I can't waste wood...

[Skier76]

Our neighbor up in VT is moving. She's got a bunch of old pine rounds stacked on the property line. We were chatting a few weeks ago and she offered us her wood cribs (2x4's with brackets), we accepted. I asked her if she wanted the pine rounds, she said I could take them.

The wood has been there a few years, so it's a bit punky, but I can make short work of the stuff with my trusty Fiskars. After sitting out for a few weeks, it does just fine in the old fire pit.

Anyone else like this? I just couldn't stand to watch the stuff rot...especially since it was litterally feet from my stacks.

 

[ColdNH]

Our neighbor up in VT is moving. She's got a bunch of old pine rounds stacked on the property line. We were chatting a few weeks ago and she offered us her wood cribs (2x4's with brackets), we accepted. I asked her if she wanted the pine rounds, she said I could take them.

The wood has been there a few years, so it's a bit punky, but I can make short work of the stuff with my trusty Fiskars. After sitting out for a few weeks, it does just fine in the old fire pit.

Anyone else like this? I just couldn't stand to watch the stuff rot...especially since it was litterally feet from my stacks.

I somewhat feel the same way, not about pine though! There are some seasonal roads (snowmobile trails in the winter) around here that whenever a tree falls it just gets cut up and pushed off to the side of the road so it is not blocking it. Well trees that feel in the ice storm of 08 were still laying next to the road rotting away. I finnally had enough and went and cut a few of them up and hauled them away.

 

[firefighterjake]

Yeah, marginal wood is always great . . . for those camp fires. I've been burning some old pine that I cut down years ago before I had a woodstove. The funny thing is that at the time the wood was bucked up and it was pretty large . . . so I foolishly attempted to burn it in a bonfire . . . and needless to say the huge bucked up pieces just charred a bit around the edges and so they've been laying around the property for a number of years.

Last Fall I split up the wood . . . some was a bit punky . . . some had ants . . . some was pretty decent . . . and so I separated it into wood for the stove and wood for the camp fire. The other day some friends came down and we had a fire going and would you believe it . . . the pine we put on the camp fire was incredible . . . lit right up and burned pretty intensely . . . also had some black smoke . . . he thought I had coated it in diesel fuel or something . . . I'm thinking that the charring might have prevented the sap in the pine from drying out and escaping from the wood all of these years . . . just a theory though. In any case, it's pretty cool to have "diesel wood."

 

[smokinj]

I have 1/2 cord or better of pine stack for camping and the fire pit. Its really pretty good wood with lots of flame perfect.

 

[Skier76]

That's a good point Jake. I tossed some bigger splits on and they did "OK". The smaller stuff really takes off though. I'll make sure I get this cut down to size.

 

[gzecc]

I personally will let pine sit if its a pita to move or process. I look at it like this. I could hurt my back, cut off my leg, break my tractor, its just too small a reward for the risk involved. I do take some, but very little and easily available.