# What Is In Your Stove Right Now?



## Jay106n

Temps were in the 20's this morning. I woke up and checked the firebox of my All Nighter Moe, which I found still had some coals from last nights overnight burn. I tossed in a few pieces of pine to get it started up again, shortly followed by a link or two of cherry which coal up real nice, and topped off with some ash splits to last a few hours.

I vary my wood types by time of day, outside/inside temps, and length of burn.  What is in your stove right now?


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## Eagleknight

I have mostly been using silver maple so far. I have some ash and walnut in there too.


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## Diabel

I always try to mix it up a bit. In the stove right now I have a split of silver maple, a round of basswood and two splits of punky (very dry) beech.

I am just about finished with the punky beech and the basswood. As the temps start to go down I will be burning silver maple with yellow birch. Then once the silver maple is done, it will be yellow birch with sugar maple. Then once Jan arrives, anything goes but for overnights it will be BL and some type of hardwood.


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## FaithfulWoodsman

2 yr red elm for start up. Less than 10% and lights like magic. White elm and cherry for daytime, mostly ash for overnight with the occasional hard maple I'm rationing. Saving a bit of 2yr red oak for Jan/Feb. That's all I got dry for this year.


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## EJP1234

TP right now, i had a ton of it, and it does just fine with my cat stove. Woke up at 4am to get in treestand, house was 74* but did need reloaded from the 8pm load.


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## tiswood

This morning it was coals , I put in about 1/2 load of mainly oak . 90%+ of all my wood is oak so I don't have much other to pick through. It's certainly keeping the house warm. I don't believe in Al gores global warming, I thinks it from rednecks like me opening the windows because the house is to hot from the stove .


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## TedyOH

Right now ashes, only because I'm at work - silver maple and elm last night.
Red Oak, shagbark & bitternut hickory, Beech, tulip poplar, ash, cherry and a few unknown varieties in the stacks outside.


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## hamslam42

So I am a little envious of the stocked wood pantry all you firewood hoarders have! Hearing you all talk...it sounds like a cooking show adding different spices to a recipe.  Two splits of oak...a side of cherry, a dash of pine, a sprinkling of apple, and top it off with some maple. Heat to lazy rolling secondaries and enjoy!

Even if I had that much wood to select from, I don't think I could ever get that organized to be able to pull all those different kinds together for a burn. I do have about 5 cords of wood at the moment, but here's what I have to choose from:
Ash - seasoned 2 years
Ash - Seasoned 1 year
Ash - split/stacked last month
Ash - stacked in rounds yet to be split
Ash - in neighbors yard waiting for me to have the time and pick it up for processing
Ash - standing dead on back of property line waiting for AEP to come through and take it down for me

Okay...I do have a little bit of pine for variety but other than that, it's 1 ingredient for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert for me!


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## Timberwolf530

Combining some Poplar with Silver Maple right now.


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## The Weimar

I've got a little bit of everything going on, Red and White Oak, Ash, some Hickory and even some pine that has been sitting around for 2 years. I've also got some real stinky, nasty to split stuff that a friend of mine calls "Swamp Maple". Stinks like Cow manure, splits like engine blocks, burns like coal....


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## Typ0

I just know it's wood.


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## Seanm

A bit of doug fir, lodgepole pine and a toasty house!


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## FaithfulWoodsman

[QUOTE="
Ash - seasoned 2 years
Ash - Seasoned 1 year
Ash - split/stacked last month
Ash - stacked in rounds yet to be split
Ash - in neighbors yard waiting for me to have the time and pick it up for processing
Ash - standing dead on back of property line waiting for AEP to come through and take it down for me

Okay...I do have a little bit of pine for variety but other than that, it's 1 ingredient for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert for me![/QUOTE]

 LOL. Most of what I have is the same here in OH (8 cords). I leave the ash standing until its almost too late, otherwise that's all I'd spend my time getting. Probably be treating ash like gold in 10 years from now. I like cherry cause I feel it dries faster and lights quicker. Always looking for more btu's, but don't burn them till it's in the teens.


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## LocustPocust

Boxelder currently, had some Elm and some BL going last night. My thermometer said it got down to 15 overnight.


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## TheAardvark

Sugar maple is all I have that is seasoned. Throwing in some pine 2x4 scraps occasionally to fill gaps.


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## baseroom

20's here too!  Mostly ash mixed with Silver maple.  Watching the secondaries light up was so much better than the football game last night!!


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## barmstrong2

Beech and maple. Just got home from work to find the wood stove barely going with one piece of firewood in it. How many times I've told the kids... You need at least 3 pieces of wood. One piece and we're just burning wood and getting no heat from it. May as well burn it in the outside firepit. OK... Rant over. Beech and maple.


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## saskwoodburner

Typ0 said:


> I just know it's wood.



 If I ever build a space ship, I want this guy on my team.

Rocking the ever popular "white poplar" here.


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## Riff

Just got the stove going for the evening, it has a load of pine.

We had a winter storm almost 3 years ago snap a bunch of 6+" branches off the pine trees so I cut it up for pit wood. Darn if that stuff hasn't made me a fan of burning pine during shoulder season.


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## klxrelic

Spruce, spruce, and more spruce....


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## burrman

some scrap 2x4s and 1xs and 4x4s and some punky pine...


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## kennyp2339

3 year old 12% - 15% red oak knots and heavy bends


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## MaintenanceMan

Been trying to burn up some lumber scraps, and punks and chunks. I have some cedar and oddball wood that I'm hoping to get rid of before the real cold gets here. Lots of oak stacked up for the cold weather...


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## osagebow

Pretty boring menu this year. 3 cords of 2.5 year CSS chestnut oak and red oak at 16-18%, and 2/3 cord of (red/pitch?) pine to get it going. 1/2 cord 1 year black locust I hope I won't need.


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## Fred Wright

We're still on the old reliable red maple. Hasn't gotten cold enough in this neck of the woods to bring in oak.


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## English BoB

Splitter scraps, oak bark, small diameter oak pieces from tree tops and a couple of  oak uglies.

So OAK I guess.

bob


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## firefighterjake

Same stuff I've been burning since September . . . eastern white pine.


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## DaveH

Red Maple, Norway Maple, White Pine mix.


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## ADK_XJ

Ash. All ash...


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## Woody Stover

Mostly Black Cherry and Silver Maple. I had to move a small stack of better stuff out of the way, so I brought it up close and I'm throwing in a couple of those here and there; Small rounds of Dogwood, BL and similar woods.


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## Diabel

It sure looks to me that there is lots of silver maple on the menu.


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## usmc1371

Split of lodge pole and chunk of tamarack.  Its only 30 out so its not cold yet but its toasty in the house.


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## johneh

What ever is on the top of the pile goes into the fire box


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## Ralphie Boy

8 splits of ash loaded at 2120 hrs. That will hold me untill 0930 tomorrow. Temps down to upper 20's maybe low 30's. Highs tomorrow may not warrant a fire.


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## Dix

Uglies.

Building up the coal bed for tonight, then it's a couple of splits of oak, and a side of cherry 

More uglies for when I get up at 5 Am to case te chill out of the house.


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## melloyello

Some ashes from last year.


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## CentralVAWoodHeat

I took down a Mimosa last year so I can eventually plant a fig tree for my wife.  That Mimosa is burning great.  I understand it is in the same family as Locust which I am also up to my ears in at 12-14 percent moisture.  I love those slightly punky pieces that take off and then coal up really nicely.


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## Toomb

Silver maple and horse-chestnut


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## Dix

Riff said:


> Just got the stove going for the evening, it has a load of pine.
> 
> We had a winter storm almost 3 years ago snap a bunch of 6+" branches off the pine trees so I cut it up for pit wood. Darn if that stuff hasn't made me a fan of burning pine during shoulder season.



You're learning, or, to quote my buddy Artie "You're gonna learn today"


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## rwilly

Just got home from work and it is 36*. Started a fire with Fir and Alder mix.


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## Jay106n

I love seeing all the different combos! Its back into the 20's again tonight. I've been building a coal bed all day, just threw a few more splits of cherry ash cocktail.


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## Wood Duck

Red Maple. I plan to burn about 1 1/2 cords of Red Maple before I start on a stack that is mostly oak.


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## Seanm

Its 10:30 in the evening and its -13c/8.5 f and the house is a warm 71.5. Getting ready to load the stove to the gills with larch and birch.


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## Wainwright63

Just loaded up with Oak. Mix of red and white. That's all i have ready this year. But im going to have  an assortment next year. Of coarse ill have the Oak, but also...silver maple, honey locust, sweet gum, and hickory.


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## Jay106n

Morning pine kick start.


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## JathanLFL

cottonwood and ash


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## Tom123

Cherry and Elm. I brought in some red oak for the holiday tomorrow.


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## nmaho

Jay106n said:


> Temps were in the 20's this morning. I woke up and checked the firebox of my All Nighter Moe, which I found still had some coals from last nights overnight burn. I tossed in a few pieces of pine to get it started up again, shortly followed by a link or two of cherry which coal up real nice, and topped off with some ash splits to last a few hours.
> 
> I vary my wood types by time of day, outside/inside temps, and length of burn.  What is in your stove right now?


Wood?


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## Grateful11

Ashes. We let it go out this morning, too warm today to burn.


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## AmbDrvr253

Putting some honey locust and maple in as we speak. Hopefully it will get me through the nite. Darn smoke dragon. LOL. Not cold enough to get the coal out just yet.


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## Stinkpickle

Probably a dead bat, or two.  I ain't fired it up yet.


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## Pennsyltucky Chris

Poplar and pine


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## blacktail

30° outside right now. I'm letting the coals burn down from my initial warm up load of Doug Fir and red alder. Another 10 minutes or so and I'll fill it up with mostly big leaf maple and one or two chunks of Doug Fir. 
I've mostly been burning maple and paper birch so far this season.


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## KodiakII

Ashes and probably a dead starling.   I am going to work on starting it up today...after I check out some of the "Red Thursday" sales!


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## Jay106n

I let last nights burn die out, so its just ashes today. Outside temps warmed up to the mid 50's and its looking like a mild few days, so the stove might get a few days rest.


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## Squisher

Fir, fir, and some more fir!  We hit -13c last night and my stove hasn't been out for days and days now.


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## blacktail

Nothing. There's a burn ban right now. Why would there be wood in my stove during a burn ban? Who's asking? And why do you want to know?


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## venator260

I've been feeding my stove a steady diet of ash killed by the emerald ash borer. Looking at what my dad and I have on the ground already as well as what's still standing, it looks like it will be ash for at least the next two years. 

This all does have the odd silver and sugar maple thrown in. If it's dead or in my way, I knock it down as well. We did get into some red oak earlier in the year that we cut because it was dead and had some nice logs in it. That all went into my dad's shed though. The logs from that (and other trees that were big enough) went to buy us a new chainsaw with money left over.


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## blades

Wood being consumed by devil flames.


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## woodsHAM

Couple three pieces of poplar and round of hemlock, nice quick hot fire to get the dampness out of the house.


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## HisTreeNut

Nothing at the moment.  Got to 62 degrees and is currently 58 degrees outside right now.  If it does get cool enough, will be pine or a mix of maple, ash, & birch...


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## D8Chumley

Mostly cherry with some white pine, black walnut, shorties and uglies so far here. One big 6x6 ash split the other day I c/s/s last August as a test run. It's ready but there's plenty of other wood in the stacks that will go before that-it's next years wood


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## Seanm

lodgepole pine and doug fir. Love the heat!


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## msherer

Ash & black cherry


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## Z33

Still waiting on some decent winter temps here. This has been the strangest year I can recall. High is going to be near 70 on the first of December.


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## ZZ Tom

Elm and poplar in now, pine and cedar earlier today. Saving the mulberry for when it gets really cold, only 25 F now.


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## zig

Amish oak cut offs from the near by mill.


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## BigCountryNY

A mix of red oak, silver maple, and black birch in both stoves right now. The house is nice and toasty!


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## FaithfulWoodsman

Coal bed of ash and one big bone dry spalded piece of beech. First fire in days. Looking like mid next week before the next one. Oh well saves me more wood for the serious cold. You its coming.


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## bag of hammers

4 fairly large yellow birch and maple uglies @ 4years stacked - bringing the place up to temp.  Primary air is right off, crazy heat out the glass.  Nice show (secondaries).  Pup sleeping on her new dog bed, cold Sleemans cream ale, original Rocky (1976) on the tube.  Pretty good night..


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## NHcpa

F12 - got some phantom flames going on...


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## aussiedog3

About 10 big splits of 4 year seasoned Silver Maple.  29 degrees outside, 76 degrees inside.
Wife watching tv, I'm on the computer(clearly), sitting here in shorts, watching the secondary combustion(courtesy of well seasoned wood) in my old "smoke" dragon.  Lovin it!


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## jatoxico

Had a couple sticks of Hophorn in tonight. Impressive.


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## Applesister

Cottonwood and Red maple and Red Oak.


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## firefighterjake

It's cold this morning so I've switched over to burning some hardwood . . . maple and some ash I think.


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## Chimney Smoke

I burned white pine and two year seasoned red oak chunks and uglies all weekend.  The house stayed toasty at round 76.


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## Jeffm1

hamslam42 said:


> So I am a little envious of the stocked wood pantry all you firewood haorders have! Hearing you all talk...it sounds like a cooking show adding different spices to a recipe.  Two splits of oak...a side of cherry, a dash of pine, a sprinkling of apple, and top it off with some maple. Heat to lazy rolling secondaries and enjoy!
> 
> Even if I had that much wood to select from, I don't think I could ever get that organized to be able to pull all those different kinds together for a burn. I do have about 5 cords of wood at the moment, but here's what I have to choose from:
> Ash - seasoned 2 years
> Ash - Seasoned 1 year
> Ash - split/stacked last month
> Ash - stacked in rounds yet to be split
> Ash - in neighbors yard waiting for me to have the time and pick it up for processing
> Ash - standing dead on back of property line waiting for AEP to come through and take it down for me
> 
> Okay...I do have a little bit of pine for variety but other than that, it's 1 ingredient for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert for me!


You should try some ash if you ever get a chance  I hear it's good stuff!


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## Bigsby

Hackberry that was bucked last summer  (live tree) and split and stacked early this year. Took a a big split off the stack last week and was surprised to read 19% on the mm after resplitting. Kinda reminds me of ash the way it splits easy and seasons fast.


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## Iatrapper

Burr oak and shaggy bark hickory


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## Diabel

Iatrapper said:


> Burr oak and shaggy bark hickory



Holy big guns or what....


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## dafattkidd

I'm burning framing scraps of doug fir, a chopped up teak chair, and a few rogue pieces of poplar which are scraps from window casing and a sliver of cedar left over from exterior trim. Basically I'm burning garbage.


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## mass_burner

Still burning wood scraps, uglies, smaller unsplit branches (larger than kindling), pellet basket etc. Still in shoulder season mode. Did a few loads of red oak that's in the shed to make sure its seasoned.


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## ZZ Tom

Currently have ashes from weekend burns in my stove. We are now on Mandatory No Solid Fuel Burning. Utah Air Quality. Probably a good time to empty the ashes.


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## Gboutdoors

Started todays fire with white pine and now have 5 splits of Red oak cruising along till bed time. Other than the white pine all I have is Red and White Oak mostly Oak 13 cord to 2 cord pine .


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## 2broke2ride

Birch, poplar, and white pine.


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## CrufflerJJ

Nicely seasoned ash is cranking away in our Quadrafire 2700i.  Toasty is good!


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## FaithfulWoodsman

Finally got chilly enough to fire it up again. Wife is throwing in silver maple and cherry. Ash and punky beech tonight. I am finding that shoulder season can be a bit extreme with the Englander 28-3500. Chilly without a fire, but roasting by the time that huge firebox gets up to speed for a clean burn. Can't complain, I love burning wood and saving money on propane.


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## tcassavaugh

....ashes.....i had a fire yesterday as it was cool and wet here in southern md. today its almost 60 so i turned on the burner for a while.


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## Ashful

I only split and stack oak, ash and hickory.  Of that, probably 80% is oak.  So, what's in my stove right now?  Oak, with some ash.

I wonder about the reasoning of east-coasters who are using silver maple or pine.  If you live in a region where nothing else is available, then have at it.  But if you live in an area with abundant oak and ash, you really can't make any valid argument for burning anything less, unless it literally falls in your yard and must be disposed.


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## Diabel

On my 4 acre property I will burn whatever is dead, died or blown over. I am not picky. Btw I have one live and thriving oak tree.


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## bag of hammers

Diabel said:


> On my 4 acre property I will burn whatever is dead, died or blown over. I am not picky. Btw I have one live and thriving oak tree.


Ditto.  It happens to be mostly hard maple and a bit of yellow birch now, but I've had some poplar, white birch, pine, fir, etc in the mix.  It's as close as the end of my driveway or the middle of the property. Couple of dead standing on my radar now, whenever I can find the time...


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## dafattkidd

Ashful said:


> I only split and stack oak, ash and hickory.  Of that, probably 80% is oak.  So, what's in my stove right now?  Oak, with some ash.
> 
> I wonder about the reasoning of east-coasters who are using silver maple or pine.  If you live in a region where nothing else is available, then have at it.  But if you live in an area with abundant oak and ash, you really can't make any valid argument for burning anything less, unless it literally falls in your yard and must be disposed.


Some of us are primarily a scroungers, so we take what we can get. Also, I enjoy burning different species of wood. To be honest I dislike oak. Its great fuel obviously, but three summers to fully season is ridiculous. I can barely store two full seasons worth of wood on my small lot.  So while I see your point, I like the mix of species in my woodpile.


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## Diabel

dafattkidd said:


> Some of us are primarily a scroungers, so we take what we can get. Also, I enjoy burning different species of wood. To be honest I dislike oak. Its great fuel obviously, but three summers to fully season is ridiculous. I can barely store two full seasons worth of wood on my small lot.  So while I see your point, I like the mix of species in my woodpile.



I used to scrounge for wood. I loved the concept.
Since I bought the lakefront property, I just work that area. Once it is all cleaned up of dead stuff, I will work the adjacent lands (govt) looking for maple, beech, cherry, yellow birch.....like a snob.


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## heavy hammer

Beech with a little shag bark hickory.  Has not been cold enough to use the locust or oak yet.  Put one large locust block in and nearly cooked us out of the house on the one cold night we have had.


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## Seasoned Oak

Mostly pine ,iv got so much of it ,seems i never run out. I save my oak for special occasions.


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## Riff

Ashful said:


> I only split and stack oak, ash and hickory.  Of that, probably 80% is oak.  So, what's in my stove right now?  Oak, with some ash.
> 
> I wonder about the reasoning of east-coasters who are using silver maple or pine.  If you live in a region where nothing else is available, then have at it.  But if you live in an area with abundant oak and ash, you really can't make any valid argument for burning anything less, unless it literally falls in your yard and must be disposed.



I take whatever is dead or blown over on my 4.5 acre lot first, which while that does mean I have an oak I'm working on cutting up, it also means I mix in silver maple and pine. If a storm brings down a couple of weeks worth of pine I'm not turning my nose up to it just because I have access to oak. It dries fast, burns nice, and during shoulder season doesn't drive us out of the living room where the stove is. Also scrounging here can be a rarity with the number of people who heat with wood so we take what we can get otherwise.


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## Ashful

Everyone has different priorities, but for me it's all about hours splitting and stacking.  That is my number one limit on how much I can burn, as my house can consume an almost infinite amount of wood, if I could just get it split and stacked.  For this reason, even when a pine or silver maple falls in my own yard, I often just throw it in the fire pit.  No way am I taking an hour of my splitting time away from an almost unlimited amount of available oak and ash rounds, to spend it on pine.

As to heating you out of your living room, buy a catalytic stove, and you'll have that problem solved!  Dry time is a non-issue, if you're 3 years out on your wood supply.

Not saying pine or other poor woods don't make sense for some in a pinch,  who are just starting out without a good supply of dry wood, or just trying to get rid of what fell in their yard.  What I was questioning was the few above who are extolling the virtues of what many would consider garbage wood, as if it's somehow better.  If your time is worth anything, then you'll do best spending it on what delivers maximum BTU per hour of processing time.


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## Seasoned Oak

For part time burners like myself and others who heat with more than just wood, the Oak or pine question is not as important. I value the ambiance of the wood stove and the beauty of roaring fire above the practical side of it. I run the stove when i have time or when i want to relax in front of a mesmerizing fire show. Both Oak and pine fill the same bill here. Burning full time is too much like a second job at 60 years old.


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## warno

Whatever is left of the maple splits from 530 this morning and some 4 x 4 pine scraps I put in after work today. 

I'm really liking this maple stuff.


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## Kwright032

Poplar, sassafras, maple, scraps. No need for anything else with this weather here in PA


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## Firefighter938

I'm burning some sycamore that is well seasoned and some silver maple that was c/s/s Dec '14. This will probably be the last fire for a week or so.

Last night I did the same load and the house was 75-76* inside. We opened a couple of windows and let in some fresh air.

I like silver maple. Seasons quickly and produces a good amount of heat.


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## kennyp2339

Nothing right now, to warm out


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## firefighterjake

Switched back to some pine, poplar and I think a small split of beech.


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## CIRENHOJ

Very warm here right now.  50's and 60's for central IL region is a heat wave.  But....at night I've been burning through some dry tulip tree. This morning I tossed in a few sticks of black locust b/c I yanked down a few large dead hanging branches last night.


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## Ashful

Temps are up to 55F here, today.  A full load of white oak went in the stove this morning.  When I get home, indoor temp will probably be 72F... the only effect of this warm weather being that I didn't need to burn wood AND oil to get there.


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## gerry100

cold ashes.

Too warm for me to burn until next week .


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## markam

gerry100 said:


> cold ashes.
> 
> Too warm for me to burn until next week .


that was going to be my answer, damn it.


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## Bspring

I have been burning pine all season long. I have an endless supply of it. As others have said, keeping the oak for the really cold nights.


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## billb3

Went to St Maarten for Thanksgiving so missed the really cold weather.
Just burned some poplar so far. But too warm right now, I'd have to have windows open.
(if HHO was $4/gal I'd probably have the windows open and the stove going )


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## 2broke2ride

Pine, pine, and more pine!! Stove top is at 650 and slowly dropping off, will throw a few more splits in in about an hour. To warm here to burn hardwood, I've gone through about 3/4 cord of pine and less than 1/2 cord of hard wood so far [emoji106]


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## LocustPocust

Shoulder season has outlived my shoulder season wood supply so I've dug into my good wood though it's a balmy 37 here currently. I've got Ash and BL burning at the moment. 

Looks like this mild weather is set to last through at least Christmas. No complaints from me!


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## Jay106n

Another fairly mild night here, pine with a cherry on top.


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## Jay106n

2broke2ride said:


> Pine, pine, and more pine!! Stove top is at 650 and slowly dropping off, will throw a few more splits in in about an hour. To warm here to burn hardwood, I've gone through about 3/4 cord of pine and less than 1/2 cord of hard wood so far [emoji106]



Same here the pine is great for these chilly but not too cold nights. I am going to stock up on more pine for the future.


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## Ashful

Pine is great for folks who have more time than oak.


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## jb6l6gc

Nothing here right now. Getting enough sun on south of house during day right now.


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## markam

Looking at all-time record highs today and tomorrow.


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## Ashful

markam said:


> Looking at all-time record highs today and tomorrow.


Boo!  Opened the overhead doors on the workshop today, which was nice, but I'd rather be by the stove and looking at snow.

I cut and split some small ash the last hour of daylight, today.  It was so warm, I started sweating, and I wasn't wearing a jacket!


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## Kaptain

Nothing for about a week and won't be until the weekend when it dips below freezing again.


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## Firefighter938

It's 50 degrees, damp and windy in central Indiana. That's good enough for a fire for me. Right now there are two pieces of sycamore, one pine, one hackberry, and one small piece of mulberry for staying power. I've got some silver maple on deck for later tonight if it doesn't get too hot in the house.


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## baseroom

What's in the stove?  My hands as I clean the glass!  It is almost 70 in Lake Effect Snow country!


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## billb3

a pizza box


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## Applesister

billb3 said:


> a pizza box



I cant beat that one.


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## Applesister

I dont know if Id admit to pizza boxes. But the stove is really good for hiding evidence. Lol. No beer bottles though.
That was a good one.


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## BrotherBart




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## billb3

Applesister said:


> I dont know if Id admit to pizza boxes. But the stove is really good for hiding evidence. Lol. No beer bottles though.
> That was a good one.


I'm getting ready for Winter.


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## barmstrong2

Pretty mild here, but, enough of a chill for a fire. Cedar is burning down now with a couple pieces of elm on deck.


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## Burn Time

hamslam42 said:


> So I am a little envious of the stocked wood pantry all you firewood haorders have! Hearing you all talk...it sounds like a cooking show adding different spices to a recipe.  Two splits of oak...a side of cherry, a dash of pine, a sprinkling of apple, and top it off with some maple. Heat to lazy rolling secondaries and enjoy!
> 
> Even if I had that much wood to select from, I don't think I could ever get that organized to be able to pull all those different kinds together for a burn. I do have about 5 cords of wood at the moment, but here's what I have to choose from:
> Ash - seasoned 2 years
> Ash - Seasoned 1 year
> Ash - split/stacked last month
> Ash - stacked in rounds yet to be split
> Ash - in neighbors yard waiting for me to have the time and pick it up for processing
> Ash - standing dead on back of property line waiting for AEP to come through and take it down for me
> 
> Okay...I do have a little bit of pine for variety but other than that, it's 1 ingredient for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert for me!


 Ash.  Here in Wisconsin ash is dying quickly from the ash borer.  Before it was room, killed by the fungus. So, it's whatever is dying.  I hope the white oak survive.  Magnetic trees.


----------



## Firefighter938

More sycamore and silver maple for me tonight. A steady diet of these two woods twice a day.


----------



## Ashful

Got 'em lit again tonight.  Woo hoo!  Mostly ash in both, right now.

Bring on the cold.  I am so tired of mowing the lawn!


----------



## LocustPocust

Ash and BL again tonight. It's the first time in 2 days that I've run the stove. I've long run out of my lesser quality shoulder season wood and from the looks of the forecast, other than some "less warm" weather this weekend I won't need too much of a fire through at least New Years.

The early call is 62 in Christmas Eve, 57 on Christmas Day. Unbelievable!


----------



## Jay106n

Not that cold tonight, but our December summer has ended, for now, and the temps dropped from 50 to 35 in a matter of hours. Plus it is very windy out. Just enough to suck the warm air out of the house and dropped the house to 60 degrees....so after giving the stove a few days off, I fired up a few pine logs for the next few hours.


----------



## firefighterjake

Had some snow yesterday . . . nothing stuck . . . getting cooler. Saving my truly good stuff for later in the year (i.e. oak, beech, etc.), but I have been burning some red maple, cherry, white birch and ash.


----------



## ZZ Tom

I ran the snow thrower at my in-laws house yesterday, 14 inches. Fifteen miles away at my place about 4 inches. Still burning that elm, 26 F outside.


----------



## rippinryno

a mixture of maple and hedge, man you can tell when the hedge is ripping!


----------



## warno

A couple small pieces of hedge and some maple. Supposed to be 26* F after wind chill tonight. Then back up to 40s tomorrow. We are showing high 40s and some 50s for the next week, with 6 days of 60% showers late next week.


----------



## mass_burner

Still working on the ugly bin. Haven't even touched the covered wood shed supply.


----------



## PA. Woodsman

Cold ashes right now.....been so mild here I haven't lit him up in days....


----------



## Jay106n

Its a rainy day and temps outside temps are hovering around 50 degrees. Although not that cold outside, the house temp dropped to 58 degrees around noon, so I fired up the stove. Mostly pine loads with a stick of cherry on each load. The house is now at a nice 70 degrees.


----------



## sen166

For tonight, I'm using a mix of box elder and elm.  It's 32 degrees out right now with a windchill of 22 degrees.  Saving all of that red oak for the when the real cold hits.  Propane pig is still at around 70% and hasn't been filled since the end of last winter!


----------



## Ashful

PA. Woodsman said:


> Cold ashes right now.....been so mild here I haven't lit him up in days....


I loaded both stoves yesterday.  Reloaded one this morning and this evening.  Holding 73-75F first floor, 70F second, 65F third.  It's not that warm out, here!


----------



## Jay106n

Ashful said:


> I loaded both stoves yesterday.  Reloaded one this morning and this evening.  Holding 73-75F first floor, 70F second, 65F third.  It's not that warm out, here!



Exactly! It warm, but not that warm! My house got colder today in 40-50 degree weather than it does when its 20 degrees out!


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

First fire in what seems like a week tonight. The trio for me this fall.....cherry, elm and ash. Got a couple pieces of red oak saved for tomorrow night. Coldest we've been in weeks.


----------



## Firefighter938

Same sycamore and silver maple, but I also threw in a stick of mulberry. I love to hear it pop.


----------



## Trktrd

Pine and Elm


----------



## Cervidae

Burned only my second fire of this winter season last night. Mostly maple. Burned my first ever piece of properly seasoned black locust, and man that was nice. I have about a cord of seasoned black locust for this winter. Should be comfy.


----------



## PA. Woodsman

Up and running again as it finally got cold, burning Maple, Black Locust and Hickory tonight. Tomorrow is supposed to be windy and cold so he'll be rolling then too....then they want 66 degrees for Christmas Eve.

Really?.......


----------



## HisTreeNut

Got some maple, ash, & pine keeping the chill off tonight.


----------



## xman23

Burning my favorite oak, rock and white. Only had a few below freezing nights like this so far this year.


----------



## Firefighter938

I stepped up my game a little tonight.  We are down to 27 so I am burning some red bud and mulberry. In the morning it will be another load of silver maple.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Down to 19 tonight. 74 in the house. 500' stove temp. All too easy with 2yr red oak. Split small and under 20%.


----------



## beatlefan

2 year old elm & 1 year old ash.


----------



## mass_burner

A knarly bush root ball, 2" branch sections, thick bark, splitter shavings. It's a real ugly show ovr 'ere.


----------



## heavy hammer

Had our first really cold night of the year put three odd block sizes of three year old mulberry that just fit in the stove.  Did this a 9 o'clock last night didn't reload stove till 5 this morning because everyone in the house sick, but was still warm around 77 in the room with the stove 73 in the rest of the house.  Got to love really dry wood.


----------



## begreen

2+ year old doug fir so dry you can light a shaggy 6" split with a match and it will take off. Great for quick starting shoulder season fires and quick heat, but burn times are only around 6-8hrs.


----------



## Lakeside

Had my first fire of the season last night, high temps ,low oil and some house construction had me delay this burning season.

I am burning 100 % black birch 2 yr + ( < 15 moisture ) .


----------



## blades

hardwoods- off gassing-- just to be a smart a..


----------



## barmstrong2

Raining and cold here today and I worked a job this morning where I had to lay in that cold rain water. Just got home, got out of the wet clothes, took a hot shower and got the stove fired up. Good bed of coals not and threw on 3 big beech splits. It's feeling pretty good in here.


----------



## Ashful

Loaded both stoves last night.  They're still going, but I'm not reloading them tonight.  It will be 66F tomorrow, and 75F on Christmas Eve.  Thank you, El Nino.


----------



## Jay106n

Mid forties tonight, house was at 60 when I got home. Time for a few more loads of pine.


----------



## mass_burner

Jay106n said:


> Mid forties tonight, house was at 60 when I got home. Time for a few more loads of pine.


House at 60, after a 58d day? Were all your doors/windows open? If so, what was that address again?


----------



## warno

Cold ashes because it's too warm to burn right now. And probably will be for the next week.


----------



## jkbemdavis

So right at the moment my Woodmaster 4400 is slowly smoking away at some ash because it's nearly 60 degrees.  But starting tomorrow I will be burning some apple for the next week or so.  I have several cords of it and love the smell for when family is around.


----------



## Firefighter938

41 degrees when I got off duty this morning. That's cold enough for a fire. Silver maple is rippin', coffee I am sippin', kids are sleepin'. Life is good. 

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone.


----------



## Texan_in_Japan

Burning Japanese Sakura (Cherry). The golf course on base cut one down last year and I scrounged the whole thing,  split it and dried for a year and is keeping us warm tonight as it will be getting down below freezing here


----------



## ZZ Tom

Nothing but cold ashes in my stove right now. The EPA and local "authorities" have a burn restriction in place because our air is starting to look like it might possibly get almost bad enough to violate the standard. It's 8:40 PM and about 12 F outside. Looking to get to 5 F overnight. My furnace is running hard, sure could use a fire.


----------



## kennyp2339

I've got some 14% red oak mixed with some sugar maple over black birch coals.


----------



## TheBigIron

Right now I'm burning honey locust with pieces of black locust filling in the cracks.........


----------



## Firefighter938

Everyone is breaking out the big guns already! It's not too cold in Indiana yet, 40 wet and windy. Silver maple is still heating the house nicely. I have about another weeks worth it to go. 

It splits so nice and dries so fast I'm going to have to get some more.


----------



## TheAardvark

The cold weather has returned. Insert is full of sugar maple again.


----------



## jkbemdavis

White Oak, Ash, Cherry, and a piece of hickory...I'm not picky when I pull it off the woodpile ... and I was in a hurry due to freezing rain, so I just loaded it up for the night and won't worry about it till morning.


----------



## Tom123

Pin oak and cherry. It's in the low 30's outside.  The house is a wonderful 72.


----------



## RIDGERUNNER30

It's been way to warm here in my neck of the woods. flowers coming up in the yard, my grass could use a good cutting. in the 70's past couple of days. never seen nothing like it in my lifetime.


----------



## chopp056

Finally down to at least low 40's today after the heatwave.  Worked out side splitting wood working in the garage in the cool mist, came in grabbed a beer and fired this puppy up


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

Splits of red oak and an eco brick.  Kept the house warm all afternoon and into the present.  About to reload the stove with a full load of hardwood for the night.  We are into the 30's and I want to stay warm until the morning.


----------



## Paulywalnut

Finally cold enough for some well seasoned locust. Real nice!


----------



## mass_burner

Decided to get rid of all the ipe scraps in my basement, loaded up the stove, thought it would be a quick burn. But this stuff burns for a long time, considering it's just small scraps.


----------



## Ashful

Ash in both of mine, right now.  Welcome back, normal seasonal temperatures.


----------



## Ashful

mass_burner said:


> Decided to get rid of all the ipe scraps in my basement, loaded up the stove, thought it would be a quick burn. But this stuff burns for a long time, considering it's just small scraps.


I've done a bit of work with Ipe... never tried burning it.  I can only imagine, as it's just about the hardest wood I have ever worked.  Crazy heavy, in 1x12 x 16' form, too!


----------



## Applesister

Two pieces of aspen, a pin cherry split, a chunk of Red oak and a cereal box.
Its 18° here and snowing.


----------



## Applesister

Ipe? Never heard of it.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Finally cold enough to fire up the beast. Been gone for several days and didn't feel like starting up from scratch in the evenings, but a 57' house temp when I got home tonight has elm, cherry, ash and a beech split cranking away. Looks like burning weather for a week and then we appear to trend up again in Ohio. Only burned just 3/5 of a cord so far. Jan will be a big tell for the rest of winter I think.


----------



## drz1050

Applesister said:


> Ipe? Never heard of it.



Brazilian walnut. Beautiful wood.. I made a cutting board out of it. Very tough stuff.


----------



## blacktail

Odd and ugly chunks of big leaf maple that I got from a tree service ~2 years ago.


----------



## mass_burner

drz1050 said:


> Brazilian walnut. Beautiful wood.. I made a cutting board out of it. Very tough stuff.


It burned real slow, once it turned black, I shut down the air to 10℅ and it just criused along for at least 3+ hrs.  I got a whole day out of one full load and two  refills on hot coals.


----------



## firefighterjake

Dead dinosaurs . . . I'm at work right now so no woodstove . . . although I suspect my wife is burning some sort of hardwood in it right now.


----------



## NJ_Burner08002

Maple I have collected the past year.     Free wood smells best.


----------



## Ashful

drz1050 said:


> Brazilian walnut. Beautiful wood.. I made a cutting board out of it. Very tough stuff.


"Very tough" is a severe understatement.  Not only can you not put screws into it directly, you'll find yourself snapping off drill bits in it, trying to pre-drill for screws.  It's hell on saw blades, too.  Sort of like cutting masonry board on the table saw.


----------



## drz1050

Haha, very true. Sanding that cutting board down took a LONG time (bought it rough cut.) I just throw a little beeswax & oil on it every now and then, and give it a light sanding once a year or so to remove knife marks. I fully expect it to last the rest of my life, easily.

What's in my stove? A mix of black birch, beech and a few envi-blocks. Towards the end of a 14 hr burn now.


----------



## Ashful

I had some scraps of Ipe kicking around the shop forever.  Used them as cribbing when moving machines.  Now you have me wanting to make a cutting board out of one of them, if I can still find 'em.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Was supposed to cool off today. Temperature was around 50 degrees and the house was chilly.
Built a fire of pine & some ash.  Temperature went up to 55 degrees outside and held steady there all day.  Been burning kindling type wood instead...


----------



## Firefighter938

Normal seasonal temps are starting to arrive in central Indiana. Highs in the mid 30's all week. Lows in the 20's and high teens. 

I'm burning a little bit of silver maple and my left over wood from last year that I moved to the house. That's a mix of mulberry and apple wood with a random piece of ash. 

My wife recently started a new job and now works from home. That's good because the stove is always full, but that means our consumption is going up.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Brought a new load into the basement. Had a few thin 1 yr cuttoffs of burr oak. Couldn't resist throwing one in on a pile of hot cherry. Getting some nice secondaries in the 28-3500. Love smelling fresh split burr oak.


----------



## warno

The night load will consist of shorties and weirds tonight. Mostly maple and walnut.


----------



## Firefighter938

Some black cherry and honey locust. I keep going outside just to smell the smoke.


----------



## byQ

It was cold last night, -7 degrees F here in south central Idaho. The Rocky mountains forgot about El Nino. Unfortunately I don't have a house built yet but I have plenty of firewood. So, what would I have burned?

I would have jammed 60 lbs of ash (small cuts) into the masonry heater and let it rip!  And in the evening probably some lodgepole pine to 'recharge' the mass. Maybe next year.


----------



## Stinkpickle

I think the last reload was mostly elm, black locust, and some soft maple to get things rolling.


----------



## mass_burner

Ashful said:


> I had some scraps of Ipe kicking around the shop forever.  Used them as cribbing when moving machines.  Now you have me wanting to make a cutting board out of one of them, if I can still find 'em.


That's why I have the scraps, made a mailbox, post light, patio steps, other small things. The splinters are nasty too.


----------



## Ashful

I did find about 3' of 4/4x10 Ipe, while pulling some 16/4 mahogany off the rack for a project, last night.  A little narrower than I'd like, for a cutting board, but it could work.


----------



## English BoB

Today I'am making ash out of ash.

bob


----------



## Jay106n

Outside temps are dropping like a rock tonight. 13 now, expected to be 5 later in the evening with wind chill  -10ish. Been building a nice coal bed all day. Started the day with pine to take the chill out quick, then built in cherry, a full load of ash, and i just finally dipped into my leftover oak stash from last year, for a cherry/ash/oak mix.


----------



## BrotherBart

We went off the cliff starting last night too. Gonna go down to teens tonight and single digits tomorrow night. Kinda chilly for the Tropics of Virginia. Been feeding my usual diet of red and white oak. There is a reason they call this development in the woods The Oaks. There is a lot of Beech too but The Beeches would have just been too funny.


----------



## jatoxico

BrotherBart said:


> We went off the cliff starting last night too.


Temp dropped  like 10 deg in a half hour or so here and going into the teens too. Tell us more about this house and its many Beeches.


----------



## Jay106n

Millions of Beeches, Beeches for me.
Millions of Beeches, Beeches for free.


----------



## D8Chumley

Red and white oak, ash and hickory for a few days here


----------



## BrotherBart

5.5 acres of Oak with a good number of Beech. There is a huge one with a little smaller one next to is in the middle of the woods. I have always called them Beech and Son of Beech.


----------



## Paulywalnut

Finally got the BL going strong. I still mix in some cherry to keep my stove from melting into a puddle of cast iron


----------



## Ashful

Jay106n said:


> Started the day with pine to take the chill out quick, then built in cherry, a full load of ash, and i just finally dipped into my leftover oak stash from last year, for a cherry/ash/oak mix.


I still don't know how you guys keep your species separated, and manage to have the right thing near the house, when needed.  Everything I split goes into the same stack(s), sits two or three years, and then gets moved to the house 1 cord at a time.  Most of one tree usually stays in the same stack, but I pay absolutely zero attention to which species is in which stack, when moving it to the house or grabbing it for the stove.


----------



## Lakeside

*Black & Black*

Black Locust  & Black Birch that is. Like Jay said temps in CT are falling time to break out the locust.


----------



## ZZ Tom

I've still got the same cold ashes in there from last time I checked in. We're nine days into a solid fuel burn ban with no end in sight. We've had overnight lows in the low singles F with daytime highs approaching 20 F for about a week now. Sure could use some fire.  At least it's warming up some, should only get low 20s F tonight.


----------



## barmstrong2

Starting to feel like winter now. Temp this morning is 3°. Got into a pocket of yellow birch in the woodshed. That's good stuff... once it's processed. Limby, gnarly, hard to split, lots of uglies... but, it sure does burn nice.
So, it's yellow birch and oak for us this morning.


----------



## firefighterjake

Wood . . . plenty of wood. -7 degrees F this morning when I took off for work . . . it's slowly warming up though as the temps were just above zero by the time I rolled into the back parking lot at work.


----------



## kennyp2339

Zero deg this morning, did a load last night at 8pm all oak, weirdly woke up this morning at 2a, did a half load of oak, was walking up there stairs when the fire pager went off for a structure fire next town over, I was up so I ran out the door, got home at 6am took a shower, did another full load of oak and went to work, the nice thing is that my house hasn't slipped below 68deg. Suppose to go down to -5 tonight, not as windy though.


----------



## D8Chumley

Ashful said:


> I still don't know how you guys keep your species separated, and manage to have the right thing near the house, when needed.  Everything I split goes into the same stack(s), sits two or three years, and then gets moved to the house 1 cord at a time.  Most of one tree usually stays in the same stack, but I pay absolutely zero attention to which species is in which stack, when moving it to the house or grabbing it for the stove.


A little OCD, room for it and when I split most of it I had time to do it in the Spring


----------



## Pellet_Pete

A load of 5-year-old apple lighting off - left to me by a friend who moved to Oregon 2 yrs ago - kept under cover the whole time!  I have a few stoveloads-worth of BL in the basement I measured at 12% MC - I'm too much of a rookie to dare burn it yet!


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

Ashful said:


> I still don't know how you guys keep your species separated, and manage to have the right thing near the house, when needed.  Everything I split goes into the same stack(s), sits two or three years, and then gets moved to the house 1 cord at a time.  Most of one tree usually stays in the same stack, but I pay absolutely zero attention to which species is in which stack, when moving it to the house or grabbing it for the stove.


I have to agree here.  While I can differentiate what species are within a stack, I keep the wood piles very democratic.  Everything is mixed all together from start to finish.


----------



## baseroom

Cold few days here.  Cherry Apple Ash and Silver Maple are combining to keep us warm and happy.  The IR is chugging along happily at 450.


----------



## Jay106n

Ashful said:


> I still don't know how you guys keep your species separated, and manage to have the right thing near the house, when needed.  Everything I split goes into the same stack(s), sits two or three years, and then gets moved to the house 1 cord at a time.  Most of one tree usually stays in the same stack, but I pay absolutely zero attention to which species is in which stack, when moving it to the house or grabbing it for the stove.



I currently have 4 separate stacks in my basement: Pine, Oak, Cherry, and Ash.
Outside I have 2 stacks of ash, 1 stack of cherry, 1 stack of pine, 1 large stack of oak, and a mixed bag stack of maples, oak, and black birch picked up from scrounges. So overall I do keep it somewhat organized.


----------



## English BoB

After all these years of burning and admittedly not knowing what I was really doing, Things have changed a hundred fold since being here this is just one of many examples :
Always burned oak. Oak is oak is oak.
Tonight despite the stacks of oak I switched to ash and elm to bring the house up to temp, will go to overnight with oak.

Never used to think other options were available, oak is king right .

If you think education is expensive..........try ignorance ............some one said that and were right.

Happy burning season and a happy new year.

Thanks to everyone who contributes to this forum.

English Bob


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

I have some sort of oak in tonight. Only had a half dozen small logs of it and didn't even remember it until I dug it out of the shed yesterday. I have some red, white, burr and swamp still drying, but this is different. Only way I know its oak is becuase of the rays and smell. Whatever it is, it burns hot/long - 8F last night, 70's still in a.m. Post a pic maybe later. As far as separating stacks I organize by btu's - top shelf heat - bread n butter - fire starters/shoulder season. All the stuff in each stack takes similar seasoning time that way too.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Ashful said:


> I still don't know how you guys keep your species separated, and manage to have the right thing near the house, when needed.  Everything I split goes into the same stack(s), sits two or three years, and then gets moved to the house 1 cord at a time.  Most of one tree usually stays in the same stack, but I pay absolutely zero attention to which species is in which stack, when moving it to the house or grabbing it for the stove.


I pick up most of my wood from a tree service that cuts and splits an entire tree at a time, so each load i pick up and stack is from the same tree.  It's handy, and because i get it green, i know exactly how long it's been seasoning.
BTW,  I have soft maple and ash in the stove right now.


----------



## PDXpyro

It's interesting how many members who live in climates with winters much *colder* than ours have stated that they haven't burned much of anything until relatively recently.  

We've pretty much had the stove going during daytime since Oct. 1st.  This isn't a truly cold climate, but it's a cloudy, damp and extremely "chilly* one.  Not much incidental solar heat here over the fall and winter.  

Still burning up the ultra-dry Doug fir that wasn't soaked by our recent floods, and now going overnight by supplementing that with BL, oak and Bradford pear.


----------



## Builderml

First year burning and been about 90% PIne and Spruce with a few pieces of hard maple on top for the nightly burn. Like i said its my first year so i'm burning what i have. Those logs you see in my picture are of softwood. I will say i really like the spruce over the pine.


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

Builderml said:


> First year burning and been about 90% PIne and Spruce with a few pieces of hard maple on top for the nightly burn. Like i said its my first year so i'm burning what i have. Those logs you see in my picture are of softwood. I will say i really like the spruce over the pine.


There is nothing wrong with pine and spruce.  If this is your first year burning, I'm assuming you are new to this whole process.  Folks will give you all sorts of talk about why pine is not a good wood to burn.  This is absolutely false and most on this forum would agree.  If it is seasoned, and appropriately dry, just like any other wood, it will burn cleanly and throw good heat.  There is more resin in pine but that does not equate to more creosote in the chimney.

Pine and spruce will burn faster than hardwoods but there is no substitute when you are trying to quickly burn the cool temperatures off of a room and aren't concerned about the longest possible fire.  My advice is to mix your wood and absolutely include some pine and spruce in the years to follow.


----------



## Ashful

CentralVAWoodHeat said:


> Folks will give you all sorts of talk about why pine is not a good wood to burn.  This is absolutely false and most on this forum would agree.  If it is seasoned, and appropriately dry, just like any other wood, it will burn cleanly...


All true.



CentralVAWoodHeat said:


> ... and throw good heat.


bullshit!  Oak splits just as fast as pine, but provides twice the heat.  THIS is the problem with pine, for anyone who doesn't have infinite hours to spend splitting and stacking fire wood.


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

Ashful said:


> All true.
> 
> 
> bullshit!  Oak splits just as fast as pine, but provides twice the heat.  THIS is the problem with pine, for anyone who doesn't have infinite hours to spend splitting and stacking fire wood.


I'm sorry to cause such a strong negative response.  Maybe I can be more accurate with my statement.  By 'good' heat I mean they make a hot fire and will warm your stove.  I was not comparing their exact BTU output versus time to any other species.


----------



## dieselguy624

Lots of ash, some red oak & cherry here in central PA keeping the soap stone hot!


----------



## Builderml

Ashful said:


> All true.
> 
> 
> bullshit!  Oak splits just as fast as pine, but provides twice the heat.  THIS is the problem with pine, for anyone who doesn't have infinite hours to spend splitting and stacking fire wood.


----------



## Builderml

Ashful said:


> All true.
> 
> 
> bullshit!  Oak splits just as fast as pine, but provides twice the heat.  THIS is the problem with pine, for anyone who doesn't have infinite hours to spend splitting and stacking fire wood.


The reason I have so much softwood is that the tree guy I am set up with delivers it to me in log lengths for free, while I may need to split and stack more, I prefer to do that over having to chase wood down all over,  buck the logs, deal with brush. I think I have a pretty nice deal going, while pine is 40% less btu compared to oak I figure I am doing 50% less work.


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

Builderml said:


> The reason I have so much softwood is that the tree guy I am set up with delivers it to me in log lengths for free, while I may need to split and stack more, I prefer to do that over having to chase wood down all over,  buck the logs, deal with brush. I think I have a pretty nice deal going, while pine is 40% less btu compared to oak I figure I am doing 50% less work.


Sounds like a great deal to me.  I would take that deal any day even though we have lots of property full of trees.  I would be very grateful for a truckload of logs dumped in one of my fields so I could cut them to length and stack them and avoid having to fell, limb, and move them out of the woods.  The species wouldn't really matter much at that point.


----------



## Firefighter938

Right now is honey locust. Tonight for bed will be a few big splits of crab apple.


----------



## Builderml

CentralVAWoodHeat said:


> Sounds like a great deal to me.  I would take that deal any day even though we have lots of property full of trees.  I would be very grateful for a truckload of logs dumped in one of my fields so I could cut them to length and stack them and avoid having to fell, limb, and move them out of the woods.  The species wouldn't really matter much at that point.


That's what I figure, I have plenty of trees I could take down, now all I do is just try to keep my woods clean and that gives me my hardwood. I should be truthful I do give him a 12 pack or a nice bottle of wine when I do catch him dropping some logs off.
  Tonight in the tundra its once again pine with maple splits and a walnut round.


----------



## Ashful

CentralVAWoodHeat said:


> I'm sorry to cause such a strong negative response.  Maybe I can be more accurate with my statement.  By 'good' heat I mean they make a hot fire and will warm your stove.  I was not comparing their exact BTU output versus time to any other species.


lol... that wasn't a strong negative response!    But I do wonder about anyone who lives in the mid-Atlantic region, heats with wood, and can find time for pine.  We have more oak and ash trees laying on the ground from the last five years of big storms (2011 Irene, 2011 Halloween snow, 2012 Sandy, 2013 and 2015 ice storms, etc.), than the entire wood-burning population of eastern PA can burn before it rots.  So, why would you ever waste a second splitting pine?


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

Ashful said:


> lol... that wasn't a strong negative response!    But I do wonder about anyone who lives in the mid-Atlantic region, heats with wood, and can find time for pine.  We have more oak and ash trees laying on the ground from the last five years of big storms (2011 Irene, 2011 Halloween snow, 2012 Sandy, 2013 and 2015 ice storms, etc.), than the entire wood-burning population of eastern PA can burn before it rots.  So, why would you ever waste a second splitting pine?


I see where you're coming from.  We have lots of room to store wood so space isn't an issue.  I also own the road into and out of our property which routinely has pine trees down across it from storms.  When they fall, I cut them up and stack them for firewood.  I can definitely see how you wouldn't want to make room for too much pine if space/time were a serious concern.


----------



## JathanLFL

cottonwood


----------



## Applesister

Firefighter938 said:


> Right now is honey locust. Tonight for bed will be a few big splits of crab apple.


That sounds like a nice gourmet mix. 
A winter pleasure mix. Like cranberries and balsam.


----------



## Applesister

I just ran out of Cottonwood.


----------



## Lakeside

Firefighter938 said:


> Right now is honey locust. Tonight for bed will be a few big splits of crab apple.


How did that crap apple split ?  I ran some thru my supersplit a while back and it required 3 or more hits to split tough stuff.


----------



## Firefighter938

Lakeside said:


> How did that crap apple split ?  I ran some thru my supersplit a while back and it required 3 or more hits to split tough stuff.


I split it with my Fiskars and it had sat for over a year in the round. It was tough stuff. Next time I will try it green. 

Yesterday I split some black cherry that was standing dead for several years. That was hard as a dickens too.

Almost 50 in Indiana. No fire tonight.


----------



## Pennsyltucky Chris

It's 32 here. Mid 40s today, so I started the fire this evening, pine, poplar and elm. Just taking the chill out for now, and I'll pack it up with more elm before bed. Going up to like 47 tomorrow, so I'll probably be able to avoid burning again until tomorrow night. It's amazing that Im only down about 3/4 a cord this season. I put aside 4-4.5 cords a year. It's looking promising that I can stretch my supply and burn less than anticipated.


----------



## Pennsyltucky Chris

Ashful said:


> lol... that wasn't a strong negative response!    But I do wonder about anyone who lives in the mid-Atlantic region, heats with wood, and can find time for pine.  We have more oak and ash trees laying on the ground from the last five years of big storms (2011 Irene, 2011 Halloween snow, 2012 Sandy, 2013 and 2015 ice storms, etc.), than the entire wood-burning population of eastern PA can burn before it rots.  So, why would you ever waste a second splitting pine?



I get a ton of free pine. It does split faster than oak. It is  so much lighter than oak, it is more manageable on the splitter. Oak is heavy, especially a 28" round that is 16' long. Those things way 200+ lbs.The same round of Scotch pine is like maybe 50lbs. I use poplar too. My house doesn't require oak when it's not 25 degrees. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty. Plenty of Ash too. Black Locust. Beech. Hickory. And cords of Red Oak. But I can save them for another year if I can burn lighter stuff as much as nature allows me.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Dipping down to zero, so the stove is filled with oak and hackberry.


----------



## toddnic

Seasoned red oak!! It will burn all night long


----------



## toddnic

Pennsyltucky Chris said:


> I get a ton of free pine. It does split faster than oak. It is  so much lighter than oak, it is more manageable on the splitter. Oak is heavy, especially a 28" round that is 16' long. Those things way 200+ lbs.The same round of Scotch pine is like maybe 50lbs. I use poplar too. My house doesn't require oak when it's not 25 degrees. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty. Plenty of Ash too. Black Locust. Beech. Hickory. And cords of Red Oak. But I can save them for another year if I can burn lighter stuff as much as nature allows me.


 I burn pine and hemlock as well! I've got a lot of red and white oak but the pine is easy for the shoulder season and provides a quick, hot fire. Sometimes if I have a cold stove I find that it is quicker to get it up to temp with the seasoned pine or hemlock and then add the hardwoods afterwards.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Ash, elm and cherry with a split of bur oak and what I think is shingle oak. My last two splits of the good stuff that accidentally got mixed in with shoulder wood. We just burned through our first chord and still have another  before I can get to my stash of oak. So much for my organization theory. Guess we'll be burning a little more of the lighter stuff to keep temps up in the house.


----------



## Firefighter938

Last night we dropped to 10*F. I was on duty, but I told my wife where the locust and some big mulberry rounds were stashed.

Edit: She did well! I got home around 7am and there were still some hot coals in the stove. Not bad for a smoke dragon. Cruising along now with a small split of pine, a piece of silver maple, a dash of honey locust, a sprinkling of Hackberry, one small piece of mulberry, and one Gren brick from Rural King. Last years left over wood is almost gone. I have just barely broke into this years wood. I am kind of looking forward to the cold snap just so I can get my stove cruising. I may regret saying that.

Editx2: I should add, last years left overs were originally scheduled for this year but I ran out and had to move them from my parents house to mine to finish the year off.


----------



## mwhitnee

Still burning some good/messy punky cherry with an occasional not so seasoned piece of Norway maple but I'm not complaining. It heats the entire house and I have a vacuum! My new BK is not as finicky at people were saying...

I'm gonna keep saying it, I have at least 2 cords of hickory for next year and I can't wait to burn it!


----------



## Firefighter938

A steady diet of honey locust is heating the house nicely. Our wood consumption really sky rocketed the last couple of days. I was letting the coals burn down considerably, just keeping enough for an easy relight, just a week ago. Now I am chucking splits into my smoke dragon every 3hrs when I'm home.


----------



## rippinryno

burning hedge more and more as the weather drops.  going to be 7 degrees at 5pm and i've got a motor to work on....hedge it is.


----------



## Dobish

Box elder, cedar, 2x4 scraps, some sticks and twigs, and some russian olive... I can't for more seasoned wood!


----------



## blacktail

Paper birch. I had already burned a bunch of it from one of my racks out front, and decided to move the remainder yesterday to make room for new wood. A few arm loads of the birch went in another stack, and a few went on the deck by the back door.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

I dug out the oak and found a small pile of black locust I forgot about. Cherry, ash, red oak and bl is keeping the house 71' when its 4' outside. Propane doesn't even compare when its like this. Gotta love wood heat.


----------



## LocustPocust

Got Black Locust and Cottonwood in tonight.. odd combination I know. 1 piece of BL plus 2 of Cottonwood has my  living room at 74 vs 19 outside. 

The other day I was scrounging and found some boxelder and hard maple dumped off. I try to keep my wood separate.. so even though I did have room for this new wood I didn't have room. One of my BL tiers aren't empty yet thanks to this warm winter, and one of my "everything but BL but not junk" tiers aren't empty yet, and I refilled one of my junk tiers around Christmas.. so I took some Cottonwood that I CSS in July out of one of my junk tiers and put the new stuff there for now. Of course I could have just piled up the new stuff for now but I guess like many here I'm kind of OCD about this and it MUST be under cover at all times. 

Too much wood... what a nice problem to have.


----------



## baysideburner

LocustPocust said:
			
		

> Got Black Locust and Cottonwood in tonight.. odd combination I know. 1 piece of BL plus 2 of Cottonwood has my  living room at 74 vs 19 outside.
> 
> The other day I was scrounging and found some boxelder and hard maple dumped off. I try to keep my wood separate.. so even though I did have room for this new wood I didn't have room. One of my BL tiers aren't empty yet thanks to this warm winter, and one of my "everything but BL but not junk" tiers aren't empty yet, and I refilled one of my junk tiers around Christmas.. so I took some Cottonwood that I CSS in July out of one of my junk tiers and put the new stuff there for now. Of course I could have just piled up the new stuff for now but I guess like many here I'm kind of OCD about this and it MUST be under cover at all times.
> 
> Too much wood... what a nice problem to have.


Just some good old two year old perfect length nice and square red and white oak. This is the best my hampton has ever performed


----------



## Ashful

This may be the least interesting subject ever posted on an internet forum, but I can't stop watching it.

Don't let any prospective mates or employers see you watching a thread on what sort of wood others have loaded in their stoves... they just won't understand.


----------



## Pennsyltucky Chris

It's 17 out right now. I've Been throwing in Ash, Red Oak and a few splits of Elm throughout the day. It's about 73 inside. Nice and comfy.


----------



## HisTreeNut

BrotherBart said:


> We went off the cliff starting last night too. Gonna go down to teens tonight and single digits tomorrow night. Kinda chilly for the Tropics of Virginia. Been feeding my usual diet of red and white oak. There is a reason they call this development in the woods The Oaks. There is a lot of Beech too but The Beeches would have just been too funny.


That would have been a good name..then you could have said you lived in the "Virginia Beeches."

That being said in the low teens & burning a mix of some birch, maple, & oak.


----------



## Firefighter938

Ashful said:


> This may be the least interesting subject ever posted on an internet forum, but I can't stop watching it.
> 
> Don't let any prospective mates or employers see you watching a thread on what sort of wood others have loaded in their stoves... they just won't understand.



Luckily one of my coworkers is also a forum member/lurker so he understands. 

Still a steady diet of honey locust for me with the occasional silver maple or dog wood. 24/7 burning here now, and that is a lot of work with the old smokey!


----------



## ChadD

Ashes...burning oil while its cheap and saving my wood.


----------



## PDXpyro

I like to run at least 1/3 softwood even in our coldest weather, to keep the hardwoods lively and help with quick restarts.  Currently burning off the last of the doug fir that didn't get soaked by our recent floods, in which 2 cords of our bone-dry wood ended up floating.

Unfortunately, most of that low-lying wood that's now floodwater-soaked was the dry fir, and I'm gonna be stuck with too much dry hardwood in the upcoming shoulder season.  I know: not *really* a serious issue, and many burners would kill to have this "problem."  But annoying anyway.

(Added edit)  Actually, the real problem here is the hassle of gathering up all of that wood that got flood-scattered randomly around the yard, restacking it, and then having to wait an extra year after I'd planned to burn it.  As an added bonus, much of that formerly clean wood has a nice coating of slimy, silty mud.


----------



## Blowingsmokeupyourchimney

The past few weeks temperatures have been going up and down, this weekend will be below zero degrees F for highs and lows. Last cold spell was -25 F for a few morning lows.  I am burning cottonwood in my wood furnace and stove has enough coals to get going in the morning.  Siberian Elm is my favorite wood to burn.


----------



## Jay106n

Yep temps have still be a roller coaster. Some days warm, some frigid. I still have not begun to do true 24/7 burns yet. Mostly spot evening fires and let them burn out overnight. I have only used oak on one burn when it was -15 out. Still pushing the pine/cherry/ash mix for most fires.


----------



## Firefighter938

3* this morning. I woke up at 2am to reload the fire with black locust. Now I have a load of hard maple burning. I'm home all day today with my two youngest so the stove is going to get a workout.


----------



## warno

Burning a grab bag of wood today. Little poplar, walnut, about 1/3 of an oak 12 X 12 X 24, and a little of "I'm not sure what it is, but it's wood" wood. Temps in the single digits today, I'm hoping the piece of 12 X 12 goes for awhile.


----------



## Blowingsmokeupyourchimney

I did some firewood cutting and I had to quit. I didn't understand why I was so cold, this was at 4:30 pm at my home January 16th 2016. Most certainly, people the most passionate about burning wood, are those who are the coldest (at least outside, not in their homes).


----------



## barmstrong2

White birch/elm.


----------



## Diabel

I can not remember what my last load consisted of but the outcome is this!!


----------



## Ashful

Blowingsmokeupyourchimney said:


> View attachment 172369
> View attachment 172368


Not exactly bikini weather.  You must wonder about the conditions that had folks settling that part of the world, in the days before central heating and electricity.


----------



## Blowingsmokeupyourchimney

Ashful said:


> Not exactly bikini weather.  You must wonder about the conditions that had folks settling that part of the world, in the days before central heating and electricity.



They burned a lot of corn cobs and cow patties.  And they were pretty cold, too.


----------



## Jay106n

Came home to a freezing cold house. 15 outside with negative wind chill. Fired up the tank with pine kindle, followed by a cherry, and ash load. Eyeballing the oak for the next load.


----------



## LocustPocust

11 outside, 72 inside. Got Black Locust and Sugar Maple in the stove crankin' away. I had to turn the damper down because it was getting a bit carried away. Cold, Clear night, rising barometric pressure, the draft is excellent.


----------



## Pennsyltucky Chris

18 degrees out. 2 pieces of Ash, 1 Beech, 1 Red Oak. 

Also, a warm and happy wife, and a blue nose pitbull who is in heaven.


----------



## Ashful

Another two full loads of oak and ash tonight.  Have never tried Beech!


----------



## Pennsyltucky Chris

Ashful said:


> Another two full loads of oak and ash tonight.  Have never tried Beech!



You'd love it. Splits easy, at least in my opinion. Splits even easier with my DHT 27 ton. Dries great in 2 summers. 28M BTU a cord, I think? And it leaves almost no mess.My only problem with it is that I don't have enough. 

In fact, I split a really large "overnighter" that I split originally in March. I'm talking a huge split. I kept it in my laundry room for a few hours so it would be room temp and give me an accurate reading. I checked in 3 spots. 1 was 20.1%. Another was just over 21% The third test was 20.8% I believe. I single stack in the sun, so it helps, but that's fast seasoning for such a quality wood.


----------



## drz1050

I've split a lot of beech this year, looking forward to burning it once that day comes. 

Some rounds split easy, some twisted ones would swallow my wedge and laugh at me. Really depends on the tree. Tougher to split than oak/ maple, easier than elm.


----------



## Firefighter938

Honey locust right now, then hard maple. 

I don't get much beech, but there is a very large one down in a field next to my cutting area. I'm going to try and get my hands on it. It would be very easy access. Can drive right to it.


----------



## Jay106n

Full load of ash tonight. Even with the temps in the teens, I've pretty much been doing evening spot fires and relying mostly on oil. I just filled my tank at $1.25/gal. 150 gallons was $190, cheaper than buying a cord of wood right now. Although, I do have a decent amount of free wood....tough call at this point.


----------



## Firefighter938

Hard maple is warming our house today. We are burning 24/7 here.


----------



## David.Ervin

The Quad 4300 got one huge split of hedge and one huge split of white oak.  Gonna go lock the air down and be toasty for a while


----------



## Flame On

Enough coals from last night's ash to get some maple splits going this morning. Now I'm back to ash. Good thing too, cause I gotta warm myself from the 14 inches of snow I just cleared. Got to the bottom of the driveway, turned around and saw another inch had fallen in the meantime.


----------



## Ashful

Oak shorts and uglies... that's what I burn on the weekends, saving the nice straight and long stuff for long weekday burns.


----------



## Firefighter938

Hard maple with the occasional cherry split.m


----------



## Stinkpickle

I seemed to have pulled a lot of walnut out of the stacks last night, so i guess that's what is getting burned this weekend.


----------



## Jay106n

Had my 1st true overnight burn last night. Fully loaded her at 3am with ash and cherry, still burning at noon. Easy reload of ash, cherry, oak, and maple combo for the snow storm.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Burning the last of my cherry and elm mix, with ash. Finally went through the two chords in the shed by the house. Gonna fill it back up this week, but my only dry stuff left is ash. May have to cherry pic some small splits.of the fun stuff from my other stacks to keep it interesting.


----------



## StihlKicking

Cherry bark oak and mockernut hickory


----------



## Pennsyltucky Chris

Ash and Red Oak shorts and uglies.Probably will do the same for the overnight pack. Going down to 10 tonight,


----------



## Firefighter938

It warmed up in Indiana. Mid 30's today and going to hit 40, maybe 50 next week. House is very warm too. Burned some ash limb wood, hard maple, and now two nice sized white pine splits are burning on the coals. I will pack the stove with honey locust when I go to bed.


----------



## Stinkpickle

I just loaded up more walnat and ash.


----------



## Blowingsmokeupyourchimney

...First time I can think of for this wood, I been loading cedar in my wood furnace.  It burns good, no popping/sparks jumping like I have heard about other "evergreen, spruce, cedar" types of types of wood.  I have been looking at the pile of russian olive and think it is going to be next.  Burning 24/7 in winter, wood is main heat.


----------



## husky345 vermont resolute

I'm burning ash right now


----------



## Jay106n

Got home and checked out my firebox, box was cold, full of ash from yesterdays burn, I raked up the leftover coals, to find numerous hot coals burried in the mix from a burn 24 hours ago (front air intakes were left open and damper was left at half damp). I tossed piece of pine in and it lit up right away lol. I love the All Nighter  Topped off the pine with a few cherries and ash piece and off she goes.


----------



## blades

As of right now ashes and a few coals


----------



## DougA

Today it's sunny and warm and I'm burning as much of my 5 to 6" Staghorn Sumac as I can.  The smaller stuff goes in the brush pile but I might as well get some heat out of a bush! Amazing how a bush can grow to 20 ft.


----------



## firefighterjake

DougA said:


> Today it's sunny and warm and I'm burning as much of my 5 to 6" Staghorn Sumac as I can.  The smaller stuff goes in the brush pile but I might as well get some heat out of a bush! Amazing how a bush can grow to 20 ft.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 173160



For some reason my wife absolutely detests staghorn sumac . . . she wanted any and all sumac cut off the property . . . says it looks like a big, gangly weed to her. I tried to tell her we could make a drink that tastes like lemonade from the flowers, but she wasn't having any of that . . .


----------



## Oldman47

DougA said:


> Today it's sunny and warm and I'm burning as much of my 5 to 6" Staghorn Sumac as I can.  The smaller stuff goes in the brush pile but I might as well get some heat out of a bush! Amazing how a bush can grow to 20 ft.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 173160


That looks a bit too green to me.


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

Tulip poplar that is near to paper in moisture content along with some hickory.

My wife had the house at 78 when I got home.


----------



## Pennsyltucky Chris

After the weekend I just had, I'm giving the ol' dragon a night off. It's currently 41, which is obviously nice and mild for an evening in late January. I should probably give the chimney a sweep out, too.


----------



## heavy hammer

Three big blocks of mulberry, getting the blue flames off the secondaries it's an awesome site.  Feels good with temps falling again.


----------



## LocustPocust

Sugar Maple and Plum. Hotter than the blue blazes of hell.

I've never burned Plum before until tonight and I can say I'm real impressed with it. It flames a little and then glows for 20 minutes until It finally burns and burns hot and long. I only got a little bit from a storm damaged tree this past June but I'd love to get more.


----------



## Ashful

Pennsyltucky Chris said:


> After the weekend I just had, I'm giving the ol' dragon a night off. It's currently 41, which is obviously nice and mild for an evening in late January. I should probably give clean the chimney a sweep out, too.


Was out running around the neighborhood at 10:30pm on my tractor tonight, running some radiator flush fluid up to temperature, and then doing a hot oil change.  Didn't even need a jacket over my sweatshirt!

Yes, I know... "every neighborhood has one, in mine I'm it."


----------



## Pennsyltucky Chris

Ashful said:


> Was out running around the neighborhood at 10:30pm on my tractor tonight, running some radiator flush fluid up to temperature, and then doing a hot oil change.  Didn't even need a jacket over my sweatshirt!
> 
> Yes, I know... "every neighborhood has one, in mine I'm it."



I'm the local polar bear.


----------



## Diabel

Couple of these this evening


----------



## Firefighter938

Diabel said:


> View attachment 173353
> 
> 
> Couple of these this evening



That looks a little green to burn.


----------



## Firefighter938

Started into a stack of black walnut. I know some don't care for it but I really like it. It smells great IMHO, doesn't leave a boat load of coals, and produces a lot of heat. Ashes are a bit much, but I can deal with that.


----------



## heavy hammer

What is that you are burning Diabel looks great.


----------



## ajazz

2x4s that I get free locally. I don't have any seasoned wood for this year so the 2x4s are working great. [emoji3]


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Nothing but ash for me ........... for now at least. Started burning wood from a 36" dbh dead standing ash I felled in early Sept. Dead for a couple yrs. Split farely small and stacked covered in the open. The top half was ready when I cut it. The trunk ranged from 25 - 35%. The wettest splits are 20-25%, but that's only about 1/4 of it. The rest is good, so I'll mix a split or two in with the dryer stuff and burn hot with this batch. Next two yrs are already drying so this is my last one to deal with moisture. Full load going good now.


----------



## Diabel

heavy hammer said:


> What is that you are burning Diabel looks great.


Cherry my friend. It looks great, smells even better. On the BTU chart it is a perfect day/evening stash.


----------



## Ashful

I skipped loading a stove this morning, for the first time in weeks.  I have two loads left at the house, which must last me till Saturday.  That's when I'll be chaining up all four corners of the Deere MFWD, and venturing down the hill to the wood lot for more!


----------



## heavy hammer

Awesome have some cherry that has been seasoning for over a year should be ready for next year can't wait


----------



## heavy hammer

Awesome have some cherry that has been seasoning for over a year should be ready for next year can't wait


----------



## Firefighter938

heavy hammer said:


> Awesome have some cherry that has been seasoning for over a year should be ready for next year can't wait



It should be ready now. Cherry seasons fairly quickly.


----------



## Firefighter938

heavy hammer said:


> Awesome have some cherry that has been seasoning for over a year should be ready for next year can't wait



It may be ready right now. Cherry seasons quickly.


