my neighbor made me do it!

Happened to me with Poplar one time around this time of year, I could hear it popping from upstairs. Everything was fine though.

Its funny I heard the same thing and panicked as I thought I had a chimney fire after just cleaning it last month and this was my first burn. Damn that seasoned pine burns hot, last year everybody was putting nice rounds of pine on the side of the road and I just couldn't pass it up.

I am still a little gun shy but I am sure by the end of this week I will give it another try. My thermometer was 550F on stovetop which is normal burn range but man again that pine burns "beepin" HOT :bug:

iceman said:

Came home from work and see a bunch of smoke coming out his chimney.... so I start thinking "he has a fireplace... wtf ! Maybe I should see if my oak is ready" so I say no I will wait , then the wife reminds me its 65 inside and we have a a baby in the house .... it will get colder tonight she says ....... OK I will do it! But I am gonna try some pine for the first time!

So now its burning and sounds like popcorn inside my stove! Is this normal? Does this mean its not seasoned enough? HELP I am a east coast person afraid of pine!

Click to expand...

That serves you right for burning that terrible stuff. lol Not to worry, it is normal. Just be careful if you open the firebox door when the popcorn is popping.

Take care of that little woman and baby. Treat with TLC.

All that popping? That is just termite turds exploding.

I have a lot of pine around here but I'm also afraid to burn it. All you ever hear growing up is not to burn pine in a fireplace or woodstove. Someone I know who has an outside wood furnace actually told me that he was going to burn a lot of green pine this year. His words were "Green pine is like natures gasoline!".

Maybe I'll pull that pine tree out of the burn pile and give it a try.

Don't know what does it but mine is popping too. I burn quite a bit of pine thanks to the bad rap it gets but I like it - free, splits easy, soft wood so don't have to spit it so small. I wonder if I can make up a excuse not to burn oak if it will be free too?

On another note, sparks are another interesting beast, some wood sparks like the 4th of july, others not so much.

Pine Causes GLOBAL WARMING !

Pine is the best shoulder season wood - gives you a blast of heat in record time, then you can just let the stove die down. House doesn't get too hot with the short burns... I would even like to use it in the dead of winter if it had better coals and lasted a bit longer... Or if I had a bigger firebox.

op_man1 said:

Pine is the best shoulder season wood - gives you a blast of heat in record time, then you can just let the stove die down. House doesn't get too hot with the short burns... I would even like to use it in the dead of winter if it had better coals and lasted a bit longer... Or if I had a bigger firebox.

Click to expand...

You just need better pine, that's all. I'm a full time pine burner, but that white pine stuff you got out East is is like burning balsa wood. With the right kind of pine you can get overnight burns easy, I do it every night when it gets cold.

Carbon_Liberator said:

You just need better pine, that's all. I'm a full time pine burner, but that white pine stuff you got out East is is like burning balsa wood. With the right kind of pine you can get overnight burns easy, I do it every night when it gets cold.

Click to expand...

I agree... White pine is terrible! I only burn pitch pine (natures napalm) when I burn pine!!

As long as its DRY, its nice fall/spring wood. Burns fast&hot;. Very controllable.

Wood-Genie said:

As long as its DRY, its nice fall/spring wood. Burns fast&hot;. Very controllable.

Click to expand...

The pine we have here is, if you watch it.

It can burn quite hot, how ever. Just needs to be watched.

I'm burning alot of pine this season, so I'll keep notes on what's happening.

this would probably make ya'll crap your britches then...


i had a total of about 3/4 of a cord of pine just for fire starting and restarting. burns nice, and was easier than scrounging 2x4's for kindling/fire starting.

Chunks and uglies over a few splits of dry pine is all we burn until the holidays. The chunks and uglies could probably be drier but the pine takes care of it pretty quickly at the beginning of the burn.

Carbon_Liberator said:

You just need better pine, that's all. I'm a full time pine burner, but that white pine stuff you got out East is is like burning balsa wood. With the right kind of pine you can get overnight burns easy, I do it every night when it gets cold.

