Can I use Pine for next years wood?

nope... better not use it... better send it to me- I have a special pine-disposal unit that allows me to burn dangerous wood like pine ;-P :lol:

Dan1122 said:

Hi,

We installed an Alderlea T5 on Christmas Eve 2010 and it has burned 24-7 until now. This has been one of the best decisions my wife and I ever made together; we have had record low electric bills and bought six truckloads of wood (I'm estimating 2.5 - 3 cords) for $300 which we won't quite use up this year. More importantly we have been WARM!

Here is my question. This winter we decided to have about 15 acres of timber cut and are left with lots of tops, small logs, damaged trees, etc. Better than 80% of this is pine and I'm wondering if this is a viable firewood? From what I have read so far it probably is provided it is cured properly although it may require significantly more wood for the winter.

Also, if anyone is in the extreme northeast TN/SW VA/NW NC area is interested I would be glad to work with you...free firewood for help in cleaning some of this out.

As always, thanks to all the folks on this forum who have provided answers to my question.

Kind Regards,

Dan

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Dan thats all this cold north has to burn, along with spruce and poplar. Pine is our oak.

Pine is fine

If you can get it cut soon it should be nicely seasoned by next fall. You will need more pine than you would oak, but oak wouldn't be seasoned by next fall. If you have a mix of woods, separate the oak from the other wood and give it extra time to season. It will burn next fall, but it will be a lot better the year after next.

Wood Duck said:

If you can get it cut soon it should be nicely seasoned by next fall. You will need more pine than you would oak, but oak wouldn't be seasoned by next fall. If you have a mix of woods, separate the oak from the other wood and give it extra time to season. It will burn next fall, but it will be a lot better the year after next.

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+1 . . . just make sure you season it . . . and I probably wouldn't stuff my firebox full of small splits of pine and let 'er rip. As Woodduck said . . . you'll go through more of this wood and will not have as long a burn time . . . also a negative is the stickiness from processing it with the sap . . . but once seasoned it will burn fine even if you have old timers convinced you are going to burn down your house and have a chimney full of creosote.

cut it, split it, stack it. It will be ready to go by this fall. Mix it in with hardwoods in the colder months to get slightly longer burns.

My guess is pine mostly seasons in 3 months of warm weather, exposed to the air nicely.

I had pine mostly season in 3-4 months of poor exposure in winter conditions, completely uncovered too. Not every piece seasoned, but alot of what I had was burning great.

I don't have nearly the experience of many others here, but pine is my favorite wood to start fires with and get the stove up to speed. It's extremely forgiving in terms of air control and initial setup, puts out alot of heat fast, burns clean, and helps other woods get roaring faster. It doesn't coal much, doesn't produce much ash, and doesn't stick around long.

If you are 80% pine, leave a bunch of really big pieces as they can still give you long burns.

Joe

OTOH--if you have a good relationship with the seller who brought you a winter's worth of warm for $300, I think I'd continue to get that delivered, even while you're working up that pine. That way you can be stockpiling for the time when that pine is all burned up, and keep in the seller's rotation. It's been my experience that folks would rather keep an established customer happy than go out and drum up more customers, and most buyers would rather work with someone they know will do right be them. Win-win.

And it's almost always going to be better to have a little extra wood on hand than to run short.

Or so I see it.

Welcome to the forum Dan. It sounds like you and the wife made an excellent decision. You've been given much good advice above so I can not add much except to tell you that to be in the best situation is to have 2-3 years of wood cut, split and stacked at all times. Those who do this have very, very little problems. Other folks have all sorts of problems with their stoves, chimneys, black glass, etc.

Wood also should be stacked up off the ground after it is split. Stack the wood so that the wind can hit the pile because wind is your best friend for drying wood. Sunshine is nice too but wind is even more important. We normally do not cover our wood stacks the first summer (we cut in winter) but do cover the top of the stacks before the snow flies. Never cover the ends or sides of the wood stacks; it needs air circulation. Also do not store the wood in a shed until after it has dried. Then a shed is really nice but not totally necessary.

Good luck.

Pine burns just fine. My only problem is the pitch. It gums up the blade on the chain saw. And doesn't burn as hot. I have seen a BTU chart for different woods, I am sure someone here could post it for you

Cool forum, looking to learn a lot from the people here..

Tatnic Corners said:

Pine burns just fine. My only problem is the pitch. It gums up the blade on the chain saw. And doesn't burn as hot. I have seen a BTU chart for different woods, I am sure someone here could post it for you

Cool forum, looking to learn a lot from the people here..

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Welcome to the forum Tatnic Corners . . . and yes . . . lots of good information here . . . it's why I stick around . . . I'm still learning stuff.

glad to hear that pine can be burnt after 1 season. I was told by an old timer that I had to season it for 2 years if I wanted to burn it in woodstove. Due to the "high pitch content it will gum up your chimney!" i have pine that is about 8 months seasoned and it still looks brite yellow i thought I would see it turning darker or gray. Is that common?

Tatnic Corners said:

Pine burns just fine. My only problem is the pitch. It gums up the blade on the chain saw. And doesn't burn as hot. I have seen a BTU chart for different woods, I am sure someone here could post it for you

Cool forum, looking to learn a lot from the people here..

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Here is that chart....

http://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm

Shawn

kwikrp said:

glad to hear that pine can be burnt after 1 season. I was told by an old timer that I had to season it for 2 years if I wanted to burn it in woodstove. Due to the "high pitch content it will gum up your chimney!" i have pine that is about 8 months seasoned and it still looks brite yellow i thought I would see it turning darker or gray. Is that common?

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If it is not expsposed sometimes it will stay yellow.

Not to be a contrarian, but I like to season pine for two years. Of course I don't have a great drying situation either. Fenced yard with a lot of shade. The two year old stuff is a lot lighter, though, easier to wheel in and since the weight difference has to be water, certainly a more effiecnt burn.