How do different wood burn while in a wood stove?

[bunfoolio]

I am burning a lot of white pine and Black Locust. Since its been warm This year I have used a lot more of the white pine and throwing in a piece of the Black Locust for coals. Does the white pine burn at a faster rate then the back locust or do both burn at a uniform rate while in the stove together?

 

[begreen]

Assuming they are both well seasoned, the pine will burn much faster than the denser locust.

 

[Simonkenton]

Small world. Although I am far, far away in North Carolina, I too am burning white pine and locust.
Begreen is right, the white pine will burn much faster.

 

[bunfoolio]

Begreen and Simonekton thank you for your replies. My initial thought is to agree with you but my observations seem to differ. All the wood is well seasoned and about the same physical size. I loaded up my stove with all White pine and one piece of locust. I open the stove about hour and a half later and all the pieces seemed to be at the same stage of coaling. All of the logs had held their shape but when I poaked them they all broke apart into coals.

SimonKenton can you try this in your stove and see if your results differ?

I could be wrong here but my expectation of the white pine being gone and the locust still there did not happen.

 

[begreen]

Try the reverse and put a split of pine in with a load of locust. The pine will be quickly gone. Also, time a load of each wood. That's where I see a big difference. A load of locust will burn about 2+hrs longer than doug fir and it puts out a lot more heat.

 

[heavy hammer]

Like begreen said the harder more dense wood will last longer. You should see a difference between the two with the locust being a longer hotter fire.

 

[toddnic]

I am burning a lot of white pine and Black Locust. Since its been warm This year I have used a lot more of the white pine and throwing in a piece of the Black Locust for coals. Does the white pine burn at a faster rate then the back locust or do both burn at a uniform rate while in the stove together?

Welcome to the Forum! I use a combination of pine, hemlock, red & white oak, and maple. I use the softwoods (pine and hemlock) during the shoulder seasons and to get a quick fire going. The softwood is gone quickly and burns hot. The hardwood (red & white oak, and maple) burns much longer and is my preferred type of wood when it is cold and I need longer burn times. Something that I do when the woodstove is cold or is almost out, I will put a couple of small softwood splits on the coals and then stack hardwood on top. This gets the fire going quickly and gets the stove "up to temperature" quickly and then the hardwood takes over for the longer burn times. Hope this helps!