Who is cutting wood?

[From_the_NEK]

My neighbor's setup is very basic. It is pretty much an unrestricted fire that you want to put out as much heat as possible to boil off the water as fast a possible. With the flat bottom boiling pan, the amount of heat transferred to the sap is rather low and a lot of heat goes up the chimney. The old setup using a homemade arch (two 55 gallon barrels) used a 8" stovepipe and the stovepipe got extremely hot. There was typically a 1.5' tall flame coming out of the top of the 16' chimney. There are a lot of fire proofing measures taken to keep from catching the building on fire.
He doesn't have a way to monitor flue temps. However, he did have a stove top thermometer stuck on the stovepipe that would peg out past 900 degrees. We figured the temperatures were well over 1000 degrees.

The current (newer) setup with a real commercially produced hobby arch uses a 10" stovepipe. And the arch design pushes more heat into the pan due to the tapering of the back of the firebox to the stovepipe is a much better design than the homemade barrel setup. This reduces the stovepipe temperature some and the flame coming out of the stack is not nearly as common as it was with the old setup. There are still a lot of sparks as seen in my original picture above. This is all pretty standard for real backyard hobby operations. The fancy stainless contraptions like GeneralStarks are very expensive and the amount of taps it takes to feed them is more work than a hobbyist typically wants to put in. Whatever "efficiency" lost by burning a bunch of garbage softwood/crap hardwood in one of these hobby setups is acceptable to produce enough syrup for family and a few friends.

For next year my neighbor is getting a fancier hobby rig similar to this

.

The flue pan in this new rig, greatly increases the surface area of the pan exposed to the fire allowing a lot more heat to be transferred into the sap rather than letting it go up the pipe.

To follow up on the replacing of stovepipe above, the original 8" pipe was used for 3 years before going to the 10" pipe. It was still in pretty good shape. Keep in mind that this setup was only used for maybe 50-60 hours per year.

[Peruvian]

A true sugaring pan has deep Vs on the bottom to get sap down into the arch (not a flat bottom). It holds much more sap as a result.

[Bruce Springskiin]

Fun to see some sugaring talk on here. I grew up making syrup in the NEK also. Started around 2400 taps for a while, topped out at 5000 or so before I moved west. Since then my dad and a friend, went in on a 12000 tap operation. I have been going back east for a few weeks the past few springs, to lend a hand. And bringing syrup west to Jackson to sell. It has been a fun project.

Oh and I have been cutting firewood too! But not too much, just enough for supplementary heat when we are home.

[From_the_NEK]

A true sugaring pan has deep Vs on the bottom to get sap down into the arch (not a flat bottom). It holds much more sap as a result.

What exactly is a "true" sugaring pan ?
I suppose you mean evaporation units that are owned by commercial and semi-commercial operations that sell the finished syrup.
Like I said there are a lot of hobbyist and backyard operations that are only interested in producing enough syrup for family and friends. The raised and drop flue evaporator pans (pans with "deep Vs on the bottom) are rather expensive and need a lot of sap to be worthwhile to operate. I would peg the break over point of syrup production between 20 and 25 gallons/year of finished syrup before moving up to a flued pan. My neighbor could easily be producing 40-50 gallons, which he would gladly do, but his pan is holding him back. Hence the reason he is moving toward a more professional unit.

Below you can see the interior of an arch firebox with a drop flue pan sitting on top. The "drop flues" are the rows of shiny rectangular objects that are filled with sap. You can see that the surface area exposed to the fire is increased a huge amount over a flat bottom pan.

[From_the_NEK]

And to get myself back closer to the topic of this thread, last weekend I cut up three black cherry trees that had either up rooted or died and got the round stacked up, covered, and ready to split in the spring to put in the shed. I probably got 2/3rds of a cord out of the 3 trees as none of them were very large. However, they were down (or close to falling down) across the hiking/biking trails that are behind my house. So I got them out of the way and added to next winter's wood supply. Next up is a rather large 14' long Sugar Maple trunk that is going to be very difficult to even try get rounds on the splitter. My dad already got the smaller branches that he could handle. He's left the big stuff to the young guy to wrestle with .

