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Heating with Firewood

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  • #1
This is a collection of firewood related posts that I’ve written since Laura and I moved to Maine in 2013. These posts were scattered around this website, so I decided to combine them all into one thread to make life easier. They’re not in any particular order, but they sure are a lot of fun to read!
 
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  • #2
Up until this morning, I’ve been on a firewood collecting spree (it snowed last night and is very wet out there right now). I’m attempting to pull at least a cord out of the woods this Winter. I think I can get it too because the more I search through the woods, the more I find dead and funky looking, misplaced trees.

What do I mean by misplaced? Well, let me give you an example. The previous occupants of the house we live in removed all the pines in the front part of the rear woods to allow for the maples to grow. They did a good job too because now we’ve got some pretty serious sized maple trees. For years, they used those trees for their sap and eventual syrup. If I ever find the wherewithal, I’d like to do the same. Even if it’s just boiling off the sap in a pot on a wood stove.

Anyway, among those maples are ash trees, white birch and a few cherry. I’d like to take those three out so more maples can grow. Also, there are a few dead trees mixed among the rest that need to be removed. Needless to say, I’ll be busy for a while.

I went outside yesterday in a hunt for some firewood. I walked down one side of the property and found a few dead elm trees, so I pulled them out and cut them up into firewood sized pieces.

cut-firewood-on-ground.jpg

Right after that, I found a semi-dead white birch with no top towards the back and removed that as well. I didn’t get a chance to cut that one up, so I left it in lengths and added them to my already existing pile of white birch.

white-birch-firewood.jpg

I found a fairly large dead maple tree a few days ago that’s situated right next to the pond in the back yard. I immediately targeted that tree for removal and began doing what I had to do yesterday. The only problem is, there are two sections of the tree and the smaller section’s top got tangled in the larger section’s. The most I was able to remove from that tree is three firewood sized logs and the remainder is just hanging there. My chainsaw isn’t large enough to take the rest of the tree down, so I’ll have to wait to get a bigger saw. I have my eye on a nice Husqvarna Model 450. They go for around $350. It’ll be a little while.

cutting-dead-maple-tree.jpg dead-maple-tree-standing.jpg

After I was finished battling the maple tree, I thought I would take a break and play on the pond a bit. It’s now frozen over and I’d say the ice is about 3 inches thick. Clear as day too. I know I keep saying that so I thought I’d offer a little proof this time. Check out these pics.

clear-pond-ice.jpg frozen-pond.jpg standing-on-ice.jpg transparent-pond-ice.jpg

There are a few sections of woods in the back that are a bit gnarly. Broken pines and fallen trees. One of the areas I’m working on is the overall beautification effort. So, while I’m back there surveying for firewood, I take a detour to cut down a few stumps or logs laying irregularly. Through the years, these will decay and kind of clean the place up.

cut-down-tree.jpg cut-tree-stump.jpg

Also, if the dead fallen trees are hardwood, I’ll take a look to see if they’re any good. If they are, I’ll cut them up to pull out of the woods to burn.

The primary reason I went out yesterday was to take down a cherry tree and to clean up its vicinity. Leaning against the cherry was some dead hardwood and a large pine that had uprooted years ago. Let’s just say it wasn’t one of the prettiest parts of the thick. And by removing the fallen trees and the cherry, I’d be opening the area up so the small pines could grow. They seem to do a lot of that around here. I got some good lengths of cherry out of the deal.

cut-up-tree.jpg log-ends.jpg
pile-of-log-lengths.jpg

I think my ultimate goal is to make the ATV path wider so I can fit my truck through it. Pulling these lengths of firewood all that distance is going to turn into a massive chore. If I could make a nice wide path, I can drive the truck, turn it around and fill it up on the way back. That would make my life a lot easier. I’ve even got the truck and trailer parked in the back in anticipation.

ford-f250-arising-trailer.jpg
 
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  • #3

Splitting Wood With Rockforge Axe​

I had a chance to try out my new Rockforge axe this afternoon. I picked it up at the Home Depot last time I was down there. The reason I got it is because I already had a very small pile of wood that needed splitting along with a few good lengths in the woods. I don’t like becoming overwhelmed, so I needed to get the pile split and stacked in my wood shed.

I initially wanted to buy the Fiskars 36″ axe as it has very good reviews on Amazon. The only problem I noticed was that every time I saw it for sale on either Amazon or Home Depot, it went up in price. I think the axe started somewhere around $30 to eventually find its way up to $53 when I was actually in the store. Seeing that, I walked over and grabbed a Rockforge.

rockforge-axe.jpg rockforge-axe-head.jpg

The axe splits well. I finished the small pile I had in about 15 minutes. Nothing really to write home about. I’ve used a variety of axes in my lifetime and I’d say this one is just as good as any other I’ve used. There are some reviews out there that seem to be written by semi-fanatical axe users. They analyze every single thing about the product, including the initials imprinted in the metal. Fortunately, I’m not as fanatical as some – all I want to do is get my wood split, which is what I did.

split-firewood-in-snow.jpg

The pile above is about a third of what I did. I finished splitting and stacking it all, so I think I’m ready to start dragging the rest out of the woods. That, and then cutting it into firewood sized pieces will add nicely to my growing pile in the wood shed.

stacked-firewood-in-shed.jpg

I just want to write a quick note about splitting this firewood. After I finished up a few pieces, I picked one up and smelled it. Wow. I was nearly brought to my knees while having flashbacks of all the wonderful times I’ve spent doing this sort of thing. The best is mid-Autumn. Nothing like chilling out by myself, taking care of some freshly cut firewood. I’d even go so far as to say, “This is what it’s all about.”
 
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  • #4

First Maine Christmas Tree & More Firewood​

Remember that time I told you that I found a potential Christmas tree in the woods? The tree I found that day was the top part of a larger tree. The “Christmasy” part of it snapped off the lower part during a windy night. Well, as it turns out, the same thing happened to another tree, only this time, it’s a heck of a lot closer to the house. It’s virtually in the front lawn.

When I discovered this beauty a few days ago, I told myself that I’m going to pull that sucker out of the woods and surprise Laura with it. Since it was nice and sunny this afternoon, I figured there was no sense in waiting any longer.

You should have seen her face when she rounded the bend. I asked her to take a picture of me in the front of the house and when she saw what I was up to – let’s just say I’ve never seen such astonishment and joy. Actually, her words were, “It’s so skinny.” Well that makes two of us. We’re keeping it.

home-cut-christmas-tree.jpg

After Laura snapped the picture, she walked around and got a few more. Here’s one of the back of the house. It’s the garage on the left, then the extra room we haven’t found a use for yet and then the rest of the house. Yes, that’s my truck and trailer parked back there on the lawn. It’s out of the way of falling White Pine trees. I just don’t trust those things.

maine-homestead.jpg

Before this whole thing started, I went out to the garage to get my trusted Stihl MS250 chainsaw ready for the day. I sharpened and tightened the chain and filled it with bar oil and fuel.

stihl-ms250-chainsaw.jpg

After that, I found myself back in the woods pulling out a few lengths of Cherry. I then took down a dead Maple that’s been staring at me for a while. Full of nails that Maple was. Apparently, the kids who lived here before, built a tree house up against it. My chain paid the price today. I stacked the Cherry and the Maple on top of the White Birch I already had.

cut-tree-lengths.jpg

Then I cut, split, and stacked. Little did I know Laura was taking pictures of me the whole time. Well, part of the time.

cutting-firewood.jpg maine-cutting-firewood-in-snow.jpg splitting-firewood.jpg splitting-wood.jpg

All of this to grow my pile of wood in the wood shed. And just to let you know, I went back out later and finished up. The pile’s even bigger now. If I continue with the path I’m on, I’ll have over a cord in no time. How much is a cord? A cord of firewood is well stacked woodpile 4 feet high, 8 feet long, and 4 feet deep; or any other arrangement of linear measurements that yields the same volume.

stacked-wood-pile.jpg
 
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  • #5

Down Come the Birch & Maple​

Today was one of those days that just might pass you by. It’s a day where you wake up, do some stuff, do some more stuff and then realize that it’s dark outside. Then, you eat and go back to bed. Winter has many of those days and if we aren’t careful, we’ll end up staying inside much more than we should. I think it’s because of the short amount of sunlight. Although, that’s supposed to be getting longer now.

Around 3PM, I realized that I hadn’t gone outside yet. Since I get bothered if I don’t get my fill of adventure, I suited up and went to do a little shoveling at the end of the driveway. I ended up not doing much shoveling because the snow was too hard and icy. I figured I’d just drive over it a few times with the truck next time it’s started. That’s so much easier than laboring in the ice, especially since it’s been snowing almost every day here lately.

As I was walking back to the house – shovel in hand, I took a detour and headed back toward the pond. I wanted to see if it had the same layer of ice/snow that the rest of the area had. I wanted to see if I could shovel a portion of it and slide around a bit, kind of pretending that I had ice skates on.

Lo and behold, the pond was in great shape. It only had a few inches of fluffy snow on it that I easily shoveled off in a few short minutes. Well, I actually shoveled a portion of it. I ran back in the house and asked Laura to come out to get some pictures of the event. I saw her walking out a few minutes later. By that time though, I had the chainsaw in my hand and I had already cut down that ugly, bent birch tree. Check out the Autumn picture of it here. It’s the first picture. Obviously not the other ones.

cutting-birch-tree.jpg

Pretty strange change of events huh? “Hey Pumpkin, can you come out and get some pictures of me shoveling the pond?” And by the time she gets out there, I’m cutting a tree down. Let me explain. When I realized how thick the ice was, I saw an opportunity to drop the Birch tree I’ve been looking at for weeks on it. If I did it on the ice, I wouldn’t have to deal with dragging it out of the water with the truck, come Spring. I think that makes sense. All I’d have to do is cut up the wood on the ice and then walk the logs off.

carrying-cut-wood.jpg posing-with-firewood.jpg

Having the pond frozen like that made things so much easier.

When I was finished getting all the Birch wood off the ice, I started looking at that maple tree I never finished cutting down. Since I had Laura there watching, I figured I would quickly knock the Maple tree over and try to get as much of it off the ice before it got dark. I did that and removed about half the wood before my chainsaw chain somehow tightened up on the bar. When that happens, I have to stop and make some adjustments. Today, I figured that it was a good time to call it a day. I was already sweating way too much and was rather uncomfortable. You can see the size of the wood in this next picture though.

smiley-face-wood.jpg

I’m thinking that the wood I got from today’s adventure will finish up my cord. Can you believe that? Just from poking around the property, doing some cutting and splitting, I was able to fill the shed with about a cord of wood. That’s pretty good. Now we just need a stove and to get it hooked up. I’ll do this over the Summer. Tomorrow though, I’m going to finish gathering and splitting today’s wood. I’ll stack it up in the shed and take a picture of it. You can be the judge of how much it is. Maybe my calculations are off. Until then.
 
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  • #6

Finishing the Wood & Backup Heat Source​

I was hoping to move and split the wood this morning, but other issues took precedence. All I was able to do this morning was to move the good wood off the pond. I wanted to get it all (the dead stuff at the top of the tree), but that had to wait for this afternoon, after I got back from running around all over the place. Around 3PM, I was able to finish getting everything I wanted off the ice and then relocated the entire pile to its new home in front of the wood shed. If I get especially ambitious after tonight’s snowstorm, I’ll head out there, grab the axe and start splitting. But I’m fine with waiting until Spring to tackle that. I’m not sure I’m going to want to dig it out from under all that snow.

wood-cutting-area.jpg

The whole thing is, I needed to get this stuff off the pond before it got covered with the snow. If I waited, the project would become exponentially more difficult. And if I decided to wait until Spring rolled around, I’m not sure I’d want to be walking on that ice. And fishing pieces of wood out of water just isn’t my thing. I’ll do it, but I wouldn’t be happy about it. Better to sweat a bit today and finish up what I wanted to than to wait for things to get worse.

big-tree-logs.jpg firewood-log-rounds.jpg pile-of-firewood.jpg

This morning was all about running around town in an attempt to find a kerosene heater. I’m nervous about the heat situation up here. I need a heat source and then a backup and then a backup. After tonight’s storm, the temperatures are supposed to drop to -18 on Wednesday. This is after 30MPH winds on Monday. Some how, some way, I have a feeling we’re going to lose power just when things are at their coldest. I don’t feel like being “left out in the cold,” if you get what I’m saying.

I’ll write a separate post about what I’ve done to soothe my mind (heat-wise) later tonight or tomorrow. For now, check out the kerosene heater I picked up today.

kerosene-heater.jpg
 
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  • #7

Scavenging for Firewood​

Lately, as Laura and I drive around, we’ve been noticing many people doing a lot of firewood cutting and splitting. Every time I see this, I gulp just a bit. I ask myself if people are really starting to squirrel away for next Winter. Unfortunately, I believe the answer is yes. In order to have your firewood seasoned properly to burn one Winter, you should have had that very firewood cut and split the Winter before. I have a feeling I’m going to be behind the curve for a while. Good thing I already have my one cord sitting in the shed waiting for me. Yeah right – that’ll last about a week.

Before I spend one penny on purchasing firewood from a local dealer, I intend to pick our property dry. We’ve got tons of standing firewood (dead trees) and trees that have been taken down and left to rot by our house’s previous owners. Some wood isn’t salvageable, but surprisingly enough, much of it is. I actually just found an Ash tree that’s been laying in the woods for a year or two yesterday. It’s still good and I plan on cutting it up and dragging it out just as soon as I sharpen the blade on my chainsaw.

old-dead-logs.jpg

As a matter of fact, just yesterday, I pulled two large pieces of Ash out from the edge of the pond, cut it up, split it and stacked it on my old wood pellet pallets. The whole endeavor took about an hour. Not bad for such a small amount of labor.

stacked-logs-on-pallets.jpg

And I thought I’d mention, my new Carhartt logger boots are holding up very nicely. It’s comforting to have all this ankle support.

carhartt-logger-boots.jpg

I’m not sure I’ve ever taken a picture of the house from behind the pond. I figured that I’d do that today, since I was back there. This is also right where that big Ash tree is laying.

beautiful-maine-pond.jpg

Last Autumn, I took down a dead Cherry tree and some Poplar. I never got a chance to take it out of the woods because it snowed. And snowed and then snowed some more. Believe me, I thought I’d brave the snow and drag the logs up to the shed, but that idea quickly faded after I was knee deep. It just wasn’t possible. But I wanted to see how the wood held up over the Winter, so I walked back to where I left it. Yup, still there.

pile-of-wood.jpg wood-in-trail.jpg

And while I was back there, I wanted to see the entrance to the Emerald Forest just one more time. I can’t get enough of it. It’s where the moss starts getting deep and walking doesn’t make a sound. It’s so soft. I’ll be taking pictures of moss for another post, so stay tuned.

trail-in-woods.jpg
 
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  • #8

Splitting & Stacking Firewood on Pallets​

Today was a tough day. I cut and split a lot of wood this afternoon and my back is now sore. I can hardly bend over, but I think it’ll be better in a few days.

I was talking to Sam and his mom this morning when I told them that I’ve been seeing a lot of people taking care of next season’s firewood. She agreed and told me that their family does all theirs before Summer and before the black flies show up. Ohhh yeah. The black flies. And here I was, thinking that people are just preparing, like good boy scouts, when in actuality, they’re avoiding the black flies. I wasn’t aware of that, so I got to moving my butt.

I already have a cord in the back shed. I was going to move that up to the garage, but I decided I’ll just wheelbarrow that up to the house in October and November, when there’s no snow on the ground (hopefully). Once that’s gone, I’ll move to my stock in the garage, which I began today.

Remember when I started stacking that firewood in the back yard? I had that small pile and since I took that photo, I cut and split the lengths I had sitting in front of the shed. That gave me this:

firewood-pallets-back-of-pickup-truck.jpg

Today, I loaded that wood, along with the pallets it was stacked on, into the back of my truck. My goal was to stack it in a mostly empty garage.

empty-garage.jpg

The garage is closer to the house, which is going to make it easier to bring the wood inside, come Winter.

I put the pallets down in the far corner and began stacking the firewood upon them.

pallets-for-firewood-stacking.jpg stacking-wood-on-pallets.jpg

After I was finished with that little project, I decided to move forward with taking down a few trees that have been staring me in the eye all Winter. One tree was a dead Elm and the other was a live White Birch that I thought was dead. My bad. It was tucked back in the woods though and you can’t even tell that it’s not there anymore.

I took both trees down, cut and split them right in the front yard. It took about an hour. Here’s what I got from that:

freshly-split-firewood.jpg

It’s not a huge pile, but that combined with the other small pile, combined with the wood in the shed, combined with the other small pile I cut and split in the woods today make a pretty big pile. I’d say at least a cord and a half.