----------



## heavy hammer

I do agree but I have more than enough wood at the house.  That's why I'm saving for next year been burning three year locust hickory and beech on the cold days.  Then using maple and cedar on the slightly warmer days.  Just putting it off for the coming burning years.


----------



## heavy hammer

I do agree but I have more than enough wood at the house.  That's why I'm saving for next year been burning three year locust hickory and beech on the cold days.  Then using maple and cedar on the slightly warmer days.  Just putting it off for the coming burning years.


----------



## Ashful

Us everyone else seeing duplicate posts from heavy hammer and Firefighter938?


----------



## Ashful

Is everyone else seeing duplicate posts from heavy hammer and Firefighter938?


----------



## Ashful

Is everyone else seeing duplicate posts from heavy hammer and Firefighter938?


----------



## Jay106n

I'm seeing double


----------



## webfish

We have a server issue going on so that is why it is flaky. Sorry, working on it.


----------



## webfish

We have a server issue going on so that is why it is flaky. Sorry, working on it.


----------



## Jay106n

Thanks Webfish! Mine posted double too lol


----------



## heavy hammer

I have been having issues with the forum tonight thought it was just me.


----------



## Ashful

Looks like it's fixed, if the last two posts mean anything.


----------



## Stinkpickle

I just loaded some ash and walnut before finishing this vodka and heading to the bar.


----------



## Jay106n

Full load of ash tonight.


----------



## StihlKicking

Nothing in mine tonight as it suddenly feels like summer today!


----------



## Diabel

This has been a great winter in terms of burning so far! Softwood had been on the menu 90% of the time.
Let the stove go cold overnight. NG is soooo cheap these days.

Yeah, I could not post at all last night. All good now thank you mods.


----------



## mass_burner

Last night burnt off all my remaining bark. Finally emptied the ugly/short bin, this has been my almost exclusive wood source this winter!


----------



## Firefighter938

Put some odds and ends in the stove this morning. Going to be in the mid 40's again today so I will let the stove go cold again. I am liking this weather.


----------



## Ashful

Loaded both stoves with white oak today.  Going to be mid-50's today, which just means the boiler will run less.


----------



## baseroom

Ash, Silver maple and some Cherry.........sitting next to the cold IR.......just waiting for the temps to drop again so they can jump in!


----------



## Highbeam

Packed full of red alder, three years seasoned, and stove idling as low as possible.


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

Nothing.  It has been in the 60's now for two days.  Is Spring coming or is this the calm before a late, cold winter?


----------



## Stinkpickle

The temps outside are starting to drop again ahead of tomorrow's snow, so I'm firing up some more walnut before bed.  I guess I didn't realize I had so walnut in my mix piles.  It's been three years since I stacked them, though.


----------



## warno

A few pieces of oak left from last night's burn, damn warm weather makes it hard to judge, some mediocre catalpa, with some 4 year old little pieces stuffed in the cracks. Temps are slowing creeping back down, but the wind is supposed to be crazy today.


----------



## Ashful

Same here.  What I loaded two nights ago is now fizzling out in one stove, and what I loaded yesterday morning still going strong in the other.  Rain and an absurd 65F today, so no fresh wood in the stoves today.


----------



## Applesister

Red maple


----------



## MI wood guy

had my stacks planned out for winter being normal not in the 40's.no fuel in the furnace so unfortunately im wasting red oak in my stove right now.keeping it pretty choked down,still plenty warm in the house.
went through all my pre winter shoulder wood,have some shoulder wood waiting for early spring also.


----------



## barmstrong2

Oak and white birch. The animals know the best place for a nap.


----------



## HighCountry

A mix of pinion pine and juniper, as that is all that is around here in New Mexico.  Burns fast-ish and hot, but smells great!


----------



## Seasoned Oak

Junk mail, When its burning its pine during the day and oak overnight.


----------



## Firefighter938

Hard maple and honey locust. Almost out of honey locust, only a couple of days left. Then I have some black cherry and sycamore to mix with maple.


----------



## barmstrong2

Loaded up with small birch and cherry rounds... biscuit wood!


----------



## Riff

Silver maple, just burning the last couple of hours to take the chill out of the air and keep the pregnant one warm. She gets the crap kicked out of her if the kid feels cold. 

Looks like I'll need to break out the better stuff again early next week.


----------



## Clydeburner

Ash lots of ash, stove is still 80° and house I'd comfy. It's been burning down since yesterday, been warm. 
Maybe get her up again  tomorrow


----------



## Ashful

Both stoves going again tonight.  Oak and sassafras.  17" long splits, with 3" off-cuts piled on top.  Damn, I'll be glad when I'm done with this 20" wood.  About 12 cords left, I think.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Hackberry and elm tonight.


----------



## Trochilids

White birch working to coals...  Need to reload the woodbox!


----------



## St. Coemgen

Black Locust yesterday. Black Locust today. Black Locust tomorrow.

I did quite a bit of trimming in our orchards last winter and this winter, including cherry, plumb, chestnut, walnut, almond, oak, mulberry, apple, and pear. But will not use until next winter because I still have plenty of seasoned... wait for it.... Black Locust.


----------



## Firefighter938

A steady diet of hard maple. I have some black walnut I'm going to move up to the house just to change things up a bit and maybe save some of the maple for next year.


----------



## Applesister

St. Coemgen said:


> Black Locust yesterday. Black Locust today. Black Locust tomorrow.
> 
> I did quite a bit of trimming in our orchards last winter and this winter, including cherry, plumb, chestnut, walnut, almond, oak, mulberry, apple, and pear. But will not use until next winter because I still have plenty of seasoned... wait for it.... Black Locust.


Are you burning Black locust exported from the states or does Hungary have its own species? Is it considered an invasive weed there?
I know as soon as the Americas were discovered colonists started exporting locust.
And what type of Chestnut do you refer to? Chinese?


----------



## Applesister

I got into some sugar maple last night, it wasn't ready for last winter (after 1 yr seasoning) So it went back in the stacks for this year.
It's still leaving dark residue on inside of stove when I turn air down.
Burns fine if I keep stove temps up.
Still surprising though, 3 years cut down this October. 
3 year Oak burns beautiful. Maybe 3 yrs is the charm for Sugar maple?


----------



## St. Coemgen

Applesister said:


> Are you burning Black locust exported from the states or does Hungary have its own species? Is it considered an invasive weed there?
> I know as soon as the Americas were discovered colonists started exporting locust.



Well... I will give two answers (almost nothing here is simple or normal):

1) Black locust is of course a non-native invasive species. But it grows very well in Hungary and has in fact replaced many native Beech forests that were logged. One reason I use it for wood it to encourage its harvest removal and to encourage native forest rejuvenation.

2) Black locust (native to north America of course) is called "White Acacia" in Hungary (they seem to have completely missed the point that the species is _*pseudoacacia*, or "false acacia"_). And there is actually an "Acacia" honey produced in Hungary from locust flowers that is very popular here and exported. So, when the EU listed black locust as an invasive species to be removed, the Hungarian government's reponse was to declared, by legislation, that "White Acacia" was a national "Hungaricum" and put it under national protection. One spokesperson from the "Interior ministry" has stated that calling it an "American species" is "American propaganda". The government here is odd.....

_Side note: I am not totally unhappy that there is *some* black locust here, since it makes for great fence posts and wine cordon posts (my wife, being Hungarian, owns a bit of vineyard land that I "manage" for her)._



Applesister said:


> And what type of Chestnut do you refer to? Chinese?



Sweet chestnut introduced into Europe from Asia Minor. I also harvest the nuts and eat them.


----------



## kennyp2339

I've got three big knotty pieces of red oak in there now, as I was loading them in I remembered trying to split them and my splitter bogging down trying to get through them, who's laughing now knotty red oak?


----------



## embers aplenty

Loaded her up for the night with box elder, locust and white oak. Their is always the morning load. Might be some sycamore and elm on tap.


----------



## Stinkpickle

I put in some hackberry and sycamore this afternoon to beat tonight's cool down


----------



## Lakeside

Loaded up some 4 year seasoned shag bark hickory tonight , MM < 15 % , this should heat things up.


----------



## Hills Hoard

cobwebs........mid summer here..


----------



## Ashful

Oak and sassafras, again, tonight.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Tonight it's hackberry, ash, and a chunk of hedge.


----------



## Jay106n

Lakeside said:


> Loaded up some 4 year seasoned shag bark hickory tonight , MM < 15 % , this should heat things up.



Some nice stuff right there!


----------



## BrotherBart

26 Liberty Bricks.


----------



## blacktail

Warmed up the stove with a mix of small chunks of everything when I got home tonight...fir, alder, maple, birch. Just filled it for the night with 2yr old big leaf maple and western hemlock. 39° outside. 600° and the rear secondary tube is glowing.


----------



## Firefighter938

Much of the same for me. Hard maple and honey locust. I did burn some white pine yesterday along with some uglies. Its suppose to get colder this week, but still be in the 20s and 30s. I am hoping for an early spring and saving a lot of this years wood for next year.


----------



## baseroom

Got into some nice dry oak and apple!  Man that was a nice hot long lasting fire last night!


----------



## Ashful

BrotherBart said:


> 26 Liberty Bricks.


I thought you always loaded by the case or the 30-pack.


----------



## BrotherBart

That is loading me, not the stove.


----------



## Stinkpickle

BrotherBart said:


> That is loading me, not the stove.


Is that an all nighter load?


----------



## Stinkpickle

I just grabbed some sycamore, walnut, and mulberry. 15 degree temps with 40mph wind gusts ensure I have no draft issues.


----------



## BrotherBart

Stinkpickle said:


> Is that an all nighter load?



Two nights in a row I loaded the 26 bricks at 9 PM. Both nights the stove leveled out at 450-475 and at 9 AM the next morning was at 250. Both days I have just let it sit until three in the afternoon and it has held 150-200 both times keeping the joint comfortable in the 30-45 degree days.


----------



## warno

At this point in the day I'm hoping I have enough in the box.  I didn't plan for the wind like it is today and I'm thinking my chunks of poplar and one piece of oak might not be cutting it today. Weather app says it feels like 3 because the wind is blowing at 20 MPH.


----------



## Jay106n

Moved about a half cord of ash into the basement today. They say the deep freeze/polar vortex is making a return this weekend for -15 to -20 for overnight lows before wind. Locked and loaded.


----------



## Pennsyltucky Chris

Jay106n said:


> Moved about a half cord of ash into the basement today. They say the deep freeze/polar vortex is making a return this weekend for -15 to -20 for overnight lows before wind. Locked and loaded.



I'm getting ready for that cold, too. We just dipped into the mid-20's, won't be north of 30 until next Tuesday. So I brought about a half cord of red oak and elm into the garage. I'm currently burning some of the elm. I thought I would use it while I'm awake and before it dips into the single digits.


----------



## Jay106n

Pennsyltucky Chris said:


> I'm getting ready for that cold, too. We just dipped into the mid-20's, won't be north of 30 until next Tuesday. So I brought about a half cord of red oak and elm into the garage. I'm currently burning some of the elm. I thought I would use it while I'm awake and before it dips into the single digits.



I've got around 3-4 cord of red oak c/s/s, but its not ready for this winter, maybe next year. It should serve you well. I have about 75 large splits of white oak that are good to go, I might go through them fast this weekend, hopefully we are on the way out of winter soon after.


----------



## Pennsyltucky Chris

Jay,

Looks like after this long weekend, we'll be in the 40's and 50's for the rest of the month. You'll probably have similar weather.

This has been a surprisingly mild winter. I'm going to have an extra cord to throw back in the stacks. I'm ok with that.


----------



## LocustPocust

Black Cherry cooking at the moment. 23 outside 71 inside. It was pushing 76 and I opened the window for a while.

Winter's coming for two days this weekend and I've got the big guns ready. Black Locust and Sugar Maple on deck. They're predicting a high of 9 on Saturday with wind and a low of -11, but I'm willing to bet I'll see at least -15 in this valley. Gotta give the chimney a quick brushing tomorrow..

40-50 all next week and beyond that. Unbelievable. It's nice having my wood stacks nearly fully stocked in mid February. Last year right now I was running out of Locust and cutting dead standing Elm to stretch my good stuff.


----------



## Jay106n

LocustPocust said:


> Black Cherry cooking at the moment. 23 outside 71 inside. It was pushing 76 and I opened the window for a while.
> 
> Winter's coming for two days this weekend and I've got the big guns ready. Black Locust and Sugar Maple on deck. They're predicting a high of 9 on Saturday with wind and a low of -11, but I'm willing to bet I'll see at least -15 in this valley. Gotta give the chimney a quick brushing tomorrow..
> 
> 40-50 all next week and beyond that. Unbelievable. It's nice having my wood stacks nearly fully stocked in mid February. Last year right now I was running out of Locust and cutting dead standing Elm to stretch my good stuff.



Last year this time I had ZERO dry wood, due to buying a house in the middle of January and I paid the price burning WET wood. This time around I have a decent amount of ash locked and loaded, with a small amount of oak, but hopefully this years "Polar Vortex" is short lived. I don't have enough to last me until April 15 again.


----------



## DUMF

BrotherBart said:


> 26 Liberty Bricks.


TRAITOR !


----------



## Firefighter938

Still burning mostly hard maple. I did move some butternut up to the house just to change it up some. It doesn't last very long, but while I'm home in the evenings I don't mind loading the stove often. We have been in the teens during the day and single digits at night so my stove is constantly going right now. 

Last year I had to get into this years wood to get me through. This year I hope to have about a cord of ash and black walnut left over.


----------



## JathanLFL

burning fresh split ash moisture meter reads at 18%


----------



## baseroom

It's nine here with a 20-25mph wind.  The IR is presently consuming some nice apple, ash and a couple small silver maple splits.  73 in the downstairs 66 upstairs.  Love this stove.


----------



## DougA

12 last night, 16 right now and NOTHING in the stove, just letting the coals burn out so I can empty the ashes. 
75 inside with two fans going. All the heat coming from passive solar in our south facing windows. It's an amazingly sunny day with a few inches of snow glued to every branch in the forest. Magical.


----------



## baseroom

DougA said:


> 12 last night, 16 right now and NOTHING in the stove, just letting the coals burn out so I can empty the ashes.
> 75 inside with two fans going. All the heat coming from passive solar in our south facing windows. It's an amazingly sunny day with a few inches of snow glued to every branch in the forest. Magical.


We have a cottage on a lake south of Bancroft........I imagine its going to be really cold there the next few nights!!


----------



## DougA

baseroom said:


> We have a cottage on a lake south of Bancroft........I imagine its going to be really cold there the next few nights!!


I've been looking for waterfront cottages in the area and the prices are astronomic


----------



## baseroom

DougA said:


> I've been looking for waterfront cottages in the area and the prices are astronomic


Dad had it built in 1962 $3200!  We have upgraded through the years.  Dad is 95 now, he say's "best investment I ever made" We totally agree!  It is our favorite place on earth.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Walnut and elm, so far tonight...


----------



## Ashful

1770's house:  less-than-straight splits and odd lumps of oak, dial set for 10 hour burn.
1890's addition: oil-fired boiler running on-and-off
1990's addition:  pin-straight splits of oak packed damn full, dial set for 24 hour burn.


----------



## zig

Bone dry popular burning down a mountain of Ash coals.


----------



## Jay106n

Cold started this afternoon before work with pine kindle and loaded ash/oak just to try to get some coals in there for when I got home, but came home to a cold stove. Rebooted, on to a major cocktail of pine kindle, cherry, ash, and a split of oak for 1st load. Prepping for -15 to -20 with 40-50 mph winds tomorrow night for wind chills -50ish. Going to try to get a good overnight burn going tonight, to load into tomorrow day for a good bed of coals tomorrow night.


----------



## mass_burner

Burned up the rest of my big knots, root balls, y sections in the basement Drolet yesterday. Feels good to get them burned.


----------



## Firefighter938

Hard maple and a large split of white pine. Going to burn some odd pieces today while I'm home just to get rid of it.


----------



## jatoxico

With the extreme cold we're into I'm using any big guns I have . I have large splits of Iron wood (new favorite), locust mixed in with a steady diet of oak. Will be running the central heat here and there to make sure I don't pop any pipes. Thankfully only supposed to last a couple days.


----------



## Joe13

Getting cold here so it's into the red oak!


----------



## begreen

A mix of doug fir, madrona and a big chunk of holly.


----------



## baseroom

jatoxico said:


> With the extreme cold we're into I'm using any big guns I have . I have large splits of Iron wood (new favorite), locust mixed in with a steady diet of oak. Will be running the central heat here and there to make sure I don't pop any pipes. Thankfully only supposed to last a couple days.


Ironwood,locust,and oak? Those could almost be the holy trinity!  Stay warm.


----------



## baseroom

Just brought a load of apple in. I need the good stuff tonight!


----------



## Pennsyltucky Chris

Red Oak right now. It's 8 degrees going down to -3 overnight. I'll pack white oak and beech for the overnight.


----------



## Jay106n

9 below right now, winds are picking up and pushing to -15. Expecting -50 wind chills over night. Got a load of ash now, going to be tossing some oak all nighters in on the next load


----------



## Ashful

oak, oak, and more oak.  Managed to run three full loads of red oak thru one Ashford today.  Running at or near high, with the fans cranking, to keep this cave above freezing.

Spent most of the day outside, shortening every stick in a cord of wood from 20" to 17", and moving it all up to the house.  Can't wait 'till I've worked thru all this old Jotul 20" wood.


----------



## Oakwood5

Have been saving some bone dry locust for when it finally got real cold.  Have been running a mix of mostly oak with some sugar maple, ash, cherry and mulberry scrounged splits mixed in. Was out for a ride today with the family and saw a large amount of oak on the side of the road.  Hopefully I can get to it tomorrow or before they come back around to finish the line clearing.


----------



## D8Chumley

Oak, ash, mulberry and hickory because winter hit with a vengeance the last few days. This mornings weather here lol


----------



## Joe13

Red oak and ash, possibly a stick or two of maple. -10 with wind chill to -35. Stove is taking care of downstairs, but propane is working on the rest of the house for now. Bitter bitter cold and 2700 sq ft makes it tough!


----------



## Firefighter938

It's not as cold here as they thought it was going to be. We hit the single digits, but it's 16 now. Going to be in the 40's tomorrow and in the 60's by the weekend. Hard maple is about all I'm burning. I've mixed in a few sticks of ash, walnut, cherry, and pine. I've been putting black locust on at night just for the extended burn times. I hope this is the last blast of winter.


----------



## Stinkpickle

I managed to pull all hackberry from the mix stack earlier today.  I just finished burning it and loaded up with all walnut for tonight.  Totally random.


----------



## Jay106n

-10 again tonight, full load of of oak/ash combo


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Ash and some cherry from a dead stander I just cut/split yesterday. Totally dry, lit quick and no sizzling. Amazing.


----------



## LocustPocust

Jay106n said:


> -10 again tonight, full load of of oak/ash combo



Yeah -10 here as well.. this I didn't expect tonight. They were talking 0 or a tad bit below. Last night I saw -18. No wind tonight if the wind didn't stay up all night last night it probably would have gone down to a crazy temperature. 

Black Locust and Ash at the moment. I loaded the stove a little while ago and its I had to shield my face with my arm. No glowing or weird smells from the stove so I guess i'm cruising along OK.


----------



## Jay106n

LocustPocust said:


> Yeah -10 here as well.. this I didn't expect tonight. They were talking 0 or a tad bit below. Last night I saw -18. No wind tonight if the wind didn't stay up all night last night it probably would have gone down to a crazy temperature.
> 
> Black Locust and Ash at the moment. I loaded the stove a little while ago and its I had to shield my face with my arm. No glowing or weird smells from the stove so I guess i'm cruising along OK.



Same here. They were saying 5 to 0, but it dipped below zero early in the afternoon, and dropped further after sundown. Much less wind tonight though (last night was brutal). After 2 days subzero, I actually got my wife to put a load of wood into the stove while I was away at work. Tomorrow snow is in the forecast and high temp of 25. HEAT WAVE!


----------



## Firefighter938

All the talk about hedge made me go dig a wheel barrow full out and bring to the house. Then I stayed up way to late in the dark living room watching the fireworks.


----------



## StihlKicking

Ashes considering it was in the low twenties the past 2 days and my thermometer is reading 50 right now. Gotta love MS weather [emoji1]


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

Some kiln dried red and white oak.  Got almost two cords yesterday from a fantastic local dealer.  He sells packaged firewood to hardware stores and sells the imperfects as bulk cords at 18% internal moisture.  I can't put more than 2-3 splits in my stove at a time or it will get too hot!


----------



## Stinkpickle

It's not as cold tonight, so I loaded just three big splits for the night.  I happened to pull hackberry, walnut, and ash.


----------



## warno

Dieing remains of the mulberry from this morning. I'm shutting it down tonight. Supposed to be spring again tomorrow and through the weekend with 60 degree temps.


----------



## Firefighter938

I started a fire around 530 am this morning before I left for work. A mix of Black Walnut and Sugar Maple.
My wife said the house was too warm today so she let it burn out. I doubt we have any fires this weekend, suppose to be very nice with near record temps.


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

The ugliest piece of twisted, knotted, oak stump chunk that I have ever put in a wood burning appliance.


----------



## billb3

except for overnite, I've been mixing in a pine split with two red oak splits. We've been letting the stove coals get down to almost nothing at least  mid day before filling it up again as  solar gain thru southern windows and not so cold outside during the center of the day hasn't really needed a rip roaring fire. 
Plus I brought  quite a bit of pine to the patio by the back door and would rather burn it than hoof it back to the pine stack.


----------



## Cluttermagnet

Mostly Red Oak and Black Locust on the cold days,
with some soft Maple and Tulip (Yellow) Poplar
mixed in for starting. Also a little Cherry.


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

Cluttermagnet said:


> Mostly Red Oak and Black Locust on the cold days,
> with some soft Maple and Tulip (Yellow) Poplar
> mixed in for starting. Also a little Cherry.


I have to 'like' anyone's post that mentions burning Tulip Poplar.  I love mixing that in.  It is such a pleasure to work with from felling, all the way through burning.  It is also extremely plentiful in my neck of the woods.  I will cut at least a couple each year not only for firewood purposes but primarily so they don't shade everything else out.


----------



## Hasufel

CentralVAWoodHeat said:


> I have to 'like' anyone's post that mentions burning Tulip Poplar.  I love mixing that in.  It is such a pleasure to work with from felling, all the way through burning.  It is also extremely plentiful in my neck of the woods.  I will cut at least a couple each year not only for firewood purposes but primarily so they don't shade everything else out.


Funny how some peoples' experiences can vary so greatly. I've split & burned tulip poplar but I'm not a fan of it. Seems like more trouble than it's worth. It's harder to split than oak and delivers a lot less heat. The only reason I split & burn it is that I have plenty around me and hate to see wood go to waste. Every time I split a poplar I swear never again. Every time I burn poplar I see how fast it burns and remember what it took to split and swear never again. I guess I have a short memory! It's easy to buck, I'll grant you that--cuts like butter.


----------



## Firefighter938

Hasufel said:


> Funny how some peoples' experiences can vary so greatly. I've split & burned tulip poplar but I'm not a fan of it. Seems like more trouble than it's worth. It's harder to split than oak and delivers a lot less heat. The only reason I split & burn it is that I have plenty around me and hate to see wood go to waste. Every time I split a poplar I swear never again. Every time I burn poplar I see how fast it burns and remember what it took to split and swear never again. I guess I have a short memory! It's easy to buck, I'll grant you that--cuts like butter.



Do you split green? I split some cottonwood every year but can't split green. I always have to let the rounds sit for 6months to a year.


----------



## Hasufel

Firefighter938 said:


> Do you split green? I split some cottonwood every year but can't split green. I always have to let the rounds sit for 6months to a year.


Nope, never green. Either standing dead or fallen long enough for the bark to start coming off. The smaller stuff (8" or so) isn't too hard but I still find it harder to split than other woods. It seems stringy to me--hard to get a clean split. Not like oak, which pops apart. Have I mentioned that I love oak? I love oak.


----------



## billb3

oak,oak,oak,pine


----------



## bboulier

Started with some cedar for kindling and then added sassafras, oak, and later some 6" rounds of fig.  The previous two winters were brutal (by Northern Virginia standards) and killed our 15-20 foot fig trees.  Sadly, nothing to do but convert them to firewood.


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

Hasufel said:


> Funny how some peoples' experiences can vary so greatly. I've split & burned tulip poplar but I'm not a fan of it. Seems like more trouble than it's worth. It's harder to split than oak and delivers a lot less heat. The only reason I split & burn it is that I have plenty around me and hate to see wood go to waste. Every time I split a poplar I swear never again. Every time I burn poplar I see how fast it burns and remember what it took to split and swear never again. I guess I have a short memory! It's easy to buck, I'll grant you that--cuts like butter.


You must be having some weird splitting experiences between this and other posts you've done.  Poplar is super easy to split.  I would tie it nearly with the oaks.  The difference is, oaks tend to be a bit more knotty than Tulip Poplar.  In addition, it is so light that moving and stacking it are significantly easier.  For me, it's so easy to fell and process and puts so little wear on me and my tools, that the quicker burn times are a fine trade off.


----------



## Hasufel

CentralVAWoodHeat said:


> You must be having some weird splitting experiences between this and other posts you've done.  Poplar is super easy to split.  I would tie it nearly with the oaks.  The difference is, oaks tend to be a bit more knotty than Tulip Poplar.  In addition, it is so light that moving and stacking it are significantly easier.  For me, it's so easy to fell and process and puts so little wear on me and my tools, that the quicker burn times are a fine trade off.


I'm very lucky in that I have lots of second-growth trees around me with long, straight, almost knot-free stretches of trunk. I've been splitting a lot of red oak, maple, tulip poplar, and hickory this winter and I'd rank their ease of splitting (for similarly-sized rounds) in that order with oak being the easiest. For whatever reason I just haven't had that much success with poplar for pretty much the whole 20 years I've lived here. But I completely agree that it's easier to move & stack, I definitely see your point about that.


----------



## TheAardvark

Loaded the insert with red oak that I cut down this weekend. It was barkless and almost limbless. Top half of the trunk measured 18% on the meter. Bottom half was 20-24% and will be good next year.


----------



## Jay106n

Snow this afternoon and freezing rain tonight. Got the Moe stocked up on ash.


----------



## Stinkpickle

It's not too cold...only supposed to bottom out in the 20s, so I grabbed four nice splits to keep the furnace from kicking on overnight.  They appeared to be one walnut, one ash, and two honey locust.


----------



## Joe13

Some ash and I believe maple. I did a full maple load last night and it was slow to go, but once it was involved, holy crap! Air all the way off and 550 stovetop for 2 hours. Woke up this morning and the wife had throw. On a stick to get it going for me.


----------



## BSH1F

Some silver maple and red oak


----------



## husky345 vermont resolute

Got some hard maple and white ash.


----------



## kybishop

Oak, Ash, Elm and Box Elder.  Some kindling of the same with some Pine and Maple kindling as well.


----------



## warno

It's not real cold, wind chill about 20 degrees,  but The wind is ripping across the chimney top at about 30 mph so I tossed in some oak with a few pieces of mulberry all on top of some mulberry coals.


----------



## Stinkpickle

I just loaded with a split of ash, mulberry, and two that I think might be maple.


----------



## Firefighter938

Black walnut and sugar maple. And a grEn brick from rural king because I started a cold stove.


----------



## Jay106n

I had to take a day off from burning, it snowed, temps raised 30 degrees in an hour and then it rained hard last night with severe thunderstorms and temps around 65. Today it dropped 30 degrees and now its snowing again. What a trip. Oh yeah, I just loaded some ash.


----------



## Flame On

Got the weekend fire started with some 4 x 4 cedar scraps I found while cleaning up around the table saw. Silver maple splits went in on top of that followed by my good friend Mr. Ash. Now to sip something hoppy while I watch the secondaries.


----------



## Firefighter938

Today will be ash, walnut, and sugar maple. I have about 1/3 of a cord in my garage and I hope to not move anymore wood, but I don't want to restack this either. Delicate balancing act, as my burning normally ends in March but can go into April.


----------



## Ashful

Oak, oak, and more oak.

Was up in the mid-50's the last few days, so I was only running one stove.  Both get fired up tonight, going down to 23F.


----------



## Diabel

March has not been good to me so far!!
Hard maple and ash 24/7 for the past three days. -21*C for tonight apparently. Calling for a significant mild weather starting Sunday! Lots of white stuff on the ground. Crews are starting to break up ice on local rivers....sign of spring for sure! 

Robins and cardinals are back and signing away in -12*C!


----------



## Stinkpickle

I just packed the stove with all mulberry, and it's flaming up.  It's popping like crazy.


----------



## Jay106n

After a mild day and a half its back to the 10's tonight. They are saying 60's next week, but for now its another load of ash which is beginning to run low for this years stock.


----------



## kennyp2339

Cleaned the chimney the other day and have been burning maple & oak, looks like the season might be coming to an end soon, next week mid 60's, only burnt about 3 cords this year, that fine with me.


----------



## Jay106n

Not that cold of a night, but the house temp dipped down to 63 and I heard the furnace kick on. Fired her up to take the chill out with the master concoction: 3 links of pine, 2 links of cherry, 3 links black birch, 1 link ash, and 1 link oak to last the night.


----------



## kennyp2339

Just ashes


----------



## heavy hammer

It's funny yesterday was 70 plus, but by nine o'clock last night it was already in the fifties.  It's 34 right now with the stove cruising at about 350 to 400 with a load of mulberry and one piece of locust.  Supposed to be warmer next week but still chilly enough to have small fires.


----------



## Diabel

The stove has been running steady since last Tue. The temperature has been hovering around mid 30s 
Three pieces of uglies (silver maple) every 8-9 hrs.


----------



## StihlKicking

3 big pieces of oak, their drying out for next year[emoji1][emoji1][emoji1] the chimney has been swept the fireplace cleaned, Spring is upon us here.


----------



## Jay106n

Rain and 30's tonight. Loaded up some of October's left over pine.


----------



## Diabel

That will be our weather tomorrow. I have put aside some punky hemlock. It will do the trick of warming up the house and take the wet chill out.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Ash,..not the wood, but actual ash.
Haven't cleaned the stove out yet.
Hasn't been below 50 in a couple of weeks.  House has been comfy despite that.


----------



## firefighterjake

Chunks and uglies.


----------



## Ashful

In the 30's again last night, but the stove has been cold since early April.  Ran out of wood at the house, then, and wasn't about to move more wood up to the house after seeing temperatures in the 60's and 70's thru most of March.  Who'd have guessed it would be this cold in May?


----------



## billb3

Ashes.
I've already cleaned out the stove twice for the last time this year.
Until I get "the look" I'm not doing it again.


----------



## Jay106n

billb3 said:


> Ashes.
> I've already cleaned out the stove twice for the last time this year.
> Until I get "the look" I'm not doing it again.



Same here. I keep thinking I'm good. Mother nature cant make up her mind.


----------



## mass_burner

I have an overabundance of kindling, so I fill the smaller stove with them and turn the air down once it catches, nice little burn.


----------



## mwhitnee

Ashes, haven't gotten to cleaning it yet...


----------



## lml999

Spiders.


----------



## Jay106n

Yep ashes now.  Gotta give her a clean out soon.


----------



## bag of hammers

Small load of assorted hardwood ends burning now - 60 deg when I walked in tonight, slight rain outside, so after waffling a bit i said screw it and lit 'er up, just taking the chill off.


----------



## bag of hammers

Another small fire as I type this.  Overnight temps single digits last week, warmed up a bit today but a cool n/w wind tonite.  Taking the chill off, even though it's mid-June....


----------



## Jay106n

bag of hammers said:


> Another small fire as I type this.  Overnight temps single digits last week, warmed up a bit today but a cool n/w wind tonite.  Taking the chill off, even though it's mid-June....



Wow. How far north are you? I really didn't expect to see posts here at this point in the year.


----------



## bag of hammers

Jay106n said:


> Wow. How far north are you? I really didn't expect to see posts here at this point in the year.


Northern Ontario.  Not too far up, we had some beautiful weather a couple weeks ago, but dealing with the jet stream dipping down and cooling us off this past week.  That, plus I'm getting wimpy in my old age.


----------



## Jay106n

bag of hammers said:


> Northern Ontario.  Not too far up, we had some beautiful weather a couple weeks ago, but dealing with the jet stream dipping down and cooling us off this past week.  That, plus I'm getting wimpy in my old age.



Yeah Jet stream is reeking havoc for most of us. We get hot spells and cooler spells, but tolerable in the states. The thought crossed my mind a few nights ago to fire up the stove when it was in the low 40's, but resisted the urge. Anyway, do what works for you brother, and I hope you have enough wood stocked up for winter if you are burning at this time of year, and single digits certainly warrant it!


----------



## bag of hammers

Single digits Celcius, that is,  i think we hovered around the freezing mark one or two nights.  Folks with gardens got a bit nervous.  Cold rainy days for a bit.  But I'm a weekend burner, so the woodpile doesn't take too much of a beating.


----------



## Jay106n

bag of hammers said:


> Single digits Celcius, that is,  i think we hovered around the freezing mark one or two nights.  Folks with gardens got a bit nervous.  Cold rainy days for a bit.  But I'm a weekend burner, so the woodpile doesn't take too much of a beating.



Oh you had me thinking 0 F. lol my bad. I was like damn. Anyway, I would be burning at those temps too.


----------



## Diabel

Thought about lighting up today!! Damp and windy 12*C most of the day. Calling for 20*C and 30*C for Fri!


----------



## johneh

Diabel said:


> Thought about lighting up today!! Damp and windy 12*C most of the day. Calling for 20*C and 30*C for Fri!


Your not far from me and the stove is on as the better half said "just to take the dampness out "


----------



## begreen

Pistachio nut shells


----------



## BoilerMan

Burning Aspen, and Spruce as I type.  Got a bunch of 3-5" stuff I cut last year outta the yard.  Nice quick heat, but don't turn the air down on the stove or you'll end up with too low of stack temps and dirty glass to boot.

TS


----------



## mass_burner

Got a fire going right now. Overcast all day, a cool 66. Don't really need it, but too lazy to go around closing all the windows. Besides, an excuse to burn.


----------



## Seasoned Oak

Only thing im burning is killawatts trying to keep cool.


----------



## Jay106n

mass_burner said:


> Got a fire going right now. Overcast all day, a cool 66. Don't really need it, but too lazy to go around closing all the windows. Besides, an excuse to burn.



Ahaha Me too! Pine and a maple

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/inside-campfire-in-july.155357/


----------



## Jay106n

By special request I need to revitalize this thread. Tonight I have shoulder tulip with new fire bricks installed. 1st stove burn of the season.


----------



## Woody Stover

Probably cobwebs...I haven't looked.


----------



## Stinkpickle

As of yesterday, it's filled with new firebricks.


----------



## begreen

Last season's ashes. I need to clean it out today and do a sweeping.


----------



## Woody harrelson

hopefully dinner


----------



## NickDL

I still have a small amount of ashes that I need to clean before I get my chimney swept next week. 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk


----------



## bag of hammers

Nice fire Jay.  We lit the Osburn on Saturday - a bit of a chill, but mostly just fired it up for some ambiance after a tough week.  Threw in a few sticks of cedar and pine, plus a few small blocks of "Franken-wood" (3x4 end cuts from a local lumber yard, could be birch, maple, walnut, oak, etc.- stacked for a few years, it's all good... ).   Sure felt nice....


----------



## Handsonautotech

Going to top off with oak i think before bed time.


----------



## Jay106n

Handsonautotech said:


> View attachment 185245
> 
> 
> Going to top off with oak i think before bed time.



Hunker down


----------



## Jay106n

My wife is officially spoiled. She called me when I was at work asking if she could fire up the stove. Right now I got a mix of tulip, maple, and an oak.


----------



## Wildo

Warm ashes...


----------



## firefighterjake

Pine ... specifically eastern white pine ... probably explains why I am going bald.


----------



## dafattkidd

Handsonautotech said:


> View attachment 185245
> 
> 
> Going to top off with oak i think before bed time.


That looks beautiful. What are we looking at?


----------



## Jay106n

30's tonight. Full load of maple


----------



## Diabel

I went 7-8 fires between sept and last Friday.
Then Fri aft. to now 24/7. A load of crapy hemlock every eight hrs.


----------



## rygar

doing some poplar with a few pieces of maple mixed in


----------



## Tom123

Been burning since Saturday. Ash, Sugar Maple, Elm.


----------



## Ctwoodtick

Pine with some cypress mixed in


----------



## Tom123

Ctwoodtick said:


> Pine with some cypress mixed in



Cypress in Ct?


----------



## madtrapper

Ash until it gets cold then oak


----------



## Diabel

Wow! For some of you "steak on the menu" already.

I am still going through the KD!!


----------



## Jay106n

Got a mix of tulip, maple, and hickory.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Nothing yet. But just finished filling the shed with bone dry poplar, maple And cherry. Lots of ash, walnut and oak behind the first stack once things start really getting frosty. Still kinda warm here for this week, but not for long.


----------



## firefighterjake

Eastern white pine, poplar and some chunks of what have you . . .


----------



## Chimney Smoke

Burned a few white pine splits and some 3 year old red oak chunks last night to take the chill off.


----------



## Ashful

White oak and hickory mix.  No, I'm not a wood snob, I burn red oak, too!  

Loaded two stoves at 6pm yesterday, setting one for a 12 hour burn, and the other for a 24 hour burn.  I reloaded the 12-hour stove at 6:45am today, and set the dial for another 12 hours.  Gotta love BK.


----------



## St. Coemgen

Over the weekend it was _Quercus cerris_ (Austrian Oak or Turkey Oak). Today, nothing. We are having another warm spell.


----------



## Ctwoodtick

Tom123 said:


> Cypress in Ct?



Not totally sure but I took it from a neighbor who left it roadside. I think he said it was Leland cypress. Maybe something he had once transplanted. Could be wrong. Burns hot and is a lightweight wood.


----------



## HisTreeNut

A really nice secondary burn from some birch and some effing poplar.
The Den is 80ish degrees amd the wifey is toasty warm and happy.
Life is good...


----------



## Beer Belly

On the menu for today is Elm, and maybe a few pieces of Maple mixed in


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Post #476

Dust Woody?  That was a month ago.  Here at the top of the finest state in the Union we've been
24/7 for a week now going into the 70's for Halloween weekend.   Bet'cher cookin' by now?

With this being ground zero for EAB you guys know what scrounge makes up my ashbed, totes,
and coming up now to toast the wife, kids, and dogs.


----------



## Tom123

I just put in a big sugar maple split and 2 smaller ash splits. Fixed myself a cocktail, I'll be sleeping by 8:30.


----------



## Chimney Smoke

Cold, windy and rainy here in Maine.  Currently I think there's a white pine split, a black birch split and two red oak chunky uglies.  And the living room is a comfortable 72 degrees.


----------



## Tom123

Tom123 said:


> I just put in a big sugar maple split and 2 smaller ash splits. Fixed myself a cocktail, I'll be sleeping by 8:30.



An hour later, some serious secondary action.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Using the shoulder to get rid of the uglies.
My stax are looking much prettier now.
Been doing pine under ash predominantly thus far.


----------



## Jay106n

CheapBassTurd said:


> Using the shoulder to get rid of the uglies.
> My stax are looking much prettier now.
> Been doing pine under ash predominantly thus far.



Pine and ash are a great combo


----------



## blacktail

I'm burning the ugliest stuff for now. Mostly the crooked or knotty pieces of bigleaf maple from one of my yard trees. Plus some small red alder pieces to fill the gaps.


----------



## Woody Stover

CheapBassTurd said:


> Dust Woody? That was a month ago.  Here at the top of the finest state in the Union we've been 24/7 for a week now going into the 70's for Halloween weekend.   Bet'cher cookin' by now?
> With this being ground zero for EAB you guys know what scrounge makes up my ashbed, totes,
> and coming up now to toast the wife, kids, and dogs.


I'm kind of ashamed I didn't hold out on 10/22. I had gone to MIL's to work on the Buck, and figured I'd start a "test fire" to make sure everything was OK.  Well, I didn't finish the Buck that day and when I got home, I was still hyped for a burn. It was 67 in here, and I caved.  I coulda had a PB for late starts if I'd have hung tough.  This place doesn't hold heat too well so I usually start burning in the middle of Oct. With temps at the end of the week going down to mid 60s/mid 40s, I may be lighting our second fire soon...


----------



## Ashful

Found a quarter cord of cedar in my stack for this year, from a few trees that blew into my yard during hurricane Sandy.  So, I'll be burning them this week, while it's not too terribly cold.  Never burned this stuff for anything but kindling, before, so I'll take any advice on it.  I'll be mixing it with 20% hardwood (mostly oak), to give the fire better longevity, and hoping it doesn't cause my cat to go nuclear.  The first two loads seemed to run nice, but obviously a little shorter than I'm used to seeing.


----------



## Woody Stover

Ashful said:


> Found a quarter cord of cedar in my stack for this year, from a few trees that blew into my yard during hurricane Sandy.  So, I'll be burning them this week, while it's not too terribly cold.  Never burned this stuff for anything but kindling, before, so I'll take any advice on it.


I have a 5" diameter, 15' pole of it lying around somewhere...thinking I'd use it for something some day but I may try your kindling idea with some. Neighbor wouldn't care if I got a little smoke on startup...it would smell _great! _
We went to O'Charley's yesterday to burn a gift card someone gave us. I had a chunk of salmon that they brought out on a burnt cedar shingle...you could try that. Tell your wife, "We're having 'blazed salmon' tonight."


----------



## Ashful

This is an old farm, and there are lots of those old cedar posts surrounding the property.  The sapwood rots like pine, but the red heartwood will last like locust.  Issue is, when the sapwood rots, the post gets loose in the hole.

Most cedar today is harvested too young to have any appreciable heartwood.  This is why today's cedar decks and shingles don't last very long, compared to those of the past.


----------



## jatoxico

Ashful said:


> Found a quarter cord of cedar in my stack for this year, from a few trees that blew into my yard during hurricane Sandy. So, I'll be burning them this week, while it's not too terribly cold. Never burned this stuff for anything but kindling, before, so I'll take any advice on it. I'll be mixing it with 20% hardwood (mostly oak), to give the fire better longevity, and hoping it doesn't cause my cat to go nuclear. The first two loads seemed to run nice, but obviously a little shorter than I'm used to seeing.



I've burned partial cords of cedar mostly in the shoulder seasons. Been a year or two but only thing worth mentioning was that it was a little sparky as I recall. Otherwise very pleasant to burn, starts nice, burns nice but not too long as mentioned. Your CATs will probably play real nice with it.


----------



## Handsonautotech

My wife said last night "It is a little cold in here, should we turn the heat on for a bit?"  So I put about 4 more splits in the stove and cranked up the air intake. In about 10 minutes it went from 68F to 80F. No HVAC system out there that I know of could do the same thing.


----------



## Dobish

i was going to light one last night, but it was still 60º outside. i woke up this morning and it was 40º outside and 60º in the basement (65º upstairs). I decided to get a fire going for the nanny, since she is always cold. Griddle temp was just around 120º when i left, so no temp change. i'm curious to see how hot it is when i get home.... hopefully she engaged the cat, so I'm not going through a ton of wood when it is 60º outside!


----------



## StihlKicking

All sweet gum, to strictly heat DHW only. It was 87 flipping degrees down here yesterday!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Joe13

Cedar and a ugly maple split, taking the chill and dampness out.


----------



## Dobish

it was 83 in the basement yesterday, and 79 upstairs! I had to open the windows!  it was a mix of elm, russian olive and pine... it is supposed to be almost 70º again today, so i let the furnace kick on for a few minutes and decided not to go through more wood....


----------



## Tom123

I've been burning 2 year sugar maple and black cherry. I made some kindling from the maple and it's so dry that it makes a nice cracking sound when it splits. It has that hollow ringing sound when you bang it together.


----------



## Jan Pijpelink

Red Oak and some Maple.  In both stoves.


----------



## Jay106n

Got some more tulip to get rid of before the real cold hits, mixed with some maple for coals.


----------



## Jan Pijpelink

Jay106n said:


> Got some more tulip to get rid of before the real cold hits, mixed with some maple for coals.


I mixed in some pine.  A little poplar as well.  But maple and oak is what I have most.


----------



## Jay106n

Jan Pijpelink said:


> I mixed in some pine.  A little poplar as well.  But maple and oak is what I have most.



Poplar is basically pine in quality sense. I've been burning it since October 1. Gets a bad wrap but a great shoulder season wood.


----------



## Jan Pijpelink

I agree.  For this time of the year poplar is great to burn.  I start my fire with poplar /pine and add oak/maple when it gets a bit colder late at night.


----------



## Jay106n

It drys fast and lights up easy. I misidentified it as a heartier wood when I cut it, so I have quite a bit of it lol. But it was free and it has its place. All good here!


----------



## Beer Belly

On the menu today....we're burnin' some Elm and Maple


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Did a load of pre-punkwood  to take off the morning chill.  The house will be wide open later.
Perfect season to get rid of the embarrasing stuff.  LOL
That stuff is like balsa.  Roaring in 4 minutes and gone in 45.  (even shut down to one turn out)
Did the job perfect for shouldering tho.  It has it's place.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Well I finally got the beast hooked back up. Chewing poplar, ash and cherry. Was worried about the poplar, but it's fantastic for startup fuel. I could almost lite it with a match, has its place.


----------



## Diabel

Still chewing through hemlock, about a face cord left. Then on to birch.

Things I don't like about hemlock:

1. Hard to split
2. When handling dry splits, it can give you tiny splinters if not using gloves. Annoying and hard to remove from hands.

Things I like about hemlock:

1. Dries in 1 year.
2. And this one still has me thinking, it leaves no ash...I have put more than a face cord through the stove and still really did not have to empty the firebox. Amazing how that hemlock can just vanish.
3. After 7-8 hours I can still through a medium size split into the firebox and it will selflight in 2-3min.


All in all however, I am looking forward to burning some real hardwood. Lots of ash, sugar maple and BL for when the real cold comes.


----------



## blacktail

It's been unusually warm here so far. I'm still burning the ugliest junk I can find in the shed. Most of it is still bigleaf maple that fell in my yard August 2015.


----------



## revdocjim

Ha! In my stove at the moment is a bunch of cold ashes. We've been burning for a couple of weeks but it got so warm today that we let it go out this morning and never lit it back up again. Spent the evening upstairs in the office/TV room which has a kerosene heater that keeps us toasty!


----------



## husky345 vermont resolute

I have hickory, cherry and ash going right now


----------



## begreen

Doug fir


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Got white oak, mulberry and red oak roaring. Unfortunately it's only kindling from last year's processing, but funny that the stove is cranking without a real load. poplar and cherry will pull the night shift.


----------



## Dobish

loaded up with elm that i found buried under some tall grasses and weeds, but had been propped up on a bush.  its been there at least 3 years, probably more. It said 2% on the moisture meter..... i threw in a few uglies of elm and maple.


----------



## Jay106n

Maple load


----------



## Ashful

This week's stack is a mix of white oak, red oak, chestnut oak, and swamp oak.  I'm not picky.  

Stove just reloaded, but I couldn't tell you which of these four oaks went into this load.


----------



## Diabel

Ashful said:


> This week's stack is a mix of white oak, red oak, chestnut oak, and swamp oak.  I'm not picky.
> 
> Stove just reloaded, but I couldn't tell you which of these four oaks went into this load.



SIN SIN SIN Using the "precious" in 45f weather.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Ashful said:


> This week's stack is a mix of white oak, red oak, chestnut oak, and swamp oak


Now that's a beautiful family picture.


----------



## ZZ Tom

Ran two loads of pine and olive today. Mid 30s outside - low 80s inside. Toasty!!
A load of pine, olive and elm will carry us through the low 20s overnight.


----------



## Jay106n

Its not that cold tonight, but it is my night off from work, so I have the open fire place up and running as well as the stove. My wife says "It is very toasty in here" as my dog begins to pant. lol There's your sign


----------



## Ashful

Diabel said:


> SIN SIN SIN Using the "precious" in 45f weather.


If I didn't burn oak, I'd not have anything to burn.  It makes up more than 80% of everything I bring home, from the site where I cut.  The land owner keeps the ash, maple, and hickory for himself, and poplar for his brother.  We can't figure why his brother always wants the poplar, other than maybe low weight and easy splitting (they're both in their 70's), but we're not going to argue with him.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Ashful said:


> The land owner keeps the ash, maple, and hickory for himself, and poplar for his brother


HA! Woodlot error in your favor! Do they pay you $200 as you go Best deal I've ever heard of.


----------



## Jay106n

FaithfulWoodsman said:


> HA! Woodlot error in your favor! Do they pay you $200 as you go Best deal I've ever heard of.



Waste not, want not.


----------



## Jay106n

Like Ashful said they are older, maybe the weight is too much to handle, or just simply don't want to be on the 3 year plan and just burn what they pick up that spring. It works out win-win for everybody.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

True. I'm sure it's something like that. Good for him and them.


----------



## Ashful

Jay106n said:


> Like Ashful said they are older, maybe the weight is too much to handle, or just simply don't want to be on the 3 year plan and just burn what they pick up that spring. It works out win-win for everybody.



You got it.  They keep the stuff that's easiest to process and season, which ain't oak.  The only ash they let me take is the stuff over 30" diameter, as they split the more manageable ash rounds for use in their own stoves. I'm not complaining.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Ash,
You have a great thing going.  I'd be quite pleased being "stuck"with ash n' oak too !!
*I was just given full scrounge rights on 10-20C bucked red oak !! * Been sitting there for
two years and only the pieces touching the ground aren't ready to burn. 

Did a test run on all oak, mini splits today.  Nice.  Very nice.
Steady heat, big coals to drop some splits onto, little ash buildup.  I see why you guys, and now me
think this stuff is Cadillac.   Cruise control.......  LOL
I've mixed it but never ran on a load of only oak before today.


----------



## Berner

Still running through all of my spruce.   Added a massive oak chunk in hopes to have some embers for morning.   Temperature is 22 outside and 74 inside, life is good.


----------



## StihlKicking

Switched over to oak and hickory now. I'm burning a little poplar along in the day time.


----------



## Ashful

Just uncovered a cedar and a sassafras in my piles CSS'd in 2013. I'll be slumming it, for a few days.


----------



## Adabiviak

A surprisingly large Pyracantha log at the moment (my first time burning this after I got some sizable "rounds" from my parent's house). I started with manzanita, eucalyptus, oak, and pine, but they're the coals roasting this log now.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Teens here tonight for the first time. Threw a few chunks of my 2yr beech on tonight. Deff tell the btu difference. A good 100-200 degrees on the dial. It'll be fun loading up with it when -? Comes in to play.


----------



## Dobish

i threw in some elm, some russian olive and a 2x4 this morning....


----------



## CheapBassTurd

36 and windy.   Oak over "scrounge mix" pulling the night shift.

Edit:  2 hrs later and added 3 pine knots, turning air way down and crash time.


----------



## Dobish

i threw in some pine and elm this morning... wow that dried pine catches quick!


----------



## kennyp2339

Got some oak and maple going, love that combo


----------



## CheapBassTurd

*Wire brushed out the firebox (that's a new thread in itself) and fed the pig
a bed of kindle under pallet factory scrap, under ash.  After coaling oak has the night shift.*


----------



## Dobish

I went with a mix of pine, red cedar and elm tonight.


----------



## Tom123

There's a 20 lb turkey in my stove and it's wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

It's flippin' cold in here.
Firing the oak, and 1/2 box at that.
Pine under oak n' ash is this season's life saver.
Gonna get this thing glowin'.

Cheap but about to be warm


----------



## Diabel

More bloody hemlock!


----------



## ZZ Tom

Cruisin on a load of pine, elm and ugly chunks


----------



## HisTreeNut

Sweltering under some punky pine...forgot to cut the air back and it is now down mid-80's in the Den.  Was 89 at one point...Whew! ! ! 
That being said, the wifey is again toasty and happy.


----------



## Firefighter938

Silver maple and I threw on a couple of pieces of standing dead red elm. Not that cold in central Indiana so one or two fires a day is all it takes to heat the house.


----------



## warno

I'm cooking 2 pieces of hedge on top of some pieces of mulberry. only getting into the 40s-50s during the day but nights are seeing low 30s, so I've been burning one load at night.


----------



## Ashful

A bizarre mix of oak and cedar.  Had some cedar trees fall in my yard during hurricane Sandy, most of which was processed for kindling, before I got lazy and tired and just started splitting them as normal splits.  Just getting to those stacks, now.


----------



## D8Chumley

Cherry, black walnut, ash


----------



## Komatsu350

Lots of ash for the next few years.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Solid load of cherry. Smelled good on the final reload for the night.


----------



## Jay106n

Ashful said:


> A bizarre mix of oak and cedar.  Had some cedar trees fall in my yard during hurricane Sandy, most of which was processed for kindling, before I got lazy and tired and just started splitting them as normal splits.  Just getting to those stacks, now.



Doesn't that like, explode? lol I have 2 pallets of cedar in normal splits that a friend had taken down in his yard, I have never tossed any in my stove just because of how sparky and poppy they are in the fire pit.


----------



## mwhitnee

Not sure, because I'm horrible at wood ID and got a small stash from my neighbor and am finishing that up.  Looked like a big mixture.  It was sitting under a tarp for years, and surprisingly didn't feel that dry.

But I am starting to work on some Norway maple split in July last year and right behind that is Shagbark Hickory, which I can't wait to burn.  The maple coals quite a bit.  The hickory is good timing as It's getting colder...

I wonder if I'm going to run out of wood.  I have a 4 cord stash for next year but it's red oak, split this summer.   I need to start using wood from the uglies pile...


----------



## Dobish

i loaded up with a mix of maple, 1x4 and elm this morning. for some reason, it decided it wanted to smoke out the neighborhood, even though it was the same stuff I loaded up last night and not a puff of smoke....


----------



## Ashful

Jay106n said:


> Doesn't that like, explode? lol I have 2 pallets of cedar in normal splits that a friend had taken down in his yard, I have never tossed any in my stove just because of how sparky and poppy they are in the fire pit.



Nah, been burning it off and on all fall.  No issue at all for my BK.  Not sure if it would want to run away in a non-cat, though.


----------



## sportbikerider78

From this am...one pine branch, couple of maple splits and some mystery wood.  All of mine gets mixed up with stacking and restacking.


----------



## Ashful

Half a dozen splits of oak, and a dozen small 4" chunks.  Still cutting 4" off every damn stick of 20+ cords, resizing wood originally CSS'd for the big Jotul Firelights, to feed these smaller BK Ashfords.


----------



## gerry100

2 year old Oak.

The oldest stuff in the shed.  FIFO


----------



## Dobish

I mixed some russian olive, a piece of elm, a pine branch, a 2x4, a cedar 4x4, and a big maple piece this morning.... and maybe a piece of ugly bendy box elder root....


----------



## husky345 vermont resolute

Ash and black cherry ATM .


----------



## billb3

Off and on fires here, too.
50ºF outside and we let the fire go out and let the boiler take over.
Gets too hot inside with the wood stove when it is warm out.

Burning just swamp maple and EWP so far. A little bit left of a fir tree I cut down 2 or 3 years ago.
I have lots of standing dead pine, I burn that mixed in and sometimes just pine when I have the time to keep feeding the stove.


----------



## AmbDrvr253

Temps in low 50's here in PA. Just put in some soft maple and pallet wood for overnite.


----------



## Dobish

i put a big piece of cherry in this morning.... mmmmm it smells so good! then i filled the rest with maple


----------



## English BoB

Old ash, as in burnt ash - no wood temps are balmy here. Just use oil over night at 62 degrees.

bob


----------



## HisTreeNut

Weather has been too dry to use the firepit, so we are burning the punky pine I split  for the firepit.  The weather is still pretty mild so I am not burning my good wood.  As always, the wifey is toasty and happy.


----------



## Firefighter938

More silver maple for me. Temps started to drop and we are going to see highs in the low 40's with stiff winds. I should be able to keep the stove going without running us out of the house or opening windows now.


----------



## volunbeer

First fire in the King and it's about as good as it is going to get - big tamarack and fir splits - with lots of fir limbs.   Burning off the stink, but outside of some Maple rounds that I have to split I probably won't see any better wood.   I have a few cords of ponderosa pine and some lodgepole pine, but suspect I will be burning about 75% fir.


----------



## Mt Ski Bum

Lately, it's been primarily Subalpine Fir and Engelmann Spruce with some lodgepole pine periodically... right now, 1 large lodgepole round, and a couple sticks from a Whitebark Pine... and lots of coals from Subalpine earlier in the day.


----------



## CincyBurner

Wood from stack of multiple scrounges - ash (EAB victims), zelkova, alder, Norway maple, a bit of hawthorn, with much of my Norway spruce from '15 removal, plus Osage, which I mix in to give me some good coals in the am, or when I rekindle in the evening after cool but not cold days.  I'm also running shorties (8"-12") of bur oak splits stored in the IBC crate that I burn N/S.  They burn great with nice coaling.


----------



## Flame On

I've got cherry in the stove to match the cherry in my Manhattan.

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----------



## Diabel

Finally getting into the birch. I have to say, hemlock was not bad. Have some of it still in the stacks. Will mix it with the birch for the next three weeks, then the big guns!!


----------



## Jay106n

Cherry, white oak, and red oak combo is a beautiful thing.


----------



## Firefighter938

Silver maple and red elm for the next few days to a week. Then just moved a bunch of ash and walnut into the barn to stay dry before the rain started.


----------



## Tom123

2 year dogwood and 3 year pin oak. They both burn nice and hot!


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Gotta diverse shed coming up, but still burning mostly ash and poplar. Funny I started rationing out the poplar so I can try and have a few splits per day for start ups for a good while. Two poplar splits, a few pieces of paper and homemade firestarter in-between and a few pieces of ash diagonal and I can have it roaring in minutes. No kindling. Awesome. Was gonna give away the two more poplars I've got to fell, but not anymore.


----------



## Clydeburner

A few red oak splits and a couple silver maple are keeping the house and Mrs comfy....


----------



## billb3

Still not all that cold here.

Pine in the morning and then again late in the afternoon.
Maple load at night.


----------



## Jay106n

Been burning since Oct 1. 2 Cords down, finally got rid of all the junk tulip/poplar (which was great for the mild fall), and with multiple days of snow on the way,  just in time moving on to the heartier maple, black birch, and oak mix. Moved about a cord into the basement today.

Maple/oak mix in the stove this evening.


----------



## blacktail

I came home tonight and started with a load of Douglas fir/western hemlock. I just threw 2 pieces of fir in to keep the temp up and burn the coals down. Gonna load up a mix of birch and fir before bed.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Just for giggles since I read here that ash is one of the few that can be split and 
tossed right in the firebox if necessary and just tried it.

Fresh dropped / bucked/ split.
Hissed on the coalbed for a half hour and then lit itself right up.
Not as many btu's semi-green but it worked !

Switching to older ash for the night ahead.  Lookin' at 27 F / -2 C tonite.

CheapAndFartin'Around


----------



## Dobish

I woke up this morning and it was 7º, so I loaded it up with maple, cedar, and elm....


----------



## ADK_XJ

With the cold weather coming in this week, I've swapped from a 20/80 cherry / locust blend to the opposite. I have cords and cords of seasoned black locust after clearing a horse pen for a family friend a few years back but it's stacked right in the middle of an open area that I want to put a hoop house on in the Spring.

Burn baby burn!


----------



## Diabel

ADK_XJ said:


> With the cold weather coming in this week, I've swapped from a 20/80 cherry / locust blend to the opposite. I have cords and cords of seasoned black locust after clearing a horse pen for a family friend a few years back but it's stacked right in the middle of an open area that I want to put a hoop house on in the Spring.
> 
> Burn baby burn!



Wow locust in early Dec.! What will you burn in Jan-Feb?


----------



## ADK_XJ

Diabel said:


> Wow locust in early Dec.! What will you burn in Jan-Feb?



More locust!


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Ash, couple hard maple splits I lucked into and a wide thin curved piece of cherry from rotted out section on top.


----------



## Diabel

ADK_XJ said:


> More locust!



Nice! 

I cherish mine as if it was the best red wine! Burn it only in the dead of winter (overnights).


----------



## ADK_XJ

Diabel said:


> Nice!
> 
> I cherish mine as if it was the best red wine! Burn it only in the dead of winter (overnights).


Oh, I'm with you. But, to continue this analogy, the only problem is it's like someone (me) stacked a couple thousand bottles of that fine red wine in the middle of my lawn and I either need to move and re-stack or drink it all! I've always been more philosophically aligned with the "tomorrow is not guaranteed" camp...so, in it goes!


----------



## Hogwildz

Oak at night, maple,oak, birch & cherry during the day.


----------



## Jay106n

28 degrees and foggy. Its strange and it doesn't even feel cold. Pine and maple.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Jay,
Weirdly cool how that fog makes a difference!  Humidity is high and wind is low.  Enjoy.

Woke up to a cold shanty and a "barely" ash coalbed.  (did cleanout today)  loaded a monster
mix of of old ash n' pine to flame the joint.   The dogs have even left the room now.  LOLOL
Maple n' ash when that calms down.


----------



## Firefighter938

I woke up to the lowest temps of the season so far, in the high teens. Grabbed some mulberry to throw on the coals along with some red elm.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Firefighter938 said:


> Grabbed some mulberry to throw on the coals along with some red elm.


Oooooohhhhhhhh, now that's a hot little number! ................I miss my red elm.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

*Coldest nite of the early seaaon...
*
24 F/ -6 C and still dropping so I went with the ash n' oak.  
Brought up the cart and both totes with the same for next two days of 24/7.
Armload of OLD  balsa-like ash for flash starts.


----------



## ADK_XJ

Same here, may have hit single digits over night - woke up to a ton of locust coals but not much heat. Burning those down with some pine and ash and then have a pile of oak to bat cleanup.


----------



## MaintenanceMan

Just got done with the last of some maple and moved on to some magnolia, persimmon and mostly red oak. Just in time for the arctic blast!


----------



## Ashful

I'm impressed by those of you staging species for specific conditions, and even more by those who can identify the species of a split after three years drying.  I just use it as it comes off the stacks, whatever the species, although I don't bother stacking anything other than primo hardwoods.


----------



## Flame On

I think the ID ability goes back to the "How many times do you handle your wood" thread. By the time I go through all that I'm on a first name basis with most of my splits. So, I know that I put cherry on top of the coals with ash on top of that.

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----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Ashful said:


> more by those who can identify the species of a split after three years drying


As Flame said, so many times to handle and I keep my stuff covered, so unless the barks fallen off and the whole peice has turned grey it doesn't look to different from its original state.


----------



## jatoxico

3 yr red oak and 2 yr locust. Flames turned clear white purple there for a while.


----------



## Mike Fromme

Wood.


----------



## Vikestand

Currently all Ash. It burns easily enough, just going through it like hot chocolate chip cookies.


----------



## red oak

Today I made the transition to 3 year old red oak - had been burning a combination of pine and sycamore but I'm running out of that and the temperature has turned much colder here in Virginia.


----------



## Tom123

A mixed bag. Elm, maple, cherry, red oak, pin oak.


----------



## cableman

stuck some 40yo partical board i just ripped up from my floors


----------



## Chimney Smoke

Was 9 degrees this morning and only made it to the mid 20's for a high today. I just closed down the third load of 3 year red oak for the day.


----------



## Lloyd the redneck

Cottonwood slab wood.  Free heat. Just some work ! 


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----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

Pine and silver maple along with a chunk of punky red oak.


----------



## Jay106n

Got the fire place going tonight with pine and maple, the stove has maple and red oak.


----------



## Firefighter938

Silver maple and a couple of pieces of red elm. The temps have come up to the mid 30's here in central Indiana and the stove has the house a comfortable 75*. The upstairs bedrooms are 69-70*


----------



## kswaterfowler

Hedge with a piece or two of elm in there to tame the fire a bit. 

My property is covered in hedge and locust with some green ash and mulberry as well. All I have to do is cut and split it. If you've never burned hedge it's great.


----------



## Jay106n

kswaterfowler said:


> Hedge with a piece or two of elm in there to tame the fire a bit.
> 
> My property is covered in hedge and locust with some green ash and mulberry as well. All I have to do is cut and split it. If you've never burned hedge it's great.



Wanna ship me some so I can transplant it? ha


----------



## HisTreeNut

Burning some pine to work down the coals again.  In the 30's now which is better than the 14 degrees I went to bed to the other day, and the 9 degrees we woke up to yesterday.
House was chilly in the back rooms, but the Buck kept the main part of the house at 72 degrees.  She got workout.
Some birch and oak for the next load...


----------



## kswaterfowler

Jay106n said:


> Wanna ship me some so I can transplant it? ha


Kansas Forest Service sells seedlings cheap in the spring.


----------



## Jay106n

Below zero tonight with -25 wind chills. Prepping the stove for coals now with maple. Got my primo larger white and red oaks splits warming stoveside for a good all nighter


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

With it dipping below zero, I dug out some splits that were a little deeper. Wasn't plannjng on tundra weather mid December. Poplar, ash, hard maple, big red oak chunk, and a big Osage chunk. 3° outside, 72° inside. It's like giving old man winter a wedgy before pushing him downhill.


----------



## Karl Hungus

Red Maple is glowing away in my VC Acclaim.
Its about 10 degrees outside and 80 in the room with the woodstove.
We don't heat exclusively with wood, we only use it when its really cold out or it'll cook us out of the house.


----------



## Jay106n

I decided to dabble with some of the dogwood that I had been saving up. It was stacked in my basement and I got tired of looking at it. Man this stuff burned like coal for hours!


----------



## snavematt

Right now I have nothing in the new stove but ashes. Ran first fire Friday, started with poplar and went to locus. Got house up to 70. Burned poplar yesterday for a while. It was 55 over night outside and will be in the 60s today. With the crazy temp swings who knows when I can have a nice burn again, maybe Tuesday 


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----------



## Firefighter938

It's 20 degrees outside, windy, and temps are falling fast. 

I got home from duty with a few coals in the stove. Took the opportunity to clean the ashes and a little soot on the glass. 

Started with a few pieces of silver maple on the coals. Now it's red elm and ash with some cherry on deck.


----------



## Ashful

Woke up this AM to summer temps outside, and crazy heavy fog.  Everything outside (and shed) soaked in condensation.   Dropping back to 25F this afternoon, but sitting bizarrely near 60F, this morning.  

House is a little warm.  Stuffed both BKs to the gills with oak, last night, thinking the forecasted warm weather wasn't supposed to hit until this afternoon.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

First nite below zero here in the Midwest and the pigbelly is stuffed with red oak
to work the graveyard shift, air screw out 2 turns.


----------



## mwhitnee

Right now I'm burning Envi blocks, various uglies, and hickory.


----------



## Ashful

So, another arctic blast yesterday, keeping it cold today.  I'm down to 1/4 cord at the house, which is just a few days at my rate, and I realize last night what's left is mostly that cedar I mentioned uncovering a few weeks ago.  Won't be able to get down to the wood lot to bring up another cord of oak until next Saturday.

THIS is why I normally just dump all soft woods in the fire pit!


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

I hear ya Ashful. My shed by the house holds two cords, about two months for me. However after a couple years of stacking the back with the hot stuff anticipating the cold showing up after the first cord was burned, I realized "hey dummy, stack one side with hot and the other with lighter/medium stuff". I like my lighter stuff for start ups, but at least I stack now with access to whatever the weather calls for. But the stacks are another story. I gotta fill the thing back up in a week and all the "good stuff" is behind 2 cords of soft maple, which isn't bad wood, but not what I want for vortexes. So stack the first, toss the second somewhere and then stack the other side of the shed with the hotter stuff (beech). My thoughts were "why did I cut so much soft maple?" Oh well, I should stop complaining, I'm very blessed and the house is warm. Ash and cherry today.


----------



## blacktail

Just added some paper birch, big leaf maple, and a neon tetra to my insert.


----------



## Firefighter938

Soft maple with some ash. It's a good morning to watch the fire warm the house as I drink my coffee. Just got home and my wife and kids are still asleep upstairs. Christmas tree is lit, stockings hung, and they made cookies last night. Merry Christmas everyone


----------



## HisTreeNut

blacktail said:


> Just added some paper birch, big leaf maple, and a neon tetra to my insert.


So you're are making smoked,  cooked sushi?


----------



## Ashful

Moved a quarter cord of oak to the house last night.  More than enough to last me the three days until I can bring a full cord up.  This business of cutting every stick of 20 cords from 20" length (from my Jotuls) to 17" length (for my BKs) is wearing thin.  That is... until I wake up to a warm house and stove each morning.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Red maple and cherry are more than enough today with it warming. Relatives all love how warm the house is. Merry Christmas all.


----------



## Tom123

blacktail said:


> Just added some paper birch, big leaf maple, and a neon tetra to my insert.



Did you bread that tetra? Any tarter sauce?


----------



## Wood Collector

Rainey and low 40's some silver maple with a piece of cherry...


----------



## bob95065

I have done eucalyptus burning right now.  We have such, oak, made easy and random trees we took down two years ago in the pile we are burning this year.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Still really mild out so a couple of small pine splits to keep the chill out.


----------



## ZZ Tom

Wifey was up a couple hours before me and loaded up a full box of pine. 10F outside 82F at the thermostat 18 ft from stove.


----------



## Firefighter938

61* F here in central Indiana today. Not going to burn any wood today, electricity will keep us warm.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Hit 50 degrees today, or nearly so, and brushed the chimney.  Looked great.
The ash/ soot brushed away by hand as far as I could reach up or down ! ! !
That double-wall stainless is truly "Da-Bomb".

Cooling off now this evening back to winter temps and putting the torch to some
kindle under pine under ash, our usual midwestern blend.

CheapSafeAndClean


----------



## Firefighter938

60's yesterday. 31* this morning. Ash with a piece of pine to get it going this morning.


----------



## Jay106n

Was 60 degrees during the day so I let the fire go out. I come home from work and its 22 degrees. Got her fired back up with pine and maple.


----------



## Firefighter938

It's gong to be a steady dose of ash for us until the temps fall again. We have beech, mulberry, and a little oak on deck when it does. Weather looks pretty mild for awhile though.


----------



## ZZ Tom

Only cold ashes on this second day of county wide burn restrictions heading into the weekend as multi-county burn restrictions as inversion season kicks into high gear. Good time to clean out the stove and move some wood around.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

I love this thread and trying different MC's and species, and different blends as I learn along.
Today's scrounge cooked up izza round of walnut busted into 6 last May laid over ash.
Found three usable rounds and the other 12 splits get the nite shift over a great coalbed.

Same mentality I used in metallurgy coming up with the best possible properties for wear, or strength,
shear resistance, rust inhibiting copper additions to the ladles, etc.   Now it's fun toying with smoke belching pine
to a slow burning lazy load of oak or other hardwood I have to Google to memorize, etc.    It's become a hobby indeed!


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Ok,
Fried the place on the walnut.  The hallway thermostat showed a ridiculous 82 degrees.  (Butter plate melted again.)
Overloaded and too much airflow.  I had the screw out 4 out of 5 turns.  Woke up sweating and opened the door
of the stove and the door of the house, and kept a close eye on the stove, and of course the dogs wanting to stage a jailbreak.  lol
Great coals, tho.  Very little ash.  Nice stuff.

Tonite the pig is back to it's usual diet of ash and a few small oaks on top.


----------



## Ashful

CheapBassTurd said:


> Ok,
> Fried the place on the walnut.  The hallway thermostat showed a ridiculous 82 degrees.  (Butter plate melted again.)
> Overloaded and too much airflow.  I had the screw out 4 out of 5 turns.  Woke up sweating and opened the door
> of the stove and the door of the house, and kept a close eye on the stove, and of course the dogs wanting to stage a jailbreak.  lol
> Great coals, tho.  Very little ash.  Nice stuff.
> 
> Tonite the pig is back to it's usual diet of ash and a few small oaks on top.