[~mikey b]

This thing's got ants in it partway up. I was planning to just leave it in logs for now since I'm so far ahead with soft wood, but I'm thinking I should cut and split the infested logs now and try to kill the ants. I've been told if you wrap in black plastic it can cook 'em out.

[glademaster]

This thing's got ants in it partway up. I was planning to just leave it in logs for now since I'm so far ahead with soft wood, but I'm thinking I should cut and split the infested logs now and try to kill the ants. I've been told if you wrap in black plastic it can cook 'em out.

The ants (really most insects that infest wood) will leave once it has been split and stacked and the moisture content really begins to drop. I've processed a lot of buggy wood, and within 4-6 weeks of splitting and stacking it, they've moved on to moister pastures.

[~mikey b]

Beetles or ants still in my split and stacked lodgepole 2 years after it was cut. It's dry but something's still eating it. Found a bunch of sawdust munchings in the shed when I went to move stuff to the house. Same thing with for the fir with the perfect little bore holes I took down last year. You could hear them munching on it when it was quiet.

[glademaster]

Beetles or ants still in my split and stacked lodgepole 2 years after it was cut. It's dry but something's still eating it. Found a bunch of sawdust munchings in the shed when I went to move stuff to the house. Same thing with for the fir with the perfect little bore holes I took down last year. You could hear them munching on it when it was quiet.

Hmm, it would make sense that the advise I dispensed above is pretty climate/region specific. Disregard accordingly.

In that case, get yourself a 5 gallon bucket of diesel fuel, and while you're splitting, dunk each one in diesel prior to stacking. I wouldn't do that, but I bet it will solve your bug issues. Lots of people on some of the wood heat forums I read do treat their stacks with pesticides to minimize infestations, you may want to consider going that route, particularly if it is going to be stacked reasonably close to your house.

[~mikey b]

I'm not going to do that.

[DougW]

I'm not going to do that.

why not you wouldn't need kindling?? though probably wouldn't have any eye brows

[DougW]

I just split the hellout of it if it has ants and leave out to the side in sun in little tee-pees. Seemed to have worked so far.

[farmer]

why not you wouldn't need kindling?? though probably wouldn't have any eye brows

He said diesel, not gasoline. The shit isn't that flamable, especially once the logs dry up.

[~mikey b]

Yeah that would smell great in the house.

[glademaster]

Yeah that would smell great in the house.

I'm pretty sure it would evaporate over the course of a few months/years stacked outside, so no smell in the house, but a small hole in the ozone layer above it.

[jamesp]

a buddy here lets his chicken onto the pile of ant infested wood for a few days, & another couple once the wood has been split.

Diesel probably goes better into the tank of the Euro spec Audi AWD wagon with the 6 speed standard

[~mikey b]

Chickens.

Brilliant.

[splitinbend]

All you cutting mags I could use a bit of direction. I'll be burning this winter for my first time and the whole experience is pretty foreign. My wife and I moved into a log house in Bend April 1 and bought a cord of juniper for $225 for the last few cold weeks of winter/spring. Last week I bought a stihl ms271, and a fiskar x27. I split some rounds today I acquired as a gift, and I think it's lodge pole. My mentality was bigger pieces but am learning that bigger may not be better. I have 4 cord tags. A buddy of mine is taking me out to show me the ropes this Saturday but after reading through this thread I've got a few questions. I honestly don't know anything about efficient burning. Not sure how to split up my wood. Common sense would say get the fire hot then throw big pieces on to burn slower and keep the heat going all night. My unit is ancient, and the place were in is big. I honestly don't know how to use it. Keep the doors closed and open the vents? It is well insulated but I won't be getting up to feed the fire during the night if possible. Anybody got an idea with the wood in Central Oregon what kind of numbers I'd need to be set for the winter? My wife likes the house warm and I'd like to conserve wood as much as possible, especially since it's going to be a bit wet from this week. Any suggestions appreciated. I'm looking forward to the adventure and def thought splitting rounds was quite therapeutic but shit it's a ton of work. I've watched some youtube videos on cutting and splitting but some burning 101 would be cool from the frontline. Cheers.

