If you're looking for some instant gratification, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) is the wood for you. Forgot to cut this year's supply until after the first snow? No problem, this stuff is well below 20% when it hits the ground. Light, straight grained and easy to split, with minimal resin and producing very little ash, this stuff is a pleasure to process and burn. At 22.3 mbtu/cord, it's not high on the list, but compared to the other choices here in the west, it has become my go-to, everyday fuel. I save the Doug Fir (Psuedotsuga menziesii) and Black Oak (Quercus kelloggii) for the long, overnight burns in the dead of winter. The availability of lodgepole is also excellent. There are large stands on nearby federal lands, permits cost $10/cord, 10 cord maximum. Walk into a stand that hasn't already been cut, easily 10-15% will be standing dead with the thin bark already sloughing off. It's hard to imagine that these things can grow fast enough to replace the die-off (this isn't due to bark-beetle or needle-miner, just natural), but they do. Almost seems like God planned it that way to keep us warm. The only downside is that the wood is so dry and absorbent that it must be top covered. I'll live with that.
Very nice. I got 2 loads of random sized White Pine from my tree service contact in mid February.Cut,split & stacked all of the smaller rounds (8 to 14",anything bigger up to 28" I milled several,the remaining 7 pieces are still waiting) within a couple days.Its on south side of shed,near south property fence,has minimum 6 hours daily sun exposure. Sat there all through our very dry hot summer.None that I checked is over 18% now,burned a couple chunks last Tuesday,was very impressed.Cant wait for it to cool off again so I can burn more.Temps 55-60 for next few days so no fires until then unfortunately.
White pine has far les heat than Lodgepole though. I have a lot of lodgepole growing on my property. There are several different types, including shore pines and several different inland varieties (I have shore and south inland type here). No real lodgepole stands around here though, as its all commercial Doug fir. We have the same forest cutting permits, but no areas here in the West Cascades in north Oregon have been open lately. I can go to the coast and get all the wood I want by permit, but that is a hike (60 miles) and a lot in gas money. Its all Doug fir though...
Great comparison, except lodgepole doesn't plug up your chimney the way fast food plugs up your arteries. I've made a few posts about the virtues of Lodgepole pine a few times myself. I've come to the realization that it's the most reliable, easiest to access and process firewood, in my area. In fact I've quite cutting douglas fir, I've never really noticed or felt that the douglas fir burned any better the lodgepole, in fact this BTU chart I found rates it slightly higher in BTUs then douglas fir.
I have yet to find two BTU charts that agree on anything, and few agree with my experiences burning different species of wood. I would put DF above LP, but that is West of the Cascades and Sierras DF and LP. Southern and eastern DF tends to have less BTU than it does here. Also fetches a lower pond price there than here. Also my shore pines here are denser than the larger inland lodgepole species that I have growing here, but they are technically just a different variety of the same species (surprised me when I found that out).
Nice video Brian, but you need a do one again with a clock in there somewhere, and a little closer, higher resolution version where we can watch the thermometer. What did you use to capture the video?
That time lapse is from last winter. I was using an iPhone 4s with the TimeLapse app from xyster.net. I subsequently figured out how to capture higher resolution time lapse video but my memory on this iPhone is too low for high res time lapse. I haven't yet found a heat resistant clock to add to the time lapse image.
We were watching Mountain Men a few weeks ago and they were out cutting small Lodge Poll pine for a Teepee. Apparently that's where the name comes from
