What Kind of Pine/Evergreen Do You Burn?

[Ambull01]

You should have taken the Leyland. Not the best firewood, but way above the worst. Good shoulder season wood. I use the punky Leyland to start fires with. One sheet of crumpled up newspaper and a chunk of punky cypress on it, and wallah!

Okay I'll contact the dude again. I'll just have to apologize and go to his house with my tail between my legs. I will not let pride stand in the way of free firewood.

I keep hearing shoulder season and I'm still not sure exactly where that comes from. I get the fact it's referring to a mildly cold day but where does the whole "shoulder" part come from?

 

[Deleted member 83629]

i burn the free pine that nobody wants a guy in town cut one up and nobody wanted the wood i took all the pine he had.
beats a snow ball.

 

[steved]

I see. So I guess some type of firestarter may be needed with hardwoods. With the poplar I can start it easily (top down, bottom up, paper and kindling, etc). I've tried the Super Cedars, they seem to be the best. Also used the fat wood stuff, they're okay but they put out a lot of black smoke that clings to the firebrick. The blackish residue burns up once the fire gets going but it makes me a bit nervous what it's doing further up the flue.

I mix pine and hardwood, straight grain pine is easy to split with a hatchet for fast lighting kindling. I mix all of it, I'm not picky...if the stove goes out, the furnace comes on. I light the stove the next morning, back in business.

 

[windthrown]

That might be my whole issue, I'm not totally sure this red oak is 20% or below. I may just break down and buy the Super Cedars. My wife sucks at starting fires and is so stubborn she'll never listen to my recommendations. I've been reading about chainsaws, bucking, splitting, elitist stoves, White Spider physics discussions, firewood, etc for months. I've received advice from fru fru hommies, pro arborists, weekend hacks, etc. All this and she still keeps the primary air wide open the whole burn cycle and puts in one damn split at a time!!!

Eeep! Primary wide open = overfiring! Also no heat in house + fast burning. I usually burn 2 to 3 splits at a time here, damped down all the way most of the time. Some of my splits are large though. Red oak should burn good and hot, but it may be harder to start. Once it coals up you have a fire that will go forever, just toss a new log onto the hot oak coals every so often, and fill the stove at night. They should burst into flames when they hit the coals if they are dry enough.

Digital display moisture meters are cheap. Ebay... 2-pin Chicom digital tester, $12:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Pins-LCD-...667?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item565aabdf1b

Split a red oak log and test the freshly exposed center. These meters are only accurate within 2% as they are calibrated for Doug fir, but they should be in the ballpark.

 

[steved]

Eeep! Primary wide open = overfiring! Also no heat in house + fast burning. I usually burn 2 to 3 splits at a time here, damped down all the way most of the time. Some of my splits are large though. Red oak should burn good and hot, but it may be harder to start. Once it coals up you have a fire that will go forever, just toss a new log onto the hot oak coals every so often, and fill the stove at night. They should burst into flames when they hit the coals if they are dry enough.

Digital display moisture meters are cheap. Ebay... 2-pin Chicom digital tester, $12:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Pins-LCD-...667?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item565aabdf1b

Split a red oak log and test the freshly exposed center. These meters are only accurate within 2% as they are calibrated for Doug fir, but they should be in the ballpark.

I run mine wide open for almost everything, but mine has an auto draft...not all stoves are the same, so its not a one size fits all.

 

[windthrown]

Okay I'll contact the dude again. I'll just have to apologize and go to his house with my tail between my legs. I will not let pride stand in the way of free firewood.

I keep hearing shoulder season and I'm still not sure exactly where that comes from. I get the fact it's referring to a mildly cold day but where does the whole "shoulder" part come from?

Do not apologize, just say that you have been informed about your ignorance and have changed your mind. Tell them it was Windthrown's fault. Most things are, according to my ex!

Shoulder season is a term that (according to theory, legend, & grape vine) started in the hotel industry in Europe. It was used to describe the sloping off seasons heading up to and falling off from the summer high tourist season. Meaning spring and fall. In terms of firewood, it refers to the seasons when heating is not so critical and temperatures are more mild. Here in Oregon that is usually September and October, and April and May. It varies a lot here from year to year though. In 2013/14 I started burning in mid-September, and stopped in June. In 2014/15 I started burning at the end of October, and it is mild enough now (mid 40s tonight) to burn lighter wood. I am burning cypress now, as a matta of fact. I am burning white oak on colder days.

 

[Chris-PA]

I will burn any kind of wood. No pine tonight though, not when it's at single digits and I have hickory.

I've been getting pine trees from peoples' yards...its hard to find a "stand" of pine in Pennsylvania.

