Could someone please post pic of "seasoned" pine? (i am from the northeast never seen it before)

[ColdNH]

There seams to be a TON of free pine out there in southern NH right now on craigslist. one guy is about 4 miles from me so I may go pick up a truck load or two of it to use on those 50 degree days when I dont want a long burning fire. I only have space for about 2.5 more cords of wood, so im not sure I want to waste too much of that space with pine.

 

[Clarkbar2311]

It's great for campfires and chimineas too....

There is some guy around here selling short small splits as "chiminea wood" at a super premium and the yuppies are all over it...

 

[brogsie]

Is the pine on the west coast the same as it is on the east coast?
The pine around here is Eastern White Pine or Pitch Pine. I have tons in my
back yard. I burn it but oak is so much better. The pine leaves lots of ash and burns quick.
I'm wondering if your pine on the west coast is better to burn than ours. I don't think we are being snobs.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Just had a guy come in the shop who locked in a couple of contracts to clear 180 acres of beetle kill. And guess what..I can have all I can take, all summer long, for free. I am on cloud 9 right now! BTW, as far as the density of the upper elevation Pine goes, I checked a dozen rounds ranging from 8" to 16". The growth ring spacing averaged from .060 to .080 wide. I don't know how that compares to Eastern Pine, or hardwood for that matter. Seems pretty dense to me.

 

[Clarkbar2311]

That sounds like a great score..game on

 

[dmacfarland]

You Easterners are so wood-snobbish and naive. %-P If it weren't for Pine and other softwoods (Juniper, Larch, Fir, e.g.), many of us wouldn't have a stick to burn. If we had a choice, would we opt for nice hardwoods? Sure we would. But where some of us live, hardwoods simply are not available, so we heat our homes with softwoods. Somehow we manage to survive. Rick

If I have a choice between tenderloin and a stale biscuit, and I choose tenderloin am I a snob?

just kidding burn lots of pine in the syrup evaporator...

 

[fossil]

Is the pine on the west coast the same as it is on the east coast?...

My "snobs" comment was in jest...thus the smiley. This discussion comes around on here so often, I just get tired of talking about it. But, to answer your question...there are between 105 and 125 different species of Pine, with different growth and burning characteristics. So, to simply say "I hate Pine", or "Pine is junk" is kinda naive, in my mind. Which of the roughly 115 different Pines are you talking about? I burn tons of Ponderosa Pine and Lodgepole Pine...ever see any of that? Look at the pic I posted above in this thread, and you'll see roughly 6 cords of Ponderosa Pine and Juniper stacked in the round (everything from ~4" to ~16" diameter, 16" long). I'll be splitting and stacking that wood this year, and burning it in 2011-2012. Yeah, we burn a lot of wood, but on the other hand, it's relatively easy to split and handle. I also have some Oak and Madrone (hardwoods), and I love them, but they're extremely hard to come by where I live, so I'm pretty careful about how/when I use them. You folks with ready access to high BTU woods are lucky...but those of us with access only to softwoods are "real" woodburners too. I heat a 2600 ft² two-story lofted home as well as my workshop in a separate building with wood. Two stoves, ~7 cords/year. All over the Pacific Northwest and way up into Canada and even Alaska is where you'll find us "Pine (and other softwood) burners". Rick

 

[Snag]

I use a moisture meter on it, not wanting to guess if it is seasoned by weight or color.

Pine is USEFUL ;-). Seasoned pine burns hot and fast, great for early and last season burns and quickly getting the stove up to temp any other time when mixed in with hard wood. Split it small and use for kindling. I'll take what I can get, because I have some room behind the barn to stack it and forget it till it's "ripe". I just scored about 10 8' lengths of trunk that will be delivered to our house -- all for free (grin) -- thanks to Craigs List.

Carolyn

 

[iceman]

Is the pine on the west coast the same as it is on the east coast?...

