Sitka spruce vs lodgepole pine firewood

[spuddog0507]

7 hours ago, openspaceman said:

I found much the same with scots and corsican thinnings, if not crosscut and split they go pulpy inside the bark, sitka bark splits and the wood seem to dry hard.

 

Bigger scots have a resinous heartwood, so more heat, but I have never felled a big lodgepole.

One of the sites we work on has a block of Spruce with Lodgepole planted with in the spruce and it was planted as a trial for the lodgepole to act as self thinning, the spruce have smothered the lodgepole out and are all stood there as dead poles, to me it looks like it has worked well, only lodgepole we get are shitty bent twisted multi stemed things, 

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, spuddog0507 said:

only lodgepole we get are shitty bent twisted multi stemed things, 

Which is exactly as I found lodgepole pines down here too.

[Paul in the woods]

Not surprising as Logepole pine is Pinus contorta aka twisted pine.

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Paul in the woods said:

Not surprising as Logepole pine is Pinus contorta aka twisted pine.

Yes but I thought it was named after the twist in the needles[1]. It grows straight in its home country

 

[1]Just checked and that's what Mitchell said in Trees of Great Britain and  Northern Europe

Edited November 21, 2021 by openspaceman

[difflock]

Since I got both, I probably prefer the Lodgepole as firing, watching the resinious knots sweat and burn when putting a fresh log on the fire is very satisfying. But Lord God it is shitty to cut, transport and process being twisted, lumpy, contorted, shapeless, sideways growing, heavy limbed and and often broken by the wind if not windthrown as well. 

Edited November 22, 2021 by difflock

[Stere]

Quote

Its north costal lodgepole so it shouldn't be too knotty

Thats interesting  thanks seems there a big range of  growth habits within the species

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiO9Nuzzqv0AhXh8LsIHbk7Dc0QFnoECB4QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fjournal.societyofirishforesters.ie%2Findex.php%2Fforestry%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F9933%2F9023%2F&usg=AOvVaw3NlR1Hxfy1eBl6wyGHc4aa

Edited November 22, 2021 by Stere

[trigger_andy]

I burn a fair bit of Sitka Backs off the Mill. They're great in the kitchen Stove/oven as they provide a lot of quick but fast burning heat. Great for getting the oven up to temp and for heating the hot water. In the Living room we use a mix of Sitka and hardwoods and the Sitka really helps the hardwoods, especially Oak along. 

[difflock]

A  typical Lodgepole Pine of ours.

And a somewhat more pleasing mound of  Spagnum moss. 

[nepia]

On 21/11/2021 at 17:56, spuddog0507 said:

One of the sites we work on has a block of Spruce with Lodgepole planted with in the spruce and it was planted as a trial for the lodgepole to act as self thinning, the spruce have smothered the lodgepole out and are all stood there as dead poles, to me it looks like it has worked well, only lodgepole we get are shitty bent twisted multi stemed things, 

 

 

 

I'm told by my mate in Scotland that Lodgepole is planted with Spruce because of its fast early years growth that don't actually smother the Spruce but do protect it from wind and weather.  The Spruce catches up, overtakes and then smothers the Lodgepole:  does this make sense to you?

[difflock]

I will be curious to see how the couple of acres of Sitka that was clearfelled 10 or 15 years ago and near instantly sprouted very closely spaced Lodgepole Pine from dormant seed develop as they mature. It really seeds and grows like a weed in the rank moss.