An Ode to Lodge-Pole Pine

[Dexter]

With apologies to Irving Berlin and Bing Crosby:

I'm dreaming of a white Halloween,
Not like the one's we used to know...
As the lodge poles glisten, and the ranchers listen,
to the jeeps go sloshing though the snow.....

In my cutting grounds, the snow has happened (8600 feet altitude) and the cutting season is essentially over. I'm one of those fire-freaks who is limited to soft wood -- other than scrounged hard wood near my Boulder area residence. But, I LIKE lodge-pole pine. If you look at the wood characteristic web-pages, lodge pole tends to be on the denser end of the pines, and if you cut standing-dead beetle kill (from an outbreak ending about 6-8 years back), it is virtually pitch-fee, clean burning, and it is wrb -- wood, ready to burn. Literally, you can block it, split it, and burn it that day! Yay, Lodgpole!

Best,

Dexter

 

[MTASH]

I hear ya. I mostly burn beetle killed Lodgepole. It's everywhere around here and easy to get - in 5 years I have yet to fell a tree and I can back my truck up to it to block and load. No bark, few limbs and easy to split too. From the charts I've seen it's not too far off of Fir for BTUs.

 

[highanddryinco]

In my cutting grounds, the snow has happened (8600 feet altitude) and the cutting season is essentially over.

I hear ya. I cut at just under 9800' down below Echo Lake. My main wood supply is a little below normal so I went up Saturday with about 4" - 8" of snow on the ground and cut and brought home a half cord of Aspen that's been standing dead for a very long time. No splitting needed and it's keeping me warm right now. Who would think our "shoulder season" would be in the single digit temps already? Saturday was bright and sunny and I was in shirt sleeves even up there. But after Sunday, I too think we're shut down for the winter. What a turn that was.

 

[Simonkenton]

I moved up to eastern Washington, right near the Idaho line to live with my cousin. All they had to burn was pine.
They loved a pine tree I never heard of called Tamarack.
I told them about burning oak back in Georgia, they thought I was kidding. They never heard of burning oak.

 

[Vikestand]

It snowed here this morning. We had 94 degrees about 3 weeks ago. It was a new record for the month of October. Missouri weather at it's finest.

 

[MrWhoopee]

I call it "the fast-food of firewoods", cut today, burn tonight. Even without beetle kill, it naturally dies and dries standing, Straight grained, no pitch, thin bark and ready to burn as soon as it's split, what's not to like? It is the most commonly sold (and requested) firewood in my area. I haven't been getting much in recent years as the available stands have been pretty well depleted and I've been getting plenty of other wood closer to home.

 

[Zack R]

Lodgepole is great for firewood. We go through a lot of it here in central Oregon....

 

[Dataman]

I moved up to eastern Washington, right near the Idaho line to live with my cousin. All they had to burn was pine.
They loved a pine tree I never heard of called Tamarack.
I told them about burning oak back in Georgia, they thought I was kidding. They never heard of burning oak.

Tammy is good stuff. Lots of BTU in it. White pine is lots easier to find. I did not like burning the Bull Pine. Nasty stuff. I live in E Washington about 4 miles from Idaho (Newport WA). In Town across the street is Idaho.

 

[Simonkenton]

Small world. Newport is where I was, or, out in the woods near Diamond Lake.
I spent a lot of time swimming in the Pend Orielle River.

 

[Dataman]

About mile off Hwy 2 on Coyote Trail. Small World. It's a Small World After All.....I remember it from 1964 in New York.