Ponderosa pine

[Simonkenton]

That's a good point eatenbylimestone, if they were testing heart wood from the Ponderosa Pine it would have some serious BTUs.

 

[EbS-P]

Density is on the order of that of tulip poplar. I’d burn it.

Ponderosa Pine | The Wood Database (Softwood)

www.wood-database.com

 

[qwee]

Lodgepole and Ponderosa Pines are so different. Lodgepole seems to prefer higher elevations. And it grows straighter with branches that don't extend out too far. Around me (southern Idaho), I would say Lodgepole Pine has a btu rating of 18 and Ponderosa Pine is 17 (Doug Fir 20.5, Red Oak 26, Ash 23.5, & Siberian Elm 21.5, hand feel btu scale). But because Ponderosa has more limb action you get knotty pieces of firewood that are probably over 20 btu. I've grabbed dry pieces of Ponderosa Pine and been surprised at how dense they felt.

The 2 pines are so different to split. Lodgepole splits so easily - 'pop' and it splits. It is mostly straight grained with few knots (except the small rounds from the top of the tree). Ya, fresh Ponderosa can be messy to split with fibers holding on and lots of knots. I'll try the 'wait a year thing' with the Ponderosa rounds.

 

[ohlongarmisle]

I brought home a pickup load of blocked ponderosa pine, felled today. Not my favorite wood but there is a lot of it here and it was cleanup day in the NF. What are your opinions of when I should split it? I read that it's better to let ponderosa dry out first. I don't need to burn it anytime soon.

Dry it burn it, i'll burn anything dry in my BK, and get great heat,the BK just plain works,DRY is the key 15 to 20% is a great range to extract the maximum heat.