Your Burning Pine?

[gzecc]

At my contracting job today, I walked into the house and a nice fire was going in an insert. Yesterday I noticed an obvious pile of mixed ash and oak piled near the driveway. My customer and I start talking about heating with wood. I tell him I'm burning pine right now from Sanday. He says, Pine! You shouldn't be burning pine.
Remember this is coming from a guy that is burning from a pile just dropped off in in driveway a couple of weeks ago.
I told him the pine has been seasoning for 18mos. Should be good by now.

 

[Ashful]

He and his buddies will be laughing at you all weekend, as they're burning the "seasoned oak" they just had split and delivered last week.

 

[dougand3]

It's actually good that most people buy into the old wife's tale about pine...leaves most of the pine for us. I just picked up a pickup bed full of pine rounds right in my hood.

 

[TommyTally]

I've all but given up trying to convince people that it's not the pine itself that produces the creosote, but the condition of the wood irrespective of species.

 

[toddnic]

Got some hemlock burning right now. If the pine is seasoned, I've got no problem burning it.

 

[cityboy172]

You're going to burn your place down.

 

[smokedragon]

It's actually good that most people buy into the old wife's tale about pine..

Not always true. So many around me think it will clog your chimney that I have too much of it. I had to start turning down pine because I was running out of room for hard woods. But it is a good thing, you don't have to fight for pine. The last three loads I got were either already cut and they helped me load it, or I cut and they loaded it for me. People around here are desperate to get rid of it, and NOBODY will take it.

To the OP, don't listen to them. If pine is well seasoned it makes great firewood, it burns hot, it makes REALLY good kindling, and it dries quicker than most other firewoods.

 

[f3cbboy]

i love burning pine. burn it untill usually about mid to the end of oct when you dont need to burn all day. still burning it now and no end in sight. just a few hours a day to take the night chill out. the stuff im burnin now was dead standing and it was dropped in the first week of may. burns real nice, hot and fast

 

[Gboutdoors]

As I have said before DON'T DO IT if you burn pine your wife will leave you ,your dog will move to the neighbors your beer will all go skunkie. But the worst thing is your house will get warm and toasty and friends will stop by and drink all your beer that has not gone bad. :-(

 

[HatCityIAFF]

ive been burning pine since oct 12th..a load in the am to take the chill off will last about 4-5hrs..2 or 3 long splits loaded diag. just to keep the fire going through the day...then a load before bed..smells good outside doing yardwork..split a couple pieces today and MC was 16%.. Best thing about it was a cowoker told me his neighbor was having a wedding in may, and needed it gone..by the time i got there, it was all split and stacked next to the road..about a cord..still have 3/4 left

 

[Rossco]

Pine : love it.

Easy get 12-18hr burns from pine.

 

[Ashful]

It's actually good that most people buy into the old wife's tale about pine...leaves most of the pine for us. I just picked up a pickup bed full of pine rounds right in my hood.

I won't burn pine unless it falls in my yard, and I just need to get rid of it. Local availability varies, but I have more ash, walnut, and oak than I can find time to split... I'm not wasting valuable hours at the splitter on pine or poplar.

 

[TomatoLover]

We're wood burning newbies but still have heard the "don't burn pine" mantra. This spring, we had two 100 ft white pines dropped by a tree guy because they were too close to the house and shading the roof where the solar panels will be installed. The trunk diameters measure about 4 feet, so from my calculations, there are more than 2 cords per tree currently just lying there in our yard. So you're telling me that if we cut, split and stack them this fall/winter, they will be ready to burn for next fall for shoulder season?

Next question, my husband has 3 chain saws, none of which is big enough to tackle these white pines. If I were to get him a chain saw for Christmas that can tackle these big boys (and a couple of oaks with 3 foot diameters, also dropped this spring), what would it be? How big?

 

[Ashful]

Yes, pine is a savior to many new wood burners, in that it seasons more quickly than most hardwood. It burns painfully fast (don't expect to get maximum burn times from your stove on pine), but it does season fast and throw some heat for a few hours.

On chainsaw, there's the way I'd like to do it, and the way I could do it if I had to. It could be done with a 65cc saw and a 20" bar, which is probably the best place to start, as a new burner. If you can only own one saw, and you get into medium-sized stuff like this, 65 cc (eg. Stihl 036 / 362) is often the best compromise. It won't be fast or fun in 36" oak, but it will get the job done. It will go thru your pine like a hot knife thru butter.

You can pick up a nice 65 cc saw for $300 - $500, depending on age and level of quality. If you have more substantial funds, then I have other suggestions, but a Stihl 036 (used) or 362 (new) would be the logical first step for someone new to this wanting to process wood that size.

 

[Poindexter]

What three saws does your husband have already? How many more trees that big do you have on the property?

To your other question, yes. Get it split and stacked off the ground over the winter, I use pallets on cinder blocks myself. Personally i would just cover it on top rather than ask my neighbors if covering it was necessary. You already know what they think about burning pine. With good airflow and good sunshine over one summer and split reasonably small (4-6 inches maximum side on any split) you should be golden one year from now. With white pine you might could go bigger, 4-6" max single dimension works good for me with my local white and black spruces.

I love having an armload of spruce that I know is going to read 8-11% on the moisture meter and getting a whiff of turpentiney scent. These sticks are going to burn really really nice.

I do, fwiw, leave my stacks uncovered during the winter months so the cover doesn't get weather beaten. I start sweeping the snow off my stacks in late Feb or so and usually have the cover on top in mid Apr as the spring melt gets into full swing.

