Best type of pine?

[Lumber-Jack]

There is another thread going about burning pine, and Fossil brought this up
[quote author="fossil" date="1256015738"]Well, now...since the "authorities" (presumably much smarter about it all than I am) can't even agree on exactly how many species of Pine there are (anywhere from 105-125), it seems to me that when we're all here yakkin' about burning Pine, we just might not all be talking about the same tree. Different types of Pine have different characteristics. Figure out just what kind of Pine you're burning and report back. Rick

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine[/quote]
So I thought I would start a separate thread about the types of pine people burn. It is my belief that many of the people who don't like to burn pine are those who don't have access to good pine. So the question is, if you burn, or have burned pine in the past, what was your experience with it? and do you know what type it was.

I'm no expert on pine or wood in general, but I burn Lodgepole Pine and have found it to be nearly as good as Douglas Fir which rates over 20 on some BTU charts. For some reason LodgePole Pine is seldom (if ever) found on any of these charts, probably because these charts have all been complied by people out East and Lodgepole doesn't grow out East.
In comparison to another type of common softwood like Spruce, I find the lodgepole much superior. The Lodgpole pine will give me overnight burns, spruce will not. The other reason I like Lodgpole pinebecause it is so plentifully here in BC, in the dead and already (dry) seasoned state, because of the mountain Pine beetle . With so many dead and dieing trees around that will eventually fall over and rot, it doesn't make much sense to look very hard for anything else.

So what type of pine do you burn?

 

[billb3]

eastern white pine
kinda soft, kinda sappy, kinda light when seasoned.
It's free. No one wants it. Sometimes not even me.
The smell is what I associate with a campground campfire.

There's some pitch pine here, too.
There's one out by the mail box. Been there for 50 years at least. Hasn't grown much.

I've burned some of the local cedar, too. I'd rather burn the soft pine.
There's one huge cedar about 3 acres into my prop that's huge. Someone has climbed it with spikes. Nice because it has no branches until you get to the top.

 

[Brian VT]

I'm having a big White Pine taken down. They want $150 to take away the big stuff. I guess I'll be seeing how White Pine burns.

 

[ansehnlich1]

....cut to 20 inches and split

 

[moosetrek]

I didn't know that there's any other wood than pine - I hear rumors about this mythical stuff called Oak? We burn lodgepole and ponderosa, same reason you do - cheap and plentiful, and not a lot of options. We also get a good overnight burn on it, but we have a good sized stove too. I really like that we can drop a tree and be burning it the next, the standing dead with some good cracks and bark peeled off is pre-seasoned-

 

[branchburner]

I'm having a big White Pine taken down. They want $150 to take away the big stuff. I guess I'll be seeing how White Pine burns.

The prob for my downdraft stove is that pine doesn't coal enough to get secondary going strong. I get a good hardwood coal bed first and reload with pine later in the burn. Good to go.

 

[myzamboni]

Monterey Pine, Spruce, Yellow Pine, etc. It doesn't matter. The Monterey Pine is almost like burning splits of fatwood. the splits end up with crystallized sap all over them.

 

[wsorg]

I've burned white pine but it doesn't seem to have much more energy than a spruce or cedar.

 

[firefighterjake]

White pine . . . more value to me for lumber . . . but if branches come down or if one needs to come down I'll burn it. Burns quick and hot . . . and of course causes chimney fires and baldness . . . at least that's the only reason I can come up with for the fact that I'm losing my hair. I like burning pine when I'm home in the evenings and for use in getting a fire up and running.

 

[Vic99]

White pine mostly. Seasons usually in 6 months if split. Burns well and is light to handle when dry. Great firestarter if you are then lucky enough to have access to hardwoods.

Red pine. Seems to take longer to dry. I've only burned some semi-seasoned stuff.

 

[d.n.f.]

Dry.






Where you at Carbon?

 

[Lumber-Jack]

White pine . . . more value to me for lumber . . . .

That's kind of funny, around here if someone had some oak the last thing they would do is burn it, they would want to use it for lumber to make something out of it.

Where you at Carbon?

Hey d.n.f., or should I call you the DUDE? I live just outside of Keremeos. I'm sure you know where that is.


I've burned young ponderosa pine before and it seems to burn up how people are describing white pine and some of these other varieties. When the ponderosa get bigger the wood seems to get denser and better for burning.

 

[Duetech]

I just got an offer for free pine. Some is cut to size and some has to be cut. Free is right at the top of the list but Jack, Norway and Pitch pines lead the list for pine btu's and White pine (east or west) is listed as even being lower than spruce. (broken link removed to http://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm)

 

[Skier76]

Free pine. I'm not picky when people are giving it away.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

I just got an offer for free pine. Some is cut to size and some has to be cut. Free is right at the top of the list but Jack, Norway and Pitch pines lead the list for pine btu's and White pine (east or west) is listed as even being lower than spruce. (broken link removed to http://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm)

Not at all familiar with those types of pine, and again, I don't see lodgepole pine listed on that chart.

 

[d.n.f.]

Where you at Carbon?

Hey d.n.f., or should I call you the DUDE? I live just outside of Keremeos. I'm sure you know where that is.


[/quote]



Driven through it many times. Nice area.I am closer to Nelson.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

So what type of pine do you burn?

Pine causes chimney fires

 

[firefighterjake]

So what type of pine do you burn?

Pine causes chimney fires

. . . and baldness . . . I knew I shouldn't have burned that pine in my stove the other night.

 

[Pauly]

Southern yellow- 3 species

Loblolly
Pond
Longleaf

I have them all on my place and have burned them all. Usually outdoors in a huge pile after the tree thinnings have seasoned over the summer.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

So what type of pine do you burn?

Pine causes chimney fires

. . . and baldness . . . I knew I shouldn't have burned that pine in my stove the other night.

It looks like Redd burns a fair bit of pine too... ;-P

 

[Chief Ryan]

I picked up about 3/4 of a cord of Pitch Pine last year. So far I've only used it for kindling and it works great. 4 or 5 1"x1" splits gets my Oak, Locust and Yellow Birch a blazin.

 

[Duetech]

I just got an offer for free pine. Some is cut to size and some has to be cut. Free is right at the top of the list but Jack, Norway and Pitch pines lead the list for pine btu's and White pine (east or west) is listed as even being lower than spruce. (broken link removed to http://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm)

Not at all familiar with those types of pine, and again, I don't see lodgepole pine listed on that chart.

Hi Carbon... I couldn't tell you about lodge pole pine and the red pine I was given is not on the chart either. I just use the chart as a general reference. I had about 1 2/3 cord of silver maple given to me for the use of my splitter from a guy at work (he split it so I could haul it away) and it's not listed on the chart either but now I have burned some I would put in in the lower btu brackets of maple. The price is right up there near the best though. If I run across a chart with lodge pole on it I will add it to my list of wood burning links.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Free pine is the pine I like to burn best.

Now if you changed the question to," What kind of pine do you like cutting down best?" Well, that would be the blue spruce because I have picked too many of their needles out of my feet to like that tree. Every one of them should be cut down and burnt.

Matt

 

[Wacky1]

HMMMMM.... I thought the hairclub for men people sell a pine-sap based hair tonic type rub??? :lol: Conspiracy...?

 

[precaud]

Piñon pine, also spelled pinon and pinion, is the densest of the pine family by far, about 35-40% more dense than Ponderosa and other more common pine species. It's basically in the same density range as oak. By far my favorite wood to burn!