Good score or a waste of time?

[zknowlto]

Hello All:

I got this for free from a guy of CL today:



It's about a half cord of fir that he cut down last weekend. Obviously, it still needs to be processed and won't be ready until winter 2010/11. Does this seem like a good deal to anyone, or is dealing with pine more hassle than its worth? I'm still pretty new to this, so I'm looking for honest opinions.

Thanks!

 

[smokinj]

Hello All:

I got this for free from a guy of CL today:

It's about a half cord of fir that he cut down last weekend. Obviously, it still needs to be processed and won't be ready until winter 2010/11. Does this seem like a good deal to anyone, or is dealing with pine more hassle than its worth? I'm still pretty new to this, so I'm looking for honest opinions.

Thanks!

get it all til you have more than enough

 

[rdust]

Looks like a great score to me! Old timers around here balk at pine but you don't always need a long burning hardwood fire.

 

[Dix]

Go for it.

You'll be glad you did.

Comes in handy for days when I am home. Others burn it 24/7.

 

[Duetech]

Here is a link (broken link removed to http://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm) It lists a variety of woods by cord weight and btu property. Do the math and you will find that pine has more btu per pound than red oak. Reality forces you to throw wood more often with pine than oak (to get the poundage) so pine is better for the cool weather but oak is better for the cold weather. Out west in some places fir/pine is all they have available. The secret is "dry wood". Free is not a bad price and usually preferred over other prices so split it and let it dry and realize a good score.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Hello All:

I got this for free from a guy of CL today:

It's about a half cord of fir that he cut down last weekend. Obviously, it still needs to be processed and won't be ready until winter 2010/11. Does this seem like a good deal to anyone, or is dealing with pine more hassle than its worth? I'm still pretty new to this, so I'm looking for honest opinions.

Thanks!

Get it split and stacked under cover now and it'll be ready by spring. Low moister is one of the advantages of coniferous wood.

 

[North of 60]

YEP Id take it. It looks like OAK to me.

 

[Wet1]

Free is for me!

 

[d.n.f.]

Fir is not pine, fir is fir and has better btus (well it is in the pine family but are a different genus). A logging truck (70' load) of pine will run you 1200 -1400 bucks but a load of fir will run you 1700 to 1900.

Fir is a great wood to burn and I select it over pine all the time. Splits well, has super thick bark that is great for camp fires. I burned two cords of it last year and will burn another two this year. I will only burn one cord of pine.

 

[PapaDave]

Hello All:

I got this for free from a guy of CL today:

It's about a half cord of fir that he cut down last weekend. Obviously, it still needs to be processed and won't be ready until winter 2010/11. Does this seem like a good deal to anyone, or is dealing with pine more hassle than its worth? I'm still pretty new to this, so I'm looking for honest opinions.

Thanks!

Cool score!
One off topic ?. Just an observation, but your screen name probably doesn't sit well with the locals. Are you a transplant from Ann Arbor, or just have a death wish? :lol:
Lived in the Lansing area for a few years myself, and the "friendly animosity" between the 2 schools still cracks me up. The word rabid, comes to mind.
Dave

 

[Jags]

At first glance, that does appear to be pine. And everybody knows you can't burn pine. %-P

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Fir is not pine, fir is fir and has better btus (well it is in the pine family but are a different genus). A logging truck (70' load) of pine will run you 1200 -1400 bucks but a load of fir will run you 1700 to 1900.

Fir is a great wood to burn and I select it over pine all the time. Splits well, has super thick bark that is great for camp fires. I burned two cords of it last year and will burn another two this year. I will only burn one cord of pine.

Agreed.

And pine is coniferous. At least it is here in America.

 

[zknowlto]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. I plan on splitting this over the weekend. Given my apparent good fortune, I'm probably going to find myself compulsively scouring CL over the next few days.

dnf and big red: Thanks for the info about fir. The guy I got it from claimed it was fir, but, as my ability to identify different types of wood is basically nil, I don't really know if this is true or not.

papa: I grew up near Lansing, but went to school in Ann Arbor. I actually love both teams, but feel a certain allegiance to the maize and blue. Though, given U of M's terrible football season last year and their difficulties with the NCAA, it might be time to switch loyalties

 

[wendell]

Listening to ESPN yesterday, they said everyone violates the 20 hour rule. Sounds like Michigan has a bunch of crybabies.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

YEP Id take it. It looks like OAK to me.

No way. Look like beech. I'd take it too.

 

[Jags]

YEP Id take it. It looks like OAK to me.

No way. Look like beech. I'd take it too.

I wasn't aware that being that far north that Oak grew cones. :lol:

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Great things happen in the great white north.

 

[CarbonNeutral]

Fir is not pine, fir is fir and has better btus (well it is in the pine family but are a different genus). A logging truck (70' load) of pine will run you 1200 -1400 bucks but a load of fir will run you 1700 to 1900.

Fir is a great wood to burn and I select it over pine all the time. Splits well, has super thick bark that is great for camp fires. I burned two cords of it last year and will burn another two this year. I will only burn one cord of pine.

This is something I didn't appreciate 'till recently - I had some hemlock/fir that I was more than happy to process/burn. Then I got some white pine - heavy because the rounds are so big, but split, light and airy, AND, difficult to split - each tree ring was massive - abut half an inch. Just as hardwood is a sliding scale, so is 'softwood'...

 

[d.n.f.]

Fir has massive thick scale like bark. Has a nice smell when you cut it. Doesn't smell like pine. A two foot round might have bark that is an inch thick. Has a distinctive reddish colour when it is split.
Pine (yes yes many types) smells like pine.