# Dad always said, "Never burn pine in the woodstove!"



## Old puffer (Apr 21, 2016)

Now, after reading through posts, how true is this?  I have a non cat stove so it is not going to burn as hot.  So what is the truth folks?


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## English BoB (Apr 21, 2016)

Cat or not - dry pine burns fast and hot.

bob


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## NordicSplitter (Apr 21, 2016)

Pine...properly seasoned is the best kept wood stove secret in the world. I get at least one log load of nothing but Pine every year. 10 face cords for $150! Cut , Split, Stack and see you in 2 years minimum. Norway Spruce actual comes in harder than Silver Maple and Cherry Love it in the Fall and early Spring. Amazing kindling as well. Great to to take the chill out, stretch fires in the afternoon so you save your hardwoods. Moved some Pine around last week...came in at 8% on my moisture meter. All around...Fantastic wood for any wood stove.


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## AmbDrvr253 (Apr 21, 2016)

+1 on the cat or non cat. It WILL burn fast and HOT. As long as it has 6 mos. minimum to season you should be good. I would not load the stove with pine for an overnight burn tho.......LOL.....U will overfire it with no doubts.


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## heavy hammer (Apr 21, 2016)

Agree with the above, great wood as long as dry it burns hot and fast.  Great to get things going again.


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## Ctwoodtick (Apr 21, 2016)

Love the fact that this myth persists. A good reminder that conventional wisdom should be questioned on a regular basis. Pine- a true underdog story.


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## Prof (Apr 21, 2016)

My grandfather told me the same thing. Glad the myth persists--the local tree guy gives me all the pine I want. He insists that I'm crazy for burning it! I've given up on convincing people that it is safe--heck I can't even get family and friends to burn seasoned wood. The people on this forum keep me sane--or at least share in my insanity!


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## billb3 (Apr 21, 2016)

Burning pine (uncarefully)  in a stove that has a chimney all plugged up with creosote might not b such a hot idea.

I'm burning more and more if it whenever I have time to keep reloading the stove. Great in the morning to bring a cool stove back up to temp quick.
Well seasoned it lights easy for  just take the chill off short burns.


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## macattack_ga (Apr 21, 2016)

Don't burn it! It'll leave more for me.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


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## Sprinter (Apr 21, 2016)

Our favorite answer to this question is "Pine is Fine"  In some parts, it's all you have.  And it's "fine".


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## CenterTree (Apr 21, 2016)

Ctwoodtick said:


> *Love the fact that this myth persists*. A good reminder that conventional wisdom should be questioned on a regular basis. Pine- a true underdog story.


Yeah I have gotten several loads of PINE free from people who still hold to this MYTH.   
Good for us in the "know".


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## webby3650 (Apr 21, 2016)

I had a guy delivering pine mixed with tulip for $75 a cord! He said no one would buy it because it had pine mixed in with it. I said bring it on!!


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## bholler (Apr 21, 2016)

I wont go to get any pine and certainly would not pay for it but if i have to cut it for some reason it goes in my stove.  It just does not give me long enough heat to make it worth it to me.


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## webby3650 (Apr 21, 2016)

bholler said:


> I wont go to get any pine and certainly would not pay for it but if i have to cut it for some reason it goes in my stove.  It just does not give me long enough heat to make it worth it to me.


I've had 30 hour burns in my Blaze King lots of times with pine, no problem...


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## bholler (Apr 21, 2016)

webby3650 said:


> I've had 30 hour burns in my Blaze King lots of times with pine, no problem...


yeah at what btu output?  Pine has much less btus that the hardwoods i use no matter what stove you burn it in. Cats dont change that


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## webby3650 (Apr 21, 2016)

bholler said:


> yeah at what btu output?  Pine has much less btus that the hardwoods i use no matter what stove you burn it in. Cats dont change that


Who's knows!? What does it matter? If I can heat my house entirely with the stove using pine. With the BK I can control the heat output and have no fear of an overfire like the above posters have mentioned. I honestly don't see much of a difference with hardwood or soft, burning smoke is a wonderful thing!


