Wood that practically explodes

Well, not really, but tonight I'm trying to burn some the the two truck loads of free pine that was bestowed upon me this summer. It's been split for months, basking in the summer sun and is dry and ready to burn.

Tonight I had a good hot fire going and dropped a peice of the pine in and within 10 seconds the entire firebox was FULL of a ball of fire. The wood had barely lit, but was giving off it's gas like I'd put a rag soaked in kerosene in the stove. Dampered it down to minimum, and almost no primary burn, but LOTS of secondary burn.

For you folks who are asking what secondary burn is...Give that a try...It's impressive. It also will show you why and how those tubes are working for you. That pine is almost all gas. Once the gasses are driven off there is little charcoal left, and what's left of the log seems to dissapear within a half hour (not really, but it sure seems like it)

The first/last time I overfired a stove was from pine.

Made sense since it smelled like turpentine. You could almost light huge splits with a match.

Great Balls of Fire!

I've heard willow will burn something like that... giving off lots of sparks. Any truth to it?

Matt

I had wood last year that was like putting a match to gunpowder. Lots of sparks in the firebox. It could have been willow now that you mention it...


Pine is great for quick fires. I picked some up at the curb that someone had put out. It seasoned pretty quickly. I burned some lastnight. Great for shorter duration fires on early fall evenings.

Well, I have to say that I will use that stuff is small quantities from now on. That was my first time really burning pine...I have to say it's almost uncontrollable. It puts off so much fuel that the stove can't supply enough primary to burn it, and clouded up the glass something awful. I've never seen that before. Maybe it's not dry enough? Maybe it's just pine.

I'm obviously still learning a lot about wood burning.

That is true. Pine is a perfect way to demonstrate the glass airwash system. The flames in my stove roll up and over towards the glass, and are "washed" over it. It's interesting to watch.