Here in the Rockies we have Ponderosa Pine (Latin: heavy pine), and it is VERY heavy when green. Since we're surrounded by it, most of my neighbors burn nothing but Pondo. Like any pine variety you don't want to burn it till good and dry, but everything dries quickly here. If I buck and split by June, expose the pile to sun and breeze, it's good to go in the fall.
I burn a fair bit of it (and give away many tons of rounds from my commercial cutting). It's good for quick heat when you start the evening fire, after which I usually switch to hardwood. Split it into large chunks rather than small splits, and it makes a good fuel--just don't expect to get an overnight burn from it.
Every now and then I run across what I call a "buckskin" stump in the woods, and these are fire-starter gold. Buckskin, because it's a gray-brown color. The bark is long gone from these stumps, they tend to be 8--12" diameter. I don't know what causes them, as most other stumps just rot. But these guys have cured rock-hard and over a number of years, and inside they are dense with pitch and smell like turpentine. You can kick them loose from the ground. You wouldn't want to put a whole one in the stove, unless you like to see cherry red iron and fear for your flue. But split them up into little splits and you have fat wood like the guys in Georgia and thereabout get from yellow pine. Touch a match to these pieces and they burn with black smoke.
And I'll second the bit about pine knots. The connection of limb to bole in the tree is pitch-heavy, hot burning stuff.
I burn a fair bit of it (and give away many tons of rounds from my commercial cutting). It's good for quick heat when you start the evening fire, after which I usually switch to hardwood. Split it into large chunks rather than small splits, and it makes a good fuel--just don't expect to get an overnight burn from it.
Every now and then I run across what I call a "buckskin" stump in the woods, and these are fire-starter gold. Buckskin, because it's a gray-brown color. The bark is long gone from these stumps, they tend to be 8--12" diameter. I don't know what causes them, as most other stumps just rot. But these guys have cured rock-hard and over a number of years, and inside they are dense with pitch and smell like turpentine. You can kick them loose from the ground. You wouldn't want to put a whole one in the stove, unless you like to see cherry red iron and fear for your flue. But split them up into little splits and you have fat wood like the guys in Georgia and thereabout get from yellow pine. Touch a match to these pieces and they burn with black smoke.
And I'll second the bit about pine knots. The connection of limb to bole in the tree is pitch-heavy, hot burning stuff.