My "snobs" comment was in jest...thus the smiley. This discussion comes around on here so often, I just get tired of talking about it. But, to answer your question...there are between 105 and 125 different species of Pine, with different growth and burning characteristics. So, to simply say "I hate Pine", or "Pine is junk" is kinda naive, in my mind. Which of the roughly 115 different Pines are you talking about? I burn tons of Ponderosa Pine and Lodgepole Pine...ever see any of that? Look at the pic I posted above in this thread, and you'll see roughly 6 cords of Ponderosa Pine and Juniper stacked in the round (everything from ~4" to ~16" diameter, 16" long). I'll be splitting and stacking that wood this year, and burning it in 2011-2012. Yeah, we burn a lot of wood, but on the other hand, it's relatively easy to split and handle. I also have some Oak and Madrone (hardwoods), and I love them, but they're extremely hard to come by where I live, so I'm pretty careful about how/when I use them. You folks with ready access to high BTU woods are lucky...but those of us with access only to softwoods are "real" woodburners too. I heat a 2600 ft² two-story lofted home as well as my workshop in a separate building with wood. Two stoves, ~7 cords/year. All over the Pacific Northwest and way up into Canada and even Alaska is where you'll find us "Pine (and other softwood) burners". Rick

tell us what your burn times are? how do you do it? full load half? do you worry about overfire because it burns so hot?

 

[Beetle-Kill]

I can't speak for anyone on this, but here's what I do. My wood is Lodgepole Pine, cut in the Grand Lake area. The splits are usually halfs, mabey thirds at most, so fairly good sized. The stove is an old Timberline w/ secondary mods. Air controls consist of two knobs on the doors, no glass. Dbl. wall DVL on the inside. I'll load it full at night-3.6cf.- and watch the probe thermo. At 750 °F or so, I start closing the air down. At 900 °F the knobs are less than an 1/8" open. The first hour is the critical one, a it can and has gone well above 900 when I'm not paying attention. Once it settles in, stove top will be between 6-700 °F . This winter burn times ran 8-10 hrs. easy, with some close to 12 hours- stove top at 200 °F . Last night, same process- loaded at 9:30- 7:00 this morning stove top at 325 °F , house at 76. 2 story 2400 sq. ft., 40 yrs. old and a bit drafty. Yes, you can heat with Pine.

 

[brogsie]

Is the pine on the west coast the same as it is on the east coast?...

My "snobs" comment was in jest...thus the smiley. Rick

Hey Rick,
I knew you were kidding as I have read many of your posts and can tell your a good guy.
After reading a few of the threads about burning pine, I took down 5 large eastern white pines in my yard.
I cut and split it and let it sit for a year. This winter I was exited to burn my pine. After burning oak I was dissapointed with the pine.
It leaves lots of ash and seems harder to restart after burning over night. I think maybe not being used to it, I need to burn a little different.
I have an old encore defiant cat stove. It seemed like I could never get the cat to stay lit with the pine. I just bought a new Fireview so hopefully
it will burn the pine better. I have 98 acres accross the street from me that is mostly pine. I could easily heat my house with the fallen trees.
I'm hoping I can learn to burn the pine better or I'll have to work a little harder to get some oak.

 

[firefighterjake]

Is the pine on the west coast the same as it is on the east coast?...

My "snobs" comment was in jest...thus the smiley. Rick

Hey Rick,
I knew you were kidding as I have read many of your posts and can tell your a good guy.
After reading a few of the threads about burning pine, I took down 5 large eastern white pines in my yard.
I cut and split it and let it sit for a year. This winter I was exited to burn my pine. After burning oak I was dissapointed with the pine.
It leaves lots of ash and seems harder to restart after burning over night. I think maybe not being used to it, I need to burn a little different.
I have an old encore defiant cat stove. It seemed like I could never get the cat to stay lit with the pine. I just bought a new Fireview so hopefully
it will burn the pine better. I have 98 acres accross the street from me that is mostly pine. I could easily heat my house with the fallen trees.
I'm hoping I can learn to burn the pine better or I'll have to work a little harder to get some oak.

While I am most definitely an equal opportunity burner and have and will continue to burn pine in my stove . . . I can't say as though I've actually ever been "excited" (or "exited" for that matter to burn pine. The eastern white pine we have here is fine . . . but it's not a real dense wood and so you'll generally find that it burns fast and hot and leaves more ash than coals . . . and so restarts can be hard . . . it most definitely is not the "go to" wood for using on those long, overnight burns in middle of January.

That said . . . burn what you've got if you can get it free or cheap . . . but if I were you I would probably try to scrounge up some more dense woods with more BTUs for those longer burns. Pine is fine . . . for what it is and what it can do.

