# Halfway there. How's your wood pile?



## Backwoods Savage (Jan 22, 2013)

We should be about half way through the burning season so how is everyone's wood pile holding out?

We had been putting 3 cord of wood in the barn for the winter burning but never have burned that much since we started doing this. So this year we put in less than 3 cord. Right now I figure we've burned about a cord. Man, that insulation really helps a lot.


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## thewoodlands (Jan 22, 2013)

Had four cord up for this winter of good hardwood, still have about two cord left.


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## Backwoods Savage (Jan 22, 2013)

Not bad zap. You are a lot colder than we are.


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## PapaDave (Jan 22, 2013)

Backwoods Savage said:


> We should be about half way through the burning season so how is everyone's wood pile holding out?
> 
> We had been putting 3 cord of wood in the barn for the winter burning but never have burned that much since we started doing this. So this year we put in less than 3 cord. Right now I figure we've burned about a cord. Man, that insulation really helps a lot.


Go ahead, rub it in.
I plan to tear everything out of the Stove room and re-insulate. Took down some of the T&G boards and have found lots of air infiltration.
I think the kitchen is next.
Oh, forgot to answer the ?.
I think we've used a bit more than 2 cord so far, but I have a plan.


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## Backwoods Savage (Jan 22, 2013)

Dave, I can hardly wait for next year when you get the new stove. Methinks you will be a very happy man.


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## PapaDave (Jan 22, 2013)

I'd REALLY like to get the attic insulated better to help hold in the heat we're losing right now.
Woke up this morning and the house was 58. Got colder than was being called for.
These forecasters are just about killing me.


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## Backwoods Savage (Jan 22, 2013)

Better wear your long johns to bed Dave.


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## firefighterjake (Jan 22, 2013)

I'm wearing my long johns right now.


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## BrotherBart (Jan 22, 2013)

A colder than normal November and December has bitten my stacks. By the end of this week I will finish off cord two. Usually we burn three in a winter. I figure my fingers will get stuck into cord four before it is over this year.


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## PapaDave (Jan 22, 2013)

I put 6 in the shed last year, and hope to have at least one left......should have closer to 1.5 left.....
That would make me do a happy dance....ok, not, but you get the idea.


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## Augie (Jan 22, 2013)

I believe in about 1.75 cord into the winter. As a first year burner I'm struggling to find seasoned wood. My parents have a old smoke dragon that they use for ambiance.  I have been cleaning up their property for years cutting and stacking, but they never use everything I cut. As such I'm taking his seasoned and plan on refilling his stacks this summer.


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## tigeroak (Jan 22, 2013)

I started with about 5 cord and have used about 1 1/4 cord.


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## Locust Post (Jan 22, 2013)

I'd say about 1.5 cord here so far. I have cut and hauled home about 5 cord. So, feeling ok about the winter to this point. I was able to wrap up a little early today and cut and hauled a nice load.......perfect cutting weather about 15 degrees....had a good sweat on and plenty of ice hangin off my mustache. Yahoo !!


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## ScotO (Jan 22, 2013)

Looking at our stack, we've burned close to 3 cord, give or take.  Most of that was silver maple and ash, we've just started getting into the main part of the locust/red oak/elm.  I still have a TON of three year seasoned ash, silver maple, locust and oak out there for this year (around 3 to 4 cord), as we go through 7 cord on a 'real' winter (mid October to late April).  We're below useage this year which is fine by me.  But I've only just started to crank the stove up.  It hasn't been really cold yet this season.


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## rdust (Jan 22, 2013)

Yesterday I was thinking to myself "when is someone gonna make that thread".  Well today I look and here it is! 

I've gone through about a cord of oak/ash, a little pine and a third cord of a cherry/elm mix.  Less than a cord and half total.


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## thewoodlands (Jan 22, 2013)

Backwoods Savage said:


> Not bad zap. You are a lot colder than we are.


 
Sav, I forgot the shoulder season wood, about one cord of hemlock & pine. For the next year we have 1.8 cord of shoulder season wood ready.


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## Bret Chase (Jan 22, 2013)

I didn't expect to be able to be burning wood at this point... certain things fell together to get me out from under the boot of K1... fortunately I did have a cord+ of a birch/ash/maple/locust C/S/S 2 years + from my last rental with a wood burner in it.  I've got a half a cord left +/- 

fortunately a coworker of mine burns about 3 cord a year... and has 30 cord stacked... so we've come to an agreement which will get me through until my dead locust stand is ready to go...


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## Bret Chase (Jan 22, 2013)

zap said:


> Sav, I forgot the shoulder season wood, about one cord of hemlock & pine. For the next year we have 1.8 cord of shoulder season wood ready.


 
what is shoulder season?


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## Hearth Mistress (Jan 22, 2013)

We were not even CLOSE to guessing what we needed. We burnt through about a cord last year but the stove wasn't installed until January and I was still trying to work out the process.
We are almost through 2 cords now, 1 cord of 10 mth css ash is left plus we have a full cord left of kiln dried stuff we scored but I'm using sparingly We also have about 3 cords of "community wood" my neighbor and I split and stacked as our back up in a barn (the weekend NYers come and take some splits when they want to look at their ambient fireplaces) We both think will we be into that pile by next month! We figured 2-3 cords a season but with me being home all day, pretty much burning 24/7, we need to double that stash for next season. Already in the works......



