I'm in one of the areas where all we have available is evergreen of some sort. All will burn with little difficulty, but not with the heat content of a hardwood. The best we get is Western Larch (Tamarack) and Douglas (Red) fir. Both of these woods give decent heat and are a joy to split. On the other end of the spectrum is Ponderosa Pine-it doesnt give much heat, soaks up water like a spounge and is miserable to split-knotty oak is better to split than this stuff. Anyway, if you let your evergreens dry well (preferrably under cover, this stuff soaks up more water than hardwood) it will burn fine, with little creosote. Just did my chimney today as a matter of fact, maybe 2 cups from last season's burning.
Danny,
I appreciate the links. By "pitch" I meant the tar or sap. Once the woodstove is lit in October it stays lit until April. I do exactly what the articles say not to do. I bank the fire overnight. I fire it up in the mornings to get rid of any creosote build up and clean the chimney once a year. I figured pine would be worse for this than the oak.
I like the suggestion to use it as kindling or to jumpstart a fire. This would come in handy in our wood cookstove. I currently use pinecones to do that.
So I'll give the pine a shot. Nice to know other people use it safely.
I always liked burning Tamarack when I lived in Northern Minnesota. Being a deciduous conifer, it has a lot more of the properties of hardwood than of your typical evergreen. It is a very strong wood and when properly dried, I always found it to burn hotter than most anything else... hardwoods included. More often than not though, we ended up burning birch and oak due to availability and it being relatively easier to harvest than tamarack which was always in bogs and could only be harvested when it was cold and the ground was thoroughly frozen.
Ah to live where you actually have a choice. I too would burn nothing but cadillac quality (oak, maple) if available. Here, tho, there is no choice other than pine/fire/tamarack commercially or cut-your-own in some areas. Where I am, the nearest cutting for even those would be a 100 mile round trip. I long ago figured that the best wood to burn is what will give me a given measure of heat for the -lowest- cost. Once that dawned on me I found all the wood I can possibly use available withing 10 miles of the house. What is it? Willow. Okay, all you purists, look it up and find it -way- down on heat value. Given my air-tight tho, it works out that I burn about 1 1/2 cord of willow vice 1 cord Tamarack. I can leave the house and be back with 3/4 cord willow on the PU by 10-11 a.m. vice depart at 0 dark thirty, be gone all day, come back with 3/4 cord of tamarack and another 100 miles of hard use on the PU. Dollar wise, Willow beats all my other choices hands down. I do occasionally score Black Locust (GREAT!), and maple, ash, oak trimmings from town.
I have been burning wood as a heat source in Rhode Island for about 26 years. I have 4 coalstoves/woodstoves in my log home, including a restored Glenwood K kitchen range. I buy nothing but oak and maple by the logging truck load in 15 - 20 food lenghts and cut and split it myself. Usually costs about 50 per cord this way. I would not go out of my way to buy pine, mainly because there is so much hardwood available locally.
Having said that, I cut pine on my own property and burn it in order to get rid of it. If properly dried, there is nothing wrong with burning it in your wood stoves. In fact, it is great for starting a fire since it catches easier and burns quickly, making it good for adding hardwood to the fire. I have about 3 cords piled right now ready for splitting and burning this winter.
I agree with others who say that it is fine alongs you give it some draft and don't try to burn it "airtight" overnight. I mix it in with my hardwood fires, and it is is good in my range cookstove to get a hot fire quickly.
After listening and reading the back-and-forth about various kinds of firewood for years, I agree that the hard woods are preferable if available, but burn anything you have available. Yes, I have burned apple wood (best!) down to weeping willow and birch. It all burns, and it all makes heat, although some do it better than others.
I have a lot of wood given to me because people take down trees and just want to get rid of the wood. Also, we "scout" the backroads after a big winter storm. Lots of oak pallets available around here if you want to fool around taking them apart. It is amazing how much wood you can pick up for free with your chainsaw and pickup truck. Just watch out for those power lines when scavenging along roadsides after storms.
Amazing! Around here it is taboo to burn anything but oak or hickory. Even the oak is scrutinized, with red oaks preferred and white oak species reserved for warmer days. I use hickory in the fireplace and oak in the stove and consume about 1 cord of hickory and 3 cords of oak per winter.
No hickory to speak of here in Rhode Island. There are a few "Shagbark" Hickory around, but they are rare. The most popular woods here are Maple and Oak (both white and red).
We have Locust, which is very hard and should be split green since it is almost impossible to split when seasoned.
There are a few other minor types, but most firewood sold is Maple or Oak. However, when I scavange wood or it is given to me, I burn it all.
I really prefer coal (anthracite) over wood since it burns longer, does not cause creosote or chimney fires, etc. It is more expensive than wood, however. Sells for about $150 per ton vs. $50 per cord for wood. I burn both.
We burn almost nothing but evergreens out here. We have a massive proponderance of hemlock, fir, cedar, etc. There are also tons of alder, and some maple. Nobody out here has any problems with burning the evergreens.
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