Nevada pinon is as dense as a lot of hardwoods
I'm another Nevada woodcutter who loves pinon pine. In the dry, tough growing conditions here (goes below freezing over 200 nights per year) pinon grows slowly and forms a fine-grained, high density wood.
I think it burns longer than most hardwood species, even oak, but it depends on the pitch content. If you have some pitchy pinon it'll burn for hours. It lights up easily and you have to dampen down for the first 30 minutes to keep it from over-firing. After the pitchy bark burns off I open up the Jotul Oslo damper wide and let it go. It forms a very light weight ash, a bagfull weighs only a couple pounds. Lots of coals in the morning make re-lighting easy.
No problem splitting it with my Super Splitter (the best machine made). Larger rounds can be tough, but you just split staves off around the perimeter and whittle it down.
Pinon is also the finest smelling wood of them all. Incense is made from it. The only problem is finding it! You have to look hard to find the standing or down deadwood that itsn't rotten. I only cut dead trees, and I carry the rounds to my truck, as far as 300 ft. I use two husquvarna 12-in log tongs, makes the job easy on the hands. Does give the shoulders a killer workout! But it's well worth the effort, and besides, it's fun. A pinion forest of 50 ft tree's at 7500 ft elevation is a thing of beauty.
