near my house before they dropped ON my house. i've got enough shoulder season wood to last me a couple of years. this is a real blessing cuz it really helps to conserve hardwoods.

re: splitting pine

someone here commented on the ease of splitting pine but that has not been my experience. my maul would just bounce off the rounds like rubber. although the rounds i'm working with are 20" +

re: glass getting smoked up

this is normal for low, overnight burns. in the morning burn your stove reasonably hot for an hour at least once per day and you'll never have a problem. although the wood i have seasoning for 2-3 never smokes up the glass...even overnight.
 
There is a lot of difference between pine species. Around here we mostly have Ponderosa pine and Lodgepole pine. The Lodgpole splits very easy and has a much higher BTU rating. The Ponderosa pine is very tough to split (there's a reason it is nicknamed Knotty Pine), and has a lower BTU rating.
Can you guess which one I prefer?
Out East I believe they mainly have White pine, I've dealt with that stuff a little, it's very light wood and low BTU, sort of like balsa wood, and burns about the same. I can understand why Easterners think of it as shoulder season wood.
 
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