 

[bassJAM]

I picked up a truck and trailer load of standing dead pine this spring from my old boss when I thought I might be needing wood for 3 years out. The wood gods have provided me with plenty of ash, soft maple and oak since, but my dad kind of laughed at me and told me to be careful burning that pine. The sad part is, he's cutting ash to burn this winter, and there's still 3 cords of this pine that's been cut and stacked for 2 years only 1 mile from his house that he won't touch.

 

[Rossco]

Buy ya husband a 395 with 36" bar.

That 2yr CSS pine will lite up with a magnifying glass

Get it. Even for starting fires with. IDE take it.

 

[wildwildwest]

I picked up a truck and trailer load of standing dead pine this spring from my old boss when I thought I might be needing wood for 3 years out. The wood gods have provided me with plenty of ash, soft maple and oak since, but my dad kind of laughed at me and told me to be careful burning that pine. The sad part is, he's cutting ash to burn this winter, and there's still 3 cords of this pine that's been cut and stacked for 2 years only 1 mile from his house that he won't touch.

Heated our home of 20 years with pine.

 

[TomatoLover]

Yes, pine is a savior to many new wood burners, in that it seasons more quickly than most hardwood. It burns painfully fast (don't expect to get maximum burn times from your stove on pine), but it does season fast and throw some heat for a few hours.

On chainsaw, there's the way I'd like to do it, and the way I could do it if I had to. It could be done with a 65cc saw and a 20" bar, which is probably the best place to start, as a new burner. If you can only own one saw, and you get into medium-sized stuff like this, 65 cc (eg. Stihl 036 / 362) is often the best compromise. It won't be fast or fun in 36" oak, but it will get the job done. It will go thru your pine like a hot knife thru butter.

You can pick up a nice 65 cc saw for $300 - $500, depending on age and level of quality. If you have more substantial funds, then I have other suggestions, but a Stihl 036 (used) or 362 (new) would be the logical first step for someone new to this wanting to process wood that size.

What three saws does your husband have already? How many more trees that big do you have on the property?

To your other question, yes. Get it split and stacked off the ground over the winter, I use pallets on cinder blocks myself. Personally i would just cover it on top rather than ask my neighbors if covering it was necessary. You already know what they think about burning pine. With good airflow and good sunshine over one summer and split reasonably small (4-6 inches maximum side on any split) you should be golden one year from now. With white pine you might could go bigger, 4-6" max single dimension works good for me with my local white and black spruces.

I love having an armload of spruce that I know is going to read 8-11% on the moisture meter and getting a whiff of turpentiney scent. These sticks are going to burn really really nice.

I do, fwiw, leave my stacks uncovered during the winter months so the cover doesn't get weather beaten. I start sweeping the snow off my stacks in late Feb or so and usually have the cover on top in mid Apr as the spring melt gets into full swing.

He has 2 Poulon Pro 50 cc saws (one was left behind by the previous house owner). I have no idea what the bar size is. The third saw is smaller, and I don't think he is using it at this property. This year, we need to take down 4 big oaks, along with about 10 24" diameter maples, 25 12" birch, and whatever else is in our way (mainly hemlock) as we clear garden and chicken space. This house was built in the middle of a forest and we've got a lot of acreage, so once we've cleared what we need for solar, garden and chickens, we can move into our forest and hopefully take whatever is easiest and meets our heating needs. However, if we can burn pine, that changes things a bit. The electric company came through this fall on our narrow and steep dirt road to trim or take down trees that interfered with the lines. They took away the oaks and maples, but left behind all of the pine, just rolling it back into the woods to rot. We've got several hundred feet frontage on the road and there are probably 10 100' white pines (cut into sections) rolled back into the forest just on our property alone. I'll have to take a walk up to the road tomorrow and investigate further. But if we could avoid burning the oak and maple in the shoulder season, that would be nice. We're finding that the oak and maple roast us out of the house.

 

[Seanm]

Easy get 12-18hr burns from pine.

You suck!

 

[Paulywalnut]

Twenty years ago, before I knew any better I burned "just delivered seasoned wood" in my big Fisher stove. My kids loved to see the foam bubbling out of the ends of the "seasoned" wood. Nope I don't do that anymore.

 

[kennyp2339]

I will be diving into some downed pine / hemlock tree's this winter, I probably can get an infinite amount of it but I just want two cords to experiment with for now.

 

[Beer Belly]

When seasoning Pine, is it the same as seasoning any other wood ???....it's still all about Moisture Content ??, or is there other things to consider ???....I could probably find truck loads of Pine here, but only search out hardwoods and use a 1/4 Cord of 3-4 year old CSS Pine for kindling

 

[DAKSY]

When seasoning Pine, is it the same as seasoning any other wood ???....it's still all about Moisture Content ??, or is there other things to consider ???....I could probably find truck loads of Pine here, but only search out hardwoods and use a 1/4 Cord of 3-4 year old CSS Pine for kindling

CSS softwoods will season faster than hardwoods, but to be sure, use a Moisture Meter. It can be your BEST friend.

 

[blades]

Another thing about pine works real good to get more heat and burn down the big pile of coals from all that hardwood you stuffed in the stove. And yes I am a bit of a snob when comes to acquiring wood and generally I would prefer silver maple, box elder and similar before pine- more of storage issue while drying out than anything else - also labor effort. Over all it burns therefore it releases btus it just takes a lot more than other types. I am several years ahead on the better species so I can spend time/labor on conifers at this point .