PapaDave said:


> Woke up this morning and the house was 58. Got colder than was being called for.
> These forecasters are just about killing me.


You ain't kidding. I set the alarm 40 minutes early expecting snow making it a mess for the hubby to get to work. It was cold, colder than predicted and way windy, but never snowed. Ended up making a "sunday morning" breakfast instead since we were up. Our stove barely does a 7 hr burn so the oil furnace is set at 62 and usually kicks on about 4am. We get up at 5:30 so it doesn't run for long!


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## thewoodlands (Jan 22, 2013)

Bret Chase said:


> what is shoulder season?


It starts in September up here. It's when the weather is not real cold but you still need a fire to take the chill off so you use your lower BTU woods.


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## Bret Chase (Jan 22, 2013)

zap said:


> It starts in September up here. It's when the weather is not real cold but you still need a fire to take the chill off so you use your lower BTU woods.


 
Oh... we call that "suck-it-up season"... lol..

When I was running those God-forsaken Monitors... I would tell my kids to put a sweatshirt on... 

Now, even with a smokedragon.. I'll probably warm the stove and let it die...


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## Flamestead (Jan 22, 2013)

The current year's wood is stored under a lean-to and inside a woodshed, with equal amounts in each place, so the halfway test is pretty easy. We still have about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cord in the lean-to and haven't started into the main woodshed, so all is well. About 3.5 cord burned to date this season.

I keep eyeballing the 2013-2014 stacks and worrying - they seem a little short to me. Shooting to add another full year's supply of CSS this winter (2014/15 and 2015/16), but lack of snow on my skid roads is slowing me down.


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## Woody Stover (Jan 22, 2013)

Not really sure because I've been grabbing off different stacks as the mood strikes me, not working off one main stack where I can easily tell how much I've burned. I'd guess we're still under a cord burned. I _will_ say that so far I've been burning a fair amount of Red Elm and medium-heat woods like soft Maple and Cherry,  and a bit of Ash, Red Oak, hard Maple, but not much of my primo stuff.
I've taken several carloads of wood over to feed the Buck 91, and just took a half cord over in the trailer Sunday. It may only require three cords a season, when I originally guessed four...we'll see. I really should keep better track of the amounts burned, but I'm not trying to stay just ahead of what I need, I'm going for Scotty-type overkill in my wood supply. I want to have so much wood on hand that I could build recreations of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria out of it, then fill 'em with dry wood.  If I _bought_ wood, I guess I would need a better idea of what was required for a year...


PapaDave said:


> Took down some of the T&G boards and have found lots of air infiltration.
> .......I think we've used a bit more than 2 cord so far, but I have a plan.....Woke up this morning and the house was 58.


You don't need any precious warm air escaping with _your_ climate. Your house needs to be 'in the mitten.'  On the plus side, maybe your heat was blowing towards the neighbors...you can feel good that you were able to help them out.  It's bad enough here if ya got leaks....yeah, yeah I'm workin' on it. 
A plan is good to have. I got back this AM to a 64-degree house because I didn't 'plan' on all that heat being sucked out by 10* overnight low. Shoulda tossed a couple extra splits on earlier.

Wow, that's a buttload of smilies in that quote and post...is that a record?


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## Ralphie Boy (Jan 22, 2013)

Up till last night's 5 degrees the winter has been kinda' mild. I'm only down 1.5 cord and that's because most of that was burned in an open fireplace. No more of that now that the new Buck 80 is up and running. Still have about 6 cord stacked for future use.


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## thewoodlands (Jan 22, 2013)

Backwoods Savage said:


> Not bad zap. You are a lot colder than we are.


The good thing Sav, some guy on some website is always pushing the members to get ahead on your wood supply, we could burn 6 cord an still have plenty left.

Can't remember his name but they say he still roams the board pounding (ghost like) out that same message, if you see him say thanks!


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## Thistle (Jan 22, 2013)

Not quite 1.5 cord burned so far since early November.Entire season last year was about the same from Nov to early April.Most of December was near normal temps until 3rd week,past 3 weeks minus 3-4 days have been very cold also.Monday morning low was -2,last time it was below 0 here was Feb 2011.Supposed to be 30 tommorow & 35-45 by middle of next week.


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## swagler85 (Jan 22, 2013)

Bret Chase said:


> what is shoulder season?


fall and spring are "shoulder season" times when you dont need to burn every day or burn 24/7. Most of us that have wood separated by species will burn the low end wood during these times, and save the good stuff for colder time of year like January/February


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## etiger2007 (Jan 22, 2013)

Not to bad , I did give a cord and a half of walnut to an employee of mine to help him out with some dry wood and I also gave a friend half a truck load of walnut to take to Barton City during their hunting trip. Both said it was the best wood they ever burned, people just dont understand how important it is to DRY the wood.


