Will standing dead trees season faster?

[happycamper]

Find some dead pine and you can burn it almost immediately

i was told never to burn pine wood

 

[Woody Stover]

i was told never to burn pine wood

As long as it's dry, it's not a problem. Out west some folks burn nothing but Pine because it's all they've got...and they live to tell about it.
What stove do you have?

 

[ArsenalDon]

i was told never to burn pine wood

Pine burns very well, nice and hot..just not as dense as hardwoods so the burns are shorter than say Oak. But because it is less dense it dries out in less than 1/3 of the time

 

[Lumber-Jack]

i was told never to burn pine wood

Funny thing is, the people who give out this advice are 9 times out of 10 the same people who burn green wood.
Next time someone tells you that just tell them they are misinformed, and that there are people who burn pine almost exclusively. Me being one of them.

 

[KodiakII]

Be very careful when felling your dead tree's. An employee of a friend of mine was killed by a widow maker from a dead tree.
I ringed a white oak this winter that I am going to drop around the end of the summer (when thing dry up), but I am still figuring a good two years before it is ideal.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

i was told never to burn pine wood

Welcome to the forum happycamper.

Don't feel badly. Most folks have heard that old wives tale over and over. They don't understand how some of these guys can do it either but in some areas, pine is all they have. Give it time to dry and it will be fine.

Really what started this goes back many, many moons. Most everyone years ago (and sadly still lots of them) cut their wood in the fall to burn that winter. The chimney gets gunked up. Throw in some fresh cut pine and watch what happens! Pitch gets hot fast, chimney gets hot fast, gunk in chimney catches fire......and the pine got the bad word because they though it was the pine's fault. Not so! The fault was first getting the chimney all gunked up and the second fault was burning that fresh cut pine. Hope this helps to understand why pine gets the bad word. Folks in the know have no problem burning pine.

 

[ohlongarm]

Last year I was sitting pretty - 3+ years ahead on hardwood. Then I moved. Since inter-state wood moving is a no-no around here, I'm starting from zero.

I'm hoping to do some work in the next month to put up some wood that will be good in about 9 months.

So far, I poached some of the wood that the power line crews left behind. Some very green soft maple and white birch that I will cut, split, and stack on skids in a sunny/windy area. But this a small amount of wood.

My wood lot has plenty of standing dead trees that still have solid wood cores. If I put this stuff up now, will it dry faster than green wood?

Absolutely nothing better than standing air dried wood.

 

[red oak]

Welcome to the forum happycamper.

Don't feel badly. Most folks have heard that old wives tale over and over. They don't understand how some of these guys can do it either but in some areas, pine is all they have. Give it time to dry and it will be fine.

Really what started this goes back many, many moons. Most everyone years ago (and sadly still lots of them) cut their wood in the fall to burn that winter. The chimney gets gunked up. Throw in some fresh cut pine and watch what happens! Pitch gets hot fast, chimney gets hot fast, gunk in chimney catches fire......and the pine got the bad word because they though it was the pine's fault. Not so! The fault was first getting the chimney all gunked up and the second fault was burning that fresh cut pine. Hope this helps to understand why pine gets the bad word. Folks in the know have no problem burning pine.

I could, right now, get 30 cords of pine from the property of people that I know who are afraid to burn it, so it's just sitting there rotting. (Well, not RIGHT now because it's dark outside.) I am the ONLY person that I know, apart from this forum, that burns pine. My FIL was helping me haul in wood a few weeks ago and part of the stacks was a few pieces of pine that blew down in the driveway. He said, "You better be careful burning this stuff." It was 5 pieces! If it's that bad, not only should I not put it in my stove, I shouldn't even let it on the property!

Now having ranted, I will say that most of what I burn is oak - MUCH longer burn times and more heat. I don't go out of my way to get pine, but to be afraid of burning it is a bit crazy.

 

[red oak]

Funny thing is, the people who give out this advice are 9 times out of 10 the same people who burn green wood.
Next time someone tells you that just tell them they are misinformed, and that there are people who burn pine almost exclusively. Me being one of them.

That is a great point! I'll remember that the next time I'm arguing with someone about this.