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## Sprinter (Apr 21, 2016)

Sure, it would't be your first choice if you have a choice.  It just depends on what your options are.  bholler is right that it is considered a low grade species, but it burns, and at least is good for shoulder seasons if nothing else, and it's not dangerous or anything (assuming it's dry of of course).


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## webby3650 (Apr 22, 2016)

Sprinter said:


> Sure, it would't be your first choice if you have a choice.  It just depends on what your options are.  bholler is right that it is considered a low grade species, but it burns, and at least is good for shoulder seasons if nothing else, and it's not dangerous or anything (assuming it's dry of of course).


Of course I know it's not the best, but for a months worth of heat for $75? Heck ya!


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## bholler (Apr 22, 2016)

Sprinter said:


> it burns, and at least is good for shoulder seasons if nothing else, and it's not dangerous or anything (assuming it's dry of of course).


Agreed and yes i will burn it but we are surrounded by hardwood forest so i don't bother with it usually


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## BrotherBart (Apr 22, 2016)

Pine is evil. It will burn down your house and make you sterile. 

Send all pine freight prepaid c/o brotherbart to the Fedex freight terminal at Manassas, Virginia where it will be properly and safely disposed of using approved methods.


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## Seanm (Apr 22, 2016)

We also cant forget that pine has different btus depending on species. Eastern white pine has 13.2 mbtus and out west many of us burn lodgepole pine that is 15.3 mbtus. Either way it has its place. Its a great wood if youve missed your target loading time and need some hot fast heat to take you to your next scheduled burn or if youre around to reload. I burn lots of pine during the day along with doug fir and use larch for overnights. All wood has its place! In fact I was out today getting a load of lodgepole pine.


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## webby3650 (Apr 22, 2016)

Seanm said:


> We also cant forget that pine has different btus depending on species. Eastern white pine has 13.2 mbtus and out west many of us burn lodgepole pine that is 15.3 mbtus. Either way it has its place. Its a great wood if youve missed your target loading time and need some hot fast heat to take you to your next scheduled burn or if youre around to reload. I burn lots of pine during the day along with doug fir and use larch for overnights. All wood has its place! In fact I was out today getting a load of lodgepole pine.


Lodge pole pine? I've got some of that! Guess I'll be good if I get in a pinch..


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## Seanm (Apr 22, 2016)

webby3650 said:


> Lodge pole pine? I've got some of that! Guess I'll be good if I get in a pinch..


lol


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## webby3650 (Apr 22, 2016)

Seanm said:


> lol


It would be one expensive fire though here in the Midwest!


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## Sprinter (Apr 22, 2016)

BrotherBart said:


> Pine is evil. It will burn down your house and make you sterile.


Well, that certainly would explain a few things in my extended family...


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## BrotherBart (Apr 22, 2016)

Sprinter said:


> Well, that certainly would explain a few things in my extended family...


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## prairielife (Apr 22, 2016)

Dad had a cabin in central Colorado for over a decade. Never burnt anything but pine and aspen. But ALWAYS well seasoned and nice and dry. 

Why? The place was surrounded by a national forest where they basically begged you to come cut down and remove whatever you wanted in certain overgrown areas. Free. Or for a tiny permit fee back then. 

Can't even begin to count how many chords of wood we went through burning that stuff, but it worked great. There are photos of many summers where when the place was buttoned up for winter and ready to go through the cold season that both sides of the basement walk out style two car garage were full of stacks to the ceiling, drying out in the high mountain air and out of the elements. (Typically in winter we couldn't get vehicles around back anyway if there was any real snowpack, so the garage made for a great wood storage area.) 

Mountains of the stuff burned. We never got cold in the cabin, so it must have worked.


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## BKVP (Apr 22, 2016)

bholler said:


> yeah at what btu output?  Pine has much less btus that the hardwoods i use no matter what stove you burn it in. Cats dont change that


Pine has fewer Btu's?  Btu's per pound are static.  Due to specific gravity you can fit more pounds of certain woods than others within the same space.

