Blue spruce firewood

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I'm having a nearly dead blue spruce felled by my friendly neighborhood arborist. It's between the house and the barn, and would hit either if it falls wrong. I'd still try to do it myself, but it has a deep wound, healed over, from the ground, up 6 feet. So, bring in the pro$. He says it's the largest one he's seen.

So, how's blue spruce burn? I'm thinking it'll be great shoulder season wood in 2 years.

 

[ABMax24]

Just like any other spruce, not a whole lot of heat and burns fast. Spruce makes really good kindling, it does throw a lot of sparks though.

You don't need to wait 2 years, if its CSS this spring it will be ready by fall.

I burn quite a bit of Spruce because there are a few dead standing ones around, but I prefer Pine over Spruce because it has more BTU's.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Just like any other spruce, not a whole lot of heat and burns fast. Spruce makes really good kindling, it does throw a lot of sparks though.

You don't need to wait 2 years, if its CSS this spring it will be ready by fall.

I burn quite a bit of Spruce because there are a few dead standing ones around, but I prefer Pine over Spruce because it has more BTU's.

Thanks AB. I should have enough shoulder wood through fall 2021, but this will be good for spring and fall 2022. It's the closest tree to the house, so the haul will be minimal for once. I'll watch out for the sparks.

 

[hickoryhoarder]

Friends I know who have mainly spruce growing in their area burn a lot of it. (White spruce and red spruce in their case.) It's maybe no one's first choice, but it works.

 

[wooddope]

It's like firecrackers in the stove when real dry.....takes off in a hurry... I like it for quick heat, if its branchy/knotty can be tough to split.
That wound will likely have a bunch of sap from healing and will burn like napalm.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

It's like firecrackers in the stove when real dry.....takes off in a hurry... I like it for quick heat, if its branchy/knotty can be tough to split.
That wound will likely have a bunch of sap from healing and will burn like napalm.

I'm anticipating a lot of small knots, I have hemlock that has similar characteristics. I think it'll make a good addition to all the oak I'm accumulating.

 

[Bad LP]

Chip it is my choice or haul it into the woods to rot.
Even as fire pit wood too many sparks.

 

[SpaceBus]

Sucks to split and low BTU, but most of my firewood is spruce and fir. If you have a hydraulic splitter then it is fine, otherwise I would pass.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Sucks to split and low BTU, but most of my firewood is spruce and fir. If you have a hydraulic splitter then it is fine, otherwise I would pass.

I do have a small hydraulic splitter, and it's going to be 15' from the house. So it'd be more work to haul it away to discard than to just stack it close to where it's at and burn it in the mix over the next couple of years.

 

[Solarguy3500]

Chip it is my choice or haul it into the woods to rot.
Even as fire pit wood too many sparks.

I cut this spruce tree down next to my driveway last spring.

The limbs went in the burn pit, and I cut up the trunk and hauled it out into the woods and dumped it to rot.

I'm going to make maple syrup next spring and I was thinking about dragging that spruce back out and splitting it up to burn for syrup making, but wasn't aware of the sparks as I've never tried to burn it before. Might try burning it for syrup making and if it makes too many sparks, I can always drag it back into the woods.

 

[ABMax24]

I actually prefer to burn spruce in the stove, burnt in an outdoor fire the sparks go everywhere, in the stove it doesn't matter as long as your chimney isn't full of creosote.

 

[SpaceBus]

The sparks aren't that serious. My wife doesn't like it when lighting/loading the stove, but otherwise it's not a big deal.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I'd burn it. It burns fine. But I like warming up my stove with pine too.

Ever feel like you need a stove load for heat 3 hours before bed? That's when spruce comes in.

 

[weatherguy]

I had 5 medium sized cut down 3-4 years ago. I don't let any wood go to waste so I cut it up and burned it during shoulder season. They were in my yard so it couldn't have been easier.

 

[Riteway]

Hey man...smoke 'em if you got 'em

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I will confirm that it is tough to split! I banged on one small round with the fiskars splitting axe a bunch of times, to little effect. I took another one to the little splitter, it pushed right through, but was stringy to the end.

I'll be doing as much as possible with the splitter, the large rounds will require quartering with the sledge and wedge, as even the 8lb maul won't split this.

 

[ABMax24]

Let it sit in the sun and wind for a couple weeks, spruce dries fast, it's much easier to split once the ends of the rounds become checked.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Let it sit in the sun and wind for a couple weeks, spruce dries fast, it's much easier to split once the ends of the rounds become checked.

Thanks, I was wondering about that. I can be patient if it's going to save some effort.

 

[ABMax24]

Thanks, I was wondering about that. I can be patient if it's going to save some effort.

It's worth the wait, we always cut standing dead trees so they are reasonably dry from the get go, my 8lb fiskars maul splits the large rounds into quarters, the X25 does the rest.

 

[SpaceBus]

I will confirm that it is tough to split! I banged on one small round with the fiskars splitting axe a bunch of times, to little effect. I took another one to the little splitter, it pushed right through, but was stringy to the end.

I'll be doing as much as possible with the splitter, the large rounds will require quartering with the sledge and wedge, as even the 8lb maul won't split this.

My Fiskars 8 lb maul just bounced off most spruce and fir rounds when I was trying to do things the hard way, and the largest were only 16". Very few rounds would split without using the wedges. My wife doesn't even like splitting spruce with the gas powered splitter.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

This wood is dripping with pine sap and super stringy. It's slow going and messy, even with the splitter.

 

[SpaceBus]

This wood is dripping with pine sap and super stringy. It's slow going and messy, even with the splitter.

Last summer I milled a nice red spruce log, about 10" on the small end, to make boards for my chicken coop. I found several voids full of sap randomly scattered throughout the log. Some were small, maybe dime sized, but a few were a few inches long holding 2+ oz of honey colored sap. Not all of the spruce logs I've milled have these sap voids, I have no idea what causes it. Have all of your rounds been like this?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Probably damaged while growing and the tree defended itself.

 

[SpaceBus]

Probably damaged while growing and the tree defended itself.

Makes sense. I get more "feathers" and rough spots with spruce than fir or tamarack. Haven't had the opportunity to mill anything else besides those three though.

 

[mar13]

Last summer I milled a nice red spruce log, about 10" on the small end, to make boards for my chicken coop. I found several voids full of sap randomly scattered throughout the log. Some were small, maybe dime sized, but a few were a few inches long holding 2+ oz of honey colored sap. Not all of the spruce logs I've milled have these sap voids, I have no idea what causes it. Have all of your rounds been like this?

For you spruce burners out there. Does that sap eventually season enough that it just burns hot & fast, but not splatter sap inside the stove and onto the stove glass?

I just split, by hand, 2/3 cord of Sitka spruce that was dropped off at my house for free. I was amazed by those pockets of honey-like sap and sometimes it's more like a vein of gold sap rather than a pocket. One split broke like an onion along a tree ring of the split, with the entire length of each half of the split where it broke, coated in sap. I wiped some onto a rock, put a match to the wet rock and it burned for a while. Tried the same to the split and it did a long smokey burn as well, but not the wood itself. Even my young kids and wife were amazed and usually they couldn't care less about wood. I later found YouTube has plenty of videos showing how pine sap picked off a tree makes a nice survival fire starter and I tried it with a nugget of sap from the bark of a round. I'm just a little wary of burning liquid fire starter in my stove which has meticulously clean & clear glass.

If it does splatter, I may cut the splits in half and burn them in the rear of the stove rather than keep them at 16".