Eastern pine in a VC NC Encore?

[heffergm]

My vc noncat encore is being installed next week. I'm trying
to harvest all the standing dead oak from my yard that I can, but I've
also got more pine than you can shake a proverbial stick at.

Since it's here and free, I'm tempted
to burn it, perhaps mixed with hardwoods. I'm in MA, so I'm guessing
it's eastern white pine. Any thoughts on using
it? As I've heard it's a little tough to control a burn in this stove, I'm a bit wary.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

My vc noncat encore is being installed next week. I'm trying
to harvest all the standing dead oak from my yard that I can, but I've
also got more pine than you can shake a proverbial stick at.

Since it's here and free, I'm tempted
to burn it, perhaps mixed with hardwoods. I'm in MA, so I'm guessing
it's eastern white pine. Any thoughts on using
it? As I've heard it's a little tough to control a burn in this stove, I'm a bit wary.

There's lots of members here from MA. Find one that is close to you and he will kindly remove all the pine you have and dispose of it safely.

 

[Dune]

Yep, still accepting deliveries of deadly useless pine to my front yard for free. It will be disposed of safely.
Prefer stove length only.

Actualy, heres how I deal with pine, you can mix it with hardwood, but mostly I burn it during the shoulder season (now), and also during the deep winter, but then only if I am around to keep feeding the stove. This time of year I do mix some pine with oak for overnight burns, but in Jan and Feb, I will only load up oak late at night, as the heat loss of the house is so great then. The important thing with pine and most other woods is well seasoned and dry. I used to think one year was enough for pine, but a local oldtimer and the folks here convinced me that two years is best. If it is standing dead, and the bark has fallen off, or falls off as you process it, it is probably seasoned enough, but may not be dry enough to burn right away. The top half of the tree can likely go right in the stove though. I actualy burn a lot of standing dead oak, but tend to only want fresh pine (witch I then season), because often standing dead pine has lots of bugs around here(Cape Cod). I did recently accept delivery of a dead pine though.

 

[raybonz]

My vc noncat encore is being installed next week. I'm trying
to harvest all the standing dead oak from my yard that I can, but I've
also got more pine than you can shake a proverbial stick at.

Since it's here and free, I'm tempted
to burn it, perhaps mixed with hardwoods. I'm in MA, so I'm guessing
it's eastern white pine. Any thoughts on using
it? As I've heard it's a little tough to control a burn in this stove, I'm a bit wary.

If it has long thin pine needles it's probably white pine... You can burn it but be sure it is seasoned and dry.. I only mix it in and mostly just for starting a fire.. Where in Mass. are you?

Ray

 

[heffergm]

Thanks for the replies. I'll plan to burn what I know is dry and ready to go. I'm in Wrentham... it's about 15 minutes from gilette stadium.

Speaking of which, if any locals know of a source for seasoned (as in ready to burn) wood, lemmee know, because I'm not even close to having what I need for the winter. All the suppliers I've talked to sell 'seasoned' wood... that was split last week.

 

[BrotherBart]

Did you pull a permit and is a inspector for the town coming out to inspect the installation?

 

[cycloxer]

You can burn virtually any species of wood provided that it is dry. If you read a stove manual, several of them actually state this fact.

Jotul recommends, "Wood that has been air-dried for a period of 6 to 14 months will provide the cleanest, most efficient heat".

Hearthstone says, "The higher the BTU, the longer the burn. Firewood with higher BTU's is generally considered more ideal for a wood stove. To properly season geen wood, it should be split, stacked and allowed to air dry for a period of one year. Stack the firewood on skids or blocks to keep it off the ground, cover only the top of the stack."

Vermont Castings says, "The best hardwood fuels include oak, maple, beech, ash, and hickory that has been split, stacked, and air dried outside under cover for at least one year. If hardwood is not available, you can burn softwoods which include tamarack, yellow pine, white pine, eastern red cedar, fir, and redwood. These too should be properly dried. Store wood under cover to keep it dry. The longer it is stored, the better heating and fireviewing performance you will enjoy."

So, yes, you can burn pine, provided it is dry.

 

[Northern NH Mike]

My vc noncat encore is being installed next week. I'm trying
to harvest all the standing dead oak from my yard that I can, but I've
also got more pine than you can shake a proverbial stick at.

Since it's here and free, I'm tempted
to burn it, perhaps mixed with hardwoods. I'm in MA, so I'm guessing
it's eastern white pine. Any thoughts on using
it? As I've heard it's a little tough to control a burn in this stove, I'm a bit wary.

If it has long thin pine needles it's probably white pine... You can burn it but be sure it is seasoned and dry.. I only mix it in and mostly just for starting a fire.. Where in Mass. are you?