Here’s what it looked like after loading it in the back of my truck and after I backed the truck into the garage:

load-of-firewood-in-pickup-truck.jpg unloading-firewood-from-pickup-truck.jpg

Pretty good. I unloaded the wood and stacked it on the pallets.

firewood-piles-in-garage.jpg

I have to say, White Birch is the ultra primo when it comes to firewood. It cuts like butter and splits so easily. As I was splitting it, I felt like I was almost cheating. I completed the project very quickly. I also have to say, I sure am going to appreciate every moment of this coming Winter’s heat we get out of this wood. To cut the tree, cut the firewood and then split and stack it – yeah, I’ll be appreciating that heat.

piece-of-firewood.jpg
 
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  • #9

How Much Firewood is Really Necessary?​

I figured I would find the most private place on earth to confess my most private confession. What better place to tell no one but myself something so embarrassing? I guess here is as good as any.

I’m addicted to firewood. I can’t stop thinking about it. I love it and I covet it.

When Laura and I drive into Madison for cat food or groceries or building supplies, we exchange simple pieces of banter between the two of us. She tells me about something or other and I tell her the same. I don’t know how I do it – stay focused, I mean – because all throughout our conversations and all throughout the drive, I’m thinking of firewood. And I don’t know why.

While driving down the road, I look at the piles that are growing on people’s pieces of property. I scout out trees that I’d like to get my hands on to cut down, cut up and split. I think about which direction would be the best for them to fall. Where would I put my notch? Wires in the way? Would anyone notice? How much wood would it be? What kind is it? How long would it take to season? What’s wrong with me? All we were supposed to do was to buy some cat food and during that process, I end up wanting to cut down every tree on the planet. Just to fill up my garage so I have enough wood to last me for the rest of my life.

It’s not going to get any better either, because Maine’s full of trees. Look at a map, look at pictures – I’m telling you, we’ve got a whole lot of trees here and my insatiable appetite will be just that – insatiable. A man on a firewood mission will never be satisfied.

I was watching – get ready for this – videos on splitting firewood last night. Yes, I watch a multitude of videos having to do with cutting down trees and splitting up wood. I watch videos about people stacking their firewood. I even watched one in fast-motion. The person stacked a whole cord of wood in just under a minute. The technology behind the internet will never cease to amaze me.

Anyway, one of the comments below the video said – after a different comment asked why the person needed so much firewood – “People who ask why you need so much firewood just don’t get it.” That was perfect. Because it isn’t so much that you need it, it’s more about the fact that you want it. And I’m ashamed to say that I look at my firewood every single day. I lift it up and I feel the weight to see if it’s any different than it was the day before. And all the while, I wonder – sometimes out loud – if I’ve got a mental disorder.

And I’ve come to the conclusion that I do, because no sane man wanders around every single day to each and every pile of wood he’s got, to smell it. But I’ll tell you one thing – we’re going to be warm this Winter. So all this crazy talk does have a purpose, I suppose. I think of us this January 15, not shivering, but lounging around, putting another log on the fire, because that’s the way it’s supposed to be. God, I can’t wait for Winter.

pile-of-firewood.jpg
 
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  • #10

My Current Firewood Collection​

I think I’m almost finished collecting my firewood for this year. I’d love to go out back and take down the three final Ash trees, but I may wait until next year for that. Ash seasons in just a few weeks, so if I take care of those trees in early Spring, 2015, then I’ll easily be able to burn the wood come Winter. And, I’ll be getting another growing season out of those trees, which will plump them up a bit. Not much, but a bit.

I have no idea how much wood I have. It’s over a cord. I know that much. For those of you who don’t know how much wood is in a cord, simply imagine a piece of 4’x8′ plywood laying flat on the ground. Stack firewood on top of that until you reach four feet high. So, the actual dimensions of a cord are 8 feet wide by 4 feet deep by 4 feet high. Or, if you’re cutting your wood 18 inches long, just make a single row of wood 24 feet long and 4 feet high. A cord is a lot of wood and I’m not sure people really understand how much wood it is. If you split your own firewood or purchase it from someone else, just stack a pile and measure it. That’s the only way to truly know how much wood you have. A pickup truck ain’t a cord and a dump truck ain’t a cord. 4’x4’x8′ is a cord. This guy says it best. He’s also quite adamant about the whole thing, which I find rather entertaining.

Perfect Cord of Wood


I have one mammoth row of firewood in the garage. I just measured it and it’s 27 feet long. The rear of the row is just over 6 feet high and the front dips down to 4 feet high. On average, the row stands at a cool 5 feet high. Speaking cord language, I don’t know how much firewood that is, but I’m sure it’s more than the 24 feet by 4 feet that a full cord dictates. That’s how I know I’ve got more than a cord. Cord – I can’t say that word enough.

cords-of-firewood-wood-pellets.jpg stacks-of-firewood.jpg

I’ve also got a smaller row in front of my big row and I even have a sweet two pallets worth of wood drying up outside. That’s made up of semi-dried Cherry, Ash, Poplar and some very green Maple. I’m keeping this pile outside as an experiment to see which wood dries and seasons better and faster – the stuff that’s in the garage or the stuff that’s outside. Either way, by September, I’ll bring the wood that’s outside into the garage. That’ll be its final resting place before I bring it into the log cabin room for burning.

cord-of-firewood.jpg firewood.jpg

Some friends up the road were kind enough to offer me some kindling wood. They did so just in time too because I was getting nervous about the whole kindling aspect of building a fire. One can never have too much kindling, although I may have recently become the first man on earth who has. What you see below is two truck loads of freshly cut Cedar shingle ends. The family up the road makes Cedar shingles, so what they gave me is the waste. Once dried, which really only takes a few days, this should make some kick-ass kindling wood.

cedar-kindling.jpg kindling.jpg

They were also gracious enough to offer me what they call, “Cookies.” These are the end cuts of the Cedar logs. They are very nicely dried as they sit and would make excellent fire starters as well.

cedar-log-rounds.jpg

I want to mention for a moment that I’m reveling in my glory up here. Cutting and splitting firewood has been a great pastime of mine for many years. Living without a wood stove has been challenging, but now that I’ve got one, I’ve also got something to keep my mind occupied and my hands busy. Word to that.
 
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  • #11

Stacking Maple & Ash Firewood​

Do you remember that post I wrote where I showed you what the beginnings of next year’s store of firewood looks like? Well, I figured I’d show you how much more wood I gathered from the rear four acres of our property. Basically, I finished up the row, which equals a bit over a cord. The row is 27 feet long, by 16 inches wide, by about 5 feet high. A cord is 24 feet long, by 16 inches wide, by 4 feet high. As you can see, I’m rolling in firewood. Although, let’s remember what a wise man (me) once said, “One can never have enough firewood.” And, “A true man loves firewood like no other object.” And, “A boy becomes a man when he sleeps on a bed of firewood…” Okay, I’ll stop.

Anyway, I took down a few more maple trees and some ash trees and this is what I’ve come up with:

maple-ash-firewood.jpg

Of course, this is only half the pile. The other half can be seen here. Not bad, but not good either.

I need to get at least two more rows before the snow starts falling. What I’m finding is that while the wood I collected this past spring is fairly dry, it’s not as dry as I’d like. I had a feeling this would happen. For firewood to really generate energy, it needs to dry for about two years. Six to eight months isn’t going to cut it if you want the most bang for the buck. I know people up the road who are getting green wood delivered now. They are crazy people and are people who will burn way too much wood, simply in an effort to keep what wood they do have burning, lit.

The wood I collect this autumn will be satisfactory for next winter. What I’d like to do is get next year’s firewood all set up and then start working on next next winter. Then, I’d be in good shape. And for all those out there who say that wood seasons over winter, I say you’re crazy. Wood needs summer heat to dry. Even though the humidity is very low during the winter months, that low humidity does nothing to season wood. It’s the summer that gets the ball rolling. I should know – I had some wood in the back shed over the winter and when I checked on it come spring, it was almost dripping wet. Cross ventilation and everything. Weird.

So, the time to squirrel is now because as they say, “A boy squirrel who doesn’t have a bed made of firewood will never become a man squirrel who loves wood like no other object.” BAM!
 
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  • #12

Firewood Prices – Maine vs. Lower New York​

Just for giggles, I did a Google search to see what firewood prices are down where I come from – lower New York. I nearly choked when I saw what people are charging for wood in my home town.

Let me first preface this by telling you what firewood costs in my neck of the woods up here in Maine. And this is funny because just last night I was talking to someone (who didn’t believe that I actually hump the logs out of the woods on my back, by the way) and telling them there is absolutely no money in wood in my area. I go outside and put in some serious labor taking trees down, cutting them up into three piece sections, pulling them up on my shoulder and walking them out of the thick. After that, I throw the logs in a pile, cut them up and finally split them with an axe, not a splitter. Now, that’s really not all too difficult. It’s the walk to the garage that usually gets to me. It burns my legs out pulling my cart, by hand, across an acre with at least 100 pounds of wet firewood in tow. It can get exhausting. I figure that after a half day’s labor, I net about $35 worth of firewood. I can’t imagine describing what I do to someone as anything other than a hobby.

But yeah, back to the price of firewood up here – in Madison, I’ve seen signs offering a cord for $210, delivered. That’s why I say, there’s no money in firewood.

Now, in contrast to what I just shared with you, there is money to be made by selling firewood in lower New York and Connecticut. Check this out (and this comes from two websites):

FIRST WEBSITE
Cord of firewood, seasoned – $420
Delivery – $52
Stacked – $54 per hour

SECOND WEBSITE
Face cord of firewood – $350
Half face cord of firewood – $220

And just to let you know, a face cord is 1/3 the volume of a cord. So it’s 8’x4’x16″. A half face cord is half that, or 1/6 the volume of a cord. It’s a little more than a hoop full of wood, to put things in perspective. We’ve all seen a hoop of firewood. It’s a bit more than twice my wood rack. Can you imagine filling up, let’s say, two hoops (to be safe) of wood for someone and walking away with $220 cash? You’d be an fool not to, if you had the means.

Now, let’s do a little math here. A half face cord is 1/6 of a full cord. If you sold six half face cords per day to various people, you’d make $1320. Not bad for a cord of wood.

As I was reading one of the company’s Google+ pages, I came across a negative review. Someone was complaining about how the company couldn’t deliver as well as they would have liked. And get this – there was a snow storm coming that night. I guess these are the types of people who pay $220 per half face cord of firewood. People who wait for the impending doom of a snow storm to find the energy to order firewood. Poor soul had to buy those little bundles of logs out in front of a grocery store instead – sort of like a grocery bag of wood. Man, I’m doing something wrong. If I could sell the wood I’ve collected since last year for these prices, I think I’d eat two bowls of rice and beans tonight instead of just one. I’d walk my little hand cart all the way to New Jersey for that kind of money.
 
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  • #13

Wood Pellets vs. Firewood – Where to Put Your Money​

I’ve been going back and forth with this question for some time now – which would I rather have, a pellet stove or a wood stove? I think it’s taken some chilly weather to answer what I’ve been looking for.

Last night, the temps dropped down to 34 degrees. Tonight, it’s supposed to go down to the 30s again and tomorrow night, 26 degrees with 1-3 inches of snow expected.

weather-forecast.jpg

I guess things are right on track. A few days ago, Laura and I were talking to Don up the road and he told us that for years and years, everyone around here went snowmobiling on Thanksgiving. It’s only until recently that they’ve not had enough snow for that. Last year was a supposed fluke because the year before that, there was very little snow.

It got cold last year though – very cold. And because of that, heat has become a central part of my life. And like I mentioned above, I’ve been debating the question of where I want to put my money – to buy wood pellets for the pellet stove or to keep on collecting firewood. Eventually, I’ll have to buy firewood. What we have on the land here can only go so far.

I just picked up a ton of Tractor Supply brand wood pellets for $215 in Skowhegan, Maine. I think I mentioned somewhere on this blog that I had to haggle down for that price. They wanted around $250. In this area, I’ve seen cords of wood, delivered, going for $210. Somewhere out there, someone claimed that a ton of pellets is the equivalent of a cord of wood. Of course, that’s an impossible claim, not knowing what type of wood pellets you’re looking at and not knowing what species of wood your going to burn. But let’s ignore that.

We have both an Englander pellet stove and an Englander wood burning stove. For the past few chilly days, we’ve gone between them, seeing what gets the job done. In my mind, I keep track of how much wood we’re burning and how many bags of pellets we’re filling the pellet stove with.

Here’s what I’ve got to say about the whole thing: If someone out there could make a wood burning stove heat a home as consistently and as easily as a pellet stove can, we’d have the perfect solution. Until then, and even with the advantages of the pellet stove, I have to say that the wood stove takes it. It simply throws out more heat. And I’d also venture to say that it does so with less wood.

If it’s 35 degrees outside and above, the pellet stove is a really great item to have. You can pretty much set it and forget it. It’ll run all day and all you’ll be out is a bag and a half of pellets and a few cents on your electric bill. The problem is, and this is what we’ve been running into (especially in the midst of last winter), pellet stoves often can’t keep up as the main source of heat for a house. Wood stoves can. Especially wood stoves like our giant Englander.

wood-burning-in-stove.jpg

Since this morning, we’ve been running the pellet stove. The temperature in the living room has maintained a constant 58 degrees. It’s almost as if the stove wasn’t doing anything. This is what happened to us last season as well. If we didn’t have the pellet stove running 24 hours a day, it would really struggle to get the house temperature up to where it should be. About an hour and a half ago, I lit a nice fire in the wood stove and shut the pellet stove down. Now, the wood stove is in a room off the main house, so all I’ve got to move the warm air is a small fan mounted in a doorway. Within an hour, the whole house temperature is up five degrees and I feel like I’m at the beach. This experience makes me wonder about spending any more money on pellets when I can just spend the same on cord wood.

Do you have either a pellet stove or a wood stove? What’s your experience? Which do you prefer? I’d really love to know because right now, for me, it’s the wood stove – hands down.
 
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  • #14

How Much Firewood Have You Burned So Far?​

My friends, December is virtually upon us. I have to tell you, there aren’t many things I’ve obsessed about in my life as much as I’ve obsessed about firewood, wood pellets and heat. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that I’m getting older, but whatever it is, I feel myself getting more anxious as the years roll by.

Pellet inventory doesn’t bother me nearly as much as firewood inventory does. If we run low on pellets, all I need to do is run out and buy more. Someone has to have them. Even during those years when no one could find any pellets, there was a store out there that still carried them. They may have cost more and if you needed to buy them, you’d have to do the walk of shame to the register to ask for them, but still, you could get them. Now that they’re more plentiful, it’s really not even a concern. Taking the truck out and burning all that diesel bothers me more than the fact that I’ve got to buy the actual pellets.

Now, firewood is a different story. If we run out of firewood, we’re screwed. Firewood needs to season. You don’t just run out and pick up a cord of firewood. If we need more wood, I’ll be relegated to the depths of theft. I’ll be forced to pilfer some firewood from some unsuspecting soul, caught, beat with a wooden rake and left to hang out to dry from a branch of one of our areas mighty rock maples. It’s not a prospect I’m looking for.

The challenge with firewood is trying to determine how much you’ll need for the season. Now, I’m of the frame of mind that the more you have, the better. If you don’t use all your wood this season, simply keep it put and burn it next season. It sounds so simple. The problems arise when you move to an area one year, work your ass of to collect as much wood as you can find and then start burning it the next year, only to be reminded that some of the wood you collected is old and somewhat punky – resulting in a fast burn. The space you used to store the wood looks nice and full, but is it? Will a lot of old wood burn for the duration you’re looking for or will you go through it like you’re burning matches? Oh, the woes.

Of course, I’m talking about me here. I did collect a lot of wood and I knew I’d have to face a few challenges come winter, but the fact that I was aware doesn’t mean that I have to like it. It’s times like this when I envy those who collected with care and are now all stocked up with big pieces of seasoned oak or maple.

There is a silver lining to all this though – I stacked the crap wood toward the front, so it’s almost gone. Still, we burned 7 feet into one 27 foot long row. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.

firewood.jpg firewood-pile-in-garage.jpg

Luckily, we have (had) two 27 foot long rows.

I’ve made a few efforts to do the math in my mind regarding how long our wood will get us through. I haven’t come to a resolution yet , especially since the temperature fluctuates so much. To be honest with you though, we’re still one day away from December 1st and winter hasn’t even arrived. I figure I’ll be happy if our wood store can get us through until the end of February, with some special stock reserved for maple syrup boiling season. After that, pellets will have to do and when spring rolls around, I’ll head back outside to collect in earnest. This time though, I’m going after the good stuff. I’ve got my eye on one white birch, a nice fat rock maple and three good tall ash trees. Anything beyond that is gravy because I’ll be adding that wood to my already existing three cord of fresh maple, ash and cherry. I may even purchase two cord of firewood from a local dealer so I can sleep better at night, although I do enjoy the obsessing – to a point.