Good example, 100 lbs of 20% oak in a 4.27 cu/ft firebox, but only 52lbs of cottonwood at 20% in the same firebox.  This is because the variation in specific gravity.  That load of oak only has more Btu's because it has more lbs.


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## bholler (Apr 22, 2016)

BKVP said:


> Pine has fewer Btu's? Btu's per pound are static. Due to specific gravity you can fit more pounds of certain woods than others within the same space.


Yes I am aware of the fact that pine does not have fewer btus per pound And you will notice i never said anything about weight I was talking about a load of wood in a stove which means volume not weight.


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## jharkin (Apr 22, 2016)

The pine myth is a great source of free firewood for those of us who know better.


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## firefighterjake (Apr 22, 2016)

Old puffer said:


> Now, after reading through posts, how true is this?  I have a non cat stove so it is not going to burn as hot.  So what is the truth folks?



Well if you read it on the internet it must be true, right?  . . . Only in this case, it really is true . . . pine is fine.

Fine to burn whether in a cat or non-cat stove -- providing it is seasoned. In fact, this time of year I tend to burn pine or mix it a bit when I want a quick, hot fire to heat up the stove and then let the warm stove radiate off the heat for awhile until the outside air temp picks up vs. going with a good, coaling wood that will heat up the stove and then keep the stove warm much longer so that when the outside air temp increases it is uncomfortably warm inside. I tend to use pine for this reason in the early Fall and late Spring . . . and I generally split some up into kindling. 

Incidentally, the fact that you have a non cat stove should mean that you will be burning hot . . . in fact, stoves that use secondary combustion to achieve cleaner burns are designed to burn hot (although by "hot" I mean in the Goldilocks Zone -- not too hot and not too cool.


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## Bad LP (Apr 22, 2016)

Great wood to burn in the shoulder seasons too. Takes the coolness out of the morning temps until the sun comes up a little more and adds solar gain to the house.


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## PA. Woodsman (Apr 22, 2016)

Pine just sits in the local compost sites around here, I guess since we have so much hardwood to chose from. Only time I see anyone take it is for an outdoor campfire, but like some of you have said Pine is basically all some areas have to burn. And yes, I do hear the "Pine will cause creosote" talk quite often here, and always say "any wet wood will cause creosote, you can burn Pine but it has to be dry just like any other woods", and usually don't get any answers back!


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## heavy hammer (Apr 22, 2016)

In certain parts of the country there is no other choice other than pine.  Been this way for centuries.  In our area there is wood that gives off much more heat, but to me heat is heat.  Wet hardwood is just as bad for creosote buildup.  If it is dry it burns.  If you pay attention to your chimney stove etc.  the buildup of creosote should not be a problem.  Dry wood is dry wood is it not?


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## kennyp2339 (Apr 22, 2016)

Heavy Hammer - I think this is were pine gets confused or its bad wrap of chimney fires, people burn wet hard wood all season, run out of there hardwood, go into the woods and grad a dead pine, the pine being much dryer gets split and put into the stove, it starts burning and takes off lighting the creosote up in the chimney that was created from burning non season hard woods


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## billb3 (Apr 22, 2016)

webby3650 said:


> I've had 30 hour burns in my Blaze King lots of times with pine, no problem...


I don't know how many times burning pine I've wished  I had a thermostat control instead of me to try to conrtol the burn rate.

I'm starting to lose pines to some kind of beetle so I'm either going to have to get the ones near the house and yard down on the ground to rot, top them or burn them.


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## PA. Woodsman (Apr 23, 2016)

kennyp2339 said:


> Heavy Hammer - I think this is were pine gets confused or its bad wrap of chimney fires, people burn wet hard wood all season, run out of there hardwood, go into the woods and grad a dead pine, the pine being much dryer gets split and put into the stove, it starts burning and takes off lighting the creosote up in the chimney that was created from burning non season hard woods




You know, I think you just might be on to something here!