Ray

Ditto here in NH. I use it to get things started. It burns fast and hot and helps get things going.

 

[raybonz]

My vc noncat encore is being installed next week. I'm trying
to harvest all the standing dead oak from my yard that I can, but I've
also got more pine than you can shake a proverbial stick at.

Since it's here and free, I'm tempted
to burn it, perhaps mixed with hardwoods. I'm in MA, so I'm guessing
it's eastern white pine. Any thoughts on using
it? As I've heard it's a little tough to control a burn in this stove, I'm a bit wary.

If it has long thin pine needles it's probably white pine... You can burn it but be sure it is seasoned and dry.. I only mix it in and mostly just for starting a fire.. Where in Mass. are you?

Ray

Ditto here in NH. I use it to get things started. It burns fast and hot and helps get things going.

Hi Mike,
We have loads of hardwoods here but also lots of eastern white pine.. Fact is you can't give away the eastern white pine here and I only started using it to start fires in the past year or so after reading that only wet wood causes creosote.. I do believe this to be true and whatever pine I do use will be that much less hardwood I need.. A win-win situation in my mind.. There isn't a day that I read this forum that I do not learn something new!


Ray

 

[cmonSTART]

Pine is great! Dry it and burn it!

 

[BrotherBart]

I am still waiting to find out if it is going to be inspected. Former forum member Elkimeg is the inspector in Wrentham. If I was installing this stove I would not mention hearth.com during the inspection. :shut:

 

[begreen]

Spoil sport :coolsmirk:

 

[Backwoods Savage]

My vc noncat encore is being installed next week. I'm trying
to harvest all the standing dead oak from my yard that I can, but I've
also got more pine than you can shake a proverbial stick at.

Since it's here and free, I'm tempted
to burn it, perhaps mixed with hardwoods. I'm in MA, so I'm guessing
it's eastern white pine. Any thoughts on using
it? As I've heard it's a little tough to control a burn in this stove, I'm a bit wary.

If it has long thin pine needles it's probably white pine... You can burn it but be sure it is seasoned and dry.. I only mix it in and mostly just for starting a fire.. Where in Mass. are you?

Ray

Ray, it is very easy to tell if it is white pine. Count the letters in the word "white" and you should come up with 5. Now look at the needles. Are they clumped in 5? If so, it is white pine. Otherwise it is something different.

 

[raybonz]

My vc noncat encore is being installed next week. I'm trying
to harvest all the standing dead oak from my yard that I can, but I've
also got more pine than you can shake a proverbial stick at.

Since it's here and free, I'm tempted
to burn it, perhaps mixed with hardwoods. I'm in MA, so I'm guessing
it's eastern white pine. Any thoughts on using
it? As I've heard it's a little tough to control a burn in this stove, I'm a bit wary.

If it has long thin pine needles it's probably white pine... You can burn it but be sure it is seasoned and dry.. I only mix it in and mostly just for starting a fire.. Where in Mass. are you?

Ray

Ray, it is very easy to tell if it is white pine. Count the letters in the word "white" and you should come up with 5. Now look at the needles. Are they clumped in 5? If so, it is white pine. Otherwise it is something different.

Hey that's interesting Dennis I didn't know that! I will have to take a look and find out now that you told me that! I am pretty certain they are eastern white pines but I could be wrong.. I do have a couple huge large pitch pines (I think, scaley bark on them) here too and lots of oaks and maples.. How you been Dennis?

Ray

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Pretty good Ray and I hope you have been also.

I almost took a trip to Arizona and still may have to as my sister is not doing very well. I hate to go under those circumstances but getting back to Arizona even for a few days would seem pretty good. It's been about 7 years since I've been there during winter. Seems the last several times I've gone through there it is hot; in June!

Merry Christmas.

 

[raybonz]

Pretty good Ray and I hope you have been also.

I almost took a trip to Arizona and still may have to as my sister is not doing very well. I hate to go under those circumstances but getting back to Arizona even for a few days would seem pretty good. It's been about 7 years since I've been there during winter. Seems the last several times I've gone through there it is hot; in June!

Merry Christmas.

Dennis I do indeed have eastern white pine(just went out and counted 5 needles)! Kinda figured I did but now I am sure.. Sorry to hear about your sister and hope she makes a full recovery.. And Merry Christmas to you my wood burning friend!!

Take Care,
Ray

 

[cycloxer]

I've burnt white pine. Its works okay. It still needs to be dry to burn well. The good news is that it dries quicker than denser woods like oak and maple and it is lighter, making it easier to carry. The bad news is that it has about 1/3 less energy in it and it takes up the same amount of space. So you end up having to load the stove more. It also makes more popping sounds when it burns. Most people don't burn softwood in New England because we have access to so much hardwood at reasonable prices.