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## PapaDave (Jan 22, 2013)

Good on ya' Ed.
Do you suppose they'll do anything on their own to improve their wood burning?
Expect a call next year. "Hey Ed, ya got any more of that dry wood?"


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## Bret Chase (Jan 22, 2013)

I wish walnut was more common around here... of the 800+/- acres I have access to.... I know of exactly 3 walnut trees... and they are in my side yard...


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## etiger2007 (Jan 22, 2013)

PapaDave said:


> Good on ya' Ed.
> Do you suppose they'll do anything on their own to improve their wood burning?
> Expect a call next year. "Hey Ed, ya got any more of that dry wood?"


 
I have already been warned!


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## bogydave (Jan 22, 2013)

Milder winter than normal. May  use the five cords I had ready. (2 full years seasoned)
Typically we go through about six cords. Hoping this is a milder winter. It has been so far


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## Blue2ndaries (Jan 22, 2013)

It's been suprisingly cold, but dry, here in OR. In the high teens/low 20s at night and mid 30s during the day. We've gone thru about 2 cords of wood, but sitting pretty with about 12cord left. It feels sooooo good to be ahead and a few years out.


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## loadstarken (Jan 22, 2013)

PapaDave said:


> These forecasters are just about killing me.



The local forecasters here are rarely right due to the odd terrain and all.  So now I only use wunderground.com and put in my zip code and use the weather stations around me and their forecasts.  Try it out!


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## Mark McKenna (Jan 22, 2013)

Just bought this house, first year burning, There was about 2 cord of extremely well seasoned wood in the basement when I bought it (they used the oil furnace primarily).

Until now (just moved in) i have been having to restart the stove every time I came to work on the house. I don't know if that had been worse for my wood burning or better (I've noticed I seem to use less wood if i keep the house warm, plus i just discovered secondaries!!)

Anyways I have just slightly more than a cord left and at least 3-4 months of burning left (North Eastern Ontario) I don't think I'm going to make it but really don't want to turn on the oil furnace.


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## jatoxico (Jan 22, 2013)

Don't know if I'm gonna make it. Have to ration and it will be down to wire. Still not on easy street but I'm gettin' there .


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## Hickorynut (Jan 22, 2013)

Having our coldest winter weather here in western ky. right now, so going through wood at a faster rate.  Best I can figure have burned less than 2 cords close to 1.75 probably.  Not satisfied with stove heat plus cathedral ceiling opening to a upstairs. Also, three full view glass patio doors and many average energy efficient windows.  So blame all around.  Beats paying for propane though and enjoy the wood work.


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## midwestcoast (Jan 22, 2013)

When I stacked-up the wood for this year I didn't know that my wife would be home with a baby all winter & how much more wood we'd burn! But since winter never arrived last year we are still looking good: about 1.5 cord down and 2 ready & waiting.  I don't have much shoulder wood left for spring though.
Looking good for next year too, and the year after, and the year after that .


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## TMonter (Jan 22, 2013)

I've burned about a cord and 2/3 of Red Fir so far this winter and I still have about 6.5 cords left in the wood racks. Going to end up with some third year wood next year it looks like.


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## Wood Duck (Jan 23, 2013)

I am near the end of my first 2 cord stack. I have four more, so there is no danger of running out, but I am anxious to get cutting. I want to stay ahead.


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## velvetfoot (Jan 23, 2013)

I'm thinking maybe two.


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## TimJ (Jan 23, 2013)

I don't keep track of how much wood I have or how much I have burned to date. I believe it is about 3 cords per year that I burn. I keep cutting and stacking and I am afraid to tell Scotty what kind of hoarder I am because of the reprocussions.


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## blwncrewchief (Jan 23, 2013)

Should be right at 1.25 cords on Friday. At least one full cord of that has been silver maple, cherry, etc. About 1/4 cord of premium wood like sugar maple, oak, and locust. Have been running 24/7 for 8 weeks and a week or two of small fires (aka highs of 50* or higher).


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## CageMaster (Jan 23, 2013)

burned three this winter and am not to the half way point of what is seasoned and ready so should be ok here, shoulder season went a little longer than i wanted so might have to use some extra hardwood in march


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## Waulie (Jan 23, 2013)

I had 3 cord put up between the wood shed and the "wood room".  I've used about 1.75 cord so far.  With this extended cold spell, I'm thinking I'll have to pull some out of the stacks at some point this spring.  Not a big deal, but I do wish I had just a bit more covered storage.  When I got the new stove I was thinking a max of about 4 cord a year and I was close.  We'll probably be closer to 3.5 cord most winters.


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## gerry100 (Jan 23, 2013)

About 1 3/4 cords out of 4 burned so far, so I guess I'm a little ahead


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## Shane N (Jan 23, 2013)

I haven't even touched my stacks yet!


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## mking7 (Jan 23, 2013)

Bret Chase said:


> what is shoulder season?


 

It's what we call winter down here....


