Pitch Pine ??

The wood I picked up a few weeks ago when I messed up my back loading it was about a dozen 18 to 24" or so rounds from a 100 yr. old pine (or so said homeowner). There were also a few large splits from the same tree, and I resplit a couple of them before I noticed how fracked up my back was. Split them down to about 2x4 size just to see and cuz we need smaller stuff in the fireplace. When I split it, I noticed a lot of pitch in the wood. Then I left it alone.

For some reason, I decided to try to burn one last weekend. I thought it might be too green to burn easily. Boy was I wrong. It was like a piece of fatwood the size of a 2x6. It ignited completely and almost instantly, and burned hot, too. Unfortunately, it also gave off a lot of black smoke, which I only notice on the 2nd or 3rd piece. Which was the last piece I burned. Usually, the smoke from my fireplace is sparse to medium in quantity (depending on the wood, how hot the fire is, etc.). This smoke was like I was burning dirty coal, and there was a lot of it.

I'll be renting s splitter soon -- my back is getting better and better, and I don't plan on lifting the big rounds, just rolling them. I am hoping that after I split the wood, fairly small to burn better in the FP, and season in the hot So. Calif sun this summer, most of the pitch will dry out in seasoning. I figure I'll burn a test piece or two after six or eight months. If it's still too smoky, give it another six months, etc.

How many years of warm So. Calif do you think I'll have to season it before it's something other than oversized fat wood?

Peace,
- Sequoia

edited to add - it had been raining on and off for two days and this wood was not covered. The sun had been out for a few hours to dry off the surface, but this was basically damp wood. Went right up in flame like it was 3 years old, but hotter and faster (and dirtier).

So I split most of the pine from that haul today (rented a splitter, struggled with it for 3+ hours and then took it back, got a different splitter which actually worked). Anyway, some of the pieces didn't have that much pitch, but others, the knarly ones that looked like they came from near the base of the tree, were totally saturated. Here is a pic of 3 pieces that are just about orange in color from the pitch. I tried to split these all purty small so they'd season better, plus if they still have pitch to burn, I don't want to be putting too big pieces into the FP.

I'll see how they season, should be interesting. I just hope no one throws a cigarette on the pile (we don't allow smoking on our property at all, but the neighbors do. They're purty careful, though.

Peace,
- Sequoia

ps ... the pine that wasn't pitch-filled was more white or yellow in color, not orange. No pic of that wood right now.

Bigg_Redd said:

The kind of pine that grows up here goes from green to ready to burn in a couple months.

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This stuff will burn now if you hold a match to it. That's orange is "pitch" or resin which is somewhat like oil or tar; not sap, which is mostly water and sugars (i.e. maple syrup is made from maple sap). Problem is that it's like burning an oily wet rag. Hot but smokey. I'm hoping that by seasoning it for the next 9 to 10 months, through the hottest part of the year in a warm climate, it will season well enough that it won't smoke like that. If not, I get to spend a lot of time cutting and splitting a lifetime supply of fatwood fire starters.

Peace,
- Sequoia

Bubbavh said:

Split that real pitchy stuff up into kindling dry it good and you can practically light it with a match. One piece is all you'll need to get it going. That stuff goes up like super cedars fire starters.

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I'll try to keep the stuff with the most pitch separate when I'm stackin' the wood. That'll make it easier to "test for doneness" and split down to firestarters if need be. I think I'll season it in its current size (fairly small splits anyway) and then cut and split it more once it is seasoned. I might have me a lifetime supply of fire starters.

Fortunately, not all of the pine was saturated, just the stuff that appears to be from near the bottom of the tree. The rest of it varies from apparently pitch free to moderately streaked w/ pitch to having pitch pockets. Should be interesting.

Peace,
- Sequoia

Had our first fire of the season Saturday evening ... in the outdoor firepit, and just small stuff! But some of that small stuff was from the pitch pine, and it's been seasoning (and small) all summer plus in so. calif. dry heat, so it's prolly about as dry as it's gonna get. Part of the reason for having the fire was to see how smokey the pitch pine would be. But it was too dark for me to tell. If it stays cool, and not too windy, next weekend, maybe I'll try again in the daytime.

