Lesson Learned!

Last summer I picked up a Log Load of Pine. Couldn't resist. Turned out to be 12 face cords for $150!
Anyway, I went ahead and cut it all up and then I only split half of the load. Just a tad more than 6 face cords. Stacked on the side of the garage and let it bake out. The rest I left in rounds and moved them to the back. Stacked them on top of each other with the ends facing out. Wow...what a difference...The C/S/S Pine on the side of the garage is coming in at 10,12,15% moisture. I took about 20 samples..I was amazed it dried out that fast....Now the bad news...I started splitting the remaining rounds this week....Wedges are ooozing moisture with every hit. All of them are reading OL....Over the Limit which means greater than 40% moisture! Lesson learned...Split everything at once

Seanm said:

I would agree with blacktail. Nordic Splitter, I often find pine and fir trees that have been on the ground or even suspended with the bark falling off and in great shape but very, very wet but once I get it home I c,s,s it then top cover and its below 20% by October. Im burning pine right now. Its cold today, only 3 c and sleet/snow. I didnt notice though when I was in the bush getting firewood today, man did I work up a sweat!

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My buddies at work think I am crazy for burning Pine the way I do. Even some of my fellow wood burners are so leery of it. The truly believe it is just for camp fires. The more experience I get with Pine, the more I absolutely love it. Just have to make sure I don;t over-fire the stove. Haha

Not to get to technical but I think it depends on the shape of the split. Most splits look like a piece of pizza. 2 open sides of the split and then the back side with bark. I think if one were to have 3 open sides and then the back with bark like a trapezoid, this would substantially increase dry time for the wood. Just take the pizza looking split and split it half way down. This would leave you with a trapezoid and a small triangle. I take the small triangles and use them for kindling later on. Plus if you are wiling too wait 3yrs, they will all be ready.

With Pine, if in the wind and open..those should be ready in about 12 months..

Seanm said:

Yeah I hear you. Im cautious with filling it to the gills with pine. I will fill it up with larch or birch for overnight burns but with pine im usually at 3/4 full.

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I usually put aside 40-50 what I call "All Nighters" These are un-split big rounds. 16' long and about 10-12" in diameter. On a good, hot bed of coals around 7pm, let it take for about 1/2 hour, choke it down to about 3 on the damper and then its nighty night. I will get up at 4 am for work to a lump of glowing red mass. Lol