Pretty cold over here in WNY. 12F but feels like -5F.....With that said...3yr old Scotch Pine is fantastic during the day to keep everything great. Usually burn it from the time I get up to about 4pm. Then I switch over to hard woods to get a nice bed of coals before I toss in a large round of Ash or Black Cherry for the night. At $12 bucks a face cord...Scotch Pine is amazing!!!
Theres a few scotch pine where i live, mostly planted in yards none in the forest. Ive burned a little bit of it, the ones here have alot of pitch and are tough slitting.
The little bit of scotch pine i had was so tough, i noodled all the rounds. Got to be the toughest pine to split. I wouldnt go out of my way for more, but free from the neighbor is always good.
As has been proven time and again by you and others, there's nothing wrong with burning pine or spruce or ANY wood really, once you have it split and seasoned!! I bought home a big trailer and truck full of yellow pine this afternoon from a job we did a few weeks back. We removed (18) 35-45 footers (most of them dead standing) along a windrow. I gave one whole trailer load away, the rest will be split this week and used in my maple syrup evaporator in a couple months.
$12.00 buck a face cord..!?! Local grocery store wants $5.99 for the shrink wrapped bundle. How in the world can anyone process a face cord of any firewood and sell it for $12.00.? Fantastic deal you got there in IMHO....
Last December up here in WNY it got in the 60"s for a 4 day stretch....Called my log supplier and he was just as shocked so I ordered a log load from to to help him clear out his lot. $150. for the load...30 logs in all.....24 Scotch Pine...3 Poplar....3 Silver Maple....Worked out to be roughly $12 a face cord after it was processed...Great deal...
I have about 3 pine trees I have to take down, is it best to split it right away or leave it in rounds for a few months, seems to me I remember someone mentioning it is less messy if left set for a period of time before splitting.
If you don't need it to start seasoning asap, let it sit as long as you can imo, just get the bark off quickly, as pine seems to be especially susceptible to feeding bugs that will eat your btus. The longer it sits, the less messy it is to process.
I'll often leave the whole tree for a couple of months or when the needles turn brown or the green bark turns reddish. Long enough for the pitch to dry out. I'll cut rounds if I can leave them right there for a couple of weeks. Left too long and those pesky bark beetles will call the rounds home munching away under the bark. I've ruined a pair of gloves handling them green too . Sometimes its easier to just get it done, wear an old shirt and pair of pants, throw them out and call it done. A little pitch on the handle of the saw dries up pretty darn quick too.
Not really. It gets a little thicker but it is still sticky. I've moved rounds being real careful not to touch the fresh cut edges. The sap's not that bad. You'll likely ruin a pair of gloves though. heh, if they get covered with sap they'll dry out in a week or so, stop being sticky but now hard like shoe leather. I've done it. I'll do it again. Buy some cheap gloves. Don't wear Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes.
That's my experience as well with all conifers. In rounds a couple months, then split it, especially if cut green. I've done it this way for decades. If you try to split it when it's fresh cut, it will be sap fest. This thread's got funny timing. I may be cutting some local pine trees a few blocks from my house. I typically don't mess with pine at my wood lot, or my buddy's house and lot. There's enough hardwood to keep me busy there, but that's 30 minutes away vs 2 minutes.
Green pine = sappy mess. Let it sit a while, and you 'll get less goo. Sometimes you just hafta though.
