Quick question for the guys that burn white pine on a regular basis. Operation white pine is full swing and I'm swimming in free stuff right across the road from the house. I literally am running out of my good stacking locations. I have plenty of room to stack between and under the dying spruce that borders my property. I trimmed the branches way up to make it look a little better and so now I could stack there. Would putting pine there be ok to dry or will it just rot. Of course a top cover and it will get airflow but very little sun. I don't want to waste my time. I have alot of smaller rounds/branch wood and wonder if these are ok to leave in the round vs splitting as the will be like toothpicks if split. Also is it advisable to burn pine in smaller round form or should it all be split. I'm new to the pine train but it's free and right out my door. There is so much I could probably heat my home with nothing but white pine for an entire season.
I'll sometimes do even smaller than Scotty....about 4". That pine would be great for making a bunch of kindling. I just did a bunch myself, and made a variety pack/stack.
Every Few years I actually order a whole log load of just Pine...12-15 face cords for about $150 bucks...Love it...Re-sell it later to guys at work for $50 a pick-up truck full for camp fire wood...
I burn plenty and find that even in rounds it doesn't rot very fast. Get it off the ground, under a cover, and don't worry about it. Though I don't find it to rot very quickly, it does love to harbor those white worm critters. I don't sweat those either, they just make drying ventilation holes and good bird snacks. They'll leave on their own once the wood is split and drying.
The rounds that are too small to bother splitting will dry out fine. All my wood is stacked in the woods as I have no area for stacking in the clear. It seasons fine in the shade, I just give it a little longer whether it needs it or not. A top cover helps keep the leaves and pollen and crap out and the rain. The pine branches I make a big pile of for kindling. When they dry out they snap pretty easy with a sledge hammer or stepping on them. Or burn them. Or just let them rot on the ground, but they disappear faster if they are not in a big pilebut rather in contact with the damp ground as much as possible.