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## ColdNH (Jan 23, 2013)

Not good, had about 3.5-4 cord of burnable wood ready for this winter, but being on the first year with a new stove with what i think has a big learning curve and having somewhat wet wood and a wife home 24/7 for the past month i have been blowing through the wood. have a little under a cord left of decent wood to last me the rest of the winter. have some 1 year seasoned oak stacked outside that im contemplating picking through for the smaller piece, but not sure if its worth the effort. I was contemplating buying a cord of kiln dried or a pallet of bio bricks but now im just thinkign i may turn the boiler on. if i can make it through most of february I shouldnt burn too much oil in march and april as it will be warmer out and daylight will last longer.


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## Stegman (Jan 23, 2013)

tigeroak said:


> I started with about 5 cord and have used about 1 1/4 cord.


 
That's about where I'm at, too. Might be as high as 2 cords used thus far. Hard to know exactly. My shed holds 4.5 cords, but I had some leftover wood from last year that I used first.


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## oldogy (Jan 23, 2013)

Into the second year with the clean burn stove, transitioning from an open fireplace.  I am running short on well seasoned hardwood. I am burning a lot of pine that has been down for two years, split, stacked, and drying for about six months. The pine is burning better than I had imagined. Trying to save the seasoned hickory and oak for when it gets into single digits. Working on my_ get years ahead_ stash.


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## willyswagon (Jan 23, 2013)

First year burning with gasifier.
Had no idea how much I would need so I had 11 cord C/S/S ready to go for Oct of 2012. I was hoping that I would only need about 6 cords.
So far I have used about 2.5 cords.
I have about 3 1/3 cords in  the garage for the rest of this season. Should make it through without getting into next winters pile.


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## Monkey Wrench (Jan 23, 2013)

Put 4 cords in shed, see avatar. Already used 2.5, mostly shoulder season quality wood. 1.5 cords left is all 2+ yrs red oak.

We burn 24/7 and have had the furnance off since 2010.

Stacks are at 16 cords as of today and growing. Yeah I'm addicted.

Burn Safe
Frank


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## Pierre902 (Jan 23, 2013)

First year with this stove and at about 1 1/2 cord so far with a full time burn. Started with about 8 cord and am still in scrounge mode. I hope in a normal winter I can get away with 3 to 4 cord max.


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## schlot (Jan 23, 2013)

Pierre902 said:


> First year with this stove and at about 1 1/2 cord so far with a full time burn. Started with about 8 cord and am still in scrounge mode. I hope in a normal winter I can get away with 3 to 4 cord max.


 
Sitting at 1.5 cords used burning 24/7. Its been a lot colder than last year, so my estimate on my usage was low. Have about half a face cord of SURPRISE ash I am now using, then it's back on gas at the end of the month. Surprise ash as I didn't think it would be ready to burn this year. It was a dead tree that I c/s/s this summer. Moisture's were running about 16 percent.

SURPRISE!


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## Flatbedford (Jan 23, 2013)

We have probably burned about 1 3/4 cord of Red Oak so far....and some propane this week! I have about 2 1/2 more cords of Red Oak  and about 4 cords of Black Locust ready to burn. Three years ahead is wonderful place to be especially when about 1/2 of my wood is faster drying Black Locust some of which was probably standing dead for many years before I cut and split it.


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## JustWood (Jan 23, 2013)

I've been into about 2 cord of shoulder wood in the 18. Fired the big guns up on Dec 20 and have run about 2/3 cord and about 500 lbs of coal through it.
Supposed to get a thaw here next week. If so I'll load the wood room with tarped wood and leave the shed full again another year.


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## eclecticcottage (Jan 23, 2013)

I'd say we've used up about 2 FACE cords of hardwood, and at least a FULL cord, maybe a cord and a half of box elder/willow mix.  And maybe 5 or 6 packs of ecobricks as well as one big tote of driftwood.  Most of the stuff we have used has been box elder and willow we CSS last season that was rather poorly stacked next to a shed we want to rebuild, so we've been working through that since we're going to have to move it anyway.  Burns well, just not very long so we tend to burn through it pretty quickly.


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## Jon1270 (Jan 23, 2013)

swagler85 said:


> fall and spring are "shoulder season" times when you dont need to burn every day or burn 24/7. Most of us that have wood separated by species will burn the low end wood during these times, and save the good stuff for colder time of year like January/February


 
I don't have much "good stuff" this year, since all my wood was purchased late and the stuff that's driest tends to be the lower-density species.  I've been wondering how much "shoulder season" wood to keep on hand for next year, so here's my question: how cold does it have to get before the low-density woods get tiresome and you'd rather be burning high-btu stuff like hard maple, mulberry, locust and oak?


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## Backwoods Savage (Jan 23, 2013)

etiger2007 said:


> Not to bad , I did give a cord and a half of walnut to an employee of mine to help him out with some dry wood and I also gave a friend half a truck load of walnut to take to Barton City during their hunting trip. Both said it was the best wood they ever burned, people just dont understand how important it is to DRY the wood.


 
I also happen to know you gave some ugly guy some black locust. I also know he greatly appreciated it.