I spent a few years heating with walnut, courtesy of hurricanes Irene and Sandy.  It's not the highest BTU wood, but that inadequacy is mostly reflected in it's shorter burn times, not how hot it burns.  It's a very resinous wood that would send my cat combustor temperature to the moon on any full load, and I imagine it might do the same with a non-cat afterburn system.  It would usually spike 1 - 2 hours into the burn, so it would catch you by surprise.


----------



## Firefighter938

More ash and I found a few pieces of cherry stacked with it. I'm off work until next Wednesday, going to refill the stacks in the attached garage.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Firefighter938 said:


> More ash and I found a few pieces of cherry stacked with it. I'm off work until next Wednesday, going to refill the stacks in the attached garage.



I need to do that as we don't park in there.


----------



## WiscWoody

It's a mild 18f out now. I have some of the four cords of hickory that was given to me by a elderly couple that left their home for a assisted living place a few years ago. And some scrap cedar from work. If I wanted to I could heat the whole house with just scrap cedar!


----------



## husky345 vermont resolute

Got some hefty ash logs in now for the night 


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----------



## redktmrider

Firebox is full of 16% MC red oak.


----------



## TheAardvark

Have a nice "salad" mix going right now. 1 locust log, 1 piece of red oak, 2 pieces of cherry, 1 red maple, and 2 pieces of norway maple.


----------



## Sodbuster

Cherry, apple and green ash


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Last three pieces of poplar , couple cherry, black walnut, and some sort of hard maple.


----------



## Firefighter938

Burning some redbud I moved up to the house yesterday. It's burning well, but I will probably shut the stove down later today. Highs going to be in the 50's the next few days. Going to get the house up to temp this morning and let the heat pump run.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

For New Years breakfast the pig is eating a chunka maple and a few smalls on the oak side
to warm the shanty before churchin'.

Warming up a bit so ash is on the menu for dessert and evening.


----------



## snavematt

50 here today, so just using poplar, lady up the street said I can have 3 oaks that were cut down by mistake. Love people who don't burn


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----------



## Ashful

Oak in both my stoves, today.  Doesn't matter if it's 10F or 50F, these stoves run on oak and ash.  
Going outside to take down Christmas lights, as soon as lunch digests.  Might as well do it while it's warmer.


----------



## Stinkpickle

It's just above freezing tonight, so I'm burning a few small elm splits.


----------



## Firefighter938

No burning here, it's 55* outside. The heat pump can keep us warm tonight.


----------



## Jay106n

Got a cocktail of pine, ash, maple, oak, and a mystery wood. Just the way it came out of the stack, minus the pine.


----------



## Firefighter938

20* this morning so the stove is running on a load of ash and walnut. I'm off to work until tomorrow so I moved a days worth of ash, walnut, and redbud inside for my wife.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Much colder tonight...single digits and windy.  I grabbed some oak and hackberry.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

The cold front has arrived (yesterday actually)
40 daytime temps last two days were awesome for getting caught up on stock.
Made a very generic woodshed on a 4X8 pallet, stilts, and a roadside pickup truck cap.

Tonite the 14 degrees will be battled off by the usual eab and red oak.


----------



## Jay106n

Maple load tonight


----------



## Firefighter938

My wife kept the stove burning last night so there were hot coals left when I got home. I always like an easy relight. I put 4 pieces of ash in with a piece of cherry on top. Snow showers today with a few inches of accumulation, then the temps are going to drop to the single digits.


----------



## Dobish

it was 1 degree last night when I reloaded. i put in russian olive, cedar, and a big ole maple chunk. this morning it was all gone, just enough to pile the coals up and get some pine and elm roaring....


----------



## Stinkpickle

Still cold out...more oak and elm


----------



## woodsHAM

Hard maple and locust !


----------



## Stubblefire

Ash, maple and pine


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Cherry ash Burr oak and beech


----------



## ZZ Tom

Got a box full of elm working the single digit night shift.


----------



## Jay106n

Maple Maple Maple


----------



## Mark N MO

As always, oak and hickory generously sandwiching a delicate offering of hedge over a glorious bed of coals.


----------



## Ashful

Your guess is as good as mine.  I know most of it is red oak, but that white half round on top might be elm?


----------



## Easy Livin’ 3000

Ashful said:


> Your guess is as good as mine.  I know most of it is red oak, but that white half round on top might be elm?
> 
> View attachment 192059


How did you get your stove to stand on its side?  Is this the way its installed, or did you just set it up for the picture and then set it back on its legs for the burn?


----------



## Firefighter938

Ash and soft maple started the morning shift. About to reload with beech and black locust before I leave. Single digits outside but 74 inside. I love wood heat.


----------



## Woody Stover

What's in the box? Not Tulip, it's friggin' ten degrees out there! 


Ashful said:


> Your guess is as good as mine.


Spoken like a guy who buys his firewood.


----------



## splions

Black birch, cherry, and oak


----------



## husky345 vermont resolute

Right now I have some ash and cedar. 


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----------



## husky345 vermont resolute

ED 3000 said:


> How did you get your stove to stand on its side?  Is this the way its installed, or did you just set it up for the picture and then set it back on its legs for the burn?



Lol 


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----------



## Dobish

i did my special concoction of 1 pine, 1 maple, 2 elm, 3 russian olive, and a tea bag.... earll gray


----------



## Easy Livin’ 3000

Dobish said:


> i did my special concoction of 1 pine, 1 maple, 2 elm, 3 russian olive, and a tea bag.... earll gray


Did you check the moisture content of that tea bag?


----------



## Dobish

ED 3000 said:


> Did you check the moisture content of that tea bag?


I knew I forgot to do something!  it felt pretty dry though, it was left over from last night.


----------



## Ashful

ED 3000 said:


> How did you get your stove to stand on its side?  Is this the way its installed, or did you just set it up for the picture and then set it back on its legs for the burn?


iOS 10 won't auto-rotate the camera from the quick-access camera mode.  You need to physically unlock the phone and manually go into camera app to make that work.  I can't believe they've let this bug stand for what... 2 months now?  But it is what it is.


----------



## Stinkpickle

It appears I snagged all oak tonight from the mixed pile.  It took some extra kindling to get started, but now she's finally roaring.


----------



## Firefighter938

I woke up to negative temps this morning. I had loaded the stove at 2am and then reloaded at 6am. I used 2 splits each of ash, mulberry, and beech. Temps in the stove room were high 70s but the back of the house was in the low 60s.


----------



## Jerhurt

10 degrees out I got ash,hard maple and cherry 


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----------



## Coach B

We bottomed out at 7 last night with a couple inches of fresh snowcover. To celebrate I have been burning a mix of prime Tennessee hill country locust, red oak, and white oak. Feels like real winter.


----------



## Ashful

I spent the afternoon outside, as it seems I do every weekend, moving some wood.  After some sledding and skiing with the young'uns, moved a half cord up to the house.   I'll be doing the same tomorrow or next weekend, so I have a full cord in-hand. 

Tonight I will enjoy the fruits of my labor, oak in both stoves.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Was negative this morning and closing on 0 tonight. 70 in the house. Red maple, ash and beech. Once the beech gets going, throws some nice heat.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Still in the single digits...I grabbed half oak and half elm.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Down to 9 degrees and could see negative single digits by morning.



The Buck is chomping on some oak, maple, and black birch.  Gonna tamp her down a little more and enjoy some Zzzzzzzz's.


----------



## snavematt

Woke up to 12 degrees, wife had started the stove with some poplar, it's an oak and locus kinda day


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----------



## Coach B

Down to 5 this morning so went with a couple pieces of Osage with the locust and oak.


----------



## Woody Stover

snavematt said:


> it's an oak and locus kinda day


Yessir. Single digits last night. White Oak and Black Locust in the box, trying to keep this leaky place in the upper 60s.


----------



## Tar12

0 at dawn and the house at 70. Loaded up some white oak and its 72 and climbing inside and 6 outside.


----------



## Dobish

It got up to 50 today, so didn't have the stove going today. Just loaded up with some misc stuff...


----------



## HisTreeNut

Wifey said the house was a little chilly this morning.  Tonight's load has the big guns...oak & locust.




12 degrees outside, 75 degrees inside.
Wifey again is toasty & happy.


----------



## Jay106n

zero degrees, 15 below wind chill. Fully loaded with oak, maple, and ash.


----------



## Firefighter938

We warmed up last night and are now 21* I have a mix of red elm, ash, and mulberry. It is amazing how quickly the stove warms up the house when it is 20* vs 0*.


----------



## Tar12

Firefighter938 said:


> We warmed up last night and are now 21* I have a mix of red elm, ash, and mulberry. It is amazing how quickly the stove warms up the house when it is 20* vs 0*.


That's so very true!


----------



## kennyp2339

Maple and oak, zero this morning, 67 up stairs, 80 in the stove room, Im a happy camper


----------



## Jay106n

zero again tonight. Oak, Japanese dogwood, ash, and maple.


----------



## Firefighter938

Ash, ash, and some more ash.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

The warm front arrived !!
That means get rid of oddball scraps, knots, goofy shaped wedges n' cookies, etc.
The midwest is looking at two weeks of above freezing highs.  This must be the shoulder
season we missed out on in November.  LOL


----------



## Ashful

Firefighter938 said:


> Ash, ash, and some more ash.



Lot's of, "that's a nice piece of ash," jokes around there, I'm sure.


----------



## snavematt

Not too cold, so poplar and a branch of locus and rest will be poplar tonight 


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----------



## Firefighter938

Ashful said:


> Lot's of, "that's a nice piece of ash," jokes around there, I'm sure.



Oh yeah! And lots of "honey may I ash you a question?" I got strange looks when I didn't finish the sentence, "I haven't had my hands on that much ash since"


----------



## baseroom

Ok boys... soft maple and ash!  Temp is rising 30 but wind at 40-50 mph.


----------



## Stinkpickle

I just loaded up with oak and a couple of unidentified pieces...some kinda soft maple, probably.


----------



## bboulier

Sassafras, oak, maple, and cedar.


----------



## buddythehuman

Right now I've got some cherry mixed with box elder, hickory and some oak beams that steel for a building was shipped on. Sweating it out now.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Windy and ashless here lol.  Loaded up the soft stuff as it's kinda warm, and a few knots
for the graveyard shift.


----------



## Firefighter938

A cold stove at my house for the moment. I'm going to let the heat pump warm the house while I try and get the chimney cleaned before the rain. Going to pull the insert out also and inspect it.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Cold and windy tonight, so more oak and elm


----------



## Firefighter938

Got the chimney cleaned and ashes cleaned out of the stove. Now there is some ash, red maple, and pine heating the house up.


----------



## StihlKicking

The same elm I loaded my boiler with yesterday morning. After being 9 degrees with an inch of snow last weekend it is now 70 degrees again. This MS weather is killing my sinuses.


----------



## snavematt

going be 70 today, I will clean out the stove, and check the chimney and clean if needed


----------



## KimiBwoah

Ash 

Got up over 60 last night so have the furnace running here and there until it cools back off...then back to beech, walnut, and hickory. Burnt up all my cedar. Good time to check the flue


----------



## Stinkpickle

We're still stuck in the teens, so it's a stovefull of oak again.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Some beech, ash and red maple. Knocking the chill off after a 24hr break. Turning colder again tomorrow, but then 50's all next week and rain. Now I prefer summer, but I need it cold to get to some wood to stay on schedule for my 3 year plan. Tired of overheating the house and mushy fields. Get cold!


----------



## husky345 vermont resolute

Black cherry 


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----------



## Stinkpickle

Still cold out...more oak.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Been burning more punky pine as the weather is back in the 60's.  Filled with pine and cut the air back last night.
Woke up to a good coal bed this morning.  Will repeat again tonight.


----------



## Jay106n

Roller coaster up and down temps this week. 20's tonight. Got a maple and ash combo on tonight.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

After reading the thread "I need to get into this" about the white birch rounds, cooked off a few today.
Same with the wood ID thread about the poplar, and that purple streaked walnut ID thread.
The walnut lasted.  LOL  The other two were balsa, flared and were a puff of ashes in two hours.
Opened the thing up to a swirl of ashes and the two walnuts on top of the ashes going nicely.

No more testing.  Back on the oak/ ash combo for the graveyard shift.
(after two shovels full for a mini cleanout)


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Geeting rid of some punkwood in the above freezing temps and back to the hardwood overnite blend.


----------



## Firefighter938

A couple of pieces of ash and some red maple. These mild temps are helping my stacks stay full, but the rain is making it hard to fill any new ones.


----------



## snavematt

Zippy in the stove, FA not even coming on


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----------



## bboulier

Nothing tonight.  Split some kindling and brought some firewood inside for the future.


----------



## HisTreeNut

In the low 30's after being in the 50's & 60's the last few days.  Used the kerosene heater to remove the chill.
Have some oak in for the overnight... Nice flame, nice secondary burn, and wifey is toasty.  Life is good.


----------



## mwhitnee

Not sure, but it's very dry.  Fiance moved in, she had some wood at the house she rented.  It is cut and split small, and filled the back of my 6 ft bed in my truck.  I'll take it!!


----------



## Jay106n

I've gotten to the Ash section of my wood pile, I didnt MM test it, I just figured it was dry. IDK why, It was only a few months CSS, and i tossed it in my stove and it sizzzzzzzzled. I mixed in a few pine splits to off set. Time to restack that and move on to something else.


----------



## Dobish

I threw in a mix of russian olive, maple, an elm branch, some rose hips, and a cedar branch last night. my son said, "the fire smells really good right now"

just wait until I throw in a cedar, rose, cherry mix tonight 

we went 3 days without having a fire, and finally last night the temps dropped again and the basement was 54... figured it was time to light her up again


----------



## Stinkpickle

The snow is back and we're back below freezing, so I loaded the stove with ash and oak.


----------



## husky345 vermont resolute

Snow latter today. I have some green ash loaded. 


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----------



## Firefighter938

A mix of ash, elm, black locust, and mulberry. The temps aren't that cold, but heavy winds are keeping it cold outside. I was going to go drop some ash trees today but the windy conditions made me think twice. Think I will just feed the fire and go outside for a bit to split and stack some wood.


----------



## mwhitnee

My recent score of my fiance's very dry wood is gone.  It filled my 6 foot bed in my truck (flat) and was gone in 9 days, but it essentially heated the whole house.  It was almost too dry.

Back to the last of my hickory, about a half cord left.  After that there are only uglies before I go into next year's stash.  I really should focus on those during the day as I have a big pile.  Wonder how far I will make it with that. February is a short month but...


----------



## Stinkpickle

All oak tonight.  I'm chilled so I'm going to overdo it.


----------



## KimiBwoah

Beech...and beech.


----------



## Stinkpickle

I managed to pull all oak from the mix pile tonight.  It's getting hot in herer.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Cold enough to throw in four massive 8x10ish size ash splits. Shoulda split em twice more, but hey, they'll burn hot with it cranking.


----------



## baseroom

Nothing!  (I'M in Hawaii)  don't be hating!


----------



## Darbycrash

White ash and Red elm mostly.


----------



## Stinkpickle

I just pulled some oak and stringy elm from the pile and loaded up the stove.


----------



## Rangerbait

Propane and fake logz  :-(


----------



## Ashful

Oak, with some ash... as always.  ;-)


----------



## St. Coemgen

Almond.


----------



## Firefighter938

Ash with a piece of mulberry and locust.


----------



## Ashful

St. Coemgen said:


> Almond.



Cool. Never heard of anyone burning almond.  In fact, never even seen an almond tree, here!


----------



## Flame On

Black locust with a small split of silver maple to fill in that last little gap.


----------



## snavematt

Oak and locus past two days for me


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----------



## jatoxico

Red oak and more red oak. Couple sticks of locust and iron wood here and there. On a side note I've used a lot less wood than I thought I would have by this point.


----------



## Jay106n

Mix of Black Cherry, Red Oak, and Black Birch


----------



## Tom123

Pin Oak and sugar maple. Nice and warm.


----------



## Firefighter938

N-S= locust, red maple, locust

On top E-W= beech, beech. 

Feeling the heat!


----------



## fishki

Ash...with a few bugs thrown in for a sizzle effect.


----------



## snavematt

not really cold, just going through the poplar to get any chill off


----------



## Stinkpickle

Temps are back down in the teens, and I just packed the stove with oak and elm for the evening.


----------



## Dobish

last night i put a big ole maple chunk in. My wife said "that won't fit in there" 

but my 4 year old told her it would. he was right


----------



## Stinkpickle

I just loaded several oak splits and a chunk of some identifiable wood...maple, I think.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Been burning punky pine again although the last 2 nights have been chilly & I switched to an oak, poplar, & maple blend.  seems straight up oak is making the wifey too toasty...


----------



## Jay106n

10 degrees tonight. Red Oak and black birch up for the offering.


----------



## firefighterjake

Been burning some beech and yellow birch due to some wicked cold . . . still burning some of the yellow birch since I've run into a small stash of it in my woodshed, but also burning a mix of maple, cherry, ash and whatever else I lay my hands on . . . variety is the spice of life.


----------



## Jay106n

Lovely cocktail of Black Cherry, Red Oak, and Black Birch


----------



## St. Coemgen

Ashful said:


> Cool. Never heard of anyone burning almond.  In fact, never even seen an almond tree, here!



Almond is definitely a regional wood. I almost always bought almond when I lived in California. It is an agricultural waste product there and older trees are removed and so was relatively inexpensive firewood. Almond burns nice.

I was burning some almond from my own property this year. Had to cut down a few trees for similar reasons. I am planting about a dozen more this spring.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Nothing right now but ashes.  Fan on the blower is not working right and it is out of my expertise to fix.  Have a repairman coming out tomorrow and it needs to be cooled off so he can work on it.  Wifey is not happy right now...


----------



## SeanBB

The wood I am burning these days is oak- split March 2012, hazel-split May 2013, silver birch-split June 2014 and holly-split October 2013. So you can imagine how well that burns!


----------



## Chimney Smoke

SeanBB said:


> The wood I am burning these days is oak- split March 2012, hazel-split May 2013, silver birch-split June 2014 and holly-split October 2013. So you can imagine how well that burns!



I've been burning red oak that was split in the fall of 2013 this winter.  The results - amazing.  I actually have to let the stove burn down to almost no coals left before reloading because the house gets way too warm.


----------



## Dobish

my stove has been cold again for the last 4 days... looking like it is in the 60's for the next couple of days too....


----------



## Stinkpickle

Wind chills are back down to 0, so I just loaded up with all oak.


----------



## Firefighter938

Burning down some red maple now, getting ready to load locust and beech for overnight. We got some snow today and colder temps tonight and tomorrow. Then up to the 50's for the weekend so we won't be burning to much.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Poplar, oak, & maple.  Blower is working again and wifey is toasty & happy.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Whole buncha ash last two days as that's the abundance.
Saving the red for a cold snap, and the balsa n' punkwood
won't cut it.


----------



## Ctwoodtick

Cold and blizzard conditions for se Ct and very cold tonight. Broke out the vintage hickory, 2 yrs CSS. That's about as vintage as I have (most of my wood is lesser dense hardwood).


----------



## Dobish

2 crumpled pieces of newspaper from cleaning the gas and a tiny bit of fly ash....


----------



## mstoelton

Beech at the moment.  Will be mixed with some Ash, and cherry tonight.


----------



## Woodsplitter67

Blackjack oak and cherry mix on a bed of 3" coles. .. then all blackjack for the overnight burn as is going to be cold..


----------



## Rangerbait

Snowing horizontally right now and wind blowing like it hates me...but still only propane and fake logs in my stove as I wait for springtime to get my wood stove installed. 

Got lots of wood getting nice and dry for next fall though [emoji3]


----------



## Rangerbait

Rangerbait said:


> Snowing horizontally right now and wind blowing like it hates me...but still only propane and fake logs in my stove as I wait for springtime to get my wood stove installed.
> 
> Got lots of wood getting nice and dry for next fall though [emoji3]
> 
> View attachment 194424



Update: a huge gust came through and knocked down my stack of well-seasoned hickory. It was 6' high by 16' long, and just a little too much surface area to withstand that amount of wind. 




Back to the drawing board on this one...I think it needs a little reinforcing


----------



## Tar12

Loaded up the stove with some Bur oak. Good stuff!


----------



## Stinkpickle

It's supposed to be the last cold night before the big warmup shows up to melt the snow tomorrow, so I just stuffed the stove full of elm and oak.


----------



## Archer285

Just loaded up with beech shagbark and black locust. My cold and windy night cocktail..... lol

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----------



## fishki

Cold ashes, looks like my winter finally is over... 79 for the high today and the 15 day forecast shows warm weather ahead


----------



## astonvilla65

Ash, sitting on pine


----------



## astonvilla65

Stinkpickle said:


> It's supposed to be the last cold night before the big warmup shows up to melt the snow tomorrow, so I just stuffed the stove full of elm and oak.


How does elm burn?


----------



## Woodsplitter67

Tonights burn is a mix of black cherry and hickory. .


----------



## HisTreeNut

It's warm out so some punky pine to keep the chill out for the wifey.
Have to say I am becoming a bigger fan of softer woods..not much ash and enough heat to keep the house warm.  Once out gets burning right & the is turned down, 4-6 hours  per load.  Liking it very much...


----------



## firefighterjake

astonvilla65 said:


> How does elm burn?



I like it . . . I think it's rated as a mid-BTU wood. Not as high as sugar maple or oak, but better than white birch.


----------



## Joe13

Basswood and some less then ideal red oak. It doesn't last but puts out ok heat. Not all-nighter stuff, but it's what's on the porch and it's been decently warm the last couple days. 


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----------



## Stinkpickle

Mine has just been full of ashes for the last couple of days.  We've supposed to get another cold blast by this weekend, though.


----------



## Dobish

up to 3 paper towels.... probably not going to have a fire for the rest of february...


----------



## kennyp2339

Oak and maple smoldering, keeping the house at 75ish since I have the flue and my bones are freezing.


----------



## jatoxico

kennyp2339 said:


> Oak and maple smoldering, keeping the house at 75ish since I have the flue and my bones are freezing.


Ooch I had that. Missed a week of work and was sick for 2 more. Still a bit iffy now. Feel better.


----------



## JRHAWK9

NOTHING.  We are nearing the end of a 5 day record breaking warm streak.  Tomorrow will be the last day of mid 60's before we get back to seasonable temps.  We have literally broke the high temp record for four consecutive days and tomorrow will be a fifth.


----------



## Ashful

Joe13 said:


> View attachment 195072


I've said it a hundred times, but I'll say it again, Jotul makes the most beautiful stoves.


----------



## firefighterjake

Joe13 said:


> View attachment 195072
> 
> 
> Basswood and some less then ideal red oak. It doesn't last but puts out ok heat. Not all-nighter stuff, but it's what's on the porch and it's been decently warm the last couple days.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Stupid question (based on the photo and position of the air control) . . . once the stove is up to temp have you cut back on the air control? That would give you more heat and a longer burn. Of course, feel free to just ignore this if the pic was taken on start up and you later dialed back the air.


----------



## Joe13

firefighterjake said:


> Stupid question (based on the photo and position of the air control) . . . once the stove is up to temp have you cut back on the air control? That would give you more heat and a longer burn. Of course, feel free to just ignore this if the pic was taken on start up and you later dialed back the air.



I do dial it back, this wood though does not like lower air settings. I leave it about halfway so it doesn't smolder.


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----------



## Jay106n

Loaded up with black birch and black cherry. Cold tonight but warm weather moving in this week. 50's today, low 30 tomorrow night, so maybe an overnight fire tomorrow, but I'll probably shut down in the am because 65 degree high the next three days. Looking forward the forecast is looking rather springish. Most likely be doing shoulder season type burns. Time to get processing more wood!


----------



## firefighterjake

Joe13 said:


> I do dial it back, this wood though does not like lower air settings. I leave it about halfway so it doesn't smolder.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Ah, good to know . . . I suspect once you are able to get some really well seasoned wood in to the stove you will be able to dial back the air more and get longer burns.


----------



## Joe13

firefighterjake said:


> Ah, good to know . . . I suspect once you are able to get some really well seasoned wood in to the stove you will be able to dial back the air more and get longer burns.



I have had some great burns, just got into a group of less then great work. It is just decently passed it's prime. Haha. Still burns though.


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----------



## Ashful

61F outside today, so... oak.


----------



## Jay106n

Ashful said:


> 61F outside today, so... oak.



lol. It could be 90 and oak


----------



## Ashful

Jay106n said:


> lol. It could be 90 and oak


That is almost true!


----------



## HisTreeNut

Pine & soft maple...just enough to keep the chill out and the wifey happy.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Nothing! This winter sucks!  I don't like winter or snow, but I do enjoy cutting wood and burning it. Well it's been so warm and wet I haven't cut near enough yet or felt like ive got my fill of burning. We will prob burn this weekend overnight, but with days in the 60's it's too warm. Hopefully I can get some dry spells in March before landscaping really starts.


----------



## ZZ Tom

Got some elm splits pulling the night shift


----------



## Dobish

Woke up today to an unexpected 2" of snow. I came home to a stove room at 76°, and the stove loaded up with elm and pine. I reloaded with pine, elm, and an aspen log. Secondaries going and everything is toasty.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Splitter bits and oddball chunks before the warm spell ends.
Gotta few loads of red lying in wait............


----------



## saewoody

Just ash at the moment.  We've had a few nice days in a row.  So we are starting a fire at night, with just one reload in the morning, and then letting it burn out.  Temps are supposed to drop back down a bit this weekend though.


----------



## begreen

We've been burning doug fir and locust. This is the coldest Dec-Feb since 1985 and the coldest since we've been in this house. It'll be our first 3 cord year.


----------



## fishki

This is just getting stupidly addictive, I hate winter but now that I have a stove I want it to stay cold longer so I can burn. 
Finally temps went back down today so I could throw in leftover ash tonite.


----------



## Rangerbait

fishki said:


> This is just getting stupidly addictive, I hate winter but now that I have a stove I want it to stay cold longer so I can burn.
> Finally temps went back down today so I could throw in leftover ash tonite.



I'm with you...although, I haven't even gotten my wood stove installed yet, so I'm glad this winter has been so mild.  Ready for a wrath of God winter next year haha!


----------



## Ashful

63F outside now, headed waaaaay down to 55F tonight.    So, I just loaded the stove with cedar kindling and five splits of ash!


----------



## HisTreeNut

"Brush piles & kindling" from wood we have acquired.  Got into the 70's today and is in the mid 50's right now.
The wifey is chilly but didn't want a rip roaring fire.  Wifey is warm, wifey is happy.


----------



## D8Chumley

Cold ash. 75 degrees yesterday. Been a crazy winter, but it gives the oak another year to season. I think I'm around 3 cord so far, I'll take that


----------



## PA. Woodsman

D8Chumley said:


> Cold ash. 75 degrees yesterday. Been a crazy winter, but it gives the oak another year to season. I think I'm around 3 cord so far, I'll take that


Same here, stoves been sleeping for a few days now. Supposed to be cold tomorrow but then get warmer again before getting colder later in the week. This whole Winter has followed the pattern of 4 or 5 warm days, then 2 cold days, then 3 or 4 cold days then 1 or 2 cold days.....but the cold days don't get real cold or last, we haven't been close to 0 this year.

We have abused Mother Nature for years, now she is hitting back...HARD.


----------



## D8Chumley

I'm not gonna lie, this weather is great for work for me. Finished up a retention pond in Jersey we couldn't finish before Xmas because of the weather, getting ahead on where I'm at now. I'll take 300+ of these days


----------



## Woodsplitter67

Nothing.. my stove has been cold for the past 3 days.. its loaded and ready to go.. but man this sucks. I am ok with warm weather but was really  hoping for a longer burning season


----------



## Tar12

Been burning Burr oak 95% of the time this winter and some red elm. Just fired the stove back up after a crazy warm week here in Indiana..70s yesterday with a forecasted low of 21 tonight...lol


----------



## CincyBurner

78 yesterday, the last day of one warm week of no burning in Feb; T-storms last night, and this morning awoke to snow flurries with 30's for a high.
This evening burning ash, black locust and a small chunk of Osage.  Looks like evening burns this week.  Burning the final chunks of bur oak, tulip poplar and spruce.  Perhaps it'll last long enough to finish out the season before I need to break into a new stack.


----------



## Ashful

Just loaded both stoves with oak.  Got maybe 2 loads left in the rack on the patio, so tomorrow will be spent cutting another cord from 20" lengths down to 17", and then collecting all of the 3" chunks off the ground.  Only a half dozen cords to go, on that job.

Going down to 31F tonight, after a few days above 70F... in February!


----------



## HisTreeNut

Some maple, poplar, and oak.


----------



## jatoxico

Poplar and cherry. Gotta run what'cha brung but its cold and could use some more punch.


----------



## Jay106n

Got red oak rollin


----------



## Stinkpickle

Back down in the teens, so I just loaded up all white oak.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Yep. 12 overnight for us. Welcome to march. Beech, bur oak, red maple and ash.


----------



## fishki

A bunch of uglies from some gnarly hedge. Temps dropped again


----------



## Jay106n

Winter made a roaring come back. 40 MPH winds with 10's tonight, couple of feet of snow Tuesday/Wednesday? The Beast is hungry for red and white oak tonight


----------



## CheapBassTurd

The wind really got the trees in the avatar pic swaying.  
Six stax dropped along the length so instead of cleaning it up,
to the front of the "burn next" it's going.  Got red, ash, and elm
crammed in the box now and maple in the staging area on the porch.
Next is all of the same.  lol   There's some hard, dark stuff I'm gonna
hold back on till a real chill.  Light outer inch, brown center 2/3, deep bark.


----------



## Stinkpickle

A load of oak and elm should keep the place warm until we leave for dinner and come back...then probably a reload before bed.


----------



## Chimney Smoke

7 degrees and 25 MPH wind this afternoon at 1PM.  A full load of 3 year old red oak is in the menu.


----------



## RobbieB

Nothing at all, just a few ashes.  Cleaned out and will remain that way until late fall.


----------



## Tar12

Stuffed her with 12 splits of burr oak...got bad weather rolling in the am.


----------



## Jay106n

Red oak


----------



## Stinkpickle

More white oak and elm.  It should start warming up outside in a couple days.


----------



## begreen

Cold ashes. Temp almost hit 60 today. That's heat pump territory for sure.


----------



## Ashful

Stinkpickle said:


> More white oak and elm.  It should start warming up outside in a couple days.


Wow... how big is that stove?!?


----------



## BrotherBart

Red oak load. 24 degrees and headed down. Pretty much all I burn.

The wind is fierce and the ground is covered with ice. With the low temp and venturi effect on that tall pipe this load is like trying to throw a saddle on a running horse.


----------



## fishki

Half dozen splits of hedge, headed down into the 20's tonite.


----------



## BamaScroungr

Going to bed with pecan, dogwood, osage and persimmon. Saved up the good stuff for tonight, apparently. It may be overkill, but I'll be warm this last Alabama week of winter, damnit.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Oak & maple.


----------



## HitzerHillbilly

Oak and aspen


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----------



## Stinkpickle

Ashful said:


> Wow... how big is that stove?!?


LOL...I bought the optional fan.  I just open the windows and let it work its magic.


----------



## Tar12

I stuffed the stove full for the first time last night with some well seasoned hedge I had stashed back... I was loving that! Bedtime temp was 75 and at roll out this morning after a overnight low of 17 it was 70 degrees with plenty of coals to load up a hedge/burr oak mix


----------



## Firefighter938

A hodge podge of black locust, beech, red maple, walnut, and mulberry. Just trying to burn some stuff up so I don't have to restack it outside. It's in my barn now.


----------



## Mr Learningcurve

white birch, with a bit of punky (free) ash.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Just loaded with oak and a couple of odd sycamore splits that found their way into my pile.


----------



## aussiedog3

as much 4 year seasoned oak and silver maple as I could stuff in the huge, old Lopi smoke dragon.
Just  had the chimney cleaned and she is ready to roar!


----------



## Jay106n

Fully loaded on red oak


----------



## bfast250

Stinkpickle said:


> Just loaded with oak and a couple of odd sycamore splits that found their way into my pile.


How does sycamore burn? I hear it's not much fun to split by hand. Lots of it around, but I haven't run across any in my scrounging yet.


----------



## Bspring

Virginia Pine (puts out heat quickly) and Water Oak (good coals for quick restart). It was 22 here in Dixie this morning but 71 in the house when I woke up.


----------



## Stinkpickle

bfast250 said:


> How does sycamore burn? I hear it's not much fun to split by hand. Lots of it around, but I haven't run across any in my scrounging yet.


Fortunately, I got this stuff from a buddy with a splitter three years ago.  He didn't mention anything about splitting it, but he splits a lot of elm, so it's probably all relative to him.  It burns great, though.  Being three years old, it takes off pretty quick.


----------



## T-roy_

Fire!


(Red oak)


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Dry but moldy red gifted from churchbud with allergies.
From outdoors right into the stove to keep spores from filling the house.
Two days and nobody sneezin'.


----------



## Hesta

In my area of Idaho, all we have is pine. White pine, Doug fir, and lodgepole. Buying a Madison and a Tranquility today, and AMFM-Energy guy has told me that pine is going to be a really dirty burn, but I don't have much choice in the matter. It's all that's available here.


----------



## jatoxico

Hesta said:


> AMFM-Energy guy has told me that pine is going to be a really dirty burn,



Pine has a bad rep. You'll be fine to burn it as long as you allow it the time needed to dry. Drying doesn't really begin until the wood is split so get to that ASAP, new stoves need dry wood.

Many seem to do very well with lodgepole pine especially if you can find it dead standing. Doug Fir is a favorite of those that have it. A summer out in the wind and heat will do wonders, two is even better.

I have family in Twin Falls, the conditions they get there would be good for drying wood quick.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Ressurection of thread...

Nothing at the moment but we've done a few burns to take off
the morning chill.  
The menu this winter is ash, pine, some red, and a huge variety of scrounge mix.
I went by density piling up each section of the wood wall for the changing conditions
and we can grab from the soft, medium, or hardwood with equal ease.
We hit the 40's twice in the last week.  Here we go gang!  (at least in the Great Lakes region)


----------



## kennyp2339

I've got about a cords worth of 15% black locust, 1st time burner of that, I have stored in the woodshed in spot that I should hit around the new year or so... drooling just thinking about it, plus I got a brand new cat this season, so come January I'll be doing mixed red oak and black locust


----------



## WiscWoody

Yes it won't be long. This weeks lows are forecasted to be in the 40's all week except for Thursday night at 39 for a low. I'm ready with 3 year seasoned Maple, Red Oak, Birch and Hickory. All free wood from the neighborhood. My summer LP fill for this summer cost me only $215 for furnace heat and hot water for a 3000 sq ft house in NW Wisconsin, not bad.


----------



## Beer Belly

I've got Maple and Black Birch at the ready....not enough though and will likely need to buy a cord and some Bio Bricks to help with what surely be an unseasoned cord of purchased wood. Every time I wanted to split wood, the Wife always found another project that she wanted done and I kept telling her "we're gonna end up paying for wood and oil"....she said she didn't care.....wait till I tell her the cost when the time comes....bet I get yelled at


----------



## Jay106n

Locked and loaded for another winter here. Maple ash cherry and red oak. I don't think I'll be burning just quite yet tho. September is still early.  Day time temps are still warm to get through the night.


----------



## Dobish

it was 96 degrees here on sunday. We had a bonfire to get rid of some scraps. I had to test one of my pine pieces to make sure it was good to go this season. It was


----------



## Woody5506

Fired up the T5 today with some white birch that is god knows how old. It was used as decoration in my sister's fireplace when she bought the house a couple years ago. Lit up and burned great.

Outside temp was about 63...yes, you could say I was bored and just wanted to "see how the stove was running..."


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Temps in the upper 40's this morning and cooking up
a batch of pine with some of the windows open.  lol


----------



## fishki

I still have some left over ashes from last winter in mine, still a month away from getting cold enough to light it up.


----------



## Rangerbait

Beer Belly said:


> I've got Maple and Black Birch at the ready....not enough though and will likely need to buy a cord and some Bio Bricks to help with what surely be an unseasoned cord of purchased wood. Every time I wanted to split wood, the Wife always found another project that she wanted done and I kept telling her "we're gonna end up paying for wood and oil"....she said she didn't care.....wait till I tell her the cost when the time comes....bet I get yelled at



Wait...we're supposed to ask our wives if we can split wood? Lol


----------



## Rangerbait

My hoard for this season is all 3+ years old Mulberry, Hackberry, Cherry, Black Walnut, and Ash...and to complement it, I have 4 cords of Poplar that was CSS this past winter, but out in the sun and wind all summer, and is now sub-15% MC. Just need to let the next week of sun dry the past 48 hours of rain off of everything, and get it covered.


----------



## Beer Belly

Rangerbait said:


> Wait...we're supposed to ask our wives if we can split wood? Lol


Not that I asked......I would head to the shed to pull out the splitter and would be stopped because she had other projects that she feels is more important....like painting the deck.....or going thru items in the basement to be thrown in the trash


----------



## Jay106n

Chilly this morning. It's still too early but it might be getting close. The chimney sweep is here today for a cleaning.


----------



## begreen

The shed is full of doug fir on one side and mixed hardwoods on the other. Here the nights are starting to get cool, but still in the 50's and the house holds the heat well enough that we warm up again with just solar gain. But it won't be long now before the T6 wakes up.


----------



## Ashful

Woke to 47F this morning.  Our boiler has six zones, and one of them went on this AM.  I'll be running on oil, the next few weeks, but will surely be lighting the stoves before Halloween, if this keeps up.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Daily early morning pine fire last week or so now....
Few ultra dry punk-ish scraps now super dry from 2016, 
Pallet pieces, etc. etc.  "Tis junk burning season.  lol


----------



## warno

Mines pretty well cleaned out as I've been in and out of the firebox trying to make efficiency improvements. Just some crumbles of soot and fly ash. I Will be getting the wood shed stocked in a few weeks and ready for the cold to roll in.


----------



## BrianN

Burning my pine. The stove is going all day and night now. But, I'm hoping to get a few more warm days so that I can give the stove a good cleaning before the real cold weather starts. Also, I am trying to figure out which CAT I am needing, and still have to order it and install it.


----------



## Jay106n

Still empty. 90 degrees and had the air conditioners running today.


----------



## Cascade Failure

Jay106n said:


> Still empty. 90 degrees and had the air conditioners running today.



Yup. AC today and the stove in a few weeks.


----------



## Fuut Master

The AC is running as I type this


----------



## Ashful

Ditto.  This weather is great... for July.


----------



## Rangerbait

AC ran all day yesterday here in eastern WV as well.


----------



## jetsam

Spiders. Spiders are in my stove right now.

We won't be checking their BTU content this week, according to the national weather service.


----------



## johneh

nothing in my stove but air It is to frigin hot for a fire


----------



## Rangerbait

Cool and windy here on the Eastern Panhandle of WV, so I just threw some Poplar in the Blaze King.


----------



## kennyp2339

I put about 8 2x4 cut offs (about 16" long) long in the morning at 6am, load is still running strong, currently its 54deg, breezy and mostly cloudy, good day to have a low fire going.


----------



## begreen

Pistachio nut shells, lots of them. They'll get burned down soon. Cooler weather is coming.


----------



## firefighterjake

Cedar and pine ... wife was chilly.


----------



## WoodyIsGoody

begreen said:


> Pistachio nut shells, lots of them. They'll get burned down soon. Cooler weather is coming.



I presume they are unsalted?


----------



## begreen

WoodyIsGoody said:


> I presume they are unsalted?


Heck no.


----------



## WoodyIsGoody

begreen said:


> Heck no.


 Why don't you just throw them in the garbage? Salt + steel + heat = not good.


----------



## begreen

WoodyIsGoody said:


> Why don't you just throw them in the garbage? Salt + steel + heat = not good.


One burn a year is not going to hurt anything. It's not like burning driftwood, they are lightly salted. If this was a cat stove though I wouldn't do this.


----------



## Rangerbait

It's down into the low 49s, so I peppered tonight's load with a single split of Shagbark Hickory...good Lord, that stuff burns hot!


----------



## kennyp2339

WoodyIsGoody said:


> Why don't you just throw them in the garbage? Salt + steel + heat = not good.


That amount of salt isn't going to hurt a thing, at least BG is snacking healthy, could be a fire box full of Marlboro butts.


----------



## Fuut Master

kennyp2339 said:


> That amount of salt isn't going to hurt a thing, at least BG is snacking healthy, could be a fire box full of Marlboro butts.



Hilarious right there.


----------



## jetsam

If you throw the dogends in the stove all year, you can climb up on the roof and have a one big cigarette instead of all those little ones on the first cold day.


----------



## WoodyIsGoody

kennyp2339 said:


> That amount of salt isn't going to hurt a thing, at least BG is snacking healthy, could be a fire box full of Marlboro butts.



It could be hypodermic needles! Or plastic vodka half gallons! Actually, salt is worse. Pistachio shells have a much higher concentration of salt than driftwood. Salt has no easy way to leave the firebox once it adheres to the interior steel, it persists. Salt also attracts moisture from the wood to the steel. 

Is it going to rust a hole in one season? Of course not. I just prefer to avoid getting it in there in the first place by putting them in my kitchen garbage.


----------



## Lloyd the redneck

Cardboard. And some old concrete form stakes and pieces. Just taking the chill out of the house on the cold rainy day. Been burning straight cardboard in the shop stove to keep the dogs warm when we're gone. Spoiled girls


----------



## Dima1973

Put a few oak splits in the stove this morning. It was 65 downstairs.


----------



## jetsam

Sorry, spiders... It is supposed to get down to 49 tonight, and it got all the way down to 70 in the living room.  I said 'good enough' and threw in a stoveful of little sticks from the edge of the woods to test my freahly boiled cat.

It's going back up to the high 70s here this week!

In other news, the small dog clearly remembers this stove thing from last year.


----------



## Jay106n

My wife uttered the magic words "It's kinda cold in here". Got the beast fired up tonight on a bit of cherry. Happy October!


----------



## Vikestand

It's gotta be in the low 70's to upper 60's for the house to see a fire consistently. Which won't be for another few weeks. Right now the only thing in my stove is a box of replacement gaskets and some high heat stove caulk/glue....


----------



## Chas0218

I have ash and a little maple so ash it was. I ran the little defender this past weekend and with a light load of ash and 1 maple split and the cottage went from a cool 57 to 75 in about an hour. The wife was a little upset because we were packing up the cottage and winterizing so we were working our butts off sweating from all the heat. Took 5 hours but she was still coaled up pretty good when I cleaned her out for the season. At this rate I might need to clean the chimney in 5 years with 3 fires a year in it. She should get a little more use during the winter months when I go up to ice fish.


----------



## Ashful

Woke up to 40F this morning.  It won't be long, now!

Gotta get some wood moved up to the house, in the next week or three.  Our stone house holds heat well, as long as the daily average remains reasonable (we're still seeing 70 - 80F highs), but we pay back for that with a slow warm-up in the spring.


----------



## kennyp2339

Ashful said:


> Woke up to 40F this morning.  It won't be long, now!
> 
> Gotta get some wood moved up to the house, in the next week or three.  Our stone house holds heat well, as long as the daily average remains reasonable (we're still seeing 70 - 80F highs), but we pay back for that with a slow warm-up in the spring.


I thought I saw the oilman doing a "dry" run to your house.


----------



## Dobish

The furnace had kicked on the past few mornings,  but i refused to light a fire until October.  We had snow this afternoon,  and my wife is driving through the storm right now,  so i want her to be toasty when she gets home.  Loaded up some pine,  spruce,  and maple from the uglies pile.  It was 63 in the house when i got home,  now the stove room is 73 and the upstairs is 65.


----------



## JSeery

Silver maple.  Could have just turned on the heat for a little while, but that wouldn't be very fun.


----------



## WoodyIsGoody

Right now I'm down to coals but the cat is still active and cranking out the heat from a fire started last night at 7:30 pm. That's over 19 hours off a load of small-medium uglies I'm trying to get rid of. That wood had some crazy spirits in there. Here's the joker that came out last night:


----------



## jetsam

My stove spiders have passed on. It got below 50 last night, and I burned off a load of bamboo and sticks out of the yard.  Still haven't dipped into the firewood, but it's coming.

I think I may actually start cutting and stacking bamboo for kindling instead of throwing it down the hill. It burns nicely once it's dry.


----------



## Dobish

jetsam said:


> My stove spiders have passed on. It got below 50 last night, and I burned off a load of bamboo and sticks out of the yard.  Still haven't dipped into the firewood, but it's coming.
> 
> I think I may actually start cutting and stacking bamboo for kindling instead of throwing it down the hill. It burns nicely once it's dry.


So do rose brambles


----------



## Rangerbait

It's gonna be another night of Poplar here...anything more dense than that lasts too long into the morning once the temps get back up into the 60s.


----------



## begreen

WoodyIsGoody said:


> It could be hypodermic needles! Or plastic vodka half gallons! Actually, salt is worse. Pistachio shells have a much higher concentration of salt than driftwood. Salt has no easy way to leave the firebox once it adheres to the interior steel, it persists. Salt also attracts moisture from the wood to the steel.
> 
> Is it going to rust a hole in one season? Of course not. I just prefer to avoid getting it in there in the first place by putting them in my kitchen garbage.


9 seasons and the old T6 is still looking good, inside and out. Doug fir is what is in its belly tonight and for the next month. 4 splits a night are keeping us cozy.


----------



## WoodyIsGoody

begreen said:


> 9 seasons and the old T6 is still looking good, inside and out. Doug fir is what is in its belly tonight and for the next month. 4 splits a night are keeping us cozy.



Yeah, my previous stove lasted 28 years without needing anything but door gaskets and firebricks. It was a 2.3 CF 1988 Seefire EPA approved tube stove. Good stove but not in business anymore under that name. Came from Lower British Columbia. Maybe some other stove maker bought them.


----------



## HisTreeNut

WoodyIsGoody said:


> Right now I'm down to coals but the cat is still active and cranking out the heat from a fire started last night at 7:30 pm. That's over 19 hours off a load of small-medium uglies I'm trying to get rid of. That wood had some crazy spirits in there. Here's the joker that came out last night:
> 
> View attachment 201238


Cool picture.

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk


----------



## WoodyIsGoody

HisTreeNut said:


> Cool picture.



I know, I got lucky. 

When I stare into his "gaze" it seems like he comes alive! Be careful.


----------



## HisTreeNut

WoodyIsGoody said:


> I know, I got lucky.
> 
> When I stare into his "gaze" it seems like he comes alive! Be careful.



I was going to say it almost looks like a Ghost Rider figure to me.


----------



## Lloyd the redneck

A old dresser is in my stove. She burns hot! 2 drawers at a time been burning all day !


----------



## WoodyIsGoody

Lloyd the redneck said:


> A old dresser is in my stove. She burns hot! 2 drawers at a time been burning all day !



Well, that's a good way to do your screen name proud!
Is it walnut?


----------



## Cascade Failure

We burned a half stove's worth of pine last night to take the chill off. I'm not looking forward to the cold but I will admit I like going through the process; there's just something calming about it.


----------



## ThunderMedic

Ran a load of tulip poplar last night when the outside temp dipped into the 40s. Today I'm splitting and stacking a dead red oak that's been down in my yard all summer. Should have put this thing into the stacks back in June, but the heat here in Maryland caused a major lack of motivation until now. 

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


----------



## Dobish

i have a load of maple, elm, and pine waiting for the temps to drop. its been 60 when I wake up in the house, but then it has been 80 outside, so i haven't wanted to get the fire going in the AM!


----------



## WiscWoody

WoodyIsGoody said:


> Right now I'm down to coals but the cat is still active and cranking out the heat from a fire started last night at 7:30 pm. That's over 19 hours off a load of small-medium uglies I'm trying to get rid of. That wood had some crazy spirits in there. Here's the joker that came out last night:
> 
> View attachment 201238


OMG I see the devil in your stove!! Be very careful as to not letting him out of your locked stove!! Lol


----------



## WiscWoody

I have ash in my stove now... not white ash not black ash. Just ash. You asked....


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Shoulderwood.

aka pine, poplar, some balsa-type willow, catalpa, scrap 2x4 pieces, etc.
Yes, lotsa cig-butts.  LOL

I tellz mama, "See, the house is still a smoke free zone", as the smoke is
sucked right out whilst the firebox door is open.

No pistachio shells, peanut shells, nor sunflowers tho.   U guys are funny.


----------



## Vikestand

Dust

8 month prego wife likes the house cool this year. I give it another week.....but then again I still have to put new door seals on and clean the stack......................


----------



## Dix

Ashes. Low of 50 F here tonight, and the next 4, then it's "All Hands On Deck".

Get  load up the house this weekend.


----------



## jetsam

Spiders are moving back into mine. Got another week of 70s coming up. Not complaining!


----------



## Ashful

Had two fires in one of my stoves this week.  Was nice!

Okay, I'm ready for spring, now.


----------



## Lloyd the redneck

WoodyIsGoody said:


> Well, that's a good way to do your screen name proud!
> Is it walnut?



Particle board junk. Figured they fit in the stove perfect so might as well use the heat rather than for a bonfire !


----------



## NickDL

So far we've been able to hold off. I wanted to start a fire a few days ago, but we were scheduled for our chimney to be cleaned. Now the temperatures are back up to the 70's during the day, yea. 

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk


----------



## edyit

Vikestand said:


> 8 month prego wife



congrats!


----------



## Ashful

edyit said:


> Vikestand said:
> 
> 
> 
> 8 month prego wife
> 
> 
> 
> congrats!
Click to expand...

Holy crap!  Get her out of the stove!


----------



## Vikestand

edyit said:


> congrats!



Thanks! It was a rough few years trying and complications in between, ready to meet our new and last member!


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----------



## WoodyIsGoody

Vikestand said:


> Thanks! It was a rough few years trying and complications in between, ready to meet our new and last member!



Well, you're in real trouble now if you think the "trying" was the hard part. 'Cause that's the FUN part! 

Now the real work begins. Congratulations!


----------



## Ashful

Ash and sassafras, tonight.  Only going down to mid-40's.


----------



## redktmrider

Loading up just the Ashford with ash tonight to see how well its can distribute the heat to the rest off the house. It is finally cold enough to burn!


----------



## Dobish

we have had a few fires last night. I went to reload this morning, so I tossed in a few pine splits and some elm. Then I realized it was going to be 80º outside, so I cut the air. I walked by 2 minutes later and it was a flame.... I shut the damper and hope it goes out!


----------



## HisTreeNut

Have a bunch of pine from a neighbor that is old & dry-rotted to a degree.  Was using it in the fire-pit, now using it in the stove.  Burns fast and hot, leaves very little ash, and it is enough to keep the chill off the house along with keeping the wifey happy.

Edit: Here's a picture...got some good secondary action going on and floating flames.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Last year's dust right now. Chimney sweep is backed up and i make sure he inspects every year. We r behind schedule. We did get our first fill of propane in 4 years last month with new and much better company. So keeping it 68 for now. It was 80's here last week. I'm getting the itch bad now.


----------



## Dobish

FaithfulWoodsman said:


> Last year's dust right now. Chimney sweep is backed up and i make sure he inspects every year. We r behind schedule. We did get our first fill of propane in 4 years last month with new and much better company. So keeping it 68 for now. It was 80's here last week. I'm getting the itch bad now.


it was 80 here yesterday, 44 today!


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Got down to 27 last night. First real frost weve had so far. I havent even had to scrape a windshield til today. Ash, poplar and mostly cherry in the wood shed right now. Tonight gonna fill the last cord section with 3yr white oak and mulberry to give me a "hot side". Looking forward to posting again here!


----------



## gerry100

non glossy junk mail such as credit card solicitations


----------



## Lloyd the redneck

Nothing . Too dang windy. 38 mph sustained gusting to 55. House is cold about 57 not sure if I'm gonna turn on the backup or blanket up till the wind dies down.


----------



## Ashful

Just loaded up with oak.  Down to 35F tonight, which is finally seasonable, in this unusually warm autumn.


----------



## Rangerbait

Going with Ash and Mulberry tonight...freeze warning in effect (finally)!


----------



## Rangerbait

Rangerbait said:


> Going with Ash and Mulberry tonight...freeze warning in effect (finally)!



Mulberry throwing some nice blue flames


----------



## Jay106n

This time last year I had already burned through a cord. This year October has been very warm. I've only gone through a wheel barrow full. Not complaining.


----------



## Tom123

First fire of the season. Some red maple and ash. 


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----------



## dadapkudap

If I ever build a space ship, I want this guy on my team.

Rocking the ever popular "white poplar" here.


----------



## zig

35 deg. at 6a.m. so it's some red pine knots on top of last nights ash coals.


----------



## Tom123

Lit the first fire of the season last night. Allot of red maple and red oak this season. 


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----------



## WiscWoody

Today there’s snow on the ground and Maple in the stove


----------



## zambien

45 and rainy outside here and a mix of maple and cherry in the Defiant for nice smells.


----------



## Rangerbait

Just got back from Trick or Treating in the wind and driving rain with the kids...stove full of Poplar with a split of Shagbark Hickory to get the party started


----------



## begreen

Still too warm here, though that is about to change. Stove has a lot of ash in it right now that I'll need to clean out.


----------



## BamaScroungr

I've got maple, pecan and more maple. Down to 33 tonight in north Alabama!


----------



## ThunderMedic

Full load of ultra dry tulip poplar. Secondaries are fully engaged and ROLLING! Outside temp is in the 40s and damp, so The Wife "suggested"I start a fire.  The Vogelzang is earning it's keep today. 
	

		
			
		

		
	




Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


----------



## moresnow

E.White pine, Maple and Elm. Started Fri. afternoon and has been idling along nicely since.  Mid 20's last night and never broke 37 today. Windy as well. Ahhhh. Feels sooo nice.


----------



## Tom123

Got the fire going with some Norway maple, I’m feeding it 4”-5” square elm cutoffs now. 


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----------



## Cascade Failure

Just lit off a small load of pine.


----------



## xshmoox

Loaded the harman a little over 3/4 full with some dry pine this morning.  This is 11 hours later was still cruising along nicely.  Probably could have gone another 2-3 hours.


----------



## Tar12

Loaded up the BK Princess with a full load of Burr Oak and locust...she is cruising right along..


----------



## Rangerbait

Straight Ash tonight...trying out some of February's harvest that was sopping wet green when it was felled and split...a spring and summer spent in a Holz Hausen exposed to constant sun and wind has left it sub-15% and burning like its soaked in gas!  80 degrees in the stove room, 73 in the far reaches of the main floor, and 72 in the bedrooms upstairs.  Been logging $5/day electricity consumption lately, contrasted with the heat pump sucking $15/day in the shoulder season last year.


----------



## SuperSpy

mmmmmm... Red Oak....


----------



## firefighterjake

Whatever is in the woodshed . . . ash, maple and white birch right now I believe.

And pretty happy to have it . . . lost power yesterday morning and while I am generally a pretty optimistic guy I am guessing we will not see power back on for a few days.

http://bangordailynews.com/2017/10/...rs-without-power-restoration-could-take-days/

FYI . . . I'm in Waldo County.


----------



## Dobish

lots of uglies right now... crab-apple, maple, pine, locust, elm, black walnut, and aspen.... the dog doesn't approve.


----------



## Woody5506

this morning was ash and cherry before I left for work. While I've been home, I've been burning some huge poplar splits that are at least 5 years old and feel like styrofoam, yet burn surprisingly long.


----------



## McCallBurner

Doug Fir and Western Larch. Booya!  
	

		
			
		

		
	







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----------



## Jay106n

Was 35 degrees this morning and the house was 60. My wife complained it was cold, cuz it was. I started the stove, went out and did some splitting. 12 hours later it's almost 10PM and it's now 55 outside and 75 inside. Now my wife complains to too hot...cuz it is. Lmao. Ash and black cherry on today's load up.


----------



## kennyp2339

(2) 6" wide x 5" thick x 16" long pieces of ultra dry cherry and (1) same dimensions piece of ash


----------



## Wood1Dennis

First real winter temps are coming. Temps in the teens tonight so I will be really happy to have the wood heat! Right now I've got some two year seasoned black cherry and elm in the Caddy!


----------



## Tar12

Running a load of White Oak tonight...first real cold of the season...no worries..


----------



## Woody5506

Silver maple and box elder, from my "I need to get rid of this" stack. Burning fine @ 650 degrees, but I know it will be short lived.


----------



## Jay106n

15 degrees out. Got the red oak roaring tonight.


----------



## Ashful

Hickory x 2 stoves.  Great wood, or at least the bugs seem to think so.


----------



## blacktail

Red alder and western hemlock. 41° outside.


----------



## mountain man 2

3 medium red oak n 1 larger ash split.....18 deg. out ....68 inside....aaahhhh ,just right for us!   BURN ON!


----------



## Rangerbait

Mulberry and Ash right now...first really cold morning of the season


----------



## armanidog

Finally got cold again here in the south. All the way down to 41F. 
I've got elm, cherry, oak, and privet rounds burning now.


----------



## ThunderMedic

Just touched off a load of locust that I found standing dead in my woods. Had to put a black cherry split in to really get it going fast. Got down to 22F here in Southern Maryland last night. Now headed out to split up another truck load of last year's red oak. 

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


----------



## kennyp2339

Rangerbait said:


> Mulberry and Ash right now...first really cold morning of the season
> 
> View attachment 215548
> 
> 
> View attachment 215549
> 
> 
> View attachment 215550


I just want to tell you how impressed I am with your install, you did a serious undertaking and it came out great, be very proud of your work, I bet the boys really appreciate having a dad that can conquer anything.


----------



## zig

Pine and popular in the daytime and a little ash at night. Mid 30's/20's today and tonight so nothing drastic.


----------



## Tom123

I’m burning chunks of ash from a stubby round I️ found in July of 2016. 
	

		
			
		

		
	











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----------



## jatoxico

Ashful said:


> Hickory x 2 stoves.  Great wood, or at least the bugs seem to think so.



Ain't that the truth! All the Hickory I have has borer holes like crazy.

Temp dropped like a rock over a 12 hr period and had to rush to blowout my water lines.

Smorgasbord of oak, cherry, hickory, soft maple and a bit of locust  all sitting on a pile of last years ashes. Yeah I slacked off there.


----------



## Jay106n

Red Oak and Hickory from an older stack. I found the stack of ash and maple that I was expecting to burn this winter was still sizzling.


----------



## Dobish

Woody5506 said:


> View attachment 215475
> 
> 
> 
> Silver maple and box elder, from my "I need to get rid of this" stack. Burning fine @ 650 degrees, but I know it will be short lived.


i'm pretty sure we have literally the exact same wood piles....


----------



## garmford

Ashes. Hoping there's a few sparks in there for a re-light tonight.


----------



## Ashful

Dobish said:


> i'm pretty sure we have literally the exact same wood piles....


Is that better or worse than finding out you're married to the same woman?


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Finally got the first burn tonight. Been cold enough just hadnt had a chance to clean the pipe and reset stove. Ash and cherry are fine for now.


----------



## Rangerbait

kennyp2339 said:


> I just want to tell you how impressed I am with your install, you did a serious undertaking and it came out great, be very proud of your work, I bet the boys really appreciate having a dad that can conquer anything.



Thanks man, I appreciate the compliment!


----------



## Jay106n

Red oak, ash, and maple combo tonight. The house is pretty toasty.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Pine from the ginormous tree that fell in our yard.  Burning nice and getting that early morning chill out oh the house.





Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk


----------



## KodiakII

Ashes and some old MacDonald's garbage...NO PLASTIC though!


----------



## Jay106n

Used some of my splitting left overs, basically kindle of black cherry and ash, to get a nice booster fire going in the open fire place tonight for "ambiance". The stove is full steam in the basement as usual with red oak.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Cherry, one big ash split and one big red oak split. Looking forward to burning 24/7. We get to 60 tuesday. Ohio never knows what it wants to be in fall/spring.


----------



## Tar12

A packed load of locust and cruising right along...


----------



## Rangerbait

Tulip Poplar at the moment...upper-50s today, and now mid-40s...supposed to barely get down to freezing tonight. I'm loving the Poplar for this kind of weather!


----------



## leco

Just ash right now. Not the wood, just the burnt wood.  Been 60º some this week, about 10-15º warmer than usual


----------



## Hardtopseadan

30 - 40 out lately still running 24-7, Douglas Fir and Tamarack.
	

		
			
		

		
	









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----------



## Ashful

Most... boring... thread... ever.  It’s still amazing this one is going, at over 1000 posts!  

Yes, I’m guilty, too.


----------



## Dobish

Ashful said:


> Most... boring... thread... ever.  It’s still amazing this one is going, at over 1000 posts!
> 
> Yes, I’m guilty, too.


its only boring because you only have oak


----------



## Woody5506

As of this morning before I left for work, Red Maple and Ash. I can't wait for that red maple to be gone. Seems to coal up terribly, about as bad as box elder.


----------



## Ashful

Dobish said:


> its only boring because you only have oak



Mostly.   But, I split a sassafras last weekend!   Neat wood, in that it looks as clean as the day it was split, after three years in the stacks.  Smells great, too... but it’s a lightweight in heat, I suspect.


----------



## bfast250

Ashful said:


> Mostly.   But, I split a sassafras last weekend!   Neat wood, in that it looks as clean as the day it was split, after three years in the stacks.  Smells great, too... but it’s a lightweight in heat, I suspect.


I love sassafras. Dries fast and I have been happy with the heat.


----------



## Ashful

Just loaded both BK's to the bursting point with heavy red oak.  It's going to be warm tonight, at least inside.

Sassafras is fun, but when mixed into a pile of oak, I almost accidentally throw the splits when I pick them up.  Something like 32 lb/ft3 vs. 44 lb/ft3, for the rest of my wood.


----------



## Jay106n

Ashful said:


> Most... boring... thread... ever.  It’s still amazing this one is going, at over 1000 posts!
> 
> Yes, I’m guilty, too.



We just love to brag about what we are burning after hours and hours of bucking, hauling, splitting, stacking, waiting years, restacking, to loading our loot right into the mouths of a fiery beast.


----------



## Manly

Jay106n said:


> Temps were in the 20's this morning. I woke up and checked the firebox of my All Nighter Moe, which I found still had some coals from last nights overnight burn. I tossed in a few pieces of pine to get it started up again, shortly followed by a link or two of cherry which coal up real nice, and topped off with some ash splits to last a few hours.
> 
> I vary my wood types by time of day, outside/inside temps, and length of burn.  What is in your stove right now?



I had a Mid Moe for quite a few years many years back. Replaced it with a Jotul #3 about 21 years ago, and burning it ever since. Mostly well dried black locust with some oak mixed in. Pretty much burning around the clock at this time. The All Nighter was a good stove for it's time. With the blower it really pumped the heat out. Wished I kept it after I removed it. I would have liked to experimented with installing a baffle.


----------



## Jay106n

Manly said:


> I had a Mid Moe for quite a few years many years back. Replaced it with a Jotul #3 about 21 years ago, and burning it ever since. Mostly well dried black locust with some oak mixed in. Pretty much burning around the clock at this time. The All Nighter was a good stove for it's time. With the blower it really pumped the heat out. Wished I kept it after I removed it. I would have liked to experimented with installing a baffle.



Yeah the blower really pumps nice heat. I keep tinkering with the idea of a baffle as well, but don't fix what ain't broke.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Cold weather finally set in. Not really a fan of freezing temps, but i dont care for burning when its too cool not to, but blazes us out and we have to crack a window. The englander is not the best shoulder stove for sure.  But she shines now. Teens for 10 days or more in forecast and nary a cold spot in the house. Cherry, mulberry, white oak and red and the box is hot.


----------



## Woody Stover

In my stove right now? A buncha heat radiating outward, warming me and my boy (he's black..don't ask.) 




Black Cherry right. Red, White Oak and Pignut left!


----------



## Rangerbait

Just starting to get some snow...Mulberry in the BK


----------



## Woody Stover

Rangerbait said:


> Just starting to get some snow...Mulberry in the BK


I get some 'yaller wood'
here too but I'm often not sure if it's Mulberry, Redbud or what..? Burns good thoiugh. 
At least it doesn't look like you'll get buried...just enough snow to make it pretty outside.


----------



## Ashful

Oak, oak, and more oak.  Fresh load moved to the house, today











Hey, begreen, I was thinking of you last night.  I came in to the old wing of the house at 69F, and it was about 22F outside.  I put four splits in the BK and ran on high, just to prove to myself that last week’s claim of these stoves being able to heat the place without the boiler were true.  I had it up to 72F in less than 2 hours, so it looks like I wasn’t fibbing!


----------



## Firewood Daddy

White oak and some really hard pine. Never had pine that burns like hardwood. Wish there was more of it around here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Rangerbait

Ashful said:


> Oak, oak, and more oak.  Fresh load moved to the house, today
> 
> View attachment 217444
> 
> 
> View attachment 217445
> 
> 
> Hey, begreen, I was thinking of you last night.  I came in to the old wing of the house at 69F, and it was about 22F outside.  I put four splits in the BK and ran on high, just to prove to myself that last week’s claim of these stoves being able to heat the place without the boiler were true.  I had it up to 72F in less than 2 hours, so it looks like I wasn’t fibbing!



I continue to be blown away by how effectively my King heats this house. Within 1-2 hours of firing it up, the entire upstairs is 73 degrees...that would have had the heat pumps hemorrhaging money to maintain those temps!


----------



## SeanBB

We have about seven inches of snow here in the hills of mid Wales, and it is still coming down. The stove is keeping the place warm with oak and sycamore.


----------



## HisTreeNut

At one point it was 23 degrees and currently we are about 25 degrees.  Don't really know how cold it got as sleeping is more important than temperature watching. 
Have the remanents of some white oak burning away and have been mixing pine and oak during this winter event.  
The far rooms of the house are in the low to mid-60' s while the rest of the house is in the mid-70's.
The Buck is performing well and the wifey is toasty. Life is good.

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----------



## Tom123

Here in northern Hartford county it is in the high 20’s and 6” of fresh snow. The Napoleon has been running on mostly Norway Maple but I’m beginning the switch over to red/white oak. 


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----------



## ZZ Tom

Got cold ashes in our stove. A high pressure system has moved in and set up shop, creating an inversion which traps the cold air and pollution here in the valley at 4400'. It's 20* outside and I can't breathe because the air is so dirty and I can't burn due to burn ban. Go up the canyon to about 8000' at the ski resorts and it's a balmy 55* and clean crisp air. Weather man says we could be stuck in this pattern for a month or more.

http://air.utah.gov/forecast.php?id=slc


----------



## Woodsplitter67

Got a mix of white oak and bitternut hickory was 22 degrees with 5 inches of snow. Burning like 2 to 3 splits and letting the coles go down.  Trying not to heat it up to much. House is 69 to 70


----------



## Tar12

Been in the mid 20s at night with wind chills in the teens...been burning some Locust and White Oak...tonight it is a full load of big White Oak splits cruising in the BK...


----------



## Rangerbait

Just played another round of the Devil's Tetris and loaded up every last cubic inch of the Blaze King with some nice Mulberry...man, that fire box can swallow a serious amount of wood. I love coming downstairs to a mid-70s womb in the morning though!

[emoji91][emoji91][emoji91][emoji91][emoji91][emoji12]


----------



## WiscWoody

It’s 12 out now and going down to 0 the next few nights. I’ve been burning 4 year seasoned red oak the last few days.


----------



## Jay106n

Solid mix of black cherry, maple, ash, and a hunk of red oak to ensure coals in the stove. 

The open fire place is pumping heat (surprisingly) on maple.


----------



## Tar12

Rangerbait said:


> Just played another round of the Devil's Tetris and loaded up every last cubic inch of the Blaze King with some nice Mulberry...man, that fire box can swallow a serious amount of wood. I love coming downstairs to a mid-70s womb in the morning though!
> 
> [emoji91][emoji91][emoji91][emoji91][emoji91][emoji12]


I talked my buddy into going with the King for his old farm house....he is eternally grateful as is his wife and kids!


----------



## Grateful11

Hickory


----------



## Ashful

ZZ Tom said:


> Got cold ashes in our stove. A high pressure system has moved in and set up shop, creating an inversion which traps the cold air and pollution here in the valley at 4400'. It's 20* outside and I can't breathe because the air is so dirty and I can't burn due to burn ban. Go up the canyon to about 8000' at the ski resorts and it's a balmy 55* and clean crisp air. Weather man says we could be stuck in this pattern for a month or more.
> 
> http://air.utah.gov/forecast.php?id=slc
> 
> View attachment 217491



Damn.  It’s time to move, Tom!


----------



## Zack R

Over the past week the lows have been around 0-8F and the highs in the 30's and low 40's. Keeping the Jotul F45 loaded with lodgepole pine and running 24x7. House cools down to the mid 60's and night and hovers in the mid 70's during the day. Our 10 month old girl likes to play on the rug and watch the fire with me.

Its conditions like these that make we wish for a stash of hardwood for the overnight burns.


----------



## ZZ Tom

Ashful said:


> Damn.  It’s time to move, Tom!




Yeah, we're looking into that. I would so like to get out of here
I'm sure my wife won't move far from the child and both of our folks are getting up in years, can't leave 'em high 'n dry


----------



## Jay106n

18 degrees, wind chill 5 this morning . High of 25 today. Loaded on red oak.


----------



## rox3406

Stacked with rounds of maple. She’s a hungry beast the old buck


----------



## ThunderMedic

Stacked to the gills with two year old red oak. 

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----------



## Jay106n

rox3406 said:


> View attachment 217781
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stacked with rounds of maple. She’s a hungry beast the old buck



Geeze how long of a burn do you get out of that?


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Just did a middle of the nite servicing.  She wuz getting bad.
Full cleanout, regasketed, cemented on all seams, and laid down
the sand base under firebrick.   (hadda run the furnace.. EEEK ! ! !)
Coming up great n' hot on pine with red to follow for this 20 degree windy day.
(I'm a 3rd shifter so 1am to 4 am WalMart runs are the norm, even stove rebuilds.)

Gonna be on red, maple, and ash next few months in the meat and guts of winter.............


----------



## rox3406

That will get me 6 to 8 hours. Depends on how good I stay on top of the air


----------



## splions

White oak...takes awhile to get going but burns hot and for a long time.  Good for night time burns


----------



## iLoveWood

Burning up some year old fir, a few rhodedendron logs from work, some poplar my boss gave me ( he was going to burn 1/4 cord worth of splits in a bonfire to make room for new wood if I didnt take it) and some pallet chunks... Some cherry to top it off b4 I go to bed. My antique parlour stove is hungry its cold here in the PNW.


----------



## Firefighter938

Cherry and ash are burning in the old smoke dragon.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

I like the smoke dragon term.  lol
Mine was, but we run it clean and all sealed tight.

Stayin' on the hard n' dense stuff but did lazy pine and catalpa last two warm
and not windy days.  Back below freezing again and back to the slow burn.


----------



## Tar12

Running 3 yr CSS White Oak full time now...Forecasting colder than normal temps for us...but I am ready!


----------



## StihlKicking

White oak and all the boxes and receipts that might compromise Santa Clause [emoji44]Merry Christmas to all and God bless.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Jan Pijpelink

Pine in the Kent. Maple in the 1100B.


----------



## ZZ Tom

We're getting snow for Christmas!! and they've lifted the burn ban. Got a full load of elm blazing. Nothing like a hot fire to keep the fat man out of your chimney.


----------



## Stinkpickle

I just reloaded with oak,elm, and sycamore.


----------



## Tar12

Reload of big White Oak and Locust splits tonight and for every night with this bitter cold snap.-5 tonight....windchill now -10 and we have more of where this come from in the forecast...


----------



## Rangerbait

Burned through a couple loads of Tulip Poplar on wide open mode this evening to get the far reaches of the house nice and toasty, and to leave the firebox clear for the first load of 15% Shagbark Hickory...never burned this stuff before, so I'm very interested to see how it performs!  Got 2.5 cords of is out in the stacks, so I'm hoping it's as good as everyone says.


