old pine

[allgreenmaple]

Am I the one thats confused or you BTU guys? Seriously here is my thoughts and deal with the BTU debate. BTU's for wood are based on a cord of wood correct? Now we all can agree that a cord of hardwood burns longer than a cord of pine right? So with that said you get more BTU's out of a cord of hardwood than a cord of pine. Any one disagree? But guess what I could really truly give a rats behind how many BTU's I get out of my sugar wood cause my only concern is how darn hot the wood burns to get those pans ripping. I am willing to bet that if you were able to measure the temp of a good dry piece of pine and a good dry piece of hardwood you will find that the pine burns alot hotter just for not as long. Personally I would rather be shoving wood nonstop so I can get to bed sooner than be throwing in wood less often and be up longer. Done it both ways and I will pick up a piece of pine before I reach for a hardwood in my evaporator.

Pine does burn hot. Must be why I've got about 15 cords of it.....

[SeanD]

Am I the one thats confused or you BTU guys? Seriously here is my thoughts and deal with the BTU debate. BTU's for wood are based on a cord of wood correct? Now we all can agree that a cord of hardwood burns longer than a cord of pine right? So with that said you get more BTU's out of a cord of hardwood than a cord of pine. Any one disagree? But guess what I could really truly give a rats behind how many BTU's I get out of my sugar wood cause my only concern is how darn hot the wood burns to get those pans ripping. I am willing to bet that if you were able to measure the temp of a good dry piece of pine and a good dry piece of hardwood you will find that the pine burns alot hotter just for not as long. Personally I would rather be shoving wood nonstop so I can get to bed sooner than be throwing in wood less often and be up longer. Done it both ways and I will pick up a piece of pine before I reach for a hardwood in my evaporator.

I must be the one confused about BTUs, so skip that part. The rest of the post is what I really want to know the answer to.

Sean

[jasonl6]

Will a larger piece of pine generate the kind of BTUs that a wrist-sized piece of hardwood puts out?

I picked up a batch of seasoned quarter-round pine that is so knotty I can hardly get my maul through it. I'm at the point where a lot of the pieces may just have to go into the evaporator as is. I have enough other wood split small that I could just work one big piece in once in a while.

Do you think the big pieces kill the boil?

Sean

A large piece can kill the boil. I know some folks around me use slab wood and if the though a huge flat piece in you can see in the pans were it is not boiling as good. I have AOF/AUF and can burn just about everything and anything. Last year i had a pallet full of bunks from lumber (4"x4"x4') i through those in whole and they really ripped (they are kiln dried). As for the pine/hardwood debate. I use both. I normally use wood that i am cleaning up from around the property so if i have hardwood i use that and split it small. If i have pine i use that and split is small. As for using a mall on knotty wood...get a gas wood splitter, you can split wood sideways if need be.

Jason

[3rdgen.maple]

Pine does burn hot. Must be why I've got about 15 cords of it.....

Good point must be why I have 12 cords of it too lol.

[SeanD]

As for using a mall on knotty wood...get a gas wood splitter, you can split wood sideways if need be.

Jason

Yeah, I know. It's on the wish list. I'm still at the point where I don't need it quite enough to justify the big money. Someday.

Sean

[BryanEx]

The original post in this thread was asking about 10~15 year old dead pine... some of which was on the ground. If the trees had died a year or two ago I would recommend the wood but not at over a decade ago. If you can split it cleanly okay, but if it comes apart in chunks it's far more suitable as mulch or a bug's breakfast that firewood.

[adk1]

I agree. Not much sence of taking the time to split it if what your going to get out of it is miniscule.

[Forrest hunters]

So I was in the woods yesterday and looked at this old pine. I found a lot of it i could push my thumb into but there is also a lot of good wood there too. I will leave the squishy stuff for the bugs and use the rest. Found some good old sassafras i can use up too. clean up a little bit of the old stuff out there anyway.

Thanks,
Rob