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## mass_burner (Apr 23, 2016)

webby3650 said:


> Who's knows!? What does it matter? If I can heat my house entirely with the stove using pine. With the BK I can control the heat output and have no fear of an overfire like the above posters have mentioned. I honestly don't see much of a difference with hardwood or soft, burning smoke is a wonderful thing!


Me too, I've used nothing but Norway spruce for days in mid winter in my Morso. Indoor temp 70, warm and comfy.


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## HisTreeNut (Apr 23, 2016)

No, guys...you cannot and do not want to burn pine! ! !  It is very bad and terrible things will happen to you! ! !
I burned some pine in the Fall and all of my neighbors became zombies, these 4 guys on horses rode through town yelling about some apocalypse thing, planes fell from the sky, cars crashed everywhere, the ground shook constantly, an energy vortex of some kind started absorbing everything in the sky, and my family has disappeared.  We are still recovering! ! !  For the love of God and your safety, never burn pine! ! ! 
The best thing to do is send it to me in North Carolina and I will properly dispose of it and save you from the pain & heartache I have experienced! ! ! 
Please, DO NOT BURN PINE! ! !


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## Seasoned Oak (Apr 23, 2016)

I burn mostly pine, some burners burn ONLY pine. For 8 Yrs  now.
Never a chimney fire. Zero creosote problems. Even when i burn it in my NON EPA Homemade stoves.
Its always very dry though ,i never burn green wood of any kind. I save my seasoned oak for special occasions.


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## CentralVAWoodHeat (Apr 23, 2016)

I have several cords of pine at any given time, split and stacked.  It is typically what falls and blocks our road after most storms.  It would be a shame not to burn it.


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## volunbeer (Apr 26, 2016)

We have not yet installed our stove and I have lots more fir trees to take down, but I can't resist the huge ponderosa pine rounds that show up for free on Craigslist.  If they are close I will take an hour to go pick them up.   Planning on mixing in a bit with the doug fir until I learn the stove - that's what we have around here.   Some of these things have so many knots they may burn far longer than expected.   

I am down south now for work.  Why did God put so many BTU's in a place that doesn't need it?


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## Seanm (Apr 26, 2016)

volunbeer said:


> that's what we have around here


I would do the same thing with the ponderosa. Im burning a bit of doug fir right now. Any larch in your part of eastern Washington? I think we have a few members here from there that have access to some of it. If you can find any its about the best btu coniferous you will find. If not the fir is a great burning wood as well. What kind of stove are you installing?


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## volunbeer (Apr 26, 2016)

I don't have a lot of larch (tamarack) on my property, but there is a fair bit around us.   I have access to some from a friends property (borders paper company land) but access is more difficult than my doug fir.    

I am leaning a little towards the BK King although I am researching one indoor furnace.


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## Seasoned Oak (Apr 26, 2016)

I think pine got a bad rap before it was widely known about drying and seasoning wood properly. I never heard of having to season wood until after i was burning for a year already in 2008. And i found out about it on this website.


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## Lumber-Jack (Apr 26, 2016)

Old puffer said:


> *Dad always said, "Never burn pine in the woodstove!"*
> Now, after reading through posts, how true is this?  I have a non cat stove so it is not going to burn as hot.  *So what is the truth folks?*



Your dad likely never lived or burned wood out West.

The truth is, that is an old myth spread only by Easterners who generally don't know what properly seasoned firewood is.



kennyp2339 said:


> Heavy Hammer - I think this is were _*pine gets confused or its bad wrap of chimney fires, people burn wet hard wood all season*_, run out of there hardwood, go into the woods and grab a dead pine, the pine being much dryer gets split and put into the stove, it starts burning and takes off lighting the creosote up in the chimney that was created from burning non season hard woods


Exactly!


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## Fred Wright (Apr 26, 2016)

Pine has a high resin content. Burning it green or semi-dried will contribute to creosote buildup. That, I believe is the source of enduring negative rumors about pine.

Similar warnings persist about sweetgum which also has a high resin content. We've burned gum for years; brush out the flue once per year in the spring. All I've ever found in the flue is brown dust.

