My buddy had 5 large pine trees taken down over the weekend. I'm going to start picking them up later this week. The plan is to burn them this winter (if they're dry enough) instead of buying wood while the hardwood scrounging continues for future winters. I have 3 cords of oak split but it won't be ready until 2018-19. I have a little bit of seasoned hardwood left from this winter. I'm not burning over night (bedrooms get too cold) and I am home during the day so burn time with pine isn't really a concern. Pics to come.
Hey pine is ok stuff, no its not oak or madrone but it will heat your home. Look at the glass half full factor if you cut and load pine thats standing dead or dry you can easily get a cord on a 3/4 ton pickup. Now doing that with white oak might present some problems.
Pine puts out lots of heat, just needs reloaded more often. Lots of members here burn pine exclusively due to the geographic of where they live, it's the only stuff they can use. When seasoned properly, and with the stove tight and leak-free, it'll do good.
Just like tamarack said, pine will get you going and while you get the middle road here, you got plenty of it so I doubt you're worried about supply. My oak won't be ready until 2020 but its going to be long awaited when Im getting ready to bed down for the night. Luckily I have oak back up. Likely to burn later on when its super cold (washington standards though). For what I picked Up I cannot complain. I got a really good deal since its very likely to be dry didnt have to split it. Im not sure how you split your splits but I have a pile of pine thats kinda weird.Its rotty but it isn't falling apart. Maybe it cross pollinated with some other wood so its a hybrid but its also cut small as rounds for me. Its likely to get split small for packing in the stove more. I know more splitting more work but its nice to be able to control the small splits more than big in a firebox.less spaces so thats where you can get your longevity out of pine. Packing it well.
Yep like a lot of others here I heat with pine since it is available and I mix it in with some cotton wood. I do have some other wood but not a lot of it. Mainly I use Pine and Cottonwood.
Magcraft do you consider your cottonwood to be a damper wood for the pine flares? I would guess that cottonwood is best as that buffer since it burns well when dry but still helps keep temps medium and level.
Pine is fine, doesn't burn much faster than the silver Maple I'm usually burning. Only thing I don't like is the sap. I get it everywhere....my hair, clothes in my ear.... I did find that putting Pam cooking spray on my saw before cutting let's the sap wash off easier.
Don't see how it could be considered a "damper" wood and what pine flares? Cottonwood will burn hot all by itself so won't damper any other wood down.
What I mean by this is just keeps it under temp control. Pine sometimes has that sap that just drips out and hardens out here. I mean think grease fire if put in a pit its smoky as all get-out. Sometimes I'll cut into a pine and hit a pocket of sap that covered a spot or it'll burn in the pit and the pocket opens up. I think at that point its beyond your control.. cottonwood here just stinks. Its not popular around here as its smoke draws the ire of many. Mostly because people burn it wet here thinking "oh the outside feels dry, its ready to burn". I see it sizzling often in peoples fires. Thats why I tend to stay away from it. Its not your hardwood so If thats the process of mixing to keep it from running away as far as temp goes, its an example here.
Personally I think that most damp burning wood stinks. The only thing I hate about cottonwood is the flippin cotton.....blows through the shop and sticks to everything. Once dry it burn's pretty clean. It is on the gofer list though.
Burn it up. A lot of the Douglas fir available around here now is more like Pine as firewood because it's been altered to grow as fast as possible.
"Pine is fine." Funny. I like that. Gotta load in right now. Stove has been off for days. Re-fired this afternoon. Rain and 46F today with several days like this ahead. My pine is only sticky when fresh cut. Dry it a year after splitting and it's perfect. Good stuff for me. If it sizzles it is waaaay wetter than how I use mine. BTW. I burn cottonwood as well. Not much but some. Guess I don't recall a bad/different smell? Guess I'll run out and check next time!
It stinks a lot in an open fire. EspeciAlly when been sitting out in the rain. At our ocean shores lot its everwhere. We constantly pick this stuff off the beach bcause its often all we find. Plus gets pretty rainy down there so its not covered just shielded by overhang and then goes in the fire fro there. Its hot but ever burn a wood you find has more headache capabilities than others? This is mine.
I still have a lot of work to get caught up to where I was before moving this past fall. I was always a year or 2 ahead. I've never burned a bunch of pine, just some splits mixed in or a load during the shoulder season. But I figure if the fellas out west do it all winter long, year after year, then I'll give it a shot this winter. There's always free pine available around here.
I burned hemlock all winter from slabs off the sawmill. A bit more ash, a bit more loading, but with an air tight stove, you can get some longer burn times out of it. Burn what you got, pine included.
I take what I can get while I can get it, as long as it's free cheap and easy no matter the species. Every last piece is the same, FARWOOD!!
We're good with it. As long as its dry you'll be fine just save your better stuff when you know you'll get down in the negatives.
