I have a large pine tree in my front yard with some large pine cones that need to be cleaned up, so yes when collected they go into 5-gallon buckets to be used as fire starters and they work great. Also use the pine needles to cover the strawberry plants, and the rose bushes.
I have used them to jump start my last three fires, to excellent effect. Luckily we have numerous giant white pines on the property. So there’s lots more where these came from… We’ll keep using them.
Ps I stumbled across OP sirbuildalot ‘s video in my YT algo, so how do ya like that? I figured hey - we got white pines everywhere, so why not give that idea a whirl? Then I ran across it here. Heh heh.
Yah I've been thinking about this thread for the last couple days. As a kid I tried to start fires with the pine cones with no success. But they weren't dry I'd guess. How long do they have to season before they can be used? Cause I have tons and'd like to give it a go....
I get a boat ton of pine cones from 2 trees. I once had a fleeting thought about burning them, but that was about it. I'll to dry some and try it.
I made a couple pine cone wreaths back then, soak them in water the scales fold up for wiring. As they dry the scales lift up and stick out again. So I might choose the ones that are have scales are sticking out the most? They'd crunch if I stepped on one.
Being dry is the absolute key for them to light easy and burn good. If you leave them in a dry room/area they’ll take a good month to dry I’d say. You can speed up the process by putting them on a cookie sheet in the oven on low (200f or so) for maybe 45 minutes-1 hour. You can also put them next to the running stove to dry quicker. You can tell they are dry when they get non flexible, hard and brittle. When you collect them look for ones that are really opened up. Happy hunting
This oddly came up yesterday at Thanksgiving. The conversation rolled into the amount of pinecones on the ground this year. I mentioned I was able to grab quite a few and set them aside for fire starters. A family member cautioned me “They’re filled with pitch and that will end up in your chimney!” I politely said I’d be mindful. ; )