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## Thistle (Jan 23, 2013)

Jon1270 said:


> I don't have much "good stuff" this year, since all my wood was purchased late and the stuff that's driest tends to be the lower-density species. I've been wondering how much "shoulder season" wood to keep on hand for next year, so here's my question: how cold does it have to get before the low-density woods get tiresome and you'd rather be burning high-btu stuff like hard maple, mulberry, locust and oak?


 
I normally save the densest stuff for temps under 30 degrees.


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## Backwoods Savage (Jan 23, 2013)

This morning I filled the wood rack on our porch. Half of it is filled with good oak. The other half is a mix of partially punky oak and ash. Could not help but notice that there is still enough oak in the barn so if we have an extended cold spell we will still have plenty. Also expect to have plenty of ash left in the barn. So I'll probably again cut down the amount we put in the barn next October.


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## jeepmedic (Jan 23, 2013)

Im at 6 cords now...but we have been burning all box elder in the boiler so we cant expect much. Cant complain when it's all free !


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## swagler85 (Jan 23, 2013)

Jon1270 said:


> I don't have much "good stuff" this year, since all my wood was purchased late and the stuff that's driest tends to be the lower-density species. I've been wondering how much "shoulder season" wood to keep on hand for next year, so here's my question: how cold does it have to get before the low-density woods get tiresome and you'd rather be burning high-btu stuff like hard maple, mulberry, locust and oak?


 agree with thistle under 30 is when I burn the good stuff. But I will still burn lower btu wood like cherry and maple during the day until its under 20. Then burn the good stuff all day long.


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## Bret Chase (Jan 23, 2013)

I burn a lot of silver and red maple all winter... works for me... I leave the sugar maples standing...  I'd rather tap them then cut them


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## etiger2007 (Jan 23, 2013)

Backwoods Savage said:


> I also happen to know you gave some ugly guy some black locust. I also know he greatly appreciated it.


 

Anytime my friend.  Ill be in your neck of the woods Saturday, Ben has a basketball games at the Chesaning Middle School.


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## Jon1270 (Jan 24, 2013)

Thistle said:


> I normally save the densest stuff for temps under 30 degrees.


 


swagler85 said:


> agree with thistle under 30 is when I burn the good stuff. But I will still burn lower btu wood like cherry and maple during the day until its under 20. Then burn the good stuff all day long.


 
Would that 30 degrees be the high temperature or the low?  Or maybe the average?  Sorry to be specific, but I downloaded some local climate data and am having fun with a spreadsheet.  (Apparently I'm currently 53.4% of the way through the heating season)


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## Thistle (Jan 24, 2013)

Jon1270 said:


> Would that 30 degrees be the high temperature or the low? Or maybe the average? Sorry to be specific, but I downloaded some local climate data and am having fun with a spreadsheet. (Apparently I'm currently 53.4% of the way through the heating season)


 
When the  daytime high is expected for the next day or week etc expected to be 30 or less.


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## Jon1270 (Jan 24, 2013)

Thistle said:


> When the daytime high is expected for the next day or week etc expected to be 30 or less.


 
I'm going to have to find some more detailed data for my spreadsheet.  The numbers I have now are the temperature normals, i.e. typical temperatures for each day of the year. The challenge is that there is no day of the year on which it's normal for the high to be below 35F here in Pittsburgh, but in any given year it's normal for there to be many days which are much colder than that; they're statistical outliers but they happen a lot.  I'm wishing I'd taken a statistics class  when I had the chance.


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## swagler85 (Jan 24, 2013)

Jon1270 said:


> I'm going to have to find some more detailed data for my spreadsheet.  The numbers I have now are the temperature normals, i.e. typical temperatures for each day of the year. The challenge is that there is no day of the year on which it's normal for the high to be below 35F here in Pittsburgh, but in any given year it's normal for there to be many days which are much colder than that; they're statistical outliers but they happen a lot.  I'm wishing I'd taken a statistics class  when I had the chance.


I usually throw in a load of good stuff overnight it temps are going to dip into low 20s overnight. You will learn how your house and stove work and what you need to burn at different temps. That all can change depending on your house and insulation, also depending on how you get your wood the species may change year to year.


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## Propane Refugee (Jan 24, 2013)

We just reached three cords burned.  Last year we burned 5.75 and I know we're a bit past our seasonal halfway point.  So, we're right on schedule.


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## Jon1270 (Jan 24, 2013)

Thanks, Sean.

To answer the original question, I think I'm going to come up about half a cord short.  My gas bill in April may be the same as it was in December.


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## iskiatomic (Jan 24, 2013)

Still sitting on about 25 cord, and processing another 3-4. I'm good.


KC


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## freddypd (Jan 24, 2013)

I would guess we used about 2 1/2 cords of our original "purchased" 5 cords. I was thinking we have used alot more than we should, but reading this thread I realize it varies by quite a bit. I replenished that 2.5 cords already with new scrounged stuff. I wish I had more in reserves for next burn season.


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## Locust Post (Jan 24, 2013)

Backwoods Savage said:


> We should be about half way through the burning season so how is everyone's wood pile holding out?
> 
> We had been putting 3 cord of wood in the barn for the winter burning but never have burned that much since we started doing this. So this year we put in less than 3 cord. Right now I figure we've burned about a cord. Man, that insulation really helps a lot.


