Pacific Northwest Firewood

[Gkiesel]

Just a dumb question from an eastern flatlander.
You guys up in Washington and Oregon. You have such a predominance of pine forrests, what do you burn for firewood?
I would assume you burn the pine and clean your chimneys more often. I know you have hardwoods and all, but do you also use all that pine?
Thanks, george

 

[Encore]

Seasoned pine doesn't force you to clean your chimney any more than other wood. It just doesn't coal up nearly like hardwoods

 

[Gkiesel]

Got it.
The Pitch pine we have out here is total sap. Burns like hell though, too hot.

 

[Big_Al]

The most popular wood in this area is tamarack or red fir, lodgepole pine is also popular. Doesn't cause any more soot issues than any other wood as long as its dry. As was mentioned it doesn't burn quite as long as tamarack but its easy to find.

 

[H 2 H]

On the wet side of Washington State; I burn Alder; Birch and Fir and I clean the chimney the first week of June every year

 

[D&B Mack]

All evergreens are not pine.

 

[teatersroad]

right, Pine's rare on the west side. If you are close to some pine around here you'd be on the dry side (it's more an inter-mountain system like parts of ID. MT. CO.) so, If I were in the pines (which I am) I'd go cut me some juniper for firewood. plenty of that.

 

[stumpy75]

Been a while since worked out there(southern Oregon Coast), but I had an almost unlimited access to Douglas Fir and Hemlock, so that's what I burned. Used a 30 gallon barrel stove in a mobile home with a single wall pipe out a window!! :msp_scared: And I'm still here to talk about it! :msp_biggrin:

I use pine here in NW Ohio now too, as most people are almost scared to use it. No problems if it's seasoned.

 

[turnkey4099]

Been a while since worked out there(southern Oregon Coast), but I had an almost unlimited access to Douglas Fir and Hemlock, so that's what I burned. Used a 30 gallon barrel stove in a mobile home with a single wall pipe out a window!! :msp_scared: And I'm still here to talk about it! :msp_biggrin:

I use pine here in NW Ohio now too, as most people are almost scared to use it. No problems if it's seasoned.

Mybe we should quit debunking those old wives tales. Leaves the pine, fir, etc for us

Harry K

 

[toqua]

Here in eastern Wa I burn all black locust.

 

[Locust Cutter]

Well he's not on the coast but my Great-Uncle burns Oak, Cedar, Doug Fir and what tamarack he can find. He's near Shasta.

 

[Richard_]

Fir is the most predominant wood here in the Willamette Valley , we also get oak and cedar , pine is mostely on the west side

 

[zogger]

If you have any factories or warehouses near you, you can ask for scrap wood. A lot o stuff is shipped sitting on scrap timbers and framed up on skids, etc. Ususally that is good wood to burn.

 

[ponyexpress976]

Got it.
The Pitch pine we have out here is total sap. Burns like hell though, too hot.

Since dear old Sandy blew through, Ive been inundated with tons of spruce and white pine. Looks like I'll have plenty of shoulder season wood for the next couple of years.

 

[lon]

In southern Oregon, all I burn is madrone. Get a log truck load each spring. Burns clean and gives lots of heat.

 

[El Quachito]

Does Northwest California count? Sure it does. I burn doug fir with black oak, white oak, madrone, alder, tan oak and pepperwood. The hardwoods based on what I can easily extract or find blown down. Old-growth fir if you have it is bad a$$ wood.

 

[slowp]

Ummmm, better study your forestry. There are pines and firs and cedars on the wet side. I just came home with a load of alder, which is a soft hardwood and some of our other native hardwood, big leaf maple.
I prefer to burn Douglas-fir which makes excellent firewood. Right now, I'm getting rid of some gnarly Western Hemlock, which also has short needles but takes a long time to season, and burns quickly.

Most folks in the surrounding area also like Doug-fir.

We have Western White Pine, which grows at the higher elevations, but is not used for firewood, and there is some poor old lodgepole growing near the Cascade crest, which is also not cut for firewood because it is easier to get Doug-fir which burns better.

We like cedar for kindling, when we can get it. I burn what is easy to get, and right now I have a good supply of Red Alder to cut in an apres logging area.

 

[specialev]

In Renton, nearby Seattle, we get a lot of different stuff and I'll burn whatever I can get. I took down a fair few doug firs, a pine, couple of cedar trees, and one nasty diseased big leaf maple this summer. Alder and cottonwood is also really common near me. And for some reason my neighbors have been giving me a bit of work taking out big mature cherry trees too big to get fruit out of so I've had a nice amount of cherry for the last few years too.

I usually clean the chimney once in the summer and once more around easter when I take the xmas lights down if I'm feeling anal retentive.

 

[Vangellis]

Since dear old Sandy blew through, Ive been inundated with tons of spruce and white pine. Looks like I'll have plenty of shoulder season wood for the next couple of years.

This may be the first pine I burn. Now it's all bucked up and along the road in front of the house.:msp_rolleyes:

Kevin

 

[slowp]

That looks more like a fir or a spruce to me. Do your pines have short needles?