Bucking Up Pine

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thewoodlands

thewoodlands

Minister of Fire
Aug 25, 2009
16,667
In The Woods
We have a pine down across the trail (pic 4 Saturday) from the last storm that came through. My question is should I buck it up 24 inches long for burning east/west or 14.75 for burning north/south.

I've only burned one split of pine so I'm not sure which size would be better.


zap
 
Best use of pine with all the hardwood we have is producing more heat while burning the coal base down. I'd cut it for EW with the idea of throwing a couple splits on top of the coals.
 
The problem I found with pine is that it releases a lot of heat quickly. I find that if I load the stove up with pine, the stove temps get lose to overfire temps even if damped way down. The best use I have found so far is to mix a few splits in with a load of hardwood.


So... cut it the same length you would hardwood...
 
Maybe it's my stove setup. I find pine burns quickly, but not all that hot. If put in two decent sized splits, I can run the stove wide open and it'll sit at about 400-450F. If I put in two splits of ash or maple, I have to back down the air.

That being said, I burn a lot of pine when I'm there to tend the stove. It allows me to save the hardwood for the overnight burns.
 
mainstation said:
You're kidding right?
Click to expand...

Just wanted some advice from pine burners, so if you don't like the question put me on ignore.



Zap
 
14.75 would also give ya the option of smaller kindling pieces.
might be easier to split, too if it's full of knots - pines that grow out in the open can be awful full of big knots from the larger than usual branches.
 
quick ? on pine, I have nothing against it except whenever I go near it it has way to much sap on it to be worth touching to me, I assume in time the sap drys up but how long does that take before one can handle it without being covered in sap?
 
kborndale said:
quick ? on pine, I have nothing against it except whenever I go near it it has way to much sap on it to be worth touching to me, I assume in time the sap drys up but how long does that take before one can handle it without being covered in sap?
Click to expand...

I find about 6 months, although I've seen sap on a stump still existing sticky for a year.
Usually about the time the younger green bark starts turning red.
I'll save a branch and put on a pile and when the needles start falling off and the bark turns red it's pitch is usually not sticky any more.
 
Zap - with pine you might want to stick with the direction of your slowest burn. If wood burns faster for your stove in the N-S direction, then cut the wood to go E-W. Pine burns hot and fast, so slowing it down can be a good thing.
 
I burned pine this year. I found the smaller it was the faster it burned. I'd cut n split for east west. And put it opposite of your hardwood.
 
Thanks for the replies, looks like I'll buck up the pine for e/w loading either 18 or 24 inches long.


zap
 
I'd also suggest splitting as large as you are comfortable burning. Really helps keep control of the fire (and less work). Once it all dried out it burned quite nice for me but those small/thin splits really did want to burn in a hurry. After 18 months sitting split you won't have to worry about it being wet no matter how large you split it...
 
i'd buck as long as I could. Less wear on the saw, fewer cycles on the splitter. Now, if'n you were hand splitting these, then I don't know if you'd want to do it that way.
 
Which way is your stove facing? The front of mine faces east. I burn almost everything north/south because that is the widest part of my stove.
 
CALJREICH said:
Which way is your stove facing? The front of mine faces east. I burn almost everything north/south because that is the widest part of my stove.
Click to expand...
check your manual. pretty sure code is that it should be installed facing south.
 
Danno77 said:
CALJREICH said:
Which way is your stove facing? The front of mine faces east. I burn almost everything north/south because that is the widest part of my stove.
Click to expand...
check your manual. pretty sure code is that it should be installed facing south.
Click to expand...

Oh yea your right. Looks like I got to turn my stove 90 degrees. This will not be fun.
 
Use a skyhook to lift it and give it a spin.
 
CALJREICH said:
Danno77 said:
CALJREICH said:
Which way is your stove facing? The front of mine faces east. I burn almost everything north/south because that is the widest part of my stove.
Click to expand...
check your manual. pretty sure code is that it should be installed facing south.
Click to expand...

