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

[Wilhelm]

I personally burn EVERYTHING!
When seasoned the only difference is how fast and how hot it burns!
Since we also cook on a wood stove having fast and hot burning firewood comes in handy.

My main firewood comes from oak logs which I have to purchase, that been said I don't care how much work it takes to get additional "free" firewood.

This was a 2015 winter/spring brush clearing effort. It was mostly wild hazel, but a couple nicely sized hornbeam and willow trees found their way into the mix.
I took even the thinnest sticks home, they make for great kindling.
In total I have spent days, maybe weeks getting this home and cut up - I estimate that I accumulated at least half a season worth of firewood.


I also have no issues burning evergreen species of any kind.
I get some every now and then and it never goes to waste.
Smells nicely in the fireplace too.


The worst firewood I ever burned was insufficiently seasoned turkey oak, the chimney got plugged SHUT every two weeks the latest and sap/moist was actively dripping down and out of the chimney intakes so we had to keep bowls under them the whole winter (chimney integrated into the house's walls, stove and fireplace are connected to the intakes through enameled steel pipes).
Never again!!!
I now strive to be (at least) 2 seasons ahead considering my oak firewood supply.

I might even have to ramp it up a couple notches as getting firewood legally is becoming more difficult these last few years and onward due to over logging.
I have the space to stack processed firewood or even keep a couple piles of logs near my house - I really should look into it.

At my sisters place in Switzerland they exclusively burn evergreen species firewood.
I've been told they let it season no less than 5 years.

 

[ken morgan]

I personally burn EVERYTHING!
When seasoned the only difference is how fast and how hot it burns!
Since we also cook on a wood stove having fast and hot burning firewood comes in handy.

My main firewood comes from oak logs which I have to purchase, that been said I don't care how much work it takes to get additional "free" firewood.

This was a 2015 winter/spring brush clearing effort. It was mostly wild hazel, but a couple nicely sized hornbeam and willow trees found their way into the mix.
I took even the thinnest sticks home, they make for great kindling.
In total I have spent days, maybe weeks getting this home and cut up - I estimate that I accumulated at least half a season worth of firewood.
View attachment 135768 View attachment 135769 View attachment 135770

I also have no issues burning evergreen species of any kind.
I get some every now and then and it never goes to waste.
Smells nicely in the fireplace too.
View attachment 135771

The worst firewood I ever burned was insufficiently seasoned turkey oak, the chimney got plugged SHUT every two weeks the latest and sap/moist was actively dripping down and out of the chimney intakes so we had to keep bowls under them the whole winter (chimney integrated into the house's walls, stove and fireplace are connected to the intakes through enameled steel pipes).
Never again!!!
I now strive to be (at least) 2 seasons ahead considering my oak firewood supply.

I might even have to ramp it up a couple notches as getting firewood legally is becoming more difficult these last few years and onward due to over logging.
I have the space to stack processed firewood or even keep a couple piles of logs near my house - I really should look into it.

At my sisters place in Switzerland they exclusively burn evergreen species firewood.
I've been told they let it season no less than 5 years.

That is a nice little stack their Wilhelm.... just the right size for hand splitting too.

 

[Wilhelm]

That is a nice little stack their Wilhelm.... just the right size for hand splitting too.

Is there any other way than hand splitting?

For reference, bar is 36", ax handle is 40" long, rounds are bucked to 13-14" length.



It is actually fun with the right tool(s), also makes for a great workout.

 

[Camo]

Another beetle kill pine burner. At 6000+ feet in Montana it is free, close to road, and everywhere. Put Fir in at night. Yes Oak would be great but at high altitude at least I never get posion Oak anymore.

 

[isaaccarlson]

People around here (western WI) won’t burn pine. I will burn it if I need to, but I try to avoid it because it’s so sticky. I hit a sap pocket one year while splitting pine and a half gallon of sap ran all over my splitter. I have no problem burning it, but it doesn’t last long like oak or hickory.

 

[Alaskan]

Here in SE Alaska, the favored firewood is Yellow Cedar, aka Alaskan cedar, it can be stacked outdoors in this rain forest and yet the water does not penetrate into the rounds and it burns hot and makes coals. That said I personally do not like the popping and embers that pop off it.

The only common hardwood here is alder, which most folks use only for smoking. It's hard to get it dry, a year stacked outdoors and into the woodshed in the spring and by fall it burns great. Alder rots so fast you rarely find a standing dead that's worth cutting up. The good thing about alder is it has no commercial value, so green alders are open to firewood cutting.

