The Big Pine is DOWN!!!!! with pics

[Electric B]

Cut a big pine down in my yard today. Now what?

It is going to be cold here in Tennessee over the next five days, hovering around freezing. Would you split it now? Or stack it and wait til later in the month.

I do not need the wood for at least a year or two.

 

[tcassavaugh]

i'd cut it up into at least rounds, as its not to big in diameter....what, about 24 inches in diameter?. you can stack the rounds and split them later or, split now. limb that puppy, cut it up and stack it out of the way is probably what I would do. split as I got a chance. you might have some problems with all those limbs. might take awhile.

 

[gzecc]

Don't you just hate the branches on pines? We lost 20 of them during hurricane Sandy. Still dealing with them.

 

[tcassavaugh]

my bad..... I didn't see the second photo with it already cut up. nice job.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Some say split now and some say wait. I just remember that wood won't dry much until it is split....with some exceptions. We have found that white pine will dry a lot rather quickly even in rounds.

 

[woodsman416]

I split as soon as possible after I cut. I've got this thing about completing a task before moving on to another one. Drives my wife crazy!

 

[Chimney Smoke]

I like to cut to length and then let sit for a few weeks before splitting. A lot of the surface sap has dried at that point.

 

[Sinngetreu]

Split now and it will keep you warm in the cold temps. I believe that’s the second or third phase of heat that wood gives you. I think it goes something like Felling, bucking, splitting, stacking, and then burning.

 

[Missouri Frontier]

limb that puppy,

The puppy in the picture looks like a nice dog and I'm sure that dog would rather keep its limbs!

 

[NH_Wood]

Pine is one that I don't mind letting sit for a while to let the sap dry out some - I hate splitting fresh pine - it's a mess. Cheers!

 

[osagebow]

Pine is one that I don't mind letting sit for a while to let the sap dry out some - I hate splitting fresh pine - it's a mess. Cheers!

I hate wearing gloves, but it's a.must with my shortleaf pines.

 

[ArsenalDon]

We burn 90% pine. Split it now and by Oct it will be ready to burn

 

[firefighterjake]

Your call . . . seasoning will get better once split and stacked . . . and if it is below freezing you should in theory have less of a problem with the sap. On the otherhand, pine seasons relatively quickly and if you wait long enough the sap may dry out.

Honestly, I've gone both ways . . . split and stacked right after cutting . . . and split and stacked after a few weeks. It doesn't seem to matter too much to me. When I burn it, it's a long ways out . . . and no matter what . . . always seem to get my hands covered in sap . . . nothing some mayonaise and lava soap can't remove.

 

[Electric B]

I may try to go ahead and split it over the next few days and be done with it. I have a splitter so battling the cold and sap will be the only issue.

 

[HackBerry]

I enjoy splitting on cold days. By the second or third round I'm usually working up a sweat under my coveralls.

 

[AK13]

I like to cut to length and then let sit for a few weeks before splitting. A lot of the surface sap has dried at that point.

+1 The problem with white pine is the sap and it definitely seems to dry up and stop oozing after a few weeks. Then again I haven't split pine during the dead of winter so maybe when its cold the sap is less of a problem. On the plus side your gloves get water-proofed with sap while you work with it.

 

[nootkabear]

I hate to sound like I don't know anything about burning wood, but I have always been told not to burn pine. We have a VC Dutchwest EPA model.
I know when I was real young though, Granny burned pine in the fireplace, but don't remember more than that.

It is Ok to burn pine?

 

[Electric B]

I worked on it a little today, with the axe. The smaller rounds split ok, the larger ones not so well. To cold to start the tractor today to move them to the back. I may set the big rounds aside to dry a while, they were WET.

 

[Electric B]

I hate to sound like I don't know anything about burning wood, but I have always been told not to burn pine. We have a VC Dutchwest EPA model.
I know when I was real young though, Granny burned pine in the fireplace, but don't remember more than that.

It is Ok to burn pine?

According to this forum burn away. Just make sure it is dry.

 

[bigbarf48]

I hate to sound like I don't know anything about burning wood, but I have always been told not to burn pine. We have a VC Dutchwest EPA model.
I know when I was real young though, Granny burned pine in the fireplace, but don't remember more than that.

It is Ok to burn pine?

It's an old wives tale. Burning seasoned pine won't do any more harm than any other seasoned wood.

 

[nootkabear]

It's an old wives tale. Burning seasoned pine won't do any more harm than any other seasoned wood.

Thanks for the input. I hate pines, but might would find them useful for burning, then would not have to hate them so much.

 

[firefighterjake]

Thanks for the input. I hate pines, but might would find them useful for burning, then would not have to hate them so much.

Pine is fine . . . once seasoned. Actually, it makes very good kindling and is fantastic to use in early Spring and late Fall for those quick, hot fires needed to just take the chill out of the air.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Burning that pine is okay. Just beware, sometimes it causes hair to grow in the palm of your hands.

 

[nootkabear]

Pine is fine . . . once seasoned. Actually, it makes very good kindling and is fantastic to use in early Spring and late Fall for those quick, hot fires needed to just take the chill out of the air.

That was what I was thinking, the quicker hotter fires when needed, or when something just does not want to burn for whatever reason...
I know that most of our house was built out of heart pine, and the fire dept. around here said if we caught fire, they would whip out the marshmellows, cause there would be no putting it out. Maybe part of my skepticism on burning pine...

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Handle it at your leisure. My leisure would be ASAP, but that's mostly because I enjoy that sort of thing.