Click to expand...

and the armload you have to carry in every half hour is impressively large

I'm like SolarandWood . . . pretty much most of what I've been burning so far is seasoned pine and some pieces from my punks, chunks and uglies piles . . . as mentioned as long as pine is seasoned it is easily controllable like any other wood . . . and like most every other wood as long as you season it the pine will not clog your chimney with creosote . . . personally I like the pine since it's perfect for heating up the place during the shoulder seasons.

I'm not really sure what causes the snap, crackle and pop with pine . . . I do know it happens with some other species of wood, often softwoods . . . personally I kind of enjoy the show . . . just don't reload too early in the burning process . . . wait for the fire to reach the late coaling stage and you shouldn't have any nasty surprises when you open the door to reload.

iceman said:

Came home from work and see a bunch of smoke coming out his chimney.... so I start thinking "he has a fireplace... wtf ! Maybe I should see if my oak is ready" so I say no I will wait , then the wife reminds me its 65 inside and we have a a baby in the house .... it will get colder tonight she says ....... OK I will do it! But I am gonna try some pine for the first time!

So now its burning and sounds like popcorn inside my stove! Is this normal? Does this mean its not seasoned enough? HELP I am a east coast person afraid of pine!

Click to expand...

Fluids
•A log of wood contains small pockets of fluids such as water and sap. When the wood is placed on a fire and begins to burn, the fire heats the fluids, the same as if they were in a pan on the stove.
Steam
•Heating the trapped fluids will cause the fluids to first boil, then vaporize and turn to steam. Much like the water in the pan when a tight lid is placed on the top, the steam is trapped in the pocket within the log.
Pressure
•Finding no escape, the trapped steam will exert pressure on the surrounding wood. This eventually causes the wood to give, making a pop and crackle sound as the wood first splits a crevice and then the steam hits the fire. This is the equivalent of the covered pot of water boiling over.


Did a quick search on the net and found this.


zap

zapny said:

iceman said:

Came home from work and see a bunch of smoke coming out his chimney.... so I start thinking "he has a fireplace... wtf ! Maybe I should see if my oak is ready" so I say no I will wait , then the wife reminds me its 65 inside and we have a a baby in the house .... it will get colder tonight she says ....... OK I will do it! But I am gonna try some pine for the first time!

So now its burning and sounds like popcorn inside my stove! Is this normal? Does this mean its not seasoned enough? HELP I am a east coast person afraid of pine!

Click to expand...

Fluids
•A log of wood contains small pockets of fluids such as water and sap. When the wood is placed on a fire and begins to burn, the fire heats the fluids, the same as if they were in a pan on the stove.
Steam
•Heating the trapped fluids will cause the fluids to first boil, then vaporize and turn to steam. Much like the water in the pan when a tight lid is placed on the top, the steam is trapped in the pocket within the log.
Pressure
•Finding no escape, the trapped steam will exert pressure on the surrounding wood. This eventually causes the wood to give, making a pop and crackle sound as the wood first splits a crevice and then the steam hits the fire. This is the equivalent of the covered pot of water boiling over.


Did a quick search on the net and found this.

zap

Click to expand...

Shouldn't have said anything Zap . . . I was reading this and thinking "Geez, that Zap sure is a smart fella" . . . at least until I got to the last part. Well I don't mean to say you're not smart . . . since you obviously knew enough to research the answer to this . . . OK, I'll shut up now since I am obviously not too smart.

billb3 said:

Carbon_Liberator said:

You just need better pine, that's all. I'm a full time pine burner, but that white pine stuff you got out East is is like burning balsa wood. With the right kind of pine you can get overnight burns easy, I do it every night when it gets cold.

Click to expand...

and the armload you have to carry in every half hour is impressively large

Click to expand...

I wouldn't get an overnight burn if I had to do that, now would I ? ;-)

Been burning mostly pine, that was c/s/s early this spring.
I'm actually getting decent burns with it. I'll continue using pine, as long as I get it nicely dry first.