# Convince me its okay to burn pine



## DaveInPhilly (Sep 28, 2018)

I have burned wood for more than a decade, but this is only my third year with a stove. I mostly burn ash and oak, but last winter we lost a big pine in one of the ice storms. I cut it, split it and stacked it (well away from my main wood stacks,) and it seems pretty dry (I have not put a meter on it yet) but it has these giant pockets of sap that just scare the heck out of me. 

I know a lot of you guys up north, and at high elevations burn pine without hesitation. If you were me, would you burn it? I probably have the better part of a cord stacked.


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## saewoody (Sep 28, 2018)

DaveInPhilly said:


> I have burned wood for more than a decade, but this is only my third year with a stove. I mostly burn ash and oak, but last winter we lost a big pine in one of the ice storms. I cut it, split it and stacked it (well away from my main wood stacks,) and it seems pretty dry (I have not put a meter on it yet) but it has these giant pockets of sap that just scare the heck out of me.
> 
> I know a lot of you guys up north, and at high elevations burn pine without hesitation. If you were me, would you burn it? I probably have the better part of a cord stacked.



Burn it. Sounds like it’s dry. It burns hot and fast. Use a couple pieces in the morning to get the going again. Or just mix in a piece or two in with your more familiar wood. 


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## Dobish (Sep 28, 2018)

let it dry, then burn it. I burn a ton of pine. Most of colorado only burns pine because we don't have access to other stuff.


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## MissMac (Sep 28, 2018)

DaveInPhilly said:


> I have burned wood for more than a decade, but this is only third year with a stove. I mostly burn ash and oak, but last winter we lost a big pine in one of the ice storms. I cut it, split it and stacked it (well away from my main wood stacks,) and it seems pretty dry (I have not put a meter on it yet) but it has these giant pockets of sap that just scare the heck out of me.
> 
> I know a lot of you guys up north, and at high elevations burn pine without hesitation. If you were me, would you burn it? I probably have the better part of a cord stacked.


95% of what i have put through my stove is jack pine.  No issues - it burns nice and hot and is easy to get going.  Also seasons relatively quickly.  Send it up to me if you don’t want it!


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## Ctwoodtick (Sep 28, 2018)

I burn about a cord or so of it annually.  I notice those pockets of pitch as well.  Not to worry, that pitch (aka:sap) does not cause creosote.  Green or wet wood will though.  I’d burn more of it if I had it.


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## ohlongarm (Sep 28, 2018)

DaveInPhilly said:


> I have burned wood for more than a decade, but this is only my third year with a stove. I mostly burn ash and oak, but last winter we lost a big pine in one of the ice storms. I cut it, split it and stacked it (well away from my main wood stacks,) and it seems pretty dry (I have not put a meter on it yet) but it has these giant pockets of sap that just scare the heck out of me.
> 
> I know a lot of you guys up north, and at high elevations burn pine without hesitation. If you were me, would you burn it? I probably have the better part of a cord stacked.



Depends on the stove my guess,non cat stove well seasoned couple of hours at best,cat stove ,particularly BK,full load well seasoned 8 hours easily.


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## bholler (Sep 28, 2018)

It will burn just fine in any stove.  You can get pretty decent burn times from non cats as well as cat stoves it just wont put out as much heat.  I usually get a little bit of it just cleaning up and i typically get 6 hours or so.  Good for shoulder season.


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## Prof (Sep 28, 2018)

I try and usually fail to convince people around me that it is OK to burn pine--that is why my stacks are full of it  Some time, I think back in the 80s the EPA did some tests in open fireplaces to see if pine created the creosote problem that it was infamous for. To the researchers' surprise, the pine was not associated with increased creosote build up. Pine tends to season faster and burn hotter (and of course faster) than hardwoods. For this reason creosote is less likely to form, as slow, smoldering fires (usually caused by wet wood) are the cause. I'm not saying that I go out of my way to get pine, but I don't pass it up if it is easy--heck people on CL often have it already cut up for me! Unfortunately you're too far away for me to come get the pine if my argument doesn't work.Seriously, it is fine to burn. Oh, and the pitch that my grandfather convinced me that would "gum up the chimney," actually acts as an accelerant.