Especially after Sandy. I didn't know a storm could be programmed to take out conifers!

I hear brush ape likes pine too.

Near as I can tell BA has been posting in this thread under two names, including having conversations with himself.

 

[svk]

Near as I can tell BA has been posting in this thread under two names, including having conversations with himself.

I think a few of us caught wind of that one

 

[Mr Anderson]

Cupressus macrocarpa (Monterey cypress) and Pinus radiata (Monterey pine) is the easiest accessible fire wood speces in nz. When you cut and split older (non plantation) pine there is huge amounts of sap in the wood.
Mr Anderson

 

[windthrown]

Cupressus macrocarpa (Monterey cypress) and Pinus radiata (Monterey pine) is the easiest accessible fire wood speces in nz. When you cut and split older (non plantation) pine there is huge amounts of sap in the wood.
Mr Anderson

When I lived in Monterey, CA I burned a lot of Monterey pine and Monterey cypress there, as well as California live oak (which is the best wood I have ever burned) and eucalyptus. Monterey pine is a trash species there along with its close cousins Knobcone and Bishop pines. In CA they are not grown for timber like down under. Leyland cypress is a cross between Monterey cypress and Alaska cedar (which is really a cypress).

Oh, and welcome... Mr. Anderson...

 

[Ambull01]

Eeep! Primary wide open = overfiring! Also no heat in house + fast burning. I usually burn 2 to 3 splits at a time here, damped down all the way most of the time. Some of my splits are large though. Red oak should burn good and hot, but it may be harder to start. Once it coals up you have a fire that will go forever, just toss a new log onto the hot oak coals every so often, and fill the stove at night. They should burst into flames when they hit the coals if they are dry enough.

Digital display moisture meters are cheap. Ebay... 2-pin Chicom digital tester, $12:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Pins-LCD-...667?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item565aabdf1b

Split a red oak log and test the freshly exposed center. These meters are only accurate within 2% as they are calibrated for Doug fir, but they should be in the ballpark.

Do not apologize, just say that you have been informed about your ignorance and have changed your mind. Tell them it was Windthrown's fault. Most things are, according to my ex!

Shoulder season is a term that (according to theory, legend, & grape vine) started in the hotel industry in Europe. It was used to describe the sloping off seasons heading up to and falling off from the summer high tourist season. Meaning spring and fall. In terms of firewood, it refers to the seasons when heating is not so critical and temperatures are more mild. Here in Oregon that is usually September and October, and April and May. It varies a lot here from year to year though. In 2013/14 I started burning in mid-September, and stopped in June. In 2014/15 I started burning at the end of October, and it is mild enough now (mid 40s tonight) to burn lighter wood. I am burning cypress now, as a matta of fact. I am burning white oak on colder days.

Interesting. Went on a honeymoon to Ireland with the first wife. I think they called it the low season or something like that. Probably just used that term because we are American and didn't want to confuse our little brains by saying shoulder season. I've tried to forget all my memories of that ill fated marriage because, I know everyone says this, she really is a crazy b word.

For some reason I thought you lived in WA. I think my burning season will be about the same as yours. Sept/Oct - Mar/Apr or May.

I will burn any kind of wood. No pine tonight though, not when it's at single digits and I have hickory.


Especially after Sandy. I didn't know a storm could be programmed to take out conifers!


Near as I can tell BA has been posting in this thread under two names, including having conversations with himself.

I wonder if confiers have a smaller root system? There may have been a tornado or something here during the summer. Or just a really unusual storm. It had the most lightning I've ever seen and strong winds. Tree branches broke off all over the place with a lot of conifer species resting on homes.

Kind of weird if that's the same dude. One alter ego tries to start an argument and the other tries to come across as a likeable chap. Schizophrenic?

When I lived in Monterey, CA I burned a lot of Monterey pine and Monterey cypress there, as well as California live oak (which is the best wood I have ever burned) and eucalyptus. Monterey pine is a trash species there along with its close cousins Knobcone and Bishop pines. In CA they are not grown for timber like down under. Leyland cypress is a cross between Monterey cypress and Alaska cedar (which is really a cypress).

Oh, and welcome... Mr. Anderson...
View attachment 395258

How the hell do you remember all this? Do you still own copies of Encyclopedia Britannicas?

 

[slowp]

"How the hell do you remember all this? Do you still own copies of Encyclopedia Britannicas?"

That isn't hard to remember if you work in it.

 

[Gologit]

Kind of weird if that's the same dude. One alter ego tries to start an argument and the other tries to come across as a likeable chap. Schizophrenic?

No, just an ass-hole.

Back on topic...doug fir, pondersosa pine, cedar, and white fir if I can't find anything else.
We have a lot of good oak, madrone, and almond available so the soft wood is just for quick warmups and short fires if we're leaving the house.