 Just thought of it Sav and I am surprised nobody said it before now. We are not quite halfway there my friend but close. Old timers always said "You should have half your wood and half your hay at Ground hog day"


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## WiscoWoodman (Jan 25, 2013)

2.5-3 down of the 4 cords I started with.  Ouch.  Only had a 1/2 cord of good hardwood and the rest elm and maple.  Looks like I need 6 cords to be on the safe side next year.


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## Gasifier (Jan 25, 2013)

I probably managed to stuff 9 cord under the covered porch and 1 cord on the porch. Since around the middle of October we have burned through a little over 4 cord so far. Was pretty mild for much of that. Really cruising through the wood lately though!

Oh. I have a bunch more wood in the stacks outside though.  8 cord and counting.


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## Freeheat (Jan 25, 2013)

I had put away about 2 cords , at the halfway mark I won't make it through the winter on what I have , Have to start planning ahead


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## muncybob (Jan 25, 2013)

My wood shed is stacked in rows that are about 1.25 cords each for the first 4 rows and the final row is less than a cord. Gone through the front row and the next full row with about 1/2 of the 2nd full row gone....so just over 2.5 cords to date. Last year we had a full row left in the shed, if the cold snap continues here we may be getting into that this year, but I see they are predicting temps near 50 by Tuesday here!


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## skyline (Jan 25, 2013)

For the first year I have a really good idea where I'm at. Started with 10 rows at .75 cords each, 4 down, 6 to go, so I should have at least 1.5 cords next year of really dry stuff.
Ended up selling the 5 other cords I had sitting out for next year so it's time to get to work. Here's a couple of pictures of my system. I number the rows so I know what order to take them out in.


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## Nixon (Jan 25, 2013)

We've probably gone through between 0ne and one and a half cords . So,if winter holds true ,We'll use about 3 cords .


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## red oak (Jan 25, 2013)

I think I've burned about a cord and a half.  I have plenty for this winter and next.  I'm not sure I'll burn 4 cords this winter - it's been pretty mild here until this week.


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## mikesin (Jan 25, 2013)

We started out with 3.75 cords. Just finished up 1 cord. We are good for the remainder of the winter and will have a nice start for next. We only burn in the evenings and weekends.


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## Backwoods Savage (Jan 25, 2013)

Locust Post said:


> Just thought of it Sav and I am surprised nobody said it before now. We are not quite halfway there my friend but close. Old timers always said "You should have half your wood and half your hay at Ground hog day"


 
Very true with that saying Locust. But I believe the reason they gave groundhog day is because if you have half of the wood pile left then, you have enough to start burning in the fall. This is when most everyone put up their wood in October or November to burn that winter. But January 21 is pretty darned close to half way.


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## Backwoods Savage (Jan 25, 2013)

WiscoWoodman said:


> 2.5-3 down of the 4 cords I started with. Ouch. Only had a 1/2 cord of good hardwood and the rest elm and maple. Looks like I need 6 cords to be on the safe side next year.


 
Welcome to the forum WiscoWoodman.

Hey, what is wrong with elm and maple? And can you get yourself 3 years ahead on the wood supply? You will never be sorry if you do.


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## Locust Post (Jan 25, 2013)

Backwoods Savage said:


> Very true with that saying Locust. But I believe the reason they gave groundhog day is because if you have half of the wood pile left then, you have enough to start burning in the fall. This is when most everyone put up their wood in October or November to burn that winter. But January 21 is pretty darned close to half way.


 You're probably right buddy........and yes Jan. 21 is close enough. I just happened to remember that saying and always liked it.


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## red oak (Jan 26, 2013)

Locust Post said:


> You're probably right buddy........and yes Jan. 21 is close enough. I just happened to remember that saying and always liked it.


 
"Half your wood and half your hay by January 21"...not quite as good a saying!

I always wanted to get through January with half my wood supply intact.  Feb. and March are highly variable here in Va, sometimes really cold with lots of snow, sometimes really warm.  So we have two variable months, then some moderate burning in April and occasionally May. 

So even though I have enough wood, I've found myself looking at the stacks thinking "If I only burn this much more, I'll have enough for the next two winters."  That's much nicer than when I used to worry about whether I'd run out or not!


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## chvymn99 (Jan 29, 2013)

I've probably burned more this year to date than the last two, but had a couple of actuall weekends (read two full weekends) off.  Its probably at least two cords, working into 3 at the current time.  Sold a couple of my lesser BTU's piles to my uncle from 3 years ago, he's really appreciated the way its "taken off and burned". But at the current rate I haven't had a but 1 fire in 3 days, may... may have one tonight. It got to 76 here yesterday and suppose to be 60 today.  Then reality will set back in for the rest of the week.


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## TradEddie (Jan 29, 2013)

Jon1270 said:


> I'm going to have to find some more detailed data for my spreadsheet. The numbers I have now are the temperature normals, i.e. typical temperatures for each day of the year. The challenge is that there is no day of the year on which it's normal for the high to be below 35F here in Pittsburgh, but in any given year it's normal for there to be many days which are much colder than that; they're statistical outliers but they happen a lot. I'm wishing I'd taken a statistics class when I had the chance.