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## Jazzberry (Sep 28, 2018)

I burned almost 100% pine last year. Other than having to stoke the stove a lot more than oak its awesome. Sap burns like gas at least when  its dry.  Hardly anything sticks to the stovepipe and it leaves very little ash. Once you learn to leave a couple inches of ash/coals in the bottom for slower overnight burns you'll like it better.


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## Dataman (Sep 28, 2018)

Jazzberry said:


> I burned almost 100% pine last year. Other than having to stoke the stove a lot more than oak its awesome. Sap burns like gas at least when  its dry.  Hardly anything sticks to the stovepipe and it leaves very little ash. Once you learn to leave a couple inches of ash/coals in the bottom for slower overnight burns you'll like it better.


I just got rid of my Blaze King Woodstove.   Burned 90% pine and some Cedar and Such.   Some of it has bad smell, but the big thing to watch out for is sap.  It can cause mini explosion of SMOKE.   Make sure you gasket is good.

It's good wood.   Load up my stove at 8pm and it would be good until 5am.

Lots of Heat


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## brenndatomu (Sep 28, 2018)

CSS it for a year or two and then burn it...the pieces that have lots of sap pockets should be saved for "fat lighter", that stuff works great!
Mix the pine in with other wood at first until you get used to how your stove runs on it.


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## Ashful (Sep 28, 2018)

Well, since you already wasted the time to split and stack it, rather than drag it out to the woods as you should have done, you might as well burn it.  It’ll be a good lesson in why folks only want to buy hardwood, where it’s available.  Be prepared for shorter burn times.


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## NoGoodAtScreenNames (Sep 29, 2018)

I’ve been burning a decent amount of pine from some trees we had cut down on the yard. Great for kindling and mixing some smaller pieces in with some hardwoods. If I burn just pine, it’s usually a smaller load in the shoulder season. I’ve had no problems controlling the burn rate. Sure the burn times are shorter than hardwood, but you get more heat out of the pine in your stove than it rotting in the woods behind your house. 


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## kennyp2339 (Sep 29, 2018)

Ahh the pine myth, we deal with that a few times a year, so here it goes...… Many people that burn regular hardwoods don't burn correctly, they either have an older stove that they "damp" down to a smoldering mess for longer burn times or they are burning relatively under-seasoned wood. 
As with most myths, many novices or under educated wood burners primarily in the hardwood zones of the country will have a mixture of wood, stuff they harvest in the summer, split in the fall and burn in the winter, they will separate the pine (possibly used as kindling or last resort firewood) The pine ends up sitting on a rack for a full season, then bam.. we have a long bad winter, the normal 4 cords of wood is wiped out by march, but its still cold.. the light bulb goes off on the pine that's been sitting on the back rack for a year, they grab the pine and load it in the stove. Now the wood burner is burning truly seasoned "dry wood" in a stove that has been burning damp hardwioods all winter, the chimney is dirty with crud, the operator doesn't adjust the air because they're not use to  doing that, the pine lights off, burning quick and hot, lighting off the creosote that built up in the chimney. The pine load didn't do anything wrong, the operator of the stove did many things wrong, like burning under seasoned wood (wood above 20% moisture) not keeping a clean chimney, not monitoring or adjusting the air after a few minutes of loading the stove. 
Moral of the pine / soft wood myth... burn only dry wood <20% moisture content, check your chimney after every 2 cords of wood, clean it as necessary, monitor your fire / stove top temps, if you do those things, you can burn all the wood you want. 
This isn't made to scare you, but if you need me down by your house with my truck and trailer to take away that pine you have, I'll be glad to do so.


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## Jan Pijpelink (Sep 29, 2018)

Well @DaveInPhilly , we all know burning pine causes baldness, ED and chronic leg cramps. Don't burn it! PM me your address and I will pick it up! 
I am close to Philly.