So, I have a question for you – how much firewood have to burned so far this season? How much do you have total and how large is the chunk you’ve taken out of it? I’m very curious if I burn fast, slow or just right. Please leave a comment below.

rows-of-firewood.jpg

One last thing; I know I write a lot about firewood and that you may not be as interested in the topic as much as I am, but many of you might be. If you are, please check out these links. I read through things like this as I’m gathering ideas on what to write and how to go about it. Take a look…

Firewood For Life – A great resource for everything firewood. This blog covers how to clean out your ashes, where to find great firewood in Vermont and whether or not you should burn green wood.

Why It’s Hard to Find Firewood This Year – A quite interesting post about a quandary in Vermont. A quandary that some clever investigating found the answer to. Also, there’s a great video in this post that I thought I’d share with you. It’s about a firewood dealer located in the northern tip of Vermont and how he operates his business.

The Wood Guy

 
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  • #15

Firewood Box vs. Firewood Rack​

If there’s one truism out there in regards to the process of burning firewood, it’s that things are going to be messy. I think many people don’t realize this fact before they purchase and install their wood stoves, but quickly learn their first season. As a matter of fact, I’ve heard on a number of occasions, after an individual abandons wood for another source of heat, that the mess was one of the primary factors that turned them off. I’m sure the collection of wood and the labor that goes along with storing and transporting it is right up their too. But the mess is what I hear about the most. The wood chips and little chunks of bark that leave a trail from the firewood rack all the way to the stove. No matter how much you sweep or vacuum, the issue seems to persist.

diy-firewood-rack.jpg

Over this past summer, as I was in a frenzy trying to gather as much wood as I could, I found the time to build myself a firewood rack. It’s a pretty good rack too. A few months into season number one, it’s still holding strong. I must say that I’m fairly gentle with it, but there have been times that I just dumped my arm full of logs on top of the existing logs. The rack frame hasn’t budged and what I built back in September pretty much looks like what is sitting here today.

I gathered the lumber to make the rack from our good friend up the road. He’s got a wood mill and sometimes it’s easier to drive a mile for some nice cedar boards than it is to drive fourteen miles for similar boards that cost twice as much. Anyway, as I was picking through Chad’s lumber, he asked me what I was building. I told him that I intended to make a firewood rack, to which he replied, “Why not build a box?” Since I had no idea what a firewood box was, and told him so, he brought me into his house, where he showed me his. Basically, a box is a box. It’s about two and a half feet tall by the same dimension wide. It’s made from three quarter inch plywood and, according to Chad, is better than a rack because it keeps all the wood crumbs from getting all over the place. When you dump your wood in, the crumbs shake off and fall to the bottom of the box.

Since I already had a rack on my mind, I ignored what Chad told me, paid for the wood and went on my merry way. The thing is, I want a box now. Firewood is very messy. We’ve got little chunks of wood from here all the way to Timbuktu.

I’ll go through exactly what happens and how the mess comes about. It’s not so bad bringing the wood inside. I carry about five or six pieces in my arm and leave very little trace of where the wood came from. I do notice though that before I pick the wood up from the outside pile, it’s got crumbs on it. It’s not all too easy to shake each piece off as I’m stacking them on my arm because things are getting heavier and heavier. As I make my way through the door and up the stairs to the log cabin room, everything is still fine, although I do take notice of all those little wood chunks I just brought inside. The issue arises when I let go of the wood to place it in the rack. One chunk here and another crumb there. After about two minutes, I’ve got myself a mess. Taking the wood from the rack and carrying it to the stove – same problem. I trail wood all along the path. I amuse myself as I carry piece after piece as still as possible, just so nothing falls off onto the floor.

I believe a firewood box would cure my problem. Since there’s nothing wrong with my trip from the garage to the upstairs room, I’m not concerned with it. If I could dump the dirty wood into a nice big box and let the residual wood pieces fall to the bottom of the box only to shovel into the stove at a later date, I’d be happy. Also, if I could give a minor shake and a tap to each log before I carry it over to the stove, all the better.

If you burn wood, what are your thoughts on this? How do you deal with the mess?
 
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  • #16

Maine Firewood in February​

I figured I’d give a short firewood and snow update for the latter part of the winter up here in Maine. And if you’re interested in doing so, please comment at the bottom of this post with your own update for your part of the country. We’ve all had an interesting winter so far and I’m curious to hear about yours.

December and January were fairly boring. I think it was later on in January when it finally began snowing. It was like…nothing…and then, everything all at once. We had three or four substantial snow falls that earned us over two feet of snow. Over the past few days though, it seems like it compacted some. If I had to guess what’s on the ground right now, I’d say around 18 inches. Either way, the snowmobile riders are happy and Laura and I plan on going on our hike up in the hills when the temperatures rise a bit. Currently, they are between 5 degrees and 15 degrees during the day and anywhere from -18 degrees to 5 degrees at night. Last year, I freaked out at those temperatures but now, I’m becoming numb to them. As long as I’m not shivering while trying to work on the computer, I’m good. The wood stove is taking care of that.

deep-snow-in-maine.jpg

This photo looks more dramatic than reality. I have a big pile of wood that’s covered with the snow in front of the garage. That’s not all snow.

cleared-snow-from-driveway.jpg

This is a pretty good picture of how well of a job the snow thrower does. You can see that everything is nice and neat, just the way I like it. No damage caused by plows and no piles of snow to look at. If we had a longer driveway, I wouldn’t be snow blowing it, but for this size, a snow blower is the best answer.

Okay, over to the firewood. So far, this winter, I’d say we burned a good two full rows of wood. I’m sure you all remember my many posts on how much wood I have, but if you don’t, check this out. You can see some pictures.

If I didn’t cut and split wood this autumn, we’d be screwed. I had a full two rows and like I just mentioned above, we burned two rows (a row is slightly over a cord). I’ve tapped heavily into next year’s supply, which means that I’m going to have to double down in the spring and really get enough for next winter. Now, I do want to say that this year’s wood was mostly junk and burned very quickly. If I had real wood, I’m sure that it would have lasted longer. But with next year’s supply just sitting there doing nothing, I’ll use it.

next-years-firewood.jpg used-firewood.jpg

I figure that from here on out, we’ll need two tons of pellets and four cord of firewood. That is, unless I decide to install another wood stove in the living room. If that’s the case, we’ll need six cord of wood, straight up. Wood is better. It gives off more heat for the buck.

Laura and I joinded Sam’s Club a few days ago. We drove down to Augusta to fill up on some larger packaging of the foods we already eat. I was getting a bit tired of purchasing such small canisters of bread crumbs and such small bags of flour. At Sam’s, we get 25 pounds of this and 15 pounds of that. It’s sort of a hike to get there, but I figure it’ll only be a once a month thing.

Anyway, on the way to Sam’s last week, Laura snapped a few photographs of some scenery. I think it snowed the day before, so things were still in somewhat good shape. Enjoy – and don’t forget to tell me how much snow you have and how much firewood you burned!

low-sun-hitting-old-tractor.jpg sun-shining-on-plowed-snow.jpg view-of-house-in-snow.jpg
 
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  • #17

Stocked Up With Firewood & Pellets​

I’d say we’re ready for winter. We’ve been squirreling away since April and, if I don’t say so myself, we’ve done a damn good job.

I remember last year – I went a little nuts scouring the entire property for every little bit of wood, whether it be dead or alive. What I ended up with was a pile that looked like a lot, but was, in fact, a bunch of junk. Dead wood feels heavy and valuable when it’s soaked with water while laying on the forest floor, but once it dries out in the garage, it makes perfect kindling. I wouldn’t say it’s a good burning firewood. I did have some quality birch and maple, but beyond that, nothing to write home about.

This year is different. My first thought was to have six cord of tree lengths delivered and to cut and split them myself. I may still do that in the future, but I’m uncertain of the log truck being able to make the turn into our driveway. To just “get it done” this spring, I called Logland over in Madison, Maine and had them deliver four cord for $210 a piece. Not a bad price. This was in April when the ground was still thawing. The delivery guy sank right into the driveway and had to dump where he was. He put the truck in 4-wheel drive and made it out of the hole. I thought he was going to tip over as he was dumping because the truck was on such a tilt.

Anyway, that four cord in addition to the one and a half I had left over from last year (good stuff) makes five and a half cord for this year. Also, at the end of the season last year, I went out and grabbed a ton of pellets. Then, this spring, I grabbed another one. And just yesterday, Laura and I drove over to Athens, Maine and picked up what I hope to be the last one.

Five and a half cord of firewood and three tons of pellets should do it. If if doesn’t, we have problems.

long-rows-of-firewood.jpg piles-of-firewood.jpg

By the way, the junk you see sitting in front of this pile is the baseboard heating pipes that I cut out of the house before my parents came to visit in July. Have I expressed my lack of enthusiasm for oil heat on this blog yet? Well, as you can see by the cut pipes, I don’t like it much.

The species of wood that Logland delivered is Ash, Yellow Birch, Maple and some type of Hornbeam (Ironwood). It’s good stuff and after having it dry out over the past six months in the garage, it burns nicely. We’ve already had a few cool nights that prompted me to get a fire crackling. Of course, I heated myself right out of the room, but the logs burned wonderfully.

firewood-wood-pellets.jpg

Last summer some time, Sam from up the road dropped off a pile of white pine trimmings for me to use as kindling. After having it sit there for a few months, I decided to head out and cut it up. I did that and now we’ve got about a half cord of dried white pine. I use this for cool (not cold) nights, just to take the edge off. Since I clean our chimney a few times a season, I think it’s a good idea. It’s cheap (free) and it does the trick. And what’s nice is that some of the pieces are a good size.

scrap-firewood.jpg

So that’s that. We’re ready. Are you? What’s your situation?
 
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  • #18

Nothing Beats Firewood for Heating a Home​

There are two different types of people in this world; squirrels and grasshoppers. I happen to be a squirrel. I like to store things. Things that I consider an investment into the comfort of my future. At times, I’ve obsessed about this future a bit too much, but I think I’ve finally hit the sweet spot. A place I can sit back and take a break.

Where I live, I’m met some grasshoppers. These are the types of folks who call the firewood dealer on a cold night in November to ask if he could deliver a cord or two. Of course, he’ll get to it the next day or the day after that, but it will be cold and wet, just like the customer’s comfort level for the next few months. It’s all about preparation – today and well into the years to come.

rows-of-firewood.jpg

It took three years, but I’m caught up. I have two full year’s worth of firewood. One year’s worth has been sitting since April of 2015 and the other year’s worth has been sitting since April of 2016. If I had to guess, I’d say I have about seven cords overall. This is prefect because it’s enough to give me an entire year and a half of drying. Or seasoning. Whichever you want to call it.

garage-full-of-firewood.jpg

On the pellet front, we have three tons. We had almost one ton leftover from last year and then Laura and I ran out to grab two more from the manufacturer. We received an offer over the summer telling us that if we got there with the truck before the end of August, they’ll give us each ton for only $200. That’s $15 off each ton from their regular price and at least $75 off each one from a regular retailer. It didn’t take me long to get over there to do what I had to do.

stacked-wood-pellets-firewood.jpg wood-pellets-and-firewood.jpg

The reason I titled this post the way I did is because I wanted to impress upon anyone who is considering the purchase of a heating device that a wood burning stove is the way to go. Hands down, you can’t get heat from something else like you can from a wood stove. I’ve lived at more addresses than I care to talk about and I have the experience to back up my claim. Pellet stoves are cute and great for chilly spring or fall nights, but they can’t handle the seriousness of mid-January. They are automatic and all that, but, unfortunately, they can’t keep up. And heaven forbid the power goes out. If the pellet stove is your only source of heat, you’ll likely freeze. And nobody likes to freeze.

I often get asked if it’s expensive to live in Maine. I have many answers for this. First, I ask what area the questioner is referring to. What part of Maine? I’m sure the coast is much more expensive than the western area where Laura and I live. Second, I ask what size house the person is interested in living in. We found ourselves a house up here that’s about 1,300 feet and it cost almost half of what our first house in New York cost, and than one was only 1,100 feet.

Regarding heating and cooling, we don’t cool. We don’t have an air conditioner because we don’t need one. Sure, there are some hot days during July, but we power through them. It gets humid, but it’s not worse than any other place I’ve ever lived. So, without any cooling to pay for, our monthly electric bill has averaged just $57 over the past six months. Every time I receive it in my email, I shake my head and run to tell Laura about it. I wonder how long I’ll do that and how long it’ll take until I’m used to it and think it’s expensive. When I lived in Connecticut, I could have the electric completely off and it would still cost me $75 a month.

We use about two tons of pellets and two cord of wood to heat our house per year. Each of those things is $200. So, if you add that up, our heating cost comes to $800. I’ll round that up to $1000, just in case. That’s not bad. No oil to pay for. No A/C to pay for. Not much to think about. It’s all upfront costs and everything’s paid for. That’s what I’m talking about when I talk about being a squirrel. It’s more fun this way because it frees me up to write blog posts and go for walks.

Do you live in the country? What are your experiences with cooling and heating costs? I’ve heard some wild numbers from friends around the country. Some that make my jaw drop. If you’d care to share, please write something in the comment section below. Thanks!
 
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  • #19

Squirreling That Firewood Away​

“It really seems to me that in the midst of great tragedy, there is always the horrible possibility that something terribly funny will happen.”

Philip K. Dick – an American writer known for his work in science fiction.

I can’t remember the exact moment I became a squirreller, but I can tell you that the idea has really taken off in my mind as of late. I’m wondering if the concept became attractive after Laura and I moved to Maine. Maine offered an entirely new collection of challenges that we hadn’t yet faced. From the large amounts of snow to the power outages to every day living. It’s fair to say that it’s better to be prepared up here than not. In all honesty, if you’ve been residing in Maine for more than a handful of years and you still haven’t gotten the system down, there’s something wrong with you. To live in Maine, you’ll need stored food, stored money, and stored firewood. And the reason you’ll need the firewood is because you’ll need to fill your wood stove with something. Maybe a wood burning stove isn’t necessary if you’re living in southern Maine, but in western Maine where we live, it’s nice to stay warm while the electricity is off for days on end. It’s so much better than freezing. Especially when the power goes out in the middle of January.

For the past few years, I’ve been purchasing firewood from a local vendor. The average price has been $210 per cord, delivered. This is a great deal and I’m so happy to have such a professional outfit so close by. I call to make my order and they come to deliver what I requested. Since I bought the land next to our house though (last year), I’ve been eager to get back there to cut some wood of my own. The trees consist primarily of softwoods, but there are some hardwoods thrown in for good measure as well. We’ve got Eastern White Pine, Black and White Spruce, Balsam Fir, Cedar, Hemlock, White Birch, Yellow Birch, Red Oak, Red Maple, Elm, Ash, and Cherry. It’s an interesting mix that I’m hoping will provide a good wood fuel foundation for the winters to come.

I’ve always heard that you shouldn’t burn softwoods in your fireplace or wood stove. Apparently, these types of woods clutter up chimneys with soot and creosote because of what folks refer to as pitch. While I agree with this sentiment for the average person, I have to admit that I absolutely love burning the stuff. It’s perfect for those cooler evenings in the fall and spring that I don’t want to commit hardwoods to. I like to light a fire, let it burn for a few hours and then let it die out. Softwoods definitely do clog up the screen of the chimney cap, which requires me to get on top of the house to maintain, but I already clean our chimneys twice a season anyway. It’s not a big deal for me. I’ve got ladders and easy access. Plus, I’ve got tons of pine on the land out back to burn, so it would be a total waste not to.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of work outside. I began by cleaning up and thinning out some trees up front, near the road. Five years ago, I went a little crazy and planted 150 small Norway Spruce pine trees all over the place and they’re beginning to get large. I’ve been eyeing them and I have to tell you, I’m not liking what I’m imagining will happen in ten year’s time. Too many trees and not enough lawn. Because of this, I conjured up the idea of thinning out the bordering woods and transplanting some of the trees in there. I figure that if I can get enough sunshine to the areas in which I plant, the trees will continue to grow as they have been. I’ve already transplanted about 20 trees and things are looking good. The best part is, I’ve been cutting up the small trees and branches that I’ve been removing. I think you know where I’ve been storing that cut up wood. That’s right – in the garage/wood shed for next year’s firewood.

This is a nice action shot that Laura took as I was cutting last week. The camera was set to a shutter speed of 1/2000th of a second to get those wood chips frozen in the air like that.

cutting-with-chainsaw.jpg

The saw I’m using is a Stihl MS 250. I’ve owned it for about 15 years and it’s been great. Very reliable and does what I need it to do.

