There's a handful of topics that are a clue to me to drop out of a conversation with someone, one of them is with people who assert you can't burn pine.
Like anything else, softwoods burn fine if you get them nice and dry. I've mixed spruce, hemlock, balsam fir, scotch pine, red pine and white pine into my wood stacks. If my fire is low or just a small pile of coals, I'll root through the stacks for the softwoods to get it going quickly, and then drop the high-BTU hardwoods on top. I have 50+ cords of white pine on the ground right now that will be cut up for firewood for the next few years. Gonna save a bit for making maple syrup too.
We burn western hemlock all the time. Again, it should be two years dry before burning. In our area, western hemlock and Douglas fir are our main source of firewood.
Eastern hemlock for me, dried 18 months, burned alright. Putting a single split on a coal bed hoping it'll burn down didn't work as envisioned. Like pine or spruce, I found it to burn best with multiple pieces in the stove simultaneously. I would take more again if convenient.
Some geographic locations out there consider spruce to be great firewood. I personally do use a little of it, especially in the shoulder seasons, and I use a ton of it on the years I do maple syrup. It burns a really hot fire. And I seem to cut an absolute ton of it some years. As is with any wood, getting it seasoned is key. Spruce seasons quite fast when split and stacked.
Just exactly how the guys I hired took ours down. 800 to piece both down and chip and haul the limbs away. I was very happy with that.
Well you decide, I can put a mixed load of spruce and cherry or ash in. When the hardwoods are down to coals the spruce is still in the shape of a split, don't know that it throwing tons of heat but it's still going. I think all the knots really help hold it together.
In the 7 years I have been burning wood, I have cleaned my chimney once, 2 years ago.....and there was almost nothing in it to sweep....
I wanted to clean mine before the season, but never made time. So I’m on season three I believe without a cleaning. Yep, dry wood is where it’s at baby!
I have thrown a pile of pine/spruce in the burn pile. I tried splitting some white pine years ago because I didn't want to waste it and it made a sticky mess of my splitter so I have been tossing it. I will start saving it now if it is not sappy.
Two weeks ago I definitely would have taken you up on that. Yesterday, when I was restocking the shed, I uncovered about a half cord of pine and blue spruce in the back of a stack that I forgot was there. Should be enough to last me a couple seasons if used wisely. I thought I had some somewhere, and sure enough in behind 3 rows, up against the fence, there it was. Definitely not going to bury it again. Tree services drop small amounts of cedar, juniper, spruce and pine fairly regularly. I’m going to start a separate stack just for those species and not mix it in the hardwood stacks anymore. Seems I can’t remember what I did yesterday anymore, not sure why I think I can remember what I stacked 4 years ago.
Eastern hemlock is a bit better to have than eastern white pine for sure. A bit longer to season as it is denser. I've only had a blue spruce yard tree. The guy who cut it down for me (grew aside and thru electric lines) suggested he chip it all and dispose of it. I wanted the trunk for firewood. He should have disposed of it. It was awful to split. Full of knots and it was like splitting rubber. Not any better BTU than hemlock, IMO. Did I mention it was awful to split by hand ?
