Fla Pine?

[RandyG]

I live in central Fla and there is a alot of pine trees around me, I have always used the fat lightered to start a fire in my fireplace, never as a primary fuel, but I have read on this forum that some people burn pine in there stoves during shoulder season as a primary fuel. I have always heard to never burn pinewood in your home woodburner because of the tar in the wood. I have just installed a woodstove, and not that I would put any pine in my new stove, but would it be ok to in a woodstove? Is it ok to use fatwood just to start my fire?Maybe there talking about a different species of pine? I just can imagine someone putting this Fla pine in your stove. Just curious!!

 

[Wood Duck]

I burn pine and woudn't hesitate to burn Florida pine, except, of course, for the transportation costs to get it here. The 'tar' in pine is flammable, so if you have a fire in the stove it will burn. The 'tar' or 'creosote' that can accumulate in the stove pipe is not the same stuff as the tar in the pine. It may look similar, but it is not as simple as the tar in the pine wafting up into the chimney. Season the pine and burn hot in the stove and you will be fine. If it isn't hot enough to need a constant hot fire, burn small, short-lived hot fires.

We have some Pitch Pine here that I expect is fairly similar to the pines in Florida like Loblolly and Longleaf Pines. I like Pitch Pine both as a tree and as firewood.

 

[RandyG]

Thats why this forum is so valuable, I have been told as long as I have been burning wood to never burn pine indoors, its true, you learn something every day, thanks Wood Duck! The pine we have is yellow pine/slash pine!

 

[firefighterjake]

Pine is fine . . . eastern white pine up here burns hot and fast . . . and is kind of miserable to work with when fresh cut due to the sticky sap . . . but I have no issues with burning pine . . . especially in the shoulder seasons or for using it as kindling . . . wouldn't load up a firebox full of small splits of pine though . . . the key of course is to make sure the pine is as well seasoned as the rest of the wood if you want to make sure you don't produce an excessive amount of creosote . . . well that and run the stove at the proper temps.

 

[ddug]

I'm still learning too but in some ways pine is my preferred fuel. My stove is very small and hardwoods tend to fill it up with ash pretty quick. Pine burns completely down, allowing plenty of room to reload.

 

[billb3]

Some of those pine cones are HUGE.
probably have to split them in half to fit in a small stove.

 

[Mt Ski Bum]

Burning pine is wood stoves & fireplaces is just fine. Pretty much everyone out west, myself included, burn almost exclusively pine/fir/spruce (all of which can be full of sap). While your pines down in Fla. are a different species than any of the pines in Montana, it should be just fine to burn.