Firewood

bearhunter said:
*I don't think it's a good idea*

Why is being prepared with 2 years of properly dried wood possibly be a bad idea?

Srounging around the forest for firewood in winter burning that wood on the go that is either green or standing dead is allot of hard tiring work not to mention burning it wet or green plugging up stoves and chimneys.

When I was young I did that during my first winter here, and I never made that mistake again. I quickly learned that an organized wood pile is the only way to heat with wood in a practical manner without toil and labor, leaving me with free time for other outdoor winter activities. Many greenhorns from the city do this and don't last long before heading back to the city or having the fuel truck make frequent visits.
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I think he was saying that its a bad idea NOT to be prepared and cut as you need.
 
Thanks for the clarification, falls coming and with it the woodstove season. During the summer season its a good time to check over the wood burners. I look for things like refractory bricks that might need replacement, grates- last year I had to replace the center grate. If one hasn't cleaned the chimney, now is a good time to do so. Doing these off season maintenance tasks keeps the system efficient and safe. In our climate it takes about 7 bush cords to heat this place and 1/4 tank or about 45 gallons of fuel oil for when we are away or spending time in winter at the remote cabin.
 
Have had good luck with a one year min. wait time after cut and stack....Hardwood
 
I burn a LOT of pine. my neighbors down the road refuse to burn pine, and will give me there pine windfall. The trick is, I think, you need an efficient system.
I use a Quadrafire, which is vented to daylight via 6" PVC pipe installed in the floor, under the stove, when the house was built in 2001. the chimney stack is the middle of the house, not on an outside wall.

I stopped cleaning my chimney every year because there is nothing to clean! even burning 1 to 1.5 cords of yellow pine every year, there is no creosote. I clean my chimney every other year, and still only get a small amount of creosote buildup. of course I use a hardwood (maple or oak) at night to last 'till morning.

Pine has a bad rep, but I burn it, and often its free.
 
Green pine is bad, but so is green hardwood. The creosote comes from the moisture. Dry pine is pretty excellent firewood, despite being quick.
 
We burn mostly birch, but I also use Jack Pine. This wood when dry burns nice and hot, good for getting fast heat. Out at the cabin there is an abundance of it, and sometimes its the only wood available. Fill the stove and tighten the damper will allow it to burn for a long time.
 
I like to be at least two seasons ahead with our firewood. It doesn't always work out that way though. Was at the wood-shed this morning and counted eleven different types pf timber. Some people prefer one or two types of firewood but I like to use everything that becomes available. Much of it via windfalls. We all know different wood performs in different ways. Heat, smoke , ash etc. There are some very hot burning native woods here. Black Maire is the hottest. Very little smoke or ash but will destroy a wood burner in no-time. Being a conservationist I burn very little native wood.

The most important thing with firewood is the seasoning. A small hot fire is much more efficient than a large damped one and much less polluting.

A tree that has died and dried out standing will produce Superior firewood than a tree cut down green and left to dry.
Wood does not have to be big to be good. It's hard to beat a camp fire of small round limbs that have died and dried on the tree.

These may not be facts...just my opinions.

regards...Frank.
 
Frank-New Zealand said:
These may not be facts...just my opinions.
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Your opinions match my experience very closely. 'Cept I don't have any native Kiwi wood.
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lots of hits on this subject.

here is a list of wood we burn here in Mudzoory!!!!!!
Oak white,black,red you name it
Elm ,several species
Hickory
Mulberry
Osage Orange, an arborist told me Osage was Mulberry with cancer
Silver Maple, burns well when seasoned
Hackberry, some of the best smoke wood along with Sassafras

we do burn some Cherry, ouch
and a little Juniper and Birch and deadfall Pecan. Pecan burns like propane

buzz
 
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Here's a guide that I came across awhile ago, listing many characteristics of common woods used for home heating.
Sevearal here have listed that they burn pine for home heating. All I'll say is that here in the north-woods of Wisconsin and the U.P. Michigan, heating with pine is a big no no. The pitch and tars (sap) in pine will lead to a buildup of creosote in a chimney. No matter how the chimney is constructed or insulated. Proper cleaning and maintenance is a must when burning pine. It creates lots of extra work, even if you burn dry pines.

It can / will lead to a chimney fire that could result in taking your home with it. I have a friend who is a fireman and he has witnessed many of these chimney fires. I've only seen one...it was like a giant blowtorch coming out of the chimney...scarey stuff.

Anyway, I'll stop preaching and here's a helpful link.

http://www.offroaders.com/tech/firewood-BTU.htm

Hope that it helps some.
 
