# Pacific Northwest Firewood



## Gkiesel (Nov 9, 2012)

Just a dumb question from an eastern flatlander.
You guys up in Washington and Oregon. You have such a predominance of pine forrests, what do you burn for firewood?
I would assume you burn the pine and clean your chimneys more often. I know you have hardwoods and all, but do you also use all that pine?
Thanks, george


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## Encore (Nov 9, 2012)

Seasoned pine doesn't force you to clean your chimney any more than other wood. It just doesn't coal up nearly like hardwoods


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## Gkiesel (Nov 9, 2012)

Got it.
The Pitch pine we have out here is total sap. Burns like hell though, too hot.


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## Big_Al (Nov 9, 2012)

The most popular wood in this area is tamarack or red fir, lodgepole pine is also popular. Doesn't cause any more soot issues than any other wood as long as its dry. As was mentioned it doesn't burn quite as long as tamarack but its easy to find.


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## H 2 H (Nov 9, 2012)

On the wet side of Washington State; I burn Alder; Birch and Fir and I clean the chimney the first week of June every year


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## D&B Mack (Nov 9, 2012)

All evergreens are not pine.


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## teatersroad (Nov 9, 2012)

right, Pine's rare on the west side. If you are close to some pine around here you'd be on the dry side (it's more an inter-mountain system like parts of ID. MT. CO.) so, If I were in the pines (which I am) I'd go cut me some juniper for firewood. plenty of that.


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## stumpy75 (Nov 9, 2012)

Been a while since worked out there(southern Oregon Coast), but I had an almost unlimited access to Douglas Fir and Hemlock, so that's what I burned. Used a 30 gallon barrel stove in a mobile home with a single wall pipe out a window!! :msp_scared: And I'm still here to talk about it! :msp_biggrin:

I use pine here in NW Ohio now too, as most people are almost scared to use it. No problems if it's seasoned.


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## turnkey4099 (Nov 9, 2012)

stumpy75 said:


> Been a while since worked out there(southern Oregon Coast), but I had an almost unlimited access to Douglas Fir and Hemlock, so that's what I burned. Used a 30 gallon barrel stove in a mobile home with a single wall pipe out a window!! :msp_scared: And I'm still here to talk about it! :msp_biggrin:
> 
> I use pine here in NW Ohio now too, as most people are almost scared to use it. No problems if it's seasoned.



Mybe we should quit debunking those old wives tales. Leaves the pine, fir, etc for us 

Harry K


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## toqua (Nov 9, 2012)

Here in eastern Wa I burn all black locust.


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## Locust Cutter (Nov 9, 2012)

Well he's not on the coast but my Great-Uncle burns Oak, Cedar, Doug Fir and what tamarack he can find. He's near Shasta.


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## Richard_ (Nov 9, 2012)

Fir is the most predominant wood here in the Willamette Valley , we also get oak and cedar , pine is mostely on the west side


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## zogger (Nov 9, 2012)

If you have any factories or warehouses near you, you can ask for scrap wood. A lot o stuff is shipped sitting on scrap timbers and framed up on skids, etc. Ususally that is good wood to burn.


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## ponyexpress976 (Nov 9, 2012)

Gkiesel said:


> Got it.
> The Pitch pine we have out here is total sap. Burns like hell though, too hot.



Since dear old Sandy blew through, Ive been inundated with tons of spruce and white pine. Looks like I'll have plenty of shoulder season wood for the next couple of years.


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## lon (Nov 9, 2012)

In southern Oregon, all I burn is madrone. Get a log truck load each spring. Burns clean and gives lots of heat.


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## El Quachito (Nov 9, 2012)

Does Northwest California count? Sure it does. I burn doug fir with black oak, white oak, madrone, alder, tan oak and pepperwood. The hardwoods based on what I can easily extract or find blown down. Old-growth fir if you have it is bad a$$ wood.


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## slowp (Nov 9, 2012)

Ummmm, better study your forestry. There are pines and firs and cedars on the wet side. I just came home with a load of alder, which is a soft hardwood and some of our other native hardwood, big leaf maple.
I prefer to burn Douglas-fir which makes excellent firewood. Right now, I'm getting rid of some gnarly Western Hemlock, which also has short needles but takes a long time to season, and burns quickly. 

Most folks in the surrounding area also like Doug-fir. 

We have Western White Pine, which grows at the higher elevations, but is not used for firewood, and there is some poor old lodgepole growing near the Cascade crest, which is also not cut for firewood because it is easier to get Doug-fir which burns better. 