 

[brogsie]

Jake,

I was excited to read your post. (exited too)
How long a burn can you get with pine? Your stove is not a cat, right?
I can get lots of free pine just laying on the ground. Maybe I just need to tweak my burning. (and my spelling)

 

[firefighterjake]

Jake,

I was excited to read your post. (exited too)
How long a burn can you get with pine? Your stove is not a cat, right?
I can get lots of free pine just laying on the ground. Maybe I just need to tweak my burning. (and my spelling)

My fat fingers often result in typos . . . I think we all knew you were excited and not exiting the area . . .

As mentioned I generally only use pine for kindling or for shoulder season fires . . . I've never really timed how long a burn I've got since these fires tend to be quick, hot fires just designed to warm up the place . . . and not fires where I'm trying to get long burns with multiple reloads.

I would guess though that while pine is not the best wood for those long, high heat fires you should be able to get several hours in between loads . . . the nice thing about the EPA stoves (and yes, I have a non-cat Jotul Oslo) is that it can take wood (providing it is seasoned) and really result in some nice burn times with some nice heat (vs. the pre EPA stoves which often seem to give you a choice-- a long burn, but not a lot of heat as the fire smolders or plenty of heat, but not a long burn time as the heat radiates out through the stove and flue.

 

[madrone]

I don't know about Eastern White Pine, but I'd say that you'll never be satisfied if you think of pine as an equivalent to oak in terms of use. It's not that dense, and doesn't coal. I save a few days worth of my densest hardwoods for emergency overnighters. A good strategy with soft woods in general seems to be splitting larger. I can get super long burns with huge Douglas Fir chunks, assuming it's dry all the way through. I've found bigger splits of Pine are pretty nice during the day. You need to reload a little sooner, i.e. you can't wait until there's a couple of coals left. It does light more easily, though. Yes, you'll have to use more pieces to reach the same BTUs. You don't have to wait 3 years to use it, though. Personally, I like free wood the best. If I had free Pine across the street, I'd take it. Actually, I just did the other day, but it was 3 houses down. :cheese:

 

[Beetle-Kill]

A test- loaded at 9:33- 1 round @8"diam. x 14", 2 @ 7"diam., 1@6"diam., and 1@5" diam. all approx. 12-14" length. N/S loading. I'll post results when I get to work.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

I don't know about Eastern White Pine, but I'd say that you'll never be satisfied if you think of pine as an equivalent to oak in terms of use. It's not that dense, and doesn't coal. I save a few days worth of my densest hardwoods for emergency overnighters. A good strategy with soft woods in general seems to be splitting larger. I can get super long burns with huge Douglas Fir chunks, assuming it's dry all the way through. I've found bigger splits of Pine are pretty nice during the day. You need to reload a little sooner, i.e. you can't wait until there's a couple of coals left. It does light more easily, though. Yes, you'll have to use more pieces to reach the same BTUs. You don't have to wait 3 years to use it, though. Personally, I like free wood the best. If I had free Pine across the street, I'd take it. Actually, I just did the other day, but it was 3 houses down. :cheese:

Sure pine coals,,,,, maybe the coals are not as dense or as long lasting as hardwood coals, but you still get coals.

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[madrone]

Well, of course it does. It's not the same in the morning as a load of oak, though.

 

[Needshave]

I'm clearing some land for a house. I do have some straight tall pines that need to come down. I'm thinking of stoping by a local mill to see if they would want to buy them. If I need to give them away or pay someone to take them I'd rather burn them.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Ok- loaded at 9:33, flue temp was 400 °F . 9:41- 8 minutes later- flue was just crossing 1000 °F ,stove top barely 400. Shut the air off, let the flue cool down and by 9:59 the flue was stable at 850 °F , and stove top was at 575 °F . 7:30 this morning, still had a nice chunk of the 8" round, flue was at 260, stove at 240 °F . For what it's worth, I'd go by the probe thermo readings before the stove top readings. Cheap insurance with Pine.

 

[willworkforwood]

The poor guy only asked if he's good to go in the Fall, and now he's probably wondering what triax hit him :lol:
But we know that when the word pine shows up, the thread starts to dance - not quite as wild as Fiskars, but close!
So, for the OP; the pic below is part of a 40' single row stack. The row in the foreground is almost all pine, along with a bit of mixed hw. This was c/s/s last Summer, but if your stuff is cut small somewhat like this; stacked loose, single-row; and gets Sun/wind, then you will be good to go. The fewer of these things you've got, the higher the MC will be.
Now, I have to throw in my .02 along with all of the previous words of wisdom about pine.
I run an equal-opportunity property - every tree has the same chance to become firewood as any other ;-)