Here’s some more action for you. This time, you get to see the beautiful Carhartt work gloves that Laura bought me for Christmas. I think you can also see a bit of my arm. It’s flexed and quite muscular. Anyway, moving on…

stihl-chainsaw-cutting-wood.jpg

This thinning was last week’s project. I’ve since moved on to the woods in the back and side of the house. We own a total of approximately 13 acres of wonderful forest, so I’ve been excited to get back there to cut trails and firewood. Over the past week, I’ve spent about four hours per day doing just that. I’m having the time of my life too. These days remind me so much of when I was younger. I used to cut a lot of trees and wood with my father. He loves firewood just as much as I do, although he lives down in North Carolina now, so he doesn’t need it to stay warm anymore. I know he still has a strong affection for firewood though, so don’t let him ever tell you differently. It’s in the Gaulard blood.

man-cutting-firewood.jpg

I modeled for the above photo. Can you tell?

Perhaps I should begin by showing you a few of the trails I’ve cut recently. I already had a lot of work done last season, but I’ve done a lot this season too. These photos are going to be ultra boring if you’ve never been here, but I think I just want to get them up here on the blog so I can ponder over them in the future. After all, I do spend a lot of time on this website looking around at things I’ve done.

I just cut this brand new trail two days ago. I had a friend over who helped me cut up and collect some nice firewood and while he was here, we also partially cut this trail. I finished it up by myself.

trails.jpg

This is continuing on with the same trail. It’s a very interesting area because as I was cutting, I followed some old logging tracks. This land has been logged before. If I had to guess when, I’d say about 30 to 40 years ago. I can still see many large old stumps around.

autumn-trails-in-forest.jpg

I cut this neat little trail last season. I don’t know why. It’s short and cute though. And yes, we still have snow on the ground. I just took this photo this morning.

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This next trail photo is of one that was actually here before we arrived. I cleaned it up a bit though. Take a look at all those White Pine needles and moss. It’s so nice to walk on.

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Finally, this is a turnaround area I cut for the ATV. It can be a challenge changing direction at times, so I built this when Ian and I were making the bridge through the swamp.

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My goal was to find trees that had fallen down and to cut them up. I spotted a few very nice Cherry and Ash that fit that bill perfectly. I also wanted to cut some trails so I could easily navigate the forest with the ATV and trailer. I wasn’t about to go back there with a wheelbarrow to haul the wood out. While I could certainly do that, I wouldn’t finish until Christmas. Plus, I purchased the ATV just for this. You don’t really live in Maine until you own an ATV and you haven’t really lived the Maine experience until you haul firewood out of the thick with said ATV and a trailer. It’s an extraordinary amount of fun.

Basically, the way I do it is like this: I cut down a tree and cut it up into firewood length logs right where it falls. Then, I grab each piece of wood and toss it out into the trail so I can easily load the wood into the trailer for hauling back to the garage/wood shed. The reason I cut it up right where the tree falls is so I don’t have to exert myself by dragging or throwing larger pieces of wood and the reason I toss each piece into the trail is so it’s all piled up nicely around the property. I wouldn’t want to have to collect it and load it into the trailer at the same time. It’s better to already be in piles. Right now, I have approximately 20 piles of wood scattered around the forest. Some are large piles and some are small. Some piles include wood that was still live recently and some has been standing and dead for years or lying on the ground for a few years. I filtered through the dead wood by cutting through each piece and inspecting the interior of the log. By this point in my life, I know what to look for. If it’s at all punky and soft, it gets tossed. If it’s hard and burnable, it gets added to the pile. The Cherry trees are notorious for being standing firewood. Cherry can stand for a decade or more and not fall over. All it does is dry out and wait to be cut and burned. I absolutely love burning Cherry wood. It doesn’t offer the BTUs of Oak or Maple, but it sure is fun to cut and look at.

For the next 10 photos, I’ll show you random small piles of firewood that I cut over the past week. Again, I’m doing this more for me than you. I completely understand how boring looking at piles of firewood can be if you’re not into it, but for someone like me who is, it’s actually quite interesting. Above each photo, I’ll offer a caption of what you’re viewing.

This is some live Maple that I just cut two days ago. This tree was right in the middle of the trail. I felt bad taking it down, but it ended up being somewhat dead in the middle anyway, which made me feel better. One thing I’m always shocked at is how small the ultimate pile of wood is. I consistently think the tree will give me more.

cut-logs.jpg
firewood-pieces.jpg

These next two photos consist of some dead Cherry firewood. Pieces in these piles were standing as well as lying on the ground. As you can see, the exterior of the wood is soft and punky, but the interior is hard and perfect for burning. I just wish I had a tumbler or something to remove that rotten wood.

firewood-logs.jpg
logs.jpg

This is a perfect example of some prime standing dead Cherry. Notice how the pieces still have their bark, but are dried out at their centers? Perfect. I could cut this type of wood all day long.

logs-cut.jpg

This next photo is the reason I bought the quad. I was roaming around the woods last fall when I noticed that an Ash tree had fallen over. It looked fresh and I simply couldn’t stand the fact that it would sit outside rotting as I was paying for someone to deliver firewood to me. It was at that point I put the wheels in motion to do what needed to be done. Within a few weeks, I had an ATV in hand and within a few weeks after that, I had a trailer. Last week, Ian and I cut this tree up and it lies waiting for me to go get it and pull it out for stacking. This is what we call prime firewood.

log-rounds.jpg

Maine is full of White Birch trees that are permanently bent over from the weight of snow and slush. While some trees eventually recover their proper upright positions, many don’t. The ones that don’t, if they’re too shaded in the woods, eventually end up dying and turning all punky and rotten. The trick is to catch these trees before they die. We’ve got many on our property, so it’s needless to say that I’ve got quite a few piles that look like those below.

white-birch-firewood.jpg
white-birch-logs.jpg

I’m not sure what these little trees are called, but we’ve got lots of them. They bend over in the snow as well, and if they’re in my way, I’ll take them down. They burn just the same as any other type of firewood and they’re perfectly sized, so I’m happy to add them to the mix.

cut-firewood.jpg

Finally, We’ve got a fairly large Eastern White Pine leader that fell during a recent storm. I took the opportunity to cut it up into firewood length logs. I’ll haul this back up to the house, split it, and use it for kindling and to top off an already burning fire.

tree-cut-into-pieces.jpg

I brought four or five trailer-loads of wood up to the garage yesterday and was surprised at how much room it consumed. I plan on stacking five rows deep of firewood and I’m already half way there. Granted, I had a lot of leftover wood from this past season, so I wasn’t starting from scratch. I’m hoping to top these piles off and have a bit left over. That would make me happy, especially because I won’t be storing exclusively hardwoods. The softwood is taking up space and I can’t rely on that wood when the temperatures drop down below zero. For that, I need my Oak, Ash, and Maple. I’ll have plenty of that though, so I’m not concerned.

stacked-firewood.jpg
stacked-firewood-in-garage.jpg

In other news, I’m growing a beard. This photo was taken on April 18. As I sit here and write, it’s April 26. You can imagine how much longer it’s gotten, although, I do feel like it’s stopped growing in recent days. I’m going to see how long I can get it before it looks weird. Maybe I’ll go all the way and become a bearded Mainer. I can then enter it in beard competitions. That would be awesome.

By the way, this is me sunning our indoor cat. He likes to smell the air outside and to bask in the sunshine. We try to offer him that experience every so often.

man-and-cat.jpg

Enjoy the weather and take care of yourselves!

PS – Here are a few photos Laura captured while I was loading the trailer with firewood. Of course, I had to model for one of these photos again. I enjoy doing that.

loading-firewood-into-trailer.jpg posing-with-firewood.jpg quad-trailer-firewood.jpg
 
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  • #20

Firewood Update for February 2017​

Ah, another day, another snow storm. Actually, I think lower New England and New York are getting it worse than us. They’re supposed to get well over a foot while we in western Maine are stuck at around eight inches. No matter, we just accumulated about three inches yesterday and are supposed to see around sixteen more throughout the week. It’s turning into a very active February. That makes my heart sing. It’s certainly better than last year’s lazy winter.

I thought I’d head out to the garage with my camera for a quick firewood update. I know how much everyone loves these types of posts.

So far, I’d say we burned about a cord and a half of firewood this season. That’s not bad. The strange thing is, we actually burn the most in March and April during my syrup making endeavors. That’s a real chore because I have to open all the windows in my room here so I don’t sweat too bad. I sweat, but the cooler air helps – that’s for sure.

I wanted to quickly show you my firewood carrying bag. I don’t think I ever posted a picture of this.

cougar-firewood-bag.jpg

This one is called a Cougar and it’s the biggest one I could find. I had last year’s wood cut at eighteen inches and it was plenty big for that. This year, I went with sixteen, so things are just dandy. Bringing wood inside from the garage is made so much easier when I use this tote. Back in the early days, I only had my arms. That got old very fast.

Here’s a photo of one side of the garage. This is where I stacked this year’s wood. I have three cord on the other side drying for next season.

rows-of-firewood-in-garage.jpg

Don’t be fooled by these piles. The two on the right were small to begin with. After I filled up the other side of the garage and even the center, I still had more wood. I decided to temporarily stack it in these two piles and then just recently figured I’d go ahead and burn it. It’s the two piles on the left that matter. Each of those two long piles holds about a cord and a half, so with half of them gone, that’s about a cord and a half burned.

After I took some photos of the garage and the wood, I figured I’d walk around a bit for some more. Here’s one of the front of our house during today’s snow storm.

cabin-snow-storm.jpg

It’s so cool. Laura and I are planning a short ride in the truck in about an hour or so. I’m going to get her to drive me up the road and back. I like to watch her drive the truck because, deep down, she gets a kick out of it. I’m not sure how someone couldn’t. We throw it in 4-wheel drive and drive over anything we want. Talk about fun.

I took a few shots of our stream that runs along the property line. It’s totally frozen. No action there. I did, however, like the look of the bridge that crosses it in the snow. Things look very short.

snow-covered-bridge.jpg
snow-covered-stream.jpg

Here are a few nature shots for you. The first one is of a birch tree that’s got some pretty snow on it and the second one is of a few small hemlock trees. Both photos were taken at the side of the frozen stream.

snow-on-side-of-white-birch.jpg
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I do love those hemlocks. I wish our property was covered with them.

Finally, here’s a photo of our Christmas tree. We took this down about a week ago and I stuck it in the snow out back near the bird feeders. Now, the little birds sit on the branches and eat the food after they’ve stolen it. Fun times.

snow-covering-pine-tree.jpg

Now that I think about it, it would have been sorta cool if we left the lights on it. We could have lit it up at night. Perhaps next year.
 
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  • #21

Pruning Trees for the Firewood​

I’ll admit it. I’m slightly addicted to collecting firewood. I know I have enough. As a matter of fact, I’ve got a garage full of it right now, waiting to be burned this winter and next. That doesn’t stop me from collecting even more though. After all, like I said, I’m addicted. Plus, it’s just so much fun. The creative ways I come up with for finding this stuff.

Anyway, the front of our property has been a bit messy for a few years now. We’ve got some large sugar maple trees that had quite a few lower hanging branches. Those branches were growing right into some pine trees that are situated right next to them. In addition to the branches on the larger trees, we had about a dozen smaller trees that were all clustered together that didn’t look good at all. I made it a mission to prune the lower branches from the larger trees and then simply cut down all but two of the smaller clustered trees. I accomplished this mission over a few days. It was nice. The weather was good and the leaves were falling all around me as I worked. You really can’t ask for much more than that.

This is a view from the end of our driveway. Those are the big sugar maples I was telling you about.

autumn-maple-trees.jpg

This is a closer view. I’m not sure if you can see them clearly, but those two smaller maples are the only two that are left from the mess that was there.

pruning-large-maple-tree.jpg

And finally, here’s a view from the other direction. Take a close look at the trees. You can see where I cut the branches from.

pruning-limbs-from-maple-tree.jpg

After I cut down each tree or removed each branch, I’d attempt to save as much good wood as I could. I cut the smaller branches from the thicker parts and then cut the ends off as they got too thin. I threw all that smaller stuff in the woods and then piled all the larger stuff on the driveway. Check out how much I was able to save.

cut-branches.jpg tree-limbs.jpg

Not bad. I bet my father is proud. I remember back when my friend Gary and I used to drive around in his car when we were teenagers. We’d stop to fill the tank with gas and he’d make sure to get every last drop from the pump. He’d say, “Those are miles man, miles!” Saving wood like this reminds me of that gas. This is firewood man, firewood!

Check this out. I just got back inside from cutting up all these lengths of wood. Look at what I did.

chainsaw-cut-up-tree-branches.jpg processed-tree-limbs-firewood.jpg

I don’t know, I’d say that’s a few good days and nights worth of firewood. Hey, it’s better than tossing it in the woods as waste. At least I’ve got some extra wood now that will serve us well. Thanks for reading!
 
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  • #22

Trying Out the Bahco Ergo Bow Saw​

When we arrived in Maine almost three years ago, we brought with us a nice Stihl chainsaw. A long time ago, I paid around $300 for it. I can remember the day I bought it. I picked it up from a local dealer in New York one morning and by that evening, in the rain, I had about five large oak trees laying on the ground in the woods behind my house. Let’s just say I was excited to have that saw. I went a little nuts with it.

I never did use that chainsaw again as much as I did that one day. Sure, when we arrived in Maine, I cut up some wood here and there. Those were more of clean-up projects though. I didn’t really need to do that work. I wanted to.

Have you ever left a gasoline powered chainsaw to sit on a shelve for an extended period of time without using it? If not, let me tell you what happens. Eventually, you’ll end up working on the saw more than you’ll ever use it again.

After storage, you’ll get it started. You’ll walk to whatever it is you’d like to cut up and then you’ll start cutting. The saw will run fine for a minute or so and then will begin to bog down. And bog down and bog down. And stall and then bog down again. You’ll do the usual – remove the spark plug and fiddle with that for a little while. Then, when the fiddling doesn’t make any sort of a difference, you’ll think about changing the gas. It’s likely old. You’ll never do it because that’s a waste and it’s hardly ever the root cause for the saw running terribly, no matter what anyone says. Then, you’ll toss the saw back in the garage and mention the situation to your father that night on the telephone. He’ll inform you that the carburetor needs to be cleaned out. You’ll think back to the moment you initially parked the saw on the shelf so long ago and recall that it ran fine then. You’ll wonder how a particle of dirt managed to swim itself into one of the carburetor jets all by itself.

Oh yeah – along this wonderful journey somewhere, the starter rope will break. I just had to throw that in there because that’s part of the beauty of owning one of these saws.

This scenario will replay itself for about two years until you decide it’s high time to purchase an electric chainsaw. This is what happened to me. My rationale was this; I hardly ever really needed a chainsaw. Why would I force myself to endure the frustrating ordeal of having to maintain a gasoline powered one when an electric version can sit on a shelve indefinitely with no maintenance whatsoever? Electric saws can sit for twenty years and work perfectly any time after. It only makes sense to jump ship and make the switch.

For almost two months, I pecked around online to see if I could actually bring myself to remove my debit card from my wallet to pay for a nice shiny Makita electric chainsaw. I knew I could probably grab a cheap one from Harbor Freight for around $50, but I didn’t want to do that. My goal was to purchase the last saw I’d ever own in my life. If I used it once a year, that’s good enough for me. I’m not running a tree removal service over here. At the most, I cut up dead branches and then blog about the experience.

I almost pulled the trigger a few times. The Makita costs almost $275, but I knew it was worth it. The word online claimed that the two versions of the same saw, one with the 14″ bar and the other with the 16″ bar, were workhorses. I had no doubt that I’d own a piece of quality. I did, however, take issue with spending so much on something I’d hardly ever use.

One night, I woke up in a cold sweat. I had just experienced a true nightmare. I dreamed that I checked my bank account online, only to discover that $275 was missing. Then, I remembered that I had a new electric saw sitting in the garage. While that made me feel slightly better, I also recalled that I only operated the new saw for about 10 minutes to clean up some branches I had sitting in front of our garage. I didn’t have any further use for it. I cuddled in my blankets and considered that fact that I had made a huge error in judgement. Such is my life. I think far too much. Good thing that was only a dream.

That morning, an idea formulated in my mind. Since I had an old bow saw hanging in the garage, why didn’t I go out to see if that would cut the pile of branches? Perhaps I didn’t need a chainsaw at all. Even if it took all day, I could get rid of the mess and save some money.

The moment the blade of the old bow saw touched the wood, I knew it was never going to work. Apparently, bow saws use two different types of blades. One is for dry, dead, wood and the other is for green, live, wood. I’m assuming the blade I had on my bow saw was for the dead stuff because every time I attempted to push it across a piece, it got stuck. I eventually made it about half way through something that was only about 3 inches thick when the wood pinched the blade so badly, I was hardly able to remove it. They were nearly bonded together. While I gave up on that particular activity, I didn’t give up on the idea.