Spruce is ok for fast hot fires, but burns up quickly, the big knots do burn longer. Standing deads are usually good stuff.

Hemlock is good when dry, but it will soak up water like a sponge. It's another quick rotting tree and not worth looking for standing dead. I get it quite often cleaning up after the loggers out of the units.

As for pine I like burning lodge pole pine that's standing dead, it burns hot and very clean. The old grey standing dead pines can be pretty wet and boy can they be twisted, like cork screws!

When I lived in Wash state, maple and old growth fir was my favorite combo, they make hot fires that last. I think pitch wood and hardwood makes a hotter fire than either do by themselves. there are no fir or big leaved maple in SE AK.

Here in SE Alaska, I really like lodge pole pine and alder on the really cold days.

Crab apple is the densest hard wood we have, but it is really slow drying, they're small trees that are really very crooked. That said it burns very hot, clean, makes great coals and smells awesome burning, great bbq and smoking wood.

Red cedar is mostly milled, shakes, shingles and lumber. It is also a favorite kindling wood when dry, it splits down really fine and catches fire quickly, but is gone in no time and leaves to much ashes to be a good firewood.

We get 200 plus inches of rain a year here in the Ketchikan area! We have lots of US forest service land for wood cutting here on the island.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Pine(pine, douglas fir, hemlock, spruce) is the most common tree round here and is preferred over the also common alder and ceder. Never heard of these myths!

You cant give Pine away here in NJ.

 

[Wood Doctor]

You cant give Pine away here in NJ.

Nor here -- maybe for campfire wood, but only if dead dry.

 

[deye223]

Yesterday I brought home some pine logs and noodled them into 1-2" boards. The noodles get used to start the fireplace, the boards get split into kindling. I am spoiled rotten with hardwoods, kinda get sick of dealing with them. Some soft pine that you can pick up without breaking your back and can cut so fast your saw turns into a hot saw is kinda nice and refreshing.

I hear ya on this even working stringy bark is a godsend ......

 

[Slacker]

For me, it was always about efficiency and storage. We stored our firewood in the basement. Maine winters...digging wood out of a snowbank at 30 below zero sucks.
We only had room for 15 cords, so it needed to be 15 high BTU cords.

I occasionally burn pine in my hunting camp Fisher Baby bear, but its usually when I want to cook on it.

 

[dmb2613]

Folks will laugh at you here in VA if you were to take them a load of pine, and I dont blame them, you can not put enough in a heater in the house to burn all night. The longer you dry it the faster it burns. Ranks right there with Poplar I don't think anyone can disagree with this

 

[Jonnyredtreepferder]

I'm no wood snob despite having a large woodlot full of hard and softwoods. I burn dry pine in the shoulder seasons and as kindling and in my outdoor wood cookstove and fire pit. I also burn poplar, Larch/tamarack - we call it hackmatack around here, alder, fir and just about any dry wood really. My favored firewood species on the property are ash, apple, cherry, maple, oak, beech, yellow birch, and black locust. The only wood I don't care to burn is boxelder. God it stinks.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Boxelder is the worst firewood that there is, no doubt about that, even worse than pine or cedar.

I recently cut a truckload of standing dead locust trees that I'm burning now. It's working out very well. I imagine they were dead for five years. Dry rot is minimal, and it even lights well. The bark flaked off and I saved half of that for kindling. The reason I mention this is because locust often gets a bad rap because it burns slowly and takes awhile to fry. When green, it's as dense as oak. This is the driest locust I have burned in years, and it's excellent.

 

[Jonnyredtreepferder]

I love my black locust stand, though they can be invasive from root suckers when disturbed. When they blossom in the spring it smells absolutely lovely and the honey bees come from miles around. The heartwood is more durable in the ground than any pressure treated wood. You're lucky the bark mostly flaked off, it's brutal on chains. I think it has a lot of silica in it.

 

[kingOFgEEEks]

Did someone say black locust?

I love a nice stack of black locust, to keep on hand for the really cold nights.

 

[Lightning Performance]

Black or honey

 

[old iron]

same here in sw va can't give it away ,but I burn it along with oak cherry ash poplar locust holly sourwood cedar black gum and anyother wood my chainsaw will cut LOL ,I like to mix a little pine in with the oak makes it burn all the coals up!

 

[Wood Doctor]

I confess that I use really dry pine, cedar, and/or fir strips for kindling to start the fire. I often sprinkle it with sawdust and roll it up inside newspapers. Pine needles and pine cones make good kindling also.