Wood Burning Question

[David Petersen]

#9199

Well we’re off topic here by a good ways, but it’s within the “mood” of traditional philosophy. Your local wisdom is correct insofar as conifer/soft woods create a lot of pitch, which can build up and cause stove pipe fires. On the other hand, that’s about all we have in much of the West, along with aspen which is technically a hardwood but is quite soft and burns as fast and puts out about as much heat as most evergreens, but not the creosote. Our only real hardwood is Gambel’s oak, which is mostly brush with a century-old tree mabybe 4-6″ in diameter. I have heated our cabin exolusively with wood for 30 years and have avoided pine as much as possible and won’t touch spruce, fir or cottonwood. We use mostly aspen in the days and oak to carry coals through the night. But sometimes I’m stuck with using ponderosa pine. So I guess I’d say that if you have an abundance of easy pine, go ahead and burn it. But use small amounts at a time so you can keep the fire hot; it’s when you shut the stove down that lots of smoke and creosote are created. Burn pine days, small hot fires, and hardwoods at night when you shut the stove down. Clean your stove pipe at least twice a winter and if you have any elbows give them special attention as that’s where pipe fires generally start since the smoke is slowed and more creosote is deposited. Knock on wood, I have never had a single pipe/creosote fire … so far. From late fall through spring our stove never goes out. “Split wood, not atoms.” 😀

[Etter1]

#9226

Thanks. I thought this forum was for campfire discussion:D

I typically burn it to start with and then add some oak splits to keep a good coal bed for the night. Haven’t had the chimney cleaned in years but we typically only burn white or red oak.

[David Coulter]

#9314

I’ll throw my two cents in if I may. As long as your pine is good and dry, it’ll burn pretty clean. We burn mostly oak, with some hickory, maple and locust with a bit of pine thrown when we’re around to feed the dragon. Last winter was pretty warm and the summer had been really wet. With the firewood damp and the stove not drafting hard we had a lot of buildup in the pipe. We also have a lot of turns in the pipe and at every turn, the smoke gets a chance to cool a bit and create more buildup. We had to have the stove cleaned three times total last year and normally do it once.

[David Coulter]

#10160

One more thought I had on this. When backpacking, my favorite firewood by far is beech. It’s easy to cut with a folding saw and it burn relatively smoke free. Enjoyable. dwc

[wahoo]

#11057

back east people burn different fuels because it is available . In the west all I have is pine so we use it. We burn hot fires in the morning and evening and I try to clean the chimney once a month getting all bends and elbows. One good thing about a chimney fire is you have the cleanest chimney in town.

[Ben M.]

#11185

wahoo wrote: One good thing about a chimney fire is you have the cleanest chimney in town.

Haha! ‘Bout made me choke on my coffee! I’ve only had one chimney fire ever -it was on the cookstove chimney- and it was brief, but awful.

[garydavis]

#11611

I burn fir alder and maple mostly and clean the flue every other year. The trick I use is to burn only dry wood and once a week heat it up to about 600F. Turns the creosote into a fine ash and makes my toes toasty. Our place is only eight hundred square feet and very well insulated. Oh, I knock most of the bark off the splits and use the barky stuff for the fire pit out back.

[William Warren]

#14923

Correct me if I’m wrong but eastern pines are usually heavier with pitch. In fact here in NC the pitch industry in our early days was as big or bigger than cotton and tobacco.

You could probably get away with using some pine as long as it is well seasoned and you alternate with seasoned hardwood. I agree with pine during daylight and I would carefully regulate how hot I let it get.

I regularly use split pine as starter wood and my flue has always been clean. My flue is stainless and often whatever sticks to it will fall off during the humid summer months and collect in a small pile at the bottom of the flue if I leave the damper open. I brush it every year or two and look down it with the flashlight to check it out.

I probably would not use pine exclusively if I could get good hardwood.

[ksbowman]

#17220

We burn mainly hedge with a little bit of locust. It burns very hot and can be tough on thin wall stoves. I have to clean the flue at least once a year. After having a couple of flue fires I don’t care to have anymore. They can be quite exciting!

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