----------



## Mark N MO

The 91 is just starting to cruise on a load of hedge on the bottom, then hickory, topped off with red and white oak.  Temp is 18°, NE wind gusting to 17 MPH, CAT right at 900°.  Glass of Merlot in my hand, bird dog at my feet.


----------



## Tar12

Mark N MO said:


> The 91 is just starting to cruise on a load of hedge on the bottom, then hickory, topped off with red and white oak.  Temp is 18°, NE wind gusting to 17 MPH, CAT right at 900°.  Glass of Merlot in my hand, bird dog at my feet.


That is a nice BTU combo right there!


----------



## Smokyjeff1

Big white oak and black locust splits.Currently 17 degrees in Central NJ


----------



## WiscWoody

4 year seasoned red oak, easy scrounge stuff. Right now its a cool -16 out.


----------



## Stinkpickle

I just tossed in some more white oak and sycamore to settle in before bed, while the temp outside hit 0.


----------



## jatoxico

Not too cold now maybe 25. The low temps are supposed to get to us later this week. Bedded it down with locust & hickory.


----------



## ThunderMedic

Loaded up with loblolly pine. This stuff dried out great down to around 10%mc and burns HOT but fast. 

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----------



## Rangerbait

Rangerbait said:


> first load of 15% Shagbark Hickory...



Getting the party started..


----------



## WiscWoody

jatoxico said:


> Not too cold now maybe 25. The low temps are supposed to get to us later this week. Bedded it down with locust & hickory.


Yes sir, NY is going to be real cold come Thursday


----------



## ThunderMedic

Secondaries are in FULL burn tonight!
	

		
			
		

		
	









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----------



## BrotherBart

15 Liberty Bricks in the 30-NC. We shall see...


----------



## Sodbuster

-5 degrees here, and full of Shagbark Hickory. Stovetop's about 620.


----------



## Firefighter938

We got down to -2*F this morning. My wife dos a good job of keeping the stove going yesterday, and when I got home this morning there was around 3" of coals in the bottom. I used 2 splits of ash and 3 pieces of pine to get the house warm and burn some coals. Now we are burning ash and cherry. Will be switching to mulberry shortly.


----------



## WiscWoody

It was -29 just before daybreak this morning but it has warmed up to -22 now. Not so bad.... warm compared to Cotton MN where it was -42 this morning... I’m still burning well seasoned red oak. It’s working for me now.


----------



## edyit

BrotherBart said:


> 15 Liberty Bricks in the 30-NC. We shall see...



pics or it didn't happen!


----------



## BrotherBart

edyit said:


> pics or it didn't happen!



Have to try to remember to take one tonight. Those were gone to coals by sunup and I am just burning one at time through the day today. Got up to a warm house and 180 degree stove after 11 hours.


----------



## rox3406

The old girl chewing down sycamore rounds


----------



## jatoxico

BrotherBart said:


> Have to try to remember to take one tonight. Those were gone to coals by sunup and I am just burning one at time through the day today. Got up to a warm house and 180 degree stove after 11 hours.


How do you like them, good substitute for cord wood?

I've tried bricks here and there but never a full load.


----------



## BrotherBart

jatoxico said:


> How do you like them, good substitute for cord wood?
> 
> I've tried bricks here and there but never a full load.



They work pretty well. I am constantly messing with different load sizes and configurations. Of course nothing will ever beat dry oak but...


----------



## jatoxico

BrotherBart said:


> They work pretty well. I am constantly messing with different load sizes and configurations. Of course nothing will ever beat dry oak but...


Always a bit afraid to use a full load but mebee one day if I get tired of the work.


----------



## BrotherBart

jatoxico said:


> Always a bit afraid to use a full load but mebee one day if I get tired of the work.



Burning 20 or so tightly packed is nothing like setting off two or three and letting them blaze away. Easy to control the burn with the larger tightly packed load. I burned the 15 brick load last night just like cord wood. That being pulling the coals to the front and loading behind them them pushing the hot coals back against the front of the load. Cracked door till the load started to catch and closed the door. I stepped down the primary air at exactly the same temp points I do with hardwood. 

I have done overnights last year with as many as 23 bricks and never had a concern of a runaway. I cannot say the same for dry hardwood loads.


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Red oak on a small pile of coals left after a cleanout.
Going below zero F tonite.......


----------



## BrotherBart

One thing I will say about bricks. The "no mess" claim is BS. The things are messier with the excess sawdust than cord wood ever could be.


----------



## jatoxico

BrotherBart said:


> Burning 20 or so tightly packed is nothing like setting off two or three and letting them blaze away. Easy to control the burn with the larger tightly packed load.



That makes sense. How are you lighting them from a cold start? That gave me trouble too. Did better after I had a coal bed from wood.


----------



## BrotherBart

jatoxico said:


> That makes sense. How are you lighting them from a cold start? That gave me trouble too. Did better after I had a coal bed from wood.



Two on the sides with one over the top making a small tunnel between them in front of the "doghouse" air in the center front of the stove. Poke a quarter of a super cedar in that tunnel and light it and close the door and you are off to the races.


----------



## Stinkpickle

I just packed the stove with oak and elm.  It's roarin' at the moment.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Cherry and white oak. This stove/furnace shines in the sub-zero weather. We open windows regularly in fall/early spring, but i can crank it when its cold and the house is perfect. Arctic occilation has got nothing on me.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman




----------



## Jay106n

Zero degrees right now.  Got a mix of red and white oak rolling.


----------



## Jan Pijpelink

Oak in the 1100, a mix of oak and pine in the Kent.


----------



## Tar12

White Oak,White Oak,and more White Oak.. I would love to have me some Hedge right now..been loading 3 times per day....once in the morning full load then a lighter afternoon/early evening load and then ash clean out if necessary and then I went scrounging in my White Oak hoard and found 6 big splits and that was all I was able to fit in the stove! Bigger is better...


----------



## Stinkpickle

The temps are on the positive side of 0 tonight, so I just packed in a bunch of ash and elm.


----------



## Longknife

I've been home all day (temps are around -20F and below all week at night) and have been feeding the stove heavy all day.  Just finished  burning down some excessive coaling with a few tiny ash and birch splits (spoil from splitting really, but I throw nothing out).  I loaded it with a medium load of medium size  birch and ash splits plus a 5 inch round of Manitoba maple.  I'll try and burn this down as best as possible before bed and will load up with large birch and ash splits.


----------



## trguitar

With these single digit and below zero temps, it's black locust, black locust, and more black locust!


----------



## Firefighter938

I'm burning down a full load of ash, then getting ready to load some big mulberry and black cherry splits. Hopefully I will have a good coal pile when I wake up at 5.


----------



## BrotherBart

12 degrees and the 30-NC at 700 stove top with 22 Liberty Bricks. @stoveguy2esw  promised me in 2006 that "It won't split down the middle." It didn't in the 1,025 degree runaway a few years ago so this is a walk in the park.


----------



## Rangerbait

Shagbark Hickory for the overnight burn...upstairs heat pump set to trigger if the temp drops below 70 up there, which it will, but it's all about balance! If the power was out, we'd be happy with 65 in the bedrooms.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

White oak and two ash splits. Miffed cause one of the ash splits, which are big, is still sizzling after 15 min of burning and the temp wont rise so cant close it down. Dont know what causes a two year css ash split to hold water, but i hate it.


----------



## Beer Belly

Right now, Ashes.......from last nights load of Maple, and a couple of splits of Cherry.


----------



## Ashful

Time for a cat stove, BB.   [emoji57]


----------



## moresnow

Beer Belly said:


> Right now, Ashes



Ditto. Woke up to a healthy coal pile. Pulled it forward and turned up the air. Been reducing that for a hour and a half. 72F in the house. Mostly soft Maple and (gulp) Cottonwood I am trying to utilize!  Haaaa.
  May have to dig out some denser stuff soon. Way below zero overnights in the next few days. New Years Eve may be hanging out in my warm house! To cold elsewhere....


----------



## jatoxico

Looking good @BrotherBart . I never liked the bricks I tried, think they were Envi. They sort of expanded then fell apart and never burned actively or well. They were all that was around and I never did try a full load, just 1-3 at a time so maybe would be better that way. And yes they are dusty.

Wish I could get a chance to try NIEL's logs as I've heard those are pressed hard and burn well.


----------



## kennyp2339

oak and black locust, first time burning BL and the difference is huge, I now believe how people say it burns like coal.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

kennyp2339 said:


> I now believe how people say it burns like coal


Yep. Havent had any in a long time, but i have two cords waiting to be split. How long did u dry em and how big did u u split?


----------



## kennyp2339

FaithfulWoodsman said:


> Yep. Havent had any in a long time, but i have two cords waiting to be split. How long did u dry em and how big did u u split?


Mine are around 4-5" x 18" long, they have been drying out for 3 years


----------



## Longknife

Although from a few days ago, things were holding up pretty good in the morning after a cold night.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Today, I've been grabbing whatever is sitting on the top of the mix pile.  My last load appeared to be all oak and elm.


----------



## Mark N MO

Hedge on the bottom, red/white oak, then hickory.  CAT is well into the cruise mode @ 1200°.  It's my go to recipe when it gets cold.  Temp is 17°, on the way down to 6°, north wind @ 12 MPH.  Grand daughter is barefoot in Mimi's chair watching "Sara and Duck", bird dog at my feet, glass of merlot in hand.  Doesn't get any better than this.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -20 this morning so I put some Beech and Oak (White & Red) in the Liberty.


----------



## Woody Stover

A gnarly chunk of White Oak and a couple splits of BL. Moved reinforcements up to the on-deck circle yesterday. Old Man Winter, "make my day!" 
Red Oak to the left, White Oak and BL under the window and a bit of starter Black Cherry next to the porch.


----------



## Tar12

kennyp2339 said:


> Mine are around 4-5" x 18" long, they have been drying out for 3 years


Thats good stuff right there! Thats how long mine has been seasoning out...wait till you try some hedge...


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

Honey locust on the bottom going n/s and silver maple and red oak on top going e/w.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Woody Stover said:


> View attachment 219290
> 
> A gnarly chunk of White Oak and a couple splits of BL. Moved reinforcements up to the on-deck circle yesterday. Old Man Winter, "make my day!"
> Red Oak to the left, White Oak and BL under the window and a bit of starter Black Cherry next to the porch.


Like the stacks, and the house os nice too...   

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk


----------



## Rangerbait

Nice and cold out there...got a roaring Tulip Poplar fire going right now to get all of the coals burned down before the overnight load of Mulberry and White Ash.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're heading down to -30 tonight (regular temp) so we loaded the Liberty up with Beech and some Sugar Maple.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Two accidental splits of pine and white oak.  Currently 18 with a wind chill of 4 and supposed to drop another 10 degrees. Not supposed to get very warm the next few days...going to be burning a lot more oak.
	

		
			
		

		
	






Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk


----------



## ThunderMedic

14F here in Southern Maryland. Mixed grab bag of yellow locust, maple, and cherry. 

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


----------



## Wood1Dennis

Starting the new year at about -8. Toasty 69 in tbe house with black cherry and white ash in the firebox


----------



## Tar12

Very cold start to the New Year here in Indiana...when I checked my various temp gadgets this am I had to do a double take! Then I looked at the inside temp.....the Princess has held 77-80 all night! Running White Oak and Black Locust mix...I have to add that we had approx 4 inches of snow fall a couple days ago...I decided to shovel snow up against the foundation 2 feet deep around the entire perimeter of the house to slow down the bitter wind that has been  blowing...although I have made every effort to ensure the foundation is sealed I can feel a big difference by this additional effort!


----------



## Stinkpickle

It looks like I grabbed red oak and sycamore this morning.  -15 and breezy


----------



## Jay106n

Below zero tonight. Red oak


----------



## saewoody

Jay106n said:


> Below zero tonight. Red oak



Same. Been burning it all week. 


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----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA has us hitting -18 tonight so we'll load the Liberty up with Beech. Tomorrow I'll be burning some of the Red & White Oak from a scrounge I did in 2012.


----------



## splions

I just finished burning through some honey locust...I swear it wasn't dry enough even though it was covered and 2+ years old?  Red oak burned from the same stack was excellent.  I didn't think honey locust took that long to dry.


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

splions said:


> I just finished burning through some honey locust...I swear it wasn't dry enough even though it was covered and 2+ years old?  Red oak burned from the same stack was excellent.  I didn't think honey locust took that long to dry.


Some love Locust, others don't.  I don't for the reason you are finding.  2-3 year oak burn like a champ.  2-3 year Locust is just barely burnable.


----------



## Rangerbait

thewoodlands said:


> NOAA has us hitting -18 tonight so we'll load the Liberty up with Beech. Tomorrow I'll be burning some of the Red & White Oak from a scrounge I did in 2012.



Where you @?


----------



## Stinkpickle

splions said:


> I just finished burning through some honey locust...I swear it wasn't dry enough even though it was covered and 2+ years old?  Red oak burned from the same stack was excellent.  I didn't think honey locust took that long to dry.


I've had honey locust do that before, but it isn't consistent.  One split will be fine while the next sizzles like crazy.


----------



## Stinkpickle

It's more white oak and sycamore tonight.


----------



## Firefighter938

Oak, hickory, and hedge tonight. Tomorrow we are suppose to get up to 20*


----------



## Bocephous

A piece each of poplar, ash, and red oak.  Lately been burning a lot of red oak and some locust I had stashed.


----------



## Ashful

Filled this morning with about 70% of a load of oak, on top of a firebox 30% filled with oak coals.  Damn thing threw sparks half way across the office this morning, when I went to load.  Was almost hit in the face with a particularly large flying ember.

I’ve found I can do well by raking the coals to the sides, and throwing two or three fresh splits in the middle, when I arrive home each evening.  This burns down the coals enough by bedtime, while keeping up the heat, that I can do a fresh load before bed.  It’s the morning loads that have been tougher, as I’m dealing with cat cloggage, which is screwing up my burntime / burn rate predictions for the overnight load.


----------



## thewoodlands

This morning we loaded the Liberty up with Red & White Oak.


----------



## Stinkpickle

More oak and sycamore from the mix pile.  I don't remember stacking this much damn sycamore...


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA has a low of 6 tonight for our area so we have some Oak in the Liberty tonight, we'll have both the pellet & wood stove going through this little cold snap coming in. Both stoves are in the basement so the floors are always warm.

Our county has had about five houses that were lost because of wood stove related fires so we won't over use either of the stoves, we used four different ways to heat the house the last cold stretch, wood,pellets,oil and propane.


----------



## LocustPocust

It's a "warm" night here (10 F) so I've been feeding the stove Norway Maple and Elm. That crap maple doesn't last long but it burns hotter than hell even with the damper down. Easy to split too. -3 for a HIGH on Saturday with a low of -20 (at least) so i'll be back on the Black Locust/Bitternut Hickory regimen. 

There have been a lot of house fires around here too since it got cold, but as far as I know none Wood stove related. Electrical and careless smoking i've heard. You can't really "over use" a wood stove... people have heated 100% with wood their entire lives without a problem. It's how you use them. A few years ago there was a home near me that was completely destroyed by fire on the night before Thanksgiving. The cause was a chimney fire. Apparently the people went 4 years without getting their chimney cleaned...

Burn dry wood hot and clean your chimney. You'll never have a problem.


----------



## firefighterjake

LocustPocust said:


> . . ..
> 
> There have been a lot of house fires around here too since it got cold, but as far as I know none Wood stove related. Electrical and careless smoking i've heard. . . ..



Pretty normal . . . the number of fire incidents begins to rise in September or so and peaks in or around January before slowly decreasing. Top causes of fire are cooking, electrical and heating.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 14 this morning so we turned the pellet stove on for about an hour and loaded the Liberty up with Red & White Oak. We plan on putting in another load of the Oaks before the wind chills come in.

NOAA keeps dropping what we might get for snow, I think it went from seven a few days ago to 3 this morning.


----------



## Stinkpickle

We're back above 0, but just barely.  I loaded up with oak and a big chunk of mulberry that's now popping and snapping like crazy.


----------



## BrotherBart

16 with a wind chill of -2 headed down to 8 and -8. The night load in the 30-NC of 28 Liberty Bricks cruising at 500. The challenge will be tomorrow with a forecast high of twenty. And wind chills of Mars.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of -9 heading down to -18 with a possible wind chill of -40 so the Lopi Liberty has some Oak and Sugar Maple going.

We also had the Pellet Stove going earlier but turned it off at 8 pm when the basement temp hit the mid 80's.


----------



## tpenny67

Ash, pine, and a piece of striped maple running hard in the Quad.  It's sub zero outside with a strong wind as we try to warm up the weekend getaway.  50s inside, not quite 700 on the stove top.  Probably going to bump up the furnace too!

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----------



## Woodsplitter67

It was 0 this morning not including the windchill. I am running pin oak, hickory, and white oak. All thick splits and kicking out some good heat. Not running the stove hard keeping it at about 500. The temp droped down in the house last night during the overnight burn.  House is already 70 going to start to dile it back. Its 16 out right now.


----------



## ratsrepus

lots of ash


----------



## ThunderMedic

Load of black cherry, maple, and locust from the mix pile. Last night was rough, it got down to -2F here in Maryland. The Little Insert That Could is having trouble keeping the house above 70 while it's blowing 25 knots outside. 

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----------



## Jay106n

It's been an above average night here at 14 degrees. I have a solid bed of coals from today's red oak, just loaded up some maple and ash. Probably throw a red oak on in a bit. Also have the living room open fire place going on some maple.


----------



## MissMac

During the 3 week cold snap at -40*C i was burning full loads of Jack Pine 12-16% MC on full throttle in my blaze king.  Man, was it ever cold!  Reloading every 5 hrs or so.  Now that we’re up around a balmy minus 10*C i’ve got the stove throttled down and am doing reloads every 12 hrs.  All i got is jack pine and more jack pine, so jack pine it is!


----------



## Stinkpickle

Oak and elm tonight


----------



## Tar12

High winds and dropping temps here AGAIN...went out to my Black Locust stash and selected some premium stuff and loaded the stove up..


----------



## Rangerbait

About to load the stove full of Ash before we go to bed for the night.


----------



## splions

Burning 2+ year old black birch and red oak...makes for a wonderful fire!


----------



## Stinkpickle

I'm a little off schedule tonight, and we're about to head below zero again, so I'm running a few oak and ash splits to build up a good coal base before packing the stove for bedtime.


----------



## Firefighter938

Ash, ash, and more ash is on the menu today.


----------



## Fort Wisers

At home, ash and a mix of different maples (mostly silver), small amounts of elm, oak and cherry are occasionally in the mix as well.
At camp it's a mix of balsam, poplar maple and birch (both white and some yellow), basically we're on anything that got cleared down when we built the cabin.


----------



## Tar12

Ran a 50/50 mix of Black Locust and White Oak last night and this morning..good stuff!


----------



## Stinkpickle

The stove is feasting on oak and sycamore tonight.


----------



## ZZ Tom

Making ashes from some 3 year old ELM. This stuff is so dry it is on fire before I have the stove fully loaded.


----------



## Tar12

ZZ Tom said:


> Making ashes from some 3 year old ELM. This stuff is so dry it is on fire before I have the stove fully loaded.


Thats the way my Locust is...by the 3rd piece it is taking off! Thats a good thing as I can shut the stove down much sooner.


----------



## HDRock

Small ash rounds Burnin in the box today


----------



## AlbergSteve

Some cedar slabs, because it was at the front of the wood shed.


----------



## Don.S

Elm elm and more elm. I did not get my self ready for my first season so all I burn this winter is dead standing elm I cut down as I need it.


----------



## Stinkpickle

It appears I snagged ash, elm, and some oak from the pile tonight.


----------



## Longknife

Nothing out of the ordinary and not very cold outside tonight (about 10 degrees F).  Ash and white birch splits and small round from standing dead elm thrown in for good measure.


----------



## Dobish

All pine tonight...


----------



## SuperSpy

Ran my supply out that was right next to the boiler, and didn't have time to grab some from the next driest stack so I loaded up a wheelbarrow with wood from the next nearest stack.

That was... a mistake.

Boiler ran flat out for 14h solid, never making it above 450F on the outlet (normally 1000-1500F) at any point, and ultimately going cold enough to generate a low water temp warning just as I work up in the morning.

I can't wait until spring so I can finally get ahead on stacking and drying.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Elm and even more sycamore tonight


----------



## zachb91

Absolutely nothing right now have a torn rotator cuff in my shoulder so I'm down an can't do much.

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----------



## dieselguy624

got some mulberry going right now.  ash & a little oak for tonight.


----------



## Tar12

Full load of Black Locust tonight...


----------



## CheapBassTurd

Coupla day break in temps.  20-35 degrees.
Using up some maple n' ash before getting
back to my favorite red warm friend.


----------



## johneh

It's cold tonight so it is Sugar Maple and Red Oak and 
when the temps go up it will be Sugar Maple and Red Oak 
Wait a minute that's all I got


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

BEECH!............it's what's for dinner!


----------



## Dobish

i loaded up with some elm, maple, and a few little pine branches... but the next load will be good... maple, locust and elm, with a sprig of spruce for good measure


----------



## Stinkpickle

The sub zero wind chills are back, and the stove is full of ash and elm.


----------



## Stinkpickle

More ash and elm, plus a fat split of what appears to be red oak.


----------



## Tar12

Full belly of Black Locust...


----------



## NaturalCauses

Just packed it full of ash for the night. Wind chill of -2, house is at 74!

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----------



## Ctwoodtick

Black birch and beech. 13 degrees at the moment.


----------



## Alpine1

Silver fir and beech. -2C and snowing right now.


----------



## mountain man 2

Black locust n some ash.....10*....6 more weeks n then..........


----------



## Don.S

Elm I cut down two days ago


----------



## HisTreeNut

Pine right now and pine and oak mix tonight.


----------



## Jay106n

Snow storm! Went with a mix of maple and oak for some coals.


----------



## AlbergSteve

Been burning cedar for the last couple of weeks but it's goin' to -7C tonight but lucky me, I found some nice 3 year old maple 6-8'' splits in  the middle of the pile - hoping to 14- 16 hours out of it tomorrow...


----------



## Wood Dog

We've had rain/ sleet in the last day with 31* for a high, so I'm using some 2-year-old honey locust that was standing dead back then. It don't get much better than that.... for me


----------



## Jay106n

After snow a couple days ago, I shut her down today. Got a spike of a warm day into the 70s., supposed to drop back down the next few days. We shall see. On a side note, I got a local tree company to drop me a load of logs today. I came home to find it dumped.  I'm pumped to get working on it.


----------



## snojetter

Stove belly is full of basswood.  Yes, you heard that right - basswood.  Loaded it full at 7:00 this morning and I expect to be reloading at about 11:00.  I don't let much of anything go to waste around here.  Maybe I should take up whittling...


----------



## Jay106n

Cherry and Maple. Just when winter looks like it’s gonna quit, she strikes back. Maybe another snow storm this week? Loaded another cord into the basement today to be safe


----------



## AlbergSteve

I _very, very_, carefully loaded the stove with cedar....


----------



## Jay106n

AlbergSteve said:


> I _very, very_, carefully loaded the stove with cedar....
> View attachment 223825
> View attachment 223826



Yikes. Better off in the fire pit!


----------



## RandyBoBandy

Day time temps have been in the 30s-40s with the nights in the 20’s so I’ve been mixing my loads with oak and sassafras. I have to say I like the sassafras. It puts on a great flame show with awesome secondaries and I’m still getting 12-14 hour burns with the big splits of oak in there as well.


----------



## bfast250

RandyBoBandy said:


> Day time temps have been in the 30s-40s with the nights in the 20’s so I’ve been mixing my loads with oak and sassafras. I have to say I like the sassafras. It puts on a great flame show with awesome secondaries and I’m still getting 12-14 hour burns with the big splits of oak in there as well.


I like sassafras too. Cuts easy, dries fast, smells great. It's good stuff!


----------



## Riddlefiddle

I have been burning sugar maple seasoned two years. I use pine to get the fire going. Waiting on a bunch of cherry to season. Will be ready to burn by august of 2018. Can't wait as I have never burned cherry before.


----------



## Jay106n

Can’t believe I’m saying this on this 18 degree April 8 but a full load of 3 year old cedar. Not bad for this extended shoulder season we’ve been having.


----------



## Riddlefiddle

Still using hardwood. I have a lot of pine and poplar i can burn for the shoulder season. It might get to 60 degrees this Friday here in New York.


----------



## Jay106n

I cut a small standing dead black cherry about a month ago, not for the wood, but just because it needed to come down. It had no bark on it with about an inch of punk all the way around. I didn’t want to touch next years wood so I threw the black cherry rounds into the stove. I did a fresh split test, the center came to 18%. Still better than burning oil!


----------



## fishki

A few sticks of elm, its warming back up after that crappy weather over the weekend. Mid 30's tonite, mid 60's tomorrow.


----------



## HisTreeNut

A bunch of ashes...need to clean & sweep, do preventative maintenance, and get her ready for the Fall...starting to scrounge for 2021-2022.

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----------



## johneh

Ash  (fluffy gray ash)


----------



## begreen

Ash and an ever growing bed of pistachio nut shells.


----------



## AlbergSteve

Cedar, shoulder season cedar.


----------



## WiscWoody

Just a bunch of nice clean steel. New house and new stove with the stove yet to be installed... it was 86 and humid yesterday and it’s the same today so the AC was on- no need for heat yet.


----------



## kennyp2339

cobb webs, but I sis make a lot of progress on the new "log landing" just waiting for the soil / clay to dry to do the final grading.


----------



## Chas0218

Fired it up the other night with a few small splits of maple and ash to pull the moisture out of the air.

On a side note I bought one of those soot eaters for cleaning my chimney cap. I don't buy into all those infomercial kind of toys but this one did the job quite nicely and cleaned the pipe very well too. I had a bunch of fine black dust no chunks.


----------



## Woodsplitter67

I loaded the stove the beginning of sept with some cherry splits and a little hickory.. its ready to be lit.. now i just need the temps to drop... going to start to move the wood up to the rack by the house in the next couple of weeks..


----------



## Dobish

it is 93º here today. my cat temp reads 80º


----------



## Jay106n

Happy October everyone! My chimney sweep came today, all good there. October 1, is my typical start of shoulder burning season with spot fires. Last year, I was 2 fires in on this date, but for today, nothing. However, the wife did complain yesterday that the house was cold. I lit up once last week in September on a chilly day for a pine quickie, so I’m one day ahead so far this season. Temps here in the northeast look pretty mild for the next 2 weeks with a slow downhill slip toward winter, which the “trusty old” farmers almanac is predicting to be a dousy.  Otherwise, the stacks are locked and loaded on another black cherry, red oak, ash, and maple cocktail kind of year.


----------



## Chas0218

We just had our first real fire last night. I over did it a little and threw in a few small pieces of Ash and had the living room and most the downstairs way too hot. Oh well, My wife asked that cringe worthy question of "Can you open the window" when we went to bed. I hate hearing that question knowing I spent a lot of time and hard work getting those BTU's and she just wants to let it go out the window! 

Jeez the thought of sleeping in 70* vs 80*!


----------



## Dobish

i finally shut the windows here the other day. Woke up and it was 58 in the bedroom! WHoo hoo!!  I dont know why I resist getting a fire going to take the chill off. Probably because i know during the day it will warm back up again, and it has been so hot here that I am relishing in wearing pants!


----------



## Jay106n

Dobish said:


> i finally shut the windows here the other day. Woke up and it was 58 in the bedroom! WHoo hoo!!  I dont know why I resist getting a fire going to take the chill off. Probably because i know during the day it will warm back up again, and it has been so hot here that I am relishing in wearing pants!



Same here. House was 59 this morning, I’ve been sleeping in sweatpants and a hoodie, and enjoying it for the time being after this summers terrible heat and humidity in New England.


----------



## Dobish

Jay106n said:


> Same here. House was 59 this morning, I’ve been sleeping in sweatpants and a hoodie, and enjoying it for the time being after this summers terrible heat and humidity in New England.



There is no way I could do that, even in the winter....


----------



## firefighterjake

Coals . . . first fire last night. We had been running the oil boiler for a couple of days to take the chill out of the air . . . decided last night though to do a small fire and take care of the smell of the polish as it burnt off.


----------



## MissMac

I’ve had a mix of jack pine, black spruce and Manitoba maple going for the last 2 weeks.  The maple really stretches out the burn time, so it’s been great.  Opened the windows a few times at night, but after about a week of being cold in the house, i realized there wasn’t any need to be, so i fired the stove up!  So glad i did.  Love the shoulder season fires.


----------



## blades

unfortunately the packing materials as shipped. still working on floor pad (nc30) had to put leveling compound on assembly - Skim/ feather coat tonight  and then put tile on possibly Wed. night.  Flue is already installed- survived the tornados/ straight line winds a couple weeks back, but the suction from the winds sucked the big ball of plastic bags I had stuffed in the end up to top of the flue might be able to retrieve with brush from below otherwise I will have to go up there ( very steep roof) when and if it ever dries up enough when i am home. With that said it might be wise to add a  flue damper to get better control in windy conditions.


----------



## Dobish

Finally had a fire.  Burned some pine and maple


----------



## Jay106n

Dobish said:


> Finally had a fire.  Burned some pine and maple
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 230402



Nice! Indian summer here today. 80+ daytime, 72 just after midnight. Waiting for the cold front to push through to bring fall temps back. Till then nothing in the firebox.


----------



## Montanalocal

Been burning every other day for the last few weeks.  Coming down this afternoon, and will for the next 12 hours.


----------



## gerry100

political advertising, credit card offers etc


----------



## Tar12

I must admit....I have been waiting all summer to fire the Princess up! I currently have a load of 4 yr seasoned White Oak cruising along...thats a beautiful thing!


----------



## Bushels20

First fire of the year. 42 degrees tonight and 15 mph winds sustained. Wife said I’m cold and I couldnt run to get the splits and a beer fast enough....in that order. Red maple with a few splits of ash to get it through the night.


----------



## Dobish

i've been burning a mix of maple, walnut, and poplar of late. Its been seasoned 2 years, and i get a pretty show of the secondaries!


----------



## SuperSpy

Mice. =(

Had to replace a board in mine presumably because it was soaked in mouse urine as the little bastards dug out the pea stone around where the plumbing enters the boiler, then got up into where the controller electronics live.

Once I got the replacement board in it, they quickly learned why it's a bad idea to take residence in a furnace.

I added another 500 lbs of stone which hopefully will keep them out during the off season next year.


----------



## gerry100

I could use the stove heat with the low overnight temps but our set up is inefficient for start/stop burning.

When the overnites are in the 30s and the daytimes consistently stay in the 40s we start continuous burning.

Usually that happens mid Nov around here


----------



## Jay106n

2nd fire of the year, but first real burn on black cherry, ash, and maple. Getting a nice coal bed for the 30’s tonight. Got wife’s family staying from out of state and I’m not turning the heat on! Lol


----------



## thewoodlands

The temp will get close to 32 tonight so we're burning some seasoned pine. Our Lopi Liberty is in the basement so this is our second fire today.

We have about six years worth of shoulder season wood because of the clearing we did for the new garage. We usually burn 1.86 cord or 6 face per year but last year we didn't because it got cold real early compared to past years. We had two face cord left from last year.


----------



## Tom123

Had the first fire of the season today. Raining and in the 50’s this morning. Burned enough to take the chill off and get stove top temps up over 400. I rekindled around 6:00 pm tonight. Oak, black birch and beach, all with fungus, just using the nasty wood up. 


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----------



## Dobish

it was 19 yesterday, 56º in the house when I woke up. We have been burning for about a week straight here now...


----------



## moresnow

A arm load of super light weight White Pine every 12-14hrs. Have not needed the blower fans. Working perfect. Have not removed any ash yet! Makes it fun this time of year.


----------



## Jay106n

Mid 30’s tonight, just a few loads of ash.


----------



## MAD MARK

3 large chunks of 3 year old maple.


----------



## Adabiviak

6-year old manzanita splits and 3-year old eucalyptus uglies that I'm using to cook off thick, 4-year old ponderosa pine knots. This'll be my formula until I get through the pile of those pine knots. I'm also adding an occasional (California) buckeye split (harvested two years ago, but was standing dead for maybe five years prior), just to get a feel for how they behave in terms of outgassing and coaling.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're still burning white pine that is seasoned one year, it looks like the weather will be warm enough through the end of October that we'll keep burning pine.


----------



## Jan Pijpelink

thewoodlands said:


> We're still burning white pine that is seasoned one year, it looks like the weather will be warm enough through the end of October that we'll keep burning pine.


Same thing here. Pine. Oh no! What did I do? Pine is bad, makes you bald and gets your teeth fall out.


----------



## thewoodlands

Jan Pijpelink said:


> Same thing here. Pine. Oh no! What did I do? Pine is bad, makes you bald and gets your teeth fall out.


I had the bald thing going on before we started burning pine but I plan on keeping my teeth.


----------



## Jan Pijpelink

thewoodlands said:


> I had the bald thing going on before we started burning pine but I plan on keeping my teeth.


Started turning grey when I was 23. Started losing hair 20 years ago, losing teeth about 10 years ago. All long before burning Pine.


----------



## ajayabb

Dobish said:


> Finally had a fire.  Burned some pine and maple
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 230402








Oak and Maple



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----------



## thewoodlands

We're still burning pine until the colder air moves in, we should be around 32 for a low tonight with a high of 44 tomorrow.


----------



## SuperSpy

Finally got a splitting wedge so I've been able to make a withdrawal from my stash of too-big-to-split white oak rounds that have been lying around for a few years and are mega dry.

On a side note, who the heck puts a 90° grind on the point of a splitting wedge?  It was my first time using one, and I sent it about 20' across the yard with my first really solid whack.  It wouldn't stick for anything until I took it back into the shop and put a concave grind into the point.  After fixing that sillyness, no round was safe as I went around on a splitting frenzy with the big sledge.

The boiler really loved the addition of proper length, fully dried hardwood, after being forced to eat random length off cuts that probably weren't really ready to burn yet. By the time I got back into the house, it had already gotten up to 1200° in the secondary chamber which it normally doesn't do until it's had a few burn cycles to flash off the excess moisture.


----------



## thewoodlands

More pine in the Liberty today/night.


----------



## sen166

We've been burning a mix of ash, pine, and poplar for this time of year.  The evenings, nights, and mornings have been rather cool, but not cold enough to toss in the three year old oak yet!


----------



## edyit

Some pine slabs from the sawmill, great for this time of year, quick hot fires


----------



## osagebow

I'm starting out with about 1/2 cord of maple stacked in February, with some 3 year red oak uglies thrown in.  30 inches of rain so far in 2018 has not allowed the maple it to dry as well as hoped. Just gonna rip through it and brush out the flue again, I need that spot for some red oak the powerline guys dropped.


----------



## Dobish

after our cold spell, i'm back to ash.... its been in the 60's all week here!


----------



## ThunderMedic

34F here in Southern Maryland this morning. I just got home from work and the dreaded heat pump kicked on overnight while I was gone. 60F in the house and the Wife wouldn't get it of bed until it's at least 65F inside. Loblolly pine and some branches of beech and red oak that feel down in the yard over the last week. I forgot how hot loblolly burns! I've got over a full cord of it outside in the stacks and in looking forward to seeing how it fares this winter against my hard Maple, cherry, and red oak. 

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a temp of just over 20 this morning so we burned more pine in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's been another day of burning pine with the same going on tonight.


----------



## edyit

yup, love pine on days like this, quick and hot, one good fire in the morning and another going now and things are nice and toasty while it's wet and miserable out


----------



## Tom123

It’s going to be lots of Black Birch and Red Oak this burning season. I just added 3 splits of the birch and the secondaries are burning nice. 







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----------



## Lakeside

"lots of Black Birch"  I like black birch too. There's quite a bit of it in this area.  Have you scored any Black Locust ?

There's still a lot of wood to scrounge as the war on trees continues here in CT.


----------



## Tom123

Lakeside said:


> "lots of Black Birch"  I like black birch too. There's quite a bit of it in this area.  Have you scored any Black Locust ?
> 
> There's still a lot of wood to scrounge as the war on trees continues here in CT.



I have scored a little Black Locust, maybe a 1/4 cord among my burning this winter. 


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----------



## thewoodlands

More pine in the Lopi Liberty this morning.


----------



## Jay106n

Tom123 said:


> It’s going to be lots of Black Birch and Red Oak this burning season. I just added 3 splits of the birch and the secondaries are burning nice.
> View attachment 231896
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Love black birch!


----------



## thewoodlands

More pine in the Liberty today. We had a wood rack open in the basement so we brought more pine in.


----------



## BIGChrisNH

Pine this time of year, even at that, it's a bit too warm for my set up to really function super well.


----------



## trguitar

White pine, white pine, and more white pine.


----------



## thewoodlands

Last year at this time in October we had switched to hardwood because of the cold but this year it's more white pine.


----------



## Diabel

Pine seem to be very popular here. I thought we were not supposed to burn pine in a wood stove


----------



## tsquini

No hard hard wood yet just birch, ash, and tulip. This stuff has been seasoning for 4 years and it's drier than a dog fart.


----------



## Diabel

tsquini said:


> it's drier than a dog fart.



What do you feed your dog? May I ask.....


----------



## thewoodlands

More white pine in the Liberty for heat tonight. We'll burn pine until the weather gets colder which I don't see coming at us in the first half of November but that can change quick.


----------



## ajayabb

Tom123 said:


> It’s going to be lots of Black Birch and Red Oak this burning season. I just added 3 splits of the birch and the secondaries are burning nice.
> View attachment 231896
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Tom. Is that insert a Napoleon?  Looks like mine 
	

		
			
		

		
	







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----------



## Tar12

Diabel said:


> What do you feed your dog? May I ask.....


Sawdust?


----------



## Tom123

ajayabb said:


> Tom. Is that insert a Napoleon?  Looks like mine
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 232192
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



It is, Napoleon 1402, I love it!


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----------



## Jay106n

Stove is getting a day off. Mid 60s with more rain today.


----------



## BIGChrisNH

It's a sad day at BigChris's house too. Temps up to 67, no point in a fire . . .


----------



## thewoodlands

We're still burning white pine but we do have some maple inside just in case we need it.


----------



## Chas0218

I've been in the 30s for overnights the past week and finally last night in the 40s with a high today of 61 so no burning today and probably none tonight. 

Monday I burned up the last of my aspen and onto our Ash and Maple chunk wood (uglies) . I have a bunch of small stuff and uglies I like to burn during the warmer nights (above 30). 

This time last year I was burning 24/7 with overnights in the low 20s. I'm actually quite happy I'm only burning off and on up to November. I went through at least 6 cords last year and at this point last year I was a face cord down already.  Hoping I can hold off a little longer for the 24/7 burning until middle of November. That would make my year! Don't get me wrong I like burning but I don't want to have another season like last year, it went on way too long.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's been raining pretty good for the last two days with it turning over to snow this afternoon so we didn't get any pine in so we'll burn some soft and hard maple tonight.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll get a few loads of pine in and maybe later this week we'll get about six bags of pellets just so we can see if the old yankee pellet stove works. We use it with the wood stove once it gets real cold out, we set it at a certain temp so when the wood stove temp drops the pellet stove kicks on. Last year when it was so cold, we burned 53 bags for the entire winter.

We had the pellet stove before the wood stove but once we purchased the land I cut on and the price of pellets hit six bucks a bag, we had the wood stove installed.


----------



## Jay106n

Maple/ash combo does the trick every time.


----------



## MissMac

two 12 hour loads of jack pine per day.  love the jack pine heat, and lack of ash to clean out!


----------



## AlbergSteve

Western Red Cedar, lots and lots of cedar! Great for the shoulder season, of which we're having an extended one - it was 13C here yesterday.


----------



## Chas0218

Did my first back to back burn yesterday all ash, I'm really hoping to be able to hold out for another week till 24/7 burning. Also burned through my bin of uglies and onto my red maple and ash. Quite happy with how dry the wood is from being harvested last year during the winter. My dad covered my other wood up at his place about the end of September, not sure how dry that is I was planning on checking next time im up to see how much longer it has.


----------



## MissMac

AlbergSteve said:


> Western Red Cedar, lots and lots of cedar! Great for the shoulder season, of which we're having an extended one - it was 13C here yesterday.


Must be nice 13 degrees C!  Your whole winter is warmer than my shoulder season!


----------



## thewoodlands

We didn't have an overnight fire so this morning we put our first bag of pellets in our Lopi Yankee, it works.

The wood stove has nothing in it.


----------



## thewoodlands

I put a load of pine in after supper tonight and then we'll burn another load of pine later tonight. We'll put in another two trailer loads of pine tomorrow and if the temp starts to drop enough where we need better wood, we'll start bringing in the hardwood we planned on burning for this winter.


----------



## AlbergSteve

Got down to 2C last night, might have to throw in a couple of sticks of doug fir on top of the cedar. House didn't get below 20C.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

First burn last night. It's been cold enough overnight for a while, but I've had some chimney issues, still not 100% but okay to burn. Ash and white oak that's been sitting in the load cart in the basement since last spring. Very dry and a nice start to the season.


----------



## MissMac

thewoodlands said:


> I put a load of pine in after supper tonight and then we'll burn another load of pine later tonight. We'll put in another two trailer loads of pine tomorrow and if the temp starts to drop enough where we need better wood, we'll start bringing in the hardwood we planned on burning for this winter.


My winter pine heard that!


----------



## HisTreeNut

Pine, bonfire wood, and uglies for now.  Hasn't been cold yet so saving the good wood for now.  That being said, the M-I-L is coming for a visit & as she is the ice queen, the temps are falling rapidly, and we have a possibility of snow next week.

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----------



## thewoodlands

The bottom row is all pine with the top row consisting of some red and hard maple.


----------



## Chas0218

Burned a load of Ash last night and got another going this morning before I left for work. I loving having some hot coals to start a new fire instead of starting from scratch every time.


----------



## sportbikerider78

Since I'm selling my home and my leftover wood...I'm burning some 1.5 yr seasoned maple rounds (bucked limbs) that I would end up giving away for free.  
They are def over 20% moisture, but it is free heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

I have a small pine fire going in the Liberty which should get me through until overnight fire tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We did have two pine fires today but we had some pretty good winds so I let it go cold, we'll set the furnace at 62 tonight.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Ash tonight.


----------



## redyute

Red oak since yesterday


----------



## Isaac Carlson

Maple right now.  Our stove puts out some heat and will overheat the house in no time if loaded with hardwood when temps are above 0.
I’m pretty sure it will put out 200,000 btu if we let it.  The maple burns up quick, but not as quick as pine.  We have ash, walnut, oak, and elm ready for the cold season.  It got down to single digits last night and the house was still toasty this morning.
I was working a lot this year, so we didn’t get as much wood ready as we wanted to.  Some of it is still a bit green, but we have access to more dry wood so we’re not too worried.  We have 6+ cord stacked by the door and ready to come in for the wood rack.  I’m hoping to get at least 3 more cord before it drops below 0.


----------



## Jay106n

Pine/Ash mix going on tonight. Pine burns hot and fast, and the ash lasts!


----------



## Chas0218

Put a load of ash in last night. Stove was running around 700* managed to get the downstairs to 75 before bed and 71 upstairs. By the morning I'm looking at 67 when I start another load. The cold temps had her drafting really well and I'm into 24/7 burning until we get a small break in April. 

@thewoodlands you guys get a little snow last night? Saw Tughill was supposed to get around 1' or better. We just got a dusting down on the Southern Tier.


----------



## thewoodlands

Chas0218 said:


> Put a load of ash in last night. Stove was running around 700* managed to get the downstairs to 75 before bed and 71 upstairs. By the morning I'm looking at 67 when I start another load. The cold temps had her drafting really well and I'm into 24/7 burning until we get a small break in April.
> 
> @thewoodlands you guys get a little snow last night? Saw Tughill was supposed to get around 1' or better. We just got a dusting down on the Southern Tier.


@Chas0218 , we had a dusting of snow overnight but it's actually snowing harder at the moment.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Ash and mulberry that's popping like crazy at the moment.


----------



## MAD MARK

You know....


Pictures are worth a thousand words!


----------



## edyit

all of 15F here right now, will post a pic when i load it up after work


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 12.5 this morning on our digital thermometer for a low, last night we had maple in the liberty and the pellet stove set at 75, we burned about a quarter of a bag.

This morning we loaded the liberty with four splits of pine on the bottom and maple on the top. We had some nice coals from the first fire so I just loaded it up with pine on the bottom with some cherry splits on top.

Tonight we'll see single digits and tomorrow we'll have a windchill of -6 according to NOAA.


----------



## newbie1kenobi

Loaded stove full of Ash prior to me leaving for work this morning....going down to 25f here in Se Pa tonight...not as cold as some of you are dealing with...but cold enough...


----------



## Chas0218

Yup another load of ash and maple for me this morning. Loving a nice warm house when I come home.

On a side note our monthly nest thermostat report said our furnace for the month of October ran a total of 4 hours. I don't think that was too bad when only running the stove at night when we were home. Our day time temps were in the 40s for last couple weeks of October and in the 50s at the beginning.


----------



## walhondingnashua

Mix of ash, red oak and some crab apple


----------



## edyit

Some soft maple going right now


----------



## Chimney Smoke

High of 28 and 20+ MPH winds today.  Had the day off work so kept the stove fed with some nice 4 year aged red oak.  It's a beautiful thing.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 10 degrees already and the wood stove is burning down some coals which will be ready for a load of sugar maple for the overnight load.

In the opposite corner we'll have the pellet stove set at 76, both stoves are in the basement.

We just hit a temp of 7 degrees tonight at 10, the liberty is burning along with a load of sugar maple in it.


----------



## wooduser

hamslam42 said:


> Ash - seasoned 2 years
> Ash - Seasoned 1 year
> Ash - split/stacked last month
> Ash - stacked in rounds yet to be split
> Ash - in neighbors yard waiting for me to have the time and pick it up for processing
> Ash - standing dead on back of property line waiting for AEP to come through and take it down for me





So.....

How does the ash burn?


----------



## edyit

Load of red maple and some birch dialed in before I head into work, brisk here this morning ~5F


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 5.5 for a low overnight so this morning we had a sugar maple fire. Today when I was clearing trail, the wife ran the pellet stove.

At the moment we have some pine and cherry going in the Lopi Liberty.


----------



## 30WCF

Sitting in the dark with no power. A tree fell on a line with all the wind and rain. Made some chicken and pastry on the stove. You must really have to have that stove rolling to boil water. It’s not terribly cold so one split at a time of oak is keeping me at 400 degrees. 
	

		
			
		

		
	










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----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Im hoping we avoid an outage. Lotsa ice tonight. Ash and cherry, topped with some red oak. Oak is a little over two years css. But i board split a lot of it and its burning fantastic. Didnt expect that so im very happy as i may need it this year.


----------



## Jay106n

Worked 30 hours over the last 39 hours leaving me with stone cold stove during the first real snow fall of the year, looks to be about 10 inches. The furnace has been running heating the baseboard heat. But good news is I just got a load of black cherry, maple, and ash lit up in the stove.


----------



## edyit

@30WCF  thats a nice looking stove you have there


----------



## 30WCF

edyit said:


> @30WCF  thats a nice looking stove you have there



I do like it. That’s a serious pad you have yours on. 


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----------



## edyit

yeah thats from the other stove we had, magnolia 2015, it needed a lot more R value in the hearth than the madison does, turned out alright for a first time amateur doing the work


----------



## 30WCF

Looks good. I just figured it was a preemptive build in anticipation of a stove. Extra ember protection is a plus though. 


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----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 25 this morning so we had a fire with some cherry splits, nothing burning in the stove this afternoon.


----------



## walhondingnashua

Silver maple, some ash and a few chunks of sassafras popping like a cap gun.


----------



## thewoodlands

Last night I ran the pellet stove which had the basement at 82 this morning and the main floor at 72. Today we've been burning cherry which we'll use for an overnight fire tonight.


----------



## weatherguy

Since I have 4 cords of ash, itll be ash all day every day. I'll mix NIEL's on colder days.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Ash and mulberry is roaring now.


----------



## jatoxico

All hardwood all the time. Oak, locust and hickory. If I had some softwood I'd use it but not a stick to be found.


----------



## woodey

Burning a mix of ash and cherry now and saving the maple and beech for the colder temps.


----------



## Anduril

I'm currently burning a mix of Russian Olive, Box Elder, Tree of Heaven, and Pine.  My property is overrun with the Russian Olive as well as Tree of Heaven.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have more cherry in the Lopi Liberty and since it won't be real cold tonight, we'll go with more cherry.


----------



## StihlKicking

Chestnut oak, temps in the high 30’s here tonight.


----------



## Dobish

One pine, two aspen and 1 elm


----------



## Wood1Dennis

Elm and white ash. The Caddy is burning really nice!
.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Mostly Mulberry and some Red Oak.  Neighbor had a 110 year old Mulberry that went down after standing dead for 10 years then got pushed down by a logging outfit to get it out of the way.  Sweet.  Kevin


----------



## KJamesJR

Black Cherry.

Dropped a standing dead this past weekend. 18” at chest height. Was a little scary because it was a leaner too. So far I’ve split over a half cord of it and hauled it back to the house. Still a few more rounds in the woods. Most of it is in the 19% range. Some of it is about 22%. I can tell a few splits in the stove are over 20% currently because they’re not burning well.

All of if is currently under 8” of snow because I neglected to check the coming forecast.


----------



## Woody5506

mostly honey locust which I wish I seasoned another year. It's currently about 2 years, it burns ok once it actually gets going but doesn't seem to get going all that easily. Throws heat and coals up good though for an overnight burn. It's pretty messy too with sawdust all over it from whatever bugs seem to love burrowing into honey locust.


----------



## Diabel

It is cold out there! Decided to spice it up a bit!!

Hard maple on the menu for today.


----------



## Chimney Smoke

It's not cold out there, it's frigid.  Record lows and record low daytime highs on the menu for Maine today.  It was 4 degrees and -12 windchill when I woke up.  Needless to say, there's a full load of 4 year old red oak going to town right now.


----------



## Stinkpickle

The temps shot up today here in Iowa.  The stove may stay cold for a while.  The only wood I have burning now is cherry and apple in the smoker warning up the turkey.


----------



## thewoodlands

I'm just heading down to get a cherry firewood fire going in the Lopi Liberty.


----------



## MAD MARK

A small load of Gren Biobricks.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Freezing rain possibility tonight.  Have some pine, poplar, and will be adding a little oak shortly before heading off to bed...

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----------



## thewoodlands

We were in the 40's today so we have some cherry going, they say we'll get between 0.50 -0.75 of an inch of rain before the snow starts later Sunday so things will be a mess.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Warming the house up with three year old mulberry this morning.


----------



## Bushels20

FaithfulWoodsman said:


> First burn last night. It's been cold enough overnight for a while, but I've had some chimney issues, still not 100% but okay to burn. Ash and white oak that's been sitting in the load cart in the basement since last spring. Very dry and a nice start to the season.



I won’t give away your exact location but I’m local to you and we have been cold enough for a while! Hope your chimney issues are better!

Go Trojans and Go Bucks!


----------



## Bushels20

Chas0218 said:


> Yup another load of ash and maple for me this morning. Loving a nice warm house when I come home.
> 
> On a side note our monthly nest thermostat report said our furnace for the month of October ran a total of 4 hours. I don't think that was too bad when only running the stove at night when we were home. Our day time temps were in the 40s for last couple weeks of October and in the 50s at the beginning.



I’m impressed with your discipline to hold off of full time burning. And 4 hours with only night fires is great!


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of just over 37 tonight so we'll burn more cherry for our overnight fire.


----------



## Jay106n

Black cherry, bam-a-lam, whoaoao black cherry, bam-a-lam, black cherry had a child, bam-a-lam, damn thing gone wild, bam-a-lam


----------



## TriggerMan

Our wind chill is 6° right now. 
The stove is loaded with red and white oak. It’s all we burn.


----------



## Chas0218

Bushels20 said:


> I’m impressed with your discipline to hold off of full time burning. And 4 hours with only night fires is great!


I try, although it can be an uphill battle with my wife. She usually uses the excuse of the kids rooms being cold although they sleep in 1 piece fleece pajamas and fleece sheets. Half the time when their rooms are 65* or higher they have all their covers off sprawled all over the bed. Last year I was a little over zealous and ran the stove too much and burned through a lot of wood. This year I'm trying to stay on the conservative side to see if I can stay under 6 cords.

Have another load of Ash this morning. Only burning twice a day right now, coldest part of the house hits 65* before I fire the old girl up before bed. 

Is it bad the wife wears a blanket next to the stove when it's 74* in the wood stove room?


----------



## Bushels20

Chas0218 said:


> I try, although it can be an uphill battle with my wife. She usually uses the excuse of the kids rooms being cold although they sleep in 1 piece fleece pajamas and fleece sheets. Half the time when their rooms are 65* or higher they have all their covers off sprawled all over the bed. Last year I was a little over zealous and ran the stove too much and burned through a lot of wood. This year I'm trying to stay on the conservative side to see if I can stay under 6 cords.
> 
> Have another load of Ash this morning. Only burning twice a day right now, coldest part of the house hits 65* before I fire the old girl up before bed.
> 
> Is it bad the wife wears a blanket next to the stove when it's 74* in the wood stove room?



Phew! I like it warm in our home (makes me feel like I’m doing a good job ha!) but 74 in the stove room with a blanket by the stove is a bit much for me and even my wife. I usually am in shorts and a t-shirt when hanging around the house. But we spend a lot of time in the stove room. 

Similar scenario here with the kids rooms too. I always tell her they’re old enough to gripe if they’re cold. They do about everything else! Ha


----------



## Stinkpickle

Mulberry is popping now.


----------



## Medic21

Red oak and ash.  It got cold out.  Had not burned over the weekend with highs close to 50 and house was 65.  Added a programmable thermostat the wife and kids can’t adjust

It’s 73 and climbing.


----------



## Tom123

It was cold here for the holiday, Thursday and Friday, single digits overnight. Burned a mix of black Birch, red oak and shag bark hickory. It did the trick. I’ve got allot of black birch and red oak this year. 


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----------



## KJamesJR

Looks like the weather is going to be semi-warm over the next week. Mid to high 30’s. Got used to running the new stove during the “feels like -8*f” cold snap. Loaded up on more sugar maple last night and woke up to an 80*f bedroom at around 2am. Only been throwing a split or two of maple/birch during/throughout the day keeping the house at and around 70. Currently a mix of red oak, cherry and maple. Won’t be loading it again for another 10 hours I suspect.


----------



## thewoodlands

We'll be in the low 30's tonight so the Lopi Liberty will see more cherry for the overnight burn.


----------



## Riddlefiddle

I have been burning a mix of maple and poplar. Seems too work well.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Heading into single digits tonight, so I’m loading up mulberry and oak.


----------



## thewoodlands

The temps should be around 30 tonight so we'll burn more cherry.


----------



## thewoodlands

More cherry going in the Lopi Liberty tonight. We brought in two smaller loads of cherry today so I looked under the tarp for the next stack of wood we'll be burning, it's a mixture of beech, hard & soft maple and yellow birch.


----------



## Seasoned Oak

Cut up floor joists and wall studs over 100 YRs old ,very dry. Probably old growth timber from central PA .   From a rehab job of a 100Plus Yrs old house. easy to stack as they are square and uniform in size.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

Im pumped about this red oak im burning. It was cut by the power co. a while before i got it and it was css two years ago. I board split most of as it was still pretty wet then. I plan on doing this to most longer drying species from now on as im averaging about 18% moisture on fresh insides. Ash and oak for now.


----------



## SuperSpy

I've been cleaning up the woods around my house and bucking up the wood into 6' logs and stacking them under a shed.  The majority of it is either deadfall, left-over offcuts from when it was logged a few years back.  Most of the offcuts while they weren't technically stacked, are generally piled in a way that kept them off the ground, so they are fairly dry.

It burns so well I've basically been dragging it directly out of the woods, cutting it to 18" lengths, and tossing it directly into the boiler, only splitting the rounds that are over 6" in diameter.  My normal firewood didn't dry very well this summer, so it's coming in handy being able to just direct burn stuff I've collected.


----------



## Kevin Weis

I'll have Black Walnut and Mulberry mixed this weekend.  Maybe a few pieces of Red Oak mixed in as well.  Supposed to be over 60 on Sunday so maybe clean the glass on the VC Encore that day.  Kevin


----------



## thewoodlands

Our temp should be around 24 tonight so we'll stay with a load of cherry for the overnight fire.


----------



## Riddlefiddle

Yes. Will be warm this weekend. Good time too take apart and clean.


----------



## Riddlefiddle

Flue that is.


----------



## thewoodlands

Just a small cherry fire until we load it up with more cherry for an overnight fire.


----------



## Dobish

Pine and walnut,  with a few elm chunks


----------



## Tar12

Only thing I have....oak and more oak..


----------



## Jay106n

Was a mid 40s kind of afternoon. I took advantage and shut the beast down for a cleaning.  Got her purring again tonight  on ash and black cherry.


----------



## AlbergSteve

Been burning cedar for two months, but it's been -2- 0 for the last 24 hours and forcast to stay like that this week, so I brought some of the good stuff in tonight, 15%MC Doug fir.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 18 this morning but we'll keep burning the cherry until it's gone, the cherry we have inside should last through Friday.


----------



## edyit

yeah brisk here as well and supposedly getting colder tonight, have some yellow birch and some red maple going right now


----------



## Woody5506

small fire this morning with apple, cherry and beech.


----------



## MAD MARK

TTIWWP


----------



## Woodsplitter67

Bed of cherry  with some walnut uglies


----------



## Kevin Weis

Black Walnut and Red Oak mixed, again.  Kevin


----------



## thewoodlands

More cherry in the Lopi Liberty until we get to the yellow birch,sugar maple and soft maple.


----------



## TheAardvark

Full loads of EAB ash. Too bad it will all be gone soon.


----------



## mari

Cedar, my favorite.


----------



## Dobish

i loaded up with the standing dead walnut from the back yard, and the spruce from the front yard.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Got a mix...pine, poplar, oak, & cherry.

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----------



## Mark N MO

Today's fill is a fine selection of 4 year aged quarter split, white oak, with some white oak limb wood thrown in for balance.  Not a full load, but enough to ward the chill off a low 40s SW MO day, and still keep the HE propane furnace from cycling.  Tonight will see a robust load of white oak, red oak, and hickory, that not only will keep the cold at bay, but have our little corner of the world smelling like the best rack of ribs you've ever tasted.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have more cherry going in the liberty but tonight for the overnight burn we'll add a few splits of maple with the cherry. The temp tomorrow will only get to 18 with a low of 0.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're still burning cherry but with a minus 1 tonight, we'll get some sugar maple in the liberty and set the pellet stove at 77.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 0 heading to minus 4 tonight according to NOAA, the liberty has some nice sugar maple in it and the pellet stove has one bag in it. All stoves are in the basement.


----------



## edyit

woke up to -2F loaded the stove with some beech and yellow birch, tis the season


----------



## charger4406

1f here this morning, apple in both stoves.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 9.5 this morning but the basement was 81 and the main floor was 68. We shut the pellet stove off and we added some cherry on some nice sugar maple coals in the lopi liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

I just loaded up the liberty with cherry (three more cherry splits left) our temp at the moment is 9 degrees. A neighbor down the road had a temp of -15 last night, the house is across the road from the river without any protection from wind out of the north.


----------



## edyit

cold enough here that when i open the door to let the dogs out they look at me like i'm stupid, got the madison loaded with oak and beach for the overnight load


----------



## Diabel

Stove working through some hard maple. It is suppose to warm up tomorrow. Found some pine and more (dreaded) hemlock, that will be on the menu for tomorrow.


----------



## thewoodlands

Diabel said:


> Stove working through some hard maple. It is suppose to warm up tomorrow. Found some pine and more (dreaded) hemlock, that will be on the menu for tomorrow.


What did you have for a low temp last night?


----------



## woodey

Another cold night in the North country- a mix of beech and sugar maple tonite.


----------



## thewoodlands

woodey said:


> Another cold night in the North country- a mix of beech and sugar maple tonite.


It should be warmer tonight after SLU beat Clarkson last "knight".


----------



## woodey

Maybe the boys from  Clarkson never found their "hockey legs " after the long bus ride.


----------



## thewoodlands

woodey said:


> Maybe the boys from  Clarkson never found their "hockey legs " after the long bus ride.


From reading the article on the web, they had their legs but the SLU goalie stood tall last night, I think the knights had 50 shots on net campared to 30 by SLU.

I just loaded the liberty up on a bunch of coals with the last three splits of cherry with some sugar maple and yellow birch for the overnight fire.


----------



## Diabel

thewoodlands said:


> What did you have for a low temp last night?



-4*F in the city
-10*F in the country


----------



## woodey

Great rivalry,  love the yellow birch unless you are hand splitting it.


----------



## woodey

3 hours ago we were at 17* and now we up to 22*.


----------



## thewoodlands

Diabel said:


> -4*F in the city
> -10*F in the country


Last year seemed like it was colder earlier and lasting through the whole winter, we can't possibly be that cold this winter.


----------



## thewoodlands

woodey said:


> Great rivalry,  love the yellow birch unless you are hand splitting it.


I noticed that splitting the yellow birch even with the splitter. Earlier tonight we hit 9 degrees but the last I looked it was close to 14.


----------



## woodey

Yeah last winter was tough,I heated with wood 6 weeks more than I have in past years.


----------



## woodey

thewoodlands said:


> I noticed that splitting the yellow birch even with the splitter. Earlier tonight we hit 9 degrees but the last I looked it was close to 14.


 
Kinda like elm on steroids.


----------



## ThunderMedic

Pine, pine, and more pine. I'm loving the Loblolly Pine I've been burning this year. It burns a bit fast, but with the primary air control shut all the way down in getting 4 hour burns out of it. Not too shabby for free wood that cuts, splits, and stacks easy and dries FAST. I've burned about 3/4 cord so far since the end of October. I'm impressed with how nicely it performs in the Colonial. House hasn't gone below 70 in weeks. 

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


----------



## weatherguy

The wood burns nice on these cold nights, down to 17 with a load of cherry and ash, shes cruising at 600. Found a few loads of oak buried, will burn it tomorrow.


----------



## 30WCF

About a foot of snow today. 
Bradford Pear is doing the trick today. Not my favorite wood but it’s warm inside. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## MAD MARK

2 small splits cherry.
3 medium splits ash.

STT 675 Secondaries Strong.


----------



## MAD MARK

Picture


----------



## thewoodlands

I have some yellow birch,sugar and soft maple going for the overnight fire tonight.


----------



## woodey

Just threw on 1 beech and 3 soft maple splits for the night- milder tonite.


----------



## thewoodlands

They're calling for a low of 6 tonight so we'll go with some sugar & red maple on the bottom with some yellow birch on top for the overnight burn.


----------



## Adabiviak

Oak (California Live and Black), eucalyptus, and pine (Gray and Ponderosa) are in the box tonight; she's firing on all cylinders.


----------



## Allagash350

I got to a new layer in one of my stacks which is a sugar maple mixed with a white birch so that's what I just loaded up. 
I have been burning mostly silver maple and red oak so the birch has been a lot more reloading. 
I cut these two trees down for a customer 2 years ago so it is nice to finally be burning it.


----------



## thewoodlands

Just some coals going at the moment in the liberty but tonight with the temp dropping into the single digits, we'll go with sugar maple on the bottom with yellow birch on top.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Here tonite in the 20's consuming BackWalnut with a side of Mulberry.   Kevin


----------



## edyit

0F here this morning tossed in some beech and yellow birch before heading out to work this morning


----------



## Tar12

Stumbled across a hodge podge of wood in one stack so there is a little cherry,hackberry,ash,locust and oak in the stove right now....lol


----------



## EODMSgt

Single digits below zero last night (and with the wind chill, about 46 below on top of the mountain) so burned a mix of oak, maple and beech. The top of the mountain (Mount Washington) is about 20 minutes as the crow flies however the wind comes down and right over the house so the stove has hardly gone cold since mid-October.


----------



## Tom123

Burning off 2 different stacks right now. One is all 2 year seasoned Black Birch. The other stack is a nice mix of sugar maple, Shag Bark Hickory, and mostly Red Oak. 






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----------



## thewoodlands

We had 11 this morning so I put more sugar maple and yellow birch in the liberty.


----------



## Chas0218

Burned a load of ash and red maple last night and going to do a light load of red maple this morning to keep some coals for tonight and keep the house at temp.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


----------



## kennyp2339

Burning down coals, temps in the 40's today, so its clean out the ashes day here.


----------



## Diabel

We had two cold weeks here. Hard maple was on the menu all that time. Incredible how I burnt almost two months with hemlock and emptied the ash box twice in that time. Hard maple on the other hand, the box was emptied twice already and pretty much I need to do it again.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Maple is too ashy for me.  Burning Black Walnut now ang getting to not like that either.  Leaves virtually no coals so as to be able to start up from and btu's not all that either but it was free.  Kevin


----------



## MissMac

Nothing - just finished sweeping the chimney!  But soon to be a mix of manitoba maple and jack pine!


----------



## Tar12

kennyp2339 said:


> Burning down coals, temps in the 40's today, so its clean out the ashes day here.


Same here...


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a fire this morning with yellow birch with some soft maple.


----------



## weatherguy

Kevin Weis said:


> Maple is too ashy for me.  Burning Black Walnut now ang getting to not like that either.  Leaves virtually no coals so as to be able to start up from and btu's not all that either but it was free.  Kevin


Maple and cherry are both ashy, burned both this week since it was milder I filled half my ash bucket. I found about 1/4 cord of oak that's been hiding in my racks, I'll use that for the real cold.


----------



## pjohnson

Found this in my stove


----------



## Chas0218

pjohnson said:


> View attachment 235888
> 
> Found this in my stove


Now that is an overnight firebox! I thought my firebox is big but wow. What stove is that, can you burn a face cord at a time? haha


----------



## pjohnson

Chas0218 said:


> Now that is an overnight firebox! I thought my firebox is big but wow. What stove is that, can you burn a face cord at a time? haha


It’s a Blaze King,king model yeah holds a lot of wood


----------



## Chas0218

Loaded her this morning with Ash again, in case most of you haven't noticed I burn pretty much only Ash.

On average what does it take everyone to get a fire going from coals to secondary burn? I'm in the 30 minute range but not sure if I'm trying to get it going too fast. I usually load it up leave the door cracked until she gets going pretty good shut the door and adjust the air about half open then slowly full closed over the next 15-20 minutes.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Nothing right now.  Didn't have time to get it going before leaving for work.  So the furnace will be fine for today.  Gives me a chance to clean the glass when I get home.  Kevin


----------



## thewoodlands

We have some soft and sugar maple going in the liberty this afternoon.


----------



## SpaceBus

Diabel said:


> Stove working through some hard maple. It is suppose to warm up tomorrow. Found some pine and more (dreaded) hemlock, that will be on the menu for tomorrow.



What's wrong with hemlock? That's pretty much all I burn our property is mostly white spruce (eastern Hemlock), Red Spruce, with a few birch, ash, and maple making up about 15%.


----------



## Diabel

SpaceBus said:


> What's wrong with hemlock? That's pretty much all I burn our property is mostly white spruce (eastern Hemlock), Red Spruce, with a few birch, ash, and maple making up about 15%.



There is nothing wrong with it. Other than, it is not easy to get an overnight burn with it, since it produces next to nothing in terms of ash. And the bloody splinters!!


----------



## Chimney Smoke

Chas0218 said:


> Loaded her this morning with Ash again, in case most of you haven't noticed I burn pretty much only Ash.
> 
> *On average what does it take everyone to get a fire going from coals to secondary burn? I'm in the 30 minute range but not sure if I'm trying to get it going too fast.* I usually load it up leave the door cracked until she gets going pretty good shut the door and adjust the air about half open then slowly full closed over the next 15-20 minutes.



On a solid bed of coals I'm usually seeing secondaries within 10-15 minutes and the air is 3/4 closed by 20 minutes or so.  Every once in a while if the wood has been recently brought inside and may be a bit damp it can stretch to 30-40 minutes before the air is 3/4 or more closed.


----------



## SpaceBus

Diabel said:


> There is nothing wrong with it. Other than, it is not easy to get an overnight burn with it, since it produces next to nothing in terms of ash. And the bloody splinters!!



I haven't had to split any green Hemlock, but it's not the easiest standing dead either. A few weeks ago a cut down a few red spruce for a friend and I gave up after splitting half the rounds from the first tree into 8"+ rounds...  I usually wear gloves when I deal with either. Basically all of my wood burning experience as an adult has been Red and white spruce, ash, and yellow birch. The birch has treated us well to overnight burns, but three 4-6" hemlock splits will keep us warm overnight at 10° with a handful of active coals. Now that we have a modern stove, I go through maybe 10-12 4-6" splits a day. With the huge old broken smoke dragon that came with the house was more like 20 on a decent day, 30+ if it was actually cold.


----------



## SpaceBus

Since we are talking about it, here it is.


----------



## Diabel

SpaceBus said:


> I haven't had to split any green Hemlock, but it's not the easiest standing dead either. A few weeks ago a cut down a few red spruce for a friend and I gave up after splitting half the rounds from the first tree into 8"+ rounds...  I usually wear gloves when I deal with either. Basically all of my wood burning experience as an adult has been Red and white spruce, ash, and yellow birch. The birch has treated us well to overnight burns, but three 4-6" hemlock splits will keep us warm overnight at 10° with a handful of active coals. Now that we have a modern stove, I go through maybe 10-12 4-6" splits a day. With the huge old broken smoke dragon that came with the house was more like 20 on a decent day, 30+ if it was actually cold.




Hemlock is tough to split by hand where you have the branch offshoots. If using hydrolics then piece of cake. 

What is in the pic, took about 2h using a splitter and one man.


----------



## SpaceBus

Diabel said:


> View attachment 235997
> 
> 
> 
> Hemlock is tough to split by hand where you have the branch offshoots. If using hydrolics then piece of cake.
> 
> What is in the pic, took about 2h using a splitter and one man.



That would take me days by hand! Eventually I will have a splitter, but I'll be in great shape before too long! The offshoots really are a pain, even when it's pretty dry.


----------



## jatoxico

My uncovered stacks of hickory and oak got rained on for two days so using woodshed wood which is sugar maple and locust. Temp is dropping and it feels much colder than the thermometer says it is.


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

In the 40's tonight so pretty warm.  Burning some tulip poplar and pine.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 5 this morning so the Liberty has some sugar maple,red maple and a few splits of yellow birch burning.

With just under a half inch of rain coming in on Friday, we'll start getting more wood inside tomorrow. We received 3-4 inches of snow on Dec 24 so things will be a mess around here if we get all that rain.


----------



## Todd67

Burning maple shorts and uglies while it's still "warm" outside (12 degrees now). I'll save the 18"-22" long maple splits for when it gets cold outside.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 7 this morning so we had some fires with red & sugar maple.


----------



## Todd67

Still burning those short & ugly maple splits. Calling for 9* tonight.


----------



## steve62

Does anyone burn Aspen?  The property next to mine was logged last year. They took all the spruce and pine off and left all the Aspen. Anyone know how it burns in a Blaze King?


----------



## Todd67

Never burned Aspen before but if it's properly seasoned, I don't see any reason why it won't burn well.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a low of 4.5 degrees this morning so we have some sugar & red maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## woodey

Single digits here this morning- a mix of beech and sugar maple keeping us warm now.