Rumors like these, more anecdote than fact tend to originate from sources who don't know how to properly cure firewood. As a result there's a chimney fire and someone says well, no wonder, its all that pine you been burning.

And so the rumors continue to pass as fact.


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## Lumber-Jack (Apr 26, 2016)

Fred Wright said:


> *Pine has a high resin content*. Burning it green or semi-dried *will contribute to creosote buildup*.


No doubt that is a key part of the pine rumors, but not necessarily the source of the creosote build up.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe burning any green wood will contribute to creosote build up.


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## Seasoned Oak (Apr 26, 2016)

Old puffer said:


> I have a non cat stove so it is not going to burn as hot.


I burn pine all the time in a non cat stove. Burns just fine. But dont dial down the air and let it smolder.Better to let it burn hot and go out overnight than it is to let it smolder in a non cat stove or non EPA stove. I always burn very dry pine though. Never burn green wood of any kind !


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## Jay106n (Apr 27, 2016)

I have pine in my stove right now, and a clean chimney after a full winter of burning. I'm still standing and have not mutated...yet.


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## Handsonautotech (Sep 7, 2016)

You know why God made Pine easier to split and lighter to carry? Because you have to split and carry more of it to make it through the winter, and because he wanted Colorado to be a great place to retire, so it had to be easier to gather the wood in your old age.


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## Dobish (Sep 7, 2016)

the thing i don't like about pine is the branches are all pokey, especially when the guy cutting them leaves them at around 6" sticking out.... they are good to put down on the bottom of the pile to stop everything else from rolling off!

I have a mix of pine, and last year when i was scrounging it was really nice to be able to find some pine that was nice and dry to be able to burn. in fact, it was probably the driest thing that went in the stove last year!


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## Jeffm1 (Sep 8, 2016)

BrotherBart said:


> Pine is evil. It will burn down your house and make you sterile.....



Don't forget, it causes baldness too. ​


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## Hasufel (Sep 8, 2016)

Jeffm1 said:


> Don't forget, it causes baldness too. ​


Blindness too. And it will make you grow hair on your palms.


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## Handsonautotech (Sep 8, 2016)

Jeffm1 said:


> Don't forget, it causes baldness too. ​



Here I thought I was going grey due to old age and stress.


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## firefighterjake (Sep 9, 2016)

Hasufel said:


> Blindness too. And it will make you grow hair on your palms.



Oh . . . that's good to know. I thought this was happening for some other reason.


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## toddnic (Sep 9, 2016)

I burn pine and hemlock in the shoulder season. Just make sure that the moisture content is low. Great for a quick hot fire....


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## Dobish (Sep 9, 2016)

i heard that a good way to clean pine sap off your hands, face, etc is to rub dirt on it.


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## blades (Sep 9, 2016)

Well I don't know about the dirt cleaning the pitch off, but it does a wonderful job of allowing you to not stick to everything you touch Although if you have a significant other they do tend to get a bit testy about the various strange prints that develop in traffic areas.


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## Dobish (Sep 9, 2016)

blades said:


> Well I don't know about the dirt cleaning the pitch off, but it does a wonderful job of allowing you to not stick to everything you touch Although if you have a significant other they do tend to get a bit testy about the various strange prints that develop in traffic areas.



i think someone should try it... pics or it didn't happen right?


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## iamlucky13 (Sep 9, 2016)

Dobish said:


> i heard that a good way to clean pine sap off your hands, face, etc is to rub dirt on it.



It definitely does help. It coats the sap so it isn't sticky, and if you're aggressive scrubbing the dirt around, it will ball up the sap as it rubs off.

My first preference is an abrasive hand cleaner like Gojo or Boraxo, but I seem to have a slight allergy or other reaction to the latter.


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## blades (Sep 9, 2016)

Have friend that gets a very mild reaction the Orange  Citrus based Gojo w/pumice,  could just be the pumice abrasion that's the cause though.