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## johneh (Sep 29, 2018)

Jan Pijpelink said:


> Well @DaveInPhilly , we all know burning pine causes baldness, ED and chronic leg cramps. Don't burn it! PM me your address and I will pick it up!
> I am close to Philly.


Don't wait for him to pick deliver it to me 
Why suffer any after effects just send it off 
quick as possible


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## DaveH (Sep 29, 2018)

I thought I'd never burn pine, but now I want my stacks to be 1/3rd dry pine.  Don't waste good hardwood on days where you only want to take the chill out of the house.  And on weekends in the dead of winter, when I can feed the furnace all day, I'd rather feed three loads of pine, than 1 of oak, saving the oak for overnights or weekdays.  The shorter burn times are better sometimes.  When I get home from work at 5, I don't want to load up 8 hours of hardwood.  I get a quick, hot 3 hour pine burn,  the furnace is up to temperature and the house is warm.


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## weatherguy (Sep 29, 2018)

Jan Pijpelink said:


> Well @DaveInPhilly , we all know burning pine causes baldness, ED and chronic leg cramps. Don't burn it! PM me your address and I will pick it up!
> I am close to Philly.


Are we to assume you'll burn the pine because your already bald, have ED and leg cramps?


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## Jan Pijpelink (Sep 29, 2018)

weatherguy said:


> Are we to assume you'll burn the pine because your already bald, have ED and leg cramps?


And even more.


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## firefighterjake (Sep 30, 2018)

Burn it.


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## DaveInPhilly (Oct 1, 2018)

Thanks guys. I'll give it a shot and see how she does. I don't mind shorter burn times. And just to make sure I got this right - as long as the moisture content reads <20% its okay to burn? Even with those big pockets of pitch?

@Ashfull, for what its worth, I thought it was just going to be campfire wood, but it turned out to be _a lot _of campfire wood.


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## Zack R (Oct 1, 2018)

Burning 100% pine here.... Just had my chimney cleaned, 6" liner that goes up two stories and the technician said they pulled about a half gallon of creosote out (one year worth). He said that's about normal, nothing to worry about. For context that's from burning 4 cords worth of pine last season, some of it not fully seasoned.

Pine burns hot and fast, but also dries very fast (especially in my climate). In my experience I've had it go from saturated, splashing water wet when trying to split (40%) in the spring to bone dry by fall (15%).

I'd love to have access to hardwood but I live in a pine forest, as you can see in the background.


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## bholler (Oct 1, 2018)

DaveInPhilly said:


> Thanks guys. I'll give it a shot and see how she does. I don't mind shorter burn times. And just to make sure I got this right - as long as the moisture content reads <20% its okay to burn? Even with those big pockets of pitch?
> 
> @Ashfull, for what its worth, I thought it was just going to be campfire wood, but it turned out to be _a lot _of campfire wood.


Yes its fine.  Just be aware it will take off allot faster than hardwoods so start shutting back much sooner.  Or mix it with hardwoods


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## Ashful (Oct 1, 2018)

DaveInPhilly said:


> @Ashfull, for what its worth, I thought it was just going to be campfire wood, but it turned out to be _a lot _of campfire wood.


I hear you... and no need to explain yourself to me.  If a pine fell in my yard and I had no better way to get rid of it, I’d split it and burn it.  I’d probably split it small, to use as kindling, but whatever.

My point was more that, with ample hardwood around and time in short supply, I wouldn’t be spending those precious hours to collect or process it.  The amount of wood I burn in a year, and thus the amount of oil $ I save per year, is dependent on only one limitation:  time.


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## Jay106n (Oct 2, 2018)

Dry and burn it just like any other wood. It does burn hot and fast, make sure your chimney is clean and temper down the air intake.  I usually go through about a cord each year for shoulder season.


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## billb3 (Oct 3, 2018)

I burned about a cord of eastern white pine last year.
Supposedly it seasons in 6 months but I usually let logs/rounds sit until the sap dries out and then split it so it usually ends up at least a year.