 

[svk]

No, just an **** head.

Back on topic...doug fir, pondersosa pine, cedar, and white fir if I can't find anything else.
We have a lot of good oak, madrone, and almond available so the soft wood is just for quick warmups and short fires if we're leaving the house.

Hey gologit....how many times did you ban BA when you were a mod? I see overclocked was banned for about 24 hours before the next reincarnation showed up.

 

[Gologit]

Hey gologit....how many times did you ban BA when you were a mod? I see overclocked was banned for about 24 hours before the next reincarnation showed up.

I lost track of how many user names he had and how many times he was banned under each name. Many user names, many bannings.
He'd run crying to the owners and they'd reinstate him. He'd be good for a while and then start his old behavior again.
Nothing much has changed. He's registered here with at least four different accounts that I know of. I just add them to my IGNORE list as they appear.

 

[windthrown]

Interesting. Went on a honeymoon to Ireland with the first wife. I think they called it the low season or something like that. Probably just used that term because we are American and didn't want to confuse our little brains by saying shoulder season. I've tried to forget all my memories of that ill fated marriage because, I know everyone says this, she really is a crazy b word.

You were married to my ex at one time? Funny, she never mentioned Ireland.

For some reason I thought you lived in WA. I think my burning season will be about the same as yours. Sept/Oct - Mar/Apr or May.

No no, I live in Oregon. Northern Oregon, west of Mt Hood and within site of the Washington cascades though, not too far south of the Columbia River Gorge. I go up to Washington a lot to get nursery stock, run the rivers in my kayak, rock hound, and to buy stuff on Craigslist.

I wonder if confiers have a smaller root system? There may have been a tornado or something here during the summer. Or just a really unusual storm. It had the most lightning I've ever seen and strong winds. Tree branches broke off all over the place with a lot of conifer species resting on homes.

Many types of conifers have shallower root systems than other types of trees. Leyland cypress trees are known to topple over because they get top-heavy and the root systems cannot support them.

Kind of weird if that's the same dude. One alter ego tries to start an argument and the other tries to come across as a likeable chap. Schizophrenic?

Multiple personality disorder... We have had that happen here before. There as a fellow by the name of Talon here that apparently had many AS login names. They supposedly collapsed all his user IDs into Talon, and he left the site. Brush Ape was banned from AS and has since gone rogue, and has logged in as other users. Its the internet. I could be some goon in prison for all that anyone here knows. Though I have met a lot of people on here in person at the PNW GTGs, including Bob/Gologit. There have been con artists that have logged in here wanting to sell stuff too, and we have flushed them out pretty fast.

How the hell do you remember all this? Do you still own copies of Encyclopedia Britannicas?

Well, I have a long history and background, including being an electronics engineer, but I have owned several landscaping and arborist business in Oregon and California. I have owned and operated several plant nurseries, and I have certificates in ornamental horticulture and silviculture. When I joined this site I was living with my ex on a 100+ acre sheep ranch and forest site in the boonies in Southern Oregon. She sent me to silviculture school at OSU in Roseburg and I managed 85 acres of trees there, as well as 100 acres for our neighbor. We burned firewood there, and I have been burning firewood for the past 12 years or so now. I have since bought property here in northern Oregon and I have a small woodland lot here in the boonies. There are lots of boonies in the PNW.

 

[Ambull01]

"How the hell do you remember all this? Do you still own copies of Encyclopedia Britannicas?"

That isn't hard to remember if you work in it.

Well I beg to differ. I work in finance so I constantly use Excel. If I'm out of the office for a week or more it takes me a while to relearn what I'm doing. For someone to remember all this stuff they kind of have to love it. Probably why he's on an arborist forum lol.

 

[slowp]

Well I beg to differ. I work in finance so I constantly use Excel. If I'm out of the office for a week or more it takes me a while to relearn what I'm doing. For someone to remember all this stuff they kind of have to love it. Probably why he's on an arborist forum lol.

Well, most of us didn't work in the woods because we hated it. But I'm not an arborist, just a retired "forester" and ended up working with those poor old loggers, who were just trying to make ends meet.....

 

[H-Ranch]

Well, most of us didn't work in the woods because we hated it. But I'm not an arborist, just a retired "forester" and ended up working with those poor old loggers, who were just trying to make ends meet.....

What happened to your belief that everyone has plenty of cash to throw around on chainsaws and guns instead of buying fuel to heat their home?

 

[slowp]

What happened to your belief that everyone has plenty of cash to throw around on chainsaws and guns instead of buying fuel to heat their home?

Another drama king who doesn't get it.... good night.