Is Burning Pine Firewood as Bad as They Say?

Ask around Hawkins County and somebody will tell you never to burn pine in a wood stove because it'll burn your house down. It's one of the most repeated pieces of firewood advice there is. It's also mostly wrong.

Here's the short version: pine is safe to burn as long as it's dry and you keep your chimney clean. We don't sell pine, but we burn it in our own wood stoves, and on the right day it's the best wood on the pile.

Where the pine myth comes from

The worry is creosote, the black, tarry buildup that collects inside a chimney and can catch fire. Pine is full of sticky sap and pitch, so it seems logical that it would gum up a flue faster than oak.

But creosote doesn't come from sap. It comes from smoke that cools and condenses before it leaves the chimney. The two things that make that happen are wet wood and a smoldering, low-temperature fire. Wet oak choked down to a slow burn will coat a chimney faster than dry pine burning hot. Chimney sweeps have been saying this for years: the type of wood matters far less than how dry it is and how you burn it.

Where the myth has a grain of truth: old-timers often burned pine that was cut green and never dried. Green pine is very wet, smokes heavily and does make a mess of a flue. That's a moisture problem, not a pine problem.

How to burn pine safely

• Burn it dry. Like any firewood, pine should be under about 20% moisture before it goes in the stove. The upside: pine dries much faster than oak. Split and stacked in the sun and wind, it's often ready in 6 to 12 months, where oak can take a year or two.

• Burn it hot. Give it enough air. Pine wants to burn fast and bright, so don't choke it down to a smolder overnight.

• Keep your chimney clean. Get it inspected once a year, and swept whenever there's about an eighth of an inch of buildup. If you burn a lot of softwood, check it more often. This is good practice no matter what wood you burn.

• Mind the pops. Pockets of sap can pop and throw sparks. That's no problem in a closed wood stove, but use a screen with an open fireplace or fire pit.

There's more on checking moisture in our post on seasoned vs. green firewood.

Where pine really shines: cool spring and fall days

Pine doesn't hold a candle to oak for heat. It's much lighter, so a cord of pine holds roughly a third less heat than a cord of oak and burns up a lot faster. On a cold January night, that's a drawback.

On a cool October morning or a chilly April evening, it's exactly what you want. A small, fast pine fire takes the chill off the house in a hurry and then burns out, so you aren't stuck with a stove full of oak coals turning the living room into a sauna by noon. It's also hard to beat for kindling and for getting a cold stove going: it lights easily and gets the flue warm and drafting fast. A hot start like that actually helps cut down on creosote.

That's how we use it at our place: pine for quick fires in the shoulder seasons and for starting the stove, and oak and ash for the long, steady heat once winter sets in.

So why don't we sell it?

Most folks buying firewood want the most heat for their money and a fire that lasts through the night, and that's dense hardwood. So our loads are mixed hardwood, mostly oak and ash. If you've got pine on your own property from a storm or a land clearing, don't be afraid of it. Split it, dry it and burn it hot.

When you need the long-burning stuff, we deliver about a full cord of seasoned mixed hardwood, cut and split to your length, for $450 plus $50 delivery within 50 miles of Rogersville. Order a load here or call or text 423-236-0813.