Burning pine

[DJ4wd]

This may show just how narrow minded my family and I are,but I'll ask anyway. All I've ever heard is "never burn pine" due to the sap/creosote that they give off will build up to fast to deal with. So I've never messed with it,and at one time passed on 200 trees of big stuff. I assumed this line of thinking came from dad,who on the whole gives awesome advice. However I noticed a house on the way to town cut a bunch of this stuff and split and stacked it 4 years ago. Could it be he's drying it out? :crazy1:

 

[Circle B MN]

Out west all they have is pine, and they burn a lot of it. Season it like any other wood and burn away.

 

[Rookie1]

I was always told not to burn it. Then I came here and expanded my horizons. Ive burned it, alone and mixed with other types of wood. As far as I know my house hasnt burned down yet. The members in the way up north only have pines and they seem to survive ok. All Ill say is if I have a choice between a pine or oak Ill take the oak. If all there is is pine Im burnin it.

 

[leon]

pine firewood

As long as the pine is dry or nearly so the better it is to burn.

You need to have a very hot fire if the pine or hemlock is wet and good forced draft and or do what I did recently
where I bought a 12 by 12 inch piece of channel iron to set over my coal grates which allows me to shake my grates with lots of clearance.

(The last years burning season was proof as I should have done this 28 years ago as the coal burns better too with few clinkers.)


I then filled my indoor boiler half full of fire brick to make a huge themal mass to hold heat and aid in combustion and believe me it works and the fire brick stores the heat for you and it burns hotter with much less smoke. the fire brick holds the heat and having the damper wide open if you have a natural draft is not much of an issue as the fire brick is aiding in burning most if not all of the smoke.

Dont buy the thin fire bricks as they crack too easily, buy the standard size firebricks or the 12 by 12 fire bricks crappiekieth offers for sale I would have bought those from him.


leon

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Pine is fine. The "pine will kill you with creosote!!!" is an old wives tale. Not true.

Burns faster & hotter than hardwoods.

 

[Ohiowoodguy]

Pine doesn't cause creosote, moisture does. Creosote and "pitch" are 2 totally different substances. I love burning pine when I'm up in Northern B.C. Easy to light, burns hot, smells good, and leaves nearly no ash.

 

[mga]

i've said it before and i'll say it again: i ain't proud...i burn pine...as long as it's free.

i just mix it with other wood.

 

[forestryworks]

Out west all they have is pine, and they burn a lot of it. Season it like any other wood and burn away.

don't forget fir. doug fir is better to burn than any pine. firs are generally less pitchy.

 

[komatsuvarna]

i've said it before and i'll say it again: i ain't proud...i burn pine...as long as it's free.

i just mix it with other wood.

:agree2: Ive burnt it before. I usually wont even take it if its free. There is plenty of hardwood around here and I usually only burn it if its something that needs to be removed off my property. Just make sure its dry. White pine has a btu rating of about 14/15 MBTU. Oaks and hickorys is around 25-27 MBTU.

 

[Metals406]

The best softwoods are listed by BTU. . . Western Larch and Doug Fir are tops here. . . Then pines. . . Then softer Firs' like Subalpine and Grand Fir (White Fir).

If we had hardwoods, we'd probably burn them too. My bro-in-law is from St. Cloud MN, and had no problem segueing to the firewoods here. You can get an all night burn no problem.

Some folks down Nebraska way only have Black Cottonwood to burn, so think about how they feel?

Although, the hottest fire my stove ever saw was from Black Cottonwood. . . The coal-bed was white hot. . . It sagged the cast grate in the stove. The biggest issue/problem with Cottonwood as I see it is excessive ash. . . Ya gotta empty the ash pan more often.

Look at some of these BTU numbers. . . Softwoods ain't as bad as they're made out to be: http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm

 

[ms310]

I burn pine all the time in my owb, as well as cottonwood, and poplar, for some reason I get all the softwoods, and everyone else gets the hard woods :monkey:

 

[Wood Doctor]

Burn Pine in the Campfire Pit

I burn pine all the time in my campfire pit. I tend to use it only for kindling in the wood stove connected to my chimney. That's my precaution. I've been told that I'm too conservative, but they also said Ronald Raegan was too conservative. Now he's listed by most Americans as one of the best Presidents who ever lived in the White House.

 

[CWME]

I have been burning it for about a month and a half now. All I had dry once our new house was done and we moved in. I don't see any issues so far. I have about 5 cords cut split and stacked. Another 5 cords to go and then I am done with pine unless it is free again.

We cleared our lot for the house and that is where I got all the "free" pine.

My Church runs a school and occasionally some of the kids get into trouble... Well I have three coming over tomorrow morning to work of some community service time they earned. They have plenty of fresh split pine to stack

 

[DJ4wd]

Thanks guys I thought about it in the past ,but just put it out of my mind as a bad Idea lol Maybe I could ask my neighbor about it again.

Good for you CWME

 

[magna19]

aint proud,got pine seasoning right now from last year cut. i been getting it for free,cut to nice 18" length,so i just stack it and let it dry for a yr or so,then split and stack it for this years burn.

hey its FREE!!!!

 

[Native87]

In my neck of the woods and after last winters deathgrip............... Anything Burns Better Than A Snowball.

 

[Junkrunner]

Ain't that the truth. I cut two white pines 18 months ago. I cut it into 18" pieces, and stacked. This past weekend I split some, and it's still wet.

My opion is, you gotta split-it, to season-it, in a timely manner. I believe it would rot before it dried. Removing the bark seems to help.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Don't Feel Like a Monkey

I burn pine all the time in my owb, as well as cottonwood, and poplar, for some reason I get all the softwoods, and everyone else gets the hard woods :monkey:

And you get the quickest and hottest fires there are if you burn pine, cottonwood, and poplar. When its cold outside and I want to warm up, I'll take 100 lb of good cottonwood over 100 lb of oak any day.

 

[skmag357]

Ain't that the truth. I cut two white pines 18 months ago. I cut it into 18" pieces, and stacked. This past weekend I split some, and it's still wet.

My opion is, you gotta split-it, to season-it, in a timely manner. I believe it would rot before it dried. Removing the bark seems to help.

I had some blue spruce wood from a tree that fell in my yard. I cut it and stacked it to dry for about 7 months. It started to rot fast than it could dry and started to get termites...I trashed it after that

 

[mtfallsmikey]

I use a lot of it in the OWB in fall/spring. The standing dead pine that has shed the bark and is grey in color is harder than a bull's head.