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Persistent myth: "Pine is unsafe/useless as fuel wood"

StandInTheFire

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I spent many of my working years in the lowland hardwoods generally found east of the mountainous portions of this country. If I had a nickel for every person who told me that pine species are useless as firewood and will inevitably burn down your house from some catastrophic chimney fire, I would be completely retired by now.
I am very curious as to other peoples' experiences regarding this misinformation and the locales from which such folks hail. I understand that when one lives among a bunch of fine hardwoods, the pine tends to get chipped or burned in an outdoor fire circle. I have lived that reality myself.
In my own (completely unscientific!) extensive field studies, I've found that insufficiently cured hardwoods leave a much heavier layer of creosote in solid fuel chimneys than any SPF species do. That has seemed to hold true without regards to the particular wood burning appliance in use or the specifics of the chimney system install.
I just experienced a fairly demanding winter as far as heating load goes, with many days bottoming out in the -30 degree F range. I have no gas available whatsoever, and the only other option (?) I have is electric resistance heating. Somehow or other, I managed not to freeze to death AND this horribly crappy mobile home is (unfortunately) still standing without even a scorch mark. This was accomplished burning Ponderosa Pine for the long duration.
The most chimney maintenance that has been required involves simply knocking loose any deposits on the cap/spark arrestor screen. In fact, the required chimney brushing that I always did in hardwood country isn't even necessary for me now. Go figure!
 

SOS Ridgerider

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Up here you can't give pine away because of all the hardwood we have. Personally I don't have a problem burning pine as long as it's seasoned properly. It's just another type of wood. Different types of wood needs to be seasoned differently, that's all.
 

angelo c

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I get that virtually on every load delivered ( or asked about)..
I usually tell 'em " our brothers up North have NO hardwoods, and no gas lines to their remote homes, how do you suppose they feed their fireplaces ?"

wood is wood and it needs to be seasoned, as long as its seasoned it burns good.

funny, well not so funny in the end, side story:

I have a very dear friend who is an engineer who works with even more "engineer-ey" types of folks. well one of the "rocket surgeons" has/had a very clear theory on how "green wood" burns at higher temps and is more efficient then seasoned woods.
all kinds of heat transfer mumbo jumbo...my buddy loosely agreed. burned slightly unseasoned wood for a few seasons..nearly burned his house down from a chimney fire last year. full masonry fireplace all shot to hell now.

I don't argue with rocket surgeons ...
 

Dub11

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I get that virtually on every load delivered ( or asked about)..
I usually tell 'em " our brothers up North have NO hardwoods, and no gas lines to their remote homes, how do you suppose they feed their fireplaces ?"

wood is wood and it needs to be seasoned, as long as its seasoned it burns good.

funny, well not so funny in the end, side story:

I have a very dear friend who is an engineer who works with even more "engineer-ey" types of folks. well one of the "rocket surgeons" has/had a very clear theory on how "green wood" burns at higher temps and is more efficient then seasoned woods.
all kinds of heat transfer mumbo jumbo...my buddy loosely agreed. burned slightly unseasoned wood for a few seasons..nearly burned his house down from a chimney fire last year. full masonry fireplace all shot to hell now.

I don't argue with rocket surgeons ...
That sounds like my engineer his ( In theory ) comments are just that lol.
 

Lone Wolf

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New Jersey is where I am and everyone here is afraid to burn pine because they say it will cause a chimney fire. From my experience you can burn seasoned pine. Once in a while let it really draft fast and hot and burn the chimney clean.
 

Wood Doctor

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About the only complaint I have as a seller is that pine is not much fun to cut, split, and stack. The pine tar makes things a bit rough, and I have seen knotty pine stall out splitters.

But, if I had very little else but conifers, I'd burn it and learn to work with it. I used to make scads of furniture and trim carpentry using southern yellow pine. That stuff is amazingly strong. The bench holding this MS660 with the full wrap handle is made with it:
 

StandInTheFire

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When set ablaze, wood makes heat. That much I have found. The Ponderosa (yellow) pine logs are amazing as building materials, and excel as such more than as fuelwood. For their mass, they are amazingly strong. Easy to work, cut, fit and shape as well. Due to the nature of these trees, it's also a piece of cake to acquire perfectly straight specimens of substantial length. Trees having 70 feet plus of usable log are not at all uncommon.
 

WOODS

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I grew up in Florida. Firewood was pretty much any species. Of course, lighter was old fat wood. We heated with kerosene. While I was away in college, my dad thought he had arrived when he purchased an Ashley wood stove. He cut a bunch of catface pine. It burned so hot it took the finish off the stove. My brothers said the chimney was blowing smoke as black as a diesel under load. Sorry that I missed it.

Here in upper East Tennessee, pine is frowned upon. None is accepted at the woodlot where I volunteer. We leave poplar on the ground as well.

Ron
 

Sierrawoodsman

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I burn pine almost exclusively. I have done so successfully for most of my adult life, However, Not all of pines are created equal though. We have many different types in our part of the country: Pinyon pine often regarded as the "hardwood of the pines" burns very hot when properly seasoned also, is quite heavy. Grows very slow with tight ring pattern, and doesn't tend to get very big (at least around these parts.) This pine tends to grow in lower altitudes from 3000 to 5500 feet. Another slang term for Pinyon Pines is "Pitchpine" because it is very resinous. If you burn it exclusively it does tend to leave more creosote in the chimney and can be dangerous if it builds up too much. If you split it small and Burn it hot is the key to not leaving much creosote. I like to keep a nice stash of piñon pine for the very coldest winter nights.
Lodgepole: (probably my favorite) it is the cousin of Tamarack although they are two separate species there are very much the same in most of the details and BTU value. Lodge Can get very tall, grows straight and can get quite large diameter. This pine has a very thin dark bark that is approximately 1/8 inch thick. Lodgepole/Tamarack pine has a higher BTU value than most of the Pines other than Pinyon. And burns very clean splits easy due to the straight grain. It favors growing in higher altitudes from 6000 to 9000 feet usually. There are other Pines as well such as Jeffery and Pondarosa-a.k.a. "Sugar Pine" both those have very thick bark in a little bit lower BTU value yet. But don't let anyone tell you that pine doesn't make a great firewood because it absolutely does! I rely on it almost exclusively year after year and that speaks for itself.



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Cigmaker

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Here in southern VA you best not even think about burning pine. I've had people tell me I can take the wood as long as I don't burn it in a wood stove. I just happily agree and stack it for a year or two until it heats my home.
 

fossil

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The creosote that forms is a product of incomplete combustion. It's in both soft and hardwoods. Wood that is not properly dried burns colder as abut 15% of the heat value is used getting rid of the moisture. Fires that aren't generating enough heat to complete combustion and burn up the creosote also also don't generate hot enough flue gases and allow creosote to condense in the chimney, A fireplace mason I met said he's never seen a chimney fire that goes lower than two flue tiles in a masonry chimney.
Lots of research was done by the folks that write the code for wood burning appliances up here and any wood is fine as long as it has not been chemically treated. They mention that driftwood from salt water shouldn't be used as well.
 

USMC615

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Burned my share of seasoned pine here in mid-Ga...obviously it's the last chosen when we have red oak, white oak, hickory like it's going outta style. Like any other wood you burn, let it season long enough and you'll be fine.
 
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