This is my first year gathering any pine, got a bunch I can get for free that are down, the guy is allowing me to buck em and take em(about 2-4' across rounds). This will be my fall/spring wood and used as kindling and mixed in during the day when i'm around to load the stove in the colder months. Being a softwood do people generally split them the same size as the hardwood you use? Or do you recommend bigger splits? My plan was to vary them from about 5 or 6" on down to kindling size.
pine split size
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I split to normal 5" size and then knock them smaller as/if needed as I bring it in to burn. Every wood pile should have a chopping block next to it. I split my cottonwood to larger 7" or so size thinking that it would help with burn time but it does not, it just makes the splits harder to fit into the firebox.
Be careful to avoid loading a big chunk of fatwood on accident. When you see that white tar on the outside and the shiny wood, throw that piece aside and use it for something else.
Be careful to avoid loading a big chunk of fatwood on accident. When you see that white tar on the outside and the shiny wood, throw that piece aside and use it for something else.
Highbeam said:
Hey thanks for the reply highbeam, just saved me a whole season of experimenting. I definitely have a chopping block next to the woodpile, and I use it pretty much every day, definitely handy and I can't imagine being without it. I've been keeping an eye out for the fatwood, what I'm cutting from is downed trees, some chopped up into 10 foot lengths, some larger. The fatwood is usually at the bottom of the tree correct? I'm hoping I come across some to split up for next year.
I cut up a standing dead pine that was in danger of blowing onto my house this year and it is burning nicely in the stove. I stacked it in with the cottonwood. The pine sap is sticky even after it is very dry so we don't really like dealing with the pine for that reason. The fatwood was definitely at the bottom of the tree about the last 8 feet or so the white tar/sap ran down the outside of the bark. It isn't really sticky on the outside unless you hold your hand against it for awhile. I split it up like normal since I didn't realize the energy stored in that white gold. Now I look for the fatwood and have a good sized pile of it going. My fires seldom need a kickstart from fatwood so I think I'll end up using it for
a) a mean trick to give a load of it to someone when they go camping
b) a mean trick to use as a fetch stick for the neighbor's dog.
c) a thoughtful gift to give to someone as a firestarter
d) bonfire material along with my other junk wood
e) little air fresheners
Honestly I would rather leave the fat part to rot in the woods and load up on the remainder of the tree.
a) a mean trick to give a load of it to someone when they go camping
b) a mean trick to use as a fetch stick for the neighbor's dog.
c) a thoughtful gift to give to someone as a firestarter
d) bonfire material along with my other junk wood
e) little air fresheners
Honestly I would rather leave the fat part to rot in the woods and load up on the remainder of the tree.
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