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## firefighterjake (Sep 11, 2016)

Mayonaise . . . or any product using a vegetable based oil (canola, corn, olive, etc.) also will work quite well. I assume Miracle Whip would work as well . . . but I hate Miracle Whip.


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## Mugwamp (Apr 6, 2018)

webby3650 said:


> Who's knows!? What does it matter? If I can heat my house entirely with the stove using pine. With the BK I can control the heat output and have no fear of an overfire like the above posters have mentioned. I honestly don't see much of a difference with hardwood or soft, burning smoke is a wonderful thing!


Same here in the North of Ontario... burning jackpine smoke in my Blaze King almost equal to birch or maple ... only leaves ugly coals but lasts all night.


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## Ctwoodtick (Apr 6, 2018)

A good way to take pine sap off skin is running a bit of olive oil on it. Then soap and water. Presto.


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## Zack R (Apr 6, 2018)

100% pine this year (about 4.5 cords worth). Stayed warm all winter. Most recent moisture readings in my pile are between 11-16%.


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## Jay106n (Apr 10, 2018)

While I was stacking my red oak today, I noticed a pine was blown over in the woods behind me. I think I’ll head over and clean it up today. It’ll be ready by fall if we get ever get some warm days.


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## LocustPocust (Apr 10, 2018)

I've burnt quite a bit of Pine this winter.. a guy I know is renovating an old factory building and tore out a bunch of walls. They were built with two 2X4s nailed together. I cut them up into 15 inch or so lengths and originally I intended on keeping them for kindling but I got so many I figured i'd burn them as regular wood. I burned them straight or mixed them with hardwoods. A few in at a time.. they only burned for 10 minutes literally but burned hotter than hell. 

I burn Pine, Boxelder, and sometimes even Cottonwood when I get it but I don't go out of my way to get it. There's just so much good hardwood laying around free for the picking. No hurry picking any of it up either.

I think the old "pine will give you a chimney fire" myth comes from people who have burnt wet wood and never clean their chimneys loading their stoves up with pine for whatever reason and getting a roaring fire going sparking off a chimney fire. Pine will create a very hot fire very quickly and some pine will spit a ton of sparks, a perfect way to ignite a dirty chimney. A clean chimney won't catch fire I don't care what you're burning.


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## Cast Iron (Apr 10, 2018)

Would you please stop using "pine" for all softwoods ? The bias is unacceptable for the other species used : spruces, hemlock, tamarack, cedars.
And "Miracle Whip" ? This is getting kinky. From a firefighter !


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## Sprinter (Apr 10, 2018)

Jay106n said:


> While I was stacking my red oak today, I noticed a pine was blown over in the woods behind me. I think I’ll head over and clean it up today. It’ll be ready by fall if we get ever get some warm days.


Yeah, I just did that yesterday.  Bucked up a fresh wind-fallen hemlock, also a conifer softwood.  Not a lot of heat value, but it splits nicely and burns fine.  I'll burn anything that burns when it's that handy.  I need to fill up the empty space in my wood shelter from this season, so I'm out hunting.


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## billb3 (Apr 10, 2018)

Cast Iron said:


> Would you please stop using "pine" for all softwoods ? The bias is unacceptable for the other species used : spruces, hemlock, tamarack, cedars.
> And "Miracle Whip" ? This is getting kinky. From a firefighter !



Well it would seem Miracle Whip is good for something.


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## Sprinter (Apr 10, 2018)

billb3 said:


> Well it would seem Miracle Whip is good for something.


Maybe I missed something there but I see absolutely no socially redeeming value to Miracle Whip at all (IMO of course).


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## Cast Iron (Apr 10, 2018)

Anyone use Miracle Whip for a firestarter ?


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## HisTreeNut (Apr 10, 2018)

Never heard of that one before...

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk


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## firefighterjake (Apr 10, 2018)

No Miracle Whip for me . . . good, ol' fashioned mayonaise.


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## Sprinter (Apr 10, 2018)

Cast Iron said:


> Anyone use Miracle Whip for a firestarter ?


Try it.  It is, after all, a miracle.  Just keep the Supercedars handy in case.


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