 
You could try
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and-precip/time-series/index.php?

The data is regional, and weighted by population somehow, but it should work well enough unless you're deep in a valley or up top of a hill.

TE


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## TradEddie (Jan 29, 2013)

First full year with the new insert, and I'm very pleased, about a face-cord gone, not bad since I'm only a weekend burner, I expected to use about a cord all season. With the old slammer, I could get through two cords or more. The problem is I've been using up most of my cherry and won't have shoulder wood for next year because when I put oak or hickory in there, even when it is in the teens outside, we bake.

TE


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## muncybob (Jan 29, 2013)

Lots of comments about oak, hickory & locust has me hoping for a cold winter next year as it will be the 1st year we'll be burning well seasoned oak and hickory....not trying rush things though


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## JustWood (Jan 29, 2013)

" I hope next winter is much colder ."     Said no man, ever,,,,,,,,, until now.


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## lopiliberty (Jan 29, 2013)

What's covered up is all that is left for this year.  It was stacked as high as the pile on the left.  I sure hope its enough.  There is 3 year old bone dry wood in next years pile I might have to tap into if I need it


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## bboulier (Jan 30, 2013)

We have burned a lot less wood this year, certainly less than cord so far. The weather has been mild and our not-quite 2 year old grand son is here every day, so we don't burn during the day for safety reasons. Fortunately (and the enjoyable part is), we don't need to burn so much wood, since chasing him around provides plenty of warmth.


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## tfdchief (Jan 31, 2013)

Don't really keep track that close. About 1.5 I think. I generally burn no more than 3 cords per winter.


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## ohlongarm (Jan 31, 2013)

zap said:


> Had four cord up for this winter of good hardwood, still have about two cord left.


 No wood woes here least not for about 7+years I guess,took alot of work and planning but pays off in the long run.Good luck to all ya's and keep your wood dry.


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## 'bert (Jan 31, 2013)

lopiliberty said:


> View attachment 91455
> 
> 
> What's covered up is all that is left for this year. It was stacked as high as the pile on the left. I sure hope its enough. There is 3 year old bone dry wood in next years pile I might have to tap into if I need it


 
I hope that is not a current picture with all that green grass at this time of year


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## lopiliberty (Feb 1, 2013)

'bert said:


> I hope that is not a current picture with all that green grass at this time of year


 
Ya that was Tuesday afternoon when the temperature was 74 degrees Here's what it looked like today.  Lake effect snow showers and 32 degrees with 50 MPH winds.  This is what it should look like this time of year


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## madrone (Feb 1, 2013)

little more splitting and i'll have about 2/3 of next year's wood ready. behind schedule this winter...


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## madrone (Feb 1, 2013)

btw, the fiskars x27 eats sweet gum like it was cottonwood.


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## LLigetfa (Feb 1, 2013)

rdust said:


> Yesterday I was thinking to myself "when is someone gonna make that thread"...


Groundhog Day (you know the saying, "half your wood and half your hay...") is traditionally when these threads would start but like everything else, people try to get a jump on it.

I need to re-mediate my woodshed so I didn't fill it, choosing instead to leave most of my wood outside.  What I have left in the shed is less than half of what I started this heating season with, so "half your wood" does not apply here.  I don't plan to pull from my outdoor stacks so if I run short, the gas furnace will take up the slack.

Woke up to -34°C this morning and we're in for a few more days of cold.  The weather prognosticators are calling for variable cloudiness tomorrow so the Groundhog may not see its shadow.


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## Backwoods Savage (Feb 1, 2013)

LLigetfa, I started it when I did because that is much closer to the middle of winter; at least it is around these parts.


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## LLigetfa (Feb 2, 2013)

Backwoods Savage said:


> LLigetfa, I started it when I did because that is much closer to the middle of winter; at least it is around these parts.


Well... who's to say where (when) the middle is?  Groundhog Day is a time to reflect on what has passed and what is yet to come.  I personally think it is past the half-way mark but the day does offer a bit of safety margin.

It was sunny this morning but at -38°C the groundhog might not have emerged.  Six more weeks or not, I think I'm on target to have a completely empty shed come Spring.


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## Ozzie33 (Feb 2, 2013)

Right on schedule.  I had 8 cords split and stacked in the shed - i have a shade over 4 remaining.  We are keeping the house way warmer than we need to so hopefully I can reduce consumption a bit from here on out.


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## Backwoods Savage (Feb 2, 2013)

That is just one benefit of wood burning. You can keep your house warm!


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## NH_Wood (Feb 2, 2013)

I think I've used about 2.5 cord - I keep about 5 cord in the barn for the winter - so, should be right on target. Cheers!


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## AJS56 (Feb 3, 2013)

We had about 6 face cords in this year's row.  Have about 3 left, so I'm pretty much on track.