I'll definitely be cuttin' up some more kindlin' from the really pitchey stuff, but I don't know 'bout the hassle of selling it on C/L. We're having a yard sale next weekend; I'll see if I can get a few bundles ready by then and try sellin' 'em for $10 or so. I think I've mananged to scrounge enough other seasoned firewood that I won't actually need to burn the fatwood 'cept as firestarters, but I might just tinker w/ adding just a little to the firewood mix and see how it burns and how it smokes. I don't worry about sparks too much. We have a purty good screen. Plus, I've burned a lot of other firewood that sparks a lot more than pine. Mullberry for instance.

I do have one friend who likes his fireplace as much as we like ours, so he'll be getting a box or two of fatwood firestarters this xmas. This being so. calif., I don't really know that many other folks who burn wood very often.

Peace,
- Sequoia

I didn't know there was an actual species or genus of Pitch Pine. I was using the term generically. Maybe I should say "pitch filled pine" ?

I don't really know what variety of pine this was. It was long cut down by the time I got it. I was told it was over 100 feet tall and the diameter at the base was bigger than 2 or 3 people together could wrap their arms around, but all I ever saw were rounds and wedges. It did certainly seem that some were pitchier (is that a word) than others. Anyway, I checked some of the splits the other day. They are still that lovely orange color.

Peace,
- Sequoia

PapaDave said:

I c/s/s a pine out back this past spring that had been down since last year. Man, was it FULL of those "pine grubs". Riddled with holes from them chewing through it.

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Are them pine grubs the same as the pine bark beetles that have been decimiating the pine forests and ornamental pines alike out here in the "West"?

The PBB are prolly the reason I have so much pine to burn in the first place, but in an area this hot and dry, I hate seeing nice big trees (that make nice, cool shade) come down 'cuz some imported bug is having a feast.

Peace,
- Sequoia

I'm leaving my earlier post below but it (and I) was wrong. I burned another piece of the pitchey pine this morning, a split about 20 in. long and 3 or so inches thick. It burned nice and hot. And it sizzled and I could see the resins boiling to the top of the wood to be burned off. And the chimney, pardon the expression, smoked like a chimney. Lots of dark grey, nearly black smoke. I guess the other night it was either too dark for me to see the grey smoke, or I just didn't see what I didn't want to see.

Normally, I try to keep the fire burning well and minimize the visible smoke. Doesn't always work, but even when there is more visible smoke than I like, it's usually light grey and has a pleasant camp-fire smell (at least, from a distance).

In any event, I don't want to be putting all that dark, smelly smoke (looks like exhaust from an old diesel bus) into the air, and I also don't want it to be leaving lots of creosote in my chimney, so it looks like it's back to the idea of processing it all into fatwood fire starters and selling them on C/L. Maybe. Or I could set it aside until I (one fine day) find a good deal on a late-model EPA stove on C/L. I'd love to see how this stuff burns in a well functioning non-cat stove. The secondary burn from this would be phenomenal. However, I don't know anyone around here who has an EPA stove. I know they're out there, but no one I know.

Fatwood bundles it is, I guess. Cut the splits down to 10" or so w/ my big miter saw, split 'em small w/ the ax, and tie 'em up with a nice red ribbon. I can market them as "locally-grown" ! Live and learn.

Peace,
- Sequoia

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So we started using the FP this week, and I've brought in and burned some of the less-orange, but still resinous, piece of this pine. It still lights with a match and burns hotter than Hades, but it doesn't seem to smoke like it did, at least not in a nice hot fire. I've been adding small (3 to 4 inch) splits of it to established fires (as well as using splitter trash pieces as kindling / fire starter). One 4 in. piece will put some serious heat into the room, even in our FP where I know much of the heat is going up the chimney.

It does still have a rather distinctive odor. I don't recall where I read it, but I read somewhere that since most U.S. homes are framed in softwood, burning softwood (in an open FP or firepit) smelled like burning down your house. I'd say more like burning down a house that is still in the framing stage, since most homes also have all kinds of carpet, insulation, and other things that are gonna give off fumes even nastier than dense wood smoke. But in limited quantities, the odor is not unpleasant. And I don't want to burn a full FP of this stuff anyway - just too hot.

I'm still keeping an eye on this, but so far so good.

Peace,
- Sequoia