Oh yea your right. Looks like I got to turn my stove 90 degrees. This will not be fun.
Click to expand...

I would leave the stove alone and spin the house 90 degrees. It will cost a lot more, but be less work for you.
 
I'd split some thick, some thin and give it a year to season. I prefer to cut it to length with the rest of what I burn and mix it in with the other wood. Pine gets the temp of the wood stove up pretty quickly, gets the hardwood started to coal up on the edges and then allows the hardwood to do the slow burn. It's the sap in the wood that makes it burn hot, the stickier the wood, the hotter the fire but the more snap, crackle and pop you're bound to get, which can be a problem if you open the doors to add more wood and the pine reaches out to bite you... or burn a hole in the carpet. Pine is also good burned alone in Spring and Fall to take the AM chill off of the house before the sun warms things up naturally.

Oh, just pick the house up and hold it there while the world spins underneath it. If you hold it long enough it should spin round to a place where you don't need no stinkin' firewood ;-)

Carolyn
 
Snag said:
I'd split some thick, some thin and give it a year to season. I prefer to cut it to length with the rest of what I burn and mix it in with the other wood. Pine gets the temp of the wood stove up pretty quickly, gets the hardwood started to coal up on the edges and then allows the hardwood to do the slow burn. It's the sap in the wood that makes it burn hot, the stickier the wood, the hotter the fire but the more snap, crackle and pop you're bound to get, which can be a problem if you open the doors to add more wood and the pine reaches out to bite you... or burn a hole in the carpet. Pine is also good burned alone in Spring and Fall to take the AM chill off of the house before the sun warms things up naturally.

Oh, just pick the house up and hold it there while the world spins underneath it. If you hold it long enough it should spin round to a place where you don't need no stinkin' firewood ;-)

Carolyn
Click to expand...

Carolyn the first pine I bucked up was rotten but the second pine was good, not sure what I'll do with it.


zap
 
Snag said:
I'd split some thick, some thin and give it a year to season. I prefer to cut it to length with the rest of what I burn and mix it in with the other wood. Pine gets the temp of the wood stove up pretty quickly, gets the hardwood started to coal up on the edges and then allows the hardwood to do the slow burn. It's the sap in the wood that makes it burn hot, the stickier the wood, the hotter the fire but the more snap, crackle and pop you're bound to get, which can be a problem if you open the doors to add more wood and the pine reaches out to bite you... or burn a hole in the carpet. Pine is also good burned alone in Spring and Fall to take the AM chill off of the house before the sun warms things up naturally.

Oh, just pick the house up and hold it there while the world spins underneath it. If you hold it long enough it should spin round to a place where you don't need no stinkin' firewood ;-)

Carolyn
Click to expand...

Carolyn after clearing some trails then bucking up the beech I went searching for more firewood and found the old wire fence in this pine, they use to hay this before it was woods and the fence was the line which goes around the whole property.

Zap
 

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You know I find it absolutely amazing.... First of all this site is awesome, tons of fantastic information. So having said that I am not downing anybody by any means. I just find it amazing that the subject of Pine can be so absoletuly controversial on this Forum when the large majority of the Western hemisphere burns it almost excusively ( myself included) every year with no problems found. I am not getting on anyone for asking the question's just find it Odd how the opinions differ. I guess the only way to ever get rid of the opinions would be to Move outwest where you simply dont have the option right? Just my two cents, no harm intended.
 
Carolyn after clearing some trails then bucking up the beech I went searching for more firewood and found the old wire fence in this pine, they use to hay this before it was woods and the fence was the line which goes around the whole property.

Zap[/quote]

Now that will do a job on a chain! We saw something similiar inside a massive elm (a CL find) only it was an iron ornamental fence. It's amazing how a tree can thrive with something like that in the heart of it. It may have been on this forum where I read a tree had grown in and around a motorcycle that had been propped up against it and abandoned. Talk about going no where fast ;-)

Carolyn
 
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