That's the power of softwoods. They can be real game changers. Enabling the harder woods longer to season, and to be kept in the stacks until colder weather strikes.
you don't have the same ratio of oxygen and even fire temperatures in a pit vs a wood stove. Although there is a complex cocktail of chemicals in wood smoke, the design of a modern wood stove is supposed to cook, burn and incinerate (most of) them more better than an open fireplace or back yard open pit. It shouldn't be surprising then that when there are burn bans due to poor air quality, outdoor and/or free burning is on the top of the list for activities to cease.
No it was dead when i cut it and it was stacked for a couple of years before i burnt any of it. Just to be clear it did not smoke much but the smoke was much darker then any other wood i have burnt in the firepit. I was just wondering if that was normal.
Never checked it, tree had been dead for a few years so no sap when cut and then it was stacked for at least 2 years. It burnt good.
Couple Summers ago i sawed off a bunch of limbs from a huge rotting pine tree. The limbs were solid and dense. When we burned them lots of blackish smoke like you speak of. A lot of resins in the limb wood, just like fatwood.
I've noticed a direct correlation between the amount of sap and the moisture content of the wood. Been processing a lot of pine lately that's been in windrows and drying for about a year, anything that pops and isn't stringy is well under 20% moisture, can't get the moisture meter to even read anything sometimes. Any sap present or that strong pine smell means it's not ready to go yet (IMHO). Not saying that the sap disappears, it's just not noticeable when dry. The super dry stuff burns like paper and we love it. I have noticed blackish smoke from wood that is closer to 20%, but the stove chews it all up. Just my 2c.
I've been told that you shouldn't burn really dry wood because it will burn too quickly and wont hold a fire.
The kicker was: right after I got that advise, the guy follows it up with "but I don't burn that often".
If you had some pine stacked and split for 2 years it would be dry. I burn about 1 1/2 cord of pine every year with no issues at all. As far as the smoke goes I cannot give an answer except that the pine you have there could be different from what I burn here. But if it is dry, which it is after two years I would not worry about burning it in anything and having any issues with it. I am burning some right now and the house is nice and toasty. Half of my 3 year plan is all pine.
Eastern white pine is one wood I will confidently burn after 6 months of being CSS. I’m using some for kindling this fall that I processed in May. I wouldn’t burn the real knotty pieces quite yet unless I had nothing else, but even those feel light as can be.
I've been burning quite a bit of EWP that was bucked and split in February of 2020. Without it id be up chits creek with no paddle