Everyone out here burns pine.
We live in the forest of Montana..That's all we have!
There is Douglas fir and larch in some areas including mine. However, the forest out here are dying from beetle kill. They attack lodge pole and ponderosa pine (of the two we only have LP, we're at to high of an elevation for PP).
Beetle kill LP is the main heat source for most everyone in western Montana.
You have to burn what ya got ;)
And actually our creosote build in is minimal. We have a highly efficient stove that we use from sept up sometimes on and off until June (were off grid, wood is our only heat source)
We clean the stove pipe out once in awhile and bang the creosote out of our chimney (old well drilling tubes, the pipe is outside the cabin) once in awhile as well. We are warm and cozy at -30!

Fact is, most folks in the west, not just montana, burn pine.

We have had our chimney catch on fire a handful of times. I let it continue to burn (to burn the creosote out) until the pipe turns a glowing red then I'll put it out.
That also is fairly common with the right chimney.
And yes, it's like a roaring blowtorch outside the cabin :D
 
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The amount of controversy on the issue of conifer burning is actually pretty astounding. I always loved to read the debates. I would tend to err on the side of the pine burners since there are folks out west who burn literally 100 percent dry pine with no problems. There are also studies where pine produces a significantly less creosote than hardwoods. When it comes down to it, as long as the wood is dry that is the main thing. I season for 2 years if the wood is green. Most people who burn their large splits of 1 year seasoned oak are going to be producing oodles more creosote than my radially split 2 year seasoned pine.
 
Bearhunter, Thanks for your kind reply. We are blessed in the north-woods and have many hardwoods readily available. Several varieties of Oaks, maples, elms, birches, cherry, ironwood etc. Many varieties of pine are also abundant. I guess that when given the choice of all these available hardwoods it is easy to say stay away from the soft pine types. Many supplement their heating in the north-woods with wood heat. Sadly, there are many fools around who try to save some $ and just don't know what they are doing.

We are also lucky as the hardwoods produce superior heating values vs. pine.

I sure didn't mean to offend, I should have lead with the options that we have available for heating with wood rather than just saying "here in the north-woods".

Please accept my apologies.
My regards, Tom
 
Oh, no offense taken what-so-ever :)
I was just explaining why pine is used so much in certain areas.
Lodge pole is by far not the best choice, but it's what's available and we have SO much of it dead or dying.
It's actually not that bad really.
But it sure ain't hickory ;)
 
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I really enjoyed reading this thread.

I don't burn for heat as of now, but I've been helping my grandpa with his wood gathering since I was a little kid. Around here the sought after fire wood is douglas fir although most call it red fir, but I don't think they are getting actual red fir in most cases (could be wrong there). The occasional opportunity for black locust or something is a bit of a treat. At any rate, we've burned plenty of pine. My grandpa's always been a stickler on getting it fully cured. I'd say most of his wood doesn't actually get burned for 2 to 3 years after cutting. He has an enormous amount of wood on hand to keep ahead of it that far, especially while feeding 2 fireplaces all winter plus another two for more occasional use in his bedroom and shop.

The very best thing about lodgepole pine.......limbing is a cinch! :D;)

ETA: To clarify, limbing LP pine is easy enough anyway. BUT a lot of the standing beetle kill LP pine that Bearhunter is talking about have dropped all or most of their branches before you even fell it! Makes some super quick rounds! Am I right, Bear??!!
 
In most cases you are right. A lot of them don't have much or any limps until you get to the crown.
Some can be pain in the a$$ though and full of knots.
We've got some decent sized LP up here, I've cut many 20" + (not 20 circumference, but 20 + across) around these parts. Most aren't that big though, but their not those little spindly ones either. I like to cut the largest ones around :D I guess I enjoy splitting wood too much to cut those little suckers ;)
Doug fir is the best around here followed by larch, but it makes no sense to cut and burn those when there's so much standing dead timber around.
Some of the folks that cut and sell firewood cut DF and larch. It brings a higher price per cord.
 
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My firewood is predominantly alder and maple. There's a reason this town is named Maple Valley.
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Doug Fir, hemlock and cedar are common. Wild plum is fairly common, too. It makes great firewood. Cottonwood is common. I don't seek it out but if it falls in my lap I'll burn it. I just make sure it's good and dry.
 
M3mphis said:
I really enjoyed reading this thread.
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Man, me too! I was tempted to lock it down when we quickly deviated from the original request but I'm glad I didn't. It's been quite interesting hearing experiences from all over.
 
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