# Your Burning Pine?



## gzecc (Oct 31, 2014)

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.


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## Ashful (Oct 31, 2014)

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.


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## dougand3 (Oct 31, 2014)

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.


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## TommyTally (Oct 31, 2014)

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.


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## toddnic (Oct 31, 2014)

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


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## cityboy172 (Oct 31, 2014)

You're going to burn your place down.


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## smokedragon (Oct 31, 2014)

dougand3 said:


> 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.


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## f3cbboy (Oct 31, 2014)

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


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## Gboutdoors (Oct 31, 2014)

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. :-(


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## HatCityIAFF (Oct 31, 2014)

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


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## Rossco (Oct 31, 2014)

Pine : love it. 

Easy get 12-18hr burns from pine.


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## Ashful (Oct 31, 2014)

dougand3 said:


> 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.


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## TomatoLover (Oct 31, 2014)

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?


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## Ashful (Nov 1, 2014)

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.


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## Poindexter (Nov 1, 2014)

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.


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## bassJAM (Nov 1, 2014)

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.


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## Rossco (Nov 1, 2014)

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.


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## wildwildwest (Nov 1, 2014)

bassJAM said:


> 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.


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## TomatoLover (Nov 1, 2014)

Joful said:


> 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 said:


> 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.
> 
> ...



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.


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## Seanm (Nov 1, 2014)

Rossco said:


> Easy get 12-18hr burns from pine.


You suck!


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## Paulywalnut (Nov 1, 2014)

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.


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## kennyp2339 (Nov 1, 2014)

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.


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## Beer Belly (Nov 1, 2014)

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


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## DAKSY (Nov 1, 2014)

Beer Belly said:


> 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.


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## blades (Nov 1, 2014)

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 .


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## Ashful (Nov 1, 2014)

I didn't read closely enough before.  If he already has two 50cc saws, don't buy him a 65cc saw.  go 75 - 85cc, as a compliment to that 50.  I love my 85cc Stihl 064, perfect compromise in power / weight, between 440 and 660.

Expect to pay $1200 new or $500 - $700 used, for a modern saw in this class, dep on age, condition, desirability.


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## billb3 (Nov 1, 2014)

Beer Belly said:


> 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


 ...same as seasoning any other wood.
Give it a year after split +/-.
However, I find white pine doesn't weather well. Left out to the elements with no cover it starts getting soft much sooner than oak and maple. Firewood and milled lumber I've had get soft.
When I was burning a lot of it I had a shed. Nice and dry, nice combo.
Burning up twice as fast as hardwood is  a bit generous IMO. A little faster and I was never comfortable loading up the stove much more than half way - mostly due to flue temps. If you  enjoy loading the stove you'll be doing it a lot. 
Pine is twice the work. You have to cut,split,stack and store twice as much volume by weight/BTU.
If you have the time for it, it is a great way to stretch a supply of hardwood  or just for cheap heat, especially considering it doesn't seem to have much value around here. Although I do see someone selling cords of pine this year on CL.


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## mass_burner (Nov 1, 2014)

We have a lot of Norway spruce up here. It dries super fast, catches easy and burns a surprisingly long time. I just won't use my saw on it anymore, at least when green-- the mess!


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## Rossco (Nov 1, 2014)

Seanm said:


> You suck!



Should pop over one day and check out the 'Voodoo magic'


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## NickDL (Nov 1, 2014)

One of my neighbors had a pine tree taken down & refused to give it to me! He let the tree guys take it & dump it, he didn't want us to burn it in our fireplace because it's dangerous.


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## dougand3 (Nov 1, 2014)

NickDL said:


> One of my neighbors had a pine tree taken down & refused to give it to me!


Geeez, that neighbor needs education. Bet it cost him much more to add dumping.


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## smokedragon (Nov 1, 2014)

Joful said:


> 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.


If I lived in a colder climate, and IF I had access to more ash, walnut, and oak then I could store, I wouldn't burn it either.  

Lucky dog


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## D8Chumley (Nov 2, 2014)

I got a heavy half cord maybe 3/4 of white pine from 2 different buddies that we cut up after a storm last year. I s/s ed it in May, just tested a split at 15-16% and its toasty in here right now. Thank you Mr Pine!  _ I will be looking to secure more of this stuff over the next few months. First time burning it thanks to the knowledge here, I'm 1 year sober from the pine is bad punch_


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## CenterTree (Nov 2, 2014)

Oh boy, I am REALLY looking forward to burning a "small amount" of pine and spruce coming up in 2 years.

We are slated to have a "small amount" of trees taken down in the spring...
looks like there is enough to get a few days worth of heat.



The White Pine on the left is already dead. (double trunk)  The Spruce on the far right is about 120' tall! (double trunk too)


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## TMonter (Nov 2, 2014)

gzecc said:


> 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.



I'm burning some pine (about half a cord) I cut last week actually. Moisture meter reads out around 15%-18% on the all splits. Granted it was all buckskin lodgepole pine  but it burns quite nice and is great shoulder season wood. The whole no pine thing comes from the days when people would choke a stove down and it would smoke all day long. Burning like that leaves a lot of opportunity for bad creosote buildup and pine can be a lot pitchier than other woods in this respect.


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## Bigg_Redd (Nov 3, 2014)

*you're

As in, "*You're* burning pine?"