I whistled while I walked from the garage to the house. Laura gave me an odd look as I sat down at my computer and browsed through many videos of fine folks using miraculous bow saws to effortlessly slice through virtually any thickness of wood. I was amazed. From what I gathered, the difference between my old saw and theirs was that they were using an extremely sharp version of the blade that was meant for live wood. I couldn’t stop watching. I had never seen bow saws perform such beautiful acts. I knew I needed one of these newer types of saws and blades.

The best part of the whole thing is that a pretty decent bow saw costs under $30. The one I purchased is called the Bahco 10-30-23 30-Inch Ergo Bow Saw for Green Wood and it set me back $28.19, exactly. I’d like to show you a photo of part of it.

bahco-bow-saw-blade.jpg

As you can see, the photo above displays part of the handle and part of the blade. Look at those teeth. I can tell you that they are akin to small razors. They’re very sharp, so I’m careful not to touch them.

Here’s another look at the blade:

bow-saw-blade.jpg

If you pick the saw up and view the teeth closely, you’ll notice that they’re flared out slightly at their tips. The reason this is critical to cutting green wood is that they remove more of it than their “dead wood” counterparts. Green wood tends to swell as it’s cut and if the blade doesn’t remove a bit more of it during each pass, it’ll get pinched. That’s exactly what I experienced during my previous bow saw cutting failure.

For a 2 inch thick piece of wood, I swear it only takes a few swipes to cut clear through with this saw. It’s like butter. The first time I used it, I almost couldn’t stop. I was having so much fun. The cut is clean too. It makes a tinny sound as the blade removes the wood and before you know it, the end piece has fallen and the blade is begging for more.

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bow-saw-cut-wood.jpg

I have a tech blog that I write almost every day on. I recently decided to begin covering the topic of editing video. Because of this, I needed to create some sort of demo that I could use in my tutorials. I decided on capturing the cutting of a piece of wood as that demo. Here it is:

Bahco 10-30-23 30-Inch Ergo Bow Saw – Cutting Wood

 
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  • #23

Building an Indoor Firewood Rack​

I have been going back and forth in my mind for weeks about what type of firewood rack I want. Should I build one? Should I buy one? Should I buy one and then build it? Up until this morning, I had no idea what to do.

You might think this is a trivial matter and that I way over-think things, but let me tell you something – I didn’t move to the middle of nowhere to purchase items from Home Depot that I could easily make at home. The problem was, in this case, I wasn’t all too confident in my capabilities. Throughout my life, I haven’t been the best of woodworkers and, for this project, I was truly trying to avoid picking up some lumber, cutting it all wrong and then having to head out to get some metal “wood hoop.” And actually, this morning, that was the plan – to just break down and get a hoop. I used a hoop when I was a kid and I suppose I was ready to do it again. Thing is – I really didn’t want a hoop. I wanted to build something. I know it seems strange, but trust me when I tell you that I need to build things. I feel like a waste of space if I don’t.

Anyway, here’s what I came up with. I didn’t even have to buy any wood. I had some leftover cedar in the garage and used that. And oddly enough, the rack is straight, square and very strong.

diy-firewood-rack.jpg firewood-in-diy-rack.jpg homemade-firewood-rack.jpg homemade-firewood-rack-design.jpg

I bet you’re curious how I get the firewood in the house. Well, here’s your answer. It’s so easy.

firewood-strapped-to-hand-truck.jpg

That’s right, I just use my hand truck and a tie down. I wish I thought of this when I was a kid. Sure would have saved some time. My new firewood rack holds two full carts of firewood.

How much did this project cost? About $1. I bought some 3 inch screws a while back so I suppose I should account for them. Pretty good, I’d say.
 
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  • #24

How Old is That Wood Shed?​

I was looking up homesteading blogs a few days ago and came across one that I found very interesting. I can’t seem to find it again, which is a shame because it had some really great content. If I remember correctly, it had a set of rules to live by if you decide to live in the country. The best one was “Don’t be lazy. Ever.”

For some odd reason, that one stuck in my head. While I’m not sure what the author’s definition of lazy is, I’m sure it’s something like, “Oh, I know I’ve got to get that done, but I’m not in the mood. I’ll do it tomorrow.”

The lazy thing is probably a rule that was created by way of experience. “Oh, I should really rake the snow off the roof today, but I’ll just wait until tomorrow.” And then the roof caves in from the weight of the snow. “Oh, I should really clean the cars off and shovel the driveway, but I’ll just wait until tomorrow.” And then there’s an emergency during an ice storm and there’s absolutely no way you’re going to get anything cleaned off.” I think you get the idea.

Anyway, I just thought that little tidbit was worth sharing and if I find the post, I’ll link to it.

It’s 3 degrees outside right now, which isn’t that bad. When it’s in the 20s, the house actually gets too hot. For some reason, the pellet stove doesn’t really differentiate temperature output no matter what setting it’s on. It does a good job heating, but come Spring, I think we may have to open a window or two. When the temps drop down below 0, it has trouble keeping up. Right now, it’s warming the house to 58 degrees. I can live with that.

It’s supposed to go down to -22 on Friday night though. I’ll be honest with you. I’m a bit concerned.

weather-report-12-31-13.jpg

As I sat here about an hour ago, thinking of ways to not be lazy and considering how cold it’s going to be on Friday, I figured it might be a good idea to go split some wood. Why? I don’t really know. We don’t have a wood stove yet. But it’s better than sitting around not doing much of anything. At the very least, it would make me feel like I’m somehow helping the situation.

I got all suited up and went outside. First, I shoveled out behind the trailer. That was kind of buried from the last storm. We keep some emergency supplies in there and it’s not helpful to have access to those supplies blocked by snow.

Then, I went way into the back and cleared out in front of the shed doors. I knew I was going to be doing some wood splitting, so I would need to get into the shed to stack the firewood.

snow-outside-shed-doors.jpg

After that, I grabbed the axe and split one log. I wanted to start small, just to see if it was possible. It worked out well, so I stacked the firewood from that log onto my growing pile.

firewood-stacked-inside-shed.jpg

Realizing that I was probably looking as tough as all hell, I decided to pull out the bigger logs I cut from the Maple tree I took down a few days ago. There were probably only about six in all, so this splitting episode wouldn’t take too long. I thought that if anyone was watching, they would either think I was crazy or that they envied my prowess.

logs-and-axe.jpg

I did what I had to do and withing a few minutes, I was finished. I wasn’t ready to pull out the chainsaw, so I stopped with these logs. It gave me about half a pile and finished the second row. Not bad, I’d say. You can see the new firewood on the top of the closest pile. It’s slightly covered with snow.

pile-of-firewood.jpg

After I was all finished, I started poking around the shed. My father and I had a conversation about it last night and I told him that the guy who lived here before us dragged it here from a farm up the road. As you can see, it’s got a wood floor. Now, I’m not sure if he dragged it on the road or dragged it onto a flatbed, but I’ll tell you, anything is possible. Either way, here it sits and I’m fairly certain that this wasn’t its birth place.

So how old is the shed? Interesting thing I discovered today while I was back there. Take a look at this.

writing-on-shed-wall.jpg

It says, “Please Do Not Damage Our Camp.” But what’s more interesting is what is written right below that.

shed-building-date.jpg

That says, “1969.” Crazy, huh? I knew this thing was pretty old, buy not that old. And as Laura pointed out, that most likely wasn’t written on the very first day the shed was created. It’s most likely older than that. I like things with a bit of history attached to them.

I think my father mentioned putting a heater in the shed to keep things toasty if I wanted to work on something back there. I told him that a heater wouldn’t help much, because there’s a big hole in the shed’s corner. It overlooks part of the pond.

looking-out-shed-window.jpg

Yep, there’s the hole. I could probably patch that up if I wanted to. I most likely will.

I found a great blog post yesterday that was written by a guy who loves to split wood. He loves it so much, he hunts wood out and splits it for free. If someone has had a tree taken down, he’ll ask if they would keep the wood and then he’ll stop by and split it. You should read the post. It may give you something to think about.

The Pleasures of Wood Splitting

And if you’ve ever had the itch to head outside when there’s a foot and a half of snow to split some wood, you may want to follow a few good tips. Check these out.

Axe Techniques: Firewood Splitting On Snow


You can also read Paul Kirtley’s full post here: How To Split Firewood on Snow: Key Axe Techniques

COMMENT: -22! You are nuts! Happy New Year! Take my advice bro – you need a 4WD quad with attachments and a snow blower. Maybe both.

COMMENT: Happy New Year to you too! Hey, I don’t make the temperatures up here, I just adapt to them. And about that quad – maybe if I hit the lottery one day. Until then, I shovel.

COMMENT:
I am the guy who has that blog that was referred to in one of your posts and who will split wood for free. Indeed all of that is true.
However, the reason why am taking the time to write this , is to comment on your technique of splitting wood on the snow. I have been splitting wood for maybe 30 years or so have never done or seen anybody split it as you do, and for a very good reason .
Usual way to split is to set the log on end on a solid surface and whack at it . It can be done on snow as well, if the snow is not too deep. If it is deep , of course it’ll just drive the log into the snow.
However, there is no way that I would use your technique for the very good reason that if the hand or the foot slips, the ax goes right into your foot. Now, I wear steel toed boots, as anyone who does heavy-duty work should do but, even so, is taking a chance to split wood the way you have demonstrated.
One more comment. As you will see from my blog I use sledges and wedges or a monster maul to split. You can certainly split little logs 5,6 or even 7 inches in diameter with an axe, but for really big ones you need sledges and wedges.
Have fun, but be careful with that strange and dangerous at the of wood splitting.

COMMENT: Thank you for the reply. The wood splitting style you are referring to was in a video I posted my Paul Kirtley. He’s from Australia. I’m not in favor, nor out of favor with his wood splitting style because I simply don’t know enough about it. I thank you for offering your opinion though.
 
KodyWallice

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  • #25

Does Firewood Dry Fast Next to Wood Stove?​

I've been burning wood in my wood stove for a few months now and it's been going well. Even though my wood is seasoned, I still hear it hiss sometimes while it's inside the stove. I even see bubbles coming out of the ends every so often. This tells me the wood isn't nearly dry enough to burn. The result of this is creosote in my chimney cap that I need to clean often and a lack of draft. When I open my stove door, smoke comes out. I think that's because the chimney isn't getting hot enough to create a good draft.

Anyway, I was wondering of there is any way to hurry the drying process up. My firewood has been sitting outside and in my open garage for over a year. How long does it take to dry? Can I dry my firewood if I stand it up or stack it next to my wood stove? I've got pieces of maple in my garage that are well over a year old. They look like they were cut yesterday. Any advice would be helpful.
 
Phoenix1

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  • #26
These are good questions. I store my wood in an open wood shed and it rarely dries as much as I need it to by the time I need to burn it. Maple and oak are very dense woods and I like to keep my logs as large as possible so they burn more slowly in my wood stove. I'd be waiting years for my firewood to season outside. Log rounds don't dry quickly at all and I don't have the patience to wait.

What I do is stand my firewood up next to my wood stove for a few days before I burn it. I pretty much kiln dry every piece of wood I put in my stove by doing this. I do this to 8 and 10 inch rounds and I don't get any hiss when I finally put the wood in the stove. Each piece is dried completely. I know people say to be careful with drying firewood next to a wood stove and that's true. I will tell you though that I've put mine so close to my stove (6" away) that I've actually smelled the bark begin to brown. That's when I pull it somewhat farther away. But my point is, you can stack wood pretty darn close to a wood stove and not have to worry about it igniting. Don't take my word for it though because I wouldn't want something bad to happen. Use your own judgement. I'm only telling you about my own experiences.

Firewood dries incredibly fast when stood up next to a stove. Take a look at the pictures down below. The first two pieces have been standing there for about a day, the second two about two days, and the last two about three or four days. These logs are both elm and maple. Very dense. They've been sitting in a stack in my wood shed and each one had no cracks in the ends when I brought them in. After a few days of sitting next to the stove and having the entire piece of wood rise to about 100°, it dries out as if it's in a kiln. There are no two ways about it. This is why people who burn firewood like to bring a lot in the house for storage. The wood warms up and it dries out somewhat, depending on how close they have it to their stoves.

After drying my wood like this for a while, I've had no problems whatsoever burning it. It's no longer green and even after one day, I see big splits in the ends. I just need to rotate the log positions and flip them over so each end warms up to the maximum degree.

Check out the checking on that last log. That had no cracks just a few days ago. I suppose what I could do for a really good test would be to buy a moisture meter and test a log's interior moisture before I put it next to the stove by splitting it and then keeping a full unsplit log next to the stove for a few days and then splitting it and testing the interior moisture a few days later. That would be definitive proof of dryness and burnability.

001-green-firewood.jpg 002-green-firewood.jpg 003-dry-firewood.jpg 004-dry-firewood.jpg 005-seasoned-firewood.jpg 006-seasoned-firewood.jpg
 
Phoenix1

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  • #27
Since I don't have a moisture meter at the moment, I decided to do a little workaround. Instead of measuring the moisture levels in two similar logs, I'll be taking a picture of one log for about a week. I'll snap one every day, just to show how much cracking, or checking, comes about on the ends. And to make things even more exciting, I'll weigh the log on my food scale right after I take its photo. I'll post the info here to show you what's going on. This experiment is to demonstrate how much moisture disappears simply by standing a piece of firewood up next to your wood stove in the winter. I hope it works out. I know lots of cracking appears on the ends, but I have yet to learn how much lighter a piece of wood becomes. I really do hope there's a change or else I'll be wrong about this whole "drying firewood next to the stove" thing. Fingers crossed.

Okay, here's day one.

Weight: 10.95 lbs.

maple-log-day-1.jpg

UPDATE

Wow, what a difference one day makes. I just snapped a photo of my drying log and it sure does look like there are many cracks on the end. I actually flipped this log over yesterday as to dry out the center from both sides. What I've found in the past is that if you don't flip them, the logs don't dry out as well as they can. Both ends need to see some daylight. Now, if you stored your firewood in some sort of rack that's situated near your wood stove, that would be all the better. Here's today's weight. That's a reduction of .28 pounds. That's just a hair over a quarter pound of water that's already evaporated. Not bad for only sitting a piece of firewood near a heat source for a day. So basically, if I had tossed this log in the fire yesterday, that fire would have had to burn off an additional quarter pound of liquid before (or during) it burned the actual log as a heat source. What a difference a day makes.

Weight: 10.67 lbs.

maple-log-day-2.jpg

UPDATE

There appears to be a point of diminishing returns going on here. If you take a look at the photo of today's log below, you'll see only slightly more cracking than yesterday's. It's nothing like the difference between day one and day two. And if you take a look at the weight, yes, it did drop, but not as drastically as the previous drop. I suspected this would happen. I mean, things can only go so far. But really, for a log to lose a half pound of moisture only from sitting next to a wood stove for a few days is remarkable. The reduction of moisture from day one is .46 lb and the reduction from yesterday's level is .18 lb. Not bad, if you ask me. I was going to keep this going for an entire week, but I think I'll stop when it stops. If the log halts its cracking and no more weight is being lost, I'll have no choice but to stop this experiment. I think we've got a few more days before that happens. though.

Weight: 10.49 lbs.

maple-log-day-3.jpg

UPDATE

I think this will be my last day of this experiment. The amount of weight this log is losing is getting smaller and smaller. Today's weight is .11 lbs less than yesterday's, so tomorrow's will be even less than today's. I think we all get the picture of what's going on here. By storing firewood next to your wood stove, that firewood has the potential to dry out remarkably well. I suspect that even green firewood could be burnable after just a few days. This wood I used in this experiment was almost green. After about six months of drying in my open garage, it didn't dry very much at all. And the reason it's still round as opposed to split is because I like to keep my firewood as big as possible. I've got a big stove and I like long burn times.

So, after four days, this one log lost .57 pounds of water. That's over a half pound, which is very good. I'm actually surprised this went so well. Maybe I'll keep the log hanging around the stove for a few more days and then weigh it again then, just for fun. Maybe.

Weight: 10.38 lbs.

maple-log-day-4.jpg

UPDATE

Just as a quick update, the log now weighs 10.31 lbs, so it's still losing water. I'm going to have to burn it now or else I'll keep weighing it long after I said I'd stop. I didn't take a photo because it pretty much looks the same. I do wonder if it's any smaller though. It's got to be smaller by this point.
 
15Katey

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  • #28

Why Are There So Many Coals in My Wood Stove?​

We've been having some very cold weather in my area over the past few weeks, so I've been working my wood stove pretty hard. What I'm finding though is that the wood I'm burning is producing a huge quantity of coals and those coals are now taking up about half the space in the stove. I keep opening the door to stoke them and try to let them burn down, but then the house gets cold. I've tried to just let them burn down for a while with the door closed too, but still, the house gets cold when I'm not feeding the fire with new wood. As long as I see a flame in the stove, I feel good heat coming from it, but when the flame goes out and the wood turns to coals, no more good heat. I'm wondering what's going on. Why is my firewood producing so many coals and what can I do to reduce the amount? Has anyone else gone through this? It seems like it only happens when it's super cold outside. On warmer days, it's fine.
 
