Pine is Fine

This morning I was trying to get a quick warm-up fire going, and all I had in the rack was Douglas Fir and Tamarack. Where's the pine when you need it?! I am appreciating it's good qualities (quick hot fires) more each day.

 

No pine in my stacks, but I love my dry silver maple for the same reason. Almost self ignites it's so dry.

Will you come onto more pine later?

 

There is plenty more where it came from, just none at hand this morning.

 

X2!!!

 

I do love pine as well for the same reasons you do. I was stuck this season with nothing but hardwoods, some that people might give their left arm for, but I hate the stuff. 3 year seasoned Black Birch, Black Locust, White and Chestnut Oak, Hickory, a little Cherry and a few sticks of Red Maple. I'd much rather have Pine and Poplar.

But, on the bright side, I have 4 to 5 cord of White Pine sitting in the shed with Cherry, Ash, and Walnut on the sides for a total of 7 cord sitting there since August of 2015 (C/S/S). The other 4 cord I have is nothing but that stinkin 3 plus year seasoned hardwood.

 

I like to mix 'em, soft and hard that is. Some pine or poplar for that quick hot fire, and a chunk or two of hardwood to leave some long lasting coals

 

Why do you dislike HWs so much?

 

Simply, it's too much heat for too long. And the more I insulate and seal the house, the worse it gets. My intention is to be able to burn a half cord of pine and poplar a season, rather than the cord and a half to two cord that I had been averaging.

I'm not saying it doesn't get cold here, it does! I've seen it get as low as 5 degrees with winds in excess of 60mph. But in the process of making my home more efficient, I have developed a disdain for hardwoods, because as I said, it's too much heat for too long. Last year, all I burned was pine and poplar, and I was happy with the amount and duration of the heat.

 

When you live out west you learn to appreciate pine for heating your home. It is one of my main sources for firewood. Lodge Pole.

 

I used to say that I liked Tamarack best, because it is so high in BTUs. Currently I am a fan of lodgepole pine, mixed with Douglas fir for longer burns.

 

Its fun getting excited about different firewood mixes. Ive been loving putting some fir in for low and slow burns to carry me through until times like now when i jam er full of larch. Different mixes are good. Ive been enjoying spruce lately for some quick in between burns. Im also feeling like Im only weeks away from getting in the lower elevation back roads to get cutting and have my eye on some nice sized pine beetle pines. Us pine lovers should do a bunch of harvesting threads.

 

And dang does it make your house hot

 

Call me crazy, but I've never found Douglas fir to burn any longer then Lodgepole pine. Sometimes Douglas fir will burn hotter when you throw a split of it in the stove that's full of pitch, but then it tends to just burn up faster. On the whole I always found DF to burn up pretty much the same as LP. Same heat, same length of burn, unless one of them had higher moisture content then the other.

Edit: On the positive side for Lodgepole pine, I don't get that pitch on my hands or around the wood box and hearth like I always do from Douglas fir.

 

I went through about a cord of red pine this year, and I liked it a lot more than the poplar I burned last year. I've got another cord or so in log length staged next to the garage, to be CSS this year. I found myself reaching for the pine a lot more than the black locust - only used about a face cord of that. Lately I've still been mixing in the locust even on the warmer days, because that's all I have left on the porch and I'd rather use it up than move it again.

 

X2 on hardwoods, i have an old smoke dragon woodstove and too much hardwoods will get the old shack up to 90 degrees in short order. We had a cold snap in december ( minus 5 at nite) i did enjoy having some elm and birch on hand. When it only gets down to 25 at nite im running larch and pine mix.

 

Very true!

 

I agree on the lodgpole/dougfir burn time thing, seems about equal to me. Im gonna start scouting the forest for this years wood to cut, the snow is melting out of the mtn. I love spring and fall.

 

They are so close in btus the difference may not be easily clockable I guess. I do most of my cutting where I hike the dog so Ive had most of mine figured out for awhile now although it sure is nice to be able to hit the roads looking for something nice, with the window down and some fresh mountain air..... I found a spot where there is a big larch, a bunch of pine and a fir that was cut this winter but I think I will leave that since its green. A few hydro towers were installed a few months ago and they needed more room. They must have used a helicopter because there was lots of snow still. It is tempting since I will be able to drive right up to it soon but I have stuff that I can get that is much more seasoned.

 

Where i plan on cutting this spring there is still deep drifts anywhere the sun dont hit much. Sean your lots further north than me i bet you guys still got loads of snow. Ive never been farther north than preist river idaho are you up above there? Ive also been to kettle falls wa its pretty country up there.

 

We're about an hour and a bit north of Eureka Montana or about 2oo-250 miles north east of priest river Idaho. Weve had a very mild winter here and the snow is leaving fast. Loads of snow up a bit in elevation but down here at 3800 ft were seeing bare ground but still a fair amount of snow in the shadows like you. I still cant get a truck very far without the worry of getting stuck lol, I tried the other day. I would say my back yard is now 50% snow free. Ice fishing is usually still going but not this year. I read today that its looking like la nina is coming for next year....