burning pine..

[Doc Hickory]

Like many of the guys are saying: let it season a year and let your stove draw. Creosote forms when the exhaust temps fall too low so as long as you give your stove plenty of air you'll be ok. I had about 2 p/u loads of half rotten mixed yellow/white pine last winter and that pile lasted a long time. Every time I got some for my woodrack out of the pile I couldn't believe I hauled that trash home, but it still put out a bunch of heat. Had some sad looking apple/maple mixed in with it too. What can I say, it was all 'gimme' wood, just cost me the gas to haul it home.

 

[Greener]

I burn a lot of softwood here in the PNW, mostly fir, with some hemlock and spruce. I usually split it and through it in a pile in the sun over the summer. And actually, if I get it stacked in the shed by september, it is usually ready to go for a December fire. Pine will make more ash than other wood but burns fast. If you have a big supply, go for it. Hell, I burn cottonwood in the spring and fall from time to time-because it's plentiful here.

 

[artbaldoni]

Just started burning pine in the OWB. I have tons that I never thought was good for anything. Brainwashed Pennsylvanian I guess. :bang:

It works great. Still get 24 hour burns in the mild temps. Can't wait to see how it does in the cold weather.

 

[Coldfront]

I have been burning dry white pine for about a year now I found that a couple of big pieces of pine with a medium piece of oak on top works out great, the pine burns up all the oak coals into powder ash. And with the pine I can shut down the air intake quite a bit and still keep the stack burning at 400-500 degrees f Pine is good wood it burns hot puts out a lot of btu's is generally free for the taking, it just doesn't burn as long or leave a good bed of coals like oak. btw I burn 2 free standing inside stoves and heat my 2400 sq ft house 100% with wood heat.

 

[snowdingo]

I'm burning all lodgepole pine right now, saving the birch for the colder months. In northern BC the bettle-kill pine is extensive so there is an unlimited supply of standing dead pine timber. It burns faster than the birch, but since it is free and plentiful, I don't mind it at all!

 

[kodiakyardboy]

I personally think the problem with burning pine is that it WILL burn very well green with its sap so flammable putting the moisture on to the walls of the flue. Sap from other wood isn't as flammable when burned green.

Thoughts?

That's the problem here. The only kind of tree on the island is Spruce and the lazy people won't ever cut their own wood. All the firewood for sale is green spruce tops from the logging operation and people split and burn the same day. Those of us who know better are a year ahead of the game and don't have chimney fires. I always have a waiting list for the firewood I sell because I cut standing dead and season for 6 months.

 

[fauxknee]

All dried wood burns

Ever seen a house built? Ever seen a house fire? Ever seen oak 2x4's at the home depot? I've had some tough times and burned pallets for the past 5 years. Wasted good money on a brush and rods to clean my chimney this summer because after all that terrible pine wood I burned my chimney was almost like brand new. Never came close to a remote chance of a chimney fire. I saw a chimney fire once when i was a kid and it was in the oldest home in my town with a chimney that hadn't ever been cleaned. Come on people, theres a whole lot of BS about pine. dry it and burn it...end of story. go lite up the home depot if you disagree. Maybe it's the democrats that want you to believe that pine is bad because they've invested heavily in hardwood forestland. Nancy Pelosi is from my hometown of Baltimore and there's lots of oak here. I've lost many nights sleep over the poor folk that live out west and have to burn conifers. Godspeed to y'all and I hope you get indoor plumbing soon. And don't worry about me, I've found some real firewood.

 

[wagz]

so you guys that burn pine, are you letting it run wide open during the day to keep the creosote buildup low and then dampering down at night?

 

[Garmins dad]

so you guys that burn pine, are you letting it run wide open during the day to keep the creosote buildup low and then dampering down at night?

I run her where it needs to be to keep the house nice.. Some days thats wide open then fill her full of wood before i go to bed and slow it down to 1/3 open. Other days it's 1/3rd open all day.. All depends on if it's -45f outside or 22f.

 

[Angelos]

I usually combine pine with olive tree wood.Sometimes it's only pine.I always remove the bark first. During the night I place a big chunk of olive tree wood and last till morning.

 

[turnkey4099]

so you guys that burn pine, are you letting it run wide open during the day to keep the creosote buildup low and then dampering down at night?

There is no particular way to burn "pine" It is wood, it burns, We run our stoves by adjusting air supplyh to control the fire.

Forget the "Old Wives Tales".

I grew up in the 40s/50s - almost every house heated with PINE. Number of fires? 1 and it was started by something else in July.

Harry K

 

[artbaldoni]

Maybe it's the democrats that want you to believe that pine is bad because they've invested heavily in hardwood forestland. Nancy Pelosi is from my hometown of Baltimore and there's lots of oak here.

How can burning pine be a politically charged topic?