CampFireJack

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  • #29
What type of stove do you have? From what I've read, it seems like the more modern EPA non-cat stoves produce big coal beds in very cold weather. It has something to do with the temps getting so hot inside the firebox that all of the gasses inside the wood get burned quickly, leaving behind coals that take much longer to burn. They say that the charcoal is fine in warmer weather because people don't fill their stoves nearly as much and that charcoal has time to burn. It's only when the stove gets pushed to the max. In warmer (or less cold) days, people seem to be fine with letting the coals heat their house.
 
15Katey

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  • #30
I have an Englander 30-NC wood stove. Take a look at this picture I took last night. The coal bed takes up more than half of the volume in the stove.

huge-coal-bed-wood-stove.jpg

Sometimes I put some smaller pieces of firewood in the stove to see if that'll help, but it really doesn't. It just creates more coals. This morning, I kept stoking and waiting and eventually the level dropped about half way. Since I needed heat in the house, I just cleaned out the stove completely and started a new fire. I wish I didn't have to do that.
 
CampFireJack

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  • #31
What you're doing actually isn't a bad thing. Smaller and hotter wood can actually help. I've burned soft woods during the day when it's been very cold outside to keep the coal bed down and then I burn my hard woods through the night because they last longer. Softwood doesn't produce nearly as many coals as hardwood does. The real problem here is you're demanding a lot from your stove. You're trying to keep your stove temperature very high and in order to do that, you need to feed it a lot of wood. Wood takes time to burn down completely. On a normal winter day of about 25-30 degrees, most people allow their firewood to burn down for about four or five hours before reloading. On cold days though, people add wood every hour or so. That's simply not a long enough time for the entire log to burn. So you're essentially overloading the stove. The most honest solution to your problem that I can give you is to insulate your house better. There's no reason other than poor insulation or sheer size that an Englander NC-30 wouldn't heat a house thoroughly. That's a great stove that produces a lot of heat.
 
KodyWallice

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  • #32
What seems to be going on is that your firewood isn't producing the heat you want, so you add more. I think your wood isn't seasoned enough, meaning, it's too wet. If you were to split your wood smaller and dry it out completely, I bet your wood stove wouldn't have this problem. Also, keep your air open more and you should get a hotter flame and a cleaner burn. Still though, with wood that's got a high moisture content, it's going to be tough to avoid the coal buildup. Before burning any firewood, make sure to keep it out of the rain and snow and make sure it's been seasoned well for at least two years. People like to say one year is good - it's not. You need two years in the sunshine for good drying. You can also try burning more softwoods. White pine and spruce are great to burn. Hemlock is great too. Again, make sure it's dry. It'll burn hotter and won't produce nearly as many coals, which is what you want.
 
Phoenix1

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  • #33
Yeah, you're not doing anything wrong, per se. You're pushing your stove a lot harder in the cold weather. In northern Vermont, I've gone through this a lot. I actually load my stove so much until the wood makes so many coals that I can't even load anymore. It's frustrating when it's bitter cold outside and I can't add anymore wood to my stove. The trick is to be patient and to let the coals die down. If necessary, find yourself another heat source as a backup. Also, if you use your stoker or find a rake, you can rake the larger coals towards the front of the stove. They burn faster up there. Keep your air supply opened all the way to get the oxygen the coals need to burn.

One great idea is to buy a coal sifter to keep your coals in the stove while removing only the ashes. That way, you won't be throwing good wood away if you decide to clean the stove. These sifters go by different names, such as ember recovery tool, ember extractor, ash sifter, and probably a few other things.

Causes of too many coals: frequent loading, high moisture content in wood, not enough air supply in stove, not being patient to let coals burn down, burning hardwood instead of softwood.

I've never tried this, but I've heard that if you get some bio bricks and throw them in the stove while you're waiting for the coals to burn down, that works. A less expensive alternative would be to burn nice dry pine for a while.
 
JGaulard

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  • #34

Building Bridge Over Stream & Cutting Firewood​

I've been having the best time out in the woods lately. There's a warm spell coming through Maine and the past few days of November have been unseasonably warm. It's actually been great for walking around in nature. In regards to working outdoors though, I'd say it's too hot. I do well in the 40s and 50s, but anything warmer than that makes me sweat too much. But I'll take these warm days anytime. Especially for my long strolls through the forest.

warm-autumn-november-day-maine.jpg

To take advantage of the nice weather and the lack of bugs, I decided to go out and do some digging yesterday. On our property, we've got a small stream that cuts across one of our paths. The area can get muddy, so when we walk in the morning with our coffee, we have to jump from one section to another to get across. I've had a board leaning up against a tree for months with the intention of using the board as a bridge, so I decided to put it in place yesterday. But in order to do that, I had to do a lot of digging to get some of the water at a lower level. As it was, the water had to go over roots and rocks and those things were spreading the moisture out across an area of about ten feet. That's what caused the mud. To counter this, I used a rake, hoe, shovel, and pickaxe to chop through all the moss and roots and to dig up some of the rocks that were blocking the water. When I was finished, I had a nice flowing stream that didn't get spread all over the place anymore. Over the next few days I expect the muddy area to dry up some. That'll be a welcome change. To see the bridge I set up, simply click on the images below. You may need to be logged in to do so.

plank-bridge-over-small-stream.jpg

After I was finished with the digging and setting up of the bridge, which is quite stable I might add, I decided to do some firewood cutting with my chainsaw. I quite enjoy getting out there to collect firewood, so I was in my glory. To get the wood though, I had to cut down some of the dead trees on my property. I had maple, ash, white pine, white birch, and black spruce to choose from. I took them all. Actually, the black spruce fell down across one of the trails during our last wind storm, so that may have prompted me to get out there for some cutting. It was annoying to have a tree in the way of our walks.

I cut the white birch, spruce, white pine, and maple yesterday and the ash today. When I woke up this morning, I had a bunch of disorganized piles, but by the end of the day today, I had everything organized and split. Yes, that's right. I split the firewood right in the woods. I'll let it dry out back there until next September, when I'll bring it all inside the open garage to stack up for the winter. Take a look at my piles down in the thumbnail section.

pile-of-split-ash-maple-firewood.jpg

And because the split ash firewood is just so beautiful, I decided to take some lovely pictures of it up close.

freshly-split-firewood.jpg

Let me know what you think. I'd say I've got about a half cord of split firewood out there now. Not bad for a day's work. That's worth $100 in my area.

And finally, I snapped a photo of a hunter's tree stand that was left behind on our property when we bought it. It was placed up in a tree and the tie-down straps were digging into the tree as it grew. We took it down and it's just been hanging out ever since. Pretty cool. Maybe we'll use it for photography or something.

hunting-stand-on-tree.jpg
ash-firewood.jpg bridge-in-woods.jpg cut-split-white-pine-firewood.jpg cut-spruce-firewood.jpg end-split-firewood.jpg green-moss-covered-stump.jpg piece-of-ash-firewood.jpg pile-pine-firewood.jpg small-wooden-bridge-over-marsh.jpg split-ash-firewood.jpg wooden-plank-over-stream.jpg
 
JGaulard

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  • #35

Can You Season Firewood in a Pile?​

Where I live, I've seen lots of wood piles on people's property and I'm wondering if the wood ever dries or seasons, staying in that pile for too long. I think they get the wood delivered by truck. The truck dumps it out on their front yard or on their driveways and the people never stack it or anything. It just stays there and when winter comes, they may begin to stack it under a porch or in their garage. They never quite get around to stacking it outside so it could dry.

My question is, will the firewood ever dry if it stays as a pile? And beyond that, will it ever season? I always thought the wood needed to be stacked in rows so their air can flow through it and dry it up. Also, I've heard that the sun needs to hit it as well. So what gives? Why do I see so many piles of firewood that never gets stacked? Well, at least not until very late fall or just before the snow hits the ground.

COMMENT: I'll tell you this - and this comes from personal experience, not something I read on the internet - wood will partially dry if it's left thrown in a pile. It's better than not being cut but not being split at all. If the log rounds are split and they're left in a pile, the top layer will likely dry just fine. And the interior logs will likely dry out somewhat. I had three cord of firewood delivered once and I decided to get lazy and leave it in a pile on a big cement pad that I have next to my driveway. It was there for an entire year. It was snowed on top of and rained on. When I finally got around to stacking it properly in my wood shed, I found that, while somewhat dry, much of the interior logs began to rot. I was actually very surprised at how quickly this began to take place. I mean, in only a year the wood began to rot? I find that incredible. I also find that to be the case because there was nowhere near the necessary air circulation or sunshine hitting all of it.

I'll admit that I can see the temptation of leaving firewood in a pile and not ever stacking it, especially if you do the cutting and splitting yourself. The last thing you want to do is spend even more backbreaking time making it look pretty. Can't we just toss it all in a heap somewhere and leave it as is? Won't the air be able to flow through it and dry it all up? We're tired, after all. Do we really need to do all this extra work?

The answer to all these questions is yes, you do need to do all this extra work if you want your firewood to dry and season properly. But if you insist on thinking that you'll get away with keeping it in a pile, then at least throw it on some pallets so some air gets underneath to dry it as best as possible. And you'll also need to be patient because the dry time will take much longer than if stacked in a row. Also, be sure to cover the pile with pieces of plywood or something so it doesn't get rained and snowed on. That's what's going to do the rotting. If you have an open wood shed or garage you can toss it into, that would be the best.

COMMENT: To get an accurate answer, you'll also need to take into account where the pile of wood lives. If it's in Georgia in a sunny spot, where much of the year is 90 degrees, it'll dry up just fine. But if it's in Alaska with very short cool summer seasons and then a lot of rain and snow, that ain't gonna dry at all. Sorry, but that's just the way it is. If you absolutely can't stack your rows, then at least make your piles long instead of huge and round. The idea is to get as much of the surface exposed at possible. I honestly don't think keeping firewood in a pile is better than stacking it in a clean row or two rows. It's the air flow that matters and that doesn't occur in piles. After I'm finished with my splitting, sure, I leave everything in a big pile. Then I go out and nibble away at that pile and I stack it into rows. I don't do it all in one day. A wheelbarrow here and there and it's done in no time. If you chip away at it, you won't even notice how much work it really was.

COMMENT: I've got some wood that was cut into rounds, but never split. It's been like this for an entire season. Can I consider this wood seasoned or do I need to split it and then let it dry and season?

COMMENT: You'll definitely need to split that wood before it'll dry. If left the way it is, it may actually begin to rot before it ever dries. There's a lot of moisture inside of those logs that needs to get out. In big rounds, I don't think that will ever happen. If the rounds have been in a completely dry area, you'll obviously be in better shape, but still, once split, they'll need at least six months to dry up so you can burn them as firewood.
 
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  • #36

Does Firewood Need to be Split to Season (Dry)?​

I've been cutting down many trees on my property and I'm wondering the best way to dry the wood. I'd definitely like it to be fully seasoned before I bring it in my house to burn it over the winter. My question is, do I need to split all of the rounds before the wood will dry? Or can I keep it as is? I've already cut the logs into firewood sized lengths, so that's not a concern. I've heard that logs dry out at the ends, but I'm not so sure about that. Any advice would be appreciated.

COMMENT: There are two things you need to consider when drying out your freshly cut down trees. How large your logs are and how much time you've got to let them dry. I guess there's a third consideration as well. Whether or not your wood is covered. If your logs are less than six inches thick, you probably don't need to split them, granted you're storing them in a dry location with lots of air flow. You're also going to need at least a year for those to dry as well. Seasoning firewood takes a long time. I know many people claim that they let their wood dry for a few months and it's fine, but from personal experience, I've let wood dry for two years and it still hisses when I try to burn it. My logs were fairly thick though, so that may have been a factor. I also don't let my wood dry outside to get maximum sunshine and air flow. I stack it in a wood shed when it's green. That's not the best route to take, but that's all I've got. So to answer your question, if you take your green wood and split it up so each piece is no larger than three to four inches thick and you stack it for at least a year outside (but covered on top to stay dry), you should be fine. I would think that is long enough. Although, some wood, such as oak, take two years to season. And I've had six inch thick pieces of maple that I never split that still haven't dried after a few years. Splitting wood definitely speeds up the seasoning and drying process. But, if you've got the time, space, and patience, then stack the wood and let it dry on its own.
 
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  • #37

What's the Best Size to Split Firewood?​

I've got a lot of tree down on the ground right now and I cut them all up into firewood length rounds, so I'm curious as to the best size I should be splitting each log. Is there a difference between small and large logs? My wood stove is pretty huge, so I think I can fit really big pieces in there, but I don't have years to wait for the pieces to dry. What's your advice when it comes to splitting logs for the perfect sized firewood?

COMMENT: Let me ask you a question. Have you ever burned kindling? If so, you know how fast it burns and then goes out. So too small is a bad thing. Have you ever burned (or tried to burn) a huge unsplit piece of wood? If so, you know that it can burn forever, but you won't get much heat out of it. It'll likely just smolder inside your stove. So too large is a bad thing too.

There are a few factors that go into how big you should keep your split firewood and some of it has to do with your stove size. If you've got a tiny stove, you'll need to split your wood to match. I'd say about two to three inches thick would be perfect for a small stove. If you've got a large stove, upwards of ten inches is fine. Personally, I tend to keep my firewood under that diameter. Also, if my rounds aren't larger than six inches, I won't split them at all. So in large stove, the larger, the better. Just be sure that your wood is fully seasoned. These new EPA stoves don't like wet (green) wood at all, so don't even try to burn that stuff. If you've got two years to dry your wood outside, that would be perfect. I've tried to season my wood inside an open wood shed and three years later the stuff still hissed inside my stove. So frustrating.

The balance you need to strike is between dry time and burn time. We all know that if a piece of firewood is too large inside a wood stove, it won't burn well. So split that in half. We also know that larger pieces of wood (over six inches) that aren't split take forever to dry, so split those in half. The thing is, if you split your wood down to two or three inches thick in a big stove, you're going to be burning through it like crazy and no one wants to do that. It'll also burn hotter than normally which may make your house too warm. I think a good mix would be to split a variety and then bring those pieces inside. Start your fires with the smaller stuff and then add larger pieces as the day and night wear on.

But for all that's holy, please be sure to dry your wood long enough. Grab yourself one of those moisture meters and make sure the interior is under 20% moisture. And don't just test the ends or the outside. Split a piece in half and test the interior. I think you'll find that firewood takes a lot longer to dry than most people are aware.

COMMENT: I have seen so many homesteading videos lately where the people who made the videos talk about how they now burn firewood in their wood stoves. I'm not going to sit here and throw any of these guys under the bus or anything, but I've been burning wood as a primary heat source for decades. I know what I'm doing so I'd like to offer some education.

When it comes to the size of the wood you burn in your stove, that size is going to have a huge impact on how even your home is heated and how much wood your stove consumes. For average to larger sized stoves, it's not unheard of to split 10" logs in half and leave them like that. Eight inch rounds are fine as well as long as you've got enough dry time. One year ain't going to cut it when it comes to seasoning this bigger stuff. If you go smaller though, the wood will burn too quickly and too hot and you'll be sitting there sweating all day because of an overheated stove. You'll also be shoveling logs into it, which is no fun. If you do this, you lose much of the profit that's derived from getting a wood stove in the first place.

Have you ever heard the old saying that big logs are called "all nighters"? They call these things this name for a reason. They burn almost all night and give out nice even heat. So here's the rule. Grab a tape measure and measure the width of your wood stove door. Then, take two thirds of that width and there's the thickness of the logs you want to burn. So if your door is 12" across, then try to split your wood 8". Of course, you need a stove large enough to handle that size. Some of these small stoves these days are very small, but they've got huge doors. Go with three inch logs in those cases. But for the rest of us, nice big logs are better.

Also, as mentioned above, the wood really does need to be dry. You should see discoloration on the ends of each piece as well as cracking. If you take two pieces and knock them together, you should hear a hollow knocking sound. If you hear a thud, it's not dry yet. Don't burn green wood. It'll clog your chimney and cap and it's a waste of money.

By the way, what is the definition of a "homestead" these days. From what I'm seeing on YouTube is that they're now regular houses with regular gardens in the back yards. A chicken makes not a homestead my friends.

