Question about burning wood

[mistaare]

Quick background, have a small insert that I have been using daily for past 4 winters, probably 16-20 hr day, 3-4 cords a winter. Every summer get liner/chimney/flue professionally cleaned and guy says minimal amount of soot is built up. I personally buck and split all the wood I burn and this year the wood being burned has been covered for two years, now I will admit I am still learning types of trees but I do know not to burn pine. Well, last week I was about to put this piece (see picture) into my insert when, after looking at the bark, I thought it could be a piece of pine? I smelled it, and couldn't smell anything, but after pealing apart some of the bark, my wife (who has a much better sense of smell than I) says it smells a little bit like pine but she could say for sure and there was no sap to be seen. Now, I am about a 1/3 through this cord of fire wood so now I'm paranoid thinking a few pieces might have gotten burned! Most of this cord has been maple and poplar. So the question is:
- can anyone ID this? The bark is wet from sitting out in the rain.
- if it is pine, should I get my flue cleaned out again just for a precaution? I doubt I burned any, but maybe a few pieces got past?
Thanks for the help!

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[milkman]

Sassafras. burns hot but not for long. Root makes good tea.

 

[bowtechmadman]

I agree with Milkman...definitely sassafras. Fun to watch burn many colors and will snap and pop like crazy.

 

[mistaare]

Man thanks a ton for the quick response!


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[ray benson]

Burning Pine is not a problem and a myth as far as building up excess creosote in a chimney.
https://www.ctsweep.com/blog/top-sweep-stories/chimney-myths-and-misconceptions/.

 

[ATH]

Looks a lot more like pine to me. Sassafras doesn't have flaky bark - it is more blocky.

 

[Gugi47]

Sassafras

 

[mistaare]

Great reference pic Gugi

ATH, would there be sap within the wood itself or the bark? I have never messed with pine.

Ray - great reference, my buddy burn a lot of pine out in Colardo


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[Marshy]

You know, most of the west coast guys burn nothing but pine. There ain't a thing wrong with pine if it's seasoned and not wet. I wouldn't bat an eye if I burned some pine that was cut split and stacked for 2 years.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Keep in mind there are many types of pine. Western varieties such as ponderosa and lodgepole are much less pitchy than southern yellow and loblolly.

 

[old CB]

Before reading anything, I saw your photo and thought "pine." But relax and burn it if it's dry. And if you can't smell the pine pitch--it's dry. That's one of my tests for dry conifer wood--can I smell the pitch?

Where I live, in a Ponderosa Pine forest, most people burn nothing BUT pine. (Me, I've got a mix of mostly hardwood with some pine and Doug fir.) It's burning green wood and/or cool fires that's going to fill your chimney with creosote.

 

[ATH]

ATH, would there be sap within the wood itself or the bark? I have never messed with pine.

.....

More in the wood, but also in the bark. But as others have said, it is dependent on species and how long it has had to dry. I suspect that it is too dry to have sap left in it. Longleaf pine smells like fresh cut pine after 100 years. Scotch pine hardly smells the day you cut it...I've cut dead Scotch pine trees that couldn't make anything sticky if they wanted to.

 

[Streblerm]

If it's dry then burn it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with burning seasoned softwood. I burn a lot of it because it's free and most people will pass on it. The only thing wrong with burning pine/spruce is that it isn't very dense and you will have to load the stove more often.

burning green pine in a smoldering fire is a bad idea, just like burning green hardwood. Once it has dried I really don't think it will cause more creosote build up than any other kind of wood.

 

[Oldman47]

Why do you care if its pine? Any dry wood burns about the same but the more dense woods burn a bit slower. Out west the only wood available is things like douglas fir and pine but it causes them no issues at all if it is properly dried. If you were burning 50 years ago and constantly burned wet/green oak or maple you might cause a chimney fire by finally burning something that actually burned hot. My guess is that is where the caution about burning pine came from. Pine dries faster than many kinds of wood so a pine fire would be hot enough to light the enormous creosote build up caused by burning green oak or similar woods.

 

[mistaare]

This is all great information, thanks for all the replies.


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[BenK]

Just a thought on the maintenance part of burning. Invest in a brush for your chimney. They usually come with poles that attach so you can clean out your chimney on your own. It can be a tad messy, but a flashlight, some dropcloth, and an old shirt has kept my chimney creosote free.

 

[ironman_gq]

We burn a ton of pine in our insert along with a mix of maple, birch and whatever else the storms brought down that year. Most of the pine is Norway and occasionally some spruce ends up in there but I'm not a huge fan of spruce. Burning dry wood is the key to minimizing creosote issues, get the fire burning good and use dry wood. Smoky cold fires and cold chimney liners make creosote build up, insulated liners help as they heat up fast and a clean fire minimizes problems.

 

[sb47]

The temperature of your fire has more to do with creosote build up then anything else. Hot fires burn more completely and efficiently.
Also how much exposure your chimney has to the cold air can effect how much build up you get. As long as the gasses stay hot all the way out of the pipe, you should be fine.

 

[unclemoustache]

Yes, burning pine is just fine. Any wood is fine unless it's treated or dipped in chemicals, such as railroad ties or telephone pole bottoms.
Just make sure it's dry.