1. Welcome Hearth.com Guests and Visitors - Please enjoy our forums!
    Hearth.com GOLD Sponsors who help bring the site content to you:
    Jotul Cast Iron Stoves
    Woodstock Soapstone Stoves
    Hearth and Home (QuadraFire and Harman Stoves)

Pin Oak?

Post in 'The Wood Shed' started by Gomez, Dec 21, 2008.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Gomez Member

    joined: Nov 19, 2007
    65 posts
    Pineville, PA
    My mother has a 26" or so Pin Oak i wll be taking down this winter.
    I don't see too many (or any) references to Pin Oak.
    Is it any good for burning?
    #1

    Helpful Sponsor Ads!



  2. LLigetfa Minister of Fire

    joined: Nov 9, 2008
    7,310 posts
    NW Ontario
    I'm pretty sure someone that lives close to you will not only tell you that it isn't fit to burn but they will also offer to haul it away for you and safely dispose of it at no cost to you.
  3. webby3650 Minister of Fire

    joined: Sep 2, 2008
    1,965 posts
    southern Indiana
    Great to burn, horrible to spit! Better have a splitter.
  4. JerseyWreckDiver New Member

    joined: Nov 28, 2008
    152 posts
    North/West New Jersey
    Pretty much the same as red oak as far as I know. Except for looking at the leaves and acorns you'd probably have a really difficult time telling them apart.
  5. bsruther Feeling the Heat

    joined: Oct 28, 2008
    372 posts
    Northern Kentucky
    Pin Oak is one of the many varieties of Red Oak just as Northern Red Oak is another variety of Red Oak.
    There seems to be more Pin Oaks around here than any other kind. And yes, it's not easy to split by hand.
    I've read that it's a poor lumber grade Oak too.
    It's definitely one of the best burning woods to be found around here
  6. Superlite New Member

    joined: Mar 2, 2008
    66 posts
    Eastern PA
    Most difference is in the growing habit and the leaf shape. As with any wood, splitting could be terrible or cake depending on many different factors. Last year i milled some Pin Oak that had super straight awesome grain, that would split if you dropped it on an axe. Besides Oak is Oak, whether it is red, black, pin, white, willow leafed, etc... Burn it or Mill it. Enjoy it either way
    Superlite
  7. Corey Minister of Fire

    joined: Nov 19, 2005
    2,009 posts
    Midwest
    Setting in front of a nice pin oak fire right now. I looked at a couple of btu/cord charts and didn't see pin oak specifically listed. My feeling is that it might be slightly less than red oak in btu's mainly because it seems to be a bit lighter.

    The fun part is in the splitting. The stuff I got hold of had been felled and cut into stove lengths last year. I was splitting it this fall. Several of the pieces would take nearly the full load of the splitter and just when you think it wasn't going to split....**BOOM** the log would crack in two and pieces would go flying a couple of feet! Definitely seems like it might be better to split green!
  8. Malatesta New Member

    joined: Dec 1, 2008
    112 posts
    Maryland
    There's lots of oak tree's here in MD. Ive burned them all. Pin-oak is one of the harder oaks to split by hand its very dense. I feel it splits easier when its a little green. Its not the same as red oak which is very easy to split.
    The bark makes it easy also to ID its slightly smooth and Dark grayish.
    Pin-oaks leaves are very easy to identify there not rounded ,if you exam them close they look like tiny pins on the end,no rounded curves. The leave ends are pointed.I also feel its right up there with white oak,its alot heavier then red-oak in my opinion. Anyways its a great wood to burn.
  9. billb3 Minister of Fire

    joined: Dec 14, 2007
    3,068 posts
    SE Mass
    50 years ago the pin oak in this back yard had the characteristic pyrimidal shape. At 75 years old or so, it now has a more typical canopy shape of red oak. Tends to lose its leaves latest of all the oaks, when younger often retaining a large number of them until Spring.
    The ones here tend to have more surface roots under the canopy than other oaks. Tough to dig under, like some maples.
  10. Backwoods Savage Minister of Fire

    joined: Feb 14, 2007
    24,181 posts
    Michigan
    We don't have many oaks on our place but of what we do have, most are pin oaks. Pin oak definitely is in the red oak family. Not good for lumber but excellent for fire wood. Burns almost like red oak and needs time to season; 2 years.
  11. Gomez Member

    joined: Nov 19, 2007
    65 posts
    Pineville, PA
    Thanks all!

    I have a splitter so hopefully the splitting won't be too bad.
    The tree died sometime in the fall, probably won't be getting to
    split it until February.

    I've been burning Red Oak for the past few weeks and if the Pin Oak
    is similar, I'll be quite happy and warm.
  12. Todd Minister of Fire

    joined: Nov 19, 2005
    8,804 posts
    Lake Wissota
    I scored 2 1/2 cords of Northern Pin Oak late spring and it was some of the easiest firewood I ever split. I have a small 8 ton splitter and as soon as the rounds hit the wedge they popped apart. I'm looking forward to burning some two years from now, most is still pegging the moisture meter.
  13. Tony H New Member

    joined: Oct 24, 2007
    1,156 posts
    N Illinois
    Wood is no good , please drop it by my house and I will get rid of it for you ;-)
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page