COMMENT: I just wanted to add one thing. It's unrealistic to think that you'll have a wonderfully burning fire all day and night long, so you can't only add larger logs all the time. It's best to have a mix of sizes because if your fire starts to go out, you can add both smaller and larger pieces. The small ones will get the flame going again and the larger ones will sustain that flame over the long term. Oh yeah - also keep all that small stuff that results from a lousy split too. It's rare that every log gets split right down the center and there's lots of kindling and smaller pieces that can be saved as a result. That stuff is good to toss in the stove as necessary too.

A decent rule of thumb for a medium sized stove is:

8"-12" rounds: split into quarters, possibly in half for the smaller logs.
12"-16" rounds: split into six pieces.
16" and up: split into 6" pieces.

Make sure you season for two years to fully dry your firewood. Start outside for the first year and a half and then you can move into an open shed for the last half year.
 
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  • #38

What's the Best Weight Splitting Axe?​

Here's my story. I am an avid camper and I already own a small axe that I use for splitting up kindling wood at my campfire. I'm not sure of the weight of it, but it's a larger size hatchet. I can easily use it with one hand. I was over a friend's house the other day and he's got two splitting axes. I used one and he used one and we split up a bunch of large wet white birch. It took a while, but we did it. I was very happy with his axes and I'd like to buy one for myself. Both of his were around 36" long and I think one was 4 pounds and the other was around 6 pounds. I'm not sure about the second one, but it was definitely heavier than the first. Neither was heavy like a splitting maul, but both did great getting through these large pieces of wood.

Anyway, I'm set with the 36" inch length. I know that's what I want. I'm just not sure about the weight. My friend's 4 pounder was great, but I think I liked the heavier one more. Is there a "best" weight to get for splitting logs like this? I'd say the ones we were splitting were about 16" wide. Those were the largest and they went down from there. He said that he also uses both for white pine, spruce, cherry, maple, and ash and that both axes have no problem with any of that. Any opinions are welcome.

COMMENT: There are a few things you need to consider. Your size and weight for one. You don't want to have to muscle around a really heavy axe if you're a small guy. Something like 3 pounds and a 28" handle would be good if you're on the light or short side. But since you already said that I like the 4 pound or heavier and the 36" handle, then we'll leave it at that.

If you're planning on chopping down trees as well with this one axe, then you should probably stick with something lighter and maybe a bit shorter. Something like a 30" handle and with a 2 3/4 or 3 pound head. But it you're only going to be splitting wood, go with the 4, 5, or 6 pound head. I'd advise that you don't buy a maul, as they're quite heavy and not much fun to work with. And since you're already satisfied with what you already used, then why not just stick with that. Everyone's opinions will be different regarding this, but you can't go wrong with a 36" and a 4 pound head.

COMMENT: If you're serious, you really do need a few different axes. One for felling (chopping) down trees and then one to split the logs up. If you're planning on splitting up really huge logs that are oak, maple, or ash, then you should buy a splitting maul. I used to own a really sweet maul for the big stuff. I think it was around 8 pounds and I welded a steel bar to it as the handle. I could get through anything with that beast. But for an all around splitting axe, anything between 4 and 6 pounds is good. If I were you, I would make a visit to my local hardware store to see how each feels in my hand. I also suggest that you buy one that has a wooden handle, as they're easily replaceable. I have broken more axe handles than I can count, so replacement is a must. I know people who have tried out those slick new Fiskars axes and they say they love them. I don't buy it. I had an axe with a plastic handle once and things didn't end well. If you search "broken fiskars" on Google, you'll read the horror stories. I actually replaced the broken plastic handle I had with a nice hickory one and I love that. Even though the Fiskars come with lifetime warranties, it's a real pain to return an axe and have to wait three weeks for a new one. Even if you don't have to return it, the last thing you want is to have to wait weeks for a replacement. If you get wooden, you can jump in your truck and run down to the store to pick up a new handle quickly. And the wood ones are tough! That's why everyone uses them.

Also remember the difference between a chopping axe and a splitting axe. Chopping axes chop down trees. They're thin a sharp and they cut across the wood's grain. Splitting axes are thicker, weigh more, and they split with the grain. As said above, a good all around splitting axe will weight around 4-6 pounds and will have a length of around 30"-36". These things vary though so that's why I suggested you to visit your hardware store or Home Depot. Lowe's - whatever.
 
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  • #39

Storing Firewood: Keep Covered or Uncovered?​

I'm getting many mixed signals out there from very experienced wood burners. I've read posts from numerous forums that have stated that keeping stacked firewood outside uncovered is the way to go. Their logic has been that the sun and wind will access the wood a lot better uncovered than covered. They swear that their wood burns wonderfully. Then there's the other side that claims that there's no substitute for keeping their stacked firewood covered. One guy said that he cut down a few trees and stored have of the split wood in a barn and the rest outside uncovered. He said that, hands down, the wood in the barn burned a lot better than the wood outside. So he's saying that firewood that's kept covered is much better than not.

So which is it? I've got a lot of firewood outside and I would like it to dry as quickly as possible. Should I stack it and cover it or leave it uncovered throughout the winter?

COMMENT: You can't leave your firewood uncovered. That's stupid. Sure, if it's during the months of June, July, August, and September, have at it. Those are the driest. But do you really think you'll be seasoning and drying your firewood during the rest of the year by having it rained on and snowed on. Think about just the snow for a minute. Once it snows, that snow will completely cover the top layer of wood. It'll also fall on the ground around your pile. If you get a two foot snowstorm (wherever you live), half of your pile will be potentially covered. It's best to store your stacked firewood in a well ventilated wood shed. This way, no snow or rain will continually soak your wood and the air will be able to flow through it all. The air is the most important part of the mix.

Back when I was a kid, my father had me stack our wood in long rows next to a six foot tall wooden fence. The airflow wasn't great and we never covered the wood. I can remember going outside to gather some in the mid winter and I had to pull the pieces apart because there was ice holding them together. Once I brought some loads inside, we had to let each piece thaw out. It was the worst way to do things.

These days, I like to cover my outdoor piles with some old plywood I have laying around. I rip each piece so it's 2'x8' and I lay the pieces on top of the piles. This way, the air and sun and all the rest can access the pile and everything can season just perfectly.

COMMENT: The consensus is that you should only cover the top of any pile of firewood. If you were to get a tarp and cover the entire pile (sides and all), it would probably rot. Firewood rots quickly if no air can flow past it. Firewood that's tightly packed into rows and then completely covered with plastic tarps are notorious for rotting.

Use a tarp or boards on top. Whatever you have laying around. When it comes to drying, it's the air flow that does it, not the sun. People like to say it's the sun, but it's really the air. For years I've seasoned all my firewood in my open garage and it's dried just fine. Granted, I've got an old garage that's got some wonderful air flow. By sun or shade, if the wood pile has air flowing through it, it'll dry out.

Firewood can get pretty wet from the rain and snow and still season properly. You can keep your wood out in the elements for most of the drying time. Just be sure to store it inside a wood shed or something with good air flow for a few months before you intend on burning it. This is usually September or October.

Bottom line: covered on the top is best and will give you the driest wood possible, but if you don't cover your wood at all during seasoning, be sure to move it to a covered location for a while before burning it. It'll be nice and dry when it comes time to burn.

COMMENT: Your goal should be to keep your stacked firewood outside for about a year to dry out, covered or uncovered, and then move it into a vented wood shed or garage to dry out a few months before you begin to burn. Ideally, you'd want to keep it covered outside with some plywood or corrugated steel roofing or something to keep the rain and snow off it. You would think a few months for that final drying would be enough, but you'd be surprised at how that wet can absorb into the wood. I've seen experiments where two pieces of almost identical wood was compared. One was left outside uncovered and one outside covered. The covered stuff was much drier, even after both were sheltered for months in a shed. So don't count on that final few months at all. All your wood should ideally be covered all the time. Just the top though. Never the sides.
 
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  • #40

Starting a Firewood Business​

A good friend of mine just contacted me and suggested that we start a firewood business together. His words were a "tree cutting" business, but it's all the same. Actually, it's not; there's tree work and then splitting, storing, and delivering firewood. I've had a few other friends want to discuss this type of thing with me in the past and some have even suggested that we start a wood pellet storage and delivery business. All of these ideas seem rather tempting on the surface, but the more you dig into them, the accounting becomes troublesome.

One of the primary problems people face when beginning a new business is the math. For some reason, people don't like to do any of it. It's like they detest math. Starting businesses for them is an emotional choice; they're either running away from a job they hate or are just bored with their lives. These are very bad reasons to start a new business because they're not built on reason. Instead, they're built on emotion and as we all know, emotion doesn't last. It's a fleeting thing that should be considered with caution. Also, as I like to say, no one should begin a new endeavor because they dislike the old. They should begin a new endeavor because they have a lust for it and it makes good sense.

Not all businesses are financially sustainable. Just because my friend and I are able bodied and have the know how to process firewood and sell it, that doesn't mean that we wouldn't lose money doing it. I suppose if we did it as a hobby, that would be one thing, but the amount of labor involved would surely turn us off quickly. No one wants to spend days splitting firewood by hand and then deliver it to make a few hundred dollars. Split that between the two of us and then factor in the cost of the firewood itself and we'd be walking away with about $25 each per day. For backbreaking work, no thanks. I can make more than that folding shirts down at the local store for just two hours. There's an opportunity cost here and we'd both be losing out big if we did something like this.

Just for fun, I'm going to go through some math to see how much we'd either make or lose by starting a firewood selling business here where we live. This will be very rudimentary and I won't be using real accounting, meaning I won't be depreciating equipment and all that. This is just simply arithmetic.

The simplest operation we could possibly find ourselves involved with right now is to cut down some trees in my back woods, cut the wood up, and then split it. We'd need to deliver it as well, so there are additional costs involved with that. The problem with this model right now is that I only have a limited number of trees to cut down, so we'd only get a few cord from the woods. But after we do that, what will I burn in my own house? I'd have to actually buy firewood at full market price because I had already sold off what I own. I'm going to discard this idea because it's a stupid one.

The next best situation would be for us to pool our money and buy ten cord of wood and have it delivered via logging truck to my house. I can get ten cord for $1,000. I know this because I've already considered buying it this way and then cutting it and splitting it myself to burn. It's not a bad idea, but it is much more work than simply purchasing it split already for double that price. But just for kicks, let's say we buy ten cord of logs for firewood. Market price around here is anywhere from $200 to $250 per cord. The cheaper the wood, the greener it is. The more expensive, the more seasoned it is. Stacking it and letting it season isn't a problem. To charge a premium for that type of thing is actually a good idea, so we'll say that we can sell a cord of seasoned firewood for $250 a cord, delivered. But what would we need for this?

10 Cord of Firewood Log Lengths - $1,000
Chainsaw - $500
Log Splitter - $1,300
Truck & Trailer - $10,000
Gas, Oil, Chains, Incidentals, Vehicle Insurance - $1500 per season

I already have some of this stuff, but I'll be damned if I'm using what I already own for a business that's bound to fail. So we'll need to hunt around for deals to see what we can conjure up. The above are just estimates. But as it stands, we'll need $14,300 just to get going. I see guys around here trying to sell their split firewood for around $150 per cord, delivered, just because they can't get rid of the stuff. We're actually in a horrible market for firewood. There's too much of it and nobody wants to spend any money for it. But let's keep going.

How many cords of firewood can my friend and I realistically cut, split, and stack in my front yard the first season? I would estimate ten. If it were any more than that, we'd need to stack it in my back yard and that would take a lot of time. So let's just stick with ten cord.

10 Cord x $250 per cord = $2,500

Do you see the problem? Even if we sold ten cords of firewood per year, we'd only be making $2,500 per year. That would just cover the cost of the wood and the incidentals. If we did the same exact thing for ten years, we'd make $22,500, but our expenses would be the same thing. And this doesn't even factor in the idea that our equipment would be breaking down and may need replacement by that time. So the only thing we'd need to do is split and sell more wood. I could calculate a breakeven point, but I don't think I have the energy for that. It would require too much work. Really though, the only way to make any money in the firewood business is to use very old and cheap equipment, get the logs for free from local tree services, and sell the firewood in a market that pays a lot for it. Make it more of a service business than a product one. I've only seen one market like this in my life. It's in the Putnam/Westchester County area of New York. That area has lots of tree services that have nowhere to dump the trees they take down. They'd gladly give you their wood. Also, firewood costs a premium down there, especially if you sell it seasoned, delivered, and stacked. Businesses down there charge upwards of $450 per cord. It makes much more sense to start a business there than where I live. People here are cheap and there's no way they'd pay that much, especially with all the competition around.

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever considered starting a firewood business? If so, please let me know your thoughts on the whole thing. Did you ever get it off the ground? Did you make any money? I'd love to know all about it.
 
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  • #41

Winter Storm Damage & Downed Trees in Maine​

We had a whopper of a storm here in Maine this past weekend. It rained on Saturday and then the rain turned into snow. During that process, the rain stuck to the trees and froze and then all the snow stuck to the ice. It made the trees extremely heavy. The wind didn't help things. Eventually, the tree branches and trees themselves gave way and fell all over the place, power lines included. Much of our state lost electricity. We lost ours for three days. It just came back on last night. That's why I haven't been active on this website over the past few days. I've been outside trying to clean up a bit. We had dozens of trees fall down on our land and I needed to clean them all up. Many of the ones that fell were in the back woods. They blocked our path and because of that, we weren't able to walk around in the morning like we normally do. That's fine - I cut them all up for firewood during Sunday and Monday. Not a problem.

Inside the house, I made nice warm fires in our wood stove. What a treat. We had good heat and we cooked on the stove top. I made fried eggs and a huge pot of bean soup. I love cooking on the wood stove because it's essentially free. We don't use any electricity. Also, the soup gets to simmer for hours and that just makes it taste all that much better.

Here are some photos of the past few days. The first picture is of my wood pile. This is why you shouldn't store your firewood outside during the winter, if you need to burn it immediately. Luckily, all of this firewood will be used next season and I'll move it into the garage next October, after it's all seasoned. The rest of the photos are of me cutting a maple tree that fell in our front yard. There's a storm damage one in there too and one of me sort of smiling. That's just for fun. Enjoy the pics!

01-snow-covered-firewood.jpg 02-downed-maple-tree-snow-storm.jpg 03-cutting-up-downed-tree.jpg 04-winter-storm-damage.jpg 05-cutting-snow-storm-tree-damage.jpg 06-jay-snow.jpg
 
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  • #42

What's Your Favorite Type of Kindling Wood?​

I had a friend over yesterday to cut down some dead cedar trees I have on my property. He was looking for kindling and as far as that goes, cedar is very good. He's the kind of guy who doesn't keep the fire in his wood stove going all the time, so he finds himself starting plenty of fires. I totally understand what he's going through. It seems that during the winter months, I can never find enough paper to start a fire, but during the summer, it's all over the place. The same is true for kindling. It's never there when you need it.

We cut down the cedar and split some of it up. It was beautiful. Nice and dry, since it was standing firewood. It'll be perfect for him. We filled the back of his hatchback car with logs and I'm sure he'll be back for more. I actually tried some of the very same wood to make a fire in my stove last night and it was incredible. Cedar is such good kindling wood. Maybe the perfect wood.

So I ask you, what's your favorite kindling wood? In the past, I've used tree bark, chunks of random hardwoods that were a result of splitting, and branches I've found in the woods. But more recently, since I've got tons of dead pine, fir, and spruce trees here on my property, I've been cutting up logs of that and splitting it. I bring it inside the house to let it dry out in my wood box. It's mostly black and white spruce and balsam fir. I've also got some white pine thrown in for good measure.

My friend mentioned that a saw mill in a neighboring town is offering bags of wood scraps that he may want to purchase. I asked the mill what type of wood they were selling and they told me that it's primarily birch and ash. That's really good stuff, but I'm not sure it's the best for kindling. If the chunks of wood were big enough, I'd use it for actual firewood. They're charging around $5 per 80 pound bag. That's not a bad deal.

The best kindling to me is some sort of pine that's really dry. If it's got some pitch in it that can ignite very hot, that's all the better. Fatwood is great too, but that's somewhat of a challenge to find. The drier and lighter the wood, the better.