For crying out loud just try burning some  fresh pitch some time. It burns like candle wax. It's fuel when it dries out, just like the wood. 


If you've never burned any I highly recommend only filling the stove half way the first time to learn to adjust the air properly, you'll probably find you need a bit less air. My first load every morning is pine as it  burns hot and fast and gets things warmed up quick. I'll keep burning pine if I'm gonna sit around and can load the stove twice as often. If I want a long burn then I load maple or oak.


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## blazincajun (Oct 4, 2018)

I live down here on the GA/SC border in Augusta, GA. Cut a cord of longleaf pine from a storm salvage and removed the heart from every wheel. The remaining pine was split and stacked. Nobody around here burns this stuff except me (so many snobs around here and I want to keep this secret to myself). Burns hot with no smoke with my gasifying wood stove. Maybe a half cup of soot cleaned from stove pipe which remained from burning dried hardwood as well. Split the heart into 1/2 inch. fire starters. Will continue to cut and store as an alternative firewood source. I'm convinced that having a diversity of dried wood (<20% moisture) including pine is a good thing. Andrew


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## Blowndiffuser (Oct 4, 2018)

I'm a bit shocked to see a major stove producer like Jotul trying to scare people about burning pine.  The following extract is taken from one of their guides:

"_Some new wood stove owners attempt to burn pine as the wood is cheap, but Pine should always be avoided as the wood builds up harmful deposits within the flue. Overtime, the use has been known to cause fires. The wood is ideal for outdoor fires only as there is no risk of the harmful buildup in the great outdoors_."

The full guide can be found here:

https://jotul.com/uk/guides/how-to-buy-the-right-logs-for-your-wood-burning-stove


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## Jazzberry (Oct 4, 2018)

After reading their guide my opinion of Jotul has dropped a couple rungs on the ladder.


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## Granite Statah (Oct 4, 2018)

I was taught as a young fellah to mix pine throughout the woodpile, so that when you moved wood to the boiler room during burn season you'd always have some "nuggets" to split up into kindling. I know some folks that have "pine only" stacks to do more or less the same thing. My current boiler is dual-fuel, so I use all pine sometimes to get a coal fire going. Just had my chimney inspected last week and she's still clean as a whistle. I stay away from it in the fireplace because it does crackle a bit, and my kids like to sit close to the fire.


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## firefighterjake (Oct 4, 2018)

Blowndiffuser said:


> I'm a bit shocked to see a major stove producer like Jotul trying to scare people about burning pine.  The following extract is taken from one of their guides:
> 
> "_Some new wood stove owners attempt to burn pine as the wood is cheap, but Pine should always be avoided as the wood builds up harmful deposits within the flue. Overtime, the use has been known to cause fires. The wood is ideal for outdoor fires only as there is no risk of the harmful buildup in the great outdoors_."
> 
> ...



I wonder if that is something new or just for Europe . . . I don't recall anything other than an admonishment to burn seasoned wood in my Oslo owner's manual.


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## Bettles (Oct 4, 2018)

I burn 90% spruce, 10% birch.


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## gerry100 (Oct 4, 2018)

Been running a wood stove for about 40yrs.

Only reason I don't burn much pine is the ample supplies of better hardwoods around here and in my woodlot.

I also have a lot of pine and will burn it if convenient ie it's big enough and falls over


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## begreen (Oct 4, 2018)

Pine is fine as long as it is fully seasoned. If you want it to burn slower split it a bit thicker. We burn 6-9" splits of doug fir, all winter long.


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## Blowndiffuser (Oct 4, 2018)

firefighterjake said:


> I wonder if that is something new or just for Europe . . . I don't recall anything other than an admonishment to burn seasoned wood in my Oslo owner's manual.



I’m not sure, I know the firewood sellers over here have a hard time convincing their customers to burn any type of softwood.  It does seem a strange endorsement of hardwood especially as hardwood prices are starting to go up.