[stfu&gbtw]

All you cutting mags I could use a bit of direction. I'll be burning this winter for my first time and the whole experience is pretty foreign. My wife and I moved into a log house in Bend April 1 and bought a cord of juniper for $225 for the last few cold weeks of winter/spring. Last week I bought a stihl ms271, and a fiskar x27. I split some rounds today I acquired as a gift, and I think it's lodge pole. My mentality was bigger pieces but am learning that bigger may not be better. I have 4 cord tags. A buddy of mine is taking me out to show me the ropes this Saturday but after reading through this thread I've got a few questions. I honestly don't know anything about efficient burning. Not sure how to split up my wood. Common sense would say get the fire hot then throw big pieces on to burn slower and keep the heat going all night. My unit is ancient, and the place were in is big. I honestly don't know how to use it. Keep the doors closed and open the vents? It is well insulated but I won't be getting up to feed the fire during the night if possible. Anybody got an idea with the wood in Central Oregon what kind of numbers I'd need to be set for the winter? My wife likes the house warm and I'd like to conserve wood as much as possible, especially since it's going to be a bit wet from this week. Any suggestions appreciated. I'm looking forward to the adventure and def thought splitting rounds was quite therapeutic but shit it's a ton of work. I've watched some youtube videos on cutting and splitting but some burning 101 would be cool from the frontline. Cheers.

Howdy...

1. It's too late to fell even standing dead with the intention of burning it now. Even logs that usfs dropped years ago will need a month or 6 weeks to air out after you round and split them. If I had no wood today, I'd buy whatever I needed for this year and get a jump on next year's pile now.

2. Doesn't matter how big the pine is, it won't go all night. You'll need a source of hardwood if you want to sleep through the night and wake up to a warm house. In CO, we have to buy it. A cord of oak runs about $700 here.

3. Don't argue with your wife about the wood. Wood is cheap and easy compared to a pissed off wife. My neighborhood is nicknamed "Divorce Gulch" for a reason.

4. Doors closed. Damper controls temp and burn time. Closed, cool/long. Open, hot/short.

[~mikey b]

http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-...ok-review.html

http://www.woodheat.org

http://epa.gov/burnwise/bestburn.html#plans

http://forestry.usu.edu/htm/forest-p...s/wood-heating

[Bronco]

How much wood kind of depends on how many cubic feet of house you're hearing. Bend is not that cold from what I recall but if you're really trying to keep the place warm by fire alone you could easily go through 8 cords for a 3500 SF house with average ceiling heights.

I was able to burn bigger chunks of lodge pole for 6-8 hours with all dampers closed.

There are some books on wood heat that are interesting if you want to totally geek out.

[Meadow Skipper]

You've gotten good advice so far. Though you might be able to find some standing dead lodgepole that would be suitable for burning this winter, especially in a burn.

To get though the night, close the damper and vents as much as you can to still get a slow burn, which leads me to my real advice: Get your flue cleaned and checked before serious burning starts. A damped down fire can produce more smoke which can cause accumulation in your flue and may eventually lead to a flue fire if it hasn't been cleaned on occasion. I assume you've recently moved in, so it may not have been checked. Greener/wetter wood=more accumulation.

[~mikey b]

And don't fret about conserving wood. Burn it efficiently.

My wife likes the house warm so I cut a metric shit ton and burn whatever I need to keep her warm.

[splitinbend]

Right on I appreciate all the helpful feedback. With our dry climate here will the dead stuff I find sun be dry enough to burn this season or is that just gonna lead to quick issues? And it was cleaned before we moved in. I'm not opposed to getting a cord but was hoping I could cut some to burn this season. It's not that cold to me in Bend but my wife grew up at the beach in LA. She hasn't accepted the winter temps yet. Gotta keep it warm. Cheers

Here's what I have now.

[~mikey b]

That stuff looks good. You could cut and burn dead wood this year. Only way to know for sure is to buy a moisture meter. I'd say get a cord of softwood and a half cord of hardwood and be ahead of the game.