Wood drying time, I can believe it!

[streeter]

First off, I grew up back east (Buffalo N.Y.). I am used to drying wood for 2+ years. I moved to Utah and exwife never wanted a wood stove (I lived in salt lake city). Now...I brought home (2+cords) last month some very wet ponderosa pine, I pulled it off the trailer and stacked it. Today, I was out and cleaning up the yard and looked at the pile of wood. I just went OMG! It was dry cracking BAD!!!! I decided to grab the chainsaw and finish bucking the logs. I could not believe it........They (mostly) where dry!
This is the first year I cut my own wood in Arizona, but still, I can not believe the logs are that dry already!!

 

[Engineeredlawns]

Not very humid out there. It takes longer for wood to dry at 50-90% humidity than at 20-40% humidity. 2 year old would might go up like a match.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

We were in Colorado hiking one year at about 10,000 feet altitude and came across a fresh "meadow muffin" that was left on the trail by an Elk - or some large animal.....and it was wet and still steamy.

The sun was hnot and the air was extremely dry and about a 2 hours later when we returned on the same trail the dropping was all dried up. Here in the Cincinnati/northern Kentucky area at 90% humidity in the summer it would have taken days for that "meadow muffin" to dry up! The cow droppings can stay dangerous for a long time around here.

 

[redprospector]

Yep, P Pine dries pretty quick in the Southwest. I know that here if it get's to 35% humidity it's considered pretty high. I think it was this morning the weather man was saying it was around 10% (I wasn't paying that much attention), that's why we have forest fires worse than the east.

Andy

 

[extraspecialman]

yall actually burn pine out there?

 

[streeter]

The last month we have had winds eveyday and humidity has dipped into the single digits. As for what I burn...anything I can get my hands on out here

Doug

 

[extraspecialman]

Pine gets sink holed around here,along with poplar ,walnut,elm and alot of other wood.I like elm myself,although it stinks.Anyhow,how does that pine do as fuel.Burn time,btus,creosote?

 

[myzamboni]

yall actually burn pine out there?

I burn pine almost exclusively out here. It is most abundant on Craigslist for free. It dries in 3-6 months. I don't burn 24/7, so that fact that is burns hot and fast really helps take that chill off after work (and in the morning on weekends).

If seasoned, the whole creosote myth is just that, a myth. It also leaves less ash than hardwoods.

We don't have Black Locust, Beech, and Hickory out here. Oak is ~400/cord so the free pine is plenty fine.

 

[streeter]

I burned alittle over a cord of pine, the rest was tamarack and eucalyptus. Just by the ash I can tell what I burned. My chimney is clean.

I agree with Myzamboni, just a myth.

I am trying to track down places I can cut oak and eucalyptus so I can have those long burns when it get cold.

Doug

 

[JUDGE1162]

How does the tamarack burn, I took one down 24" DBH to make room for my new garage, I don't usually burn pine (have a ton of oak and hard maple on my property) but figured why waste the wood.

 

[Patrick62]

Every now, and then....

.... someone can't believe that we burn pine out here.

Well, what else would we burn? There are a few things that I have around here that I consider "trashy". Cottonwood, top of the list. But, if I was OUT of anything, I would burn that!

As for drying time, I have two things here that help. Wind and sun.
I can dry it to burnable in about 6 months, if it is split. 1 year would get it to very nice dry firewood.

-Pat

 

[InTheFlow]

This was my first year burning. My wife and I burned a cord of hardwood and almost a cord of pine. We absolutely LOVE the pine! It burns great in our Napoleon 1100 and it smells fantastic! We plan on burning pine exclusively next year.

I find it kind of funny that no one seems to like pine except for those of us out west.

If I can get a truck I should be able to get some wood from the pine forests out here for about $10 a cord. I'm new to all this though and since I don't have a truck may need to just buy rounds this year and do my own splitting.

 

[redprospector]

This was my first year burning. My wife and I burned a cord of hardwood and almost a cord of pine. We absolutely LOVE the pine! It burns great in our Napoleon 1100 and it smells fantastic! We plan on burning pine exclusively next year.

I find it kind of funny that no one seems to like pine except for those of us out west.

If I can get a truck I should be able to get some wood from the pine forests out here for about $10 a cord. I'm new to all this though and since I don't have a truck may need to just buy rounds this year and do my own splitting.

Try getting in touch with a thinning contractor working on private land in your area. I give away a lot of wood (Pine & Fir). I have people come by the job after work and I load their trailer with firewood logs untill they say woah. That's one of the most challanging parts of my job........Figuring out where to go with all the wood.

Andy

 

[InTheFlow]

Thanks for the tip Andy!

Would that kind of company be listed under 'thinning contractors' in the yellow pages or should I be looking for something more general?

 

[redprospector]

No telling what they would be under in the Yellow Pages. Try getting in touch with your state forestry, they may have a list of contractors in your area.

Andy

 

[chainsawaddict]

Try getting in touch with a thinning contractor working on private land in your area. I give away a lot of wood (Pine & Fir). I have people come by the job after work and I load their trailer with firewood logs untill they say woah. That's one of the most challanging parts of my job........Figuring out where to go with all the wood.

Andy

Another idea...if there is national forest nearby, go to the forest service and get a firewood permit. for $20 i get to cut 4 cords of wood on the "honor system" out of their piles. I can cut and load a pickup in under an hour. I found some pine that was pretty dry and am burning it right now. Nice and HOT! I really like it. I figure Ill just start using it at the beginning and end of the season and save the little hardwood i get for January and February.

 

[streeter]

.... someone can't believe that we burn pine out here.

Well, what else would we burn? There are a few things that I have around here that I consider "trashy". Cottonwood, top of the list. But, if I was OUT of anything, I would burn that!

As for drying time, I have two things here that help. Wind and sun.
I can dry it to burnable in about 6 months, if it is split. 1 year would get it to very nice dry firewood.

-Pat

Just came home and decided to look at the wood I bucked last week. I guess I have to split sunday or monday. It has been over 70's and winds have been blowing 15+ mph with humidity in single digits already.
Well off to Biker weekend (laughlin river run), I might split depends on hangover status

Doug

 

[peterrum]

Just came home and decided to look at the wood I bucked last week. I guess I have to split sunday or monday. It has been over 70's and winds have been blowing 15+ mph with humidity in single digits already.

Doug

Our weather can get like that as well and sometimes during the summer we can get humidity levels into the single digits. Burn alot of PP here as well but prefer to put fir or larch on top of it after a good base pine fire. Most of the forests in my area are getting destroyed by the pine beetle so we have alot of that available to burn. Where I am it takes about a year to get the wood good and dry for the woodstove. Interesting how other areas consider pine as junk for the woodstove and we all burn it out west.