Who is cutting wood?

[stfu&gbtw]

qft. And when it's 10 degrees f out the shit'll split if you whisper sweet nothins at it. Choose thy battles. I choose RED OAK!

Lodgepole pine is where it's at here. Doesn't matter if the round is 35" across, it will split just as straight and clean as you could possibly dream of. Need kindling? Chopsticks? Toothpicks? Shit seems to be infinitely divisible.

[glademaster]

Mmmmm, white ash. The ready burner. I've got about 20% of my stockpile of the stuff.

gonna go grab a nuther load of teh red oak from 'the stash' tomorrow for winter 16'.

Very much false with regards to being "ready to burn" buy a moisture meter and get back to me on that one. White ash does generally contain less moisture than lots of species, but it still needs 12-18 months at least after it has been split.

And red oak for winter 16?! Good luck with that. No way in hell it would be anywhere near dry enough for me to contemplate burning any kind of oak after 14 months of seasoning. If I was cutting oak now it would be for the winter of 17/18, maybe some extremely small, almost kindling size splits would be ready for 16/17, but no sooner than that.

[~mikey b]

Got a rec for a good value moisture meter?

[glademaster]

Got a rec for a good value moisture meter?

I own both of the ones linked to below. The Harbor Freight one is cheap enough that I am fine with letting friends/neighbors borrow it, plus it's nice to have two if you want to see how the readings vary. I haven't found more than a 1-2% difference in readings between the two on the same split, so they are either both pretty accurate or both inaccurate in the same way.

As with any sort of testing instrument, the test procedure matters just as much, if not more, than the measuring device. Always measure on a freshly split face (i.e. halve a piece that is already split) and press the pins firmly into the grain, along the direction of it. Ideally both pins should be in the same grain.

I strive to burn only wood that has been seasoned until the moisture content is <18%. I have a secondary burn "tube" stove, which requires higher firebox temps than a catalytic stove to effectively burn the smoke, so having well seasoned wood is absolutely critical to clean, efficient burning.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_78059-56005-...ers&facetInfo=

http://www.harborfreight.com/http-ww...7143-html.html

[grrrr]

Normally wood will season much faster here than on the EC. I've seen RH drop to 1%, and 10% is a normal day. This year, all it fucking does is rain.

[glademaster]

i burn it in 6+

So you're part of the problem; one of those people giving wood burners who are fastidious about producing the fewest possible emissions a bad name. Thanks.

[glademaster]

Things are different here in maine

No, they aren't. Just because there are not widespread air quality issues doesn't mean that you don't bear the responsibility to burn properly seasoned wood in a new, EPA approved, high efficiency wood stove if you are going to use it as your primary heat source.

I think anyone who heats with wood has spent one winter struggling with wetter than ideal wood. I did, and now I am running a much cleaner burning stove and burning only wood that is demonstrably dry. I get significantly more heat per stove load, a much cleaner chimney and almost never have more than a heat signature being emitted from my chimney, plus I don't have to feel like a selfish shithead for mucking up the air my neighbors breathe.

[DougW]

Huh... Never dealt with it.

Yeah you gotta take what you can get. I love scores like that.

I'm lucky in that where i live I have a lot of good wood to chose from and it doesn't get so fucking cold here that I need to burn a cord a week.

Sometimes my aspen is like that , has spongie core that the maul goes in to 3 in and it doesn't split. Aim of the edge and it splits first blow.

I use at most a cord month even in cold months. So for those putting 2-3 years away what is your plan? A storage area for each year? Two bays ?

[glademaster]

Sometimes my aspen is like that , has spongie core that the maul goes in to 3 in and it doesn't split. Aim of the edge and it splits first blow.

I use at most a cord month even in cold months. So for those putting 2-3 years away what is your plan? A storage area for each year? Two bays ?

I don't have a formal woodshed as I'm currently renting my place, but yes, I have things staged out. I tend to burn mostly coniferous species and fast-seasoning hardwoods like Silver Maple, so while I am striving to be 3 years ahead, 2 is plenty and I'm not sure I have room for ~20 cords on my lot. If I was burning mostly slow seasoning hardwoods I would find a way to get 3 years worth of wood in here, but it hasn't been an issue thus far.

I'll get some pictures up soon, but I have large racks that I top-cover to hold my supply for the upcoming winter, then a dedicated spot with a whole lot of pallets to stack my wood for the following year. I'm planning to position those stacks to act as snow fences along the western edge of my driveway. They'll get lots of sun and air moving through them during the non-winter months, and they might make my snow blowing a bit easier too.

I keep my largest stash of ready to burn wood in a large rack that has about 2.666 cords in it on my driveway. Sort of a schlep from the house, but I get around 375 inches of snow a year at my house, so being able to keep the stacks clear with the snowblower and not having to dig them out is key.

I'm also in the process of building a wood storage box for inside my house out of a pallet, 2x4's and window screen. Should fit about a weeks worth of wood and I'm hoping that having fine screening on the bottom and side will help contain insects and the mess.

