I cut and burnt some pine!!!!!!!

WOW didn't think it got that cold where you are!!

Yup, actually, the colder the better. Its great for the grape vines. The colder the winter, the larger the harvest.

Santa Rosa's north of the bay area, which is also colder than you think.

well I'll be a Monkeys uncle!! I learned something!

thanks mandrone!

The only pine trees and firs in general around here that I know of are plantings. The only native evergreen is eastern redcedar (excellent kindling) which isn't actually a true cedar. It's a juniper. The weird thing is that I can drive 80 miles south and see pines everywhere.
When I do get hold of some pine I like to save it for the fire pit. I love the flames it makes and the aroma it gives off.
I don't like to cut pine though, because it seems to dull my chain really bad.
If conifers were all we had here you can be sure I'd be burning it though.
How do you guys deal with getting that sap on your hands? I'd probably use up half my chain saw gas getting it off.

I wear gloves.

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!



GOLD!

Yeah, but you still gotta get that icky stuff on ya sometimes.

Ja, but it wears off eventually.

I also use a pulp hook so I don't really handle it much when it's sticky.

Balsam is another word for imature fir. Whoever said they don`t want to burn it -?/ Mail it to me. I will do as best as I can to muddle thru with that most horrible wood. Pine?? such a subjective subject--wish we had that stuff here on the island. sounds like a fast fire-starter to me?

That Pine might just hold a candle to my western red cedar?? Maybe??

When I told my father in law that I was going to intentionally cut some pine, his resonse was "well, its your funeral, pal."

Ignorance is bliss

Can we keep the pine burning news on the Down Low!!

People actually drop it off for me just to get rid of it.

They think I'm crazy! <------ OK I will give them that!

Luckily, I am not worried about me. See, there are 4 or 5 people that harvest from my father in laws land, and even though its 200 acres of woods, alot of the areas are not easily accessable. we all generally cut in the same areas, so its a race to get out there when you spot a good tree. Thankfully, I am the only one willing to harvest pine, spruce, white and yellow birch. My father in law would have someones head iff they dropped him off some birch, then he would set fire to it out in the yard. So, I dont have to worry about him or anyone else touching the gold mines of good stuff.

There is one section of yellow birch, all in the 16-24" x 50-70' range... hundreds of them... straight as an arrow and hardly any branches.


I sure am glad he has false beliefs about birch!

Here's another sap question for you regular pine burners, do dry or seasoned pine logs have less stickyness compared to freshly cut pine?

Dry pine is not sticky at all. I usually let it sit for a few months unsplit and it becomes much less messy to handle! Just don't let it sit too long unsplit or the bugs will eat all the BTU's!

It also gets way lighter and easier to move around; that is, as it drys out it gets lighter. Also, I find, its way easier to split the nasty knarls in Monterey pine the longer I let it dry out.

We have many types of pine here in California. Each have different amounts of sap and grain contortion.

That sounds like the pine around here, strait and kinda tall for Jersey trees and the lower branches die and fall off as the tree grows.
And nobody wants it
So come on people spread the word! "pine causes chimney fires"

I wouldn't. Pine likes to 'spit' in fire pits. That's why I like it in the stove . . .it behaves much better.

If I may change the thread a bit...

Up here in Prince Edward Island, Canada, we have scores of white spruce, the locals hate it and refuse to burn it, so it is 'my pine' as it were. Been burning it in a Regency medium box for ten years, only cleaned my flue twice, I check pipes every year. My 3.5 acre lot has about 40 cord of standing white spruce, all about 45' tall. Every fall/winter a storm takes a few down, due to shallow root system, they don't hold up well in strong winds. I save my scarce hardwood for Jan/Feb. Mostly birch and maple, birch scrounged from my property as well, maple bought five years ago, but well put away in shed for those nights where it dips to -25c

Softwood is underrated, and excellent for shoulder seasons where a quick temp. increase is needed, but not for long

It is nice for the milder days when you can tend to it. Also a great starter wood almost like flicking a match on a puddle of gasoline when well seasoned. I like to put a load of small splits of it on top of a couple pieces of hardwood, and you hardly need more a couple newspaper pretzels on top start it (top down). Fast hot start with very little smoke and that hardwood base makes me a nice coal bed.
But don't tell anyone else! I like my wood free!

Now, if you REALLY want to start your fire:

1) Put your chain saw dust under the leaky hydrolic cylinder of your splitter.
2) Split 1/2 a cord of wood.
3) take that now drenched saw dust and put it in all the holes of a cup cake tray.
4) buy old candles from garage sales for pennies on the dollar.
5) melt wax and pour it on top of the hydrolic fluid soaked saw dust in cup cake tray until each hole is full.
6) Wait till each saw dust/wax cup cake is dry. They will fall right out of the tray (won't stick since wax shrinks).
7) put single cup cake on top of pine which is on top of hard wood.
8) put single lit match on top of cup cake.
9) come back in 10 minutes to see fire very much going.

Wax is some pretty nasty stuff... I once tossed a peeled off beer label in one of those citronella bucket candles when I was younger. It very fast became the candle from hell. Although it did keep the mosquitoes away.

Absolutly, that is spot on.


Also, I have used some this year so far for those mornings where i don't have much time, but need a hot fire to take the chill off... pine and blue spruce works great for that.

Wax has more energy per molecule than tnt.

Many many compounds do- but it's got f'all for an oxygen balance, so it won't detonate.

(TNT packs both "fuel" and oxygen into the same molecule- that's why it reacts so fast- it doesn't have to draw oxygen from the surroundings like wax). Of course- evaporate wax and now it's mixed with the air supply, just like gasoline vapors.