Pine board in a VC Encore 2 in 1?

[emt1581]

My neighbor has offered me some of his scraps from a project he's been working on. I'm guessing it's some pine board ends, plywood, etc.

He made the point that it is kiln dried. I said I thought ANY pine was a big no-no in a wood stove.

What do yall think?

Is it ok to throw some pine board in when the majority is hardwood?

Thanks

-Emt1581

 

[jharkin]

The no-pine thing is a myth! Pine is fine. Most Alaskans and a lot of our Canadian and PNW friends have nothing but softwood available. Just be careful running a big load of it, will burn hot.

The plywood, OTOH, along with anything that's treated or has any type of finish, paint, glue,etc is a big no no. Makes noxious fumes while burning and potentially will poison the catalyst.

 

[emt1581]

I appreciate the info!

Thanks

-Emt1581

 

[Nick Mystic]

When burning small wood scarps you need to be cautious about how much you put in the stove at one time. With all the surface area provided by the small pieces you can easily create an extremely hot fire in a very short time. If you loaded the typical stove with small scraps and then lit a fire you could do "over firing" damage in a very short period of time. Scraps are fine to use if you throw a few at a time in the stove, but not a large quantity all at once. Scraps can also start a chimney fire if you don't keep a clean flue since the intense heat can set off the creosote.

 

[begreen]

Split the scraps up and use them for kindling.

 

[firefighterjake]

Dimensional lumber used for kindling or in small amounts . . . yes.

Plywood, painted wood, pressure treated wood . . . no.

 

[SteveKG]

I have no idea where people keep coming up with the idea that pine is a no-no. It's about all we have here, where we have been burning it in several wood stoves for decades. I never hear that no-no around this area, where many people burn it every day of the winter. Plywood is burnable but very unhealthy to living things. The only place for plywood scraps is the landfill.

 

[Sprinter]

Pine is fine

Can I quote you?

 

[emt1581]

I have no idea where people keep coming up with the idea that pine is a no-no. It's about all we have here, where we have been burning it in several wood stoves for decades. I never hear that no-no around this area, where many people burn it every day of the winter. Plywood is burnable but very unhealthy to living things. The only place for plywood scraps is the landfill.

Honestly, all growing up and even when I bought my stove, everyone told me you couldn't burn pine/soft wood.

How long does it take to season? Same moisture content rules (below 20%)?

Thanks

-Emt1581

 

[Sprinter]

Honestly, all growing up and even when I bought my stove, everyone told me you couldn't burn pine/soft wood.

How long does it take to season? Same moisture content rules (below 20%)?

Thanks

-Emt1581

I grew up in Spokane, and everyone burned pine because that's about all there was. It does burn hot and quick, though, and has a lot of resins, so it snaps, crackles and pops. You do want to be careful of that.

Most species of pine seems to dry pretty fast if splits are not too fat and it's stacked well. But there are many species of pine, so I'm sure there are variations on the theme.

 

[emt1581]

I grew up in Spokane, and everyone burned pine because that's about all there was. It does burn hot and quick, though, and has a lot of resins, so it snaps, crackles and pops. You do want to be careful of that.

Most species of pine seems to dry pretty fast if splits are not too fat and it's stacked well. But there are many species of pine, so I'm sure there are variations on the theme.

But again, does the moisture content still need to be under 20%?

Thanks

-Emt1581

 

[Sprinter]

But again, does the moisture content still need to be under 20%?

Thanks

-Emt1581

The moisture content rule is the same for all species. 20% is ideal, up to 25 is okay with some loss of efficiency. Over that and you run into creosote problems and impaired performance.

 

[SteveKG]

Honestly, all growing up and even when I bought my stove, everyone told me you couldn't burn pine/soft wood.

How long does it take to season? Same moisture content rules (below 20%)?

Thanks

-Emt1581

I have no experience using hardwoods, as all my life I have lived in places where there isn't any growing. So all I know about drying [seasoning, whatever you want to call it] is with pine and spruce. If I cut the trees into rounds, stack them in my open-sided shed, they will be dried quite nicely in six or seven months. If I split the rounds and then stack them, they can actually be very dry in 3 or 4 months. Note that our relative humidity here is typically 7% to 15% and it's often windy. That may have an effect, too. But I read here about people needing 2+ years to adequately dry out oak, etc., and am amazed. I can take a blown-down fully "green" tree, cut it and split it, and it is good to go within 6 months. Standing deadwood, usually good to go in maybe 3 months, if I split and stack it.

 

[emt1581]

I have no experience using hardwoods, as all my life I have lived in places where there isn't any growing. So all I know about drying [seasoning, whatever you want to call it] is with pine and spruce. If I cut the trees into rounds, stack them in my open-sided shed, they will be dried quite nicely in six or seven months. If I split the rounds and then stack them, they can actually be very dry in 3 or 4 months. Note that our relative humidity here is typically 7% to 15% and it's often windy. That may have an effect, too. But I read here about people needing 2+ years to adequately dry out oak, etc., and am amazed. I can take a blown-down fully "green" tree, cut it and split it, and it is good to go within 6 months. Standing deadwood, usually good to go in maybe 3 months, if I split and stack it.

HOLY CRAP

That's amazing!! I mean ash you can typically burn with little seasoning. But other than that it's a year to two years to season the split wood. I had no idea that pine could be dried and used so quickly! However, I'm wondering how much quicker/hotter it burns and how many additional cords I'd need to get me through a winter.

Pine is SUPER easy to find around here, mostly because no one burns it and because they are all over.

Only thing I worry about (read: HATE!) is all the damn sap!! Any tips for this with splitting/chopping/sawing?

I appreciate the info!

-Emt1581

 

[SteveKG]

I don't have much of a sap problem. At least, not in the standing deadwood. In green trees, there is some, of course. The green stuff I split with a motorized splitter, and I clean off the machine every couple hours by wiping the affected areas with a rag dosed with paint thinner. It usually isn't too bad. I often hand-split the deadwood, and I just don't have the sap problem there, so the Fiskars axe stays clean.

 

[emt1581]

I don't have much of a sap problem. At least, not in the standing deadwood. In green trees, there is some, of course. The green stuff I split with a motorized splitter, and I clean off the machine every couple hours by wiping the affected areas with a rag dosed with paint thinner. It usually isn't too bad. I often hand-split the deadwood, and I just don't have the sap problem there, so the Fiskars axe stays clean.

I've got a Fiskars to. Although usually I use a maul when I'm processing my own wood. The other thing I use to get stumps started or split if I don't feel like swinging/balancing is a HF hand-powered hydraulic splitter.

I've read that with some softer wood, it doesn't split, but the tool just sinks into the wood and basically dents it. But I'm guessing that's green/live wood. So maybe sectioning off a few trunks and then splitting them a month or two after would give me a nice 6 month rotation cycle.

But again, how many cords would I need compared to, say, 4 cords of hardwood (which is about what we go through each winter)?

Thanks

-Emt1581

 

[emt1581]

Something else I'm thinking about is that, on CL, I see a TON of ads for free pallets and wood scrap that people want gone...with a cheap table saw or even a jig or circular saw, I could cut up all the wood I'd ever need...FREE!! I know growing up a neighbor used to burn nothing but pallets. Not sure how that works with nails though...

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks

-Emt1581