----------



## Kevin Weis

The Aspen I've seen is a soft light hardwood.  Very light when dried.  I'm sure it will burn okay but likely not any great burn time out of it.  I have not burned any of that myself.  Not a native tree in these parts.  Planted as an ornamental.  Think others may call it Cottonwood around here?  Kevin


----------



## Todd67

Kevin Weis said:


> The Aspen I've seen is a soft light hardwood.  Very light when dried.  I'm sure it will burn okay but likely not any great burn time out of it.  I have not burned any of that myself.  Not a native tree in these parts.  Planted as an ornamental.  Think others may call it Cottonwood around here?  Kevin



It appears that they are very similar, according to this article;
http://uptreeid.com/Species/aspens.htm


----------



## Dobish

cottonwood is also called a quaking aspen. They burn quick and hot when dried. If it is easily accessible, I would say go for it. Get it split and stacked quick, as it will rot quickly.


----------



## thewoodlands

Even though it's a warmer day with rain, we have some sugar and red maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## steve62

Sitting here looking out the window, watching the snow fall " we have a heavy snow fall warning ". With a load of lodge pole pine in the blaze King classic. House at 19' C


----------



## Todd67

Burning smaller fires in our Fisher today with more short and ugly maple.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Nothing again at the moment.  Furnace can do its thing today if needed.  Supposed to get into mid 50's today with about 2" of rain again.  Turning out to be a above average temperature winter so far this year.  So far burnt less would than last year as well.  Supposed to be a turnaround in the weather pattern here in a week or so.  I'll be ready though.  Kevin


----------



## BKVP

3 NIELS


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> Burning smaller fires in our Fisher today with more short and ugly maple.


We didn't have an overnight fire last night so I set the furnace at 60, that never kicked on so since we heat from the basement, it took a second fire before you could feel the difference up on the main floor. 

We hit 45 back here in the pines today with the temp still at 43 tonight, most if not all the ice should be gone from the driveway before we hit the freezing mark.


----------



## jatoxico

We're 60 today with another heavy rain. Made a little fire for the wife this AM before going into work. That quick burn was enough and not sure I'll bother with burning till the temp drops.


----------



## Paulywalnut

I’ve been mixing cherry and locust for a few weeks now. Great combination. Real cold I change to red oak and locust.


----------



## MissMac

Minus 30*C here this morning.  Loaded a mix of jack pine and Manitoba maple, and currently have the stove running wide open to warm things up a bit before my better half gets out of bed. Even in this cold I can pull off an overnight burn - when I got up to reload today, main level was 18*C and basement at 11*C.


----------



## AlbergSteve

MissMac said:


> Minus 30*C here this morning.  Loaded a mix of jack pine and Manitoba maple, and currently have the stove running wide open to warm things up a bit before my better half gets out of bed. Even in this cold I can pull off an overnight burn - when I got up to reload today, main level was 18*C and basement at 11*C.


Eleven degrees is our predicted high today  I wouldn't be getting out of bed in those temperatures.


----------



## Jay106n

Winter has not been too bad here, yet. Temps have been up and down from single digits to 40’s. No snow cover. Full load of black cherry tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 14 this morning so after a few fires yesterday, last night we burned a bag of pellets which kept the house at 68 in the majority of the rooms.

Tonight we'll have a fire in the Liberty with some sugar and red maple, I think the low for tonight should be around 23.

We're still burning the wood that was planned for December so that's good.


----------



## Medic21

It’s getting colder.  Ash for quick heat since I started cold tonight.  A layer of white Oak then a layer of cherry.  It’s getting right toasty now.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Mulberry and oak tonite.  Small loads though, only 33 F out right now.


----------



## Jay106n

Went to be early last night and didn’t get a good overnight fire going. Woke up at 330 am and the house is 60 degrees. Yikes. Checked the stove...ice cold. Got her relit, warming up on maple, ash, and black cherry.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Not real cold out, so a load of poplar cooking like pork bbq...low and slow.  Just keeping the chill off.

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk


----------



## jpl1nh

hamslam42 said:


> So I am a little envious of the stocked wood pantry all you firewood haorders have! Hearing you all talk...it sounds like a cooking show adding different spices to a recipe.  Two splits of oak...a side of cherry, a dash of pine, a sprinkling of apple, and top it off with some maple. Heat to lazy rolling secondaries and enjoy!
> 
> Even if I had that much wood to select from, I don't think I could ever get that organized to be able to pull all those different kinds together for a burn. I do have about 5 cords of wood at the moment, but here's what I have to choose from:
> Ash - seasoned 2 years
> Ash - Seasoned 1 year
> Ash - split/stacked last month
> Ash - stacked in rounds yet to be split
> Ash - in neighbors yard waiting for me to have the time and pick it up for processing
> Ash - standing dead on back of property line waiting for AEP to come through and take it down for me
> 
> Okay...I do have a little bit of pine for variety but other than that, it's 1 ingredient for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert for me!


NOTHIN wrong with ash!  Easy to split, dries quick, burns easy and long.  Unfortunately, it looks like there will be a lot of it available over the next decade or so as the Asian Long horned Beetle invasion takes it's toll.  Twenty years from now we may look back and reminisce about having ash to burn.


----------



## Todd67

If I could only have *one *species of firewood, it would be *ash!
*
Just like jpl1nh said, it stacks very well, splits easily and cleanly and burns great. I can fit more ash in my stove because of how straight and clean it splits, and that means longer burn times when I need a 12 hour burn.

Half the time, I don't know what species is in my stove. My old Fisher stove can't tell the difference between hardwood and softwood anyway. Wait a minute... I think it just told me I'm still burning those ugly and short maple splits...


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 24 degrees this morning, more red & sugar maple in the Liberty.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Agree on ash.  It seasons fast for me, and I can leave it uncovered in the stacks for a long time.  I’m using two year old ash and three year old oak this morning, since the windchills are back down near zero.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Right now literal ash, charcoal, & soot.  Got into the 60's yesterday and middle 50's today.  House is still pretty warm even though we had the windows open all day.  Not complaining a bit...


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32 this morning so I filled it up with more sugar maple, we'll be in the single digits tonight or maybe below zero so we'll get some sugar maple and some http://forestry.ohiodnr.gov/hophornbeam in the Liberty for its next fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 8 this morning so I put a bag of pellets in the pellet stove but this afternoon I start a nice fire in the wood stove with some sugar maple, I think our high was 19 today.


----------



## Stinkpickle

The temps are supposed to start climbing above freezing tomorrow, so tonight might be the last evening I stuff the smoke dragon with oak for a while.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 23 degrees tonight so I loaded the Lopi Liberty with some sugar maple,beech and a few splits of soft maple.


----------



## Todd67

It was 8* this morning, high of 25. Getting some snow now and over night, with 3" expected. Still burning short & ugly maple splits.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30 this morning so we loaded up the Liberty with more of the same.


----------



## Kevin Weis

28 this morning here.  Coldest in 3-4 days.  Mix of everything Black Walnut, Mulberry, Green Ash, Red Oak.


----------



## darktower007

Going to be 47 tonight. I have some oak and hickory in the Ashford 25....albeit I live in Tennessee so it’s pretty much always shoulder season as it never gets bitterly cold.


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----------



## jatoxico

My stove's diet remains the same. All hardwood, locust, hard maple, oak and hickory. Think I hit a few sticks of cherry as I get into the stack somewhere along the way.

And it's raining...again. We are starting to feel picked on.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 19 this morning so we had more sugar maple,beech and a few splits of soft maple in the Lopi Liberty.


----------



## jatoxico

thewoodlands said:


> We had 19 this morning so we had more sugar maple,beech and a few splits of soft maple in the Lopi Liberty.


In the mid 40's here and was only in low 40's overnight but wetness makes it feel colder than that. Pretty cozy in here though now.


----------



## thewoodlands

jatoxico said:


> In the mid 40's here and was only in low 40's overnight but wetness makes it feel colder than that. Pretty cozy in the though now.


It seems the same areas that received a bunch of rain all summer/fall, are still getting it. When we get the rain with the cold weather, you can feel it in certain parts of the body but the wood heat does wonders for it.


----------



## jatoxico

thewoodlands said:


> It seems the same areas that received a bunch of rain all summer/fall, are still getting it. When we get the rain with the cold weather, you can feel it in certain parts of the body but the wood heat does wonders for it.


We were at least third rainiest on record and possibly got to second. Was more or less about 64" and I think we average closer to 43". Off to rainy start in 2019 now too.


----------



## thewoodlands

jatoxico said:


> We were at least third rainiest on record and possibly got to second. Was more or less about 64" and I think we average closer to 43". Off to rainy start in 2019 now too.


I'm not sure how far behind normal we are but last winter we didn't get chit for snow, our spring/summer was scary dry but we had a wet fall.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's around 31 tonight so we'll burn some pellets.


----------



## shortys7777

34 out now. Burning some not so great oak but the house is a nice 72 degrees in the main areas. More cold rain all day today.


----------



## Todd67

33 this morning, which is the high for today. Will be dropping every hour to around 2 degrees tonight. Burning more maple today.


----------



## kennyp2339

Currently 41 out, have some oak coals going, suppose to drop down to the teens tonight so it will be game on later, hate this weather pattern lately, cool / cold days, storm comes up and temps swing upwards of 20deg into the 40's, storm moves away and we drop back down.


----------



## Todd67

I don't like the up and down weather either. But last winter was *brutally cold* and dragged on into May for us. We burned a lot more wood than normal. I'm hoping for a _mild_ winter this year. So I'm not complaining too much about our warm spells.


----------



## HisTreeNut

In the 30's this morning and we could see mid-60's this afternoon.
Coals in the fireplace this morning.

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk


----------



## Kevin Weis

Mulberry and Ash in the VC now.  Supposed to get closer to normal tempature wise in the next week.  18' was the wettest year since record keeping began and this was as of November.  So basically since the Civil War.  Water is just everywhere around here now.


----------



## thewoodlands

They say a low of around zero tomorrow morning, we had 27 this morning. We'll load the Liberty up with Sugar Maple,Beech and a few rounds of Ironwood and in the other corner we'll run a bag of pellets through the old Yankee. In the morning the basement should be 80 and up here it should be 70.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -10 this morning so the temp in the basement was 77 and 67 to 68 up here depending on what room you were in. We have just the Lopi Liberty going this morning with more of the same in it.


----------



## Todd67

It was a balmy 5 degrees this morning. Still burning maple in the Fisher Mama Bear.


----------



## Diabel

I knew it would be a nippy night. Loaded the stove with hard maple and BL. The BL was still in one piece this morning.


----------



## Kevin Weis

I put one of the compressed sawdust bricks in from TSC last night for kicks and giggles.  Was somewhat impressed by the efficiency of the burn.  Burn time for the one was about 3 hours at half throttle in the Encore, and it kept the cat active to boot.


----------



## Todd67

I've used those compressed bricks from TSC a few years ago and I was surprised by how good they worked. I saw a customer buy a whole pallet of them one time.


----------



## MAD MARK

2 rounds of 31% MC Elm.
1 thick slab of 17% MC Cherry.

2nderies blowing away.

STT @ 685°F
FT @ 395°F


----------



## thewoodlands

We should have a low around 18 tonight so we'll burn more sugar & red maple.


----------



## darktower007

Nothing! It’s 61 outside right now 


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----------



## thewoodlands

We had 35 this morning so the Liberty saw more sugar and red maple.


----------



## Todd67

Yesterday I started burning some mixed cordwood that came with a stove that I bought a couple weeks ago. I think most of it is soft wood because it is light weight compared to my seasoned maple and ash. Some of it is heavy, but most of it is light weight. It might be borderline "over-seasoned", which is why I'm burning it *now*, rather than later in the winter.It's burning hot, but it's burning faster than my ash and maple. I'm no tree expert, so I'm not sure what most of it is. It's also typical for cordwood around here, that most of what you get from firewood suppliers is soft wood, the less-than-desireable-wood, or "junky" wood.

So today I am burning more of this mix of mystery wood. But my Fisher doesn't care, it's throwing plenty of heat


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 28 this morning and with colder weather coming in we're burning some sugar maple and beech. The ironwood will see the wood stove starting tomorrow for about four days, it will be mixed in with the sugar maple and beech.

We had rain last night with about 1.5 inches of the heavy white stuff, NOAA is saying we'll get 11 inches of snow from this.


----------



## buc74

red oak packed tight, 15f


----------



## blades

red & white oak+some ash, used some Slippery Elm ( this stuff is paper dry) to get a coal bed established as I had to clean out ashes.


----------



## Todd67

thewoodlands said:


> We had 28 this morning and with colder weather coming in we're burning some sugar maple and beech. The ironwood will see the wood stove starting tomorrow for about four days, it will be mixed in with the sugar maple and beech.
> 
> We had rain last night with about 1.5 inches of the heavy white stuff, NOAA is saying we'll get 11 inches of snow from this.



We had 30 this morning & 4" of new snow. We had some heavy rain yesterday after dark and into the late night before it changed over to snow. Tonight is the start of a 3 day cold spell.


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> We had 30 this morning & 4" of new snow. We had some heavy rain yesterday after dark and into the late night before it changed over to snow. Tonight is the start of a 3 day cold spell.


Are colder weather starts on Thursday night, -2, Friday 9 & Friday night - 5, Saturday 11 & at night -9 and close to the same for Sunday.

Nothing like last winter, if we get enough snow then the sleds come off the trailer tomorrow.


----------



## Todd67

We are looking similar in temps. I might have my days mixed up in my post above. It's still snowing and blowing here, probably lake affect snow.


----------



## thewoodlands




----------



## Diabel

Windchill-20 tonight and -24F tomorrow night. All sugar maple on the menu.


----------



## Todd67

A mix of mystery wood tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a regular temp of - 10 this morning, sugar maple,beech and some american hophornbeam (ironwood) went in the Liberty.


----------



## Todd67

I've never burned ironwood, at least not that I know of. How long does it take to season?


----------



## Chas0218

thewoodlands said:


> We had a regular temp of - 10 this morning, sugar maple,beech and some american hophornbeam (ironwood) went in the Liberty.


I have a bunch but not very big I think the biggest is around 8" across the rest is around 4". I heard it burns well better than locust.


----------



## Todd67

Chas0218 said:


> I have a bunch but not very big I think the biggest is around 8" across the rest is around 4". I heard it burns well better than locust.



My neighbor burns it when he can find it,  and he loves it for it's heat output.


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> I've never burned ironwood, at least not that I know of. How long does it take to season?


I give it two full years, I haven't had any problems burning ironwood seasoned that long. I had oak from my only scrounge ever, it took four years to season and a few splits still spit at me when they went in the stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

Chas0218 said:


> I have a bunch but not very big I think the biggest is around 8" across the rest is around 4". I heard it burns well better than locust.


I've never burned locust but here it's great firewood.

Our temp never went over zero today so it looks like another cold night.


----------



## Todd67

I thought oak was a faster-seasoning wood than maple, but I guess not! Two years for ironwood isn't bad.

My least favorite wood is box alder. Season it for two years and it seems to blow the match out when I try to light the paper

Today it got up to 3 degrees. Burning more mixed mystery wood.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Ironwood is very heavy and hard.  Typically an understory tree in a forest setting.  Per above 8" is about as big a section of trunk you will get on these.  I've never burned it but imagine its near the same as Dogwood, another heavy hard understory tree.


----------



## SpaceBus

I'm in the hospital talking my wife hot to light our stove on a cold start with Ash and Paper Birch over the phone.


----------



## Travis Clark

thewoodlands said:


> We had 35 this morning so the Liberty saw more sugar and red maple.


Do you burn a lot of sugar maple I'm just wandering because I have a sugar maple on my property that I'm taking down I took some of it down last year so it is seasoned ride along with all the other would I have in my wood shed I'm just trying to figure out every time I put a load of sugar maple in my wood stove to burn the smoke comes out a light gray to dark gray all the other would I throw in there comes out to a very light white to Invisible where you only see heat waves coming out the chimney I have tried various ways various setups on my wood stove it's what people call a smoke dragon I've never burned sugar maple before so I'm trying to get some insight on why it would be causing such dark smoke even though it's seasoned


----------



## SpaceBus

Travis Clark said:


> Do you burn a lot of sugar maple I'm just wandering because I have a sugar maple on my property that I'm taking down I took some of it down last year so it is seasoned ride along with all the other would I have in my wood shed I'm just trying to figure out every time I put a load of sugar maple in my wood stove to burn the smoke comes out a light gray to dark gray all the other would I throw in there comes out to a very light white to Invisible where you only see heat waves coming out the chimney I have tried various ways various setups on my wood stove it's what people call a smoke dragon I've never burned sugar maple before so I'm trying to get some insight on why it would be causing such dark smoke even though it's seasoned


Sugar Maple is equivalent to Red Oak. Red Maple is soft, Sugar is hard.


----------



## Todd67

Maple needs to season for two years, it's full of maple sap.

@SpaceBus , hope you are doing ok, and hope your wife gets the stove going without any issues.


----------



## Travis Clark

I knew it was the equivalent to red oak just smells a lot better when it's burned lol I however did not realize that it needed 2 yrs to season like oak does it's been only a year sence what little bit I have trimmed off before I bring the whole tree down I hate to because of what it is and it's beautyfull unfornetly it poseses a safety hazard for my house and family preovious owners didn't trim it proper so now the trunk is roting plus both the main croches on the tree are bad one is hollowed out and the lower one is split down into the main trunk about 4 ft hopefully I might be able to get a new one to replant but in a different area of my yard.


----------



## Travis Clark

SpaceBus said:


> Sugar Maple is equivalent to Red Oak. Red Maple is soft, Sugar is hard.


Space buss hope you get better also.


----------



## SpaceBus

Todd67 said:


> Maple needs to season for two years, it's full of maple sap.
> 
> @SpaceBus , hope you are doing ok, and hope your wife gets the stove going without any issues.




It's a new stove, she hasn't gotten used to it yet. I didn't have time to leave it properly prepared with loads of dry wood and kindling ready for her. After about half an hour on the phone she got it working. We switched to face time on Facebook and that helped a lot! She's got it up to temp now and it's going well. Hopefully I'll be out of the hospital soon. While in Afghanistan I picked up a blood disorder that causes my immune system to attack my blood. The MIL came over on Christmas, but didn't tell us she was sick. This caused my immune system to go into overload and nearly killed me. I've been laid up in Bangor since Tuesday around midnight. The MIL is making it up to us by dog/house sitting for the next few days so my wife can come see me in the Hospital. She's been forbidden to touch the stove though, because she has no idea what's going on most of the time. I'm willing to pay for the electric heat for a few days.


----------



## SpaceBus

Travis Clark said:


> I knew it was the equivalent to red oak just smells a lot better when it's burned lol I however did not realize that it needed 2 yrs to season like oak does it's been only a year sence what little bit I have trimmed off before I bring the whole tree down I hate to because of what it is and it's beautyfull unfornetly it poseses a safety hazard for my house and family preovious owners didn't trim it proper so now the trunk is roting plus both the main croches on the tree are bad one is hollowed out and the lower one is split down into the main trunk about 4 ft hopefully I might be able to get a new one to replant but in a different area of my yard.



That's a shame, Sugar Maple is beautiful. I'll never cut down any trees, especially hardwoods, if I can avoid it. I stick to standing dead trees or stuff that has fallen but not rotten yet. Luckily the house came with a couple of cords of really nicely seasoned wood from who knows how long ago, but now that's getting pretty low. We are picking up some compressed wood bricks when I get out of the hospital. My wife is intimidated by my six speed dually diesel ram, so I pretty much have to go with her.


----------



## Travis Clark

I'm the same way I will not take a good standing tree if I can avoid it o always try to go for the dead standing trees of trees that have been felled by storms or so damaged from storms there is no saving them or there a hazard 3 yrs ago I had an 80 ft tall blue spruce that was 3/4 of the way dead in my front yard and when they planted it the tree was only about 20 ft from the house. We had a late session thunder storm come through with a twister trying to form over the tree and laid it over across the street luckily the tree missed the house and the twister that was trying to form moved on and touched down about two miles away. So I cut it up let it set for 3 yrs and burned it in my wood stove that I got this year it's an old smoke dragon but it works.


----------



## SpaceBus

Travis Clark said:


> I'm the same way I will not take a good standing tree if I can avoid it o always try to go for the dead standing trees of trees that have been felled by storms or so damaged from storms there is no saving them or there a hazard 3 yrs ago I had an 80 ft tall blue spruce that was 3/4 of the way dead in my front yard and when they planted it the tree was only about 20 ft from the house. We had a late session thunder storm come through with a twister trying to form over the tree and laid it over across the street luckily the tree missed the house and the twister that was trying to form moved on and touched down about two miles away. So I cut it up let it set for 3 yrs and burned it in my wood stove that I got this year it's an old smoke dragon but it works.



Nothing wrong with smoke dragons if you run them hot. Do what you have to do in order to stay warm. Save up your money for an EPA stove and stay warmer with less wood.


----------



## PistolPeets

Mystery wood that came with the house with the wood stove insert! Picking up a face cord of ash tomorrow from a friend. On Thewoodlands' chart, I'm located in Massena, NY on the top left of the map. Currently 0 out with a wind chill of -10. Stove is cranking. Thermostats are turned down. 75 inside now. Just cooked some steak in a cast iron skillet on the stove/in the oven with some oven baked potatoes. It's a good night!


----------



## Travis Clark

SpaceBus said:


> Nothing wrong with smoke dragons if you run them hot. Do what you have to do in order to stay warm. Save up your money for an EPA stove and stay warmer with less wood.


Oh it keeps this house plenty warm be below freezing and have to have the kitchen windows the only two that open in the kitchen and have the door to the front porch with a couple of windows open on it to make it bearable because the house is over a 100 degrees inside then shut the house up when we go to bed and the gas heater will not kick on untill some time the next morning usuly around 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning by then I'm up anyway and starting a new fire in the old smoke dragon


----------



## Kevin Weis

21 out now so some Oak and Black Walnut fills the bill tonite.  May throw some Ash in there now and then.


----------



## Todd67

It's -1 now with a -10 wind chill.  My Fisher got the house so hot that my *wife*, who is always cold, actually turned the ceiling fan on high to cool the house off a little bit

Our old 2-story farm house is drafty around the windows. When the wind blows hard, it moves the curtains. It was poorly insulated and drywalled before we bought the house 11 years ago. We we're spending $400 a month on heating oil before we installed our Fisher stove. For 7 years now, our Fisher Mama Bear has been our only heat source.

Still burning the mixed mystery wood tonight


----------



## SpaceBus

Todd67 said:


> It's -1 now with a -10 wind chill.  My Fisher got the house so hot that my *wife*, who is always cold, actually turned the ceiling fan on high to cool the house off a little bit
> 
> Our old 2-story farm house is drafty around the windows. When the wind blows hard, it moves the curtains. It was poorly insulated and drywalled before we bought the house 11 years ago. We we're spending $400 a month on heating oil before we installed our Fisher stove. For 7 years now, our Fisher Mama Bear has been our only heat source.
> 
> Still burning the mixed mystery wood tonight



The wife is reporting -7 with wind chill at home, but she's got the stove going strong and it's over 72 in the house. Our house is a pretty modest 1200sqft 70's well insulated Salt box, but there's several penetrations in the sheathing from rot that wasn't disclosed by the seller's agent, despite them being notified. I'm about to get it all fixed, but nothing happens at a good time. We were supposed to move into the house in August and get it all squared away before winter, but the closing took three months!


----------



## Todd67

That's a long time to wait for a closing!

I think our house was "flipped" by the previous owner, who found the absolute cheapest contractor to do the work. We have been fixing his lousy repairs little by little for 11 years now.

Best of luck with your house, and your health!


----------



## edyit

It warmed up to 4F this morning. Got the Madison loaded up red maple and ash.


----------



## Jay106n

Got some shagbark hickory purring, it’s burning like it’s coal.


----------



## CentralVAWoodHeat

Snow is coming down again.  Stove is full of the usual mix of different woods.  Some pine, some oak, some ironwood, and some crepe myrtle.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Snow just started here.  The usual mix of mulberry, ash and some old red oak. Might throw in a TSC brick just because.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -15 this morning but we had some appointments so I didn't get a fire going until 1:30, burned some oil for heat.

We're at 1 degree tonight and we're still burning down some coals from our first fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

I did get our second fire going before supper,beech,sugar maple and some american hophornbeam. Since the house is a little cool (65) I put a bag of pellets in that stove so the basement should be 80 at the moment and 80 plus degrees before I call it a day.


----------



## darktower007

Some not so great oak and hickory.. it’s burning good non the less. Low of 39 tonight 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## edyit

-8F here this am, got it loaded right now with some birch and ash, I don't really sort my wood I just pull from the top of the stack


----------



## kennyp2339

20 deg f, oak and ash going.


----------



## Todd67

edyit said:


> -8F here this am, got it loaded right now with some birch and ash, I don't really sort my wood I just pull from the top of the stack



Yep, no time or reason to sort wood. Still burning mixed mystery wood. It's -9 with a -19 wind chill here.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -18 for a low early this morning, we have more sugar maple and beech going in the liberty and another bag of pellets going in the P.S.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's -2 tonight so I have the overnight fire started early with sugar maple and beech making up the bottom with american hophornbeam rounds on top. When I decide to call it a night, I'll go click on the pellet stove, NOAA is calling for a low of -15 for our area but back here in the pines and the river across the road, we're usually another 4 to 5 degrees colder.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -9 for a low this morning but the combo of the wood and the pellet stove had the basement 83 and 68 to 70 up here depending on which room you were in.

I loaded up with more sugar maple with a few splits of beech this morning and shut the P.S. off.


----------



## Woody5506

Last load was black locust, honey locust, mulberry and a couple small splits of norway maple. Great overnight burn mix of high BTU woods I'll probably be kicking myself for using up now instead of when it gets super cold - if that ever happens this winter. Last night was in the teens.


----------



## jaoneill

-20 here Saturday night, -15 last night, has warmed up to +12 as I type. Been burning the best I have; 12%-14% hard maple that was 2 yrs in the log off the ground, cut/split and in the woodshed 18 months.....


----------



## Todd67

Heat wave today... sunny and a high forecast of 21

Still burning mixed mystery wood.


----------



## jaoneill

Todd67 said:


> Heat wave today... sunny and a high forecast of 21
> 
> Still burning mixed mystery wood.


So "they" say; but they lie a lot.......


----------



## Todd67

Absolutely!


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> Heat wave today... sunny and a high forecast of 21
> 
> Still burning mixed mystery wood.


We hit 18 today for a high, we'll take it.


----------



## Todd67

thewoodlands said:


> We hit 18 today for a high, we'll take it.



I hear ya!

At 1:30 we were showing 17 degrees, so I went outside to split & stack the last of the cordwood that I got with my last woodstove purchase a few weeks ago. That's the mixed mystery wood I've been burning.


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> I hear ya!
> 
> At 1:30 we were showing 17 degrees, so I went outside to split & stack the last of the cordwood that I got with my last woodstove purchase a few weeks ago. That's the mixed mystery wood I've been burning.


How's it burning?


----------



## jaoneill

thewoodlands said:


> We hit 18 today for a high, we'll take it.


Here as well and the weather guessers think it will top 30 tomorrow....


----------



## thewoodlands

jaoneill said:


> Here as well and the weather guessers think it will top 30 tomorrow....


They have a high of 27 for us tomorrow with a low of 23 tomorrow night.


----------



## Todd67

thewoodlands said:


> How's it burning?



The wood is burning good. The woodstove will get installed in my detached garage this summer, after I refurbish it and paint it. It's a Fisher Grandpa Bear.


----------



## jaoneill

thewoodlands said:


> They have a high of 27 for us tomorrow with a low of 23 tomorrow night.


Kinda depends on which crystal ball gazer you tune in to. I've seen three for here that range from 26 to 32, although we're normally near the lower end... Here is a link to my weather station here on the farm:  https://www.wunderground.com/weather/us/ny/east-de-kalb/KNYDEKAL2?cm_ven=pwsdash_cityforecast


----------



## thewoodlands

jaoneill said:


> Kinda depends on which crystal ball gazer you tune in to. I've seen three for here that range from 26 to 32, although we're normally near the lower end... Here is a link to my weather station here on the farm:  https://www.wunderground.com/weather/us/ny/east-de-kalb/KNYDEKAL2?cm_ven=pwsdash_cityforecast


We'll see if this makes its way into the north country.
*Hazardous Weather Outlook*
Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Buffalo NY
432 PM EST Mon Jan 14 2019

NYZ001>008-010>014-019>021-085-152145-
Niagara-Orleans-Monroe-Wayne-Northern Cayuga-Oswego-Jefferson-Lewis-
Northern Erie-Genesee-Wyoming-Livingston-Ontario-Chautauqua-
Cattaraugus-Allegany-Southern Erie-
432 PM EST Mon Jan 14 2019

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for western and north central New
York.

.DAY ONE...Tonight.

The probability of widespread hazardous weather is low.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday through Sunday.

There is a potential for a significant winter storm late Saturday
into Sunday. There is a risk for heavy accumulating snow and strong
winds.


----------



## jaoneill

thewoodlands said:


> We'll see if this makes its way into the north country.
> *Hazardous Weather Outlook*
> Hazardous Weather Outlook
> National Weather Service Buffalo NY
> 432 PM EST Mon Jan 14 2019
> 
> NYZ001>008-010>014-019>021-085-152145-
> Niagara-Orleans-Monroe-Wayne-Northern Cayuga-Oswego-Jefferson-Lewis-
> Northern Erie-Genesee-Wyoming-Livingston-Ontario-Chautauqua-
> Cattaraugus-Allegany-Southern Erie-
> 432 PM EST Mon Jan 14 2019
> 
> This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for western and north central New
> York.
> 
> .DAY ONE...Tonight.
> 
> The probability of widespread hazardous weather is low.
> 
> .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday through Sunday.
> 
> There is a potential for a significant winter storm late Saturday
> into Sunday. There is a risk for heavy accumulating snow and strong
> winds.


Another weekend storm "potentially" on the horizon. Underground is predicting up to 8" here Sat & Sun, they are the most accurate I've found. You typically get more than we do so the NWS may be on target.....


----------



## MissMac

This is what i'm in for over the next few days - and this is in degrees Celsius.  Needless to say, I've brought some of my good stash of white birch inside to prepare.  Looking forward to seeing how well this stuff compares to the jack pine in this kind of cold!


----------



## jaoneill

MissMac said:


> View attachment 238237
> 
> This is what i'm in for over the next few days - and this is in degrees Celsius.  Needless to say, I've brought some of my good stash of white birch inside to prepare.  Looking forward to seeing how well this stuff compares to the jack pine in this kind of cold!


Ouch!


----------



## thewoodlands

jaoneill said:


> Another weekend storm "potentially" on the horizon. Underground is predicting up to 8" here Sat & Sun, they are the most accurate I've found. You typically get more than we do so the NWS may be on target.....


Intellicast is forecasting 6-11 inches for our area on those days. We'll make sure we have enough wood in so if we want to hit the trails we can.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 18 this morning, I'll need to take out some ashes before I load the liberty up with some beech,sugar and soft maple.

I see Intellicast has up the snow totals for this Saturday and Sunday to 13-20 inches.


----------



## jaoneill

thewoodlands said:


> We had 18 this morning, I'll need to take out some ashes before I load the liberty up with some beech,sugar and soft maple.
> 
> I see Intellicast has up the snow totals for this Saturday and Sunday to 13-20 inches.


+22 and snowing here now....


----------



## thewoodlands

jaoneill said:


> +22 and snowing here now....


It's about the same temp here with a little snow. I took the dog for a walk (I was dressed for cooler weather) so I'm cooling off before we put in wood.

With the colder weather coming after the snow, the brook will freeze up even more which will make the water run on top of the ice and go in any direction it wants so I'm glad we don't live close by.


----------



## Chas0218

Have been burning red maple and ash the last few days over the weekend had 3 fires in 24 hours to keep the house warm enough. The heat has been kicking on a little in the A.M.


MissMac said:


> View attachment 238237
> 
> This is what i'm in for over the next few days - and this is in degrees Celsius.  Needless to say, I've brought some of my good stash of white birch inside to prepare.  Looking forward to seeing how well this stuff compares to the jack pine in this kind of cold!


That's cold, you can keep it up there!



jaoneill said:


> +22 and snowing here now....





thewoodlands said:


> It's about the same temp here with a little snow. I took the dog for a walk (I was dressed for cooler weather) so I'm cooling off before we put in wood.
> 
> With the colder weather coming after the snow, the brook will freeze up even more which will make the water run on top of the ice and go in any direction it wants so I'm glad we don't live close by.


What are you guys looking at for snow this weekend. They are calling for 3"-5" Saturday afternoon, over 12"  Saturday night and another 3"-5" Sunday for me. I'm guessing we will end up with 12"


----------



## thewoodlands

Chas0218 said:


> Have been burning red maple and ash the last few days over the weekend had 3 fires in 24 hours to keep the house warm enough. The heat has been kicking on a little in the A.M.
> 
> That's cold, you can keep it up there!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What are you guys looking at for snow this weekend. They are calling for 3"-5" Saturday afternoon, over 12"  Saturday night and another 3"-5" Sunday for me. I'm guessing we will end up with 12"


Today I saw 13-20 inches but I'm sure that will change.


----------



## thewoodlands

Chas0218 said:


> Have been burning red maple and ash the last few days over the weekend had 3 fires in 24 hours to keep the house warm enough. The heat has been kicking on a little in the A.M.
> 
> That's cold, you can keep it up there!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What are you guys looking at for snow this weekend. They are calling for 3"-5" Saturday afternoon, over 12"  Saturday night and another 3"-5" Sunday for me. I'm guessing we will end up with 12"


The below temps are from Accuweather for Sunday night the 20 and Monday night the 21 for our area, maybe we should bring in more wood.

*NIGHT*
-23°Lo
RealFeel® -42°


- 29°Lo
RealFeel® -51°

Partly cloudy; bitterly cold


----------



## Todd67

Same forecast here, 13-20" for the weekend. 8-12 Saturday night and 5-8 Sunday morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 25 tonight, for the overnight fire we have beech and sugar maple.


----------



## Stinkpickle

We've been hovering around the freezing mark for the last couple of days...just warm enough to cause fog, and cold enough for it to freeze on the roads.  It won't make up its mind.  Either way, I just packed the stove with ash and oak, so it's going to be warm in the house tonight.


----------



## MissMac

Well minus 30*C is here.  Currently have a mixed load of birch, Manitoba maple and jack pine in the stove.  Days like this make me want to be close to the fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 26 this morning so we loaded up with yellow birch,beech and some soft maple.


----------



## Highbeam

Both of my stoves are loaded with cold wood, in a cold house being "heated" with electric resistance heaters. We are almost done with a two day burn ban due to poor air quality like 20 miles away, and at 700 feet lower elevation, in some urban hellhole at sea level. I can't wait to catch up tonight and enjoy a pleasant 78 degrees instead of a very expensive 68. The kids and even the dang dog miss wood heat.

They're loaded with a mix of cherry and a little bit of fir right now.


----------



## Chas0218

Highbeam said:


> Both of my stoves are loaded with cold wood, in a cold house being "heated" with electric resistance heaters. We are almost done with a two day burn ban due to poor air quality like 20 miles away, and at 700 feet lower elevation, in some urban hellhole at sea level. I can't wait to catch up tonight and enjoy a pleasant 78 degrees instead of a very expensive 68. The kids and even the dang dog miss wood heat.
> 
> They're loaded with a mix of cherry and a little bit of fir right now.


I didn't realize that your burn bans applied to heating appliances as well. We have burn bans that start in March but that is only open burning of brush and leaves.


----------



## Todd67

Chas0218 said:


> I didn't realize that your burn bans applied to heating appliances as well. We have burn bans that start in March but that is only open burning of brush and leaves.



...and people complain about living in New York. We have issues in NY, but not as bad as the west coast. I'm surprised the burn ban includes wood heaters too.


----------



## Highbeam

Chas0218 said:


> I didn't realize that your burn bans applied to heating appliances as well. We have burn bans that start in March but that is only open burning of brush and leaves.



There are fire safety burn bans in the summer that mostly apply to slash burning and issued by the state or the local fire districts. There are also air quality burn bans. These happen anytime, even in the summer, and can apply to any solid fuel burning. Even my pellet BBQ this last summer when the forest fires from Canada smoked us up a bit.

The whole "no other source of heat" excuse doesn't work anymore as they require that you register with them annualy for this exemption and they will require that you install heating equipment before renewing the exemption. They won't even give you the exemption if your income is high enough to have it fixed.  

Honestly, there are several locations with these types of air quality burn bans. Alaska, Utah, WA, OR, etc. The theory is good but the way they trigger the bans is total BS. My little apple phone says air quality is good "green" in my location but many many miles away in the city down by the saltwater their air quality is moderate so they ban all burning in the whole huge county since they think people are too stupid to know where they live to any smaller level of detail.


----------



## Highbeam

Todd67 said:


> ...and people complain about living in New York. We have issues in NY, but not as bad as the west coast. I'm surprised the burn ban includes wood heaters too.



Every place has issues. I don't even have a state income tax.

But yeah, it sucks. 21 degrees outside, no wind, crystal clear skies and stars, 2 years of firewood dry in the shed, 2 modern clean burning woodstoves installed with permits, and I'm hunkering down by a f'n electric wall heater staying warm because some snot nosed city kid in an office couldn't see the mountain from within the city. When on that mountain I look back at the city and see the brown haze cap right on top of it only.


----------



## Todd67

Trust me, I'm not bad-talking the west coast. I'm convinced that NY is trying to compete with California when it comes to certain things. Those are some crazy laws there, and we have plenty of crazy laws in NY too.


----------



## thewoodlands

About an hour ago, I loaded up the Liberty with some yellow birch,sugar maple and beech,


----------



## pjohnson

Had to leave the cabin for a day loaded up the big King with oak, 32 hours later the Blaze King, still has some life in it cabin still warm


----------



## buc74

Nothing until tomorrow morning. We took a break from burning for a few days cuz it warmed up a bit (mid 30f). Our intent was not to burn 24/7 but each year we find it harder not to. Cold spell coming soon so red oak it will be for a couple weeks.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're heading to -13 according to NOAA so the pellet stove is on and the liberty is loaded up with yellow birch and ironwood.


----------



## Todd67

-9 for us tonight. More mixed mystery wood in the Fisher tonight.


----------



## Todd67

At 8am it's -11 with a -25 wind chill, and the wind is *barely* blowing! Just loaded the Fisher with more mixed mystery wood.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -17 this morning, more yellow birch and some ironwood going in the Liberty.


----------



## Chas0218

6*F this morning loaded the stove with some big splits of Ash. Seems like my wood is drier as I'm making my way into the pile more as it is lighting faster than usual.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a high of 10 so far back here in the pines, I just loaded up some beech splits in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 18 this morning with some snow hitting the ground, sugar maple and some beech are going in the liberty.


----------



## Diabel

More hard maple here.

With this cold weather sticking around I will be done with the hard maple in about three weeks. Will have to break into some of my “heavy guns” wood.
BL, HL and sugar maple.


----------



## Chas0218

This coming Sunday and Monday night is supposed to be a cold one for us, looking like -4, and -5. Planning on running the stove hard, might have to do a midnight stoke.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -5 this morning for a low, a load of beech went in the Lopi Liberty. We're still burning down the coals from the beech, I'll reload at two with whatever is in the rack with a few rounds of ironwood.

I might put more ironwood in using the sled, we'll see.


----------



## thewoodlands

I just loaded the stove up with beech and the top row is all ironwood.


----------



## Stinkpickle

20 below windchill now.  My beer froze in the mug while grilling.  I just filled my belly with food and stuffed the smoke dragon full of oak and mulberry.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 6 when we rolled out of the sleeper so we made some coffee and loaded up the Liberty with beech. NOAA is calling for -15 tonight and on Monday night -18, after this fire burns down, I'll take some ashes out and load up with ironwood.

This is for our area.
 WHAT...Heavy snow and blowing snow, along with dangerously cold
  wind chills expected. Additional snow accumulations of 6 to 9
  inches for a storm total of 9 to 16 inches. Wind chills as low
  as 25 to 35 below zero.


----------



## Todd67

thewoodlands said:


> We had - 6 when we rolled out of the sleeper so we made some coffee and loaded up the Liberty with beech. NOAA is calling for -15 tonight and on Monday night -18, after this fire burns down, I'll take some ashes out and load up with ironwood.
> 
> This is for our area.
> WHAT...Heavy snow and blowing snow, along with dangerously cold
> wind chills expected. Additional snow accumulations of 6 to 9
> inches for a storm total of 9 to 16 inches. Wind chills as low
> as 25 to 35 below zero.



Just about identical weather and forecast here. Still burning the mixed mystery wood in the Fisher Mama Bear.


----------



## Ben Stark

Air temperature is 6 degrees, wind chill is 13 below zero. Creek in the backyard is frozen over. Insert loaded with seasoned elm and ash. Some oak on deck for tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> Just about identical weather and forecast here. Still burning the mixed mystery wood in the Fisher Mama Bear.


It looks like we're in for a few days of warmer weather before we get another shot of Arctic Blast.


----------



## Todd67

thewoodlands said:


> It looks like we're in for a few days of warmer weather before we get another shot of Arctic Blast.
> View attachment 238740



I already told my wife that I plan to let the stove burn out this Wednesday so I can remove the outdoor clean-out cap and see if it's fouled up yet. This mixed mystery wood is a little past seasoned, and about half of it has white fungus growing on it. It's burning good and hot, and I have it "drying" out in the two racks next to my stove. We do a hot burn with it every other day, and it smokes very little to none after filling the stove. It's just a precautionary check on my part.


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> I already told my wife that I plan to let the stove burn out this Wednesday so I can remove the outdoor clean-out cap and see if it's fouled up yet. This mixed mystery wood is a little past seasoned, and about half of it has white fungus growing on it. It's burning good and hot, and I have it "drying" out in the two racks next to my stove. We do a hot burn with it every other day, and it smokes very little to none after filling the stove. It's just a precautionary check on my part.


I cleaned ours after burning about five face cord of pine in the shoulder season, not much came out but it's nice to see what's in the pipe.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Got some mulberry and oak and just threw in a TSC brick.  Supposed to be around 7 above with 30 mph wind.


----------



## tsquini

Locus.


----------



## Jay106n

Below zero tonight and strong north wind gusts. Loading shagbark hickory for coals and been adding pine slabs in between loads for a quick btu supplement.


----------



## turn_n_burn

Almost every kind of wood I wish I didn't have. In SW Idaho, we have literally nothing but softwoods. I have Doug Fir 2x12 boards, some white and grand fir, plenty of ponderosa and lodgepole, and a bit of tamarack (western), all sourced from nearby Payette National forest. If you're a scrounger like me around here, you'll only be disappointed. Down here it's desert like northern Nevada, so most scrounge finds here are sh*t maple (silver, smells like a buck of bluegill), poplar (don't get me started), willow (I only use it for black powder charcoal), and cottonwood (the holy grail of awful smelling foulness). However, if you're willing to knock on a couple of doors, a lot of river bottom properties will have a grove of Black Locust they're happy to be rid of, and usually can be had free if you're willing to clean up thorns and kill the underground runner so they don't come back. No other hardwoods are available,with one exception. I'll segue into that in a minute.

If you're willing to drive around all day, there is also a lot of Juniper in the Owyhees that the BLM lets go on permit for 1 dollar per cord, and it's decent stuff if you can stand the smell (which I happen to like). The real treasure is when you find a dead and downed Mountain Mahogany near the Juniper. You can't cut them even standing dead, but I'll snag one on the ground every so often. It is the best firewood I have ever used, it's relative density is 1.11 (meaning it will sink like a stone when dropped in water), roughly 1.5 times that of oak or locust. It's right up there with Hop Hornbeam/Desert Ironwood, smells much better, and it's a dang sight better than Osage Orange in BTU output. A few years back a guy on arboristsite.com in my neck o' the woods got some and did an endurance test in his Blaze King, and still had coals and heat output nearly 48 hours later, all in single digit temperatures outside. Most of what we have is doodoo, but a couple are excellent.

In the future I'm going to switch to mostly juniper. The high altitude ones we have in the Owyhee mountains are really dense for a softwood, 10 percent or so more than our next best conifer, Tamarack. My buddy had some still green, and when I picked a round of it up, the best guess i had (based on weight) was Shagbark Hickory. I was wrong. So I bummed a couple rounds to split and try, and after seasoning I got a better burn time from it than when I was burning cherry or apple (which are likewise hard to get even with all the orchards around here). The mahogany is great stuff. Perfect BBQ wood, and it lasts longer and is easier to control than even anthracite in a hand fired stove. One day if I ever find a piece straight enough, I will have myself one heck of a beautiful rifle stock.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -15 for a regular temp with some good winds (realfeel ?) the last of the wood we planned on for January went in the Liberty, beech with a few rounds of ironwood.

I'll be making some spaghetti sauce and then around noon we'll poach some eggs in the sauce, once the eggs are cooked we'll put it on toast, pancetta and cheese for lunch.


----------



## kennyp2339

nothing, coldest day of the year and there's nothing in the stove.


----------



## Todd67

kennyp2339 said:


> nothing, coldest day of the year and there's nothing in the stove.



Why not? That's no way to treat a woodstove


----------



## thewoodlands

I just loaded up the Liberty with beech, this is the wood we planned on burning in February.

I did poach some eggs in spaghetti sauce with some pancetta with cheese over toast, we both thought it tasted great. I saw my grandmother do this once but we saw it on a cooking show the other morning so I decided to cook it for the boss.


----------



## Todd67

Looks really tasty on a cold day like today.

Looks like we are in for a much colder than average February next month too. This is why we have to keep two years worth of seasoned wood on hand.


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> Looks really tasty on a cold day like today.
> 
> Looks like we are in for a much colder than average February next month too. This is why we have to keep two years worth of seasoned wood on hand.


We still have just under eight face cord of good hardwood covered and just under two face cord of shoulder season wood covered so we should be fine.

I saw that forecast on the weather channel for Feb. - March, lets hope they're wrong. Last year put a good dent in our better hardwood and this year is doing the same.

I have a few more meals I promised the wife that I would cook (Braciole) and another I can't think of at the moment.


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> Looks really tasty on a cold day like today.
> 
> Looks like we are in for a much colder than average February next month too. This is why we have to keep two years worth of seasoned wood on hand.


A couple of cold ones coming up, this is from NOAA but Tuesdays wind chill doesn't make any sense...does it?

Tonight
Mostly clear, with a low around -22. Wind chill values as low as -35. West wind 6 to 11 mph.
Tuesday
Increasing clouds, with a high near 16. Wind chill values as low as -39. Southwest wind 5 to 7 mph.


----------



## Todd67

Last winter was much colder, and longer, than expected. I litterally ran out of firewood in March, and that was my normal "average" seasons worth of firewood. I was forced to order an emergency 5 face cord to get me through the rest of winter. Thankfully, a lot of it was soft maple, seasoned for 6 months. It dried out pretty good sitting in the two racks next to my stove. I used about half of that wood last spring and the other half last fall.


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> Last winter was much colder, and longer, than expected. I litterally ran out of firewood in March, and that was my normal "average" seasons worth of firewood. I was forced to order an emergency 5 face cord to get me through the rest of winter. Thankfully, a lot of it was soft maple, seasoned for 6 months. It dried out pretty good sitting in the two racks next to my stove. I used about half of that wood last spring and the other half last fall.


Last year tested the wood inventory that's for sure. I think our neighbor will run out of wood because he never put a bunch of ash in he bought, I even offered to help but he was busy running around to comic con, he never even covered it. They've pulled this chit before and I was out in -25 degree weather splitting wood for him but he'll need to hire a young kid, my days of doing that are over.


----------



## Todd67

thewoodlands said:


> Last year tested the wood inventory that's for sure. I think our neighbor will run out of wood because he never put a bunch of ash in he bought, I even offered to help but he was busy running around to comic con, he never even covered it. They've pulled this chit before and I was out in -25 degree weather splitting wood for him but he'll need to hire a young kid, my days of doing that are over.



That's crazy! Our winters are too unpredictable to not be over-prepared. I put my log splitter away by the end of October. If not don't have my wood split by then, shame on me


----------



## Kevin Weis

thewoodlands said:


> A couple of cold ones coming up, this is from NOAA but Tuesdays wind chill doesn't make any sense...does it?
> 
> Tonight
> Mostly clear, with a low around -22. Wind chill values as low as -35. West wind 6 to 11 mph.
> Tuesday
> Increasing clouds, with a high near 16. Wind chill values as low as -39. Southwest wind 5 to 7 mph.



No, doesn't sound right.  Maybe -9 not -39.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Started my pre-war German coal stove (apartment size) to help out.  Only run it for today, tomorrow a heat wave at 30.


----------



## Todd67

Tonight will be -16 without the wind chill. It was -13 this morning, with a -30 wind chill. So a -39 wind chill is possible in tonight with the right wind.


----------



## MissMac

running my best wood - white birch - through the stove right now.  it hasn't gotten above -30*C in almost 5 days here.  minus 40*C territory with the windchill.  next few days it's supposed to warm up ten degrees or so, then drop off again.  i've tapped the birch stack that is meant to be next year's wood.  will be a busy spring getting firewood for me.


----------



## edyit

-14F here right now without the wind, which is howling outside, been burning a lot of pine today, quick hot fires, not a lot of coal build up, which is nice since we're pushing the madison harder than normal, day off though so I don't mind filling it a few extra times, the load for tonight will be mostly beech and yellow birch. stay warm folks


----------



## moresnow

thewoodlands said:


> I did poach some eggs in spaghetti sauce with some pancetta with cheese over toast, we both thought it tasted great. I saw my grandmother do this once but we saw it on a cooking show the other morning so I decided to cook it for the boss.



Ahhhhh! That looks great. My boss is a huge poached egg girl. I'll have to give this a try. Thanks.

16F with wind gusting at 35-38mph currently. Not real pleasant outside! Looking to load up some pine soon.


----------



## thewoodlands

moresnow said:


> Ahhhhh! That looks great. My boss is a huge poached egg girl. I'll have to give this a try. Thanks.
> 
> 16F with wind gusting at 35-38mph currently. Not real pleasant outside! Looking to load up some pine soon.


I cracked an egg into a small bowl and then slid it into the sauce, we cooked them for five minutes and at the four minute mark put the cheese on and then put the cover on. You use the cover when your poaching the eggs too.


----------



## thewoodlands

I just loaded up the Liberty with a row of beech on the bottom with some ironwood on the top row.


----------



## Todd67

Some of you guys make it sound so technical when you load wood into your stoves

For me it's a much simpler approach. Take unknown wood from rack, load the stove, heat the house, repeat when needed


----------



## Stinkpickle

Alexa says it’s a balmy 17 degrees right now.  I loaded the stove with oak anyway.


----------



## Jay106n

Zero again tonight -30 wind chill. My 330am reload of pine slab base, splits of maple and shagbark hickory, and an ash round. Filled all the small gaps with small pine pieces.


----------



## Todd67

-23 now, with a -38 wind chill, with a 5 mph wind. Burning more mixed mystery wood. I think a family of penguins were on my front porch at 3am, asking to come inside because of how cold it is outside


----------



## Chas0218

thewoodlands said:


> I cleaned ours after burning about five face cord of pine in the shoulder season, not much came out but it's nice to see what's in the pipe.


I cleaned mine last week because I could see a little build up on the cap. Took about 5 minutes with the soot eater and really didn't need it based on the little amount that came out. Better safe than sorry.

Today was a full load of Ash with the -7 temp. When I drove down the street the car was reading -16 so either way it was cold.


----------



## thewoodlands

We decided to run the furnace last night which was a good thing because we hit -26 for a regular temp. We had an appointment this morning so the furnace was left on 64, I'll get a bag of pellets and get that going before noon.

We're still at - 6 back here in the pines but we should see double digits above zero today.


----------



## Sully1515

When I got home from work last night, the temperature outside was -3ºF (approx. -20ºC).  No fire last night as my wife and I both got home from work late.  The previous night however, snowing, sleeting and about 2ºF, we were burning hickory, beech and red oak to keep the home very comfortable.


----------



## thewoodlands

I started a small fire that should get us through until I do the overnight fire.


----------



## Chas0218

Loaded the stove to the top with Ash this morning, with the temps being a little higher I'm guessing the house will get pretty toasty.

I burn mostly Ash, is it worth getting some red oak? I know it seasons a little longer but looking at the BTU chart is 24 million vs 23.6 million BTU worth trying a wood that doesn't season as fast? I do have some Iron wood (Hophornbeam) that I'm planning on cutting up for next year or a couple from now along with some beech (same BTU/cord as red oak).


----------



## Sully1515

Chas0218 said:


> Loaded the stove to the top with Ash this morning, with the temps being a little higher I'm guessing the house will get pretty toasty.
> 
> I burn mostly Ash, is it worth getting some red oak? I know it seasons a little longer but looking at the BTU chart is 24 million vs 23.6 million BTU worth trying a wood that doesn't season as fast? I do have some Iron wood (Hophornbeam) that I'm planning on cutting up for next year or a couple from now along with some beech (same BTU/cord as red oak).



Oak is great, but, as mentioned, it can take up to three years to properly season.  Ash seasons much quicker.  If you have some, let it season for a while, and give it a shot.  But, if you have access to an abundance of Ash...I'd go with that.


----------



## Sully1515

Last night, I got home from work early.  I got some work done around the property, got in and loaded up the stove.  I burned more red oak, some Shagbark Hickory (sparks quite a bit) and had some remaining Beech in the pile.  Burned hot last night.  Got the house up to temperature pretty quickly.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Continuing with Mulberry, Red Oak and some Ash.  Love the Mulberry but when you open door or top load sparks go a flying and I don't mean just a few, it's like the Fourth of July when all that oxygen gets to it.  But burns great though.


----------



## EPS

Nothing at the moment as we are on a warming trend, but I burned through some white birch, silver maple, white pine and some hardwoods all weekend until last night.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 22 this morning so we loaded the stove up with red maple and some beech.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Still in the teens and I just loaded the box with oak and what appears to be a sneaky split of elm.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 37 out this morning so the liberty received a load of soft maple.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Nothing now.  Was 55 when I got up this morning.  Just let the coals die out. and restart when I get home.  Supposed to get down to 25 tonite.


----------



## MissMac

more birch.  with a bit of jack pine mixed in just because.  i guess 48 hours of reprieve is all we get up here...


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 22 tonight, we'll load up the wood stove with some yellow birch and some wood past its prime.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Overnight windchills are supposed to hit 30 below, so I just packed the stove with oak and am preparing to cuss at my morning commute.


----------



## Todd67

Another winter storm is *raging* outside today. Zero visibility, heavy snow, 15-25mph wind, over 2ft of snow forecast for today and tonight.

Burning more mixed mystery wood in the Fisher Mama Bear.


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> Another winter storm is *raging* outside today. Zero visibility, heavy snow, 15-25mph wind, over 2ft of snow forecast for today and tonight.
> 
> Burning more mixed mystery wood in the Fisher Mama Bear.


We received only 2-3 inches here, I'm burning the last of the maples from rack number 1.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 7 last night (7 degrees out) with the temp up to 15 this morning, we burned a bag of pellets last night and we're back running the wood stove today.  Sugar & Red Maple are going in the liberty today.


----------



## Stinkpickle

We're sitting at 1 solid degree this morning, so I packed the hotbox with oak and ash.


----------



## Dtcryan

-5 sunshine,not a cloud in the sky,looks nice out. I'm going to stay inside with the beech and hard maple btu's.


----------



## Todd67

-1 this morning, -15 wind chill.

They are forecasting 3-4 feet on snow for us between today and Friday. Winter can't end soon enough!

Burning some real nice sugar maple in the Fisher.


----------



## Chas0218

Todd67 said:


> -1 this morning, -15 wind chill.
> 
> They are forecasting 3-4 feet on snow for us between today and Friday. Winter can't end soon enough!
> 
> Burning some real nice sugar maple in the Fisher.


I was thinking of bring the ATV up to Chaumont for ice fishing I don't think I'll make it down the driveway.

-2 Here with a big load of Ash.


----------



## Todd67

Most of the heavy snow is forecast for Tug Hill, so Chaumont might be okay for ice fishing. Have you heard any good fishing reports up there recently?

I won't be fishing again until the walleye opener in May. The way this winter has been going, the smaller lakes will be froze over until the end of April. I like to hit the smaller lakes for trout in my 16' boat in April, as long as I have access to the water.


----------



## Chas0218

Todd67 said:


> Most of the heavy snow is forecast for Tug Hill, so Chaumont might be okay for ice fishing. Have you heard any good fishing reports up there recently?
> 
> I won't be fishing again until the walleye opener in May. The way this winter has been going, the smaller lakes will be froze over until the end of April. I like to hit the smaller lakes for trout in my 16' boat in April, as long as I have access to the water.


That's good to hear it's staying more South, they have been catching a few nice eyes but not consistent from what I have heard. Chaumont Hardware usually has some reports on their site and facebook page. I'm the same way but wanted to give her a shot this winter, it would be my first time fishing for them in the winter. Last May I couldn't find the bite but saw a lot of charters struggled so I didn't feel so bad. I have a place on the Bay by the state park so I don't fish much other than the Bay and out to Galloo and Stoney.


----------



## Todd67

Chas0218 said:


> That's good to hear it's staying more South, they have been catching a few nice eyes but not consistent from what I have heard. Chaumont Hardware usually has some reports on their site and facebook page. I'm the same way but wanted to give her a shot this winter, it would be my first time fishing for them in the winter. Last May I couldn't find the bite but saw a lot of charters struggled so I didn't feel so bad. I have a place on the Bay by the state park so I don't fish much other than the Bay and out to Galloo and Stoney.



Last year was a good walleye bite on Mud Bay through the ice. Then the night before opening day was that big blow. It raised the water level about 3ft in a very short time, it put my friend's 25ft Grady on top of it's dock at Hidden Harbor. We had a lousy walleye season, followed by a very slow salmon season. I caught my first eye in August, fishing solo on my 22ft Sabre, a moonshine spoon down the chute on 5 color lead core.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 6 this morning, the liberty saw more sugar & red maple. We have a 4 x 4 rack of ironwood ready for this short cold snap coming in and another 4 x 4 rack of sugar & red maple all set. The third 4 x 4 rack has is just under half full.


----------



## Stinkpickle

I just packed the stove with mulberry, and these winds got it drafting real well.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -5 but were at 2 at the moment, more sugar & red maple going in the liberty.


----------



## Todd67

We were at zero, but the cloud cover has moved in and warmed us up to 6. I loaded up the front porch with sugar maple today, as well as the two racks on the hearth, to get us through the rest of the week. My dually Cub Cadet 45" wide snowblower is getting a major workout this winter.




	

		
			
		

		
	
 Cub Cadet 945SWE 420cc


----------



## Tar12

-4 windchill here right now...just packed the Princess full of 4 yr seasoned Red and White oak...the load that laughs at winter....lol


----------



## woodey

Todd67 said:


> My dually Cub Cadet 45" wide snowblower is getting a major workout this winter.


Are you looking at 1-3 more feet by  Friday?


----------



## hedgeball

I'm burning hedge right now. lotsa heat.


----------



## Tar12

hedgeball said:


> I'm burning hedge right now. lotsa heat.


I have 3 dump trailer loads of Hedge coming soon...cant wait till it is ready to burn!


----------



## Todd67

woodey said:


> Are you looking at 1-3 more feet by  Friday?



It could be more like 3-4ft by Friday if we get stuck in one of those persistent lake effect snow bands. Of course it won't "look" like that much snow because the 40mph winds will cause lots of drifting and blowing snow. I'm on the northern edge of Tug Hill. When I drove to work Sunday (two days ago) I had to stop driving and wait for the road to re-appear again through all the blowing snow.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Todd67 said:


> It could be more like 3-4ft by Friday if we get stuck in one of those persistent lake effect snow bands. Of course it won't "look" like that much snow because the 40mph winds will cause lots of drifting and blowing snow. I'm on the northern edge of Tug Hill. When I drove to work Sunday (two days ago) I had to stop driving and wait for the road to re-appear again through all the blowing snow.


My sister lives out near Erieville.  She does not envy the plateau at all.

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk


----------



## Todd67

HisTreeNut said:


> My sister lives out near Erieville.  She does not envy the plateau at all.
> 
> Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk



I'm *not* a fan of all this snow. I don't ski, and I don't own a snowmobile. In fact, I sold my snowmobiles several years ago because the snow was usually too deep to use them,  unless I stayed on groomed trails. I never rode the groomed trails though. Combine that heavy snow with the -30 or more wind chills, and it makes for some miserable conditions. We could end up with *15-20 feet* of snow this winter! That's not something I like to "brag" about. I'd rather brag about warmer temps and less snow.


----------



## Diabel

Todd67 said:


> We could end up with *15-20 feet* of snow this winter!.




@Todd67 

This must be lake snow effect you are referring to correct. 

That is a lot of snow. We have about a 1’ of snow in the city and about 4’ at the lake.....and I think this will beat the records for most snow in Jan. here


----------



## HisTreeNut

Todd67 said:


> I'm *not* a fan of all this snow. I don't ski, and I don't own a snowmobile. In fact, I sold my snowmobiles several years ago because the snow was usually too deep to use them,  unless I stayed on groomed trails. I never rode the groomed trails though. Combine that heavy snow with the -30 or more wind chills, and it makes for some miserable conditions. We could end up with *15-20 feet* of snow this winter! That's not something I like to "brag" about. I'd rather brag about warmer temps and less snow.


I am with you on that.  The 1st winter I remember was known as "The Blizzard of '77."  
There is a reason I like living in NC. 

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 18 this morning so the liberty saw more of the same, tomorrow we'll start mixing in ironwood with our maples.


----------



## Todd67

Diabel said:


> @Todd67
> 
> This must be lake snow effect you are referring to correct.
> 
> That is a lot of snow. We have about a 1’ of snow in the city and about 4’ at the lake.....and I think this will beat the records for most snow in Jan. here



Yes, that's lake effect snow for the most part.


----------



## Todd67

HisTreeNut said:


> I am with you on that.  The 1st winter I remember was known as "The Blizzard of '77."
> There is a reason I like living in NC.
> 
> Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk



We had a blizzard in 77 when I lived in northern Illinois. It must have been one heck of a storm!


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> We had a blizzard in 77 when I lived in northern Illinois. It must have been one heck of a storm!


How much snow have you receive so far? It looks like certain areas near you could get another 3 to 4 feet of snow.


----------



## Todd67

thewoodlands said:


> How much snow have you receive so far? It looks like certain areas near you could get another 3 to 4 feet of snow.



I've honestly lost track of the snow. Sunday was roughly 2ft. Monday and today was another 5-8", still snowing tonight.

Accuweather now has our wednesday-friday forecast at *3-6ft*, depending on the snow bands, which could dump 3-5 inches per hour.


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> I've honestly lost track of the snow. Sunday was roughly 2ft. Monday and today was another 5-8", still snowing tonight.
> 
> Accuweather now has our wednesday-friday forecast at *3-6ft*, depending on the snow bands, which could dump 3-5 inches per hour.
> 
> View attachment 239585


That's a chit load of snow, how's that big snow blower handling it?


----------



## Todd67

thewoodlands said:


> That's a chit load of snow, how's that big snow blower handling it?



My snowblower is doing great! I can't believe they discontued this model. I've had it for 4 or 5 winters now and it's never missed a beat.


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> My snowblower is doing great! I can't believe they discontued this model. I've had it for 4 or 5 winters now and it's never missed a beat.


That would work great on our driveway, it's pretty much a straight run except for one bend. Do you have chains on the tires?


----------



## Todd67

thewoodlands said:


> That would work great on our driveway, it's pretty much a straight run except for one bend. Do you have chains on the tires?



Never had chains on the tires, never needed them.


----------



## Todd67

It weighs close to 500 pounds, so maybe it provides enough traction with it's own weight, at least in my situation.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Todd67 said:


> We had a blizzard in 77 when I lived in northern Illinois. It must have been one heck of a storm!


That Blizzard gave Buffalo a reputation for snow nationally, even though Syracuse typically gets more than Buffalo.
I am pretty sure Tug Hill got around 39' or 40' of snow that year as well.

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk


----------



## Stinkpickle

Just loaded the stove with a bunch of mulberry that's pretending to be hedge.  Trying to keep the flu temps under 500.


----------



## Woodsplitter67

Pin oak and black cherry


----------



## Todd67

HisTreeNut said:


> That Blizzard gave Buffalo a reputation for snow nationally, even though Syracuse typically gets more than Buffalo.
> I am pretty sure Tug Hill got around 39' or 40' of snow that year as well.
> 
> Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk



Our Illinois blizzard was nothing like it was here in NY. We got 3ft of snow in that blizzard, which is a foot more than the yearly average for snowfall there.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 8 this morning, more sugar & red maple went in the liberty.


----------



## Stinkpickle

The windchill has warmed up to a more reasonable -30F.  I just reloaded with oak, mulberry, and some old hackberry that I forgot about.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's time for a fire so with the winds picking up and the temps dropping, we'll get some sugar & red maple with some ironwood going.


----------



## chris5150

-25 here in central wi and will be colder tonight,  currently -18. I loaded my garage up with soft maple by mistake.  A full load is gone in 4 hours at these temps.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was -4 with a windchill of -25 this morning, the first fire was the same old mix, sugar & red maple but the second fire will have some ironwood in it.


----------



## Marshy

I brought in a face cord of black locust for this week. Time to use the good stuff.


----------



## thewoodlands

I put four rounds of ironwood in the liberty on top of some nice coals, it didn't take long for that to takeoff .


----------



## Wood1Dennis

This morning it was -22F for the second morning in a row. Yesterday's high was -9. Its nice that my wife worked from home yesterday and could keep the Caddy fed. Today is not supposed to break zero, but at least the wind has died down.
I've been burning my best well seasoned oak, one or two big pieces and then top her off with white ash, or yellow birch or some elm.
The Caddy has been doing an excellent good job keep us and the dog warm! The only challenge the cold brings is the buildup of coals. I have to burn them down once or twice a day, they really build up when firing hard like this because I never really let a load burn all the way down. I rake them up and pile them at the front of the firebox, open the air intake damper wide open. I might toss on a couple pieces of bark or small light pieces and she gets those coals really, really red hot with a nice blue flame. Do this a couple of times and I can usually get ahead of the coal pile!
I'm sure glad that I am not burning propane to heat the house this January!


----------



## thewoodlands

We have the Lopi Liberty going in one corner and the Yankee Pellet Stove going in the opposite corner it's 85 in the basement and 70 up here.


----------



## heavy hammer

I just loaded both stoves with some locust and cedar splits house is around 75.


----------



## Jay106n

Just brought my firstborn child home from hospital, it’s a boy! The house was empty for 4 days without fire. It was 62 in here when we came in. It is currently 5 degrees outside. I got the stove cruzing with shagbark hickory and leveled the room temp at 70. Everybody happy.


----------



## Todd67

@Jay106n 

Congrats on the baby boy, and welcome home!


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 5 this morning, more sugar & red maple went in the liberty, we'll get some ironwood in it this afternoon.

Congratulations @Jay106n .


----------



## heavy hammer

Congrads on the baby boy.  Two years ago when we brought home my second daughter the temps were pretty rough as well.  It is tough having a winter baby, keep everyone warm sounds like mom and new baby boy are doing good.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Congrats on the wee one...

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk


----------



## Dtcryan

+15 this morning 45 degrees warmer than yesterday morning, just put a full ash load in,off to work.


----------



## thewoodlands

Overnight we went with ironwood, this morning it was 7 degrees so we went with sugar & red maple.


----------



## baseroom

@J106n    Congrats 
Ash Cherry and some Honey locust doing the job here.  Looks like today i will be able to get out and reload the garage stack.


----------



## Stinkpickle

It's 50 degrees warmer than Wednesday, so just above freezing.  LOL!   A few small ash splits are doing the job right now.  However, oak, hickory,  and cherry are smoking up tomorrow's super bowl pork feast at the moment.


----------



## heavy hammer

Locust this morning temps around 10, cedar splits now temps around 35.  Tomorrow close to 50 I'll probably clean the stoves out since they will probably go out with temps like that.  All week is supposed to be warmer.


----------



## thewoodlands

I'm heading down to load up with some ironwood for the night, tomorrow will be a day to take some ashes out.

After Tuesday, our driveway should be a skating rink so we'll use the ash on parts of the driveway.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a outside temp of 19 this morning so we loaded the liberty up with sugar & red maple.


----------



## jatoxico

We bounced up from 6 deg overnights to teens and today we're in high 40's close to 50. Stove gets the same mix mostly but today just burning some scraps.


----------



## Kirkland

What"s in my Enviro Mini stove here in Colorado ? Lignetics (orange letters on white bag) Great pellets.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's just over 35 tonight, more of the maples going in the liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 37 tonight with another load of the maples going in the liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We might have a low of 8 tonight so the liberty has a bottom row of sugar maple with a top row of ironwood in it for an overnight fire.


----------



## Todd67

A low of 12 tonight, more soft maple in the Fisher.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 12 this morning, more sugar & red maple on the bottom row with some ironwood filling up the top row.

It looks like we could see 0.25 inches of ice on the high end forecast by NOAA,


----------



## Stinkpickle

Alexa just told me it's 23 and to expect ice.  I loaded up with ash.


----------



## Dobish

Box elder and cedar for the night


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 23 this morning with everything iced over, more maple going in the liberty.


----------



## jatoxico

Been in the high 40's even hit 60+ last couple days so I let the stove go cold.


----------



## Dobish

woke up this morning and it was -4 outside. Ice on the window upstairs, stove room still at 63. Cat at 250. Loaded up with box elder and let it rip!


----------



## Stinkpickle

And now the windchill is back down to -20, and my shoveling efforts are being undone by the gusts, so I just loaded up with hot mulberry to watch the mess from indoors.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 43 this morning with strong winds, the temp is at 25 and dropping. We went with the pellet stove because of the high winds, it's always nice when you can shut it down quick if something happened to the chimney because of the winds.


----------



## thewoodlands

We shut the pellet stove down before two this afternoon and since the wind gust are still howling pretty good, I clicked the P.S. on but for the overnight heat, we'll go with the furnace. They say the winds should be out of here tomorrow at ten in the morning.


----------



## Stinkpickle

I guess I underestimated the wind and cold last night...bathroom pipes froze.  Tonight is cold but much calmer.  I'm keeping mulberry popping and snapping.


----------



## Todd67

Stinkpickle said:


> I guess I underestimated the wind and cold last night...bathroom pipes froze.  Tonight is cold but much calmer.  I'm keeping mulberry popping and snapping.



That's not good! I hope there wasn't any damage done.

Burning soft maple in the Fisher tonight. 10 degrees, but 20-30mph winds to make it feel colder.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 10 degrees this morning, we loaded up the liberty with sugar and red maple.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 3 degrees this morning, we had some sugar maple in the liberty for the first fire while having coffee.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Had a couple of warm days where we didn't burn at all.  Cooled off with a chance of freezing rain so some oak and poplar going in tonight.

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk


----------



## thewoodlands

We should have a low of between 8 or 10 degrees so we'll go with some sugar maple and some ironwood.


----------



## Diabel

Dobish said:


> Box elder and cedar for the night



You guys out on the west side have it easy!


----------



## ZZ Tom

It's 22 outside with 18 mph winds, feels like 8. Snow coming down. Got the stove loaded up with elm, silver maple and some mystery wood. Thermostat says it's 83 in the stove room.


----------



## Dobish

well, i woke up the other day and the house was 54º. It turns out the furnace won't light, so i'm really glad I have the wood stove. I have been throwing in some huge pieces of boxelder, but i think it is sub par... either that or there is too much ash in the stove and the cat won't light off.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 11 this morning so the liberty saw another load of sugar and red maple.


----------



## Diabel

Dobish said:


> well, i woke up the other day and the house was 54º. It turns out the furnace won't light, so i'm really glad I have the wood stove. I have been throwing in some huge pieces of boxelder, but i think it is sub par... either that or there is too much ash in the stove and the cat won't light off.



