Preference in Wood Burning Species?

[Patrick62]

I was told never to burn pines. How can you burn pines/cedar? How often do you clean your chimneys? The buildup has to be bad.

I get some slab wood from the Amish and there is a couple of pieces of pine in there. I figured 1 or 2 pieces wiln't hurt it.

Lots, and lots of pine up here. Usually to be safe folks brush the flue once a year. I personally don't have that problem as I run the stove in the shop Hot over 500 deg when really cold out.

Hardwoods would be really nice. but due to location not practical.

-Pat

 

[pbtree]

Interesting read:

Fire wood characteristics link

And another...

 

[trax]

Interesting read:

Fire wood characteristics link

And another...

Hemlock is a hardwood

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Pine is only somewhat more prone to creosote than other woods. Most of the "don't burn pine" warnings are from people who have never done it, never known anyone who has done it, and have never done much reading on the subject.

Well said. Most of the wood burned in North America is pine. That's what's available most places.

 

[Scott76]

I just finished up cutting a tri-axle of Red Oak, White Oak, Beech, Hickory, Ash, and Hard Maple. That was so much fun. It took us a full day of brother-in-law and I cutting while wife and sister ran the splitter. Then a full day for my wife and I to rank the wood. I hate ranking wood..... We got around 7.5 cords out of the load. I have around 12 cord now. That should be good for 2 years. I still have acres of tree tops to cut. I love cutting wood.

Only got one smashed finger with nerve damage. I didn't even loss the nail.

 

[Newfie]

Hemlock is a hardwood

It's a conifer and considered to be a softwood.

 

[turnkey4099]

It's a conifer and considered to be a softwood.

Oh goodie, here we go again! For the record I am on the side of "if it has leaves it is hardwood, needles it is softwood" Of course that leaves out the odd-balls such as Tamarack.

Harry K

 

[trax]

It's a conifer and considered to be a softwood.

Oh goodie, here we go again! For the record I am on the side of "if it has leaves it is hardwood, needles it is softwood" Of course that leaves out the odd-balls such as Tamarack.

Harry K

I have always considered it a soft wood but in that characteristics link
that was posted it lists it as a hardwood ???

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Interesting read:

Fire wood characteristics link

And another...

If you notice, it also lists Poplar and Willow as "softwoods". Theyr'e soft hardwoods as far as I know!

 

[CNYCountry]

Hemlock burns like softwood, i.e. it burns like crap. I wish it burned better, I have tons of the crap. Good for fenceposts or anything else you don't want to rot, that's about it.

 

[Newfie]

Hemlock burns like softwood, i.e. it burns like crap. I wish it burned better, I have tons of the crap. Good for fenceposts or anything else you don't want to rot, that's about it.

It's heavy as sh!t too. Burns just fine, just too fast and poor coals. Low btu's for the effort. I'd burn it before I burn pine though.

 

[CNYCountry]

It's heavy as sh!t too. Burns just fine, just too fast and poor coals. Low btu's for the effort. I'd burn it before I burn pine though.

Yeah, I should have qualified "burns like crap". It's gone too fast for the effort of cutting, splitting and drying it, at least if you have hardwood around everywhere...

 

[v8titan]

Does anyone have a link that speaks to the relative seasoning time for various species of firewood? I know that oak generally takes the longest and that Ash seasons up quite quickly. I though I ran across a page once but cannot seem to find it now.

Tom

 

[opus]

Wow, you guys have it made!

Pine, Fir, Tamarack for winter wood.

Spring wood is Willow, Cottonwood, Alder, and cow chips

 

[Sprig]

Heya Opus, other than it stinks whats the matter with nice dry willow, I have always found it nice when fully dry. But I agree about cottonwood, burned lots and it sux bt. and wtf is this about cow pies? Come on bud, they are great to cook with!

seriously though, on the west coast, other than arbutus and scarce other hardwoods, fir is the cadillac of woods imho, we suffer with balsam fir and pines, which are ok, but nothing like a nice dry log of dougy fir on the hearth to keeps ya warm.

 

[opus]

Willow is good, but its spring wood. It would take gobs of it for winter use. We burn a bit of aspen in the spring as well.

Cow pies are great!

Tamarack and fir are great. Sure would love to get hold of some oak, ash, ironwood, osage orange, locust, etc. Havent seen any of that in a lot of years.

In all actuality, I will burn whatever I can get my hands on around here.

 

[Scott76]

You mean that you burn cow crap? I helped on farms and I can see that they would burn, BUT COW CRAP!!!!

How long do they burn? What type of heat do you get from that?

 

[opus]

You mean that you burn cow crap? I helped on farms and I can see that they would burn, BUT COW CRAP!!!!

How long do they burn? What type of heat do you get from that?

It burns a little bit hotter than snowballs. We dont burn them much. Fortunately, everywhere you look here there is a tree.

 

[1CallLandscape]

Ok, ill probably make all of you west coasters jealous but up east here in cape cod, MA we dont have ANY problem geting some decent hardwoods.. such as Black locust, red and white oak, choke cherry, swamp and sugar maple and tupelo. mapel and locust are my favorites , Locust burns great green if you put it in a hot fire. i can at any given moment drive up the road and find already cut hardwoods in peoples yards. i just stop and ask them if they want it. generally they dont. it also helps that my father is a dpw foreman and leaves the cut wood off the road for me. hahahaha!!! Pine up here is only good for carving otherthan that we just chip the ???? and dump it. ocassionally if i come across a standing dead one they are as hard as any oak.

-mike

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Ok, ill probably make all of you west coasters jealous but up east here in cape cod, MA we dont have ANY problem geting some decent hardwoods.. such as Black locust, red and white oak, choke cherry, swamp and sugar maple and tupelo. mapel and locust are my favorites , Locust burns great green if you put it in a hot fire. i can at any given moment drive up the road and find already cut hardwoods in peoples yards. i just stop and ask them if they want it. generally they dont. it also helps that my father is a dpw foreman and leaves the cut wood off the road for me. hahahaha!!! Pine up here is only good for carving otherthan that we just chip the ???? and dump it. ocassionally if i come across a standing dead one they are as hard as any oak.

-mike

A few years back I visited up your way and talked to the gals at the Bow & Arrow stove shop-is it still in business? Very nice gals .I asked them about the wood situation up there and they said that it wasn't too good; scrub Oak, some other hardwoods, etc. But I remember taking the Cape Cod Railroad train ride and seeing White Birch, Oaks and more hardwoods like you mentioned. Interesting...