OWB, Pine vs. Oak ?

[buddylee]

Comng up on the end of my first year running my Hardy H2. Always heard over the years that oak was the absolute best and pine is crappy. I have been burning some pine lately and I'm not sure oak is so much better in an OWB. Anyone else noticed this ?

 

[bogydave]

Don't burn a boiler but I've been burning spruce for about 2 weeks now. Heating up the house well.
I know it dries faster & turns to ash better than the birch.
Might be the pines is just drier than the oak. Lots more BTUs in Oak than pine.
For hotter , longer fires I still burn the birch when it's cold out. (teens & lower) 37°f now Spruce is doing a great job.
Would love to try a load of dry Oak, but shipping charges are a killer LOL :lol:

 

[jeff_t]

Might be the pines is just drier than the oak.

Or perhaps they're both green, in which case the pine will burn better than the oak.

 

[brokenknee]

Don't burn a boiler but I've been burning spruce for about 2 weeks now. Heating up the house well.
I know it dries faster & turns to ash better than the birch.
Might be the pines is just drier than the oak. Lots more BTUs in Oak than pine.
For hotter , longer fires I still burn the birch when it's cold out. (teens & lower) 37°f now Spruce is doing a great job.
Would love to try a load of dry Oak, but shipping charges are a killer LOL :lol:

Here ya go, OK not seasoned yet but will be in two years once I get er cut and split.

Ten cords of red and white oak mix, 70$ cord delivered. Ya shipping might be a problem for you, the logger only lives about five miles from my place.

 

[oldspark]

Well pine will burn real hot for a short period of time, the Oak is way more dense so a different animal, and like others said if green the Oak will be a bear to deal with.

 

[yooperdave]

broken knee--decent price on the wood. Last fall, hardwood mix was going for $90 around here.

I see you don't have much white stuff on the ground, either.

 

[yooperdave]

Comng up on the end of my first year running my Hardy H2. Always heard over the years that oak was the absolute best and pine is crappy. I have been burning some pine lately and I'm not sure oak is so much better in an OWB. Anyone else noticed this ?

I have only had the opportunity to burn a couple pieces of hemlock rounds in my owb, and that was during the earlier season. I collect/buy only hardwood since it is so prevalent in this area. But, I gotta admit, I was impressed at how long the hemlock did last in the owb!

As far as pine goes, again, i only had a few splits (for the nc-13) that were given to me, along with some oak. I did prefer the oak to the pine. (A widow wanted her wood piles cleaned up from her yard and offered me the wood)

 

[brokenknee]

broken knee--decent price on the wood. Last fall, hardwood mix was going for $90 around here.

I see you don't have much white stuff on the ground, either.

Nope not a lot of snow, even though don't mind winter it is kind of nice to have an easy winter every once in a while.

 

[RORY12553]

Don't burn a boiler but I've been burning spruce for about 2 weeks now. Heating up the house well.
I know it dries faster & turns to ash better than the birch.
Might be the pines is just drier than the oak. Lots more BTUs in Oak than pine.
For hotter , longer fires I still burn the birch when it's cold out. (teens & lower) 37°f now Spruce is doing a great job.
Would love to try a load of dry Oak, but shipping charges are a killer LOL :lol:

Here ya go, OK not seasoned yet but will be in two years once I get er cut and split.

Ten cords of red and white oak mix, 70$ cord delivered. Ya shipping might be a problem for you, the logger only lives about five miles from my place.

I have been scrounging all my wood up and usually get decent stuff. I see a lot of guys getting log loads delivered to the house and that must make processing a lot easier

 

[brokenknee]

Don't burn a boiler but I've been burning spruce for about 2 weeks now. Heating up the house well.
I know it dries faster & turns to ash better than the birch.
Might be the pines is just drier than the oak. Lots more BTUs in Oak than pine.
For hotter , longer fires I still burn the birch when it's cold out. (teens & lower) 37°f now Spruce is doing a great job.
Would love to try a load of dry Oak, but shipping charges are a killer LOL :lol:

Here ya go, OK not seasoned yet but will be in two years once I get er cut and split.

Ten cords of red and white oak mix, 70$ cord delivered. Ya shipping might be a problem for you, the logger only lives about five miles from my place.

I have been scrounging all my wood up and usually get decent stuff. I see a lot of guys getting log loads delivered to the house and that must make processing a lot easier

I live on forty acres, mostly poplar and pine. I do harvest some of the poplar, but at seventy bucks a for a loggers cord for hard wood I think it is well worth it.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

smokingout, just remember that pine is fine. It will burn good but not give as long of a fire as oak. If you are burning green wood like most seem to do with the OWB, then pine would be a better choice because you lose a lot of energy just getting the oak to burn.

 

[aussiedog3]

I'm starting to think certain types of wood burn better in certain stoves or boilers.
I've been burning pine since the first of November, for 2 days I burned hardwood and was not impressed even though it had been seasoned for two years.
I went back to burning the pine and will give the hardwoods another year to season.
Maybe it's just my stove, I have a big firebox and pack it full every time and can get 8-9 hours with the pine.

 

[ruserious2008]

Broken Knee - after killing ourselves scrounging last year cutting and hauling wood my wife and I have decided we are gooing to get a grapple load or three like you have there - how to you move the logs off the pile to cut them?

 

[brokenknee]

Broken Knee - after killing ourselves scrounging last year cutting and hauling wood my wife and I have decided we are gooing to get a grapple load or three like you have there - how to you move the logs off the pile to cut them?

I start cutting right were they lay, when I need to I take my tractor and move them with the front end loader. I suppose if you needed to you could just knock them down with a bar, but you have to be very careful as you never know how many are going to roll.

One thing about the logger loads is most will require a full ten cord load. My guy will deliver a five cord load to me, but that is because I only live about five miles from him.

I haven't started cutting that pile up yet. Was working this morning getting some of the poplar the power company took down along the road of my property. It was a little wet this fall to get them out, I would have had to take the long way around. Figured I best get them while I could, five inches of snow "suppose" to be coming in.

Here is what I was doing this morning, have some cut and split but not all of it.