Benefits to burning pine...

[CarbonNeutral]

See picture below. Apart from the hairy palms/blocked chimneys/etc. pine does have the advantage that now my maul comes ready with gloves in the right position..

It actually was a problem as I found I wouldn't (couldn't) move my hands when I needed to, so my wrists and elbows got sore quickly from the upswing and when the axe moved in an unexpected way after contact..

 

[basswidow]

That's a funny pic. So the rounds were alittle sticky? I would find that annoying. I've got some down pines in my side yard I'm gonna buck and split just for the heck of it before the month is out. Waiting for the snow to melt.

 

[CarbonNeutral]

I've learned to rub the gloves in the dirt to reduce the stickiness.

 

[Danno77]

I always get that crap all over my pants and good leather gloves. I'm a little impulsive, so there would be days last year when I would roll into the driveway from work and start splitting wood without changing. For some reason people think it's funny to watch a guy split wood in sportcoat/tie/khakis (or whatever dress shirt/pants combo I might be wearing that day). I lost a nice pair of dress pants to pine sap last year. is there a good way to get rid of it?

 

[gzecc]

I think if I had to burn pine, I wouldn't heat with wood.

 

[CarbonNeutral]

I don't have to, but the tree guy delivers it to my house for free....

 

[Slow1]

I don't have to, but the tree guy delivers it to my house for free....

I keep hoping to find one of those... To many around me seem to have chippers that they are happy to use. Guess I'm too close to the city for them to haul.

As to the original posting - great pic! almost seems you should have sunk it into a round and then taken the shot "ghost splitter at work" or "the invisible man cuts wood too" heh. so many captions could fit.

I've only scored about 1/2-3/4 cord of pine/pine-like softwoods so far. Haven't yet burned them as I want to give them a full year of socialization time with nature in the split form before meeting the stove. Next season will have some new experiences - likely will be my first wood to burn if I manage to arrange my stacks right, or I'll just mix it in. Will have to try both I suppose.

 

[JustWood]

I think if I had to burn pine, I wouldn't heat with wood.

I agree PINE SUCKS. I like hemlock and larch but pine and spruce are camp firewood.

 

[raybonz]

I think if I had to burn pine, I wouldn't heat with wood.

I agree PINE SUCKS. I like hemlock and larch but pine and spruce are camp firewood.

+1 on pine.. I will only mix it in with hardwood and never drive to get it.. It makes for a good firestarter too..

Ray

 

[myzamboni]

I laugh at all you anti-piners. I love it for the quick-start getting the place up to temp. If I burned 24/7 I probably wouldn't seek it out, but out here it is plentiful and does the job.

 

[CarbonNeutral]

I like it for the same reasons. And did I mention it was free and turns up at my house?

 

[Lumber-Jack]

I think if I had to burn pine, I wouldn't heat with wood.

I agree PINE SUCKS. I like hemlock and larch but pine and spruce are camp firewood.

+1 on pine.. I will only mix it in with hardwood and never drive to get it.. It makes for a good firestarter too..

Ray

Well if I had to cut and split green wood I probably wouldn't heat with wood either.
Fortunately the pine we get out here is much higher quality than your Eastern pine, standing dead and pretty much pre-seasoned..... Oh yeah, it ain't sticky like that either. I guess that's one of the benefits of cutting stuff that's already dry.

Enjoyed the picture by the way. ;-)

 

[firefighterjake]

Aw shucks . . . I'm no pine hater . . . I love all the trees . . . I'm an equal opportunity burner . . . the pine may not have the burning time of many species, but it burns decently when seasoned and is a great wood for the shoulder season, pine is fine for kindling and to tell the truth I don't mind tossing a chunk into the fire when I'm home and want to see some "action" in the woodstove since it seems that the softwoods are better at giving me a show with some snap, crackling and pops . . . but that's just me admitting to a guilty pleasure. Yeah, the sap is a pain . . . and I don't go out of my way for pine, but seeing as I have lots of pine around my house and each winter at least one big branch comes down it would be a sin to not cut it up for firewood.

 

[prajna101]

So I have a question. Why is the sap stickier than other wood? Is it the sugar content? or amount of sap? or what? What are we not covered with sticky sap when cutting sugar maple? There must be an easy answer, I just had the thought.

t

 

[CarbonNeutral]

I would guess that there's much more and it's stickier - the sap of a sugar maple isn't viscous.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Fortunately the pine we get out here is much higher quality than your Eastern pine

That's priceless. "My pine is better than yours"

 

[JustWood]

Fortunately the pine we get out here is much higher quality than your Eastern pine

That's priceless. "My pine is better than yours"

Actually , west coast pine is much better quality than our white pine which is pure crap in mine eye!

 

[ChillyGator]

Fortunately the pine we get out here is much higher quality than your Eastern pine

That's priceless. "My pine is better than yours"

I only burn Longleaf....80 year old minimun.....that is branchless.......self splitting :lol:

 

[wsorg]

Pine's not bad for a starter.

 

[summit]

Pine burns fine (I'm a poet, and didn't even know it!)
I've been trimming alot of junk around the house, and much is pine, poplar, a little cherry and some scrawny maple and birch trees. I can't bring myself to throw anything over 2" in diameter into the brush pile to burn later this summer on a nice night with a case of coors... I guess I am frugal. Anything over 2" dia gets cut up (split if required) and stacked up in the woodpile for winter. My old man always told me: "son, it all makes ash in the stove", and you know what? He is right. I have a real firewood pile : nice split oak, maple, big birch. But you can always use a little filler.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Fortunately the pine we get out here is much higher quality than your Eastern pine

That's priceless. "My pine is better than yours"

Thanks Solar, you motivated me to update my signature. ;-)

 

[SolarAndWood]

Thanks Solar, you motivated me to update my signature. ;-)

My pleasure.

 

[gzecc]

I don't have a problem burning a few nice splits mixed in with a hardwood fire. My problem is processing the pine. The pine I come across, has a million branches, knots, sap etc. It is also hard to split until its dry.
Its just the most time consuming to process and lowest quality wood I come across.

 

[CALJREICH]

The only pine I cut up so far this year is the one a huge oak ,I cut down ,landed on.
The pine is green. I'll leave it lay until it dries out and then I'll get some heat out of it.

 

[mn_jon]

I like pine, of course that's basically what grows here. I have heard a lot of bad things about pine, but I've never heard of it making you invisible. Heck without the gloves on, nobody would know you're in the picture.


Jon