Burning White Pine

[ruffdog]

When I was young the Elm trees were being cut down so that was about 3/4 of what we burned. Several years ago a road change took out a few hundred 18" black walnuts so that is what I burned. Now I burn scotch pine, willow, popular, linden, ash, soft maple, hard maple, locust, hickory, oak, walnut, cherry, mulberry, and anything else that gets in my way. I make sure the wood is cured and dry which is the main thing. Sure, some woods give more BTU's, some split better, some make more ashes, and some are abundant near by, the main thing is to do it safely and be happy doing it.

 

[Overtaxed]

For the OP the point is he can use it as firewood VS putting it in the burn pile if he wants, or he can sell it / give it away as firewood to get rid of it, which is the primary goal. I'm amazed at the stuff people will take for free via craigslist to use as firewood, even half rotten stuff, unsplittable stuff or green stuff seems to go quickly around me.

Nothing is unsplittable with a big enough chainsaw. Now, is it worth the effort is an entirely different question.

We always burn pine to start the fire and bring the box up to temp quickly and then typically move to hardwoods to maintain the fire. Pine burns faster and hotter IMHO but yes, that means more loading and more wood going into the stove. Always burned both; but love the smell of pine and the pops if you burn it in the fireplace.

 

[Snobdds]

Nothing is unsplittable with a big enough chainsaw. Now, is it worth the effort is an entirely different question.

We always burn pine to start the fire and bring the box up to temp quickly and then typically move to hardwoods to maintain the fire. Pine burns faster and hotter IMHO but yes, that means more loading and more wood going into the stove. Always burned both; but love the smell of pine and the pops if you burn it in the fireplace.

So let me ask you a question...Where does one draw the line on effort involved, when it takes drving 500 miles to get some hard wood, just to say I burn hard wood? Yea.

Never mind the fact the temperature on the thermostat says 70 either way.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

So let me ask you a question...Where does one draw the line on effort involved,

Depends on the effort. I wouldn't drive 50 miles for wood, much less 500. If I lived in Montana I'd be burning what was close to me. That's a lot of conifers, and not much else.

If I lived in the midwest in a few areas, I'd be burning cottonwood. Its what they have. (Kind of cool to get 8 or 9 cords out of one tree!)


Where I live, I wouldn't go across the street for pine or even sycamore.


It's all about what you've got. Burn it and enjoy!

 

[roadhunter]

LOL. Firewood insecurities.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

For over 15 years I was on a website/forum for wood heat. Hardwood is king. In the East it is easily found. But there are parts of the country where all you get is Pine. Here in VA I don't know anyone who would use more than a couple splits to start a fire with Pine. I have heard all kinds of stories about excessive creosote, etc. The bottom line is that we are taught to avoid pine. You can't even give it away here.U gave stacks of rounds that just let rot because I didn't feel like hauling it to the dump years ago. Until I burn't my pizza oven, I wouldn't even use pine branches to start my wood stove fires. I just didn't use it.

 

[roadhunter]

The USFS is so desperate to get rid of ponderosa pine around here they cut it it and stack it next to the road to make it easy for people to get for firewood.

You can buy a pile of whole pine trees the size of a house cut and piled neatly for about $20.

 

[s219]

I also grew up on hardwood in the northeast and was taught to avoid pine. To this day my dad thinks it's unsafe to burn, as do most of my friends and neighbors here in VA. But time out west has proven otherwise to me. The only issue I see with burning my abundant Loblolly pine is that it's so darn wet it takes forever to dry. I suspect that has been part of the reason people think it's bad -- they season/judge it on the same timescale as other wood, but it really needs an extra year to dry in my experience. If you try to burn it too soon, of course it will suck.

 

[oosik]

Hmmm .... I wonder why there is such a dislike/distrust of pine. Around here there is nothing else to burn in a wood stove. As previously posted, I burned it for many, many years with no problems. Never had a chimney fire, it always burns hot & clean and never fouled the chimney with creosote. The closest thing to hardwood I ever tried was cord or so of black locust and some apple from my orchard. I certainly did not see any advantage to those two types and they made a LOT more ash.

I cut all my pine - 5 or 6 cords - in the spring and it would seasoned and ready to burn in the fall of the following year.

 

[300UGUY]

LOL. Firewood insecurities.

Hard wood envy....?

I burn mostly cherry or oak, but I will split and burn pine, I don't want to waste the resource.