[~mikey b]

I don't have a formal woodshed either. Sorta more business casual.




Did someone say "free firewood"?


Yes please...

[stfu&gbtw]

Found an incredibly sweet stash yesterday. Cord after cord of down and dry lodgepole, within 30' of the road.. Apparently it's an area where those geniuses at the FS decided they'd go in a cut a bunch of trees so the lynx would have somewhere to hide, but the lynx never materialized, so the whole program was basically shitcanned and forgotten about. Scored 4 cords in 6 hours with a buddy of mine yesterday. So easy, I wasn't even sore playing golf today. All 10" - 20" diameter, up hill from the road. Much of it cut to less tha 10' already. Almost chainsaw optional. If I had a 16' trailer, it'd just be roll and load. Will keep going back to that until it runs out. No, I won't tell you where it is.

[~mikey b]

Yeah and it burns great.

Most of that pile pictured above is lodgepole.

Shed crammed full of it.

My 8 year old can split it with a 4# maul.

.........

Hey. Thanks for the idea. I bet he can run the saw and buck those logs up with a bit of help.

[Meadow Skipper]

It must suck for you western fucks to have to cut and burn lodgepole. That shit is childs play.

Or...it's kind of nice because we can get it done than go do other shit.

[~mikey b]

Central California. Just north of Yosemite same elevation. 2000 square foot 2 story house.

I use 2-3 cords of soft wood and 1-2 of hard wood depending on the winter. I only heat with wood except for heating the house after a road trip. I keep the house warm.

I cut on FS land a lot. Mostly lodgepole. A bit of oak. I hunt for it. I also buy oak here and there from friends. Also almond from the orchards. And I scrounge free wood.

[stfu&gbtw]

Serious question. How many cords of wood does it take to heat a 2000 sq. ft. home exclusively from wood out there?

Our living space is about 1800 square feet. The house is pretty ideally designed for a wood stove. The main level is open and has a vaulted celiling/ceiling fans that deliver the heat straight into the rooms on the 2nd floor. We heat only with wood until it gets down to about -15, then we turn on a small propane stove to assist. We burn about 8 cords of pine/spruce and about a cord of oak (overnight). Probably less this year after the sheathing/siding/doors project.

[stfu&gbtw]

It must suck for you western fucks to have to cut and burn lodgepole. That shit is childs play.

What's not to like? Plentiful, easy to work, burns pretty hot. The MO oak we get here is more dense and lasts longer, but it doesn't burn much hotter.

[~mikey b]

Sarcasm brah

[Meadow Skipper]

...The MO oak we get here is more dense and lasts longer, but it doesn't burn much hotter.

That's the deal about hardwoods - they make better coals and burn longer, but not hotter. Some good woodstove skillz and it works out fine.

[stfu&gbtw]

Sarcasm brah

Yeah, a little slow on the uptake.

[stfu&gbtw]

What is considered hardwood out there. Here in NH we are heating our 2000" sq ft. house primarily of of wood. Backup is electric which we don't use, too expensive. Burn 4 cord of eastern hardwood(oak, maple, ash, etc) in an efficient stove. Before that used to burn 7-8 cord in a old school stove.

There are btu/cord charts easily found online. Off the top of my head, I couldn't tell you what the numbers are, but the midwestern hardwood doesn't seem very heavy or dense compared to what we used to have back home.

[Meadow Skipper]

What is considered hardwood out there.

Depends on where 'there' is. But I'll give NE the edge in hardwood availability. You guys need something to be proud about.

Jus' fuckin' wit' ya.

[~mikey b]

Hard wood = oak, almond (and other fruit and nut tree wood), madrone (coastal only). You can buy your own almond wood from orchards for a reasonable price.

Soft wood = pine in it's various versions (lodgepole is best), cedar, fir.

I cut for soft wood cuz it's plentiful and easy. I sometimes have to buy hard wood. It's worth buying a cord of oak if I've cut 4 of pine

[~mikey b]

2-3/1 soft wood to hard wood. Get the fire HOT fast with pine, keep it hot all night with oak.

[DougW]

Heat 900 sq ft cabin and partially heat insulated part of barn 750 sq ft with 4.5 cords last winter. Lodge pole pine and aspen is 90% of wood with equal amounts of both. Aspen burns hot but not long and creates a lot of ash. Pine is the over night wood for me but unless its under -15C we wouldn't have a fire at night, its a very well insulated cabin. A fire in the morning then add a bit when we get back for skiing and that is it.

[glademaster]

Anyone here use an older Vermont castings vigilant?

I'm thinking about replacing mine with a more efficient steel wood stove. I'm heating a one story 1300 sq ft home.

Any ideas on what would be a good replacement would be much appreciated.

Hard to go wrong with anything EPA approved these days. I would stay away from stoves that use a downdraft style secondary combustion system, they can be a pain. If you're on a budget it's hard to go wrong with some of the offerings from Englander or Drolet.

Stay away from new Vermont Castings, they're widely regarded for sucking. Where are you located?