That is the question, Now before I joined on here, I was one of them that said, I can burn anything but pine, I have never burned pine in my OWB and have turned down a fair amount saying I can't burn pine, my dad always said not to so that was always my mentality on it But then I joined on here and seen and got the scolding for my old pine ways. Now I have still not messed with any pine, but boss was talking to me the other day and said he asked the guy who normally cuts wood on his land if he wanted to cut down a Huge dead/dieing pine and he said he had a close call with a tree coming back on him and he said he is getting to old for that and is going to start getting loads delivered instead. I don't have a photo of it right now, but. Guessing a easy 2some cords out of it. Not having much of any experience with pine, if I cut and split it soon, would it be okay to burn this winter in my OWB? Would it process easy with the iso-core? Should I talk to my boss and tell him I will cut it down? Would like some options on it.
I don't have any worry about dropping it, got a nice area to fell it. Just dont know how well they split with the iso-core or how fast they dry.
I'm in favor of doing it. As far as hand splitting goes... You'll do alright in the straight clean sections but anywhere there's a knot you're going to struggle. Such was my experience with spruce last year. It's a job for hydraulics, or plan on doing some noodling. Prepare for the suck job of dealing with the sap though. That's the worst part of pine IMO. If it's dead/dying, maybe it won't be too sappy... I processed close to 2 cords of fresh white pine in February/March and it's already a lot lighter in weight and feeling pretty dry. I have little doubt I'll be able to burn it in 2021-2022 if I want/need to.
We've burned pine for 3 decades. That said it dries quickly where I live and it always tinder dry after seasoning in rounds. As well as I have NEVER seen anything here like someone posted of a hollow stump filled sap after cutting a large pine down out east. Here, we let bucked rounds dry, then split by hand with a maul in the next year or two. But I've never been to the east... My thought would be take it and see to find out for sure. Dry pine doesn't just split well, it literally cracks open with an unmistakable sound. Just dry it and go by normal moisture content like you would other wood. Edit, I heard wood rots if dried in rounds out there? That would not be helpful. How about split what you can and toss the hard parts like Eric mentioned would be a pain to split above? And "we" don't split it, husband does, not me.
Get it. It will season quickly and work in the boiler just fine. Splitting can be tough if it's really full of limbs. Sent from my SM-G930VL using Tapatalk
I have wondered about cutting out the whirls of branches or knots while bucking, to make the splitting go easier. It should be fine to burn this winter if you get it split stacked and covered. I think the lower density woods pick the moisture back up easier of left out in the rain, but I’m just going on intuition, so take with a grain of salt. I say go fir it, and report back. Speaking of fir, make sure it is actually a pine as some of the other evergreens do take longer to dry.
It burns kinda fast. One reason some won't bother with it. Another is the awful sap ( eastern white pine here) I can work with it and pretty much just ruin a pair of gloves. The' best way' I've found for working with it is cut the tree down ( or come back 4-6 months after a blow down or when the needles start turning brown) and then process it. Second best way is cut rounds and try to handle them by the middle (avoiding the sappy ends) and either leave them to dry or stack them out of the way to dry for a couple of months before splitting. EWP splits rather readily ( except for when it doesn't) as I used to hand split up to a cord a year. There was someone here (in western Ma) that was burning EWP almost exclusive ly in his OWB because he got it for free.
#1 Ya never know till you try. #2 There is no substitute for experience Give it a go and let us know...
The worst thing about pine is all the branched and that takes time and work before you buck up the tree. I've never had a problem with sap; it is just something you have to deal with. Using tools, like log tongs will keep most of the sap off your hands. If you get sap on hands, miracle whip or something similar will take it right off. Just a little bit; don't gob it on.
Redneckchevy you must be talking about a white pine? I had a neighbor cut down a dead/dying tree in his yard last year and asked if I wanted the wood since I have a hydraulic splitter. NOPE! You can still smell the pitch oozing out of those rounds a year later! And, now I want that all over myself, my saw, my splitter??? NOPE! If you and I lived in a place where there weren't so many plentiful hardwoods, it would be a different outcome. But until that day arrives, do yourself a favor and pass on it.
We burn White Pine in our Lopi Liberty but we allow one year in the stacks before we burn it. Most people around here won't burn it in their OWB.
I think they have to clean it more when burning pine but it has been about 4 years since I've talked with anyone about it.
I have no problem with burning it. I just don’t want to split it. Most of the “pine” I get around here has branches that run straight through to the core. I’d rather split hickory. Now if you want a few brownie points with the boss, maybe a different story. Can always noodle the heck out of it.
I did that recently. Cut out the straight parts and drop the branch sections in cookies. Did it so the maple syrup guy would take the wood He don’t want no stinkin knots either and anything I could pawn off on him I do t need to burn in the fire pit.
Not easy to split by hand. I had a huge score of spruce and initially thought "Man this is easy street. Light, smells great. Should split easy!!" Wrong. X27 just got each round with a THUD and would get buried and stuck. I use the 34 ton hydraulic very rarely but green pine/spruce, black Burch, and pin oak are all a must with the splitter. Everything else I do by hand. My spruce dried to 12% MC from sopping wet within 6 months. I split and stacked it immediately. It burns great but does pop a bit in an open fireplace. I think you'd benefit from using it to get the owb going but could then transition to a hardwood for overnight sustain.
