how long to season pine wood?

mindovermatter

Hi,

Can anyone settle an argument (heated discussion! no pun intended by the way....) between my wife and me.

Mrs Mindovermatter (MOM)says that we can burn pine after less than a year of seasoning but I want to leave it for at least 2 years.

Mrs MOM says that we can mix it with oak to bulk up our wood in the woodburner - we have copious amounts of pine after chopping down a huge scots pine.

Mrs MOM says that pine never loses it sap - she reckons you can season it for years and it wont make any difference. She also says that it we leave it long long, it turns to balsa wood....

Best wishes - keep warm

Mindovermatter

Williwoodburner

mindovermatter wrote: »

Hi,

Can anyone settle an argument (heated discussion! no pun intended by the way....) between my wife and me.

Mrs Mindovermatter (MOM)says that we can burn pine after less than a year of seasoning but I want to leave it for at least 2 years.

Mrs MOM says that we can mix it with oak to bulk up our wood in the woodburner - we have copious amounts of pine after chopping down a huge scots pine.

Mrs MOM says that pine never loses it sap - she reckons you can season it for years and it wont make any difference. She also says that it we leave it long long, it turns to balsa wood....

Best wishes - keep warm

Mindovermatter

Hi Mindovermatter,
pine should season in about a year if off the ground, top covered in a sunny, windy spot.
All wood will burn if dry, common misconception that pine is a bad firewood, would rather burn dry pine than green ash anyday.
After all in scandanavia that and birch is all they have, and they are way ahead of us in woodburning.

Willie.

mindovermatter

Hi
that's most interesting - I had always thought that ash could be burnt as soon as the tree was felled.
what's the problem with green ash? - we have lots of that as well.

suki1964

We have pine

To be honest and I'm no expert, a year won't be long enough to dry it for burning if burned on its own

I'm burning last years ATM, all seasoned off the ground, out of the rain

Some is like balsa and the rest is ideal for smoking meats

Oh it will burn wetish but needing all vents open so very little heat

Gloomendoom

Ash will burn as soon as it is felled. That doesn't mean you should.

I've smoked meat with pine. It tasted horrible.

Williwoodburner

mindovermatter wrote: »

Hi
that's most interesting - I had always thought that ash could be burnt as soon as the tree was felled.
what's the problem with green ash? - we have lots of that as well.

Ash is low moisture content when green, about 35%, good firewood should be seasoned until below 20%.
A moisture meter is very handy to check. :money:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moisture-Digital-Tester-Detector-Timber/dp/B004NQ0RL4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1350513726&sr=8-3

Cardew

I think pine got a bad reputation because when on an open fire it 'spits'.

Skulls

Up until last year all I burnt was pine offcuts. The woodyard now supplies another company with all its waste wood so none for me anymore, but I prefered the offcuts to any other wood I've ever burnt! It was all kiln dried.

A._Badger

Williwoodburner wrote: »

Ash is low moisture content when green, about 35%, good firewood should be seasoned until below 20%.
A moisture meter is very handy to check. :money:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moisture-Digital-Tester-Detector-Timber/dp/B004NQ0RL4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1350513726&sr=8-3

Williewoodburner is right. And do watch cheap moisture meters off eBay. I was bought one as a present. The first was faulty, the replacement next to useless.

suki1964

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Ash will burn as soon as it is felled. That doesn't mean you should.

I've smoked meat with pine. It tasted horrible.

I can imagine - my sitting room mings when pine has smouldered in the stove cos its too damp

Williwoodburner

Lots of good info on hearth.com from people who really know about wood -
http://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/burning-pine.86205/

:money: