Is Firewood O/T?

[JD in da UP]

I don’t think so! How are those wood sheds doing? One of the boys might have been feeling cross last fall.I’ll show a new photo of my wood getter if the temperature outside gets above 5 degrees F later.

 

[Russ from MN]

There is an OT forum!

 

[dlbuck]

My wood pile is holding out well, I burn wood in the shop not in the house. I brought enough up to the shop to hopefully last till this really cold spell is over. It is 8 below right now in central Minnesota.

 

[Richard G.]

There is nothing O/T about firewood.
I use my 8N to drag logs out of the woods, my Kubota with forks on the loader to bring them to the house and hold the logs up so I don't have to bend down to saw into firewood length.
Then I use the loader to pick up blocks level with my splitter table.
Then I use the 8N or Case VAC to pull the wagon load of wood to the house or my shop.
Sometimes fill the loader bucket with split wood and drive it into my shop where I stack it.
If that is not "on topic", I don't know what is.

We are burning more wood this year because it is COLD and WET all the time.
Richard in NW SC

 

[JD in da UP]

Cold and wet can be miserable for spoiling a nice season like winter. Wood stoves shed radiant heat and suck up some of that damp air up the chimney. I hope you’re getting plenty of that comfort.

 

[lenray]

JD where are you at up in the UP???/ I am 150 miles south of da bridge at Clare and have 10 older tractors--3 JD. starting to fish a few gill lakes in the UP as I CAN'T GET INTO Ontario....Love the UP.................

 

[Brian G. NY]

I'm putting a picture of my D-17 in the picture so as to keep it non OT.

I have put a big dent in my pile because it has been colder than normal here in the Western Catskills. I am also burning mostly ash which is not as good as the Ironwood and Oak I usually burn.
I started with 3-1/2 cords and I still think I have enough to get me through.

 

[JD in da UP]

Hey lenray, I'm over here by Marquette. Almost 3 hours west of St.Ignace and 10 miles south of Lake Superior. We have hopes of getting to see our daughter and her husband in BC when they allow travel. Take care on your trips up north. John

 

[Bret4207]

(quoted from post at 18:24:46 02/14/21) I'm putting a picture of my D-17 in the picture so as to keep it non OT.

I have put a big dent in my pile because it has been colder than normal here in the Western Catskills. I am also burning mostly ash which is not as good as the Ironwood and Oak I usually burn.
I started with 3-1/2 cords and I still think I have enough to get me through.

Wow! Why do you split it so small? No wonder it doesn't last well.

 

[Jo Bird]

(quoted from post at 15:07:32 02/15/21)

(quoted from post at 18:24:46 02/14/21) I'm putting a picture of my D-17 in the picture so as to keep it non OT.

I have put a big dent in my pile because it has been colder than normal here in the Western Catskills. I am also burning mostly ash which is not as good as the Ironwood and Oak I usually burn.
I started with 3-1/2 cords and I still think I have enough to get me through.

Wow! Why do you split it so small? No wonder it doesn't last well.

X2 on the way to small . My father always said if it fits through the door, it's small enough..

 

[Brian G. NY]

Brett and JoBird, I cut this ash a little finer than usual this year because it was not perfectly seasoned when I stacked it...almost but not quite.
I burn nothing but totally seasoned wood which accounts for me not having had to clean my chimney in 12 years.
I cut it fine so I can pack more into my soapstone stove which provides almost all the heat in my 1,500 Sq Ft house.
Finely cut wood does not burn any faster than bigger wood in a properly maintained "airtight" stove. You control how hot the fire burns with how much air you let into the stove. A thermometer enables me to monitor the fire for best efficiency. I bring the temp on the top of my stove up to 500 deg. as soon as possible each time I load it and then keep it as near to that as I can by using the stove inlet damper. I use an in-pipe butterfly damper as well during really cold weather when there is a very strong draft in the chimney.
Long gone are the days when people threw large wood in the stove so it would burn slower and sometimes threw in a little green wood as well to make it burn all night.

 

[Bret4207]

Not much difference in dead dry ash and fresh off the stump ash. It's your home, your stove, do what you want. But thats really finely split wood, almost kindling sized. If it works for you, great. My furnace isn't anywhere near as efficient as I'd like. Can't afford a new one.

You best keep an eye on that chimney. 12 years is 11 years 11 months and 3 weeks longer than I like to let a chimney go uninspected.

 

[Brian G. NY]

(quoted from post at 22:39:50 02/15/21) Not much difference in dead dry ash and fresh off the stump ash. It's your home, your stove, do what you want. But thats really finely split wood, almost kindling sized. If it works for you, great. My furnace isn't anywhere near as efficient as I'd like. Can't afford a new one.

You best keep an eye on that chimney. 12 years is 11 years 11 months and 3 weeks longer than I like to let a chimney go uninspected.

I didn't say I didn't inspect my chimney....I said I hadn't cleaned it. And,......there is a difference between "off the stump" and well seasoned white ash when you're striving for near zero creosote. I installed my soapstone stove in Oct 2006. This picture was taken in Oct 2020. Never cleaned. I'm pushin' 80 and I grew up in an old farmhouse where the only heat was a Kalamazoo cook stove in the kitchen and a "chunk" parlor stove in the living room. My ol' man was a stickler for burning only well seasoned wood but we still cleaned the chimneys at least once a year.
The picture is deceiving, there is about 24 ft. between the pipe inlet and the top of the chimney.
I had a Vermont Castings stove prior to this one and it did not burn anywhere near as clean as the soapstone stove.

 

[Bret4207]

Good enough man, if it makes you happy, have at it!