Clean the ash and brush the cat. It should help


----------



## Todd67

Dobish said:


> well, i woke up the other day and the house was 54º. It turns out the furnace won't light, so i'm really glad I have the wood stove. I have been throwing in some huge pieces of boxelder, but i think it is sub par... either that or there is too much ash in the stove and the cat won't light off.



Box alder is the worst burning wood I've ever used in my stove. It doesn't burn good by itself, but it burns ok (almost) if it's mixed with a good burning wood.


----------



## Dobish

Diabel said:


> Clean the ash and brush the cat. It should help



yeah, i need to do that. i did clear out some of the ash by the intake for the cat, and that seemed to help.


----------



## Diabel

I never really liked burning box alder also known in parts of Canada as Manitoba Maple. 

It dries fast but can quickly absorb moisture and retain it for long time......and it attracts water bugs.


----------



## Dobish

Diabel said:


> I never really liked burning box alder also known in parts of Canada as Manitoba Maple.
> 
> It dries fast but can quickly absorb moisture and retain it for long time......and it attracts water bugs.



I burn it because it didn't have to travel too far (like from the back yard when it came down in a wind storm, to the wood pile, to the stove)


----------



## ZZ Tom

Dobish said:


> well, i woke up the other day and the house was 54º. It turns out the furnace won't light, so i'm really glad I have the wood stove. I have been throwing in some huge pieces of boxelder, but i think it is sub par... either that or there is too much ash in the stove and the cat won't light off.



My wife came home from work the other evening and the house was 59* and county wide burn restrictions in place. The thermostat was calling for heat but the furnace wasn't lighting. When I got home an hour or so later I opened up the furnace, removed the flame sensor, cleaned it with steel wool and reinstalled it. Lit right up. Took longer to find a phillips head screwstick and steel wool than it took to fix it.


----------



## Dobish

ZZ Tom said:


> My wife came home from work the other evening and the house was 59* and county wide burn restrictions in place. The thermostat was calling for heat but the furnace wasn't lighting. When I got home an hour or so later I opened up the furnace, removed the flame sensor, cleaned it with steel wool and reinstalled it. Lit right up. Took longer to find a phillips head screwstick and steel wool than it took to fix it.



i tried the obvious trick of blowing it out with the compressor and changing the filter first. That seemed to help. I will put a note in my calendar to tear it apart and clean everything this summer when I don't need it 

I loaded up a really gnarly piece of elm that has been burning for about 12 hours now...


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 5.9 this morning so we loaded the stove up with some maple.


----------



## MissMac

Now that we're into more moderate temps again (-18 to -10*C), i'm burning some of my Manitoba maple again.  Happy to be out of that cold snap!  Saving the rest of the white birch for the next time it gets really cold - hopefully next year!


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 20 out tonight with what looks like sleet coming down on about three inches of snow, more of the maples going in the liberty tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 22 out tonight so we'll go with some sugar and red maple in the liberty,


----------



## Stinkpickle

Heading back down towards 0, so the mulberry is popping tonight.


----------



## ValleyCottageSplitter

It has been mild here but starting to cool down into the 20's at night. Currently finishing up the last of my 2yr white oak.  Actually nice for warmer weather because it can burn slowly and keep some nice coals going through the night.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -7 this morning, we loaded the stove with some ironwood and sugar maple.


----------



## thewoodlands

I have some sugar & red maple with some rounds of ironwood going in the liberty, our low should be around 5 or 7 degrees in the morning.


----------



## Todd67

More mystery wood here.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 11.7 for a temp this morning, more of the maples warming up the house.


----------



## Todd67

Supposed to be -2 tonight. I hope it's the last night below zero for the winter... but I know that's not likely

A clear sky already, and it's time to snowblow the driveway again. Then load the Fisher with more mystery wood and go to bed.


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> Supposed to be -2 tonight. I hope it's the last night below zero for the winter... but I know that's not likely
> 
> A clear sky already, and it's time to snowblow the driveway again. Then load the Fisher with more mystery wood and go to bed.


They're calling for -4 here tonight so we'll get some yellow birch,sugar maple and some ironwood going with the pellet stove set so it kicks on when the temp starts falling in the basement.

It looks like we have more ice & rain coming in on Thursday and again on Sunday so we're leaving the four inches of snow we received last night on the driveway, once it gets slushy I'll plow it off.


----------



## Todd67

thewoodlands said:


> They're calling for -4 here tonight so we'll get some yellow birch,sugar maple and some ironwood going with the pellet stove set so it kicks on when the temp starts falling in the basement.
> 
> It looks like we have more ice & rain coming in on Thursday and again on Sunday so we're leaving the four inches of snow we received last night on the driveway, once it gets slushy I'll plow it off.



Our -2 forecast was actually -10 this morning, with a -22 wind chill. We have a very similar forecast coming up. Our house and driveway face toward the south, so the driveway snow and ice melts/evaporates pretty good on sunny days, even if it's around 20* outside.

Edit: it's -11 with no wind now. Mystery wood in the Fisher is getting the job done nicely


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> Our -2 forecast was actually -10 this morning, with a -22 wind chill. We have a very similar forecast coming up. Our house and driveway face toward the south, so the driveway snow and ice melts/evaporates pretty good on sunny days, even if it's around 20* outside.
> 
> Edit: it's -11 with no wind now. Mystery wood in the Fisher is getting the job done nicely


We had a temp this morning of -13, I shut the pellet stove off (82 in the basement) and loaded up the liberty with yellow birch and maple.

Our driveway faces west and with all the big white pines, it doesn't get much sun so the sanding/ashing of the driveway will continue until mother nature brings in warmer temperatures daily.


----------



## Todd67

thewoodlands said:


> We had a temp this morning of -13, I shut the pellet stove off (82 in the basement) and loaded up the liberty with yellow birch and maple.
> 
> Our driveway faces west and with all the big white pines, it doesn't get much sun so the sanding/ashing of the driveway will continue until mother nature brings in warmer temperatures daily.



What kind of pellet stove do you have? I've had three different ones and they all failed miserably in the durability/reliability aspects. The aluminum auger broke in the first one (a $1,200 stove), but we replaced the auger. We had the stove about 2-3 years.

Some other issues made us buy our 2nd one, (a $2,800 stove) and the exhaust fan stopped working before it was a month old. It smoked up our house so bad that the fire department said our smoke detectors saved our lives (@ 1:00am).

Our third pellet stove was a top of the line Quadra Fire insert (cost over $4,000) that developed a short in one of the augers and ignited the pellets in the hopper. It was about 4-5 years old.

Bye bye pellet insert! Hello Fisher Mama Bear! I don't trust pellet Stoves after having two different stove develop possible life threatening issues. None of it was operator induced.


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> What kind of pellet stove do you have? I've had three different ones and they all failed miserably in the durability/reliability aspects. The aluminum auger broke in the first one (a $1,200 stove), but we replaced the auger.
> 
> Some other issues made us buy our 2nd one, (a $2,800 stove) and the exhaust fan stopped working before it was a month old. It smoked up our house so bad that the fire department said our smoke detectors saved our lives (@ 1:00am).
> 
> Our third pellet stove was a top of the line Quadra Fire insert (cost over $4,000) that developed a short in one of the augers and ignited the pellets in the hopper.
> 
> Bye bye pellet insert! Hello Fisher Mama Bear! I don't trust pellet Stoves after having two different stove develop possible life threatening issues. None of it was operator induced.


Before we bought the lot I cut on, we bought a new (at the time) yankee pellet stove. We had something go wrong with the computer/control board after having it a month but they came out and replaced it at no cost, the second problem we had was many years later when the auger had some buildup of some sort in the back of the stove. I don't think they make them anymore but they still make parts if I understood our Lopi dealer.

I would rather clean a wood stove, the pellet stove can be a pain but when it gets cold like it did last night, it's worth the extra work. Ours is in the basement so I think we get more ash in the pipe compared to a direct vent.


----------



## Todd67

thewoodlands said:


> Before we bought the lot I cut on, we bought a new (at the time) yankee pellet stove. We had something go wrong with the computer/control board after having it a month but they came out and replaced it at no cost, the second problem we had was many years later when the auger had some buildup of some sort in the back of the stove. I don't think they make them anymore but they still make parts if I understood our Lopi dealer.
> 
> I would rather clean a wood stove, the pellet stove can be a pain but when it gets cold like it did last night, it's worth the extra work. Ours is in the basement so I think we get more ash in the pipe compared to a direct vent.



Thanks for the info. I love heating with wood, but it would be nice to find a reliable pellet stove for the basement. I agree that cleaning a woodstove is a LOT easier than cleaning a pellet stove!


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> Thanks for the info. I love heating with wood, but it would be nice to find a reliable pellet stove for the basement. I agree that cleaning a woodstove is a LOT easier than cleaning a pellet stove!


We did have it over feed one night (all clogged up) I think that is when the local Lopi dealer came out, I'm not sure if that was the auger issue we had.


----------



## Stinkpickle

More mulberry...sounds like a machine gun in my stove now.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Black Wanut as the snow storm picks up.  Will be mixing in some Mulberry this afternoon.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 7 this morning with some maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Jay106n

Pine slabs tonight. Icing out now, but day time warming expected today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 33 this morning with some ugly chunks of maple going in the liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> Thanks for the info. I love heating with wood, but it would be nice to find a reliable pellet stove for the basement. I agree that cleaning a woodstove is a LOT easier than cleaning a pellet stove!


I see you might be in for some high winds, stay safe.


----------



## Todd67

thewoodlands said:


> I see you might be in for some high winds, stay safe.



Yes indeed. One forecast says wind gusts could reach 75mph! Sustained winds of 35-45mph or more. I'm getting things stored in the garage that could blow away, like snow shovels. Tomorrow I'll take my canoes off their saw horses and wedge them between some firewood racks. One is a 17ft aluminum & one is a 15.5ft plastic, or whatever material that is . They got blown more than 100 yards from their saw horses last spring in much lesser winds. Thankfully they weren't damaged.

I'm ready for spring. In the meantime, I'm burning more mystery wood in the Fisher.


----------



## thewoodlands

Todd67 said:


> Yes indeed. One forecast says wind gusts could reach 75mph! Sustained winds of 35-45mph or more. I'm getting things stored in the garage that could blow away, like snow shovels. Tomorrow I'll take my canoes off their saw horses and wedge them between some firewood racks. One is a 17ft aluminum & one is a 15.5ft plastic, or whatever material that is . They got blown more than 100 yards from their saw horses last spring in much lesser winds. Thankfully they weren't damaged.
> 
> I'm ready for spring. In the meantime, I'm burning more mystery wood in the Fisher.


Hopefully it's an early spring and not a longer winter. We'll put more wood in tomorrow before we get ice (Sat. night) and then rain.

If you see this go by during your wind event, it's only Miss Gulch.


----------



## Todd67

thewoodlands said:


> Hopefully it's an early spring and not a longer winter. We'll put more wood in tomorrow before we get ice (Sat. night) and then rain.
> 
> If you see this go by during your wind event, it's only Miss Gulch.
> View attachment 241287



Lol, thanks for the heads up . I'll keep my eyes peeled, and my head down.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 25 out tonight so we'll grab the first six or seven splits for the overnight fire.


----------



## Mt Ski Bum

just doug fir & juniper.. didn't get a chance this fall to get up to the higher elevations to cut my preferred dense whitebark pine (there's a ton of dead stuff killed off by bark beetles & blister rust around here up high) before it all became snow bound... so I had to stick with the easy-to-reach doug fir forests down low for firewood this year...


----------



## Todd67

As if the 75mph wind gusts aren't enough of a hazard tomorrow and Monday, now we are under another lake effect snow warning from Sunday evening through Monday afternoon with 5-9'" of snow expected, or more in the persistent snow bands.

Spring can't come soon enough! It didn't arrive until May last year


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 2 for a low this morning with ironwood on the bottom row with some maple filling out the top row in the liberty. NOAA is calling for a low of - 7 for tomorrow morning so I'll be burning ironwood in every fire today along with the overnight fire.


----------



## Chas0218

Loaded up with some Ash and Maple. I have a little cherry I'll throw in after work. Looking forward to a nice warm house in this crap weather.


----------



## Jay106n

Got a maple and pine mix going now. Temps expected to plummet tonight to single digits. Got the shagbark hickory on standby.


----------



## Stinkpickle

More mulberry.  I’m probably going to burn it all up before this season is over.


----------



## thewoodlands

The forecast is for a low of -9, the liberty has all ironwood in it and the pellet stove has one bag in it set on a medium heat on the manual mode.


----------



## Jay106n

All nighter size round of maple, 1 ash split, and heavy loaded with shagbark hickory.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of - 11.9 this morning, the liberty had some yellow birch with ironwood for its morning meal.


----------



## Sully1515

For the past two nights, with those winds that we've had here in NH, I've been burning sugar maple 17% MC, beech @ 15% MC and Red oak @ just under 20% MC.  Tonight, I may be burning some shag bark hickory.  We'll see.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Single digits and expecting new record lows for March coming up.   I’m getting to the bottom of my mulberry stacks, and the splits aren’t quite as dry, even at three years.  A couple splits of ash mixed in with each load is doing the trick, though.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 0 this morning with a load of yellow birch going in the liberty.


----------



## Todd67

We were supposed to be at 5 above, but we were -4 instead. More mystery wood in the Fisher.


----------



## Buckeye 2012

Burning end of the year alder. Terrible ashy stuff. After burning 4 cord of honey locust and hard maple all season I hate to switch over but it’s all I got to get through the remainder of the season. When I burn the good stuff I empty ash every 2-3 weeks.  This crap is like every 2-3 days.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for -3 tonight so we'll add ironwood on top of some beech for the overnight fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 1 this morning, the liberty received a load of beech and some maple.


----------



## Captain Hornet

We are a older couple that has been married for 50 years.   WE just love our Fisher because it keeps the house at 80 degrees when it is colder out.   Wife likes it warmer and I find that as we are older we do like the house warmer.    It's forecast to be around 20 this next week so I have the the ready wood pile stocked up.    The best here is white oak with red oak a close second.   Elm and ash are also good and maple is almost as good.  I think hickory and pecan are poor because in one night it well fill the stove with ashes even though it does have good heat.   Absolute all time best is dogwood but there isn't a huge amount around.    I still cut and split hickory because I sell it to the people that like to smoke their food.   There is lots of southern yellow pine around but we don't burn it because there are other better woods around.  I am a slave to the wood stove but the outside work does keep me young.      David


----------



## Kevin Weis

The usual Black Walnut, Mulberry, and some Red Oak.   Looks cold next week so likely will be more of the same.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 12 so the liberty has a load of beech,yellow birch,maple with ironwood filling out the top row.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 12.9 this morning so the we loaded up the liberty with beech and some soft maple. It looks like we'll have another cold week coming at us so we'll save the ironwood for that and the overnight fires.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 20 tonight with the liberty getting some yellow birch and soft maple for the overnight fire.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Have a mix in ours...pine, oak, & cherry.  Wifey is chilly so warm fire it is.

Sent from my Mobile Interwebbery Thingy


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 21 this morning with a load of sugar and soft maple going in the liberty.


----------



## WinterinWI

Woodlands, you sure are diligent about posting what your liberty is eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner.


----------



## thewoodlands

WinterinWI said:


> Woodlands, you sure are diligent about posting what your liberty is eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner.


Yep, but hopefully it won't be long until mother nature will do the heating. It should be more of the same types of wood this week with the liberty seeing more ironwood for this cold stretch coming in.


----------



## MAD MARK

Load for tomorrow night when's it's going to 2°F and I get to drink some beers in the garage! Yahoo! ......its the little things.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 18 this morning so the first splits I grabbed were soft maple which I loaded up the liberty with, we'll start on the beech and ironwood next.

We'll have one rack open inside so we'll put more wood in today.


----------



## Chas0218

Looked at the 7 day and for the rest of the work week I will be burning Ash. I tried to load her with only Cherry and Red Maple but it wasn't cutting it in the single digits and wind. Pretty amazing how much of a difference those BTUs are and how they heat. Right now she is burning away a full load of Ash and will for the rest of the week.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Windchills have been hovering around -20, so I keep packing in the ash and mulberry.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA has a low of 3 for us, I loaded the liberty with a bottom row of beech with some american hophornbeam (ironwood) on top.


----------



## Chas0218

Cold night last night, woke up to -1*F house was a cool 63* so a load of Ash it was. This cool weather has me wishing for Spring, I figure I have about 1 month left of burning hoping April is a little warmer.


----------



## EbS-P

I’m all out of good dry wood. From here on out it’s pine heartwood (sapwood was soaking wet) that will burn ok as well as some almost dry magnolia and some dogwood limbs and sticks. It’s not too cold here.  It will freeze tonight but shouldn’t be to hard on the flowers though. Fruit trees could take a blow though.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 3 this morning with more beech and some ironwood putting out the heat this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -4 this morning with the liberty seeing another load of beech..


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 7 this morning with the liberty seeing more beech,yellow birch and sugar maple.


----------



## johneh

A Fire  OH maple and red Oak


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 0.9 this morning with the last of the yellow birch going in the liberty.


----------



## SuperSpy

I recently stumbled on some ash rounds I had forgotten about.  They were standing dead when I cut them, probably dry enough to burn as soon as they hit the ground, and have probably been sitting for over a year under a 3-sided part of my barn.

Needless to say the boiler liked it.  I'm pretty sure the secondary burn zone was around 1500F when the temps dropped and the house started really calling for heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 2 this morning with some cherry going in the liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

They're calling for a low of 17 tonight so we'll burn some cherry with some rounds of ironwood filling up the top row.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 27.9 this morning but with some high wind gust coming in, we'll go with a propane fireplace our the furnace for heat today.


----------



## Kevin Weis

37 this morning supposed to spike to 60 briefly this afternoon later then cool off.  Black Wanut will fill the bill today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We should be around freezing tonight so we'll go with cherry and ironwood.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32.4 this morning with the winds finally showing up later last night, we have some cherry going in the liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We should have a low around 20 tomorrow morning so we'll load the stove up with cherry tonight.


----------



## begreen

Wild cherry in our stove for the last couple weeks now.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Have some punky stuff burning in the stove right now.  50's & 60's during the day and just making a fire at night to keep the chill out of the house.

Sent from my Mobile Interwebbery Thingy


----------



## Jay106n

Red Oak


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 14 this morning with the liberty seeing another load of cherry.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 31.4 tonight with another load cherry providing the heat tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was a touch over 32 this morning with another load of cherry going in the liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We haven't had a fire since this morning so I'll just turn the furnace on for five minutes before I hit the sleeper, the outside temp is just over 44 tonight.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Was up to 68 degrees today.  House is still 65 degrees.  Outside it is 61 degrees at 10:30pm.  Very slim chance of a fire tonight, so charcoal and literal ash in the Buck tonight...

Sent from my Mobile Interwebbery Thingy


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 7 degrees this morning with another load of cherry going in the liberty.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Coolish with 40's mostly during the day.  Have 3-4" Ash rounds in there now.  This will be the deal likely till April.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA has us having a low of 10 tomorrow morning, tonight we'll go with cherry and some ironwood.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 7.5 this morning with more cherry providing the heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA has a low of 14 for us tonight, we'll burn another load of cherry with ironwood.

Tomorrow we'll put another two loads of firewood in before we get some rain.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Nothing right now.  Family emergency with 93 year old mother.  Furnace earning its keep for the next several days.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 14.5 this morning with more cherry firewood providing heat.

@Kevin Weis , I'll say a few prayers.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Thank you!  Kevin


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA has us getting a low temp of 33 so we'll go with a cherry for the overnight fire.

It looks like we might get rain (0.25 - 0.50) and a possible 6-12 inches of snow with some cold coming in which should make things a big mess again.


----------



## Jay106n

White oak, red oak, and shagbark hickory.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a low of 34.4 with nothing going in the liberty, we'll get another load of cherry going after this cup of coffee.


----------



## thewoodlands

I ran the pellet stove last night since it was 35, the temp this morning is 32 so we're burning some cherry in the liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA has us dropping down to 9 the next two nights, cherry and some nice rounds of ironwood will be providing the heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 12.5 this morning with another load of cherry going in the liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 7 this morning, I filled the liberty up with more cherry. It looks like the low tonight might be the same.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 8 this morning, hopefully that's the last of the single digit temps, more cherry going in the liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 33 this morning with more cherry going in the liberty. We'll put in some shoulder season wood today, during the day we'll burn pine.


----------



## begreen

Only burning in the mornings lately. We have ash in the stove right now. Cold, grey ash.


----------



## thewoodlands

begreen said:


> Only burning in the mornings lately. We have ash in the stove right now. Cold, grey ash.


We plan on felling some ash but the snow is still thigh high in the area I'll start in, we'll see how much we lose after this rain and the warmer weather.


----------



## Diabel

I am itching to get back in the wood cutting! Saw is ready......with a new 20” bar and chain


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 31 this morning with the rain turning to snow (1-3 inches today with another 1-2 tonight) we have some cherry with a round of ironwood going.


----------



## kennyp2339

We're dropping into the 40's during the day and mid 20's at night again, time to clean the ashes out and load the old girl up with some maple & cherry.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Uglies and small branches.  Could see mid-20's tonight and slim chance of the white stuff.

Sent from my Mobile Interwebbery Thingy


----------



## thewoodlands

We're heading down to 16 or 17 tonight so we're burning our last bag of pellets with the wood stove going with a load of 3 cherry splits on the bottom and 2 rounds of ironwood on top.

We did get another 2 inches of snow today with another 2 possible tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 18 this morning, nothing going in the wood stove and the pellet stove is shutdown for the season.


----------



## Dobish

willow... and cottonwood. and a few misc scraps....


----------



## Jay106n

Back into the low 20s this morning. Red oak.


----------



## moresnow

35F this AM. Elm contributing to the cause. Getting a shot of rain/snow right now.


----------



## Diabel

This was a load I put in yesterday morning. No different from January’s load (orientation maybe).

City stove gets a load of maple in the eve, if I am in the city that is....


----------



## Kevin Weis

Cold 40's so an evening fire with Red Oak and some Green Ash does the trick.


----------



## hunter29

Coal....


----------



## MAD MARK

Diabel said:


> View attachment 242973
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This was a load I put in yesterday morning. No different from January’s load (orientation maybe).
> 
> City stove gets a load of maple in the eve, if I am in the city that is....



How do you light this? Or was this on hot bed of coals?


----------



## Diabel

MAD MARK said:


> How do you light this? Or was this on hot bed of coals?


There were coals at the back of the stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was around 36 this morning so the liberty had some cherry going in it.


----------



## thewoodlands

Since the winds were still pretty high last night, we set the furnace on 62. This morning we had a low of 21.4, more cherry and some ironwood.

Tonight NOAA is calling for a low of 14 so we'll go with all ironwood in the liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 16 .4 this morning with the liberty seeing more cherry and some nice rounds of ironwood.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 34, we'll go with some cherry and a few rounds of ironwood.


----------



## woodey

Fed the Kuuma furnace some cherry tonite and probably let the  propane furnace  take over the heating duties tomorrow


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 36.7 this morning, more cherry providing the heat.


----------



## heavy hammer

Cedar and locust this past week but we had temps in the 60's today.


----------



## Dix

Right now? some paper towels from cleaning the door glass, 3 paper towel tubes (yes, I save them ), crumbled up news paper (about 7 sheets), and 4 pieces of 3 YO oak & pine bark.

Just about ready to rumble


----------



## Ashful

Red oak.  Really, why burn anything else?


----------



## Chas0218

As of right now only thing in my stove is ashes. I haven't ran a fire in it since friday last week.


----------



## thewoodlands

I didn't have a fire last night but we had one this morning, it was 37. We'll have a fire tonight with the temps dropping to 31.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32 this morning, we have more maple going in the liberty.


----------



## HisTreeNut

We're doing small fires at night as the daytime highs are in the 60's & 70's.  Getting rid of the uglies & branches.  When the nights hit the 50's consistently, we call it quits with the fire.  Thet will probably be in thr next couples of weeks.

Sent from my Mobile Interwebbery Thingy


----------



## paulnlee

Just tossed a few on the coals, it's 64 out but when my nose gets cold from the beer can gotta raise the heat


----------



## Dobish

its currently 76º and sunny, with a prediction of 5-10 inches of snow and a winter weather warning...


----------



## Ashful

Dobish said:


> its currently 76º and sunny, with a prediction of 5-10 inches of snow and a winter weather warning...



Damn... I’m already thinking about sailing.  We’re into highs in the 60’s, already.  Lows 35F to 55F, depending on cloud cover.


----------



## thewoodlands

I'm glad that we kept nine rounds of ironwood for some overnight burns, tonight we should drop to 27 and tomorrow night we could see 18. We'll go with maple and some ironwood the next two nights.


----------



## Ashful

thewoodlands said:


> I'm glad that we kept nine rounds of ironwood for some overnight burns, tonight we should drop to 27 and tomorrow night we could see 18. We'll go with maple and some ironwood the next two nights.


There must be more than a half dozen completely unrelated species of wood nicknamed "ironwood".  Of which one are you speaking?

To me, ironwood is and always has been Ipe, but you're not getting that 'round here.


----------



## thewoodlands

Ashful said:


> There must be more than a half dozen completely unrelated species of wood nicknamed "ironwood".  Of which one are you speaking?
> 
> To me, ironwood is and always has been Ipe, but you're not getting that 'round here.


It's American Hophornbeam but the oldtimers around here call it hardhack.. .
http://forestry.ohiodnr.gov/hophornbeam


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 22.6 this morning with some soft & hard maple providing the heat this morning.


----------



## SuperSpy

I knocked down an old rotten shed and now my boiler is chewing on the unpainted (and untreated) lumber from it.  I'm sure I will have to dig a few nails out of the ash next time I clean it, but that's what magnets are for.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 18.3 this morning, just another load of maple in the liberty to start the day.


----------



## sweedish

Temp has been hovering around 34 all day today, still experimenting with the stove. Pine is in it currently and has been for the last week.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 37 this morning so we went with the propane fireplace for a bit.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 47 this morning with the winds going pretty good, nothing for a fire today.


----------



## thewoodlands

The temp was 28.6 this morning so we turned on the propane fireplace while we had coffee.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's about 35 out with some rain so I started a fire with some soft maple.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 36.7 this morning, we turned on the propane fireplace for some quick heat.


----------



## blades

load of honet locust,  24f out side


----------



## firefighterjake

Cherry.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 31 this morning, we used the propane fireplace while having coffee. Tonight they're calling for a low of 27 so we'll burn the rest of the ironwood (3 splits) and some cherry and maple.


----------



## thewoodlands

Before supper I made a  fire with with some smaller cherry splits, I'll had a few more cherry rounds in a couple of minutes which should give me some nice coals for the last (hopefully) overnight fire of the season.


----------



## SpaceBus

I burned small Balsam fir fires most of the day yesterday and today with the wind and rain. Tomorrow will probably just be a small fire in the morning and evening.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 27 this morning with some temps hitting 53 in spots but back here in the pines it's still 44, the stove is cold.


----------



## johneh

To-Day nice and sunny no wind Temp. 19
Thursday to Monday WET and COLD 
Fire will be on


----------



## thewoodlands

johneh said:


> To-Day nice and sunny no wind Temp. 19
> Thursday to Monday WET and COLD
> Fire will be on


I'm not sure if we'll hit the high forecast of 59 but the 55 with a low of 39 feels nice. Tomorrow I'll get some stacking in before we get a bunch of rain.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 41 this morning so we gave the house a quick 3 minute blast from the furnace, our wood stove should be done until the third week of September.


----------



## SpaceBus

We had a morning fire and now I'm warming the house back up. It hit 54 today, but not much solar gain on the house. I was outside most of the day, but the house started at 73 when I went out and was 64 when I came back in.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 56.3 this morning, that felt nice.


----------



## sweedish

Still experimenting with pine, 38 outside, 85 in the house. Was curious as to what kind of burn time I could get on pine with air control rod half open.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 38 this morning so we went with a propane fire, I did see that we have ten splits in the basement so the question is do I burn them or take them back out.


----------



## SpaceBus

thewoodlands said:


> We had 38 this morning so we went with a propane fire, I did see that we have ten splits in the basement so the question is do I burn them or take them back out.


Burn them. Sometimes I think about putting one of those really small propane fireplaces in our bathroom.


----------



## Dix

thewoodlands said:


> We had 38 this morning so we went with a propane fire, I did see that we have ten splits in the basement so the question is do I burn them or take them back out.



Name change, Pen? Or am I delusional?


----------



## paulnlee

Boy you guys must wear hoodies in the house. If it ain't 80 where I'm sitting the fires going. Only problem is the wife. 65 out and 79 in


----------



## Dix

Some ashes, paper towels from cleaning stove room windows (swapped out insulated curtains for sheers  ), a cardboard pasta box, some newspaper, and a Super Cedar wrapper.

All unlit


----------



## thewoodlands

Dix said:


> Name change, Pen? Or am I delusional?


Nope, not pen, when I first joined it was zap.


----------



## Dix

thewoodlands said:


> Nope, not pen, when I first joined it was zap.



Delusional works, and I remember Zap


----------



## thewoodlands

Dix said:


> Delusional works, and I remember Zap


It finally stopped raining so maybe tomorrow I can get back stacking, how's everything in Long Island?

I'm not sure if you're a hockey fan but the Islanders looked great the first series.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 45 this morning so we had a propane fire this morning.


----------



## sweedish

high of 72 today and sunny, nothing but ash, and I couldn’t be happier after this past week of rain


----------



## thewoodlands

sweedish said:


> high of 72 today and sunny, nothing but ash, and I couldn’t be happier after this past week of rain


It was nice here too @sweedish , it's drying up pretty good back here in the woods but if you live on the water in a low area things might get worse.


----------



## SpaceBus

I think the high here was 55. The mist finally stopped and there were a few five minute rain showers today. We will probably be burning once in the morning and once at night for quite a while still. I need a torch and more matches. Lighting two fires a day with milder temps takes a lot of kindling!


----------



## Dobish

i loaded up with some random stuff this morning. maybe willow? not really sure.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 41 this morning,the propane fireplace provided the heat. The woods is drying out nice, we're having another nice day with our temp hitting 70.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 37 this morning so we used more propane.


----------



## johneh

Here it is cold wet and not very nice . Going to be that way
for the next week  Fire On  warm in the house


----------



## thewoodlands

I think 40 was our high today and a very damp day, we have some pine going in the liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 37 this morning with some cherry,pine,maple and a split that I'm not sure what it was throwing the heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 31 this morning with another load of firewood going in the Liberty.


----------



## LogSplitta

I'm burning some kind of pine, and apple. It got cold here in Upstate NY and thats what I had that was nice and dry.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 25 this morning with a load of pine throwing some heat.


----------



## SpaceBus

thewoodlands said:


> We had 25 this morning with a load of pine throwing some heat.


Not quite as cold here, but another fire nonetheless


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 35 this morning with another load of pine going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 37.5 with rain/sleet/snow with it turning back to rain, we have another load of pine going in the Liberty this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 38 degrees this morning with some pine going in the Liberty, it finally stopped raining around 7:30 this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 45 yesterday morning and the temp this morning with the sun coming up strong is 36.


----------



## sweedish

More pine last night, now it’s burning itself out, was warm during the day yesterday and today is looking nice. Supposed to be high 50’s this week, so looks like overnight fires and a half load in the morning.


----------



## begreen

Ashes and pistachio nut shells are all that's in there now. It's 60º at 7pm and we still have some windows cracked open. No need for heat.


----------



## Kevin Weis

I'm done for the season.  Getting ready to switch out the year old Encore for the new Intrepid I bought this year.  Was hoping to get that done before the season ended so I could at least get the break in fires done so I'm good to go this coming season.


----------



## Ashful

Our season was cut seriously short, around 8.5 cords I think, when we started a major construction project at the end of March that surrounds that chimney.  We have another two weeks left on that project, by which time stove season will likely be nearly over.


----------



## thewoodlands

The forecast low for tonight is 33 so we're having a couple of fires with the pine we brought in about a week ago. The forecast low for tomorrow night is 36 so we might have a few more fires.


----------



## Kevin Weis

I've got tomatoes in so nothing will be allowed to go below 50 now.


----------



## moresnow

Cold rainy day. All day! To heck with it. Half a load of pine covered with Elm. Feels great Wife was getting chilly. That has been taken care of.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32.2 this morning with the propane fireplace supplying the heat.


----------



## Chas0218

I ran 2 fires both all cherry the last 2 days. I couldn't believe I ran a fire in the middle of May! I guess I'm just cheap. haha

House only got to 78*, wife was cold then started stripping off layers. I made a comment about "I wish I could run fires in July if this is what I get "and got a pretty crappy look.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 41 this morning with tomorrow mornings low around 45 so I have a fire in the Liberty tonight. We have enough wood inside for another fire but we'll see what temps mother nature brings us.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Here on out looks like 80's here.  Hopefully will be switching out stoves within this next week since shouldn't need any heat.


----------



## Lakeside

I had my first *Bat* this evening. Heard something last night & thought it was a mouse that fell in from the roof top.  It made it right into the firebox of my Fireview .  I reached in with the fire gloves and released it outside.  Good to have them around to eat those nasty ticks.

Pic below is not it , just a download to add some visual.


----------



## SpaceBus

Lakeside said:


> I had my first *Bat* this evening. Heard something last night & thought it was a mouse that fell in from the roof top.  It made it right into the firebox of my Fireview .  I reached in with the fire gloves and released it outside.  Good to have them around to eat those nasty ticks.
> 
> Pic below is not it , just a download to add some visual.
> 
> View attachment 244430



Wow, that must have been exciting. I found a slug on some of my kindling I recently brought in. The little guy freaked me out and it fell in the firebox. I rinsed the wood ash off, so he wouldn't get a chemical burn, and released him into the wild as well. Much less exciting than a bat!


----------



## Lakeside

SpaceBus said:


> Wow, that must have been exciting



A little exciting - glad my dog did not alert to it as he would have never given up.  I had flying squirrels in the attic years ago now that was exciting.

Just noticed with-in your signature " Squirrel Power" -- please do tell us the meaning ?


----------



## SpaceBus

Lakeside said:


> A little exciting - glad my dog did not alert to it as he would have never given up.  I had flying squirrels in the attic years ago now that was exciting.
> 
> Just noticed with-in your signature " Squirrel Power" -- please do tell us the meaning ?



Haha, nothing exciting, my stove has red squirrels cast into the sides, it's a Morso 2B Classic, I should probably specify. There is a hole in our house currently (minor surprise renovation) and every once in a while a squirrel gets into the ceiling over the first floor. This isn't too surprising since there's basically a squirrel colony around our house. Usually some banging with the swiffer (this is now its job) on the ceiling usually scares them out. Over the winter one got stuck in there for several days. Our dogs don't care even a tiny bit. Even our so called rat terrier does nothing. There's actually a shrew I've been trying to catch on my game camera, the dogs just watch it run through the house.

Edit: caught a shrew shaped blur on the game camera. It can apparently travel 3-4 feet in 0.4 seconds.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Haven't had bats in the house for about 20 years.  Usually you do have to catch them to get them outside.  I never try to kill them in the process.  Once you find out how many insects they eat you would want more of them.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have about three splits of pine , three small rounds of maple an a round of ironwood I'll burn tonight, just so I won't have to take them outside.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Kevin Weis said:


> Haven't had bats in the house for about 20 years.  Usually you do have to catch them to get them outside.  I never try to kill them in the process.  Once you find out how many insects they eat you would want more of them.



Sort of spoke too soon.  Had to retrieve one from neighbors house a few days ago. Found it sleeping in crack baseboard moulding and baseboard heating element.  Guess when he bared his teeth ment he wasn't happy being disturbed.  Set him free outside to eat more skeeters.


----------



## johneh

I have 4 Bat houses now and quite a colony
little brown Bats . Now and again we get one
in the house   try to get him to a spare room
open window remove screen close door .
By morning he has found his way out .
Love to have them around . They make it
possible to sit out in the evening not  get
 chewed up by Skidders


----------



## blades

ashes


----------



## SpaceBus

The end is close, I feel it.


----------



## johneh

blades said:


> ashes


X2


----------



## Kevin Weis

johneh said:


> I have 4 Bat houses now and quite a colony
> little brown Bats . Now and again we get one
> in the house   try to get him to a spare room
> open window remove screen close door .
> By morning he has found his way out .
> Love to have them around . They make it
> possible to sit out in the evening not not get
> chewed up by Skidders



Don't think we need the houses, plenty of bats here but think there is no such thing as too many.  We gave a bat house to a neighbor many years ago but they since retired to western N.C. and new neighbors took it down.


----------



## begreen

ash and pistachio nut shells


----------



## Jay106n

Hit 34 tonight, house dropped to 62. A little early to fire up the beast, but I figured a little pine/ash/hickory combo to clean out the pipes wouldn’t hurt.


----------



## Ashful

I haven’t seen my stoves since I closed my fireplace doors in May. I still need to shovel out last years ashes and clean the pipe, but given they’re made by Blaze King, there’s a chance that May’s last fire is still going behind those closed doors. [emoji14]


----------



## Todd67

It was 43 this morning, but I refuse to get a fire going when the high will be in the low 70's today.


----------



## Vikestand

Never ending summer here. Looks to stay 85-90 for the near future.


----------



## Bushels20

Vikestand said:


> Never ending summer here. Looks to stay 85-90 for the near future.




Same here. Low to mid 80s for the foreseeable future. Headed over to Munich to drink to beer for Oktoberfest until early  October, hoping it will cool off here by then.  Maybe have that first fire mid October.


----------



## BKVP

Bushels20 said:


> Same here. Low to mid 80s for the foreseeable future. Headed over to Munich to drink to beer for Oktoberfest until early  October, hoping it will cool off here by then.  Maybe have that first fire mid October.


Spaten, Dortmunder alles gut!


----------



## Sodbuster

Now that I have Natural Gas and a new 96% efficient furnace, I plan on burning only at night, obviously when it's the coldest, and for the enjoyment. I'll still keep my wood shed full, just in case the SHTF. But the panic of hearing our old furnace kicking on when we were on the pig is gone.


----------



## Sodbuster

Lakeside said:


> I had my first *Bat* this evening. Heard something last night & thought it was a mouse that fell in from the roof top.  It made it right into the firebox of my Fireview .  I reached in with the fire gloves and released it outside.  Good to have them around to eat those nasty ticks.
> 
> Pic below is not it , just a download to add some visual.
> 
> View attachment 244430


I like bats as long as they don't bother me, but they eat don't ticks just mosquitoes and other flying insects. Opossums on the other hand will each a lot of ticks, that have been aweful this year.


----------



## jetsam

If you have a little property, building bat houses can help reduce your mosquito population.

I also support tick reduction by not eating the local turkeys, although they do look delicious.


----------



## KJamesJR

A slice of beech, and a lilac log. Makes for an interesting combo.


----------



## EODMSgt

KJamesJR said:


> A slice of beech, and a lilac log. Makes for an interesting combo.



Interesting combo, I've never burned lilac. Starting with the uglies here and threw in pieces of beech, birch and silver maple this morning.


----------



## KJamesJR

EODMSgt said:


> Interesting combo, I've never burned lilac. Starting with the uglies here and threw in pieces of beech, birch and silver maple this morning.



It burned like ash really.

I have a lot of runaway lilacs on my property. Cleared some last November because they were taller than my chimney and close to my house. It was no different then a tree. Took out two liters about 6” wide and more than 17’ tall. I have more and would burn again.


----------



## MMH

Low in the teens forecasted for tonight, and after last night I believe it! I usually only have pine but managed a small jackpot! Tonight will be red oak cherry and juniper. Never had hardwood before so excited to see how this turns out.


----------



## Bushels20

MMH said:


> View attachment 248969
> 
> Low in the teens forecasted for tonight, and after last night I believe it! I usually only have pine but managed a small jackpot! Tonight will be red oak cherry and juniper. Never had hardwood before so excited to see how this turns out.



Cherry is a fun wood to burn. Pops a lot. I have about 2 cords seasoned for this winter. It is my “in between” wood. I use it before the oak and hickory but after my shoulder wood.


----------



## heavy hammer

Bushels20 where i Ohio are you located?  I'm located in the northeast part about 40 min east of Cleveland.  We are supposed to have temps in the mid to upper 70's tomorrow but cold and rain for this weekend.  So I might be lighting the first fires for the year.


----------



## MMH

Bushels20 said:


> Cherry is a fun wood to burn. Pops a lot. I have about 2 cords seasoned for this winter. It is my “in between” wood. I use it before the oak and hickory but after my shoulder wood.



I gotta say I’ve always envied you all with abundant hardwoods, tonight I’ll get a real chance to see if the juice is worth the squeeze


----------



## heavy hammer

It is!


----------



## Diabel

These puppies were lit at 13:00 hours today.


----------



## Bushels20

heavy hammer said:


> Bushels20 where i Ohio are you located?  I'm located in the northeast part about 40 min east of Cleveland.  We are supposed to have temps in the mid to upper 70's tomorrow but cold and rain for this weekend.  So I might be lighting the first fires for the year.




Central OH, 30 minutes east of Columbus. 

We are supposed to get rain and lows in 30s Saturday. I may get excited and pull the trigger on that first fire. We’ll see....


----------



## Bushels20

MMH said:


> I gotta say I’ve always envied you all with abundant hardwoods, tonight I’ll get a real chance to see if the juice is worth the squeeze




It’s the exact opposite here for us. Pine is very hard to come by. I gladly burn it, it’s just that no one saves it because it’s “trash”.


----------



## MMH

Bushels20 said:


> It’s the exact opposite here for us. Pine is very hard to come by. I gladly burn it, it’s just that no one saves it because it’s “trash”.



It’s ironic the differences between parts of the country isn’t it. As the old adage goes one mans trash is another mans treasure!


----------



## Todd67

Burning some leftover pine and birch today.


----------



## Ashful

Bushels20 said:


> It’s the exact opposite here for us. Pine is very hard to come by. I gladly burn it, it’s just that no one saves it because it’s “trash”.



It is. I’ve burned it, and it does make heat, but it just disappears way to fast. I used to keep pine and cedar to start fires, but now that I have dry oak and Supercedars, I just toss all pine and cedar in the outdoor fire pit.


----------



## MMH

Well this was my first experience with hardwoods, and I gotta say....as usual.....you were all right....the juice is worth the squeeze!! I don’t have any local access to oaks or cherry or any of it really, but what I do have is mahogany; it appears I just need to go find it and get it! For all intensive purposes data will be included for thoroughness.

*Started fire last night at 20:30 3 pieces oak 3 pieces cherry 3 pieces juniper and a couple small pine splits, house temp 68, low for the night was 18 F air setting cut to 3-3:15 (no numerical settings just a swoosh)
*Up this morning at 05:45-06:00 inside temp 70 outside was 20 F 
*pic of coal bed at 07:16 air was fully turned up and left on high
*09:00 time of this post, still coals to burn, cat still quite active, stove top 400-415, inside 72 F outside 30 F

Running a BK Ashford 30.2, well insulated 1960 sq ft open plan. I’m loving it and I’m sold! 
Also, I apologize if this thread wasn’t the right spot for this post but I was just to giddy not to share!


----------



## SuperSpy

Had some walnut from spring that was cut down that spent then entire summer split and stacked under the barn.  It's nice and dry, but the heat output of walnut is pretty low, so it works out perfectly when the boiler needs to spend 95% of it's time idle during the day.


----------



## Sodbuster

SuperSpy said:


> Had some walnut from spring that was cut down that spent then entire summer split and stacked under the barn.  It's nice and dry, but the heat output of walnut is pretty low, so it works out perfectly when the boiler needs to spend 95% of it's time idle during the day.



Surprisingly Walnut doesn't make that great of firewood.


----------



## Bushels20

Ashful said:


> It is. I’ve burned it, and it does make heat, but it just disappears way to fast. I used to keep pine and cedar to start fires, but now that I have dry oak and Supercedars, I just toss all pine and cedar in the outdoor fire pit.



I’ve been eyeing those Supercedars for a couple seasons now. They work pretty well? How many do you order at a time?


----------



## heavy hammer

I also put a few pieces of ash in the garage tonight just for the cooler temps coming.  The stuff is been seasoned for a few years so I'm curious to see how it burns.


----------



## Ashful

Bushels20 said:


> I’ve been eyeing those Supercedars for a couple seasons now. They work pretty well? How many do you order at a time?


A few times per year they will run a special, and often post about it here.  I usually try to order then, whatever quantity their special covers, probably 100 cakes most of the time.  Most here will be frugal and break each cake into 4 quarters, for 4 starts, which should work fine if yo have smaller splits or burn lighter woods.  With full oak splits, I usually find a half cake is more reliable.


----------



## Bushels20

heavy hammer said:


> Bushels20 where i Ohio are you located?  I'm located in the northeast part about 40 min east of Cleveland.  We are supposed to have temps in the mid to upper 70's tomorrow but cold and rain for this weekend.  So I might be lighting the first fires for the year.




High 30s this morning with 15-20 winds out of the southwest. Wife said I’m cold, that’s all it took. Load of catalpa is going now. 

I may keep it going for the day, 30s again tonight.


----------



## Bushels20

Ashful said:


> A few times per year they will run a special, and often post about it here.  I usually try to order then, whatever quantity their special covers, probably 100 cakes most of the time.  Most here will be frugal and break each cake into 4 quarters, for 4 starts, which should work fine if yo have smaller splits or burn lighter woods.  With full oak splits, I usually find a half cake is more reliable.



I will keep an eye out for that sale. They aren’t cheap but if they work as well as the reviews allegedly say, likely worth the money. Seemingly eliminates the need for kindling, (assuming good firewood) of course.


----------



## heavy hammer

Bushels we are having upper 40's low 50's today but they are  talking about a frost advisory tonight.  When the sun is out it warms the house nicely, but I could see the girls wanting a fire  sometime this weekend.


----------



## Bushels20

heavy hammer said:


> Bushels we are having upper 40's low 50's today but they are  talking about a frost advisory tonight.  When the sun is out it warms the house nicely, but I could see the girls wanting a fire  sometime this weekend.



We have a thick wood cover here with little to no direct sun light. If we get cold in the house, it stays that way. We are well insulated which works both ways I suppose. New windows, insulated attics and new doors. Doesn’t let that cold out once it’s in 

I too have girls. Wife and two daughters. I am an outnumbered man. I don’t mind it though.


----------



## brazilbl

For this year, I have almond and a bit of pine.  Woke up to cold house and fired some small pieces of almond and small split pine.  Learning the “top down” method and it works well so far.  
I‘m thinking of submitting the name of the firewood guy that supplies me with wood for sainthood!  Dry and a joy to burn.  
I am humbly grateful for the stove, wood and a way to keep my family warm.


----------



## heavy hammer

I'm in the same boat Bushels20,  My two daughters want a fire if the house even seems chilly anymore.  I don't get it in the summer the house has to be freezing, and in the winter it's never warm enough.


----------



## thewoodlands

We haven't had many fires lately so when I came in today, I started a fire with pine.


----------



## Bushels20

thewoodlands said:


> We haven't had many fires lately so when I came in today, I started a fire with pine.




We have been burning catalpa all day today. Just threw another load in. I split some pine this summer, but I won’t touch it for 2 years. First it if pine I’ve had in 4 years. It came from an electric company clearing job that the neighbor held back for be.


----------



## sweedish

More Austrian pine, 2nd fire this year


----------



## Grizzerbear

Two sticks of pine and 3 sticks of post oak. 3rd fire this year.


----------



## heavy hammer

It was chilly last night but no fire the wife turned on the furnace but it is supposed to be in the 60's today.  I figured it is coming.


----------



## Ashful

heavy hammer said:


> I don't get it in the summer the house has to be freezing, and in the winter it's never warm enough.


It seems paradoxical, but residents of colder countries seem to keep warmer houses, and vice versa. Maybe it’s the humidity loss, but places like Russia (the coldest major nation in the world) and Scandinavia tend to keep much warmer homes than those in more mild climates, like Great Britain.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Ashful said:


> It seems paradoxical, but residents of colder countries seem to keep warmer houses, and vice versa. Maybe it’s the humidity loss, but places like Russia (the coldest major nation in the world) and Scandinavia tend to keep much warmer homes than those in more mild climates, like Great Britain.



That's because vodka goes down better in a warm house... 

Scrapwood from around the house is what is being burned now...

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## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 40 tonight so I'll load up with pine for the overnight fire, we heat from the basement with the temp at 76 and the temp up here at 72.


----------



## MMH

In a few days I have lows forecasted in single digits (5-9 F). Might get a chance to test out this mountain mahogany


----------



## thewoodlands

We're still burning white pine that was seasoned for a year,  we should be switching over to hardwood near the middle or the end of the first week of Nov.


----------



## MMH

thewoodlands said:


> We're still burning white pine that was seasoned for a year,  we should be switching over to hardwood near the middle or the end of the first week of Nov.



What kind of temps do you have (typical for your winter)?


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> What kind of temps do you have (typical for your winter)?


This fall has been warmer compared with our past fall temps but our temps in January & February can get down to -30 to -35. We save our best hardwood (beech,american hophornbeam and sugar maple) for those months. We always have enough damaged trees that we don't cut the healthy ones.

The coldest temps might last for a week at the most and then hit us again for another week at the most. Starting this November I'll record our high and low for this winter which will include Dec.,Jan., & Feb.



			http://forestry.ohiodnr.gov/hophornbeam


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> What kind of temps do you have (typical for your winter)?


I just found some average temps for our location but they're from an airport 30 miles from here, October - High - 54 Low - 34, November - High - 41 Low - 25, December - High - 30 Low - 13,  January - High - 25 Low - 5 , February - High - 27 Low - 5, March - High 37 Low - 16

Those temps are why we need a good inventory of seasoned firewood.


----------



## MMH

thewoodlands said:


> I just found some average temps for our location but they're from an airport 30 miles from here, October - High - 54 Low - 34, November - High - 41 Low - 25, December - High - 30 Low - 13,  January - High - 25 Low - 5 , February - High - 27 Low - 5, March - High 37 Low - 16
> 
> Those temps are why we need a good inventory of seasoned firewood.



Yeah agreed especially if your seeing those negative temps that’s crazy. Mine seem similar except the extremes we might see negative single digits occasionally. Interesting your comment about logging the temps for yourself got me thinking I’ll do the same


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> Yeah agreed especially if your seeing those negative temps that’s crazy. Mine seem similar except the extremes we might see negative single digits occasionally. Interesting your comment about logging the temps for yourself got me thinking I’ll do the same


The two airports they get the temps from are both over 30 miles north and south of us, both places get different temps than we do.

We have a bunch of old white pines that help hold the snow on the house lot so once it gets cold, we stay cold back here until March until the sun gets stronger.


----------



## MMH

thewoodlands said:


> The two airports they get the temps from are both over 30 miles north and south of us, both places get different temps than we do.
> 
> We have a bunch of old white pines that help hold the snow on the house lot so once it gets cold, we stay cold back here until March until the sun gets stronger.



Yeah that’s the same here my temps are reported from an airport over the hill (20 ish miles) and I think there is a weather station over the mountains from where I’m at (another 20 ish miles) we’re close enough to the mountain range that sometimes we may catch some of the snow but usually always will catch the down valley winds and temps. I’ll have to get a decent thermometer and record the temps for myself and see what I actually have at our place this will make for a good experiment.


----------



## MMH

Alright, looking for someone to confirm..deny..or even speculate on this for me. I got my hands on some mountain mahogany recently but attempting to find btu of this 33-35 pops up on the internet, however this isn’t from a forestry site nor can I find any actual btu list with mahogany on it. So, I found a formula on chimney sweep(https://chimneysweeponline.com/howoodbtu.htm) which seems logical and intuitive sense. Using this formula I get 36.4 (rounding) mbtu per cord. Anyone chime in on this? Also, if this is even remotely accurate (which I suspect is) I’m a little apprehensive about putting this stuff in my stove! Lol however I saw on here/aborsite that some guy did a distance run with mahogany and almost stuffed his stove full of it. I’m thinking 1-2 pieces mixed with some oak and juniper etc should be safe. Anyone have recommendations? Or just the ol use some common sense. Also, thermometers should be string today so I can run my winter temp experiments. Thanks in advance for any advice.


----------



## tadmaz

Mountain mahogany's janka hardness is 3,200 lbf.  Usually the janka hardness goes along with the BTUs.  Red oak is 1200, white oak is 1400, hickory is 1800.  Double the density of hickory is going to be some super awesome stuff


----------



## trguitar

With the temps fluctuating between the 30s to the 50s it's white pine. I'm basically doing a fire every morning with 4 splits. That keeps the house at 70 till we go to bed. When we wake up it's low to mid 60s. I love white pine for shoulder season!


----------



## Dobish

Record breaking cold and snow here the last few days. We have been running elm and box elder for the last few days. 

0° outside last night, 74° inside. 64° when i woke up this am with half full stoveof hot coals. Not sure if the furnace kicked on at all, but I'm guessing it did.


----------



## Threelittlefish

thewoodlands said:


> The two airports they get the temps from are both over 30 miles north and south of us, both places get different temps than we do.
> 
> We have a bunch of old white pines that help hold the snow on the house lot so once it gets cold, we stay cold back here until March until the sun gets stronger.



I bet you’re talking about the Adirondack Regional Airport in Saranac Lake. For some reason and no one knows why that area is 10-15 degrees below areas only 5-10 miles away. I’ve never heard a valid explanation as to why. It’s not elevation because at 1663’ msl there is much higher terrain close by. It is up there with some of the coldest places in the country. I live in Wilmington about 20 miles away. We’re cold here but Saranac is a weather anomaly. 

It has been a warm fall. 62 degrees right now in Wilmington. Cold front coming through tonight. Some snow showers forecast for Sunday.

Been burning about 3 weeks now. Just 6 or 8 small splits on colder nights to take the chill out of the house. Mostly well seasoned sugar maple. Will have to up my game this weekend with the storm.


----------



## MAD MARK

TTIWWP

Wind storm here tonight. Powers been off 3 times so far for less than a minute.

But just in case....


----------



## HitzerHillbilly

All oak!


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## HisTreeNut

The CHO (Chief Heating Officer) of the house is cold and it is supposed to get down to 30 degrees tonight. It is currently 31 degrees and the scrapwood is burning just nicely...
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




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## HitzerHillbilly

Just a bunch of punky old wood in the boiler today. 18° this morning in northern Indiana!


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## Dobish

We are supposed to get up to 75 this weekend... maybe I'll get a chance to bring up the rest of the wood for the season! Loaded up last night with scraps and elm.


----------



## thewoodlands

We ran some pine fires today which kept the basement at 77 and the temp up here was 71. Tonight we'll run the pellet stove which should keep the same temps in the house, we already hit 14 tonight.


----------



## EbS-P

Long leaf pine.  It seasons in one year.  I might not burn anything else.


----------



## nathan125

currently: big hunk of willow, knotty piece of semi dry apple and barkless bone dry mystery wood


----------



## Ashful

Stove 1: Fresh mixed load of oak, ash, and sassafras, set for an 8 hour burn. It was 19F this morning.

Stove 2: Red oak, stuffed full at 6pm yesterday, set for a 24-hour burn.


----------



## BigJ273

A few medium splits of willow, a little maple, and some cherry coals left over from last night/early morn burn.  Plenty of four year old oak on hand, but havnt dugvinto that yet!


----------



## Microduck17

Right now a huge bed of hot coals, last night (12:30 am) it was nice chunks of white oak and a few small sassafras splits.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk


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## thewoodlands

It's around 30 out tonight so I have a load of cherry in the Lopi Liberty.


----------



## billb3

Finally some cold weather and burning some eastern white pine and some mystery wood that was stacked in the rain and heavy as heck last year, put in a dry shed and is now light as a feather . Was just a  ten to twelve  inch tree so there isn't much of it.


----------



## ABMax24

Mix of white poplar and lodgepole pine right now. -14C (7f) outside  and 22C (71f) inside.


----------



## weatherguy

Finally got my gasket replaced just in time for the cold snap. I have some chunks of oak and hickory Im going to burn the next few nights. Ill save my primo splits for the real cold.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 29.8 tonight with some cherry going in the Liberty. This morning we burned the last of the fall shoulder season wood (white pine) yea!

The snow started around 8:30 tonight, NOAA is saying around 9 inches by the time the storm ends.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 18 tonight with the snow coming down pretty good, the Lopi Liberty has Maple on the bottom and four good size Yellow Birch splits on the top.

NOAA has us getting 13 inches of snow the last I looked tonight.


----------



## FaithfulWoodsman

First burn of the season for me tonight. All ash thats been in the basement since April next to he dehumidifier. Stuff is like desert wood. I use propane til it gets into the regular 30’s for highs. The englander furnace is a cold weather beast, but she’s a little overqualified for the casual “take the chill out” burn. Looks like we’ll be burning regular for a while.


----------



## Diabel

We have been breaking every record in the book in the past 24h. Heck with hemlock, out comes the hard maple for tonight. Will likely go back to hemlock in a few days.


----------



## BigJ273

All oak right now!  Snowing it’s butt off and 26 “feel like” degrees. 70 inside and continues to climb since I got home at 4 and lit the stove


----------



## HisTreeNut

Wood scraps and small pine branches...20 degrees outside and the coldest room (farthest from the stove) in the house is 69 degrees. The new siding is keeping the house toasty...

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## fvhowler

Post Oak is in my Hampton right now.  It's plentiful on my land in south central NC.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 8 tonight with a forecast low of 4, I'm thinking we'll drop below that.  I'll load up some yellow birch tonight before I hit the sleeper.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Oak and Mulberry this evening.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had two this morning but the load of yellow birch and the pellet stove on a medium setting had the basement 82 with the temps up here between 69-70.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 5.4 tonight so we have some yellow birch in the Lopi Liberty with the Yankee Pellet Stove going in the opposite corner.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 6 this morning with a load of cherry providing the heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 23.4 tonight so we'll go with a load of cherry for the overnight load.


----------



## Molsonc1

Some beech and red maple. Saving my red and white oak and ironwood for the deep freeze days


----------



## johneh

Too cold here to mess around. Real feel -27 
Into the sugar maple and red oak. The only way to fly


----------



## Beer Belly

Just dropped in a medium sized Oak


----------



## Kevin Weis

18% MC Mulberry.


----------



## thewoodlands

We were just above 23 degrees this morning with another load of cherry providing the heat.


----------



## MMH

We’ve been having highs in the 60s and lows in the 30s, just been doin fires in the morning again. Rain and snow supposedly next few days...we’ll see


----------



## Woody Stover

MAD MARK said:


> TTIWWP


OK, lemme guess.."Time To Initiate Warp Wood Protocol" 


Ashful said:


> Stove 1: Fresh mixed load of oak, ash, and sassafras, set for an 8 hour burn. It was 19F this morning.


I've got a ton of dead Sassafras all over the place but I figured that the way I hear it popping in the stove, it might stir up more ash dust and make me clean the screen and cat more often, so I don't burn it. I never experimented to see if that was actually true, though. I've been using straight Sass logs as pallet supports since they are so rot-resistant.



I just threw in a Cheery and two Red Oak splits. Going to 50 today, don't need much heat.


----------



## Sawset

Woody Stover said:


> I hear it popping in the stove, it might stir up more ash dust and make me clean the screen and cat more often, so I don't burn it.


I thought you burned anything you want any time you want with no worries.


----------



## thewoodlands

We were around 25 this morning with another load of cherry going in the Lopi Liberty.


----------



## trguitar

With temps 32 or above it's white pine. Went 10 hours overnight with it last night. It was 36 most of the night, and we woke up to 69 in the house. Love the white pine! One man's trash is another man's treasure!


----------



## shortys7777

Cherry and maple


----------



## thewoodlands

We're around 23 degrees tonight with another load of cherry in the Liberty for the overnight fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 26 degrees this morning, another load of cherry went into the Liberty.


----------



## MMH

Here’s my outlook for next week, looks like pretty typical winter temps for me; it’s starting today the winds are picking up and the rain/snow is supposed to be starting; had a morning fire today as usual but when I got home I stuffed some more in for the storm brewing with temps in the low 40s and the “feels like” in the low 30s. All pine still, trying to save the mahogany for December/January but might end up breaking into it next week


----------



## HisTreeNut

We have been burning pine scraps, but really only at night and the wifey lets it go out in the morning. The house has been staying warm and comfy all day. As the kiddos go to bed, we repeatthe process.

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## Kevin Weis

Very punky Thornless Locust.  This locust has very low density not like its much admired cousins.  Got to  49 today so not much heat needed.


----------



## sweedish

Currently ash, my wife broke the glass last Friday.


----------



## Woody Stover

All Red Elm in the on-deck circle. BTU between Cherry and White Ash.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 26.1 tonight with the Liberty seeing another load of cherry for an overnight load.


----------



## Gearhead660

Loaded up with ash thanks to the EAB...


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 26 this morning, more cherry in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 35.1 tonight with another load of cherry going in the Liberty tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 42 this morning with rain and another load of cherry in the Liberty.


----------



## Ashful

Most. Boring. Thread. Ever.

(Unwatched)


----------



## Kevin Weis

Mulberry and wild Grape Vine.  Yes, wild Grape Vine.  Around here wild Grape can get around 6".  Initially huge amount of water unless it's dead already but once dry (and it does dry fast) burns relatively well.


----------



## johneh

Kevin Weis said:


> wild Grape Vine. Around here wild Grape can get around 6".


Love to cut the big ones in the spring water will run out of them 
like a garden hose for an hour or more


----------



## Sawset

We don't have nearly anything big enough to even consider here. I remember I was turing Georgia though, and stopped at a place for lunch. Took nearly an hour to realize the tree we were sitting under was an evergreen.  Nice big tree, 2ft dia, 80ft tall. I noticed additional trunks growing up the sides, vines large enough to engulf the entire thing, completly. A deciduous tree with an evergreen core.


----------



## Paulywalnut

I’m burning locust and oak mix tonight.  Locust is seasoned 6 years. Not bragging. I think that wood lasts forever split and stacked.


----------



## sweedish

Elm, replaced the glass earlier this evening


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 24.8 tonight with a load of maple and cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 20.4 this morning with more cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## johneh

wood that's on fire


----------



## Woody Stover

thewoodlands said:


> We had 20.4 this morning with more cherry going in the Liberty.


You've burned enough Cherry to have made cobbler for half the population of earth.  


Ashful said:


> Most. Boring. Thread. Ever.


They aren't quite _as_ boring but we've been able to build up our tolerance over the years with the BK threads.


----------



## thewoodlands

Woody Stover said:


> You've burned enough Cherry to have made cobbler for half the population of earth.
> They aren't quite _as_ boring but we've been able to build up our tolerance over the years with the BK threads.


Nothing like when we starting heating with wood, mother nature took down a chit load of cherry with some high winds.


----------



## heavy hammer

Ash and some cedar, not as cold last night.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 25.4 tonight so the wood stove will go cold after burning down some coals and we'll burn a bag of pellets in the P.S.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30 this morning, the pellet stove did the job overnight. We switched back over to the wood stove this morning with some cherry in the Liberty.

Our high today was 37.4.


----------



## Kevin Weis

More wild Grape and punky Ash.


----------



## HisTreeNut

More pine scraps mixed with pine scraps...

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## thewoodlands

It's 32 tonight, more cherry in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 31 this morning with more cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## MMH

Got night temps of 0-10 F with highs of 20-30 F starting tonight. Winter is here. The night loads for the next several days will be mahogany oak and juniper +\- some pine with pine during the days.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 32.5 tonight with another load of cherry in the Lopi.


----------



## Qvist

Red maple and 60yr old framing lumber.


----------



## Diabel

Still plowing through hemlock. Later on this week as the temps drop I will be loading hard maple as the night load, in order to have hot coals in the morning. I have about two more weeks of hemlock burning and then it will be 95% hard maple.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 35.1 this morning with more cherry in the wood stove.


----------



## heavy hammer

Small fires here with a little ash and some cedar splits.  We had temps i the 50's yesterday and supposed to be close to 60 today.  Cooler temps are coming in the later part of the week so I'll probably be using some locust.  The temps lately have been very mild.  Even over night.


----------



## shortys7777

Saw some dead oak branches that have been raised off the ground for probably 5+ years. Burning pretty well right now. I'll probably go look for more tomorrow.


----------



## thewoodlands

Tonight NOAA has us with a low of 14 and tomorrow night a low of 5, we have some yellow birch in the Liberty and the pellet stove set so it kicks on when the wood stove stops putting out heat.


----------



## Beer Belly

Woke up to 25*F outside, threw in a couple Maple, Ash and Oak to git r going.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Still burning pine scraps mixed with more pine scraps...

Got some great secondary burn happening....
	

		
			
		

		
	





Your browser is not able to display this video.





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----------



## thewoodlands

We had 13 this morning with more yellow birch burning in the Liberty, we'll give the pellet stove the day off but use it again tonight with the wood stove.


----------



## MMH

Had lows of single digits the other night and had some odd shaped pieces of mahogany so I threw them in 2 decent size pieces 2 branch’s, woke up to stove top of 400 still..eager to see if I stuff it full!


----------



## Diabel

Still working through hemlock. Slowly starting to see the hard maple row in the wood shed. It’s 26 out there today and the hemlock is doing surprisingly ok. The stove at the lake (BK) gets fed anything pretty much, cedar, hemlock, basswood, white birch....that thing is not fussy.


----------



## paulnlee

this thread is better than the weather channel


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA has us heading to a low of 8 tonight, it's 11.5 at 10:18. The Liberty has cherry,maple and three nice size splits of yellow birch going with the pellet stove going in the other corner of the basement.


----------



## Medic21

Ash and oak.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 7.4 this morning with more yellow birch and cherry going in the Liberty, the pellet stove is off for the day.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 23.9 tonight with another load of cherry,maple and some yellow birch in the Liberty.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Mulberry and more Mulberry.


----------



## Gearhead660

Full load of walnut.  Not to cold tonight but quite windy.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 20 this morning with another load of yellow birch providing the heat.


----------



## Grizzerbear

A primer load of 2 sticks of post oak.  Got home late and didnt want to fill it up....would have messed up my overnight.


----------



## HitzerHillbilly

Right now, some small limbs from yard clean up


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----------



## thewoodlands

We had 10.4 this morning with some cherry splits going in the wood stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 15.1 tonight with a load of yellow birch in the Liberty for the overnight burn.


----------



## shortys7777

Little bit of cherry, maple, and oak


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 24.8 this morning with some cherry going in the wood stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 31.5 tonight with some cherry providing the overnight heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30.2 this morning with more cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 19.2 this morning, I burned some pellets overnight but went back to the wood stove this morning with more cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 20.3 tonight with a load of soft and hard maple in the Liberty.


----------



## Gearhead660

Relaxing by insert.


----------



## Fi-Q

It’s 21.9 with high wind. Filles the stove with tamarack and went to bed. Tamarack is what I burn 99% of the time. I have tons of it on my land and there is a desease in them a lot are dying.


----------



## heavy hammer

Temps haven't been to bad but the wind has made it seem colder the last couple of days.  I have a mix of locust and ash in the stoves to keep the chill away.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 10.4 this morning with some maple and cherry seeing some action in the Liberty.


----------



## BigJ273

Oddly enough, I’ve been burning loads of willow due to the mild temps for daytime burns. Oak loads at night tho. I had big reservations about the willow, but it’s been doing the job. Don’t get me wrong, it’s super light and I have to reload about every 2-3 hours, but it’s crap wood I need to burn. Been drying for a few years now so it doesn’t have much life left to it. It’s not been as bad as I thought tho.  And it’s letting me save my harder stuff for Jan-March.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 5.5 tonight with the pellet stove providing the heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 5 degrees this morning with some maple going in the Liberty, the temp is at 26 today.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 34.9 tonight with a load of not so great maple going in the Liberty for the overnight fire. We'll be burning the not so great maple Monday and Tuesday but switch over to better wood when the cold moves in.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 36.2 earlier this morning, I just started our first fire. Out of the woods across town it's 45 but the temp back here in the woods is 39 today.


----------



## BigJ273

thewoodlands said:


> We had 36.2 earlier this morning, I just started our first fire. Out of the woods across town it's 45 but the temp back here in the woods is 39 today.


So what’s in the stove!?


----------



## thewoodlands

BigJ273 said:


> So what’s in the stove!?


Some not so great maple that we're burning during this warmup.


----------



## Diabel

Some cold weather coming down from the north. Today miserable 5*C. Tomorrow miserable 8*C and tomorrow night bloody -20*C with the wind chill factor! Back to above 0*C by Sat. My stove is confused. Crappy hemlock.....sugar maple.....


----------



## gerry100

Just some junk mail.

Stove cold for a few days in this warm spell


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 43.5 tonight with a junky azz maple fire planned for the overnight fire.


----------



## sweedish

Elm from a big Standing dead tree I cut up around April. Probably burn that for another month.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Still burning pine scraps mixed with pine scraps, and some poplar, pine, & cherry overnight so I don't have to stoke the fire after going to bed. 

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----------



## thewoodlands

We had 44.4 this morning with more maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Microduck17

It was over 65 degrees last night so we let it go out. 35 this morning. cold start with brown paper, poplar kindling and small cherry sticks then 4 splits of red oak and a good sized cherry round to keep it going wile we went to town.

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----------



## fvhowler

Stopped burning this week with 70* temps in central NC.  Stove is full of Mockernut Hickory and ready light about Thursday.


----------



## Gearhead660

Down to single digits tonight.  Fired up the Vigilant with some Walnut and Ash.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 20 heading down to 12 so the Liberty has some hard and soft maple in it tonight.


----------



## HisTreeNut

More pine scraps and will probably put some pine and poplar in for the overnight.
Put some cherry and maple in about 4:30am this morning. The wifey turned the fan on the stove off around noon because she was too hot. Never had that happen before...

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----------



## thewoodlands

We had 12.4 this morning with some much better hard maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Microduck17

32 and spitting snow, red oak going in for the afternoon burn.

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----------



## Diabel

It really cooled down here. The wind is wiping steady.  It was hard maple for the overnight last night, followed by much of the same in the morning. Three solid splits of hemlock went in at 4:00pm to carry things over to about 10:00pm tonight. Then another load of hard maple.


----------



## Lakeside

What's is the stove ?  *Black* -- Black Birch & Black Locust.       
These are my primary species and both have all bark removed too.   Enjoying the soft heat of the soapstone fireview.


----------



## heavy hammer

Locust and ash temps going to be in the teens tonight.  It was a cold one today at work we were setting steel for a big A frame.  The wind was rough on the guys today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 17.2 heading down to 10 if NOAA is correct, I'll burn more of the not so great wood and set the pellet stove on the medium setting for the night. Tomorrow the first fire should get rid of the rest of the junk wood until spring.


----------



## MMH

Have had unusually warm weather in the 40s during the days which is about 10 above normal. Fires over night and some in the morning. Pine still does the job and the dog seems to approve.


----------



## Stinkpickle

We're back up above freezing for today and tomorrow, so I probably won't burn anything.  However, cold air is supposed to blow in over the weekend, so I have a pile of ash and mulberry all ready to go.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 15.4 this morning with the pellet stove supplying the heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 22.6 with NOAA calling for a low of 19 tonight so the Lopi Liberty has a load of hard & soft maple in it.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 23.4 this morning with another load of the maples going in the Liberty.


----------



## Microduck17

40F here today 4 large red oak splits going in shortly. Going to get things hot then turn it down for a low slow fire . Then I'm heading to the woods and scouting a new hunting area and putting up a tree stand for Muzzle loader season. 

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----------



## Kevin Weis

33 and rain.  Will be done with Mulberry shortly.  Already into the Ash cut standing dead last winter.


----------



## Hksvr4

A mix of hard wood from a supplier.  Seasoned for 2 years he says.  Lights up easy and has that hollow sound when you stack them.   This is one of them.


----------



## heavy hammer

Hksvr4 is that ash?


----------



## Hksvr4

heavy hammer said:


> Hksvr4 is that ash?


I have no idea. I bought a face cord from a supplier mix with seasoned woods. I would like to know though.


