I didn't get started until after one stacking the pine (3.5 trailer loads) behind the front row with a green cover, I'll finish that and then start on the back row which I'll finish before the end of the day Saturday. The area I'm stacking the pine in, is the same area we had six f/c stacked for this years shoulder season wood so I'm behind since we've had a warmer s/s and it took longer to burn. The front row under the green tarp is the shoulder season wood we're burning this year but will save for spring. I usually have 12 f/c of pine up but the other shoulder season wood stacking area has two f/c of ironwood and another 2 f/c of a mixture of pine and hardwood for this spring if we need it. After all the rest of the pine I plan on stacking is stacked, the plan is to split our hardwood and then get it piled and then covered for the winter.
I have a decent sized pile of pine that needs split too. You should see the faces of people here in northeast Ohio when I tell them I am splitting pine to burn indoors. I've never burnt dry pine inside, but I think it will be nice to have some "cooler" wood to burn during fall and sping. This oak and hickory has left me with all the window open and me walking around in my underwear
I have given up on telling people I burn pine indoors, as I usually get a lecture and/don’t get pine they’re giving away. That old wives tale is great because it results in a lot of available pine.
I'm guilty of passing up hoards and hoards of pine last spring when we had a huge wind storm that took trees down everywhere in the area. The main reason for this was the amount of maple and locust that came down as well, so my energy focused on that. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't buy into the old wives tale until somewhat recently.
We like our pine seasoned a year but anyway we've never had a problem with the pine getting real hot. I did promise the wife that the chimney would get cleaned once we're done burning pine.
My wife told a lady in town that we burn pine for s/s wood, she told my wife that she would turn her scanner on so she could listen for the call to the fire department.
I think the only bad thing about pine is the fatwood. Its unpredictable but it happens. Other than that I’m done listening to how it’s negative.
Pine is like any other wood. It needs to be split and stacked to dry out. Once dried out no big deal.
Dry pine (like, really dry) is rocket fuel. Burns very hot, especially in small splits, and very quickly. Folks who burn unseasoned wood get their chimney full of creosote, then fire some pine in there and the heat lights it up. The pine dried faster and burned hotter than their unseasoned hardwood, by a wide margin, and poof. Let the old wives' tales continue - more for me!
If you've never burned pine I would recommend only filling the stove half way and stick around as a load gets going because you will likely have to adjust for a smaller amount of input air. If you normally come back in 6 hours to reload, come back in 4. Maybe 3. Put a little more in the next time until you are comfortable with the lightweight wood that burns kinda quick. I get a pretty good secondary show with pine. We've been putting a second load of pine in in the morning and then calling it a day until supper time as it has been quite warm some days to have a fire without opening windows. I'm not wasting the hardwood on those kinds of conditions. I'm gonna run out of pine a this rate. Maybe it will get cold.
Split it to help it dry more and just plan on more frequent reloads... Start with small loads so you can see how it burns and work on controlling the fire with air input/output. I split anything over about 2.5 inches or cut it to 4-6 inch chunks for use in shoulder season. My regular wood is 18" and larger splits for the winter but you can plan on that for future years.. In getting pine for THIS winter, you should focus on the dead down (but off the ground) stuff. More likely to be drier.. Branches that have been sticking up in the air for a few years and have lost their bark are good to gather.. If someone hasn't mentioned it to you yet, get a moisture meter so you can have an idea of what you're putting in your stove..
Oh, the ignorance. It's really like any other wood, in that it needs to season. It seasons like it burns, quickly. I just hate wasting good hard wood when it's been warm like it has been. I will throw a piece of beech on during the last load of the night, so there's some coals in the am for reload.
You probably have a harder time than I do. I don’t mind putting in hardwood but its not as Much. 2-4 splits mostly a night unless its the alder then Im often burning that more than the doug fir ive got around here. Its a way more pleasant heat with how “warm” it is for what its worth. Very comfortable. Soft. Hardwoods are just the slow and low and coaling Woods.
She's the same lady who burns 6 months seasoned wood and never top covers her wood even during the winter. Her husband was complaining they don't get the heat out of the wood they should.
Yeah, I'm burning low btu pines. Balsam fir and white pine. Douglas fir coals a lot better than these 2 I have at the moment. Next Tuesday it's supposed to drop temperature. Then I'll be burning cherry and beech, and maybe some elm too.
We put a couple loads of better wood in today for the cooler weather coming in. I have about 3-4 smaller stumps I plan on digging up this weekend and then level it back of so I can drop the backhoe in that area for the winter.
Yeah balsam and white pine are pretty low in the btu department. Balsam feels light even when its above 20%mc! Doug fir is a denser softwood for sure. Ive burned quite a bit of doug fir this year and actually have used it for over night burns instead of my coveted larch. Ive been getting enough coaling in the morning to get the fire going again.
