Question about pine

[Jdog]

Ok i know the hole pine debate but ill have burnt some and i know alot of people that do. Heres my question in March or April a big pine came down and we had to cut it out of the way to get out of my road and it has set there on the side of the road since so i go down yesterday and grab me a truck load of it get home and start wacking away with the fiskars and took out the handy dandy MM and took some readings. Now when i was picking this up the bark is 100% falling off of it so on a fresh split it read 13-18% moisture???? So i took about a 38 inch round 18 inches long and split it as many times as i could and i tested each new split on a fresh side then split those down even smaller to test some more they all came out around the same reading. Should it have got that dry already?? My MM is new it is the General it will do block or fire wood setting. What do you think

 

[AmarilloSlim]

I wouldn't bet the farm on it... but its possible.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Pine tends to have dry heartwood and retain water in the sapwood when dried like that. You can easily feel the difference in moisture by hand!

 

[fossil]

That tree may have been standing dead for some time.

 

[gzecc]

Test the moisture meter on your palm. should get low 30s.

 

[Jdog]

Yea im not sure on that dead part didnt pay no attention to it. I just read another thread on hear the same thing happened to another guy i took a couple of the splits in my house last night and am going to check them when i get home see how they are doing. As much as i split the splits and tested them im sure i got into some of it

 

[USMC80]

burn it and see

 

[Snotrocket]

If the bark is falling off it's dry and probably dead.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Last year on December 1 we cut some white pine that had came down in July. We found no sap! Very dry.

Today, December 2 we went to the same place to cut up some more of that white pine that came down over the summer. Same results. Very dry. Tomorrow, if possible, we'll cut one that came down just a week or two ago so suspect we might have to do some sap removal. WD-40 on the saw and Miracle Whip on the skin removes the sap very easy.


On your pine, I would not be surprised to find the low moisture. Burn it!

 

[molly1414]

We have all pine on our property. Last Dec we had an 80 foot pine fall behind our house. We cut it up into rounds and split it in March and we are burning it now. The moisture meter on fresh cuts is only 0-5 percent. Couldn't believe it. Thought it would have to sit till next year. We have oak that has been stacked for over a year still at 20 percent.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Only natural as pine is not near as dense as oak it would dry much quicker.

 

[BIGDADDY]

It was probably dead before it fell. Love finding wood that is ready to burn!

 

[Jdog]

i tested a few more peices last night and same result so i threw a few in the stove and poof it took off definitely dry burnt really nice going to get the rest of it tonight nothing better than finding wood ready to burn right away this is my first year burning so my wood is not 100% but that helped me for sure. Now if i could just find some oak or locast that way

 

[stircrazy]

90% of what I burn is pine, I get 1 to 2 year standing dead trees every year and the moisture in them is around 10 to 15%, so no seasoning required.

Steve

 

[Jdog]

I have burnt some of these pieces and they burn great and I love the smell. I think what I got is white pine it's nice and white very very soft the mm will burry all the way easy I'm going to keep some for next year as well

 

[Paulywalnut]

Dry pine burns hot. Not long... But hot. Burn it if you got it.
Wood is wood . Just different BTU's.
.

 

[dmmoss51]

The only real problem I see with pine is burning through it too fast.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

The only real problem I see with pine is burning through it too fast.

I just burn pine during the day when im around to reload, saving the seasoned oak for overnight. It extends the premium wood supply that way.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Yea im not sure on that dead part didnt pay no attention to it. I just read another thread on hear the same thing happened to another guy i took a couple of the splits in my house last night and am going to check them when i get home see how they are doing. As much as i split the splits and tested them im sure i got into some of it

Blowing it's bark that soon is a strong indicator that it had been dead. Did it have needles? Were they brown?

 

[Jdog]

It had some needles on it and yea they were brown the top was way over a big hill I just had the middle half of it