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## Ashful (Oct 4, 2018)

Blowndiffuser said:


> I’m not sure, I know the firewood sellers over here have a hard time convincing their customers to burn any type of softwood.  It does seem a strange endorsement of hardwood especially as hardwood prices are starting to go up.


Same here, in eastern USA.  But you have to remember the north and west part of this content are dominated by conifers.  You're not going to find much hardwood, in some of these areas.

I guess they'd better not buy a Jotul.


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## Zack R (Oct 4, 2018)

My Jotul F45 eats pine for breakfast, always has, always will  Lots of pine trees around, here's a photo about a 10 minute walk from my house, and another about a 10 minute drive (during the fires we had in Summer 2017).


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## Dataman (Oct 4, 2018)

So true.  I burned Wood Stove for 7 Winters.  Never once with anything but Pine.  Red Fir is the Best.   Then What I call White Pine (got 10ac of it).    But alas my Blaze King King is gone to another home and Pellet Stove in it's place.  Wife complained all the time about ash and such mess stuff.    Harmon XXV replaced it.  I hope guy who got it knows what he got.   Great Stove.  Trick to Pine was load up the stove with as much as I could cram in it.    Get it into Zone (Cat Stove) and damper down to Medium on Dial.   Burn all night just fine.  Lots of Heat.  Too much in Living Room.   Pellet burner is nicer!  Able to control heat.  No need to open windows or doors.


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## Ashful (Oct 4, 2018)

Dataman said:


> So true.  I burned Wood Stove for 7 Winters.  Never once with anything but Pine.  Red Fir is the Best.   Then What I call White Pine (got 10ac of it).    But alas my Blaze King King is gone to another home and Pellet Stove in it's place.  Wife complained all the time about ash and such mess stuff.    Harmon XXV replaced it.  I hope guy who got it knows what he got.   Great Stove.  Trick to Pine was load up the stove with as much as I could cram in it.    Get it into Zone (Cat Stove) and damper down to Medium on Dial.   Burn all night just fine.  Lots of Heat.  Too much in Living Room.   Pellet burner is nicer!  Able to control heat.  No need to open windows or doors.


Waitaminnit... there are many here who would have one believe pine doesn't make ash.


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## Adabiviak (Oct 4, 2018)

I find a surprising amount of variety between (at least the local) pines in terms of how they handle in a stove. "Bull" pine (Gray, Digger, whatever) is rough... I have a huge one in my backyard that's ready to come down, and I'm not sure I want it. On the other end of the spectrum is some weird hybrid at my father's house that produces wonderful, clean-burning splits (Ponderosa/Monterey maybe? Some mutant?). Between these extremes, Ponderosa, White, and Jeffrey burn the way I think "normal" pine would.

There are tons of Sugar pine up here too, but I don't think I've ever burned it.  Still, "pine" can vary widely in my experience.


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## Jazzberry (Oct 4, 2018)

Adabiviak said:


> I find a surprising amount of variety between (at least the local) pines in terms of how they handle in a stove. "Bull" pine (Gray, Digger, whatever) is rough... I have a huge one in my backyard that's ready to come down, and I'm not sure I want it. On the other end of the spectrum is some weird hybrid at my father's house that produces wonderful, clean-burning splits (Ponderosa/Monterey maybe? Some mutant?). Between these extremes, Ponderosa, White, and Jeffrey burn the way I think "normal" pine would.
> 
> There are tons of Sugar pine up here too, but I don't think I've ever burned it.  Still, "pine" can vary widely in my experience.



We are probably burning the same types of wood. Never burned any Bull pine that I am aware of but try some Lodgepole. It burns closer to hardwood vs White and Ponderosa. Sugarpine burns better also sorta like Doug Fir.


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## blacktail (Oct 4, 2018)

When I went on the Travis Industries factory tour, their wood supply was several cords of 100% Douglas Fir.


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## Jan Pijpelink (Oct 4, 2018)

We have mainly Oak where we live, both red and white. I am always on the look out for Pine. If I can get my hands on it, I will get it. Love Pine.