----------



## heavy hammer

Do you have some other pics from some other pieces it looks like ash but the first pic you posted could also be locust.  But I'm going to say ash.  Great wood.


----------



## Hksvr4




----------



## heavy hammer

Looks like ash to me.  Nice looking stuff.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 35.1 tonight and with the house temp at 70 we'll go without a fire.


----------



## Microduck17

39 and foggy tossed in a few small sticks and splits about an hour ago, air control is almost completely closed. Low and slow tonight just enough to keep the chill and damp at bay.

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----------



## weatherguy

thewoodlands said:


> We had 15.4 this morning with the pellet stove supplying the heat.


Dont you have 100 acres of woodland?


----------



## weatherguy

I've been mostly burning ash and maple, saving oak and hickory for real winter. I also mix bio bricks XL when its cold and have a pallet of NEIL's for the real cold to come.


----------



## thewoodlands

weatherguy said:


> Dont you have 100 acres of woodland?


We have 142 more or less but since we had the pellet stove before the land I cut on, we still use it. Also heating from the basement, it's always nice to have that constant heat from the pellet stove when the fire from the wood stove starts to die out.

The more or less comes off of the deed from the bigger piece I cut on, the house lot is 5.5 acres and the bigger lot is 136 acres more or less on the deed.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 36.5 this morning with the Liberty getting a load of the maples, hard and soft.


----------



## Stinkpickle

It’s in the teens and falling.  Oak and ash is flaming away right now.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 34 df with temp falling . Just put two splits of post oak in to tie us over until the overnight load.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA has a low of 30 for us tonight with 2-4 inches of snow tonight with that same amount falling tomorrow, we'll go with a load of the maples for the overnight fire.


----------



## HisTreeNut

For people with Eastern Pineaphobia, don't look at this picture...

I also have some killer secondary burn going on...
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




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----------



## thewoodlands

We had 31 this morning with a load of the maples seeing action in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 29df and snowing. I reloaded two post oak splits and a black jack round at 7am.


----------



## Stinkpickle

14 degrees now and the stove is loaded with ash.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 14.5 tonight with NOAA calling for a low of 11, we have some yellow birch, sugar and soft maple going in the Liberty with the Yankee pellet stove set on manual with the temp setting on medium for the night.


----------



## Jan Pijpelink

Pine. And I am so worried that something weird will happen, because of Pine........


----------



## Diabel

Jan Pijpelink said:


> Pine. And I am so worried that something weird will happen, because of Pine........


Yes, chimney fire will perform a perfect sweep.


----------



## weatherguy

thewoodlands said:


> We had 31 this morning with a load of the maples seeing action in the Liberty.


You'll be near zero end of the week, winter storm coming Tuesday in the northeast so we can stretch our stoves out this week.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Up to a balmy 17 this morning, so I'm shovin' in some more ash.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 7 degrees this morning, since the basement was 85 and up hear was 72 I put some cherry in the wood stove and the pellet stove was shut off.


----------



## thewoodlands

weatherguy said:


> You'll be near zero end of the week, winter storm coming Tuesday in the northeast so we can stretch our stoves out this week.


Wednesday night we have a low of -4, Thursday -6 and Friday night a forecast low of 3. According to AccuWeather, we might get 1-3 inches of snow tomorrow.


----------



## Diabel

Reach out to your “primo” stacks boys and girls. Two days of arctic blast is coming!


----------



## Diabel

Wednesday and Thursday the menu will consist of sugar, BL and HL


----------



## thewoodlands

Diabel said:


> Wednesday and Thursday the menu will consist of sugar, BL and HL


I'll save the American Hophornbeam, Beech and Sugar Maple for January and February.


----------



## Diabel

thewoodlands said:


> I'll save the American Hophornbeam, Beech and Sugar Maple for January and February.


Normally, I am that way too. But.......you know


----------



## thewoodlands

Diabel said:


> Normally, I am that way too. But.......you know


I have the cheater stove for backup (pellet stove) for these temps but once I see -25 to -35 coming in our best firewood will be brought in along with running the pellet stove.


----------



## Diabel

Indeed, wood stoves are just space heaters.  In my case the NG will be helping some.


----------



## thewoodlands

Most weather sites are calling for a low of 17 but we're at 15 tonight, tonight the Liberty has a load of yellow birch going and the pellet stove has been off since this morning.

The basement was still 75 before the fire was started in the Liberty so we shouldn't need the pellet stove tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Just got home from plowing snow and it kinda messed my system up. Its 30 here so i threw two sticks of red oak in to hold house until morning load.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 16.8 this morning, I took some ashes out and then started a nice fire with some yellow birch and soft maple. With the colder temps  coming in tomorrow, we put in two loads of firewood this morning, it included hard maple, soft maple and some rounds of ironwood.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 20 tonight, we'll go with just the wood stove with some hard and soft maple.


----------



## weatherguy

First serious cold here tomorrow night, I have some nice dry hickory and oak saved just for the occasion.


----------



## Gearhead660

Cold start with high in the teens today.  Load of apple and load of walnut.


----------



## BigJ273

Oak for the overnight tonight. Low of 20.


----------



## Grizzerbear

26 right now but nice warm up to 45 today.  I put 3 splits of post oak and one white oak round in the 74. Oughtta keep the house toasty for the day.


----------



## heavy hammer

Were supposed to have temps in the mid teens tonight so locust and ash will keep the stoves fed for the next day or so.


----------



## Hksvr4

Same here low teens for a couple days here too.  Ash and Oak for the overnight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 20.1 this morning with a nice snowfall, we loaded up the Liberty with some of the maples this morning over coffee.

NOAA is calling for -2 tonight with a windchill of -22 so both the wood and pellet stove will be used.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 0 so far tonight with the Liberty getting a load of sugar maple and the pellet stove set on manual on a medium setting.


----------



## weatherguy

Going to near zero so I put half oak half biobricks XL.


----------



## Microduck17

17 here tonight a nice load of white and red oak going strong.

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----------



## Chas0218

Yee-Haw a real warm 6*F this morning down in our valley. Loaded up the stove with some Ash and will likely need to run 3 fires today.  Super excited because I don't think I've burned but 1/3 to 1/2 a cord so far this season. This is a whole cord less than last year so far.


----------



## shortys7777

Had some maple and cherry last night. Got down to 9 last night. Loaded the stove this morning with the same. House was 62 when I woke up. Not complaining with those temps.


----------



## MMH

had a low near 0 couple nights ago so threw some mahogany in, otherwise still playing roller coaster the temps for the last several days are highs 35-45 lows in the 20s no snow.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of minus 10.1 this morning, the pellet stove is off and the Liberty has a load of sugar maple going. We do have some wind which makes it feel colder so maybe the day will be spent near the fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's minus 6.9 tonight, I'll go with just the pellet stove tonight.


----------



## shortys7777

Couple good pieces of oak with some maple and cherry


----------



## weatherguy

Oak and bio bricks on deck tonight, 12 right now and going lower.


----------



## thewoodlands

weatherguy said:


> Oak and bio bricks on deck tonight, 12 right now and going lower.


I just looked at our low from NOAA, -13 tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Three splits of post oak in the buck this morning with 31 degrees. Its going to get to high 40s today but then seven day forecast shows high fifties and low sixties. Looks like just nightly fires here for the next week or so.


----------



## PistolPeets

-1 here now - full load of Elm. Pretty much all I have for this winter. I think some poplar and punky ash might be dry enough to burn this year if I need it.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had minus 12.7 this morning but we had a few things that were on the schedule so we set the furnace on 64 while we were gone.

NOAA is calling for minus 4 tonight, I'll set the furnace at 64 and start burning wood again tomorrow once we get things straightened around.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 0 this morning with a load of the maples going in the Liberty.


----------



## heavy hammer

We had some cold temps the last few days mid teens at night, but today we had 40's and sun tomorrow we could see 50.  We went from keeping the stove loaded to almost  no fire at all.  Right now temps are 36 with just  the basement stove going with little ash.  Should be easy to have a warm house now temps  all next week are in the 40's


----------



## Diabel

It is slowly warming here. Can’t wait for the 50s


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 14 tonight with NOAA calling for a low of 15, I ended up sleep testing the old recliner so the pellet stove will be used tonight for heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a temp of 22.2 this morning with some yellow birch,sugar maple and soft maple seeing some action in the Liberty.


----------



## woodstovelover

Always white oak and red oak!


----------



## Diabel

It was in the low 40s this afternoon. Ladies went crazy with Christmas cooking and baking the lower level of the house went to 79. Mid 40s tomorrow and more baking. Stove went cold this morning. Might do a cold start tomorrow night or likely Tue morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

Our high today was 38 with the temp at 33 tonight, the Liberty has three splits of cherry and two smaller splits of yellow birch for the overnight load.


----------



## heavy hammer

The temps have been pretty mild and the sun warms the house up pretty nice so we have only been having fires at night or the house is in the 80's.


----------



## Microduck17

Clear sky here too, we get a lot of solar gain on clear days so we're mostly burning overnight with a morning reload. Poplar and sycamore for the bulk of the load with a few chunks of oak to hold fire till time for another reload.

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----------



## Grizzerbear

62 here today so i let the stove burn out this morning. Its suppose to be near record temps next couple days with lows in mid 30s. 67 for a high christmas day! Its just medium size loads at night to hold the house to temp until this weekend when it cools back off.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 28 this morning with a load of soft maple going in the wood stove, our high today was 45.

Tonight we could hit 19 so the Liberty has a load of yellow birch and soft maple for the overnight fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 22 this morning with some cherry,sugar and soft maple warming the house.

Merry Christmas


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 24.2 this morning with some ashes going out to the fireplace and then the Liberty received a small load of cherry splits.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 30.2 tonight with five splits of cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 28.4 this morning with some soft maple going in the wood stove.


----------



## Hksvr4

Found a few logs that was covered by the previous owner of the house.  I’m pretty sure it’s red oak. Not sure how long it was sitting there but let me tell you it was extremely hard to split compared to fresh oak. I put a few in the stove and it lite right up.  Seasoned for sure!


----------



## Microduck17

Ashes, Warm and sunny today 65 degrees out 70 in. Will probably have a fire tonight 

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----------



## fvhowler

No burning this week. It's very warm and I've been too busy celebrating Christmas . Today I moved wood to the front porch and splits some kindling in preparation for colder weather in January.


----------



## thewoodlands

The temp jumped from 34 to 38 tonight, more cherry for the overnight fire in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 40 this morning with more cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## MMH

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Weather has been quite mild for December but back to highs in the 20-30 area and lows of single digits, brought some mahogany and juniper in for the next couple nights; back to higher temps next week.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It has cooled off a little here...its 45 now so i through a few oak splits in the stove to knock the chill out of house.  I will let it burn out and probably wont reload until tomorrow night after t-storms and cold front pass through.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 35.1 tonight with another of cherry in the Liberty.


----------



## MMH

Currently 8 degrees out, juniper mahogany a small piece of the red oak I have left and pine tonight


----------



## Kevin Weis

28 this morning.  A few pieces of Red Oak and Ash to get it going for the day.  Ben 20's at night around 50 during the day.  May hit 60 ne day early next week before back to normal.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 35.2 this morning with more cherry going in the wood stove.


----------



## Diabel

The VC is cold and BK is stuffed with bunch of uglies (basswood, hemlock, white birch).


----------



## thewoodlands

The last I looked it was 30.2, more cherry tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

21.4 this morning with more cherry going in the wood stove.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its still "warm" here for normal late december but at a damp dreary 45 degrees with 15mph winds and just getting in from helping a friend cs some wood i threw two decent chunks of post oak in and two little splits of red.


----------



## DuaeGuttae

The manual as we haven’t gotten it installed yet.  We hope it will be done at the end of the week if the insulated liner arrives in time.  Some cool air might move down by then, too, so maybe I’ll get a chance to break it in.

(I can’t find the cooking posts now, but I just started a thread in the inglenook for such things if you want to share there @thewoodlands, @SpaceBus, or others.)


----------



## SpaceBus

DuaeGuttae said:


> The manual as we haven’t gotten it installed yet.  We hope it will be done at the end of the week if the insulated liner arrives in time.  Some cool air might move down by then, too, so maybe I’ll get a chance to break it in.
> 
> (I can’t find the cooking posts now, but I just started a thread in the inglenook for such things if you want to share there @thewoodlands, @SpaceBus, or others.)


I was just about to post the pizza I'm baking on this thread, before I realized you even tagged me


----------



## DuaeGuttae

SpaceBus said:


> I was just about to post the pizza I'm baking on this thread, before I realized you even tagged me



And I just realized the cooking stuff was in a different thread.  Oops.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's been raining since 6:15 tonight when it was 32.2, the temp is 31.2  at the moment with the Liberty scheduled for another load of cherry tonight.


----------



## BeautifulBC

I burn a mixed load more often than not, in the wood pile is cedar, hemlock, larch, pine, birch, and spruce.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 32 with a steady rain, more cherry in the Liberty.


----------



## HisTreeNut

It was 60 degrees at 11:30pm last night...so ash right now, but not the wood, actual ash.

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was 27 when i left the house  with 15mph winds. I put a big red oak split and two medium post oak splits in stove on some coals before i left. Wife said house is 78 now.


----------



## Gearhead660

Cooling down today with some weather coming in(snow?).  Burning my ash in the insert.  Will have to fire up the Tundra later today.


----------



## sweedish

Tonight’s menu choice is Austrian pine.


----------



## JimBear

A couple rounds of Osage Orange, a couple rounds of Mulberry & a few pieces of Cherry for filler. With more Osage & cherry going in later.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 32.8 tonight with the stove getting four splits of soft maple and three splits of cherry on the top row.


----------



## woodey

34 here now and thru the nite, nice bed of cherry coals in the Kuuma heating  the house now. I think I will let the coals burn down and let the propane take over thru the nite and start another fire in the morning,


----------



## JimBear

And here is the later load, this should keep the shack warm tonight. Calling for 21degrees  with 20-30mph winds.


----------



## MMH

Currently 15 out getting down to 10, mostly pine still but threw a piece of mahogany in


----------



## Grizzerbear

28 when i left house with 15mph winds....i shoved one red oak split to the back and 4 medium size black jack rounds in the stove before leaving for work.


----------



## JimBear

Still burning down last nights load of Osage Orange


----------



## Microduck17

Stoves out cold right now. When I get home around 11am I'm going to run a load of mixed softwoods to get the chill out and maybe reload with red oak on top of the coals this evening.

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----------



## thewoodlands

It was 32 this morning but we did some grocery shopping so I just made the first fire of the day, more maple and cherry.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 29 tonight with another load of maple and cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## JimBear

Just loaded up some Cherry & Honey Locust.


----------



## weatherguy

Still mild at 32. Burning maple and ash, saving oak and hickory and NEIL's for colder weather to come.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 27.1 this morning with another load of cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## MAD MARK




----------



## thewoodlands

It's 28 tonight with more cherry and maple in the Lopi Liberty.


----------



## BeautifulBC

The load I put in this morning before leaving the house was mostly cedar, a bit of spruce mixed in.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 38.1 tonight with a load of cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was 41 degrees this morning when i put 2 mesium black jack rounds and a white oak split in the stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 39.1 this morning with more cherry going in the stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 32 this morning with another load of cherry seeing some action in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 28 last night with another load of cherry going in the Liberty. This morning was 17.8 with more cherry being burned for heat.


----------



## Qvist

Zelcova tonight


----------



## Hksvr4

Maple during the day and oak at night.  With oak, I can burn pieces half the size of maple and still get better coals.  Longer as well.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 21 this morning with some of the maples,beech and a couple splits of ash going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was 26 this morning but will warm to around 50 today. One big hickory round in the back bottom, a black jack oak split in front, and topped off with 3 various smallish oak rounds in the 74.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a forecast low of 20 tonight, I'll load up some hard & soft maple for the overnight load.


----------



## HisTreeNut

With the weather being so up and down, I am cleaning up the y




Your browser is not able to display this video.




ard.  Burning punky & dry rotted wood.  Getting about 6 hrs out of a full stove as it is not much better than Burning cardboard & paper.  Have some crazy cool secondaries going on...


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 24.8 this morning with the Liberty getting a load of cherry and maple. This weekend looks like it could be a wet one so we'll make sure we get wood in before the system moves in.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was 32 this morning. I just threw in some random odds and ends chunks this morning to get them burned up. When i get home tonite i will reload the pallet on the front porch. Still burning just at night and small load in mornings until weather cools off this thursday with rain and maybe snow friday-saturday. I hope it does....this winter has been crappy warm.


----------



## JimBear

Cherry & Siberian elm this morning & thru a bunch of odds pieces of Honey Locust in tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

The temp is 28.2 tonight with the Liberty getting three splits of cherry and four maple splits, two splits each of sugar and soft.


----------



## RandyBoBandy

I have a mix or red oak, white oak, and sassy in the stove at the moment. Loaded at 9:30 last night. Cat temps are still at 900 degrees


----------



## RandyBoBandy

Grizzerbear said:


> It was 32 this morning. I just threw in some random odds and ends chunks this morning to get them burned up. When i get home tonite i will reload the pallet on the front porch. Still burning just at night and small load in mornings until weather cools off this thursday with rain and maybe snow friday-saturday. I hope it does....this winter has been crappy warm.


Winter has been pretty $hitty in terms of it being actual winter. We got almost a foot of snow early November and now it’s going to be 50 and rainy this weekend. It’s early January and it’s been above 40 for a good part of it.


----------



## Grizzerbear

27 here this morning. I put three black jack rounds one white oak split, and one shorty of post oak in the 74.


----------



## Gearhead660

Seasonally cold this morning before above average returning tomorrow.   Ash in the insert,  ash and walnut in the Tundra.


----------



## johneh

I burn whatever is on the top of my stacks.
 But I only have Red Oak and Sugar Maple so I guess it don't matter


----------



## tadmaz

6F last night, -4F windchill.  Apple and red oak allowed my flush insert to maintain 70F all night.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 28.4 this morning with another load of the maples going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 4.8 this morning, the Liberty received more sugar maple.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Just ashes right now.  We’re supposed to get up into the 50s today.


----------



## Diabel

RandyBoBandy said:


> I have a mix or red oak, white oak, and sassy in the stove at the moment. Loaded at 9:30 last night. Cat temps are still at 900 degrees


That is a very nice burn


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 18 last night so I ran a bag of pellets through the stove, this morning it was 36.1 with some soft maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Nuthing but ash. The stove has been cold since wednesday night. It was 57 degrees when i woke up this morning!


----------



## JimBear

Put in some Mulberry & 2 small rounds of Osage this morning. It should keep the shack warm till evening when I get home.


----------



## Hksvr4

gonna be 60-70 this weekend.  So im going to rip out the wood stove and seal up the chimney bc its January!


----------



## JimBear

16* here with 20mph north winds so I decided to put in some Osage that is 40+ years old. I helped my Dad set the posts when I was a youngster. I cut the posts up when he took the fences out a couple years ago.


----------



## Grizzerbear

JimBear said:


> 16* here with 20mph north winds so I decided to put in some Osage that is 40+ years old.



Sweet jesus.....you are now entering unknown territory.  

Its 35 now but will be in twenties tomorrow with freezing rain here soon then snow. Just put a bunch of smaller post oak rounds in the stove as it has been idle for last couple days.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 36 last night and 41 this morning, both loads were soft maple. Our rain should be starting pretty quick with the ice starting around 3 a.m.


----------



## sweedish

Cherry, red oak, elm, and box elder. Small bit of maple too.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's about 33.9 tonight with rain, the Liberty has a load of the maples going for the overnight load.


----------



## JimBear

Heading to single digits tonight, more Osage mid 1970’s vintage.


----------



## Grizzerbear

20 degrees right now. Loaded the stove with white and red oak to hold us over til morning.


----------



## weatherguy

Nothing, its 59 degrees


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30.2 this morning with more soft maple in the stove.


----------



## sweedish

Load of rotted but dry Austrian pine, wondering why I gathered this stuff.


----------



## Stinkpickle

We’ve been burning down a stovefull of Ash all morning.


----------



## fvhowler

No burning since last week. Balmy 72* today and more warm, wet weather this week. Crazy...I thought I might not have enough dry wood for this winter but with this weather, I think I will make it.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're heading down to 9 tonight so we'll go with a load of Sugar Maple with one round of American Hophornbeam.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 20.9 this morning, we have another load of soft & sugar maple going,


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was 28 this morning but its suppose to make it to 52 today. I put two splits of white oak and 3 rounds of post oak in the stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 26.6 tonight with another load of soft and sugar maple going in the Lopi.


----------



## MMH

Winter storm moved in today temps supposed to be dropping for next 2 nights, we’ll see. Brought these in just in case


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 22.4 this morning with a load of soft & sugar maple providing the heat.


----------



## burningfire

-25C tonight with a load of Douglas Fir.


----------



## Diabel

burningfire said:


> -25C tonight with a load of Douglas Fir.


It is cold in Alberta!


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 30.7 tonight with a load of soft maple with two sugar maple splits going in the Liberty.


----------



## JimBear

Upper 20’s tonight, tossed some Honey Locust, Osage & Cherry in.


----------



## moresnow

18F now. Got down to 7F in the middle of the night. Sounds like real winter temps heading my way. Freezing rain and snow this am also.  Burning Elm.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30.2 this morning, most of the firewood that went in the Liberty was Soft Maple. Tonight will be another warm night for January (low 20's) and then the cold comes in.


----------



## Flame On

Ashes from last week. It's been too warm to even get a draft around here. Opened the windows and cracked out the shorts last weekend. Went into the sixties today!


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 30 tonight with some yellow birch providing the heat.


----------



## JimBear

Trying to burn down some coals from this mornings Mulberry then going to pack some Mulberry & Osage in. Supposed to be around 0* & blustery here tonight with a high of 18* tomorrow.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We are 25 this morning with a full load of post oak going in the stove.


----------



## Gearhead660

Only getting up into the teens today.  Oak and ash it is.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 28 this morning with hard & soft maple going in the Liberty. Starting tonight the windchill might hit minus 20 to 25 so we'll get a few rounds of American Hophornbeam in with some Sugar Maple for the overnight load,


----------



## Kevin Weis

Well I have a mix of Ash, Oak and Mulberry going tonite with 35 and a 25 mph wind out of the northwest.  Low tonite supposed to be around 25 with a continued stiff wind.  Hopefully this colder dry air will dry out my seasoned wood that got damp from the last two weeks of rain and fog.


----------



## JimBear

Burning down a load of Cherry now then going to put in some Osage & Mulberry. Supposed to be in the single digits tonight with snow/rain tomorrow, then cold this weekend.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 8 degrees tonight with NOAA calling for - 2 for a low, I have four splits of Yellow Birch with two nice rounds of American Hophornbeam (Ironwood) going in the Liberty.


----------



## BIGChrisNH

Nothing but cold ashes. Having the flue  relined on Tuesday


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's going to hover around 32 pretty well all day here and then climb to 40 tonite with rain before it cools back off tomorro. I loaded the stove with post, red, and black jack oak this morning before heading out.


----------



## shortys7777

Loaded up this morning before I left with a big round of oak surrounded by some ash. 19 degrees with a windchill of 3. High of 27 today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had minus 7.2 this morning with it just hitting zero back here, we have some yellow birch,sugar and soft maple going.


----------



## thewoodlands

We hit minus 9.2 last night before the temp reversed itself, we had -1 this morning. Last night I burned a bag of pellets with the wood stove getting some sugar maple this morning after I shut the pellet stove down.


----------



## Flame On

Finally got some proper winter weather around here; snow and sleet with temps in the twenties. Got a load of shagbark hickory in. Have to say I'm not super impressed. I've been burning a ton of ash and only got the hickory by dumb luck, but it's not throwing heat like the ash. Coals up nice though.


----------



## fvhowler

Post Oak and Mockernut Hickory are keeping us warm today. Good combo and one I will use the rest of winter.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 17.1 tonight with four splits of yellow birch renting the bottom row for the night and three big rounds of american hophornbeam filling out the top row.


----------



## Diabel

Both stoves are stone cold.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 23 here this morning. I got a large red oak split and two medium sized splits of post oak going in the stove.


----------



## Stinkpickle

-3 with -25 windchill this morning, and the stove is loaded with ash and a mystery split that magically snuck into the ash stacks.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 17.4 this morning with a load of sugar maple seeing some action in the Liberty, we've dropped to 12.5 today with a minus 3 expected in the morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 9.9 tonight with NOAA calling for a low of minus 2, I'll burn a bag of pellets in the P.S. and a few rounds of American Hophornbeam tonight which will give us some nice coals for tomorrow morning in the Liberty,


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 18 here right now with a forecasted low of 12. I stuffed the stove full of various oak splits and one good size round for overnight


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 11 here with a full load of black jack going in the stove.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Actually 135 year old dimension cut Douglas Fir.  That means it was cut about 135 years ago from likely old growth on the west coast and brought east on rail.  These were rafters from an old lean-to porch I removed from the back of the house many years ago and stored in a shed for future use.  Future use never came and likely won't for most of it so firewood it is.  A local vintage lumber company had no real interest in it even for free.   It burns realitively well.  The dimension cut is  4 1/4" X 2 1/4".


----------



## toddnic

Locust and red oak in the stove today. 12 degrees F. this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had minus 7.4 this morning with a high of 11.7 today, this mornings fire was all sugar maple.

Last night I put a bag of pellets in the P.S. and then put it on manual feed with the fan and temp on high, we had a temp on the first floor of 73 with the floor temps at 75.....might just do that again tonight.


----------



## Stinkpickle

It’s up to a balmy 5 degrees, and I just loaded the stove with ash.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 15 here right now but we will climb to 33....i got one red oak split and three post oak splits going in the stove before heading out.


----------



## Stinkpickle

-3 and more ash going in.  In fact, 90% of the wood I’ll burn this year will be ash to make room for more.  Most of it is three years old and in prime burning shape right now, anyway.   I have a lot of three year old white oak too, but I don’t mind giving oak a fourth year to dry...or five, or six...


----------



## Gearhead660

7* this morning.  Loaded up some well aged maple.  Some is a little punky and lacking full BTU, but its going to be sunny, so that will keep house warm.


----------



## tadmaz

My folks are visiting and I'm running the furnace for the basement (cringe).  I don't need to push the stove very hard even when 4F out.  Even with insulation and drywall, heat seems to rise from the basement.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had minus 9.6 this morning, the Pellet Stove was turned off and another load of Sugar Maple is still going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 21.4 tonight with another load of soft and hard maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Stinkpickle

It has warmed up to 21.  More ash going in...


----------



## JimBear

15 here with rising temps overnight, stuffed the stove with Osage, Mulberry & a couple scraps of Cherry. Allegedly we are supposed to have moderate temps the rest of the week but up to 10” of snow.


----------



## Grizzerbear

28 here this morning, snow changing to rain off and on basically for the next three days. I put two big splits of post oak and one medium red oak split in the stove before heading out.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 24.2 this morning with another load of the maples going in the Liberty.


----------



## RFarm

21 here this morning.  House was holding 70f from the prior evenings load.  I tossedin a poplar split and two punky sweet gum splits to take the chill off.  The dogs were in heaven.


----------



## sweedish

Pine this morning, pine this evening, tonight a mix of mostly ash with a sprinkling of either maple, box elder, or cherry.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a high of 30 today with the temp @ 24.8 tonight, more soft and sugar maple going in the wood stove.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was a full load of red oak last night and this morning a mix of red and black jack oak. Its 32 and snowing rite now.


----------



## Gearhead660

About 30*.  Will stay there all day with flurries.  Hodge podge or oak, maple, ash, and walnut.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 14.7 this morning with more of the maples going in the wood stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 27 degrees tonight with more maple going in the wood stove,


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 24.6 this morning with a load of the maples providing the heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

33.4 tonight with more maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Gearhead660

Going to be mild all weekend.  Fired up the insert, maple will be on the menu.


----------



## Stinkpickle

We’re almost back up to the freezing point, so I just reloaded more ash...just not as much as usual.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 35.3 this morning with more maple going in the Lopi.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 33.4 tonight with another load of maple in the wood stove.


----------



## TWilk117

Hickory I cut last year.  It is crackling and popping a lot.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 33.5 tonight with some soft & sugar maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 26 here this morning with a mix load of oak in the 74.


----------



## Stinkpickle

More ash.  Big surprise.


----------



## trguitar

It's been in the 30s and 40s here, so white pine every 12 hours. Did I mention I love white pine?


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 33.6 this morning with more maple going in the wood stove. Tonight AccuWeather is calling for a low of 25 so if the wireless reads another 33. something, we have something wrong with it.


----------



## thewoodlands

AccuWeather is calling for a low of 25 tonight, another load of the maples going in the Liberty.


----------



## sweedish

Pine tonight, pine in the morning.


----------



## JimBear

Teens tonight with mid 20’s tomorrow. Loaded up with a couple splits of Red Elm, a couple Mulberry’s & the rest Boxelder. All boxelder in the morning.


----------



## Woody Stover

In my stove is a hot cat. If I take the combustor scoop out of the way, you think I can cook a hot dog in there?


----------



## Grizzerbear

32 here now with  one good size red oak split and three splits of post oak.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 25.7 this morning with our wireless receiver getting some new batteries and the outdoor station getting charged up even though that was still good.


----------



## Microduck17

Red oak and ash this morning.  Planning on some white oak for the over night.


----------



## baseroom

Ash.....Ash....and more Ash.  EAB has made this abundant to this scrounger!  I'm glad for the wood.....sad for the reason why.


----------



## TWilk117

White birch


----------



## RandyBoBandy

Ran a load of mostly 4-5 year old white oak last night. This morning the T-stat read 73 in the house and 31 or so outside. Cat was still at 550 after an 11 hour burn. Gotta love it. Wish I had more of this white oak. Splits are nice and uniform.  Burns forever to. The morning load.... a mix of shorts and uglies.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Last night i stuffed the stove with post oak. Woke up this morning to 29 degrees and snowing....i loaded the 74 with a mix of post and red oak on coals before heading out.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 13.2 this morning, last night I burned a bag of pellets and started burning the wood stove this morning.


----------



## Woody Stover

RandyBoBandy said:


> Ran a load of mostly 4-5 year old white oak last night...Cat was still at 550 after an 11 hour burn. Gotta love it. Wish I had more of this white oak. Splits are nice and uniform.  Burns forever to.


Yeah, I call that stuff the King of All Firewoods.   When I see a BTU list with it equal to Red Oak, I chuckle and say "OK then, I'll trade ya some Red for your White."


----------



## RandyBoBandy

I will take white over red any day.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had minus 4.2 this morning with another load of soft & sugar maple going in the wood stove.


----------



## Diabel

Back to burnin!

A load of sugar maple (5yr old) in the VC this morning. About to put a 1/2 load of hemlock to carry me to the night load of SM. Love wood heat!


----------



## sweedish

Finishing up the coals from the load of cherry I put in. First time I’ve ever filled the stove with only cherry, it was like a sparkler when I raked them. I thought people were exaggerating when they said it sparked a lot.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Im on the coal end of a load of post oak that the wife put in around noon. I got a load of red and black jack oak on deck for the overnight hours going in around 9:30.


----------



## DuaeGuttae

I had a dragon in mine this afternoon.  I had a funny branch of old live oak that I threw on top of coals.  When it was offgassing at first, it actually spat out a horizontal flame.  I didn't catch that in the picture, but I think the glowing eye shows up.  My kids were pretty excited.


----------



## Microduck17

We had 34 outside 61 inside this morning,  Big load of white oak going in to get the house back up to temperature befor the wife and daughter get home.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its was 34 outside with a load of red and post oak in the stove before heading to work.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 6.2 this morning so the Liberty saw a load of soft maple, we're at 31 this afternoon.


----------



## BIGChrisNH

Red oak and maple baby


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 26.2 tonight with another load of soft & sugar maple supplying the heat for the night.


----------



## Microduck17

37 and snowing hard this afternoon. 
white and red oak keeping us toasty.


----------



## buc74

Ash and red oak @ 34f


----------



## Grizzerbear

It got to 51 here today so i let stove go cold and it will only drop to 42 tonight. I put a small load of red oak in the stove to heat the house up for the night and will let it go out. Gunna be nearly seventy tomorrow before it cools back off monday night.


----------



## Woody Stover

Grizzerbear said:


> It got to 51 here today so i let stove go cold and it will only drop to 42 tonight. I put a small load of red oak in the stove to heat the house up for the night and will let it go out. Gunna be nearly seventy tomorrow before it cools back off monday night.


Yeah, we're getting off easy this winter ain't we.  Only had a couple snows, both under 1".
Right after I lit the stove, I thought "Dang, it was just about cold..I coulda cleaned the glass."  That's OK, I can let it run down again sometime in the next few days. I might even replace a couple gaskets. I have a new cat coming, so maybe I'll get it all done in one pass. Might have to heat the stove a little somehow to get the gasket cement to dry in less that 24 hrs..


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 22.4 this morning with another load of the maples going in the Liberty this morning. Tonight we'll burn a bag of pellets, they're calling for a low of 15.


----------



## MAD MARK

Late night snack in there....


----------



## thewoodlands

This morning was 17 degrees with the pellet stove being turned off and back over to wood.


----------



## RandyBoBandy

Last nights load of 95% oak.


----------



## MMH

Yesterday almost hit 60, 2 degrees shy of recording breaking from 1934. Snow today and temp drop calling for negatives for next 2 nights; I haven’t actually done it yet but I think next 2 nights I’ll try my test distance run. Gunna stuff her full of the mahogany and see how long I get out of it. I have a decent amount of pieces that measure 7-10” in diameter. We’ll see how it goes.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 26.1 with Accu calling for a low of 25, we have another load of soft and sugar maple going in the Liberty tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We hit a new record high of 76 yesterday and it only got down to lower 50s last night so the stove has been cold. Its going to get to 70 today before it cools off tomorrow morning with snow tuesday into wednesday.


----------



## RandyBoBandy

This is one crazy winter we are having.  I told the wife the other day that we were going to have to move up to the northern part of the state to get back to having real winters.  I hate this in between crap. Either be winter or be a 6 month long spring. But not both, all it does is make a mess of everything. We had record rain fall in 2019 and this winter has not been a whole lot better as far as rain goes. I’ve been fighting the mud for what seems a whole calendar year.


----------



## tadmaz

50F yesterday, possibly a record.  Stove was cold during the day.  Cleaned ash out of the stove, and cleaned the cat.  Back to normal today, with lows in the teens coming soon.  Will use ash and elm for 20F+, and will bust out some red oak for the teens.


----------



## Microduck17

Out cold today. I let it burn out yesterday and got the chimney and cap/spark arrestor cleaned.  Probably going to relight it late tonight when I get home from work.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 29.1 this morning with more soft maple going in the stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 26.4 tonight with a load of soft maple in the Liberty.


----------



## JimBear

Upper 20’s tonight & tomorrow. Larger Silver Maple splits & some smaller Mulberry filling in the voids.


----------



## MMH

Currently 5 out with windchill making it -12. I had these 2 pieces of mahogany the pictures don’t do justice, I’m guessing they easily weighed 60-70+ lbs together. I couldn’t fit much else in the stove with them. Excited to see how long these last!


----------



## Grizzerbear

Well it finally cooled back off last night. Its 38 right now and a load of post oak going in the stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 27 this morning but we had a few things on the schedule so our first fire was started around 11:45 a.m.


----------



## kvesi122

Red oak for a nice overnight burn last night. Box is temporarily that close to dry my boots.


----------



## sweedish

Currently 30 outside probe reads 1000, running on high before the night reload to get the house temp up a few degrees, then a low night burn. All Austrian pine.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 30.2 tonight with a forecast low of 17, another load of soft and sugar maple going in the Lopi.


----------



## MMH

Distance run run complete! Last night had a low of -12 and the day temps today were around 15 during the warmest hour, the mahogany lasted 19 hours house stayed 69-72. Had a nice heap of coals left. I’d say pretty good considering I kept the air at about 330-4 o clock. Loving my BK. First pic is what I had left. Okay enough ranting tonight low single digits but above 0; we’ll see how the juniper does. Happy night all.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Woke up to 29 this morning with freezing rain falling. Luckily it has turned to snow with 3-6 expected. I got a full load of white oak going in the 74 this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 15.3 this morning with another load of the maples going in the Liberty.


----------



## Gearhead660

Seasonably cold this morning. Probably just a pile of oak coals right now. All I have left for seasoned wood is oak.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 12.3 tonight with a load of sugar maple,red maple and a few splits of american hophornbeam going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 20.2 this morning with more of the maples going in the wood stove.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was 29 this morning with a 17 degree wind chill. Post oak is going in the stove now and wife says house is 75.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 18.6 tonight with a load of sugar maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 22 here this morning with another load of post oak going.


----------



## Microduck17

34 and snowing today with a mix of 
oak,sycamore, poplar, and some mystery wood.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 17.6 this morning with more of the maples providing the heat.


----------



## Labfriend

It's been pretty warm hear so nothing until this morning.  Now a nice load of Beech.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -5.3 this morning with a high of 5 today, we had a load of sugar maple going early this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at -10.5 tonight so we'll go with the pellet stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -20 this morning, sugar maple with some ironwood made up our first load.


----------



## Stinkpickle

The highs have been hovering around the freezing point and  lows dipping into the teens, so the ash has been keeping the house almost too warm, but I keep burning it like it’s going out of style.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 26.4 tonight with another load of the maples going in the Liberty.


----------



## Gearhead660

Got about 6 inches today.  Been burning some ash i found in the VC.  House is toasty.


----------



## thewoodlands

Gearhead660 said:


> Got about 6 inches today.  Been burning some ash i found in the VC.  House is toasty.


It looks like our area will get more cold temps this Thursday night and Friday, how about your area?


----------



## Gearhead660

thewoodlands said:


> It looks like our area will get more cold temps this Thursday night and Friday, how about your area?


Looking to get some sub zero temps Thursday night.  Then back up to the 20s and 30s by the weekend.


----------



## Grizzerbear

28 here this morning. I got a mix of red oak and post oak going.


----------



## thewoodlands

What a change from -20, we had 32.7 this morning with rain.

Another load of the maples is throwing some heat this morning. It looks like we'll have some real cold temps coming in near the end of the week so we'll be burning that american hophornbeam those days.


----------



## Touch0Gray

red oak and red elm, 18 degrees outside, 7 inches of fresh snow yesterday, toasty in here.


----------



## sgro98

Compared to y`all, we're in the tropics in central VA at low 40s. Thanks to a moderate winter, we stay warm burning free punky who-knows-what wood from an ad in the paper.  Those stacks of hardwood under the tarps are aging like fine wine.


----------



## sweedish

Ash and a coconut shell.


----------



## Touch0Gray

sweedish said:


> Ash and a coconut shell.


Around here, coconut shells would be expensive fuel!


----------



## sweedish

I’m try


Touch0Gray said:


> Around here, coconut shells would be expensive fuel!



I’m trying to confuse my stove. Don’t worry, its been split and properly seasoned.


----------



## Touch0Gray

sweedish said:


> I’m try
> 
> 
> I’m trying to confuse my stove. Don’t worry, its been split and properly seasoned.


Rum and crushed ice? (and NOT the spiced rum crap!)


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 29.5 tonight with more of the maples going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We stayed right at 32 last night with post oak for the overnight load. I went outside to grab some wood off porch around 9:30pm and it was snowin crazy. It wasnt forcasted either so i was totally caught off guard and we ended up with 3 inches. Anywho its still 32 with red oak splits  and a good round of black jack goin this mornin.


----------



## Microduck17

37 out today and spitting snow.  Some chunks of sycamore and a little red oak keeping things around 72 inside.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 27.9 this morning with another load of soft & sugar maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 28.8 tonight with another load of soft & sugar maple going in the wood stove.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had 31 for a low last night with a mix of oak for overnight. Right now its 34 and rain/sleet with post and red oak goin in the stove.


----------



## Chas0218

Can't believe how mild our winter has been! Supposedly Friday night is supposed to be a cool one at -1  we will see but that will be our first negative temp this winter. Last winter was a little different with probably close to the whole month of Jan, and some of Feb all in the single digits.

Right now the stove is stuffed with Ash and couple splits of Cherry.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 23.9 this morning with our temp at 32.7 when I came in, this morning the Liberty saw another load of the maples.


----------



## JimBear

14* right now heading to -4* overnight with wind gusts to 35mph then around 10* tomorrow with wind chills around -20*. I believe I will be stuffing the stove with some Osage & some smaller slivers of maple to fill the voids


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 30.0 degrees tonight with another load of the maples going in the Liberty. Tomorrow I'll clean some ashes out of the stove and start burning some maple with american hophornbeam for this cold weather coming in tomorrow night.


----------



## john diggs

Why does my firewood stink when burning, almost chemically? I believe it’s American elm


----------



## Grizzerbear

I stuffed the stove with post oak last night. This morning its 22 and windy. I got a mix of post oak and black jack going right now. I assume its going to be cold for most folks here on hearth with this arctic plunge. We will be dropping temps all day today...
Its suppose to be somwhere in the single digits here tonight with negative wind chills.


----------



## tadmaz

Similar weather to JimBear.  Red oak and a piece of ironwood.  Using my good stuff.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 29.4 this morning with another load of the maples providing the heat, once the coals burn down the ashes will get cleaned out and we'll start burning some maple with american hophornbeam ( people in this neck of the woods call it hard hack.)


----------



## Touch0Gray

8 degrees now, headed for 12 below tonight. Red elm now but before I go to bed I will be packing it with oak again, it burns longer. Like I say, all wood has the same btu per pound, so length of burn is key in this weather.


----------



## Touch0Gray

thewoodlands said:


> We had 29.4 this morning with another load of the maples providing the heat, once the coals burn down the ashes will get cleaned out and we'll start burning some maple with american hophornbeam ( people in this neck of the woods call it hard hack.)


Hophornbeam, (ironwood around here) burns unbelievably hot and long! I love it. For reference, but a chunk on the lathe, it is magnificent! Polishes up like metal! With no finish!


----------



## fvhowler

Cold stove right now. 70* today in central NC but may cool down by the weekend. Ready to start burning again. On deck are white oak, post oak and hickory.


----------



## Touch0Gray

fvhowler said:


> Cold stove right now. 70* today in central NC but may cool down by the weekend. Ready to start burning again. On deck are white oak, post oak and hickory.


it isn't even 70 in my living room!


----------



## Diabel

fvhowler said:


> Cold stove right now. 70* today in central NC but may cool down by the weekend. Ready to start burning again. On deck are white oak, post oak and hickory.


You mean out door fire pits correct.


----------



## Diabel

Wasn’t it -61f in North Dakota yesterday?


----------



## MMH

temps have been in 40-50 range and 20s at night; let Dorothy go out for the day, starting to cool off so I’ll have a small fire for the evening and stuff her for bed. Yes I named the stove Dorothy


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

Tonight we're expecting the coldest air so far this winter, -12 by morning. Putting in some monster pieces of oak I've been saving for the below zero nights


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA says -7 for a low with a windchill of -21 tomorrow morning, the bottom row has four splits of sugar maple and the top row has four rounds of ironwood.


----------



## Gearhead660

Going to be a cold one tonight.  Got the Vigilant cranking with some ash.


----------



## Grizzerbear

8 degrees for a low here tonight. I stuffed the stove full of black jack.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 4 degrees this morning with a full load of post oak in the stove now.


----------



## tadmaz

Truck said -20F at one point this morning.  Furnace ran at 6:30am since I didn't want to wake up early to reload.  Using my absolute top stuff, crossing my fingers this is the coldest snap this heating season.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 13 this morning with more sugar maple and ironwood seeing some action, tonight should be even colder then the warmer temps move back in.


----------



## Microduck17

22 here today with beach and sycamore going in the firebox.  Nice comfortable 70 degrees inside.


----------



## Stinkpickle

We’re in the teens right now and actually burning ash with the fire screen on the stove.  It’s wasteful, but it sure sounds and looks nice while we sip all this bourbon on this fine Valentine’s Day.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's -13.7 tonight with the pellet stove running since before supper, I'll turn that off and make a fire with some sugar maple and ironwood.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Finally warming back up a little here. Its going to be in the mid forties today, fifth ies tomorro, and sixties monday with rain before we fall back to seasonal thirties. I have a mixed oak load going now at 33 outside.


----------



## Piney

Pine.
Pine, pine, pine.
It's always bloody pine.
It's been pine my whole life and it will pine after I'm dead.
It's only -12C this morning but we'll be burning 24/7 another 6 weeks.
And it's pine.
Here is a pic. It's from right now.
It's pine.
Gah!


----------



## thewoodlands

Our temp bottomed out at - 15.7 before it started rising with a temp of 1.2 this morning with a brisk wind. We have more sugar maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Piney

Yah. We rise fast in the day too. It can be a good thing.
After I posted we kept dropping into -15+ range. Sun is blazing now and it's back up to -13. Time to chuck more PINE in to the firebox so I can go outside for the day.
Maybe I'll look for some dead spruce or poplar down by the river.
Variety is the spice of life - but I don't want to risk addiction or whatever...

See: sunny now


----------



## Stinkpickle

It’s about 50 degrees warmer than yesterday morning, so I’m not reloading until this settles.


----------



## buc74

23f now, Ash and Cherry for the over night burn.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was in the mid twenties last night so I burned a bag of pellets, we had 29.4 this morning with another load of the maples going in the Liberty.


----------



## Diabel

Deviated from hemlock (Bk) in the past few days. Loads of white birch on the menu. White birch has a funny smell to it. Must be the bark, not nice.


----------



## Gearhead660

Burning some elm,oak and some unknown that i just harvested today in the VC.  Woods to stove in same day, wood burner version of instant gratification?


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 28.8 tonight with another load of the maples heating the house.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 16.3 this morning with a load of sugar maple going in the Lopi Liberty this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 7.2 tonight with AccuWeather calling for a low of 5, the Liberty has four splits of sugar maple on the bottom row with another 3 on the top row with 2 rounds of american hophornbeam filling out the middle of the top row.


----------



## MMH

Another cold front came through, no snow but lows in singles again. Got a few more giant rounds of mahogany we’ll use for the next few nights.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its been fairly warm here so the stove has been cold. It cooled back off last night and it is 35 right now with a load of post and red oak in the stove right now.


----------



## MMH

Currently -5 out, house is 70. I’ll be throwing some pine in before I go to class; tonight forecasted for same temps, more mahogany for tonight


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 23.4 this morning with some snow and wind, the first fire was a mixture of soft maple and ash.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 23 tonight (34 at 10:17 tonight) with another load of soft and sugar maple going in the wood stove.


----------



## MMH

Currently 12 out, going to hit singles or negative again. Threw 2 large rounds of mahogany in and a couple 2x4 cuts to fill the gaps.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had a load of white oak for the overnight load last night. We are at 24 here right now with a load of post oak going.


----------



## mark cline

I have a load of hornbeam for the Mansfield tonight , 2 yrs old stored inside like fine wine waiting to be drunk


----------



## JimBear

Red Elm last night & thru this little cold snap thru Thursday.  Low teens to single digits @ night, upper teens - low 20’s daytime. after this snap  back to upper 30’s & low 40’s daytime temps.


----------



## Diabel

You really have to watch the weather these days. Relative warm yesterday. Was about to put three hemlock splits for the day. Wait a minute......the temp is to drop like a rock for the next 24h. Sugar maple it is then.


----------



## MMH

Currently 2 outside with the “feels like” at -11, house is 71.5. Dorothy is still cruising I’ll let it burn down for the day


----------



## tadmaz

-2F last night, calling for -5F tonight.  All red oak!


----------



## trguitar

All I have left is red oak. It's been so mild this winter I've gone through my 2 cords of white pine. It's going to be 39 today, so red oak. (Normally, this is white pine territory for me.) It will be 9 tomorrow night, so red oak.


----------



## Chas0218

The last couple cold nights I've been waking up in the morning to a 65* house. About 5* cooler than normal with the single digit nights and heavy winds. I'm quite impressed how well the house is holding the heat. 

Wife loaded up the stove this morning with some ash. Looking like I will need to grab another cord from my father's. I was hoping to get by the rest of the winter on this load but don't think that is going to happen.


----------



## Piney

The short wife looked at the screen and said: 'uh, fire. Of course' and wandered off to feed chickens or something.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 24.8 this morning with another load of the maples going in the Liberty this morning.  Accu has a low of 5 tonight so we'll go with some sugar maple and ironwood. 

Tomorrow Accu has a high of 14 with a low of 3, we'll burn the same lineup tomorrow.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I put a small warm up load of post oak in when i got home today and thats what will be in the 74 for the overnight load. I've burned a lot of post oak this year and honestly im gettin bored with it but wood heat is wood heat i reckon. Next year is gunna be a lil more variety with a good balance of 4 year old red oak, black jack, white oak, hickory, and a lil stash of loblolly pine actually. Pine trees are sacred around here with so very few and never get cut down so it will be nice to burn some again in shoulders.


----------



## Touch0Gray

20 below wind chills projected for the night. I just stuffed about 60 or 70
pounds of red oak, well aged, after standing dead for a few years into the stove. Iron kettle has a gallon and a half of water in it, both of which will be gone by morning, no problem, there will be plenty of coals. Fortunately, I emptied the ashes this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 7.3 this morning with some sugar maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 27 now and going to go down to around 16 tonight. I'm on coals right now with a full load of more post and red oak for over night here in a little bit.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA has us hitting -3 in the morning but I'm thinking it will be colder, sugar maple with some ironwood in the wood stove and one bag of pellets in the p.s. 

I was walking the dog down the driveway when I heard a crunch in the snow in the woods but I kept walking the dog until we heard the coyote, once I got our dog settled down we made it back. I'm thinking the yote ended up on the east side of the house but we heard the crunch in the snow on the west side of the house and later on a howl coming from the east side where the deer like to bed down.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 12 here this morning.....got a full load of post oak going and it was a toasty 74 in the house when I headed out.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -6.3 this morning with some chitty maple (it was at the bottom of the rack) with a few rounds of ironwood going in the Liberty.


----------



## RFarm

I have a fire laid in for later consisting of 8 small splits of poplar, 3 handfuls of sticks, an old pair of jeans, and old pair of flannel pajama pants, some cardboard, a couple pages of newspapers, and a bunch of old school assignments my son emptied out of his backpack.  I’ll throw a match on it tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 25.3 tonight with more soft and sugar maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

30 here now with a low of 28 tonight. I have a load of red oak going for tonight.


----------



## Microduck17

25 here with a nice load of white oak for the overnight burn.


----------



## moresnow

27F here this early AM. Elm load from supper time yesterday still has 3 or 4 hours to go. This warm weather is a relief. Heading for almost 40F today followed by 2 days of 40F. Thinking we have made the turn towards spring to a extent.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 23.5 this morning with more of the maples going in the wood stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 27.6 this morning with more of the maple mixture going in the Liberty. We had a high of 42.6 today, it looks like this coming weekend we'll have some colder temps that are in the single digits at night.

Tonight it's 27.5 with another load of the maples providing the heat.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had 33 this morning with a post oak load to warm the house. It got close to 60 today so stove went cold. It's 45 now with a low of 42 tonight  and raining with around 2 inches by tomorrow night. I have  a half load of red oak in the stove to warm the house for the nght.


----------



## MAD MARK

Amateurs...

Spicy chicken green pepper flatbread pizza!


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 31.5 this morning with the Liberty seeing more of the same types of firewood we've been burning.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 32.5 tonight with more of the maples giving us some heat.


----------



## MMH

Just burnin down some coals, while waiting thought I’d try the first cooking try, couldn’t remove my top as the stoves been going all day but threw some kindling in and tried it. Wasn’t too bad needed to get it a little hotter though. Tonight and tomorrow night are hitting around 10 again so more mahogany for the next couple nights. Cheers


----------



## Grizzerbear

36 this morning.....i had good coals in the stove but the house was still 75 so i left it for the wifey to handle later.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 31.2 this morning with a load of the maples going in the wood stove. Tomorrow we have some rain coming in changing over to snow (4-6 inches) so today we'll put in more wood.


----------



## MAD MARK

MMH said:


> Just burnin down some coals, while waiting thought I’d try the first cooking try, couldn’t remove my top as the stoves been going all day but threw some kindling in and tried it. Wasn’t too bad needed to get it a little hotter though. Tonight and tomorrow night are hitting around 10 again so more mahogany for the next couple nights. Cheers
> View attachment 257555
> 
> View attachment 257556
> 
> View attachment 257557



Thanks for posting pictures.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 33.4 tonight with sugar and soft maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I got 35 right now with a load of white and red oak burnin.


----------



## RandyBoBandy

A very frustrating load of cherry and oak and cottonwood. My chimney is pouring smoke even with the cat at1400+ degrees.


----------



## Diabel

RandyBoBandy said:


> A very frustrating load of cherry and oak and cottonwood. My chimney is pouring smoke even with the cat at1400+ degrees.


Smoke or steam?


----------



## Gearhead660

Oak, oak, and oak.  Seems like a waste with temps around 30, but makes for nice, long burn times.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30.9 this morning with more of the same going in the Liberty,


----------



## Grizzerbear

Gearhead660 said:


> Oak, oak, and oak.  Seems like a waste with temps around 30, but makes for nice, long burn times.



I hear ya. That's all I ever have to burn....not necessarily a bad problem though.


----------



## RandyBoBandy

Diabel said:


> Smoke or steam?


It’s smoke. Something is in there that is probably to wet and just smoldering. It took a couple cycles of the damper just to keep a flame in the stove and the cat from going nuke. I’m into a questionable section of wood at the moment.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 35.0 tonight with the same mixture of firewood going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 30 here now......going to get down to 22. I got black jack going for overnight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

23 this morning. I got up and the wife had the stove loaded with post oak...it had just lit off.... and coffee already made. I could get used to this lol.


----------



## shortys7777

RandyBoBandy said:


> It’s smoke. Something is in there that is probably to wet and just smoldering. It took a couple cycles of the damper just to keep a flame in the stove and the cat from going nuke. I’m into a questionable section of wood at the moment.


I had a few similar burns this week. temps around 40-50 but needed to take the chill off inside . I threw in some pallet wood with cherry and oak last night and still had a hard time getting the temp up. colder weather coming in this afternoon though.


----------



## trguitar

I'm in 24 hour burn mode now with temps in 40s. I load up with red oak before I go to bed, and don't reload until the next night. Still lots of coals, and house is at 70.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 36.2 this morning with rain overnight, once the temps started dropping I made a fire. The rain changed to snow so I used the 4540 to plow the slush/snow off the driveway.

North of us by about 14 miles about 1500 people are without power, I'm not sure if it's weather related or something else.


----------



## Microduck17

27 today with lots of snow falling.    Red and white oak just went into the furnace.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 19.6 tonight with some sugar maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

38 here tonight with a red oak load for the night.


----------



## moresnow

21F here now. Low of 13F predicted according to my know it all electronic devise (phone). Elm load went in a hour ago. Toasty warm.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 30 this morning with post oak splits and a couple hickory rounds going.


----------



## Microduck17

34 today with a load of white oak going in.


----------



## MissMac

Woke up to -26*C this morning, so loaded up a bunch of uglies - white birch and jack pine, and let it rip with the fans on.  Cats are happy now.  Almost time to reload half-load.


----------



## Diabel

MissMac said:


> Woke up to -26*C this morning, so loaded up a bunch of uglies - white birch and jack pine, and let it rip with the fans on.  Cats are happy now.  Almost time to reload half-load.


I do the same, when it is super cold i load the Princess with uglies (1/2 load) and let it rip. And reload every 4-5h or as often as heat needed.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 14.4 this morning with another load of sugar maple providing the heat. We only received a dusting of snow overnight but the lake effect has shifted north so it's snowing pretty good here at the moment.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 18.9 tonight with NOAA calling for a low of 8, I just loaded up the wood stove  and later on I'll set the pellet stove so it kicks on at a certain temp when the wood stove stops throwing useful heat.


----------



## MMH

High hit almost 60 today, mid to high 50s yesterday, just pine fires at night, even with my pine I’m getting 12 hour burns (+\- depending on air level obviously). Temps supposed to plummet again in a few days. Mahogany in the line up again


----------



## Stinkpickle

It just now got above freezing, so I’m burning up this morning’s load of ash with the fire screen on, because we’re supposed to be heading into the 50s this afternoon.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 5.2 this morning with a load of sugar maple providing the heat.


----------



## sweedish

I was home today, so a bunch of oddball pieces, tonight will be ash


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

Spring shoulder season decided it wanted to start this weekend so after a load of oak tonight I'll be burning cherry for the foreseeable future.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 5.9 tonight with about three splits burning down in the wood stove and the pellet stove going with one bag of pellets in it.


----------



## woodey

Single digits here , just fed the Kuuma 1 hard maple and 2 beech splits.


----------



## HisTreeNut

In the 30's with a mix of cherry, pine, and effing poplar (lol).  House is toasty and wifey is warm.  Good times.
I am not sure if it is the wood, the milder weather, the new insulatuon on the house, or the family has finally listened to me on how to build fires & such, but this year is the best my stove has ever burned.  Not complaining but enjoying it actually.


----------



## fvhowler

Sunday morning, 26* this morning and burning red maple and post oak. Will be near 60* today so once I get the current load  cruising, it will be all I need for the day.


----------



## Grizzerbear

The stove has been cold since yesterday morning. It was in the 60s yesterday with a low of 49 last night and the extended forecast is looking the same. I will be down to running one overnight load per day for now it looks. I dug and set a corner post yesterday and saw flock after flock of snow geese heading north. Spring is comin folks.


----------



## thewoodlands

Our low that I saw was 1.6 but this morning we had 4.2, we shut the pellet stove down and the wood stove is still without a fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

Accu is calling for a low of 13, we'll go with a load of the maples with a nice round of Ironwood.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32.7 this morning with some chitty maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## woodey

40 here this AM.  Burning chitty cherry here.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 38.2 tonight with a good rain creating a mess outside so we'll burn some maple tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's still 49 as of now and stove is cold but suppose to go down to 38. I'm loading the stove right before bed with post oak for overnight.


----------



## MMH

Currently 21 out, low tonight not as cold as last couple nights. Threw some more mahogany in for tonight.


----------



## woodey

A mild 42 here tonite, just ashes and some hot embers in the Kuuma, will let the propane take over for a day or two before starting in with the wood when cooler weather arrives. My neighbor had a chimney fire tonite- BURN SAFE.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Mid 30s right now, and the load of ash I lit up after dinner was a bit much. I’m going to shut it down before bed.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32.5 this morning with some junk maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 45 now with a forecasted low of 40. I am putting a half load of red oak in the stove for the night and will let it go out. Its going to be in the 60s for highs the next seven days at least so this will be my routine for now.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 40.3 tonight with a good rain still coming down, more maple will go in the wood stove tonight.


----------



## shortys7777

I didn't even load my stove last night. The warmer temps have been nice. house only got down to 64 over night. 42 outside this morning. Put some maple and cherry in to keep the boiler from turning on. At this rate I might still have some wood left in my storage rack near the house at the end of the season. More warm temps coming back Sunday.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 31.1 this morning with more maple and one round of ironwood going in the stove.


----------



## tadmaz

Lows in the upper 20s, highs in the upper 30s lately.  Elm/ash/boxy, still doing full loads for the time being.


----------



## kborndale

Almost 60 degrees out, the only thing in my stove are ashes.


----------



## MMH

Currently 55 out, will be over 60 next 2 days lows hitting 20-30, back to night fires for now maybe even cut them down a bit we’ll see


----------



## Tar12

Been running Oak all winter but with the recent warmer temps I have been running nothing but night fires..


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 31.6 tonight with another load of the maples giving us heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 29.1 this morning with more chitty maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 29.1 at the moment with the maples and one round of ironwood making up the overnight load.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was 32 this morning. I had a half load of post oak going before heading out. Still getting up in the fifties and sixties for highs.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 37.1 this morning, nothing for fire in the wood or pellet stoves today. We had a propane line installed off our 3/4 inch Wardflex running to the propane fireplace. We're getting rid of the electric stove, the new propane stove will be in by the end of the month when we make the switch.


----------



## kswaterfowler

32 here. Got a mixture of black locust and hedge in the fireplace. Supposed to hit 68 degrees today.


----------



## shortys7777

Ash and cherry. Hoping for only night fires for the next few nights coming up. Day time temps look spring like.


----------



## johneh

Not too cold today -1 tonight -11
Burning a little hard maple   Wait a minute hard maple is all I have 
So I guess I will put more in later.


----------



## thewoodlands

Saturday morning it was 14.3 and this morning we had 28.4 with more maple providing the heat.


----------



## Labfriend

Nothing, kinda sad yesterday may have been my last fire for the year.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 38.5 tonight with a load of not so great maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 44.1 this morning but the wife still wanted a fire so the Liberty received some not so great maple.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 37 here this morning. I had a load of post and white oak for overnight with a load of post and red oak this morning.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 48 here right now but I felt cold so I got a medium size load of various oak rounds going to warm the house up.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 33.1 heading for a low of 19, I have some maple going at the moment but will put some ironwood on before I hit the sleeper.


----------



## MMH

Temps have remained the same; so far just fires at night with the trusty ol pine


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 21.6 this morning with a combo of maple and cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 27.1 tonight with a load of cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## tadmaz

On occasion I'm putting in 3 or 4 uglies, overall not doing full loads anymore.  Air control nearly fully shut.  Elm/ash/boxy/whatever.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 24.1 this morning with more cherry and maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 37.4 tonight with a load of cherry going in the wood stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 40.6 this morning, nothing in the wood stove but we did use the propane fireplace for heat this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 34.4 tonight with two rounds of ironwood and one split of cherry going on some nice coals for the overnight fire, The winds have picked up again tonight, I thought I heard something come down so that will get checked out tomorrow.


----------



## MMH

Same stories here; going to start cutting my night fires down a bit, still trusty ol pine.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I've got a load of red oak in the stove now at 37. Its been raining like a cow pissin on a flat rock and going to continue for the next week off and on. We have had three inches in 4 days and another 4 or so by next friday. It will be in the lower 40s for highs until Monday when I will go back to just overnight fires.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 31.4 this morning with another load of cherry going in the Liberty.

After this next load of cherry we'll put in tomorrow, we'll switch over to pine.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Just above freezing right now with some spitting snow and just four splits of two-year-old ash will do the trick until tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's been in the 30s all day here and I've just been burning up some on the verge of rotted red oak. Trying to consolidate some crap splits out of my stacks before the season is up.


----------



## BigJ273

Nothing... for the past two weeks.


----------



## thewoodlands

18.5 tonight with a bag of pellets for heat in the P.S.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 31 tonight with cherry going in the Liberty for the overnight fire.


----------



## kennyp2339

100% ash loads, its shoulder season here, I've been loading the stove every other day with ash and letting it do its thing.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 40 here with a medium load of red oak splits going right now.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 34.3 this morning with a load of cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 33.5 tonight with 4 splits of cherry and 2 splits of sugar maple in the wood stove for the overnight fire.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I burned a load of red oak again last night but I am leaving it to go cold this morning with warm temps coming back in until Thursday night.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 22.4 this morning with more cherry providing the heat while we had coffee.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 33.4 tonight with more cherry going in the Lopi.


----------



## MMH

Currently 17 out fog and patchy snow temps dipping back down for the week, threw a couple pieces of mahogany in for the day.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

Cherry tonight and tomorrow for the day load. Will be finishing off a stack of dry oak for tomorrow night (predicted low of 19 ) and probably  oak for Saturday night. I'm thinking these will be the last times I use oak for the burning season.


----------



## hickoryhoarder

This year it's almost all white oak, cherry, and hickory.  Kindling is what falls on the yard -- tulip, red maple, beech.

Next year will be almost all red oak and hickory, with a bit of cherry remaining.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 35 this morning with another load of cherry going in the wood stove,

We did put in a small load of pine before the rain and the wind get here tonight. We have four full face cord of good hardwood left that we usually would've burned by March so that will be used for the winter of 2020-2021.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 51 this morning but no fire.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was 49 when I woke up. No fire yet but will be burning tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I got home from work today and it was 38df. I put a small warm up load of punky red oak in and will load it with some better red oak and post oak for overnight with a low of 29.


----------



## thewoodlands

We still had some winds last night so we went with the furnace but this morning with the temp at 15.2 we had a load of cherry,maple and one round of ironwood going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

Accu is calling for a low of 12 and NOAA is calling for a low of 4 so the Liberty has a load of cherry and ironwood with the pellet stove set so we'll burn the last bag of the year for us.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 41 here with a low of 33 and a red oak load for the night.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 38 here now with a cold rain and a red oak load in the 74. It's suppose  to get to 51 this afternoon.


----------



## thewoodlands

I'm not sure what the temp was last night (25?) but we burned some cherry and this morning it was 29.8 with some winds so we burned pine and hardwood in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30 degrees this morning with a mixture of pine,yellow birch and soft maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Just ashes now. My burns are about over except for occasional overnight now. It's supposed to be in the 70s tomorrow and around 80....20 degrees above normal....thursday and friday with lows only dipping to mid 40s for the next week except saturday night will be down in the upper 30s.


----------



## thewoodlands

Later on before I hit the sleeper, I'll have a load of pine and some hardwood for the overnight burn.


----------



## Diabel

Full load of cedar in the BK


----------



## Grizzerbear

I got a load of red oak going with 42 for a low tonight


----------



## kennyp2339

Chugging along on low throttle here, stove has a mixture of ash and Norway maple, rain developing later, temps only in the mid 30's, have the house up to 73 and a few windows cracked open for fresh air, its a good combo at the moment. 
Also made a nice bonfire yesterday evening out of nothing but fallen branches, essentially busy work but it got me and the cat outside for a few hours which is needed during these times.


----------



## thewoodlands

37.9 tonight with another load of hardwood and pine going in the Lopi.


----------



## moresnow

41F this am. Working on a load of Elm. Breakfast prep. time for me. Newly crowned house husband since the wife is working here! Sheeesh.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 28 last night and a temp of 24 this morning with both loads being hardwood.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 24 this morning with another load of pine and hardwood going in the Liberty.

With some heavy rain coming in tomorrow, we put in a small load of pine and hardwood in today.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 43.2 this morning with a load of white pine providing the heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 37 this morning with some pine and more hardwood going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're heading to 33 tonight according to NOAA so the Liberty has a load of hardwood going for the overnight fire.


----------



## Gearhead660

Home today.  Unseasonably cold.  Ash burnin' in the VC.


----------



## JimBear

Mostly just ashes with a few remaining coals, supposed to be 65 today & 40 tonight. I will load some Siberian Elm & Cherry scraps tonight to keep the chill out.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA has us heading to 24 tomorrow morning, I have some junk wood going in the Liberty tonight.


----------



## JimBear

Loaded some Walnut & Cherry in tonight


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 24.2 this morning with a load of junk azz birch and some pine going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 35.2 tonight with a mix of pine and hardwood in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 33.1 this morning with a mix of pine and some hardwood in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 37.2 this morning with a small load of not so great hardwood going in the wood stove.


----------



## JimBear

32 with freezing rain here, Cherry, American Elm with a bunch of ends/pieces of Osage & Honey Locust, cleaning up scraps.


----------



## kennyp2339

smoldering some maple and red oak, temp is 42 outside with showers and a north east breeze, I'm sitting at a comfy 73 inside


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was in the sixties this morning with thunderstorms but by the time I got home from work it was 38. Gunna go down to around freezing with post and red oak coals now with more for overnight.


----------



## JimBear

Upper20’s here tonight, more scraps of Maple, Cherry, Honey Locust & Red Elm.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're heading to around 38 for a low so we have a small fire going tonight.


----------



## kennyp2339

Warmer here today, going to let the fire burn out and clean the ashes out sometime tomorrow, the weather forecast looks encouraging, 60's Monday - Wednesday, lows in the 40's, another cool shot of air coming towards Friday, so no more fires until then.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had a high of 43 today...its 40 now with more oak for overnight. It's going to be back in the sixties and seventies with lows in upper 40s and lower fifties until Thursday night when I will fire the stove up again.


----------



## thewoodlands

We brought in some pine today but we'll go without a fire tonight.


----------



## Gearhead660

No fire for past couple days.  Been mild here.  Decided to fire up the insert with some ash and elm since its getting down to 29 tonight.


----------



## JimBear

30* or so here tonight, put in more odds/ends of Osage, Red Elm & Honey Locust.


----------



## thewoodlands

Earlier today the wife wanted a fire so we have some pine going in the wood stove.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

I've had my stove shut down for about a week and a half now, was thinking that was it for the season. However, starting Wed night, I'll be back to 24/7 burning! 9 days in a row of 50 or lower for the high and around 32 or lower for the lows, def worthwhile for keeping the stove going! 

Happy I didn't quite get around the cleaning out the stove pipe yet


----------



## Gearhead660

WoodBurnerInWI said:


> I've had my stove shut down for about a week and a half now, was thinking that was it for the season. However, starting Wed night, I'll be back to 24/7 burning! 9 days in a row of 50 or lower for the high and around 32 or lower for the lows, def worthwhile for keeping the stove going!
> 
> Happy I didn't quite get around the cleaning out the stove pipe yet


It is Wisconsin...will probably have snow yet this spring!


----------



## JimBear

Put some maple in tonight, supposed to be 78 tomorrow but then in the upper 40’s - low 50’s later this week.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 43 tonight with a load of pine going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 26 this morning so we had two pine fires today, with the heat from that and the sun the old barn warmed up nice.


----------



## JimBear

No fire tonight, it was around 78 here today & supposed to be upper 50’s tonight, t-stat says 76 now, be a good night to open the windows & listen to the frogs.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA has us heading down to 33 tonight so I'm heading down to make a pine fire for tonight.


----------



## Gearhead660

No fire.  Had windows open today.  Loaded up on wood inside because its going to be burnin' weather for next couple days.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 45.3 tonight with a pine fire going in the Liberty.


----------



## JimBear

It was 75* here today with wind gusts to 40mph heading to 35* tonight with 10-15mph NW winds, just threw in some Maple & Siberian Elm


----------



## shortys7777

Crappy rainy day mid 40s. Just put some mixture of ash and maple in to keep the chill out. Half load for the day


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 40 with rain today with another pine fire going in the Liberty and some dough rising for a loaf of bread, hopefully.








						Semolina Sandwich Loaf
					

I’ve been so curious about semolina flour. I didn’t understand much about it and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of information regarding it. After reading as much as I could find in various bread books I decided I had to take a stab at it. So last weekend I baked this yeasted sandwich version...




					www.thefreshloaf.com


----------



## JimBear

Heading to upper 20’s tonight, put in some Cherry, Siberian Elm & some Osage scraps. Should keep the shack warm till morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 35 tonight with some pine with a few hardwood splits going in the Liberty.


----------



## Gearhead660

Elm.  Going to be chilly evening.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was in the fifties last night when I hit the hay but I woke up to 29 this morning. I ran to the stove and stuffed it with more red and post oak before I headed out for work. I will be burnin overnights for the next week or so with some cooler than average temps forecasted.


----------



## kennyp2339

Cold and windy today, lit the fire last night when I came from work around 10:30, all small / medium oak splits since I cleaned the stove out to bare fire brick (my stove functions the best with a minimum 1" ash base) this morning I added some larger oak and ash splits, prob going to keep the fire going till Sunday, just like Griz, cold nw winds today, freeze tonight, temps in the 40's for Saturday and another freeze Saturday night.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32 this morning with some snow still falling, another load of pine is going in the Liberty.


----------



## buc74

Nothing! We moved last month to a new home so no wood heat for us until we get a stove installed. First time without wood heat since 2012.  "You don't know what you've got  till its gone!"


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 28 so we have a mixture of hard & soft maple with some yellow birch, pine and two rounds of ironwood going.


----------



## moresnow

45f now at 645 am. This will be the high for the next several days. Looking at overnight temps in the low 20's. Highs in the mid 30's. Hello winter! It's baaaaack elm and pine on the stove menu.


