I made my stair treads from blue pine. Had Hesters in Kremmling mill some 4 x 12's for me, I did the rest. Minwax #245 Golden Pecan and beetle-kill pine make a beautifullll combination.
Lodge Pole Pine is not a like any of the hard woods in btu's but it kept me warm all winter long and and kept my propane bill down to 30 dollars a month.
The beetles destroy the cambium layer of the tree and the tree is no longer able to move water or nutrients up the trunk. To make matters worse once a tree is infested the tree will start sapping out the holes bored by the beetles further drying the tree.
The beetle-kill never really hit my canyon. I have a couple of "dead lines" above me, but they run horizontal so we figure they're not a beetle, just one of those things. Talked to a Forester a while back, asked him about fire danger. His response- "Phfffttttt!!..." Central mountains have been really wet, lots of rain this summer.
Wildfire is always a threat and the wet years only add fuel to the fire at a later time. I suppose it is like anywhere else that has natural disasters like flooding or hurricanes. We prepare our evacuation plans, load up on insurance and pray nobody gets killed in the processes.
I felled about 18 trees so far this year and a lot of those have huge cracks about half way through them all the way up the trunk. So it sounds like the trees get the double whammy from the infestation. No wonder they are so dry.
I know that on my elk hunts up to Teton national park that about one third of the forest I have seen is dead. Sad to see such devastation.
Just watch out for the "barber poles". If they don't drop into a close canopy, they can get ....excitable, to say the least. Those long vertical seams are something to watch out for, I've pinched a bar or two. Just stay safe.
Every now and then I miss read the lean and the tree starts to set back. I carry about 150' of steel cable to pull them over in those cases. I have also hung a few up on other trees too. So once again I just hook up to the tree and pull it down.
+1 Tough sometimes to figure the correct cut, trying to balance with your left leg fully extended and your right knee kissing your ear. That may sound extreme,- but it's not. Chains and come-a-longs have been my friends for years.
That beetle kill lodgepole has been our staple firewood for quite a few years now. I also like that it's also relatively straight grained and easy to split too, and free of sticky sap. I find it interesting that the standing dead lodgepoles trees are generally a lot drier then the windfall trees that have been blown over and are uprooted. It seems once they blow over on their sides they start to re-absorb water again and are often >30% moisture content or, if they have been lying that way long enough, they are rotten. I chalk that up to the fact that the trunks of the trees on their sides are more exposed to the rain and snow, and less exposed to drying winds.
So I had about a half of cord of beetle kill pine left over from last year that had been split and stacked now for 2 summers. I decided to split some of the larger pieces and take a moisture reading. This wood is down to 10% and the smaller splits are at 8%. They sound like dried out 2x4's when hit together.
I expect it to burn hot and fast but I do have some other wood I can mix in with it. I also have a bunch of uglys this year that is dry enouph that can be burned. I am looking forward to getting rid of those piles.
Red/White elm is like this, dead standing and barkless for about 3 years and you have yourself goodish firewood. Tough to split by hand but it's worth it in a pinch, the red is a better tree though firewood wise. An unfortunate result of the Dutch Elm Disease.
My wood is always that dry. I can close the fireview air down and with a full load and get 8-10 hour burns with it. So it is possible to get a good and slow burn with it. On the up side to start a fire you only need to rub 2 pieces together.
