What about Pine?

[NordicSplitter]

Alot of the guys at work tell NOT to burn pine. To much sap and just messy. Is there a trick to using pine? I think of all the parts of the country where pine is the main source of wood and wonder what their secret is. Do I let it season a little bit longer than normal?

 

[iskiatomic]

Pine seasons fairly quick. The longer you can let it sit, the better. Makes for a hot fire, I'll mix it in here and there, never a full firebox. Get it, burn it!



KC

 

[fsr4538]

Pine seasons fairly quick. The longer you can let it sit, the better. Makes for a hot fire, I'll mix it in here and there, never a full firebox. Get it, burn it!



KC

Agreed - It is the main source of fuel in the west. Just let it season and use it. I try to use it during shoulder season and allow my hardwood to keep for deeper winter.

Regards,

Forrest

 

[CTYank]

Alot of the guys at work tell NOT to burn pine. To much sap and just messy. Is there a trick to using pine? I think of all the parts of the country where pine is the main source of wood and wonder what their secret is. Do I let it season a little bit longer than normal?

Lots of people are wrong lots of the time.

Like most anything, your choice would depend on many factors.
Burning pine in "shoulder" season can let you keep the really good stuff for the depths of winter- a big plus.
It's easy work for a chainsaw, and splits easily between knots. Pitch-soaked knots really get a fire going.
If it's available, and doesn't get in the way of the good stuff, go for it.

Downsides (IMHO):
Pitch pockets can drool goo for some time until they harden.
Knots can hide inside and make splitting really difficult; at least their structure is simple- radially outward. Partial noodling is a good option.

Some species of pine take longer than others to properly air-dry; DAGS "air-dry time pine" and refine your search on the 4.5 M hits on that as you require.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

I live in the West and pretty much all I burn is pine. The “trick†I use is to never cut a live tree. The pine trees I cut, and get a permits to cut, are all standing dead; In fact I don’t recall ever cutting a living pine tree in my entire life. I don’t think I would enjoy dealing with wood that was all sticky and sappy. The type of pine I generally use is lodgepole pine, which is much denser that Eastern varieties of pine, and denser that the other varieties of pine we have out west here too. For comparison it burns very similar to walnut. To tell you the truth I don't know if live lodgepole trees would be sticky if cut live, since I've never cut one before.

You can burn any type of wood, but some types just may not be worth the hassle if they don’t burn well or are hard to cut and process, only you can decide that for yourself. There are several types of wood I have readily availible that I have decided not to bother with for one reason or another, like cottonwood, Siberian elm, and apple wood.
I think it would be good to try every type of wood you can get your hands on and decide later if it was worth it to you or not.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Pine causes chimney fires

 

[Intheswamp]

Pine causes chimney fires

Chimney fires cause pine...

 

[Woody Stover]

I've got access to some Pine (and one in the yard that needs to come down at some point.) I was thinking I would try to split it up very small (with a splitter) as starter wood. Hopefully, it will light with just newspaper under it. Maybe it will get my stone stove up to light-off temp more quickly, too...

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Pine causes chimney fires

Chimney fires cause pine...

Pine chimneys cause fires.

 

[Sisu]

Pine causes chimney fires

Chimney fires cause pine...

Pine chimneys cause fires.

Chimneys cause pine fires

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Cause Pines fire chimneys

 

[raybonz]

LMFAO for real
Ray

 

[Intheswamp]

Fire Pines chimney cause

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Fire Pines cause chimneys

Fixed

 

[weatherguy]

Pine causes chimney fires

Chimney fires cause pine...

Pine chimneys cause fires.

Chimneys cause pine fires

Dumb people cause chimney fires

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

I live in the West and burn lots of different types of wood, including pine. I have Black Oak for long, overnight burns, but I use Pine and Red Cedar for quicker, hotter burns and it works great. I have Ponderosa Pine and White Pine. I also burn Madrone, which is a harder wood.

 

[joefrompa]

I have a ton of freshly cut pine I'm currently chopping and seasoning. It was cut green, so I have sap galore and when my axe sinks into the top of a thick round I get a nice amount of ooze.

From round to split to season, in moderate weather, I'd estimate 2-3 months for most pieces. No more than 4 months to achieve "seasoned" status and maybe 6 months until it's knocking on less than 10% moisture.

I love it and I simply use the knotty, thick hunks for long burns. I can easily get 6-8 hours out of a single piece of really gnarly pine.

 

[raybonz]

I can easily get 6-8 hours out of a single piece of really gnarly pine.

Must be a piece the size of Rhode Island to burn that long or superpine from Zambodia..

:ahhh:

Ray

 

[Beetle-Kill]

I love it and I simply use the knotty, thick hunks for long burns. I can easily get 6-8 hours out of a single piece of really gnarly pine.[/quote]
Congrats on the new BKK! *sly dog you* ;-)

 

[Mt Ski Bum]

I burn plenty of lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, & Engelmann Spruce, & to a lesser extent, Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine, & White-bark pine. It's quick to season (some deadfall/dead standing can even be burned instantly after being cut & split to size!), burns hot, & smells great!

If pine & other conifers weren't safe to burn, all of us that burn wood out here in the Rockies would be screwed, seeing as how the nearest source hardwood (other than cottonwood, which apparently is a hardwood according to my tree-ID book) is probably at least 1,000 miles from here... maybe 500 if there's any hardwood out by the Washington coast...

edit: If you still afraid to burn pine, no worries, just feel free to ship all that dangerous firewood to me, & I'll dispose of it for ya

 

[joefrompa]

I can easily get 6-8 hours out of a single piece of really gnarly pine.

Must be a piece the size of Rhode Island to burn that long or superpine from Zambodia..

:ahhh:

Ray

Hi Ray,

I won't claim it was well seasoned and I think our definitions of burn time might be different. This past winter I had a huge amount of pine given to me by my neighbor. I'd have hunks I'd guess were .75-1 cubic foot by themselves as I could only fit small stuff around them. They'd usually have huge knots inside of them (hence why they weren't split down further).

I'd shove one of those onto a hot coal bed with stove top temps reading 450, give it about 5 minutes of decent air to get fired up, and then bank it down pretty close to choking it (yes, I'd get a smoky glass by morning).

6-8 hours later, my stove top would be 200-250 and I'd still have a sizeable hunk of pine burning inside. It'd be coaling ON the hunk, or lightly flaming. Enough to keep the stove warm and enough for me to do a hot start off of it.

I can achieve that off a medium-sized firebox with pine alone. And this winter, I'll have about 2-3 cords of well seasoned pine to try out as well.

 

[firefighterjake]

Alot of the guys at work tell NOT to burn pine. To much sap and just messy. Is there a trick to using pine? I think of all the parts of the country where pine is the main source of wood and wonder what their secret is. Do I let it season a little bit longer than normal?

For the record I don't go out of my way to burn eastern white pine . . . or many other softwoods when I have easy access to many different hardwoods . . . and working with a fresh cut pine will invariably leave me and my clothes coated in sticky pine pitch from the sap . . . but that said, I have and will continue to burn pine . . . it works well as kindling once seasoned and is great for the early season and late season fires when you only need one quick, hot fire to warm the house up. It burns hot and fast with few coals, but once properly seasoned is perfectly safe to use in a woodstove . . . but yes . . . you may find it to be quite messy due to the sap.

 

[mecreature]

I have 3 pines that are going to have to come down..

I will burn it in the FP.