We like cedar for kindling, when we can get it. I burn what is easy to get, and right now I have a good supply of Red Alder to cut in an apres logging area.


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## specialev (Nov 9, 2012)

In Renton, nearby Seattle, we get a lot of different stuff and I'll burn whatever I can get. I took down a fair few doug firs, a pine, couple of cedar trees, and one nasty diseased big leaf maple this summer. Alder and cottonwood is also really common near me. And for some reason my neighbors have been giving me a bit of work taking out big mature cherry trees too big to get fruit out of so I've had a nice amount of cherry for the last few years too. 

I usually clean the chimney once in the summer and once more around easter when I take the xmas lights down if I'm feeling anal retentive.


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## Vangellis (Nov 9, 2012)

ponyexpress976 said:


> Since dear old Sandy blew through, Ive been inundated with tons of spruce and white pine. Looks like I'll have plenty of shoulder season wood for the next couple of years.





This may be the first pine I burn. Now it's all bucked up and along the road in front of the house.:msp_rolleyes:











Kevin


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## slowp (Nov 9, 2012)

That looks more like a fir or a spruce to me. Do your pines have short needles?


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## Gologit (Nov 9, 2012)

Wires?


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## Doug Fir (Nov 10, 2012)

Along the east slope of the North Cascades the best conifers for firewood are western larch (tamarack) and Douglas-fir. Larch has a somewhat better reputation. It tends to be a bit denser. I believe this is due to the fact that it often grows in more challenging conditions. This leads to slower growth and thus higher density (as the annual growth rings are close together). I find that Doug-fir from overgrown stands in marginal locations can also be quite dense, for the same reason. 

Doug-fir is by far the most common firewood species around here. It is about the same density as big leaf maple (a soft maple). Sometimes people travel a ways to the east to pick up some apple. That's great firewood, and the only hardwood that can be found in any quantity. But it can be expensive to haul wood any distance, so most of us use what we can find in our own "backyard". 

Lodgepole pine is a notch lower than Doug-fir, and Ponderosa pine is a notch lower than Lodgepole. P-pine is plentiful, but people tend to avoid it because Doug-fir is also widely available. 

There's a lot of aspen around here, but once it dries it is very light. It is even less dense than P-pine, but sometimes people burn it because it can be really easy to get. Large clear trunks sometimes fall right across the road. Since you have to cut it up to clear the road you might as well throw a few rounds in the back of the truck. :msp_smile:

None of the conifers we burn create a creosote problem. Even the pine burns clean. Of course if you do not season the wood properly you can get a creosote problem, but it's pretty easy to season wood here, as it is very hot and very dry during the summer and early fall. A couple of summers in the shed and my wood is at 10% on the moisture meter, which is actually drier than optimal.

Doug


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## deerlakejens (Nov 10, 2012)

Burning Big Leaf Maple as we speak, burns fairly hot and long and leaves a nice bed of embers for tomorrow. Most of my wood pile is Doug fir, plentiful, splits easy and burns hot. I also have a few cedars, cherries and hemlocks in the pile, with the cherry being pretty decent. There's even about a cord of alder waiting for winter.


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## Steve NW WI (Nov 10, 2012)

ponyexpress976 said:


> Since dear old Sandy blew through, Ive been inundated with tons of spruce and white pine. Looks like I'll have plenty of shoulder season wood for the next couple of years.



If the spruce is in your yard and you need to clean it up, go ahead. If you are going to pick it up somewhere else, let someone else deal with it. Spruce has about 1 gazillion limbs, and therefore knots per tree.  No fun limbing, and less fun splitting, unless you cut the blocks out between knots and leave knot cookies for the firepit.

White pine is alright in my book, but I don't see much of it unless one needs to leave someone's yard.


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## ponyexpress976 (Nov 10, 2012)

Steve NW WI said:


> If the spruce is in your yard and you need to clean it up, go ahead. If you are going to pick it up somewhere else, let someone else deal with it. Spruce has about 1 gazillion limbs, and therefore knots per tree. No fun limbing, and less fun splitting, unless you cut the blocks out between knots and leave knot cookies for the firepit.
> 
> White pine is alright in my book, but I don't see much of it unless one needs to leave someone's yard.



Im getting paid to clean them up. I have a place nearby that accepts the chips. Cutting down on expenses by not paying to dump it. Most places want $50+ per load to dump. I figure I'll burn this stuff and maybe sell a few extra cords of hardwood.