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## Razo (Nov 3, 2014)

mass_burner said:


> We have a lot of Norway spruce up here. It dries super fast, catches easy and burns a surprisingly long time. I just won't use my saw on it anymore, at least when green-- the mess!



I just took down a 30ft norway spruce in my yard this past spring. I'm bruning it now during shoulder season - MM reading 14% on a fresh split. I haven't filled the whole firebox with it, I'm mixing it with cherry and red maple but it burns great.


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## Razo (Nov 3, 2014)

Bigg_Redd said:


> *you're
> As in, "You're burning pine?"



No, he means your burning pine, the pine you keep around for burning, not the pine you keep around for other purposes . 

Now go over their and grab a drink for the guests, oh wait, never mind, there going to get they're own.


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## mellow (Nov 3, 2014)

I have no issue with burning pine, my issue is the size of my backyard,  I can only hold 4 cords, so I pass up pine all the time, if I had more room I would take it, right now I have access to about 30 cords of log length pine, just no where to put it 

But yes I get that same thing, while cutting this weekend I was talking to an older friend about pine, I tell you what people treat pine like Ebola, they want nothing to do with it.


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## Razo (Nov 3, 2014)

mellow said:


> But yes I get that same thing, while cutting this weekend I was talking to an older friend about pine, I tell you what people treat pine like Ebola, they want nothing to do with it.



I still don't even get where all the pine hate comes from? Yes I know about the old wives tales, and how it comes from back in the days when folks would choke down a stove and let it smoulder all day but why pine? If I choked down a stove and let it smoulder all day with oak, or maple, or hickory, or walnut, or cherry wouldn't it be the same result? Creosote. I've also heard that it comes from people used to burning unseasoned hardwoods that smoulder all season long and build up creosote, then get a hold of some pine that is actually seasoned and ignite their chimney since they actually got good wood to get a decent flue temp. That I can see. Then they would say "everything was fine til I burned that dastardly pine! Then my chimney caught on fire! It must be because of all the sap that was in the pine!"


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## mellow (Nov 3, 2014)

Razo said:


> It must be because of all the sap that was in the pine!"



That is it exactly in my findings, everyone is scared of the sap that burns hot when they burn it green like they do other woods. It must be the carrier of that dreaded chimney fire disease.


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## firefighterjake (Nov 3, 2014)

mellow said:


> I have no issue with burning pine, my issue is the size of my backyard,  I can only hold 4 cords, so I pass up pine all the time, if I had more room I would take it, right now I have access to about 30 cords of log length pine, just no where to put it
> 
> But yes I get that same thing, while cutting this weekend I was talking to an older friend about pine,* I tell you what people treat pine like Ebola*, they want nothing to do with it.



I routinely take my white pine out on bike rides.


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## Razo (Nov 3, 2014)

firefighterjake said:


> I routinely take my white pine out on bike rides.



All that pine needs is someone to call a friend.


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## mellow (Nov 3, 2014)

firefighterjake said:


> I routinely take my white pine out on bike rides.



As long as it wears a hazmat suit your fine   Don't want any of that sap getting on yah.


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## firefighterjake (Nov 3, 2014)

No hazmat suit . . . but I do have a police escort.


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## Razo (Nov 3, 2014)




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## lectraplayer (Nov 3, 2014)

I put pine in my Wonderwood, and so far it seems to smoke less than the oak and hickory I burn normally.  Still, I would suggest scrubbing your chimney monthly.


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## blacktail (Nov 4, 2014)

Razo said:


> I still don't even get where all the pine hate comes from? Yes I know about the old wives tales, and how it comes from back in the days when folks would choke down a stove and let it smoulder all day but why pine? If I choked down a stove and let it smoulder all day with oak, or maple, or hickory, or walnut, or cherry wouldn't it be the same result?



I think I read the idea here that people would choke down their stoves with crap wood, build up a bunch of gunk in their chimney, then light off some pine that burns hot and have a chimney fire. Then they blame the pine for their chimney fire. In reality, choking down hardwoods built up the gunk that caused the chimney fire.


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## blacktail (Nov 4, 2014)

If pine and other softwoods caused chimney fires, then there would be a plague of house fires from the Rockies to the Pacific.


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## osagebow (Nov 4, 2014)

Razo said:


> View attachment 143241



Production with intent to distribute?
Must be a Walter White Pine.


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## Cluttermagnet (Nov 7, 2014)

Always happy to accept Pine. Mixes well with hardwood. Has an amazing amount of BTU's in it.
Who would have thought it?

The construction cutoffs I get are pine. Makes dandy kindling, and big chunks of dimensional
lumber are great for getting a fire going again fast.

But I caution you against burning pine. Give it to me instead. I know how to handle it safely.


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## madrone (Nov 8, 2014)

NickDL said:


> One of my neighbors had a pine tree taken down & refused to give it to me! He let the tree guys take it & dump it, he didn't want us to burn it in our fireplace because it's dangerous.


That is one sad, sad story.
I haven't had much pine to burn last couple of years, and I'm missing it.


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## madrone (Nov 8, 2014)

lectraplayer said:


> I put pine in my Wonderwood, and so far it seems to smoke less than the oak and hickory I burn normally.  Still, I would suggest scrubbing your chimney monthly.


No.


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