cuttin' wood

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We still use firewood, and looking outside at the white ground, and single digit temps, I'm glad the stove is warming the house now.
I get a semi truck load of larch and birch, delivered to my log yard area every 4 years. I have a Kubota log grapple to bring logs right to my sawbuck, at the wood shed (2 car garage size) where I can saw rounds and fill one side of the shed.

Then I'll pull out the gas- hydraulic splitter, and split them all, and just toss them over the center divider filling the other side to the roof.

I'm usually a year ahead with wood availability, and plenty of good dry logs in the log yard ready to go. Even after being retired 15 years, I enjoy the chores, although the equipment I use keeps it from being a back breaking endeavor.
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^^^^ "I get a semi truck load of larch and birch, delivered to my log yard area every 4 years."

Larch? Is that the same as Tamarack? Around here Tamarack is sawn into planks for barn flooring, rot resistant. Is that white birch?
Our premium firewood is Hard Maple (Sugar Maple) and Yellow Birch with some White Ash, Beech, and a little Black Cherry thrown in.
I keep 2 fires going most of the winter and haven't burned any oil in 4 years.
 
WAY TOO MUCH WORK for me.............. I've had several houses with fireplaces and never lit a fire; just too darn lazy.

J.
 
'I would never have an all electric home no matter where I live. '
AGREED. Our new LP furnace may be energy efficient but there's no place in the house to 'get warm' (as in when you come in from chores literally frozen). The old wood furnace made the basement warm enough to shower, dry wet clothes, or just stand next to the iron monster and soak in the warmth.
My grandmother's house built in the early 1900s had a gravity furnace that had a large grate in the floor near the front door and the stairs. All the heat dissipated through the house from there. I remember coming in from playing in the snow and standing on the grate to get warm. It was a good place to dry all the wet clothes too.
 
We use a free standing wood stove, with a 24' tall double wall chimney pipe, it really radiates the heat, and it stays in the home. Too much heat goes out the chimney if you have a standard fire place
 
My grandmother's house built in the early 1900s had a gravity furnace that had a large grate in the floor near the front door and the stairs. All the heat dissipated through the house from there. I remember coming in from playing in the snow and standing on the grate to get warm. It was a good place to dry all the wet clothes too.
In our old family homestead we had 18x18 and 24x24 ornate cast iron grates in the floor. The furnace was an old Homart octopus covered with asbestos. It was originally designed for coal but we burned wood in it.
 
The only wood we burn is in the shop. Since I retired, we went through a couple of cords the first Winter. I used to love Fir the most because it burns fast and hot. My shop is 1,700 sq ft so the stove never gets choked down. Spent the money and had the ceiling spray foamed. The walls are 6 inch with insulation but I left the open truss ceiling bare when built. The spray foam REALLY helped, didn't know I was losing that much heat out the roof. Now my favorite wood is Locust. Still use Fir to get things going but after the Locust has seasoned a couple of years, it works great. Lots of ground water here so they are all over my property. Usually get 1/2 cord a year just in blow downs and thinning.
 
I grew up with heat. Had less colds and felt
healthier when ever I had wood heat. My theory is that the hot surface on an airtight kills viruses and germs and valley that bad stuff as rhe air circulates over it. I built airtights for a while. Cut lots of wood and still have 5 chainsaws of various sizes, from a 14 inch bar up to 36 inch with an 80cc power unit, all Echo, to whittle on some wood.
I am moving back north after living in rhe south most of my adult life and will be building my own sirtight stove. 5/16 tear drop floor plate for the top to increase the suface area, a unique baffle system to introduce air in the hottest spot for that glowing burn just above the baffle, for a hot and efficient burn. Lined with firebrick and big enough for a 36 inch log. The last one i built for my house in Asheville where I lived for a couple years I could fill up, set it for slow long burn, take a 4 day weekend trip and it still would be burning to just add some wood.
My final chapter of my life will be back to my roots. I WILL be warm and toasty!!
 
When I was in VA, we had a Timberline wood stove. Great stove, could heat the whole house. Normal winter would be 3 cords. Heavy snows/colder/longer winter, we would burn 6 cords. I had a 9-cord pile, just in case. All seasoned.
 
'The only wood we burn is in the shop.'
I'd like to have an 'outside' wood burner for the new shop building. Keeps mess and sparks away from stuff inside that might burn. Yeah, I'm still a bit touchy about flames, fire, and combustibles/accelerants. The heater doesn't need to make the interior 'toasty warm' most of the time--just temper the really cold days. On my place, wood costs only what fuel it takes to cut and haul 1/2 mile so basically free.
 
Depending on the shop, a woodstove is really not a good idea in one.... even though I would probably do it. Any open flame in what I would consider a shop is a bad idea when there is the potential for flammable vapors. Then again when you start talking about wood stoves it is much like guns .. the average person does not have a clue as to how dangerous they can be or how to operate one properly. I spent the first 20 years of my chimney sweep career telling folks their stoves were installed wrong and they were operating them wrong.
 
I'm 74yrs old and burned wood to heat most of my adult life. For the past 30+ years in our house we've burned wood for heat and never bought any. EVER. We've got electric heat and rarely turn it on. We go through 5-6 cords at least/yearly. 95% hand split by me but do have a splitter for gnarly wood I haven't used in 2 years. We've saved over 100K+ during that time.The past two mornings has been below zero but 70 degrees inside.
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Depending on the shop, a woodstove is really not a good idea in one.... even though I would probably do it. Any open flame in what I would consider a shop is a bad idea when there is the potential for flammable vapors. Then again when you start talking about wood stoves it is much like guns .. the average person does not have a clue as to how dangerous they can be or how to operate one properly. I spent the first 20 years of my chimney sweep career telling folks their stoves were installed wrong and they were operating them wrong.
That's one reason we hear so many fire sirens/trucks around here this time of year. Got to keep that flue clean & not overfire your stove too.
 
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