Burning Pine in the OWB

[prollynotjeff]

To get you up to speed: I moved in last Feb and my house has a OWB. When I moved in I was left with no wood to speak of to make it through the winter( they did fill the 300gallon propane take up at no cost) so pretty much everything I cut was being burnt ASAP. I picked up a 6x10x5 dump trailer load of slab wood to help.


I got a call today from a guy that lives by my parents he has about 15 pine trees roughly 18-22inch diameter close to 50ft laying on the ground in log form(de limbed). seems to me its worth it to go get these at 7 miles each way but do you think that I can get 12hr burn time in the heart of winter out of pine? I just like to make it through the night I dont mind filling say 530am 530pm and 10pm.

I would be hauling this one trailer load at a time, the plus is that I can leave my splitter on site and dump the splits when I get home. I currently have 11 cord C/s/s of 85% hardwood ready to go I just thought that if I could burn the pine for several months it would save my good wood to season and help get me ahead.

Let me know thoughts

based on last feb-may wood consumption I would guess about 8-9 cord a year green althought I insulated lines, replaced a very leaky door gasket and added a chimney restrictor for S&G's.

 

[Gasifier]

Get pine. Cut/split/stack it, under some type of shelter if you can. Burn the dryest wood you have first. Let pine dry as long as possible. Just my opinion knowing what I know from your post. How long has your hard wood been drying? Can you give us a little more info?

 

[bpirger]

It will burn and give heat....will it last all night? My experience is it burns quite hot and very fast...so I don't know. But those pine logs seem like they'd be better off someplace else than being burned. Are they straight? Sounds like plans for milling some timbers fell through? Filled with pine beetles yet? Does seem like a waste....

 

[SmokeEater]

Maybe a dumb idea, but if you know a log buyer, have him check out the logs. If they're lumber, sell them. Sounds like you might have access to a semi-trailer load. Take the money and buy some dry, split hardwood firewood and take the rest of the money and buy some holiday presents.

 

[prollynotjeff]

6 cord was C/S/S in Late March early April the other 5cord was c/s/s in the last 5 days. We had so much snow last year the area near the boiler was very sloppy so I stacked the 6 cord under the woodshed about 100ft away. The recent 5 cord is stacked next to the boiler. Since none of the wood was truly seasoned I figured why move so much wood twice I might as well burn this and let the other continue to season while I try to get a head. The recently cut wood has been on the ground for about 4 years it is not rotten but all the bark falls off when it is split.

The Pine is in town and I doubt a log truck would be allowed on these streets. Logs are straight the owner was hoping to bring a portable bandsaw down but he was shut down on that idea. Not to mention if I sold them I couldnt justify buying wood as I have 110 acres to cut from and am 27. I'd like to save the buying wood for my later years.. like 90+ haha

 

[Pat53]

If that pine has been laying all summer the saw beetle larva will have it full of tunnels by now, so probably not much good for construction material, but I suppose the tunneling will help dry it out.

 

[bpirger]

Sure doesn't take long for those beetles to start muching away! You can hear them from a good distance...and there frass is prolific.

The Hallstead brothers in Owego might very well buy those logs, if they are infested, as they mill softwood by the truckload every day. Just seems a big waste...though when I cleared all the spruce for the addition/garage, I delimbed and stacked a big pile of them to use for log railings, etc. in the house. Well, they never got peeled (now that is a lot of work!), and the beetles moved in, and I burned it all this past summer for DHW. Now these were anywhere from 6" to 12-14" at the biggest, so good for railings, spindles, and the like....but you are looking at real logs for a nice fullscribe or milled into cants for post/beam or log homes.....damned beetles!

Boy, you can't have a truck come in to town to pick them up? I wonder how they were felled. So glad I live out in the boonies in the middle of 44 acres!

In any event, they'll burn just fine...fast, hot, and fine.

 

[2.beans]

if its free burn it. i burn tons of pine yearly because i get it for free. sounds like its already dry enough. just don't split it to small it will burn up too quick.

 

[stee6043]

If I had an OWB I would likely have no problem burning a little pine here and there. But with a gasser I find I'm better off leaving pine to rot rather than cut/split/stack it for the amount of heat I get from it. I think the amount of gas I would use to cut and split pine would heat my house just as long as the final product. ha. Just my two cents though.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

I'm a bit east of you and I've been burning 95% pine so far this season. When it's this warm, burning pine saves the Oak.

Pine shouldn't burn up that much quicker than Oak ASSUMING THE AIR IS SHUT OFF. Obviously, once cold air returns, Pine is not going to go 12 hours unless you have a HUGE firebox.

How many BTUs in Beetle larve?

 

[Fred61]

Sure doesn't take long for those beetles to start muching away! You can hear them from a good distance...and there frass is prolific.

The Hallstead brothers in Owego might very well buy those logs, if they are infested, as they mill softwood by the truckload every day. Just seems a big waste...though when I cleared all the spruce for the addition/garage, I delimbed and stacked a big pile of them to use for log railings, etc. in the house. Well, they never got peeled (now that is a lot of work!), and the beetles moved in, and I burned it all this past summer for DHW. Now these were anywhere from 6" to 12-14" at the biggest, so good for railings, spindles, and the like....but you are looking at real logs for a nice fullscribe or milled into cants for post/beam or log homes.....damned beetles!

Boy, you can't have a truck come in to town to pick them up? I wonder how they were felled. So glad I live out in the boonies in the middle of 44 acres!

In any event, they'll burn just fine...fast, hot, and fine.

See no weevil :coolhmm: Hear no weevil :red:

 

[Gasifier]

Pine burns hot and fast, puts out good BTUs, just not as many as the good hardwood. Just burns away faster. I split it and stack it and get it good and dry. Then I mix it 20-25% with 75-80% Ash or other hardwood I can get my hands on. Works great, and it is free. Burn it when it is not dry, and many of your BTUs will go to getting the water out of it and up the chimney. Probably not worth burning it like that.

 

[2.beans]

the wood is four years old, its free, it burns.

 

[prollynotjeff]

well one 10x6x5 trailer load down a whole lot more to go!