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## Gkiesel (Nov 10, 2012)

Once again you guys give me an education.
Not all conifers are considered pines, is what I'm hearing.
I've always been told do not burn pine in the stove, but out here we get all kinds, white pine, doug fir, blue spruce. From what I gather, as long as it's dry enough it not out of the question to burn. G


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## smokee (Nov 10, 2012)

Just curious, to the firewood buyers, what you pay for a cord in the N.W. of what kind of wood?


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## H 2 H (Nov 10, 2012)

smokee said:


> Just curious, to the firewood buyers, what you pay for a cord in the N.W. of what kind of wood?



This place Forest Land Services here in town sells Alder $230 a cord 


Home Heating Products Stanwood, WA - Forest Land Services Inc


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## MNTAINGAL23 (Nov 10, 2012)

We like to burn madrone alder big leaf maple and doug fir. Except for fir the others make it smell like a bbq. A cord runs 225 to 250


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## slowp (Nov 10, 2012)

I just had a vision. We can haul a load of alder to Pike Place Market and fling it through the air like the salmon throwers. We'll give it a snooty name and sell it by the chunk. Who's in with me? :msp_smile:


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## Big_Al (Nov 11, 2012)

Usually tamarack or Doug fir is 200 cord, lodgepole is 150. All of them burn fine dry, clean my chimney once a year.


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## H 2 H (Nov 11, 2012)

slowp said:


> I just had a vision. We can haul a load of alder to Pike Place Market and fling it through the air like the salmon throwers. We'll give it a snooty name and sell it by the chunk. Who's in with me? :msp_smile:



I'm in :msp_smile:


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## Gologit (Nov 11, 2012)

H 2 H said:


> I'm in :msp_smile:



Me too. I'll bring some madrone...great wood for throwing.


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## Cedarkerf (Nov 11, 2012)

Were in. We wouldnt even need to split it cut rounds 25 to 30 inches long and call them rustic stools and charge 65 dollars a round like they do on ebay


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## slowp (Nov 11, 2012)

Cedarkerf said:


> Were in. We wouldnt even need to split it cut rounds 25 to 30 inches long and call them rustic stools and charge 65 dollars a round like they do on ebay



Those might be a leetle bit hard to throw--at least for me. :msp_smile:


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## El Quachito (Nov 11, 2012)

Or fill your fabric shopping bag.


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## sawsalottawood (Nov 11, 2012)

*Here in the Willamette Valley*

I will only burn Hickory, Hedge and Pecan. Those other woods leave too much creosote in my chimney 

regards,

SAWs


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## slowp (Nov 11, 2012)

Another marketing ploy, our alder is wild grown--not planted! That will cause the price to go higher, right?


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## Wazzu (Nov 11, 2012)

smokee said:


> Just curious, to the firewood buyers, what you pay for a cord in the N.W. of what kind of wood?


About $250 a cord for "red fir"/Doug Fir in the Boise area. That is, whatever is left over after the Forrest Service lets most of it burn up all summer out in the woods.


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## Gologit (Nov 11, 2012)

slowp said:


> Another marketing ploy, our alder is wild grown--not planted! That will cause the price to go higher, right?



Yup, especially when you label it as "Organically fertilized by grass fed deer"...


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## slowp (Nov 11, 2012)

Gologit said:


> Yup, especially when you label it as "Organically fertilized by grass fed deer"...



And elk!


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## Gologit (Nov 11, 2012)

slowp said:


> And elk!



And loggers! No, wait a minute...


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## Cedarkerf (Nov 11, 2012)

And fixes nitrogen in the ground and provide habitat for the endangerd tent catipiller. The word habitat alone should be a key marketing word


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## slowp (Nov 11, 2012)

Gologit said:


> And loggers! No, wait a minute...



More likely the elk poachers. They go through at night.


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## Gologit (Nov 11, 2012)

slowp said:


> More likely the elk poachers. They go through at night.



You're right. What was I thinking? Elk hunters...that makes sense. Loggers wouldn't do anything unsavory in the woods.


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## slowp (Nov 12, 2012)

Cedarkerf said:


> And fixes nitrogen in the ground and provide habitat for the endangerd tent catipiller. The word habitat alone should be a key marketing word



Wild and sustainably grown in a natural habitat.


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## Hddnis (Nov 14, 2012)

Loggers are grass fed?:msp_scared:




Mr. HE


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## Gologit (Nov 14, 2012)

Hddnis said:


> Loggers are grass fed?:msp_scared:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Only when the grass is in brownies. :msp_wink:


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## Iron Head (Nov 14, 2012)

I use fir, ash, alder, cotton wood, maple, and some madrona; in this order of abundance.


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