WOw, it must be an election year...:spam:

 

[Henry and Wanda]

Hello,
I used to burn pine at my last house. We had a lot of pines on our property ( Pasadena, Md.) and they were always blowing over in storms. So I would cut them up, split them, dry them and burn them in the wood stove. I had enough after a while that I could wait 2 years before burning.......this really made them very dry and I would also burn the stove hot, so I never had any creosote problems !!!!! I read through all 7 pages of this thread and didn't see anyone comment on stacking the wood after being split !!!!! Since pine really shrinks up a lot during the time it is drying, my wood stacks were always shifting. Every so often I would have to take the sledge hammer or a good sized log and try to beat the wood back into a vertical stack. The wood would shift one way or the other as it dried !!! If I didn't do this, they would eventually fall over. That was the only complaint I had about burning pine. It was very irritating to see one of the stacks over on the ground after you had spent so much effort and time stacking it !!!! Stacking is also my least favorite aspect of burning wood !!!!!

Henry and Wanda

 

[ole yukon]

My grandpa always said "if it will fit in the stove, I burn it". I have been one of those who burnt anything other than pine. The main reason I avoided pine was I HATE pine sap lol. I have a dead pine in my daughters yard that I need to cut down. After reading this thread, I may consider splitting it and burning it. If not I will give it to my neighbor who has an OWB.

 

[arborealbuffoon]

An old book I used to have covered all aspects of wood burning extensively. The chapter about firewood "quality" (wood density) had the usual chart of BTU's per unit of volume. At the end of the chapter, it was pointed out that the "best" wood was that which falls closest to the stove. In these times of insane fuel prices, I find this to be especially true.

At our place in the Black Hills of SD there is so much pine everywhere that you could fuel a large power plant 24/7 with it and never run low. The mountain pine beetle has devastated huge swaths of the forest there, and the standing dead that has dropped its needles is virtually ready to burn right off the stump. I just spent two weeks out there and burned ponderosa pine exclusively. Gee, I never got cold and didn't even have a chimney fire. Back here in Iowa, hardwood snobs will haul pine to the landfill while fighting over the oak and hickory. People aren't always too smart, I have discovered.....

 

[gtsawyer]

Seasoned pine burns hot and clean.

Things I like about pine:
- the sound of dry pine when it's split. It sometimes splits with a nice "ping" to it - kind of like a musical instrument.
- the smell of the wood
- the smell of the smoke
- it's easy to move around (if it's seasoned, it's pretty light stuff)
- it lights very easily, so it's a great way to start a fire

Things I don't like about pine:
- I hate the pitch on some trees. HATE
- It burns too fast; it's a low-btu density wood
- pine knots bother me for some reason, so I split every piece like a piece of pie - radially from the center of the round.

 

[Steve NW WI]

I've been burning pine (actually a mix of different softwoods, probably some pine, some fir, some spruce) since late September exclusively. This is waste wood from work, 4' long 4x4s I cut down to 16". It's good and dry, burns hot, and leaves almost no ash. I really like it for this time of year. If need be, I can fill my big firebox on the old wood furnace full and get 8+ hours with it damped down, or get a quick warmup out of a 1/2 full firebox running hot and fast. I have an outdoor clay lined masonry chimney (aka creosote factory), but with the usual smaller hotter fires, it's cleaner than it would be burning hardwoods damped down.

Someone made a comment in another thread about this being something "poor people" did. I'm not independently wealthy, but I know that free wood that would otherwise go to waste, that takes almost no time to process and burns great, makes me more wealthy by not burning "good" wood when it's not needed, and keeping the furnace off. Ron White said you can't fix stupid, I'll add that ignorant is tough to deal with as well.

 

[turnkey4099]

I've been burning pine (actually a mix of different softwoods, probably some pine, some fir, some spruce) since late September exclusively. This is waste wood from work, 4' long 4x4s I cut down to 16". It's good and dry, burns hot, and leaves almost no ash. I really like it for this time of year. If need be, I can fill my big firebox on the old wood furnace full and get 8+ hours with it damped down, or get a quick warmup out of a 1/2 full firebox running hot and fast. I have an outdoor clay lined masonry chimney (aka creosote factory), but with the usual smaller hotter fires, it's cleaner than it would be burning hardwoods damped down.

Someone made a comment in another thread about this being something "poor people" did. I'm not independently wealthy, but I know that free wood that would otherwise go to waste, that takes almost no time to process and burns great, makes me more wealthy by not burning "good" wood when it's not needed, and keeping the furnace off. Ron White said you can't fix stupid, I'll add that ignorant is tough to deal with as well.

Yep, the "old wives tales" live forever and the ones spreading them are the ones who know nothing about it. e.g., burning pine - the "you'll burn your house down" bunch are ones who have never burned pine and never knew anyone who had.

Harry K

 

[Rsquared]

I'm with Steve on this one. Free is free and if it heats and saves the "so called" good wood and LP or natural gas, that is a bonus. I am still in the novice stage of wood burning, but I have burned pine, box elder, apple, birch, oak, and ash so far. I want to be warm when the weather calls for it plain and simple. I used pine quite a bit last year while I was home to feed the fire and yes while it burns fast, it does keep the house warm. My elderly neighbor who has heated with wood for 40 plus years, says he isn't happy if he doesn't have at least a cord of pine each winter to burn at some point. His house is still there. :biggrin:

 

[darkbyrd]

Best one I heard was "white pine is crappy firewood -- it doesn't burn"