Pine, spruce, hemlock, tamarack, fir... it'll all work so long as it's dry. The only real downside besides dealing with the knots is that you'll be reloading more often.
It’s all fun and games until you’re calling 911. Just kidding, I like having some dry pine for quick fire ups.
Pine is fine. I have 2.5 cords of it ready to go for this season. Have burned it plenty before and no issues in chimney. I’m the one that sweeps it so I know.
Nothing wrong with seasoned pine or spruce. I will say it burns hot and fast if it's getting lots of air when burning, so experiment with it to learn it's characteristics with your specific appliance. In a tight stove, it will surprise you how good it will last and heat. Many northern woodburners use nothing but spruce and tamarack all winter long in some cases. We've had members that live in Alaska using Blaze King stoves getting 12-16hr burns from loads of spruce IIRC.
That's just it right there, pine (conifer wood) gets a bad rap because it will burn wet (sap/pitch burns good!) so some people do, and that's what causes the problems...
Pay attention to all the posts about the pine being dry. Of course that does not mean dry to the touch, it means low moisture inside the log or split. Split a few, even though there were probably split already and check to make sure it is dry. Typically wood sellers cut the tree, buck it up and then split. Next thing is to just sell it. They do not have the time nor do they want, to dry the wood before it is sold. That is why one needs to stack it where it can get good circulation and most times some good sun helps much. Cover the top of the stack but not the sides so the wood gets air. I hope this helps. This may also help: Primer on Woodburning by Backwoods Savage | Firewood Hoarders Club
IMO the biggest problem with pine is what you burned before it. Too many people burning green hardwood low and slow making tons of stage 3 creosote in the chimney. One year they run out of green wood, find some dry pine and toss that in the stove. Hot and fast doesn’t mix well with a chimney saturated in creosote. That’s how you burn down a house. It’s not the pines fault. It’s the bad habits before the pine that come home to roost.
I have nothing to add other than we heated for a whole winter in NH only burning pine because we had so much and I wanted to get rid of it. We did just fine. All good advice above.
Ive explained the same thing more or less to a lot of folks who look at me like I have two heads when I tell them.
