Pacific Northwest Wood Burners

[WoodMan33]

What is the type of wood you guys here in the Pacific Northwest use in your stoves, and what kind of burn times you get with your woodstoves?

 

[privatejoker75]

inland northwest here, i burn whatever i find which is like 99% ponderosa pine

just bought a new stove so no clue on how long i'll get. Hoping for at least 8 hours on it (they claim 8-20+). Anything will be better than our old one that managed about 45 minutes on a full load

 

[Kevin*]

Alder, pine and doug fir. Doug fir I can get well over 24 hours burn easy.

 

[jeramy]

im close to you Washington state boys.Likewise I burn about half doug fir and half ponderosa pine.I would preffer to get larch which is around but the others are so much more plentiful.That being said I can load her up with fir and have about 8 hrs of burn.My stove isn't the greatest though.With the pine by itself not as long but I like the way the pine coals and the way it burns better than the fir.I usually cant get the fire hot as I like it with straight fir.I know people knock pine but I love it when its dry and I know a lot of guys who say that's all they burn

 

[Kevin*]

I love pine, its easyirr on the back through all stages. Cedar is nice for aroma and starts but wa won't let us take it from the forest.

 

[WoodMan33]

I will burn anything but Cottonwood. Burn times about 8-10 hours. Kevin do you own a Blaze King? Would love burn times like that!​

 

[Kevin*]

Yeah, love it never going back.

 

[privatejoker75]

My new one is a blaze king, can't wait to fire it up

 

[Sprinter]

I mostly have alder with some fir and some big leaf maple. Alder is by far the easiest to get here. It isn't the highest BTU content, but I like it because it's cheap to buy, very easy to split, dries quickly (first year) and burns well. 10 hours is pretty easy with the alder but I don't try for long times anyway. I'd probably prefer doug fir overall because it burns hotter, but most of the fir around here goes to the lumber mills. The big leaf maple I have is taking forever to dry and haven't burned any yet.

Woodman33, are you on the wet side or dry side of the state?

 

[StihlHead]

Lemesee... in Oregon I typically burn and have burned (more or less in order of high to low heat value, blue indicates they are in my wood stacks right now): madrone, while oak, black locust, larch, apple, juniper, hawthorn, Doug fir, hemlock, Japanese maple, cherry/plum, liquid amber, bigleaf maple, birch, cypress, silver fir, red cedar, red alder, an assortment of pine. I no longer burn stinky black cottonwood (the last of that is gone now), willow, grand fir or sycamore. I pass on Tree of Heaven (never burned it). I also will pass on birch, as it tends to rot, but I have them on my property so I burn what I cut.

In Northern California I burned: live oak, madrone, manzanita, tanoak, eucalyptus, white oak, black oak, apple, Doug fir, black and white walnut, cherry, sycamore, various type of maple, and Monterey/bishop/knobcone pine.

Burn times depend on the weather, split size and wood type. I do not stuff my stoves, as that leads to making charcoal and lower efficiency. I get 8 hours of burn and heat easy so I adjust to the conditions. In really cold weather I go for the oak, apple and black locust. Milder cold weather I burn mostly fir. Shoulder season I burn the lighter alder, pine, cedar and cherry.

 

[WoodMan33]

Good to hear everyones difference in wood burning, and burn times. I like big leaf maple when the colder weather hits here. I am on the wet side of the state. Those Blaze King stoves really just kick arse when it comes to killer burn times.

 

[byQ]

I'm in the Inland Pacific Northwest - Southern Idaho. Most of the wood I've gathered is lodgepole pine from the national forest. I drive 30 miles up into the mountains. This wood is really easy to work with,
* it is dead and usually already pretty dry
* the best parts of the trees (rounds in the 20"-32") have very few limbs
* it splits easilly

For the first time I gathered a couple of cords from a forest fire burn area. I didn't know what to expect. It went well. I was able to pull up close to downed large trees, chainsaw, sledge/metal wedges, and then load quartered rounds onto truck and trailer. I was worried that wood wouldn't be any good. but only the bark was burned.


The wood pieces split really easily. Next time I will knock the burned bark off before loading, ash is messy.


And I've been getting some elm here and there.
Big elm rounds can be intimidating. But using chainsaw, wedges, and splitter eventually they can be busted down.

 

[StihlHead]

For pine, lodgepole is sold at a premium on this side of the Cascades. It is certainly one of the better pines to burn, and is closely related to the shore pine that I have growing on my property.

 

[Seanm]

We burn lots of Lodgepole here in the Elk Valley, one of the higher btu pines for sure and easy to work with. I would take a lodgepole any day over Ponderosa.

 

[tomahawk]

Mainly Alder, Big Leaf Maple and Birch for me. Alder is what I run during the day mostly and then throw in some Birch and Maple at night. The Alder does tend to leave more ash and build up but I just keep her clean.

 

[WoodMan33]

I agree Alder does leave a lot of ash. You guys have any pictures of your wood stoves or wood stacked? Picture of Lennox Grandview 230 wood stove, and some Alder and the rest is Big Leaf Maple. I think probably about 2.5-3 cords but I am not a good judge.

 

[WoodMan33]

I love how quick pine dries. To bad it does not give out more heat though.

 

[Blue2ndaries]

For the first year or two, all I could scrounge was Doug Fir. 12 years later I think I've become a wood snob and just have white oak, ash, madrone and maple CSS--4yrs worth/ahead. Our Quad 7100FP can go a solid 8hrs overnight burn w/enough coals in the am to restart w/some kindling.

 

[toqua]

90 percent of what I burn is black locust.I get some lodge pole pine for early and late season fires.I can get overnite fires with both but there is a lot of coals with the locust and all I do is put a few logs in the morning and it starts within a short time.

 

[privatejoker75]

I love how quick pine dries. To bad it does not give out more heat though.

Not sure how different pine can be but the Ponderosa stuff that we have here burns HOT...almost too hot

 

[jeramy]

Yep I agree you gotta watch it with p pine.My stoves been hot a few times and has that too hot smell.

 

[NW Walker]

Way out West here. My stacks are mostly Doug Fir, but I'm working quite a bit of BL Maple into the stacks currently, and am trying to stock up some more on Alder as well. I've got about 1/4 cord of Madrone, wish it was easier to get but I'm just a bit too high off the water to have too many of those on my property. I've got lots of cedar on the land as well, but I try to save that for roundwood building projects like woodsheds and such, rather than burn it.

 

[MrWhoopee]

In the southern PNW, in order of preference, black oak (Quercus kellogii), doug fir and lodgepole pine. If it's easy, I'll take white fir (Abies concolor) and incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens). I generally avoid Ponderosa pine, even though readily available, because of the pitch. That doesn't mean I won't burn it, I just don't seek it.
Since I modified the air control on my Buck 81, I have no problem getting overnight burns. I just have to be careful not to put the fire out completely.

 

[Sprinter]

Not sure how different pine can be but the Ponderosa stuff that we have here burns HOT...almost too hot

Hot and fast. The biggest problem with pine is that just doesn't last too long. I call it flashy. I suppose that's why some people say that it's unsafe to burn pine, but not if you're halfway careful.

 

[MrWhoopee]

Not sure how different pine can be but the Ponderosa stuff that we have here burns HOT...almost too hot

Lodgepole pine is different. Very little pitch, decent burn times, quite controllable. It also dies and drys standing, making it perfect same year wood. No need to season.