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## Ashful (Oct 5, 2018)

Osage:  30 MBTU/cord
Hickory:  25 - 28 MBTU/cord
White oak:  24 MBTU/cord
Locust:  24 MBTU/cord
Red oak:  22 MBTU/cord
Ash:  21 - 22 MBTU/cord

Pine:  14 MBTU/cord
Fir:  13-14 MBTU/cord

If you live in the east, where at least one of the hardwoods above is sure to be in plentiful supply, I just can’t see wasting the time to split and stack even one cord of pine or fir.


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## MissMac (Oct 5, 2018)

Ashful said:


> Waitaminnit... there are many here who would have one believe pine doesn't make ash.


It sure doesn’t make much, i’ll tell you that.  I think i cleaned ash out of my stove 3-4 times all last winter, and that was it.


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## moresnow (Oct 5, 2018)

Ashful said:


> Waitaminnit... there are many here who would have one believe pine doesn't make ash.



Definitely been my experience that pine leaves far less ash. Waaaay less ash than anything else I utilize. Almost unbelievable at times. Possibly just the type in my backyard?


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## Adabiviak (Oct 6, 2018)

Jazzberry said:


> We are probably burning the same types of wood.


I see your location as "next to Yosemite" - we are almost certainly burning the same types; I live up the highway 108 corridor (downtown Yosemite, like the base of El Cap, is 100 minutes from my house, so I imagine we're drawing from the same local biome.

Sugar pine is rare treat for me... I almost never find it freshly fallen enough where it hasn't begun to rot (and most of them are _huge_, so the occasional standing dead is beyond my ken to drop).


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## 410MAN (Oct 10, 2018)

Im down here in East Texas where abundant supply of Pine. In our lake house we have old Ben Franklin type stove, I had 8 pines cut, all were close to 80 ft tall. Had the tree man cut 1 of them into 1 ft long pieces and stacked for 2 years under cover. They burn great I mix in with some oak and hackberry. sure keeps us warm in winter.


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## BKVP (Nov 7, 2018)

I've burned pine many times and when it becomes available, I welcome it to my wood pile.  As for ash, I have found that NIELS may very, very little ash.  NIELS are made of all softwoods.  When I burn Doug or Red fir or Tamarack, I can burn nearly a cord before the King needs emptying.

So if you have a load of pine and you deliver, make a left at the "Y" and dump in in my yard....I'll stack it.


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## Easy Livin’ 3000 (Nov 7, 2018)

I luv pine!


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## Jotel me this (Nov 10, 2018)

DaveInPhilly said:


> I have burned wood for more than a decade, but this is only my third year with a stove. I mostly burn ash and oak, but last winter we lost a big pine in one of the ice storms. I cut it, split it and stacked it (well away from my main wood stacks,) and it seems pretty dry (I have not put a meter on it yet) but it has these giant pockets of sap that just scare the heck out of me.
> 
> I know a lot of you guys up north, and at high elevations burn pine without hesitation. If you were me, would you burn it? I probably have the better part of a cord stacked.




someone in here once said, "I live in an area with only pine. you think I import oak??"

dry it and use it


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## Jay106n (Nov 11, 2018)

Just threw some pine splits in. I have not mutated yet.


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## twd000 (Nov 12, 2018)

Bettles said:


> I burn 90% spruce, 10% birch.




How do you split that spruce?  I had a neighborhood tree guy leave some spruce rounds and I find my hydraulic splitter just obliterates the knots.  There isn't a single straight piece leftover.  It looks like I split it with dynamite.  I don't think I'm going to bother splitting and stacking the rest of the spruce, as I have plenty of oak and white pine.


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## Jazzberry (Nov 12, 2018)

twd000 said:


> How do you split that spruce?  I had a neighborhood tree guy leave some spruce rounds and I find my hydraulic splitter just obliterates the knots.  There isn't a single straight piece leftover.  It looks like I split it with dynamite.  I don't think I'm going to bother splitting and stacking the rest of the spruce, as I have plenty of oak and white pine.



Knots burn great. Full of pitch usually.


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