Ponderosa pine

[mari]

I brought home a pickup load of blocked ponderosa pine, felled today. Not my favorite wood but there is a lot of it here and it was cleanup day in the NF. What are your opinions of when I should split it? I read that it's better to let ponderosa dry out first. I don't need to burn it anytime soon.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

It dries better once split. Get it done and stacked!

 

[cahaak]

Split and stack it now, there is no reason to wait.

 

[Simonkenton]

21.7 million BTU per cord, that is outstanding for pine. I would give it a try in my Jotul but it doesn't grow around here.

Look at this post I ran across on another forum. Marcus says he can ship 200 cords across the country. He must own a fleet of 18 wheelers.

Marcus Romerosays:
May 8, 2016 at 9:49 am
Ponderosa Pine for Sale
Cut and split 16″ on average
120 per cord summer price
110 per cord 50 or more cords
100 per cord 200 or more cords
Plenty available
Can arrange shipping across the USA
Can also palletize
Call Marcus Romero
http://www.nmfirewood.com
5059343388

 

[mari]

21.7 million BTU per cord, that is outstanding for pine. I would give it a try in my Jotul but it doesn't grow around here.

Look at this post I ran across on another forum. Marcus says he can ship 200 cords across the country. He must own a fleet of 18 wheelers.

Marcus Romerosays:
May 8, 2016 at 9:49 am
Ponderosa Pine for Sale
Cut and split 16″ on average
120 per cord summer price
110 per cord 50 or more cords
100 per cord 200 or more cords
Plenty available
Can arrange shipping across the USA
Can also palletize
Call Marcus Romero
http://www.nmfirewood.com
5059343388

It looks like he does wildfire mitigation thinning so that explains how he ends up with so much ponderosa. He probably charges a lot more now for a cord though, prices are crazy lately.

 

[mari]

Well now I understand the reason why to let it dry out first; it's the toughest stringiest wood ever. I split a good size pile anyway but stopped after hitting a few dry ones that split clean in two as soon as the wedge barely touched them. They will still be there in a few months and I'll try again.

 

[highanddryinco]

I use a bunch of it as well as lodgepole.
All of the years that I hand split, I definitely left it sit blocked and stacked over winter and then split it next summer. It'll kill you hand splitting fresh.
Even now that I'm machine splitting for the last two years, I still just cut it, stack it, and split it next season. Here in CO, even the splits from those blocks will be well under 20% after sitting over winter/spring. I would guess NM would be similar.

 

[mari]

I use a bunch of it as well as lodgepole.
All of the years that I hand split, I definitely left it sit blocked and stacked over winter and then split it next summer. It'll kill you hand splitting fresh.
Even now that I'm machine splitting for the last two years, I still just cut it, stack it, and split it next season. Here in CO, even the splits from those blocks will be well under 20% after sitting over winter/spring. I would guess NM would be similar.

How do you store your blocked pine over winter? I mean in an open shed, under tarp, etc.

 

[highanddryinco]

Wide open. No cover. Just sunshine and wind.

 

[ABMax24]

Pine splits well when frozen, both by hand and with a splitter. It's a lot less stringy and less sappy.

 

[mari]

Wide open. No cover. Just sunshine and wind.
View attachment 317285

Love it.

 

[Heat Maxx]

Does anyone burning pine do anything extraordinary with stove and exhaust maintenance do to the creosote buildup?
I keep it out of my stoves except for sometimes a starter.

Be safe and have a blessed day!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

As long as it’s dry there won’t be any more creosote than any other wood.

 

[oilcan1001]

As long as it’s dry there won’t be any more creosote than any other wood.

I got 3 cords of free pine this summer and was a little worried about burning so much but this info makes me feel a little better.

I cut and split it in the spring when it was wet and the splitting wasn't bad (gas splitter) but the sap was awful to deal with.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Yeah, if you have old gloves, those are the ones to use!

 

[oilcan1001]

Yeah, if you have old gloves, those are the ones to use!

old.... gloves, pants, shirt, shoes all to match this old man, lol

 

[Jnclem]

I’m not sure where the 21.2 million BTU's figure came from, I’m finding 15.2, which I think is more like it. We used to burn a lot of Ponderosa in southern Colorado, and it fine if that’s what you have, but it’s a pretty low BTU, high ash, wood. We don't have access to any really good wood here in Central Colorado, but we have a lot of beetle killed Lodgepole, which burns much hotter than Ponderosa, and Douglas Fir, that’s better yet. In New Mexico, we burned some Juniper, which is good except for dulling your saw continually, and Piñon, which I like a lot. I’d agree with letting the Ponderosa sit until next year, then split it. It’s a good bulk wood for milder temperatures.

 

[Dataman]

I burned pine for years. I only split the big ones. If it fit in stove it burned just fine. It would dry quick in summer by just stacking outside. After drying I put it in bay of building. Not my 1st choice. If I could get it Red Cedar, then Red Fir. Alas went to Pellet stove from BK King in 2018. Now I pay for Wood. Got it free on our property before. (Well not counting the work). I kept limbs and such for starting fires (box on left).

 

[mari]

It makes less creosote than harder wood because it burns faster. So long as it's dry, as EBL said.

 

[ABMax24]

I find that pine produces some soot, even dry pine, so while the creosote myth is pretty much un true, it does soot up a chimney more/faster than a hardwood would. Oily birch bark can soot up a chimney too.

 

[ClintonH]

Yeah, if you have old gloves, those are the ones to use!

If they weren't old before, they are now.

 

[Simonkenton]

The first chart I looked at rated 21.2
That surprised me as that is high for pine. It doesn't matter much to me because it grows nowhere near here.
I just looked at 2 other charts, one said 15.4 million BTU and the other said 14.5 million
Crummy firewood I guess, like the white pine that grows here.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

They may have tested a piece with a lot of pitch. That has to have a lot of energy to release the way it burns. It’d be like a stove full of fat wood! Lol

 

[Slimdusty]

I had a pine in our yard that was very pitchy, decided it needed to go, and eventually burned it the following winter. It burned great with all the sap, I believe it was an austrian (?) pine.

 

[ABMax24]

BTU content is directly related to wood density, dense wood has lots of BTU's. We have black swamp spruce here that grows so slow it produces a heavy dense wood similar to tamarack, and other species of spruce and pine that grow so fast they are not dense at all, not like balsa, but probably half the density of the swamp spruce.