Pine

[Dieselhead]

Jake that black smoke is only on startup? I have 2 50' pines im gonna be dropping this spring figured id get some wood out of them. Dont know how to tell if white pines or some other species of pine though.

 

[Mt Ski Bum]

We live in Montana, it gets to -40 here quite often, and we have our stove going at least 6-7 months a year. We burn lodgepole pine here a lot, if we need to fire to go without putting more wood in for more than 8 hours, then we will put in some larch, but pine puts out good heat and we have never had bad creosote build up from it. I guess it all comes down to the kind of pine it is.

Same here- lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, douglas fir, & other conifers are about 98% of what I (as well as pretty much anyone else out west) use as firewood- an Aspen or two may occassionally find their way into the wood pile.

Evergreen wood also produces that nice pine scent burning it

 

[firefighterjake]

Jake that black smoke is only on startup? I have 2 50' pines im gonna be dropping this spring figured id get some wood out of them. Dont know how to tell if white pines or some other species of pine though.

With normal eastern white pine . . . I usually have little to no black smoke . . . but with this "diesel wood" it has quite a bit of black smoke and it lasts for quite a while . . . as I said . . . I think it's due to the pitch that was trapped in the round by me charring it.

I too have some pines at my house that I need to drop -- one is dying, but just doesn't know it . . . although the pileaged woodpecker going to town on it seems to know it has issues . . . the other two are too close to the house and continually drop pine needles in the pool which annoys my wife to no end. When they get dropped I will be cutting them up for firewood.

This might help you ID the trees . . . I imagine that CT and ME are close enough to have many of the same species.

http://www.umext.maine.edu/mainetreeclub/MTC.htm

 

[Dieselhead]

thanks thats a great link

 

[uggabugga]

The myth that pine causes chimney fires is of Eastern origin, and it has a bit of biased truth to it. It probably developed something like this....

You take your typical Easterner who, year after year, burns predominantly unseasoned Oak, blissfully developing a good thick coating of creosote in his chimney. Eventually one day he finds, or someone offers him, some nice dry Pine. He then proceeds to burn a load of this nice dry Pine in the same manner as he usually burns the wet Oak expecting much the same sort of results, but instead the fire burns much hotter (the way it is suppose to) than it has ever done in the past, thus igniting the creosote, that has been developing in the chimney for years, and he has a huge chimney fire. The fire department comes and puts out the fire (hopefully saving his house and family), later the fire chief asks the homeowner how the fire got started? To which the homeowner replies, �all I did was burn a load of Pine.� Thus perpetuating the myth that the Pine was the �cause� of the chimney fire and it is "dangerous" to burn in your stove.

Just remember the significant difference between pine and oak (if oak is what you're use to burning) is that pine not only seasons faster than oak, it also burns faster and hotter too.

that is an excellent theory as to how the bias against pine in the eastern US came about. makes perfect sense.

as others have said, i use their pine prejudice to my advantage..

 

[Lumber-Jack]

The myth that pine causes chimney fires is of Eastern origin, and it has a bit of biased truth to it. It probably developed something like this....

You take your typical Easterner who, year after year, burns predominantly unseasoned Oak, blissfully developing a good thick coating of creosote in his chimney. Eventually one day he finds, or someone offers him, some nice dry Pine. He then proceeds to burn a load of this nice dry Pine in the same manner as he usually burns the wet Oak expecting much the same sort of results, but instead the fire burns much hotter (the way it is suppose to) than it has ever done in the past, thus igniting the creosote, that has been developing in the chimney for years, and he has a huge chimney fire. The fire department comes and puts out the fire (hopefully saving his house and family), later the fire chief asks the homeowner how the fire got started? To which the homeowner replies, �all I did was burn a load of Pine.� Thus perpetuating the myth that the Pine was the �cause� of the chimney fire and it is "dangerous" to burn in your stove.

Just remember the significant difference between pine and oak (if oak is what you're use to burning) is that pine not only seasons faster than oak, it also burns faster and hotter too.

that is an excellent theory as to how the bias against pine in the eastern US came about. makes perfect sense.

as others have said, i use their pine prejudice to my advantage..

:lol: you know ugga, I've posted that theory in this forum a few times now, I kind of expected I would see a little more protest (and flack) from it than I have, especially considering that the bulk of the members here are Easterners, however it has gone virtually unchallenged, I'm guessing it's because there must be a ring of truth to it,,,, or maybe it's because Easterners are far too polite to point out when somebody may be mistaken. ;-)

 

[burleymike]

Like Mt Ski Bum said in the west most of us burn pine and only pine. I perfer lodgepole as it is easy to cut, haul and split. It is more dense than spruce and very few knots. I use the pieces from the top of the tree which are full of sap AKA "diesel wood" to start my fires since they can get the stove up to 400° in 5-10 minuets. When my neighbor burns a large fire in the mornings I can tell when she tosses some of those sapppy splits in from the thick black smoke. Once the secondaries heat up on my stove there is not any smoke coming from the chimney even with the diesel wood splits.

Having burned hardwoods in the past I can really appreciate the fact that pine coals burn quick. I can get rid of 4" of coals in a half hour with little ash left over. On those below zero days and nights I do wish I had a woodshed full of hardwood for those longer and hotter burns.

 

[DonNC]

With a new stove and no good supply Ive been burning some pine with no problems. It just doesnt burn as long as hard wood.

beyond that there is no problem. Some folks prefer pine in the spring and fall so they can better regulate the heat during those middle of the road temperatures. If you have the trees and time, one thing you can do is trim out a tree....cut off all the branches at the end of summer..and all the sap will go down to the roots during the fall and winter. In the spring..cut down the tree for firewood...and pull out the root. It will be pure lighter wood....full of turpentine. Use the hatchet to strike off small pieces and use them to start your fires.