White Pine Better Than Expected

[Jerry_NJ]

The storm called Sandy that raised H-ll in the NE last October brought down a number of large White Pine on my property, some doing damage to a fishing boat and yard tractor --- another subject.

I figured while cleaning up the mess of downed wood (still lots to do) I decided to split some of the easier rounds (those under 2' in diameter) and stack and cover. That wood, now upwards of a year old is so dry it feels like a split weighs about 1/4th what the same size split of hard wood weights.

I figured the light weight might make it easy to start even though it doesn't contain many BTUs per split (I guess about the same BTUs per pound) compared to hard wood.

I was right, it is very easy to start but I also found:
1) little/minimum smoke and soot build up on the glass of my Quadrafire Insert, similar to HW
2) while it burns faster, a few splits will run for an hour or so (I'm not packing for an over night burn).
3) good heat output with moderate flame intensity
4) I'm yet to dump the ash, but it looks similar to HW, with little or no coals.
5) I burned a couple of rounds that were in the 8" or larger diameter with good results.

In a word, I am "pleased" and plan to split some more.and pick up a few more of the smaller rounds that feel light enough to suggest they are dry/seasoned.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Why not! If it's dry it's good BTU's. Pine gets a bad rap because many don't take the time yo season it.
If you don't mind refilling the stove more often that's great.

 

[wenger7446]

I tend to burn a lot of pine. I let it dry for at least a year, mostly two years. I have had vet good luck with it.

 

[jatoxico]

Im with you Jerry, I scrouged a bunch of pine and cedar for the same reason. Seasoned fast and it gave me some versatility.

 

[red oak]

Good quick heat from white pine. Not the longest lasting wood but gives heat like any other.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Jerry, we had a bad wind storm come through our area in July, 2012. There were a couple limbs broke off a neighbor's white pine. Nobody living at that house and he wondered how he would get the pine cut up because he knew nobody would burn pine. Okay. On December 1, we cut up those limbs. We got absolutely no sap and all the wood was very light weight. We planned on burning it but a friend asked about some pine for his evaporator for making maple syrup. So we gave it to him; a pickup load. He loved it.

This year, actually probably within the next couple of weeks we'll be cutting some more that came down. In addition, another neighbor has 15 pines they want taken down. He will be very happy having more pine for his evaporator!

 

[dmmoss51]

Glad it works out for you! Learning that a lot more species can be burned than I grew up thinking. It's interesting hearing from some of the mountain folk here where all they have to burn is pine... Still prefer my oak for long burns and high btus but you have to burn what you have available!

 

[Jerry_NJ]

There is another active thread on Pine, title is something like: I get more heat out of Pine... it is much longer and covers a lot of interesting ground for any wood burning person, especially those who have doubts about Pine. It also points out not all Pine is created equal, lodge pole (I think it is, the stuff in the Colorado Rockies) may have some more hardwood-like burning characteristics..

I have been burning White Pine for a couple of days now, and am still pleased with how well it works for heat and ambiance. The seasoned wood has no sap that I can detect but when I was spitting it there was a lot of the sticky stuff. I split a few small round that were mostly seasoned, they split very easily. I didn't breakout my electric splitter just used the Fiskar splitting axe - took only one easy swing per split.