One more thing - I've been cutting down some dead white birch trees and the bark has been falling off the wood. I'm saving that to use as kindling as well. We all know that white birch bark is used to get fires going while camping, so why not in the wood stove?

balsam-fir-logs.jpg pine-kindling.jpg split-spruce.jpg split-spruce-kindling-wood.jpg

COMMENT: The guy who splits my firewood lets my husband and I fill our truck with wood scraps every so often. He delivers the firewood after we buy it, but we need to go and pick up the scraps. It mostly consists of oak, maple, hornbeam, ash, and a few other species of wood. Once it's dried out, it makes decent kindling. It doesn't go up quickly or burn hot, but once it gets going, it makes the fire easier to start than if using nothing at all. Pine and cedar are the best though. I also use white birch bark though. I've got tons of the stuff. I've been collecting it all autumn. It's like newspaper, but that lasts for a while longer. Great for kindling. Here are a few pictures of mine.

wheelbarrow-full-white-birch-bark.jpg white-birch-bark-kindling.jpg white-birch-tree-bark.jpg

COMMENT: I've lived all over the U.S. and I've burned plenty of firewood. While there have been instances where I was able to gather my own kindling, there have been plenty of times where I haven't. Sometimes I lived in neighborhoods or apartments where I wasn't able to just go walk out in the woods to gather what I needed. In those cases, I had to buy kindling. Luckily, it wasn't too expensive and for the amount of fires I burned, buying was worth it to me. I bought boxes of fatwood from Walmart, Orvis, Plow & Hearth, and Wish. All of it was great. I remember a box I bought from Wish that was 20 pounds for around $55. That lit up wonderfully with just a match. I've checked out Amazon, but I never actually got a chance to order from them. They've got all the big names though: Duraflame, Eco-Stix, FireFlame, GoFire, and Better Wood Products. I don't always get a chance to build fires these days, but when I'm on vacation in the mountains skiing or something, I'm sure to bring some good ol' fatwood kindling along.

COMMENT: I just built a fire with dried white pine and I used curly white birch bark as an igniter. This is the first time I used the white birch as kindling and wow, that stuff is great. It didn't have to dry out for long either. I just found it in the woods the other day. I burn white pine all the time just that can be great at getting a fire going, but adding the birch bark took things to another level. I wasn't expecting that type of performance. I'm sitting with my back to my wood stove as I type this and I believe the bark is still going. It's been about 10 minutes since I started it, so yeah, that's definitely a good one to use. If you can find it, grab it and hold onto it.
 
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  • #43

Is White Pine Good to Burn?​

We've got a property that's full of white pine trees. Through the years, many tops of these trees have blown off and in this recent storm, a few more did. It's creating a mess in our woods. Every year, we buy three cords of firewood. I'm wondering if we can save some money and just but up and burn the white pine. Anyone have any experience with this? I heard it's no good to burn soft woods.

COMMENT: The snobs among us only burn hardwoods, but if you've got lots of white pine, go ahead and burn that too. There's nothing wrong with it as long as you make sure it's really dry. When pine is wet, it'll smoke and not burn very well. That smoke will clog up your chimney and chimney cap. You'll definitely want to keep your eye on those two things. Also, dry pine burns quickly, so make sure you've got a lot of wood on hand until you get used to how much you are going to use. If you think you're going to get through a winter with only white pine, you better think again. I've burned it and it goes fast. Even huge pieces that I've put in my stove have burned down quickly. So add it to your stacks of hardwood until you get used to it.

COMMENT: Make sure you have hard wood to burn over night. You won't get through the night with pine. Any type of pine. What I used to do was to burn my pine and spruce during October, November, and part of December and then again in late March, April, and early May. I did that because those were the warmest times of the burning season and I didn't need a cranking fire during those times. During the heart of the winter, I might burn some pine and spruce, but only during the day when I was around. I wouldn't rely on it. It can burn hot if very dry and it goes quickly. Obviously you'd like to be burning nice oak, maple, and ash, but you do what you gotta do.

Remember, you need to really let the white pine dry. It'll be remarkably light when it's fully dry. Don't try to burn it wet. Just because it's pine doesn't mean it'll burn well. The dryer, the better. And when it's fully dry, go ahead and split some of it up to use as kindling too. You probably won't need to use paper if you get your pieces small and dry. Remember though, you'll burn a lot of this pine, so make sure you have the room to store it. It's good on those warmer days, as I said, to start a fire and then let it die down, just to take the chill out of the air. I do that all the time in the warmer months. Softwoods are perfect for this. I would never burn red oak in late September. That's what the spruce is for.

As far as a comparison goes, white pine is about half the BTUs than what oak is, so again, make sure you've got the storage space.

COMMENT: Thanks. Yeah, from what I've been reading, people say it's fine to burn. They said all the stuff you just said, so nice job. You guys know your stuff. We have many trees that have blown over. Some have had their tops blown out a couple of years ago, but the wood seems to be good when we cut into them. I guess it takes a while for this type of wood to rot. We'll go ahead with it then. We'll cut it up, stack it outside for a while until it dries well and then we'll stack it in our shelter. I'm looking forward to it. It would be nice to clean up the woods some too. Boy these trees are ugly on the ground.
 
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  • #44

What Do 3 Cords of Dumped Firewood Look Like?​

Just moments ago, I had three cords of split firewood delivered to my residence. The company I purchased it from delivered it in a large truck. They've got lines on the dump body to indicate how many cords are currently in the truck. It's all been measured out to guarantee a full delivery. The reason I had this wood delivered so early in the season is because I wanted to give it as much time as possible to season (dry) outside. I'll be stacking it once the snow melts and I'm able to move it around. Another reason I had it delivered so early is because once May rolls around, the firewood guys are swamped with work and it's very difficult to get hold of them. This is a great time to buy firewood.

I paid $220 per cord and three cords will cover the entire season. I burn the wood in an Englander NC30 and I'm sure this amount of wood is good from October to April. I do burn some softwoods in October to about mid November and then again in late March through April, just to keep the house warm. It's oftentimes too much to keep a fire going with oak, maple, birch, or the other hardwoods.

Which brings me to my next piece of information. The wood that I just bought includes yellow birch, red oak, rock maple, beech, and probably some more. Those are what I quickly noticed on top of the pile. When I made the order, I told the guy I would love as much red oak as he's got and I do see a lot in the pile, so that's good. He says that many people around my area don't want oak because it takes so long to dry. I'll be burning this wood in the 2022/2023 season, so it'll have enough time. A lot of people around here simply don't have the storage space to keep piles of wood around for that long.

Here's the perfect piece of firewood for you. It's red oak and it's pretty large. I had the logs cut 18" because my stove is able to fit that size nicely. I like the big logs. The smaller ones burn way too quickly.

Anyway, I wanted to show you what three cords of dumped firewood looks like. To me, it's never enough, but there's a lot of wood in this pile. It's hard to tell until I start getting into it to stack, but man there's a lot.

3-cords-firewood.jpg dumped-firewood-pile.jpg large-split-piece-firewood.jpg split-firewood-pile.jpg split-red-oak-firewood.jpg
 
JGaulard

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  • #45

How Long Does Oak Take To Season?​

I am helping a neighbor cut up one of his huge red oak trees that came down during our most recent wind storm. The deal is, I'll cut the tree up if I get to take the wood. I agreed and he agreed. The rounds are pretty big and they are very heavy. If feels like each log is just soaked with water. My question is, if I split these logs into firewood this month, how long will it take for them to dry so the moisture content is below the recommended 20%? From what I gather, it can take up to two years. Is this true?

COMMENT: You're right about the moisture content for your stove. EPA stoves especially like very low moisture content. They won't burn correctly with wetter wood. If the wood is thoroughly wet or the moisture level too far above the 20% threshold, you'll get a lot of smoke and a lot of coals. Eventually, any wood will burn, but instead of using its energy to actually output heat, it'll be using it to dry the new logs you add. Not to mention, wet wood clogs up chimneys and chimney caps rather quickly.

To answer your question, get that wood split as quickly as possible. Personally, I wouldn't burn oak that hasn't had a chance to season for at least 24 months. All species of oak are very dense and unless you're drying the wood in a kiln, it just takes time. I like to have at least three year's worth of firewood on hand at all times. This way, I never have to concern myself with whether or not what I'm burning is dry enough. I just know it is. Although, I've seen people on the forums say that it can take three or even four years for oak to dry. It really all depends on what conditions you've got the wood in. Inside a drafty garage? Don't count on it drying in less than five years. Stacked nicely outside in the sun where the wind can blow through it? You can probably get away with a year and a half. The two year rule is a good one though for wood that's stacked outside and covered. Many generations of firewood burners have come up with that one.

COMMENT: Thanks for your response. Yeah, that's what I've been reading too. Two full years outside and you can't go wrong. The thing is, I see people burning all sorts of wood in their outside boilers. What's up with that? I pass a guy on the road who had gigantic logs sitting outside his boiler. It's almost like he puts anything in there, wet or dry. That thing smokes all over the place. The neighbors have got to hate that. I despise outside boilers. They are an awful idea. I'm pretty sure he doesn't wait for two years for his oak to dry. He burns it right away.

COMMENT: I know people like this too. Many of them are idiots. It doesn't matter what kind of stove you're burning your wood in, wet wood still consumes a lot of energy to dry it, so they're not getting the full heat they seek. There's no getting around that. For an outside boiler, you can certainly keep your logs much larger than you'd want to for an indoor stove, but that just means that you'll need to let them dry longer. Most likely years. Rounds take a lot longer to dry than split wood.

To dry oak in two years, you really want to split it into properly sized pieces, stack it neatly, and let the sun and wind hit the pile. Keep the pile covered on the top too. Just the top. Not the sides at all. This way, the snow and rain will stay off the wood, allowing it to dry faster. I know there's some debate on which dries faster, covered or uncovered piles, but obviously covered piles do. I've measured the moisture at the center of freshly split logs from both types of piles and, on average, the covered wood has a 5% lower moisture reading. So for me, there's no debate.

COMMENT: It also depends on what condition the tree was in before it fell. Was it dead? Obviously, that wood would be much dryer than if it was alive. Also, the time of year has a big effect on the moisture content of trees. I believe that trees cut down in the winter have wetter wood. I think late summer is probably the best time to cut for firewood.

Oak is a tough one though. I've had "seasoned" wood delivered to me in the past and it was no where near seasoned. I split a few pieces of the oak that were in the pile and after an alleged year of drying, it was very heavy and completely wet at the center. So it needs a long time to dry. You'll know when it's ready to burn because it'll just feel right and it'll sound right of you knock it into another piece of firewood. Wet wood makes a dull thud sound and dry wood sounds light and sharp, sort of like hitting a ball with a baseball bat. That same sort of "crack." I would split it, stack it, and forget about it for a couple of years. As long as you have the room for it. If not, sell it.

COMMENT: I use the two-year-rule for all my wood, no matter what species it is. Maple and birch take forever to dry too. I've burned those two after a year of drying and there was a lot of hissing in my stove. After letting the same type of wood dry for an additional year, the hissing all but disappeared. Same size logs and everything. Storing multiple years of firewood is the best strategy. If you have a drought for a few months toward the end of the summer, that will help, but I still wouldn't try to burn the wood that's been drying for less than 2 years. It's just not worth it. You won't be getting your money's worth. Or, your effort's worth. To waste good oak...is such a waste.

COMMENT: Thank you for all the responses. I'll let it sit until it's ready. I'm in no rush. I might buy a moisture meter to test the wood too. I have also wondered if firewood dries over the winter when the humidity in the air is very low. That's got to have an effect too, right? Does the moisture inside of the logs evaporate or does it freeze?

COMMENT: It does dry over the winter, but it takes a lot longer. I have proof of this. I cut, split, and stacked wood this past November right before it began snowing and the ends of the wood weren't cracked until about a month ago. We have had a very cold February, so that dry air might have done it. A couple of the pieces of wood seem slightly lighter than they were when they were freshly cut, but definitely not light enough to burn. So wood does dry as evidenced by the cracks at the ends of the pieces, but there's still a lot of moisture trapped on the inside. That's why we let it sit outside all year long - to let nature do its thing all 4 seasons.
 
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  • #46

Hauling Firewood with Polaris Sportsman 850 ATV​

It's been a very busy day. As you may already know, I've been cutting down many trees for firewood on my land recently. I own about 15 acres of beautiful forest. It's got rivers and streams, pine trees and hardwoods. I've actually never seen such a mix of natural beauty. There's a bit of everything.

Every morning we walk our land with our morning coffee. I'm not sure how my lady and I got into this habit, but we've been doing it for months now. Probably since spring. As we walk, she feeds the birds from her hand and I scout out the next dead tree I'd like to take down to split up. What I do has turned somewhat into an obsession; one I'm not sure I'll ever get over. There's a thing with firewood - it becomes addictive and the longer a man burns it, the more he needs to burn. I have gotten to the point of never having enough firewood. I suppose there could be worse addictions.

Over the past few weeks, I've taken down a number of trees, cut them up, and have split up all the logs into firewood sized pieces. I stacked what I split and had every intention of leaving it in the woods to dry until next October. The thing is, I wasn't happy with the bottom layer touching the dirt because that dirt will rot the wood. The thought of my firewood rotting away made me lose sleep. Because of this, I decided to pull out my trusted Polar ATV trailer and my 2018 Polaris Sportsman 850 ATV to do a bit of firewood hauling. The trailer is fairly large, so it doesn't take me long to transport the wood from out back to the front of my house. The previous owners of the house poured a large concrete pad out front and it's perfect to stack firewood upon. I used cement blocks at end pieces and some old 2x4 lumber to keep the wood off the ground. And today, I hauled just about a cord and a half. I still have at least another half cord in the woods. I'll get to that in the morning. It's supposed to be a chilly 20 degrees in the morning which will make my working even more brisk and exciting. I do love the cold.

When I took the photos down below, I had only brought out one or two trailers full. By the time I was finished this afternoon, just as the sun was setting, I had stacked an entire row and had to set up another. I got about half way through that second one and I'm sure I'll top it off with tomorrow's wood. The concrete pad is 24 feet long, so each row I stack at four feet high is considered a cord. It's so neat and easy this way. I like knowing how much wood I've got.

Anyway, enjoy the photos. I'll update this thread tomorrow with some more photos of my piles.

2018-polaris-sportsman-850-atv.jpg atv-towing-firewood-trailer.jpg firewood-trailer.jpg hauling-firewood-atv.jpg polaris-sportsman-850-polar-trailer.jpg polar-trailer.jpg stacking-firewood.jpg
 
JGaulard

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  • #47
Not bad for an idea I had a few weeks ago. I saw a dead tree, took out my chainsaw, and began cutting. All in all, I harvested about 2 1/4 cords of wood. That's a lot more than I thought I had. At first glance, I estimated about a cord. What a pleasant surprise.

I just finished up hauling this firewood up to the front of my property about a half hour ago. Today wasn't nearly as much work as was yesterday. Today, I only needed to make seven trips while yesterday was at least double that. At least this part is finished for now. I get to enjoy looking at my nice shiny new firewood dry up and season for at least a year before burning it. That's plenty of time to allow the soaking wet white birch and black cherry to dry. I really don't know why that wood was so wet, but it was. It's dried up a lot already though.

I snapped a few photos of this season's haul. Take a look and enjoy. Also, if you enjoy cutting, splitting, and stacking firewood as much as I do, please let me know about it down below. This is a great hobby for me. I love it with all my heart. It's such a great way to connect with nature.

cord-of-firewood-maine.jpg jay-smiling.jpg maine-firewood.jpg plywood-covering-firewood.jpg stacked-firewood.jpg two-cords-firewood.jpg

COMMENT: Are you going to leave that outside during your burn season or are you going to restack it inside? I would think it would get wet out there in the rain and snow, even though you've for the plywood on top.

COMMENT: My initial thoughts this year were to stack all my wood up on the concrete pad and leave it there forever, even when I'm ready to burn. I currently use an open and well vented garage to store all my firewood, but I've been doubting its ability to dry the wood on time. Now though, I'm thinking that if I store the firewood outside covered for at least six months and then move it into the garage in the fall right before burning, it'll be well seasoned and ready to go. I just need to make sure it's super dry. It's pouring rain out there right now and my plywood is shielding the wood from some of it, but not all. One side is all wet, which sort of defeats the purpose. Corrugated roofing would be much better. I can get 16 foot lengths, which would be perfect. I'll need to do that one of these days.

Also, the reason I considered keeping the wood out on the pad was to give me some more room in the garage. But after looking at the situation this morning, I realized I have plenty of room in there, even with the firewood. So that's where I'll keep it. It just need to season more before going in. This, of course, is until I build a legit wood shed outside on that concrete. Then I'll keep it out there all the time.
 
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  • #48
I had a few Maple trees fall over the winter, so I cut, split, and stacked them with the other wood I previously stacked above. I still have a few cords to get to back in the woods as well. In early March, I ordered three cords of mostly Oak from a local firewood guy. In the photos below, the four piles that are together came from my property and the two lonely piles came from the firewood guy. I've been stacking for days, but I'm finished for the moment. Until I continue on this week back in the forest. Check it out - there are nine cords in all in the below photos. I've never had so much firewood. The reason I am collecting so much is because I'm finding that my firewood isn't properly seasoned when I burn in over the winter months. I'm trying to get a few years ahead, especially because I have a lot of Oak in these piles. That's notorious for taking at least two years to season. Also, the reason I know there are nine cords here is because I had three delivered and those deliveries are very accurate. They come dumped from a measured truck out of Madison, Maine. The two piles you see together are three cords. I simply multiplied by three.

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