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## thewoodlands (Feb 5, 2013)

Well Sav we had started on a stack of sugar maple right before our last big snow fall then went back to cherry when it warmed up some,we'll start pushing some in this weekend or before, once we burn all the sugar maple we will move more beech or sugar maple in that area from our planned area where the utility / wood shed will go.

When we hit that cold stretch we burned beech, you were correct that it SAVed us some wood (cherry) looks like we won't burn more than we had planned.

It looks like four cord, that's not including the shoulder season, I'll have the numbers on that this weekend, I'm thinking just over a cord.

That's what I like about having the woodlot, if it's down (not rotten) burn it. The oil man last drove up the driveway December 2008.


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## JrCRXHF (Feb 5, 2013)

about 1.75 cord down. I went through a lot when the wife was home for December because she turns the heat up. It was funny listen to her say her back hurt from loading the wood boiler. I told her if you turn down the heat you don't have to burn so much wood.


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## andybaker (Feb 6, 2013)

I'm about 1 1/2 cord into now.  Not bad for me.  During a cold winter I'll burn around 4 or more cord.  Last year I think I went through 2 plus a little.  Talking about wearing long johns, since I've started heating with wood there is one thing I miss.  I never wear a long sleeve shirt anymore.  My wife complains I don't dress nice enough cause I'm always in T-shirts but it's so warm in here I sweat if I wear anything more.  Someday Dennis I'll have a place and get one of those Woodstock stoves.


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## Backwoods Savage (Feb 6, 2013)

That's how I dress too Andy. And when you get your Woodstock stove, you won't be sorry.


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## gerry100 (Feb 24, 2013)

25% left ( 1 cord) with two weeks left


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## ohlongarm (Feb 24, 2013)

Backwoods Savage said:


> We should be about half way through the burning season so how is everyone's wood pile holding out?
> 
> We had been putting 3 cord of wood in the barn for the winter burning but never have burned that much since we started doing this. So this year we put in less than 3 cord. Right now I figure we've burned about a cord. Man, that insulation really helps a lot.


 I'm at about 2 cords pizzes me off at this rate I'll be outa wood in 15 years .


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## gerry100 (Feb 24, 2013)

Another mild winter has helped conserve wood but I think I'm getting much better at driving the 4yo EPA stove which has helped a lot.

30 yrs with a smoke dragon left me with a lot of obsolete habits and perceptions that I'm getting behind me.


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## tfdchief (Feb 24, 2013)

gerry100 said:


> Another mild winter has helped conserve wood but I think I'm getting much better at driving the 4yo EPA stove which has helped a lot.
> 
> 30 yrs with a smoke dragon left me with a lot of obsolete habits and perceptions that I'm getting behind me.


 I have both, so I have to employ multiple operations,techniques, and strategies


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## OldLumberKid (Feb 24, 2013)

I'm starting from scratch, so this is the ragged (stuff to do) end of a small pile of mostly hardwood. (The MM is reading 17% on some of the red oak and maple — hard to believe since it's only been split 4 months. Guess that's just the surface--probably more damp inside.

Wife does not want it to grow, but, well you know how hard it is to pass up a good scrounge.
Added some scrounged, very wet pine today for some variety.






That one split easy enough...


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## tfdchief (Feb 25, 2013)

Dang, OLK, has that saw ever sawed anything?  That thing looks like it just came out of the box.


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## JP11 (Feb 25, 2013)

red oak said:


> So even though I have enough wood, I've found myself looking at the stacks thinking "If I only burn this much more, I'll have enough for the next two winters." That's much nicer than when I used to worry about whether I'd run out or not!


 

Me too.. I have a break in my groups of pallets.. I keep looking at it.. saying.. If I only get this far... I've got 36 pallets that will be near 2 years old when I burn them next year... and If i do that next year.. then that puts me into my 16 pallets of oak after that that are year three.  I wonder if my wife knows I'm always counting when we walk the dogs past the stacks?  

JP


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## corey21 (Feb 25, 2013)

I would say about 4 cords.


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## OldLumberKid (Feb 25, 2013)

tfdchief said:


> Dang, OLK, has that saw ever sawed anything? That thing looks like it just came out of the box.


 
Nope ... never been used  It's _like_ new

(I'm always obsessively cleaning it ... I was traumatized early in life by a jammed up nose sprocket and I've never been able to stop cleaning it since )


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## lukem (Feb 25, 2013)

I have enough to get me into the first week of March...2017.


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## ArsenalDon (Feb 26, 2013)

crazy that in CA I go through more than most of you...probably cause I burn pine...3 cord so far...2.5 left...hope to have 1.5 left


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## nate379 (Feb 26, 2013)

Haha, I'm working on that as well. I have enough racks built to hold about 20 cords, or roughly 6-7 years.

This year I might work on cutting wood for myself more and not for everyone else. Cut and split about 30 cords, only kept about 4 for me.



lukem said:


> I have enough to get me into the first week of March...2017.


 

I burn about 3-3.5 cords a year.  This year I burned quite a bit of cottonwood and honestly I almost like it better than birch.  I passed up several HUNDRED cords of the stuff this summer, kicking myself for it now.


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