----------



## Diabel

Couple of days of high 50s coming up. I will attempt to clean the chimney bottom up with the sooteater today! Wish me luck.....could not pass the sooteater head through the Encore bypass door.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 28 earlier this morning so we loaded the Liberty up with pine, we have 49 at the moment so we won't have another fire until later on this afternoon unless we hit 58 like they're forecasting.


----------



## Diabel

Diabel said:


> Couple of days of high 50s coming up. I will attempt to clean the chimney bottom up with the sooteater today! Wish me luck.....could not pass the sooteater head through the Encore bypass door.


Success! @bholler said (sometime ago) that it can be done. With enough force i managed to push the  head of the sooteater through the Encore bypass. It worked very well there after. Chimney swept, cat brushed, stove cleaned. I wish this was it for the season but it will cool down to low 40s by Tue.
Thank you @bholler


----------



## thewoodlands

Nothing for a fire tonight, it's 48.5.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was in the 60s a few hours ago but a cold front with t storms just blew through with 39 now. It's going down to 29 tonight with a load of post oak going for overnight.


----------



## JimBear

Loaded the stove with Siberian Elm & some Osage butts. Wind gusts to 45mph & heading to mid 20’s tonight.


----------



## moresnow

30 and windy. We had rain that turned to snow today. I reloaded on Elm and oak about 8. Sounds terrible outside. 
Mowing delayed......


----------



## Grizzerbear

More post oak this morning with 30 right now. Man was it windy last night. Sounded like the chimney was gunna suck the house up through it.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 41 now with a forecasted low of 31. I'm loading the stove with red and post oak for overnight. Might have a small warm up load in the morning but it is suppose to get to 52 so I will let it burn out until the evening.


----------



## JimBear

Loaded up with Walnut, American Elm & some Osage butts, heading to mid 20’s again tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Woke up to 36 this morning so I put a medium load of post oak in the stove.


----------



## JimBear

25* this morning headed to 50*, had some nice coals from the Osage, I threw some oak scraps & a couple chunks of Siberian Elm in.


----------



## Microduck17

34 this morning with 56 in the house (haven't had a fire since last weekend) .  So I had to get the stove going  with some sycamore and white oak.


----------



## Mark N MO

Woke up to 72° indoors, 36° outdoors, and the delightful glow of  the remnants of an overnight load of red oak in our 91 battleship.  Spread the embers around and reloaded with.......another finely aged load of red oak.  Don't know what the rich folks is doing, us po folks is doing fine.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 34 this morning with another load of pine going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

34.5 tonight with a combo of hardwood and pine going in the wood stove.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 37 now with a low of 30 forecasted.  I got a load of red oak going for the night.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 27.7 this morning with another load of pine going in the Lopi.


----------



## moresnow

36 now. Another batch of Elm staged and ready. Still 71 indoors. Guess it's not a hurry!


----------



## JimBear

Going to load some Walnut & Siberian Elm in  later tonight, calling for anywhere from 6” - 12” of snow tomorrow for Southern IA & Northern MO.


----------



## Stinkpickle

JimBear said:


> Going to load some Walnut & Siberian Elm in  later tonight, calling for anywhere from 6” - 12” of snow tomorrow for Southern IA & Northern MO.


It’s gonna be a mess.  I’m glad I went turkey hunting 1st season instead of 2nd.


----------



## moresnow

Looks like I will not be seeing much here. Hopefully. Still some ice and snow on the north side of the house from the last shot. Be gone!


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 45 here now and suppose to get around 32 tonite. I just lit some post oak to get through the night.


----------



## moresnow

19F @ 415AM. Brrr. Toasty indoors! Bring on spring.


----------



## kennyp2339

Red oak & sugar maple


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

Last 3 nights was oak, and cherry during the day. Tonight and tomorrow day and night will all be cherry. I need to cut some more cherry, down to my last cord!!  Probably won't run the stove this weekend since high temps are predicted to be over 55  and likely won't be burning most of next week as its predicted to be in the 60's.


----------



## jmdavis984

I've been burning some garage dried walnut cookies that I thought I was going to turn into tables.  It turns out end-grain wood is NOT for beginners.  So I am burning walnut for the first time, and I am AMAZED.  This stuff coals up SO nicely.  I can get 6 hours of heat with 2 small ash splits and 3-4 chunks of this walnut from the PE Summit LE.  The fire is easy to control, and even after 6 hours the coals are hot enough to light up quickly.  

And it burns SUPER clean.  My ash and locust do not burn nearly as clean.  Almost no ash accumulation from burning for 5 days, still less than 1" in the stove.  I'm super excited to burn up the rest of this tree over the next few years.  Minus the pieces I pretend to turn into furniture of course.


----------



## JimBear

With temps heading to the upper 20’s tonight & around 8”-10” of snow today & another 2” forecast for overnight. I just put some Walnut, Siberian Elm & a butt of Osage in.


----------



## thewoodlands

The last two mornings we had just over 24 and 25 degrees with a mixture of pine and hardwood delivering the heat.


----------



## JimBear

After 13” of snow yesterday,  it’s about all melted back off now. Loaded some Walnut & Siberian Elm in for tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're in the low 30's tonight with a load of hardwood with a nice size round of Ironwood in the Liberty.


----------



## Rhodie

Really thought we were done for the season but half hour ago spouse told me he thinks the cats would *really* like a fire 

eta - so much cozier now, mostly doug fir as usual


----------



## Wood1Dennis

In Wisconsin are struggling through never-ending sprin-ter. Today we will get to the low 40s, about 15 degrees short of our average high. 
I have a good stock of wood in the house so it's not a problem. Morning and evening fires keep the house warm. Today I have some oak and some ash in the Caddy! I really love the wood fire, but it is time to get some nice weather & open the windows. Really, it is.


----------



## Beer Belly

I can't believe April 24 and I've got Ash cooking in the stove


----------



## kennyp2339

Burning some maple and cherry today, for us easterners, the more mild weather looks like its going to start to move in mid next week.


----------



## kennyp2339

cleaned the ash out of the stove yesterday before going in for the night, decided to make a trip to the wood shed for 3 arms full worth of wood this afternoon, burning full swing, 41deg and rain right now, 70 inside with steaks getting ready for the grill.


----------



## Diabel

If it was 70 in my house i would also be running the stove. Solar gain is your bff this time of the year. Just got back to the city, house acceptable due to NG running a bit in the morning and solar gain in the afternoon. No need to bother the old VC. Enjoy the stakes and i will mine too...!


----------



## MMH

Been a while. Haven’t had fires for couple weeks now, in the 80s today, 30-40s at night. Just been letting good ol sun warm the house. Always have a random cold spell between now and June but think my burning seasons pretty much done


----------



## kennyp2339

I could be wrong, but I might be done for the season, temps are generally more mild, I wont need any fires as long as we don't get anymore damp chilly rain days, like the one experienced this past Sunday and Monday, I think this weekend we're going to actually see 70 here. Gona break out the sleeveless tee shirts, wish my mullet was coming in better. Yes, that's what rona does to a man around here, firewood and mullets.


----------



## Microduck17

I got up early this morning to find it 61degrees inside and 29 outside  i decided it was as good a time as any to finish off the last little bit of firewood we have in the house.  Maple and white oak.


----------



## Lakeside

A little black birch is burning in the fireview..  Interesting weather that's for sure -- snow squall come through this evening too.  What day is it anyway ??


----------



## Gearhead660

Rainy and 45 this morning. Pine is taking the chill off.


----------



## EODMSgt

Been burning some beech and maple uglies with a few ash pieces thrown in. Been cool enough to burn 24/7 the last few days.


----------



## begreen

Ash.

Cold, dust grey ash.


----------



## Diabel

begreen said:


> Ash.
> 
> Cold, dust grey ash.


You will be lighting it up in about three months....


----------



## thewoodlands

This past week we've had low temps of 24.2, 28.4 & 28.7, we're still running a fire in the morning and night with some chitty wood someone thought it would be a good idea to stack. 

We'll still have 2 face cord of wood left that we didn't burn because of the warmer winter.

By my standards I've had a pretty good spring c/s/s wood with a total of 55 face cord in the inventory, this week I'll fell more ash so I can get another four face cord for a total of 59.


----------



## begreen

Diabel said:


> You will be lighting it up in about three months....


More like late October unless we get a cold fall.


----------



## firefighterjake

Nothing right now . . . unless my wife has a fire going.

But lately we've been mostly burning up white pine.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had our last fire last night even though we still have three face cord of hardwood that we didn't burn because of the warmer winter.

Burning almost four cord of pine in the fall and another two face cord this spring helps out.


----------



## Diabel

Done with burning for the season. Last fire was last Tue. Fire pit burns at the lake from now on, as long as the fire ban is lifted.  Burnt way less wood this season.


----------



## EODMSgt

Cool, crisp 33 degrees this morning so burning some ash and white birch to get rid of the chill.


----------



## Gearhead660

Seems too early, but having first fire tonight.  Gotta love WI weather, summer one week and then fall the next.  Some pine to start the season off.


----------



## Isaac Carlson

Gearhead660 said:


> Seems too early, but having first fire tonight.  Gotta love WI weather, summer one week and then fall the next.  Some pine to start the season off.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 262982



Same here, burning maple the last two days.  Too early.


----------



## tadmaz

Way too early, I am letting my furnace run a few times a day.    But yea, it's cold enough for the furnace to need to run to maintain 67F.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

I've been burning mostly shorts and uglies since Tuesday night. No all day or overnight fires just evening to take the chill out. The small stuff I'm burning is mainly cherry, birch, and pine. Eventually I'll be into the bigger pieces of pine, birch and cherry as the season progresses and then oak and hickory is scheduled for this year's cold weather burning!


----------



## Sawset

Burning some crappy cherry and oak, that had been sitting in the woods several years, and looked ok when finally retrieved, but now is lite and miserable.  Guess water feels like wood, till it's gone, then nothing.  That's ok though, because small lite fires is what's needed right now.


----------



## kennyp2339

I can wait for a fire, but what I cant wait for is this humidity to move out, currently 81deg f with 80% humidity. Its rather gross outside.


----------



## Woodsplitter67

This is what I have in mine... been this was seine may.. I have another 25 day before its lit. I can't wait until it cools down.. Its hot, humid.. Im tired of it.. its been a long summer and it can't turn to fall fast enough


----------



## Labfriend

I am jealous.  It will be at least month before I will light it.


----------



## johneh

Labfriend said:


> I am jealous. It will be at least month before I will light it.


I wish 4/39 tonight
Frost warning in effect

*Statements*
3:13 PM EDT Thursday 10 September 2020
*Frost advisory in effect for:*

Bancroft - Hastings Highlands - Denbigh
Frost may damage some crops in frost-prone areas.

Patchy frost is likely tonight into Friday morning across portions of northeastern and central Ontario.

Mostly cloudy skies this afternoon should give way to at least a partial clearing tonight allowing ground temperatures to fall to near or below the freezing mark.
Cover up plants, especially those in frost-prone areas. Take preventative measures to protect frost-sensitive plants and trees.

Please continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada. To report severe weather, send an email to ONstorm@canada.ca or tweet reports using #ONStorm.


----------



## JimBear

Just 3 pieces of Cherry & 1 piece of Red Elm. Should be the last fire for awhile.


----------



## BigJ273

Yea. Def at least another month for me as well, if not longer.


----------



## Jay106n

Nothing in the stove. But a nice bonfire in the back yard. Smells like fall!


----------



## Longknife

Finally got the chimney buttoned up for my new HT2000 and started curing the paint today while the weather's still relatively warm.  Started with some dried out pieces of 2x4 that just came out of the walls during ongoing renos, plus a few off-cuts of rough-cut 1x pine.  Add some ash shorts after awhile.  The smoke from the paint was pretty heavy but not as bad as I had expected.  Had the windows wide open with fans going.


----------



## Gearhead660

Longknife said:


> Finally got the chimney buttoned up for my new HT2000 and started curing the paint today while the weather's still relatively warm.  Started with some dried out pieces of 2x4 that just came out of the walls during ongoing renos, plus a few off-cuts of rough-cut 1x pine.  Add some ash shorts after awhile.  The smoke from the paint was pretty heavy but not as bad as I had expected.  Had the windows wide open with fans going.
> 
> View attachment 263168


Nice looking install.  Is that actual brick/masonry chimney?


----------



## Longknife

Gearhead660 said:


> Nice looking install.  Is that actual brick/masonry chimney?


Brick faced cinder block.  Runs from the basement to the roof.  It has 2 clay flues, with the second being for an open hearth on the main floor.  This flue has been line with a smooth wall stainless 6" chimney.  For some reason the stainless horizontal section coming out of the brick has a negative pitch (it was installed by previous owners), but other than that, it seems to work well.


----------



## Longknife

Longknife said:


> Brick faced cinder block.  Runs from the basement to the roof.  It has 2 clay flues, with the second being for an open hearth on the main floor.  This flue has been line with a smooth wall stainless 6" chimney.  For some reason the stainless horizontal section coming out of the brick has a negative pitch (it was installed by previous owners), but other than that, it seems to work well.


I thought I was going to miss my trusty 30 y/o SeeFire, but this this one small fire in the HT convinced me it was $1k well spent.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Longknife said:


> Finally got the chimney buttoned up for my new HT2000 and started curing the paint today while the weather's still relatively warm.  Started with some dried out pieces of 2x4 that just came out of the walls during ongoing renos, plus a few off-cuts of rough-cut 1x pine.  Add some ash shorts after awhile.  The smoke from the paint was pretty heavy but not as bad as I had expected.  Had the windows wide open with fans going.
> 
> View attachment 263168


I love the ht2000.....just a beauty. The crosscut above is a nice touch too.


----------



## JimBear

A three scrubs of Oak & three pieces of Siberian Elm. Upper 50’s overcast & breezy here. It was 62* on the T-stat when I walked in at 5:15.


----------



## Gearhead660

65* when i got home.  First fire in the new install.  Pine and some more pine.


----------



## shortys7777

65 out and you already have the fire going. Love it, but I could never. That's way to warm.


----------



## MissMac

second day with a little morning fire - uglies and end cuts of the jack pine and poplar variety


----------



## Gearhead660

shortys7777 said:


> 65 out and you already have the fire going. Love it, but I could never. That's way to warm.


65 in the house.  I was fine, others not so much....
Reason to fire up new stove.


----------



## JimBear

Just stuck in some oak & Siberian Elm, supposed to be 32 tonight. 62* when I came in @ 9:30.


----------



## Diabel

There will be fire tonight and through the weekend. Basswood and hemlock will be on the menu.


----------



## Country Living in VA

It was cold last weekend, burned the stove for a few days and let burn out.  Restarted last night, although it didn't get too cold outside (low 40's) and didn't hear the blower cut on much.  I am burning some unknown wood from a scrounge I got last summer from someone who got gas logs and gave away their small wood pile (with three snakes hiding in the stuff).  I will be mixing that with some white oak uglies I got over the summer.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

I'm already in to the first 24/7 burns of the season this week! And I had evening fires last month which for me is a record for earliest time of year I've had indoor fires! Been burning 1 yr old pine and birch this week, it's been doing great! My house is very warm and my wife needs to open windows during the day. Success!!


----------



## sweedish

1st fire of the year, some pine and quaking aspen. House is a bit more pleasant.


----------



## sweedish

sweedish said:


> 1st fire of the year, some pine and quaking aspen. House is a bit more pleasant.


Burning very clean, it’s been stacked 2 years and was standing dead before that


----------



## Riff

Got into the upper 30's last night so have a load of pine going to chase out the chill. My 4yr old is loving this. She likes to come out and watch me chop the wood, helps stack it, and always wants to go out and help bring in dry wood.


----------



## heavy hammer

Riff my 2 girls help me with the wood watching me split and stack it as well.  The girls love the heat on those cold days we have had a few days in the 50's with some cold nights and they are asking for a fire already.  A few more weeks since it is supposed to warm up this week.  For now the furnace works.


----------



## thewoodlands

I had a Pine fire when I came in today around 5 or after, I'll put another load of Pine in the Liberty before I hit the sleeper tonight.

We had six face cord of White pine up for this year, we'll burn four face this fall and two in the spring. We also have almost three face cord of good hardwood left from last year we never burned because it was a warmer winter overall.

We also have a pellet stove (had it before we bought the woodlot) we burned just over 50 bags last year.


----------



## JimBear

Got some Cherry & Slippery Elm in tonight.


----------



## MTY

The air conditioner was running when I got home tonight.


----------



## moresnow

30F at 5 am here this morning. Stove has been running a couple days. Just put 2 small elm splits in to burn down some coals etc. Sure is nice indoors!


----------



## thewoodlands

We were just over 40 this morning so we had a pine fire while having coffee this morning. The wife had to test out our new propane stove/oven  before Thanksgiving so she has a 14 pound turkey in the oven.


----------



## johneh

thewoodlands said:


> Thanksgiving so she has a 14 pound turkey in the oven.


So does that mean we are invited to dinner?


----------



## thewoodlands

johneh said:


> So does that mean we are invited to dinner?


I didn't take any pictures but everything was great.


----------



## JimBear

Stuck some Slippery Elm & Siberian Elm in tonight. Looks like I won’t be needing any heat the upcoming week.Forecast is for upper 70’s - low 80’s daytime, mid-upper 50’s night time.


----------



## firefighterjake

Chunks and uglies.


----------



## heavy hammer

Close to 70  this week as well.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're suppose to be around 38 in the morning so we have some pine going for heat, the forecast for the next 10 days doesn't look bad temp wise.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 36.9 tonight with a load of shoulder season wood going.


----------



## shortys7777

first fire last night. Some pine or spruce can't remember. Also threw in a few odd chunks in this morning before leaving for work to keep the wife and kid warm. got down to 39 last night.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 29 this morning with a pine fire, tonight we'll be in the mid 60's according to our local report so we'll go without a fire.


----------



## MMH

First fire of the season


----------



## sweedish

Tonight is some slightly punky but dry ash, pine, and quaky in the kuma.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

Elm uglies have been getting burned thus far this week, I love burning all the the odd sized junk this time of year. It's nice having enough of that stuff around to carry you through shoulder season and to delay getting into the good splits until the cold really starts to settle in. About to put in medium sized cherry splits for tonight. There's some upper 20 degree lows predicted for next week so I'll probably mix cherry with some of my "punky" oak and hickory splits for the night burns.


----------



## Riff

Frost and 33F outside, toasty inside with a split of pine and some maple uglies.


----------



## thewoodlands

Just another load of shoulder season wood (White Pine) we've burned close to two face cord so far.  We had six face cord ready for this year, we usually burn four face in the fall and the last two in the spring.


----------



## venator260

Arborvitae according to my forester cousin. They were standing close to my house and were starting to rot out in the middle, so my dad and I took them down. 

I get about 1/2 the burn time that I would out of my normal ash, but it's good for bringing up the house temp a little bit on these days when its sunny and not too cold outside. And I needed to get rid of the wood anyway, may as well cut it up and burn it.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's a windy 43 with rain....that we needed terribly. I got four 3-4 inch post oak rounds going now. It's going to be a high of mid forties tomorrow so the 74 will stay fired up til Tuesday when we get a lil warm up.


----------



## MMH

having a chilly week; temps tonight supposed to hit 15. First night fire, still pine and some odd pieces of juniper to fill the gaps.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 43 now with a small 3 post oak round load going. It's going to get down to 33 tonight and the 7 day looks like regular burns starting every night from here on out and a few all day fires with highs in 40s. Actually a tiny chance of  snow Tuesday but it wont be much if anything.


----------



## fvhowler

82 degrees today in central NC. The stove sits empty but cleaned and ready to go. Our first frost usually around mid-November.


----------



## JimBear

Headed to mid 20’s tonight
Some smaller Osage rounds, a couple splits of Slippery Elm & a slab of Oak.


----------



## RockyMtnGriz

Some coals - I hope.  Stretching the reload on the Kuuma as late as I can, so as to have a decent fire left in the morning.  25 now headed for single digits by morning with a foot or so of snow and windy overnight/tomorrow.  We mostly only have lodgepole pine, and some Douglas fir to feed.  Lodgepole isn't very dense, so it's hard to get a lot of BTUs in the firebox for the night.  I save most of the fir for the real cold, as it's somewhat more dense.
If you're east of Montana, heads up - the first taste of winter is here now, and it'll be there soon!


----------



## thewoodlands

The temp should be around 27 in the morning, we've been burning some white pine today and when what's in the Lopi Liberty burns down, I'll use some hardwood leftover from last year for our overnight fire.


----------



## KingsxCanada

It's currently -6 (celsius) outside, and was 16 in the house (celsius) when I woke. Currently burning an eclectic mix of bur oak, green ash, american elm, manitoba maple (boxelder) and aspen.

Edit: missed one wood!


----------



## Diabel

Have no choice. Will be burning this say 2025-26


----------



## thewoodlands

It's just above 34 tonight with a load of Cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## Dustin

KE 40 stuffed to the gills with alder / maple mix. 28 tonight, currently 75 in the house


----------



## MTY

I ripped out a few small ponderosa pines 3 years ago when I put in the septic system.  They were decked next to the driveway, and I was concerned about the fire hazard.  Today I cut them up, no splitting required.  I pitched a few pieces in tonight.  I figure it is better to burn them in the stove than to leave them in the slash pile that will be burned when there is snow on the ground.  It will be cold tonight, so I will load the stove with tamarack before bed.


----------



## MMH

Had an arctic air front come through, temps were  negative to single digits with highs today  20-30s back to teens tonight; had some small odds & ends of mahogany and juniper from last year so threw those in for today. Had some nice secondaries going for a while.


----------



## heavy hammer

I had our first fire in the basement stove Sunday morning and I lit the insert upstairs upstairs tonight as well it has been a cold rainy day.  temps are in the 40's but the rain has made it feel miserable.  The temps for the coming weeks don't look very warm so it looks like burning season is here.  Ash and walnut in the stoves now.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 33 here now. Going to hang around that temp for the next 48 hours. I just put 4 rounds of post and red oak in for the overnight. I got a lot of smaller limb wood I've been trying to burn up.


----------



## JimBear

Heading into the mid teens tonight so I put in some  Osage splits and a couple Slippery Elm splits.


----------



## shortys7777

Looks like I'll be burning the next 4 nights with the forcast. I'll probably load up on mostly spruce with some mixed in oak or ash to get a longer burn. Gotta keep the wife and little ones warm for the mornings.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 32.5 tonight with a load of Cherry going in the Liberty for the overnight fire.


----------



## MMH

Had some pine for today; got home and house was 75, lows tonight in the 20s so I’ll let the stove go out for tonight


----------



## RodM

French Bread Pizza, sorry I couldn't help it hahaha.


----------



## sweedish

Not sure, wife loaded the stove before I got home.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's about 36 tonight with a load of cherry going in the heater.


----------



## Gearhead660

Been running the Tundra for last week or so.  Oak, Ash and Elm.


----------



## Jay106n

Red oak fired up


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 15 in the morning, even though I cleaned the majority of the pellet stove at the end of last year, I went through it a week or two ago and it was already to go. Tonight I put one bag of pellets in for the overnight heat.


----------



## sweedish

Currently ash and quaking aspen, and a few small pieces of pine and cherry


----------



## heavy hammer

More ash and walnut we has lows in the 30's last night with the next few nights chilly.  We are supposed to see 60's by the end of the week.


----------



## GoldFly

When we built our house the builder shoved all the trees and brush into a pile on the edge of our property. The pile is mostly hemlock and pine, so all of my neighbors have assured me it's "garbage" and that there is "no burnable wood" in it.

So I decided to salvage what I could anyway, bucking and splitting it over the last year or two. Now the hemlock is seasoned and I've been burning it exclusively over the last few weeks. It's in my stove now on this 30 degree day.

Either I'm an idiot and my house is going to blow up any second now, or this "garbage wood" isn't so bad after all.


----------



## johneh

GoldFly said:


> Either I'm an idiot and my house is going to blow up any second now,


We will watch for the kaboom
Or maybe you can just enjoy the heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 27.9 tonight with a load of cherry going in the Liberty for the overnight fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 34.5 this morning with a load of Cherry going in the wood stove. 

All the batteries are changed in the smoke and our propane gas detectors this morning.


----------



## stoveliker

After my first two (ever) loads (maple) in the BK Chinook 30 Thursday and Friday, yesterday the wife had some people over, so I put some oak, cherry and sassafras uglies in for an evening with a flame show. 

Back to the minisplit as it's near 50 maxing out at near 60 here today.


----------



## heavy hammer

We had a pretty nice day yesterday 50's but then chilly overnight.  Rain and temps falling now so both stoves are going to keep the house warm.  They are talking about snow tonight but nothing will stick the ground is to warm.  They are calling for temps in the low 30's.  Me and the dogs will bring in  more wood today and fill the kindling barrel up.


----------



## Isaac Carlson

We are burning mostly silver maple right now.  We got a ton of it from a tree service last year.  We are trying to save the harder wood (oak, elm, ash, etc...) for the colder season.


----------



## sweedish

I have a load of quaking aspen in, separated out my ash and the other nicer firewood earlier today, save that for colder weather


----------



## thewoodlands

We had some pretty good wind gust this morning but they have backed off so I just started a fire with a load of cherry, the temp is 24.2.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 30.4 tonight with some maple and cherry going in the Liberty for the overnight fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 25.2 tonight with the Liberty getting some maple and cherry.


----------



## mrd1995

thewoodlands said:


> It's 25.2 tonight with the Liberty getting some maple and cherry.


I can't wait to contribute to this thread! Counting down the days to install, everything is paid just waiting on the installer now.


----------



## Gearhead660

Nuthin' burning this week.  Highs close to 70 all week.  Last year we had snow on the ground at this time.


----------



## MMH

Also nothing at the moment; have had some morning fires, some night fires, and some nothings as our temps still hit into the 60-70 range. We even broke a record last week for the highs hitting mid 70s. Here’s my forecast for the next week. We’ll see what happens.


----------



## Caw

Here in MA we had a cold snap in late oct with day temps 30-40 degrees and overnights around 25-35. We got 6 inches of snow on Oct 30th! I was burning poplar rounds and uglies during the day and big splits at night. Its not the best type of wood but it was free, dry, and let's me save my hardwood for the winter!

The next 10 days are all going to be 65 during the day and 45 at night so I'm gonna shut down the stove and let the heat pump do its thing. I'll give the stove a good cleaning before the real cold gets here and we're burning 24/7.


----------



## heavy hammer

Probably won't have a fire for a few days.  Had temps in the 70's today and the weekend looks very nice as well 60's plus.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Same here as many of the rest of y'all. I haven't had a fire for around 4 days and probably won't until tuesday when temps drop again. It was 76 here today and a low of only 50 for tonight with same pattern til tuesday. I did finally get my rear in gear this weekend and brought wood to the front porch so im ready at least.


----------



## EbS-P

It was down to the  lower 40s/upper 30s here last couple nights. Burned through a bit of yellow pine.  Didn’t need to but first fire of the season is fun. Back into the 80s later this week.


----------



## Coach B

Had a couple of fires last weekend when we got down in the upper 20s. Right now its way to warm but loaded and ready for the next cold snap with a mix of white oak, cherry, and locust.


----------



## Riteway

I'm burning the pallet that my newly-installed insert came on. Kind of a gross analogy, but it kind of seems like a postpartum animal eating it's afterbirth! Pallet burns great though...got a hot fire going in a jiffy.

After the pallet wood burns down, I'll be reloading with tulip tree wood.


----------



## thewoodlands

Just ash, we were in the low 70's today.


----------



## MMH

The 60-70 weather is gone, winter is here. Had first snow fall over weekend not a lot in the valleys  a couple inches. Temps commensurate with winter. Highs in the 20-30 range lows in the teens or less. Currently 27 out and feels like 17, tonight a low 11 potentially near 0 with the chills etc. got off work this morning and threw the trusty ol pine in. Might start breaking into the juniper/mahogany tonight.


----------



## RodM

The past few days here, it has been 70 plus, where the hell is my winter? I can't wait to move upstate to get the cold and snow I love. 

MMH: I am jealous of your snow


----------



## MMH

RodM said:


> The past few days here, it has been 70 plus, where the hell is my winter? I can't wait to move upstate to get the cold and snow I love.
> 
> MMH: I am jealous of your snow


 And I’m jealous of others I’m hoping for that drop a couple feet storm!


----------



## Stinkpickle

Just ashes in ours.  We’ve been vacationing in Florida and came back to warm temps here in Iowa.  The cold front moves in tonight, though.


----------



## MMH

Currently 35 out feels like 26, stove is cruising on some pine rounds. Low of 7 tonight will have some juniper mahogany pine mix for the night


----------



## johneh

23 here right now stove is cold
going to be different tomorrow


----------



## thewoodlands

Since we haven't had a fire for what seems like two weeks and the temps getting down in the 30's, I started a small cherry fire in the Liberty.


----------



## fvhowler

Stove sitting idle. A humid 80 degrees today in south/central NC. My fire season has not yet started, A/C came back on this week. Ugh.


----------



## Diabel

Back to burning tomorrow.....back to normal!


----------



## Gearhead660

Back to normal for Nov.  Into 30s tonight.  Pine, Ash and Elm.


----------



## Diabel

Fire is on this morning. That was a crazy warm week last week.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Been warm here...pretty ho humm weather really. It's only gettin down to low forties here but I said screw it and tossed a bit of pine in with one round of red oak.


----------



## Country Living in VA

The temps here have been all over the place. Day time temps in the 60’s most of the week and lows in the 40’s.  Last night was 33 and it appears that the seasonal temps are coming.  I have kept the stove burning over the past three weeks-just adding a few chunks here and there on the warmer days.  Burning hickory, ash & maple.


----------



## heavy hammer

We have had some warm temps but the cold is back.  Some major wind as  well, ash and walnuts the last few nights.


----------



## mecreature

Ash and Pine to knock the chill off. Saving the Oak and Black Locust for winter. We had some warm days a couple weeks ago but I think they are gone.


----------



## Tar12

Oak and Black locust low and slow in the BK Princess..24 hour burns... lows in the upper 20 to low 30s at night..going to warm up in a few days so the propane will take the chill off..


----------



## BigJ273

Had first fire of the season last night. All cherry. Gonna be cold the next two nights. Cherry on the menu for them also.


----------



## Diabel

Tar12 said:


> Oak and Black locust


Big guns are out already! Today i switched from basswood/hemlock combo to hard maple. Not a nice day today and the merc. dropping tonight to unseasonable low. A nice warmup apparently by Thur.


----------



## kennyp2339

Its a mix of uglies till al least mid December, oak, ash, maple, cherry, all sorts of short, fat, knotty wont stack correctly lol , stove doesnt care though and its heating perfectly so far.


----------



## Labfriend

Maple and a couple sticks of "hhmmm that looks like it will burn"


----------



## WiscWoody

I have some very dry 42 year old mahogany interior door frames that I took out yest and today and cut up in the miter saw. I rea should just put a few pieces in with some cord wood since it lights almost instantly. But I don’t know, I have soo much kindling including bins upon bins of dry cedar scrap from when I worked at a cedar Wood shop.


----------



## Tar12

Diabel said:


> Big guns are out already! Today i switched from basswood/hemlock combo to hard maple. Not a nice day today and the merc. dropping tonight to unseasonable low. A nice warmup apparently by Thur.


Big guns are all  I have currently....I have been blessed the last couple years with plenty of Oak and I stumbled across $160 a cord locust in which I prefer so I am going to snag as much of it as I can as it is hard to get close to me.. I will mix it with the oak to stretch it out...lol


----------



## Qvist

Temps down to 30 today. It will most likely be the first hard frost.  Mix of Ash and Walnut in stove.


----------



## sweedish

Austrian pine and quaking aspen tonight.


----------



## Riff

White pine and cherry.


----------



## JimBear

Osage & Mulberry tonight, just grabbed what was closest.


----------



## thewoodlands

They have us with a low temp between 13 & 15 in the morning, tonight we'll let the wood stove burn down and we'll run the pellet stove for the constant heat. In the morning we'll get the wood stove going again.


----------



## stoveliker

Low of 25 tonight. Maple, red oak, two splits of cherry, and one 5" round of red cedar - was laying in my stack like it couldn't wait anymore...
Tomorrow it'll be maple, sassafras, and a split of oak.


----------



## FPX Dude

Rain today/tomorrow, so Almond, or like the 'ol boys say...ammin!


----------



## MMH

Had rain all day today temps weren’t terrible but no solar gain obviously so lit the stove up this afternoon. Still burning down some coals then will load up some more pine to tonight’s fire.


----------



## JimBear

Stuck in some Honey Locust & Osage tonight.


----------



## Fat wood

I'm a oak guy! I get up for for work around 3:30 am. Filled stove, got a call from my wife. It 90° in here. Can't wait for the temps to really drop. First year with mama bear. I don't miss the hassle of my former epa stove.


----------



## Jay106n

Not the coldest night so I got my “Now ‘n later” combo going on. A few pine & hemlock sticks for the now, and red oak & shagbark hickory for the long run later.


----------



## Jay106n

stoveliker said:


> Low of 25 tonight. Maple, red oak, two splits of cherry, and one 5" round of red cedar - was laying in my stack like it couldn't wait anymore...
> Tomorrow it'll be maple, sassafras, and a split of oak.



Way to plan ahead!


----------



## Jay106n

Just for the record, I have a solid pine burning regiment in place along with my hardwoods, and since the inception of this thread (5 1/2 years, 114 pages, & 2800+ replies later) I have not mutated or had a chimney fire.


----------



## kennyp2339

This past Wednesday and Wednesday night was a good test of everything, breezy here with a high temp of 34 deg f, then that night we dropped to 19, threw a load of red oak uglies in the stove, life was great went to bed with the inside temp of 73 upstairs, woke up Thursday morning and it was 71 upstairs, perfectly fine tuned burning.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 48 and dropping and with the temps tomorrow only hitting 38 or 39 I started a fire tonight, we have some cherry and maple going.

I think we had a high of 64 or 65 today so the house was still 72 tonight from the fire we had last night.


----------



## MMH

Same here had good temps last few days lows weren’t even terrible (30s) but temp tonight is dropping like a brick, in low 20s and still goin will be around 10 for the low. Couple little rounds of juniper and mahogany in with the pine tonight


----------



## Purodude

I’m burning birch at the moment.  But have Garry oak, American chestnut, European horse chestnut, cherry, western red cedar, Douglas fir, deador  cedar, cypress, black locust, so pretty much anything that’s free. Lol


----------



## Deets

Red elm and some white oak


----------



## HisTreeNut

Burning the end of last year's wood along with scrappies & uglies..


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 43 now with rain and supposed to stay there for the night. I have two sticks of pine and two red oak rounds going in for the overnight.  It's been unseasonably warm here for the last two weeks....60s and 70s for the most part. I will be glad when it cools down for good.


----------



## shortys7777

Load of ash. Low of 34 tonight.


----------



## heavy hammer

Still burning ash with walnut.  A little maple here and there.  I have been working a lot these past couple of weeks 16 hour days with the wind and some of our lines burning down from a storm a few weeks ago so the wife has been doing a good job keeping the house warm for when I get home.  A couple of the cold days were tough nothing better than a warm stove to come home to.  I fell asleep in front of the Kuma in the basement for a few hours the one night on the tile floor with the labs I was so cold and worn out.


----------



## ozarkoak

Cooled down today and this evening 40 degrees right now I'm betting down to low to mid 30's by morning. I let the house get cold this afternoon in hope of some solar gains, no dice. House got to 60 degrees and it was time to light up.  Started off with some red oak limbs moved on to some white oak heart wood. House is up to 75 degrees now. I still have to learn this stove. I would like to keep it about 70 but not have to start off with a cold box when reloading. My house is really small 1300sqft (if that) and this Mansfield is a lot of stove. I have still not yet fully loaded the stove, most I have loaded is probably about 1/4 full.


----------



## thewoodlands

We went from 32 to 40 degrees tonight so the overnight load is all cherry splits.


----------



## MMH

Had another little cold front move through today with cold air behind it for the next few days, highs 30s lows in the teens or lower. Got off work this morning and house was 60, got stove goin and threw a decent pine round in stove cruised on that all day. Now we’re a good 72 in the house; I’ll stuff her full of pine for the night fire.


----------



## Diabel

VC is stuffed with 3 yr old hard maple. Will reload in the morning with softwood.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 31.5 tonight with a load of cherry going in the Lopi Liberty for the overnight fire.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Low 40s tonight for the low. I got a half load of post and red oak goin just now. Sadly I'm out of pine lol.


----------



## heavy hammer

Another cold rainy night, some ash and a little walnut with maple.


----------



## Jay106n

heavy hammer said:


> Another cold rainy night, some ash and a little walnut with maple.



How does the Walnut burn? I’ve never burned any, but my neighbors yard is full of them, so I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before one comes down and I’ll be able to snag some.


----------



## MMH

Low headed for low teens; more pine for Dorothy to eat through


----------



## Gearhead660

Rainy night.  Perfect weather to sit by stove.  Full of Ash for tonight.


----------



## Qvist

37 tonight Burning Silver Maple


----------



## Mark N MO

The morning reload; 2 red oak , 2 white oak, and 3 hickory splits.  All lovingly aged 3 years, and combine to make a satisfying glow in the belly of our 91 Buck.  I expect this load to last till this evening.  Life is good.


----------



## heavy hammer

*Jay106n the walnut burns great.  I just notice a lot of ash.  The wood seems to leave a large amount of fluffy white ash once burned but other than that I like it.  *


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 34.2 tonight with some cherry on the bottom row with two splits of maple in the middle up top with two smaller splits of cherry up top on each side.


----------



## MMH

Currently 21 out with the feels like 13 low of around 15 tonight; burning down coals from the load at noon. Trusty ol pine still goin strong, tonight I’ll throw some decent sized juniper and mahogany rounds in with the pine. Happy Thanksgiving all.


----------



## NickW

Been burning 1/2 loads of silver maple as needed during the day, mix of ash and silver maple overnights. Highs have been close to 50, lows in the 20's or 30's. Been burning off & on since Oct 2nd. Have only gone through about 1/2 cord of mostly softwood.


----------



## heavy hammer

I cleaned out both stoves and filled the garage back up today as filling the kindling barrel up.  we have 50 and rain so I have a few ash splits in the basement stove.  I probably won't fire up the upstairs one till tonight.     Me and the dogs spent some time in the woos this afternoon doing some retrieves so now a warm stove feels good.  Happy Thanksgiving to everyone


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was foggy and in the 30s this morning but after the sun broke through it got up to high 50s today. It's going down to low 30s tonight and I got some more post and red oak ready to go in the stove. The house stayed warm all day from the wife cookin so I didnt have to have a warm up fire this mornin.


----------



## MMH

Temps today in the 30s but I underestimated the sun and cooking all day! House was around 76 so hard to crack a window for just a bit. Tonight will be single digits so I’ll be stuffing mostly juniper and mahogany in tonight. Hope everyone had a good turkey day!


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a cherry fire this morning but when I came in around 2 today the house was at 75 from all the cooking so tonight we'll go without a fire, we're still at 72 in the house tonight and 43 outside with some rain.


----------



## sweedish

Jay106n said:


> Just for the record, I have a solid pine burning regiment in place along with my hardwoods, and since the inception of this thread (5 1/2 years, 114 pages, & 2800+ replies later) I have not mutated or had a chimney fire.



Yet


----------



## sweedish

I’m still burning pine and punky ash. I’ve almost gotten a shed bay cleaned out, maybe a half a cord left, weather depending it should be cleared out mid December.


----------



## stoveliker

60 F today. Sunroom is 84 now. So my stove is cold, dark, and lonely place... Even the minisplit is off with the sliding door to the sunroom open...


----------



## thewoodlands

It was in the low 40's this morning so we had another fire with some Cherry, I just put three Cherry splits on some coals from the mornings fire which will get us to the overnight fire.


----------



## thebaron23

Basswood. I had to drop a couple to get at my bread and butter so I use it during shoulder season. 

Otherwise 90 percent white ash 10 percent sugar maple.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's  32.7 tonight with another load of Cherry in the Liberty for the overnight fire.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 27 with 10-15 mph wind and a feels like temp of 17. I loaded up with more post and red oak. Looks like we are getting our first real taste of winter this week after a abnormally warm stretch with lows in the twenties for a couple days and a slight chance of snow though I doubt that happens.


----------



## firefighterjake

White birch with a bit of beech.


----------



## JimBear

Loaded up with Osage tonight


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 42.1 tonight with another load of Cherry providing the heat for the overnight load.


----------



## Diabel

It has been a relatively warm week in the east. Wet though. Some hemlock, basswood and a split of hard maple will handle the overnight duty.
Will reload around 8:00


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 25 right now with a low of 22. I loaded up with black jack for the night.


----------



## Riff

Sitting just above freezing outside and flurrying. Toasty inside with some cherry and black walnut.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Uglies and leftover wood from last year.  Wifey is toasty & is happy...


----------



## Qvist

Down to freezing tonight Burning a mix of pine, Silver Maple, Ash, Hickory and Red Oak. Might be a bit of Walnut too. (I didn't separate by species)


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 33.4 tonight with another load of Cherry going in the stove.


----------



## MMH

It’ll be 7-12 tonight, tomorrow night 0-5 will save the mahogany/juniper for tomorrow night; stuffing more pine in for tonight’s burn


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 27df with red oak going in the 74.  Loaded on coals from a black jack load last night.


----------



## Mark N MO

We're at a balmy 33°, here.  This morning's reload is all white oak, 3 splits worth.  Should last the day.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Mark N MO said:


> We're at a balmy 33°, here.  This morning's reload is all white oak, 3 splits worth.  Should last the day.



Where are you at in SW mo if you dont mind me askin.


----------



## shortys7777

Some pine. Have some ash for the over night tonight. Mid 30s.


----------



## MMH

More pine today currently high 30s out; got a nice shot of the cat from last nights burn. We’ll see wat tonight brings.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're just a touch over 28 tonight with the temps in the morning hitting around 40, we'll go with another load of Cherry tonight.


----------



## MMH

Still burning down some coals from this mornings fire, lows tonight are near 0 F, will be using juniper/mahogany tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 40 now and raining. It will be around 32 in the morning with a rain snow mix. I got post oak going for overnight.


----------



## Gearhead660

Bunch of Ash.  Down to 20 overnight.  Been burning 3 loads a day for last week to keep this big ol house warm.


----------



## Mark N MO

Grizzerbear said:


> Where are you at in SW mo if you dont mind me askin.



Near Alba, north of Joplin/Webb City.  Howboutchoo?  Currently reloading with 3 white oak splits and 1 forearm sized hickory limb.  The hickory makes our neck of the woods smell like a rib joint, when the CAT kicks in.  Should last till late this PM .


----------



## Grizzerbear

Mark N MO said:


> Near Alba, north of Joplin/Webb City.  Howboutchoo?  Currently reloading with 3 white oak splits and 1 forearm sized hickory limb.  The hickory makes our neck of the woods smell like a rib joint, when the CAT kicks in.  Should last till late this PM .



Bennett springs.....west of lebanon. Always curious when I see another member of hearth from southern missouri. Never been there I don't believe but I  have worked construction in Carthage before. It was at one of the grade schools though I can't remember what it was called. And yeah I agree on the hickory lol....it always reminds me of barbeque.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 33.2 this morning with more Cherry going in the wood stove. Since we might have some rain coming in, we put in two loads of Cherry in this morning.


----------



## Diabel

MMH said:


> More pine today currently high 30s out; got a nice shot of the cat from last nights burn. We’ll see wat tonight brings.
> View attachment 268287


I can never get my BK cat to glow that bright. It mostly glows dark orange and sometimes it does not at all. The VC cat on the other hand sometimes glows like the sun at noon.


----------



## MMH

Diabel said:


> I can never get my BK cat to glow that bright. It mostly glows dark orange and sometimes it does not at all. The VC cat on the other hand sometimes glows like the sun at noon.



Yeah honestly I’ve never had it glow that bright either! Usually same an orange or nothing. I just happened to wake up other night came out for water and noticed a bright glow from Dorothy, kind of worried me at first then I realized what it was haha. I did vacuum the fly ash that day maybe that’s what it was.


----------



## Mark N MO

Grizzerbear said:


> Bennett springs.....west of lebanon. Always curious when I see another member of hearth from southern missouri. Never been there I don't believe but I  have worked construction in Carthage before. It was at one of the grade schools though I can't remember what it was called. And yeah I agree on the hickory lol....it always reminds me of barbeque.



I've got family in Camdenton.  Spent many deer seasons in the woods just south of Camdenton.  My favorite uncle on my mom's side lives there.  He has a Lopi Freedom stove.  We compare notes all the time about cutting, splitting, and burning.  It's probably his wood stove that made me realize how nice it is to fuel the heat in your home from the sweat of your brow, from work on your own land.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 33.8 tonight with a load of Maple going in the wood stove.


----------



## JimBear

Put some Ash & Red Oak in tonight


----------



## Diabel

This shoulder season just doesn’t want to go away
I decided to spice it up. Full load of yellow birch for the over night


----------



## Grizzerbear

Mark N MO said:


> I've got family in Camdenton.  Spent many deer seasons in the woods just south of Camdenton.  My favorite uncle on my mom's side lives there.  He has a Lopi Freedom stove.  We compare notes all the time about cutting, splitting, and burning.  It's probably his wood stove that made me realize how nice it is to fuel the heat in your home from the sweat of your brow, from work on your own land.



My father graduated out of Camdenton and my grandparents lived just south of Camdenton on the lake on wagon wheel rd off of 54. Lots of good memories there fishing and swimming.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 40 now with a low of 31 in the morning. I got a red oak round and 3 splits of post oak going in the stove for overnight.


----------



## MMH

Low tonight 8-12 F, mostly pine and a couple juniper limbs for tonight. Still not a lick of snow on the ground which is disappointing


----------



## thewoodlands

The last I looked it was just above 34, we'll go with another load of Cherry tonight. The wood stove is getting full of ashes so tomorrow morning I'll take some out.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 20s, low tonight 6-12. It was pine today and it’ll be more pine tonight.


----------



## Mark N MO

Looking for a low in the mid 20s, sounds like a job for a load of  white oak.  Maybe a split or two of hickory, just for ambiance.  .  Let's do it.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 38 here now with a low of 29 expected. I got a load of red and post oak going for the night. I needed to clean out ashes also but it was dark already when I realized so I'll mess with it tomorrow.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 26.2 at the moment with a possible low of 18 tonight, I switched over to the pellet stove for the constant heat overnight since we heat from the basement. The fan is off on the wood stove for the night and it's burning down some coals.


----------



## JimBear

Red Oak & Ash tonight


----------



## kennyp2339

3 big splits just loaded in on top of a large mass of hot coals, (1) cherry, (1) red oak and (1) white ash, splits are 18" long and  a hair over 6" wide


----------



## heavy hammer

I have been putting some maple and cedar splits in the morning.  This past week has been some long days at work so my wife has been feeding the stoves.  The garage was full of maple, ash and walnut but by last night there wasn't much left.  The house has been warm and it only required about an hour to fill the garage back up.  Nothing better than a warm house to come home to after a long cold day.  A few days we were soaked by the end of the day which made it even worse.


----------



## Riff

Sitting right at freezing now and dropping into the 20's tonight with possibly our first snow of the season. Load of pine going in the stove.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 38 now with a low of 31 expected. Another mix of red and a big crotch piece of post oak going for overnight.


----------



## MoDoug

Grizzerbear said:


> Bennett springs.....west of lebanon. Always curious when I see another member of hearth from southern missouri. Never been there I don't believe but I  have worked construction in Carthage before. It was at one of the grade schools though I can't remember what it was called. And yeah I agree on the hickory lol....it always reminds me of barbeque.



Great memories of fishing Bennett with my dad in my teens. I have a 5.25 lb. rainbow on my wall from there. Beautiful area.


----------



## Grizzerbear

MoDoug said:


> Great memories of fishing Bennett with my dad in my teens. I have a 5.25 lb. rainbow on my wall from there. Beautiful area.


Wow that's a dandy. It's great fishing on the river below Bennett as well. Lots of rainbows, browns and small mouth.


----------



## thewoodlands

With the temps dropping to just above 20 or a few degrees below, we've been burning cherry during the day and a bag of pellets at night.


----------



## MMH

Low around 10 tonight, still rocking pine.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 17.2 earlier this morning with another load of cherry going in the wood stove and the pellet stove being shut off for the day.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It is 24 now with post oak in the 74. Going up to 54 today with lots of sunshine. House should be toasty this evening.


----------



## NickW

Last night was 2 ash, 1 cherry and 4 sugar maple. Very nice coals this  morning. 

As happy with the heat output as I was last year with the new stove (50SNC30), this year with better seasoned wood has been even better. Always liked ash, but the coals on a full ash load were nothing compared to what sugar maple leaves. The combo fires with some easier lighting chunks (ash & cherry) along with longer coaling chunks (sugar maple) has been keeping the temperature up all night long with the mid 20's we've been seeing overnight. Come colder overnights it'll be sugar maple and beech, maybe a little ash or cherry to get it firing. 

Also, I've been using a suggestion from another thread about daytime fire maintenance and keeping the coals, stove & flue hotter. That's been a huge difference in getting the next load going. Thanks for all the tips and suggestions over the last year!


----------



## Woody5506

Been burning Siberian elm with a split or two of honey locust. Not a fan of the elm but it does coal up pretty nicely.


----------



## shortys7777

Winter temps seem to be here to stay for most of the nights atleast. 23 last night. Had a load of oak. 3rd year burning and I'm seeing the difference in how much better my wood is. Especially from my first year.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 31.8 tonight with a load of cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Stove is cold since last night. It was 75 in the house this morning and It got into the low 70's today. I think it was actually a new record high temp for the day. It's still 62 out and we will stay in the low 50s tonight. Stove will stay empty tonight with the heat pump will do the light work for the warm snap.


----------



## MMH

Low around 8 tonight, throwing some more pine in; winter weather advisory starting tomorrow night...we’ll see


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 29.1 tonight with more cherry seeing some action.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 33.2 tonight with a load of cherry going in the wood stove. I think our high temp today back in the pines was 45 today but in Potsdam NY it was 49.


----------



## sweedish

Was about 45 as a high today raked  coals this morning and got those burned down, then cleared the ash out. Relit the stove and this evening it’s a load of cherry loaded east west.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 39.1 tonight with another load of cherry going in the wood stove.


----------



## NickW

26 and sugar maple.


----------



## sweedish

More cherry and ash


----------



## heavy hammer

we went from 30's to 50's and rain back to the 30's.  Still feeding the stoves ash and walnut a little maple here and there as well.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Was 60 degrees today and has since dropped into the upper 40's.  Have been burning uglies & pine.  Just started a small fire to get the chill out of the house for the wifey...


----------



## BigLou

Tonight (and this winter), it’s 2 year old pin oak and shagbark hickory in the Buck 74.

Just went over a coworker’s house and cut up some black locust with the new saw. Those chips were particularly yellow. Can’t wait to burn that in a few winters.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 27.3 tonight with a forecast low of 20, just another load of cherry going in the stove.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 32 with a low of 25 tonight. I have a load of post and white oak in the stove for tonight.


----------



## Mark N MO

The morning reload is the typical white oak and hickory splits combo meal deal, 3 oak.....2 hickory.  With a current temp of 20°, I'll slide out the primary air control a little more than usual to get the desired BTU output.  I'll be reloading a little sooner this evening as a result.


----------



## MMH

Finally got snow looks like a white Christmas after all! Got off this morning and plowed the driveway and shoveled, around 3-6”. Threw some trusty pine in the stove to warm the house up. Brought some mahogany and juniper in for the next couple nights.


----------



## fvhowler

Brief warm spell ended today.  Man, I really hate to warm, humid days this time of year. Dropped from 60* to 45* in 1.5 hours. Will be in the mid-30s tonight so stove is back in service. Still burning lots of post oak with white oak mixed in. Wood I will burn this winter includes post oak, white oak, mockernut hickory, red maple and water oak. Good to be burning again after a slow start to the season.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 25.5 tonight with the a forecast low of 15 in the morning. The wood stove has some hard & soft Maple on the bottom row, the next row is all Cherry with two rounds of Ironwood on top.


----------



## MoDoug

It's 24, spiraling to 21 for a low. I've got a mish mash of wood, oak, hickory, bradford pear and black locust.  And some kind of unidentified white soft wood. She's putting out the BTU's!


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was 25 when I lumbered out of bed. I got a load of black jack and some hickory pumping some heat now.


----------



## firefighterjake

Beech and white birch.


----------



## Gearhead660

A seasonable 15*f  this morning.  Finally feels like winter.  Some ash odd balls in the T2,  ash and hickory in the insert.


----------



## MMH

5 degrees out, another load of pine


----------



## Riff

Sleeting outside. Starting with a load of pine this morning with cherry and black walnut for when the storm really hits.


----------



## Grizzerbear

28 here now with red oak and hickory. Sure wish we were getting some of that snow you north east folks are getting today. It literally fell apart at the Oklahoma and Missouri border and blew back up once it hit Illinois. We ended up with just a skiff.


----------



## johneh

It is -18  right now with a real feel (windchill) of -27
Furnaces loaded with hickory toasty in this old farmhouse


----------



## MMH

Another winter weather advisory tonight, few more inches of snow possibly. Temps warming up just before the storm with a low 20-30s. Pine for tonight, and I’ll drag some more juniper/mahogany in for the cold air at the end of the storm


----------



## MMH

Weird storm, some snow some sleet some rain. Not a lot of accumulation. Brought some wood in for the next few nights when the lows dip to 10 or below. Still rocking pine for now.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 9 degrees this morning so since I was going outside for the day, I put a bag of pellets in the P.S. and put it on manual feed. When I came in, I shut off the P.S. and I loaded up the Liberty with Maple, Cherry and some American Hophornbeam.


----------



## Grizzerbear

MMH said:


> Weird storm, some snow some sleet some rain. Not a lot of accumulation. Brought some wood in for the next few nights when the lows dip to 10 or below. Still rocking pine for now.
> 
> View attachment 269553


Lord above that's a big round lol. How much of the firebox does that take up?


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had a little warm up into the mid 40's today. Its 36 right now falling to 31 with a load of post oak going in later for overnight.


----------



## MMH

@Grizzerbear the first picture was a bit deceiving lol; it’s maybe 6” in length give or take so it won’t take up the entire box. I have some other mahogany rounds that are that diameter or larger, and a full 16-18” in length. Those will take the entire box. I had some last year that was huge also, burns forever and coals up like a hot rock.


----------



## Grizzerbear

MMH said:


> View attachment 269575
> 
> 
> @Grizzerbear the first picture was a bit deceiving lol; it’s maybe 6” in length give or take so it won’t take up the entire box. I have some other mahogany rounds that are that diameter or larger, and a full 16-18” in length. Those will take the entire box. I had some last year that was huge also, burns forever and coals up like a hot rock.


Icic....I really like your hearth pad and the black stone work by the way. That looks awesome.


----------



## MMH

Grizzerbear said:


> Icic....I really like your hearth pad and the black stone work by the way. That looks awesome.



Thanks. The wifey picked the stone and tile, it turned out really nice.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 2.6 this morning with a load of Maple, Cherry and American Hophornbeam going in the stove. When I go outside to work, I start the Pellet Stove so the wife doesn't have to worry about the wood stove fire.


----------



## CatfishHunter

Since we don't use the old fireplace in our house very much, I will go ahead and guess that there is a dead bat in or around our stove at the cabin!


----------



## Jay106n

Forecast is 5 degrees tonight. Getting some hickory coals going early.


----------



## EbS-P

Long leaf pine shorts and uglies. They are extra pitchy.  Takes right off.  Some poplar to keep the stove hot during the day.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

The dry pine is done, getting into my stacks of hickory for the foreseeable future!


----------



## sweedish

The coals from a load of birch, first time I’ve ever burned white birch. Sadly I didn’t get a chance to enjoy the smell since I had to leave for work


----------



## MMH

Low headed for single digits, more mahogany in the line up. Then pine for a few days and back to mahogany as the lows are hitting negatives.


----------



## Woodsplitter67

This was a pile of uglies.... oak, apple


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

sweedish said:


> The coals from a load of birch, first time I’ve ever burned white birch. Sadly I didn’t get a chance to enjoy the smell since I had to leave for work



Birch is such a wonderful smelling wood when it burns, make sure to save some for burning when you're around to enjoy it!


----------



## sweedish

A half load of cherry, currently 34 out, I’ll let it die out and do a full tonight


----------



## mcdougy

A full batch of ash for the night.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 32 tonight so I'm running the pellet stove. Tomorrow we'll put a few loads of wood in before all the rain gets here before or on Christmas day.


----------



## mcdougy

Your browser is not able to display this video.
































Settled in for the night.


----------



## mcdougy

13 hours since light off


----------



## mrd1995

38f this morning and misty, a few splits of Sassafras getting about 7hrs on 3-5 splits depending on size. Trying to learn the new stove and not melt it, is amazing what dry wood and modern technology does to supply heat from the probably the worlds oldest heat source!


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 31 this morning, after our first cup of coffee, I started a fire in the wood stove with some Cherry firewood. I just started another fire with Cherry but might just run the pellet stove later on for overnight heat.


----------



## mrd1995

Mid 30s with mixed precip, trying our first full load of oak, ash, and sass for tonight. Loaded at 9:30. I put it in on a full bed of coals, engaged the cat and lowered the air to low. See what sort of burn time we get out of this stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30.5 this morning with another load of Cherry going in the Liberty.

We did put in more Cherry and about 12 rounds of American Hophornbean before the rain comes in.


----------



## mrd1995

Just loaded a full box of Red Oak, White Ash, and some Sass. Still learning but liking the new stove. Mid 30s and damp.


----------



## MMH

Currently 22F out with wind chill making it 12, low tonight will be around -4. Threw that mahogany round from my other post in with some juniper and pine.


----------



## sweedish

Austrian pine, currently about 32 out.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 8.1 this morning with another load of Cherry going in the wood stove.


----------



## MMH

Currently 16 F our, stoves cruising on pine; lows tonight negative again, more mahogany on deck


----------



## Grizzerbear

We got up to mid fifties today. It's 41 now with a cold front blowing through. It's been really windy all day and we are going down to 22 tonight with wind gusts of 30mph. I got some black jack and hickory going in the stove right now and I will probably be burning that for the next few days. It's looking like our coldest air yet is coming in for tomorrow night with a low of 13 with negative wind chills. Looks like I'm finally going to let the stove really rip.


----------



## JimBear

Stuffed some Osage in tonight. Guessers are say around 10* tonight with winds up to 45mph & around 15* tomorrow so I will load with Osage tomorrow also.


----------



## NickW

A little sugar maple right now, probably more later maybe mixed with beech. Tomorrow night's supposed to be down to 6F, so probably a higher percentage of beech.


----------



## moresnow

9F actual. 34mph wind for a wind chill of -16F. 72F indoors. Reloading Elm in a hour or so to fend off this cold blast!


----------



## Jbeau009

A mixture of red oak and hickory because that's pretty much all I have in the wood pile. We're in the mid 30's but my fire is mostly for my own enjoyment and not so much heat.

ETA: Just found some cherry in the pile too.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 33.2 out the last I looked, I'm not sure if I'll go with the wood stove or pellet stove on a low setting.


----------



## ozarkoak

Lows are supposed to be around 24°  tonight.  31 right now. The wind is hammering though. I just stuffed the stove full of red oak and hickory. 73°  inside right now. The weather here is so weird. It was 65°  degrees today and suddenly the wind started whipping and rain started falling along with the temps. Seems to happen quite often here. When cold fronts come they let you know.


----------



## MoDoug

Currently 23F, calling for a low of 16 and gusts up to 35 mph, tomorrow a Christmas Eve high of 26F. This is the first real winter weather we've had. I've got oak and hickory in the fire, and a couple large splits of locust for over night burning standing by. Our wood rack is on the slim side for this winter, and this is what I've been holding back for.


----------



## MoDoug

mrd1995 said:


> Just loaded a full box of Red Oak, White Ash, and some Sass. Still learning but liking the new stove. Mid 30s and damp.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 270136



mrd1995, our stove back wall resembles your stove back wall. LOL


----------



## mrd1995

MoDoug said:


> mrd1995, our stove back wall resembles your stove back wall. LOL
> 
> View attachment 270220


Looks very similar indeed, we are very indecisive individuals and still deciding what to hang behind it. We are leaning toward corrugated roofing at the moment. With a live edge EAB killed White Ash slab. You have any plans for yours?


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 21 with a wind chill of 7df. I got some black jack rounds in the 74.


----------



## Caw

37 when I woke up so just tossed on a half load of maple to take the edge off. Going to be 55 today, 52 overnight, and 58 on Xmas. I'll be letting this go out and I honestly might not need to relight until tomorrow afternoon. We'll see. 






Its been an interesting year of temp ups and downs. I burned mostly poplar and uglies through shoulder season then during the extended cold snap late nov/early dec I plowed through the ash I cut from standing dead this fall. Im on to the good stuff now, 16% maple and oak and the weather decided to go bananas on us! I wish I had some more poplar...I hate burning the good stuff on warm days. C'est la vie. At least there's good stuff to burn!


----------



## MoDoug

mrd1995 said:


> Looks very similar indeed, we are very indecisive individuals and still deciding what to hang behind it. We are leaning toward corrugated roofing at the moment. With a live edge EAB killed White Ash slab. You have any plans for yours?



I'm a procrastinator. I'm going to put limestone slabs with grouting, under and behind the stove. We have a lot of it around here and I still need to gather more. I installed the stove legs on slabs so I could get it in place and the inspection done. Once it was usable there were more important things to be done, like fishing and boating...


----------



## MMH

Currently 2F out, got down to negatives again last night, house was 69 when I got up. Stuffed some pine in there. Will probabaly try to burn the coals down rest of the day. Another night forecasted for negatives.


----------



## MMH

Burning down coals, low tonight around 0 again, more mahogany and juniper.


----------



## Tar12

Currently 12 out head for a low of 10 with 0 windchill...letting the stove burn down some white oak and I will fill her back up with some 4 year old white oak and black locust and it will be toasty in here Christmas morning...


----------



## redktmrider

Both stoves full of 3 1/2 year seasoned white oak. Hitting coldest temps  we seen so far this winter, 18F with a 10F windchill.


----------



## Riff

Merry Christmas! Currently 27F, wind chill of 20F, and flurries. Have pine, cherry, and black walnut keeping the house toasty warm so the kids can run around in their pjs.


----------



## Caw

Riff said:


> Merry Christmas! Currently 27F, wind chill of 20F, and flurries. Have pine, cherry, and black walnut keeping the house toasty warm so the kids can run around in their pjs.



Its 63 degrees here and POURING rain. House is 68 still from my last fire which was only a half load a 7:30 am yesterday. Next fire will be either late tonight or tomorrow morning depending on what the temps do. 

I'm not gonna start a fire with a 5 degree temp difference that's for sure!


----------



## MMH

Currently 0F out and 71 in the house. Burning through coals at the moment, will have some pine later once done with the coals. Got a good picture of the cat again! Merry Christmas all!


----------



## WoodScrounger

Currently 22*F .  Burning mixture  of elm and cherry , mostly elm . Been cruising for hours.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 27 here now with a mix load of hickory, black jack and post oak. Expecting a nice warm up tomorrow with a high of 60 for the next two days then a cool down once again.


----------



## stoveliker

A rather random mix of 3 Eastern red cedar, 3 maple, 2 3" dia oak branches, 4 5*5*5" sassafras pieces, and a white oak round 5" dia and 7" long. (Yes, random scrounges, not sorted well...). About 18% for the oak (well an exact same size piece from the same trunk), and less for the rest. Firebox 3/4 full. Just started. Cat 3/4 active range, Tstat half swoosh.

40 outside now, going to 28 minimum - this will make for a nice waking up tomorrow.


----------



## Mark N MO

Temp is about 30°, that calls for an equal load of white and red oak, with a nice mix of hickory.  Smells good enough to eat.


----------



## Gearhead660

Been cold last 2 days here.  High of 10 yesterday.   Elm for breakfast,  lunch and dinner. Was a nice day for sitting around the stoves.


----------



## Gearhead660

Mark N MO said:


> Temp is about 30°, that calls for an equal load of white and red oak, with a nice mix of hickory.  Smells good enough to eat.


Love the smell of hickory.


----------



## JimBear

Loaded up with Osage again tonight, mid 20’s. Its what I have in the house so I’ll use it.


----------



## MoDoug

19 degrees right now, that should be the low for tonight. High of 46 tomorrow, I will let it die down and clean her out. I've been burning whatever I grab off of the rack. Mostly oak with some elm mixed in. The stove's been burning the candle at both ends today.




Your browser is not able to display this video.


----------



## stoveliker

Had dialed it in right ,or not, yesterday night: a good bed of coals left this morning at 28 F outside, but a bit colder than I had wanted at 63 inside. Fuel in the stove needed to be a bit more (more hardwood mixed in).

Anyway, loaded with mostly cedar, and some oak and maple. Will see how long it will last today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 21 this morning with more Cherry going in the wood stove, last night I burned a bag of pellets for heat.


----------



## stoveliker

Set the Tstat on high at 5.15 to bring down this stuff (red cedar, sassafras, and a bit of maple and oak) faster so I can better stuff the firebox with red oak tonight for the overnight fire.


----------



## Pinus strobus

Nice mix of ash, shag bark hickory, and white oak going right now.  It’s 18 F out and feels like 6.  My Kuuma Vaporfire running on low has my house heated to 72.  Life is good!


----------



## stoveliker

Reloaded after 12 hrs on mostly soft woods. Raked coals to the front, laid down big splits and smaller ones on top and in front. (6" wide, 4" thick).

Now only 4 yrs old red oak. Biggest splits I have so far (used to split smaller before the BK...). Had to go E/W for the length.

Should make it to tomorrow.  29 F outside, going to 22 F. Lowest temp so far for me with a BK.


----------



## stoveliker

The oak took 16 hrs to get down to reload stage, with the last 4 hrs on high.
Now put in 4 pieces: 5" round of birch, 3" split of poplar, 3" split of cedar, and a 2" branch of oak. It'll be 40 F today (minisplit territory), so I'll out this on low to keep the stove warm for a proper reload at night.


----------



## stoveliker

Those 4 soft pieces lasted 5 hrs. Put a bunch of odd shaped small pieces in for tonight; low of 30, tomorrow morning already 35, and 49 max. So the minisplit will be there to keep us warm; will let the stove go out on this, hopefully around 2-3 am.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 21 this morning, we're still burning Cherry.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 42 out now with a low of 28 tonight. I have another load of post oak and black jack for the heat tonight.


----------



## MoDoug

stoveliker said:


> Anyway, loaded with mostly cedar, and some oak and maple. Will see how long it will last today.


There's been comments here about how hot and fast cedar burns. How does the mostly loaded with cedar go, wondering how your experience is?


----------



## johneh

MoDoug said:


> There's been comments here about how hot and fast cedar burns. How does the mostly loaded with cedar go, wondering how your experience is?


It would not happen around here Cedar burns too hot and too fast 
for a stove fire on its own. Great to start a fire but I can see some poor 
guy with creosote in his chimney learning all about chimney fires.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 31 this morning with snow, the rain and the wind (40 mph gust) will move in after ten. The fire while having coffee was more Cherry.

We still have two face cord of Beech, Sugar Maple and some Red Maple leftover from last year, just waiting for some colder weather to move in before using it.


----------



## DuaeGuttae

MoDoug said:


> There's been comments here about how hot and fast cedar burns. How does the mostly loaded with cedar go, wondering how your experience is?



Remember that @stoveliker has a BK now which uses a thermostat to shut down the air if stove temperatures rise too high.  His experience of cedar may not match the experience of a tube stove.

That being said, we burn lots of "Texas/Mountain Cedar" (really Ashe Juniper but a cousin of Eastern red cedar) in our non catalytic stove, and we've had no problems either with overfiring or with having a good overnight burn.  We burn lots of small branch and trunk wood that is unsplit as well as some really large split pieces.  We have tons and tons of cedar on our property that needs to come down (and tons and tons of stems that are down that we need to process still), so I'm thankful that it is a perfectly fine firewood for us.   If you have a stash of cedar, I'd try smaller loads when you can supervise to see how your stove handles it.


----------



## stoveliker

MoDoug said:


> There's been comments here about how hot and fast cedar burns. How does the mostly loaded with cedar go, wondering how your experience is?



These were 7 or so 3" splits of 10" long red cedar. I stacked those in the back of the firebox. In front I added some blocky cut offs of oak, maple and sassafras.
The stove did not run hot; the BK thermostat took care of that as @DuaeGuttae  said. In fact the air coming in over the window (door) made the box burn up front to back, so the oak and maple were gone first and the (tightly stacked) cedar went last.

I did think about a tightly stacked load of easily ignitable soft wood during the (less controlled?) charring phase but it went amazingly well. All in all it behaved not any different than the oak load (other than the total burn time - but that's to be expected given the difference in BTU put in the box).


----------



## MoDoug

stoveliker said:


> These were 7 or so 3" splits of 10" long red cedar. I stacked those in the back of the firebox. In front I added some blocky cut offs of oak, maple and sassafras.
> The stove did not run hot; the BK thermostat took care of that as @DuaeGuttae  said. In fact the air coming in over the window (door) made the box burn up front to back, so the oak and maple were gone first and the (tightly stacked) cedar went last.


 I'm new to the world of burning wood, just coming up on my one year mark, so it's a sincere question on my part. Obviously the stove makes a lot of difference. I have a basic cheap stove, and it would be a completely different story for me. I have cedar available that I'm going to cut some for kindling mostly and maybe a little aroma here and there. It will be good to have some on hand.


----------



## stoveliker

MoDoug said:


> I'm new to the world of burning wood, just coming up on my one year mark, so it's a sincere question on my part. Obviously the stove makes a lot of difference. I have a basic cheap stove, and it would be a completely different story for me. I have cedar available that I'm going to cut some for kindling mostly and maybe a little aroma here and there. It will be good to have some on hand.



Sure, not a problem. I'm here to learn too!
If you have a lot of cedar (as in too much for kindling), you could mix one or two pieces into each load.

I don't understand the aroma remark though; if you have enough draft and the stove is properly sealed, you should not smell anything as everything goes up the chimney?


----------



## Caw

Brought in a few loads of red oak today. Going to be a good few days of burning!


----------



## heavy hammer

I have been burning still just a mix of ash and walnut.  Christmas eve, Christmas and yesterday we had some pretty cold temps in the teens so I ended up burning some four year old locust.  The basement stove was getting over 12 hour burn times and the heat.  It is definitely a difference when the stoves have that to burn.


----------



## MMH

Got home from work this morning and moved some wood to the quick grab on the porch, refilled inside as well. Stove was cold when I got home, House was 65F so cleaned out the ashes. Threw some pine in for the start up, lows in the negatives again for next 2-3 nights, brought some more mahogany and juniper in for tonight.


----------



## olesmoky

Red oak that was cut, split, and stacked in October 2019. It's a mix of what was standing dead, and some pretty live stuff. I check pieces randomly for moisture and it's almost all under 20%. 

It's always Red/White oak before bed and before I leave for any more than a few hours.


----------



## MoDoug

stoveliker said:


> I don't understand the aroma remark though; if you have enough draft and the stove is properly sealed, you should not smell anything as everything goes up the chimney?


Our stove doesn't have the best burn times, and it's not the largest of boxes, so I probably open it more than most, whenever I do we get a brief aroma of whatever is in there. 

Tonight it's oak and elm, and a tad of walnut. A low of 24 tonight, tomorrow it looks like our first real bout of winter is coming, snow, rain, wintry mix.... It's been very mild for us so far.


----------



## Tar12

Still enjoying these White Oak and Black Locust loads....lots of steady even heat for hours on end.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 31 now and it's going to stay pretty steady there for the night. I have a load of black jack and post oak again for tonight. Expecting some rain/freezing rain tomorrow morning and hopefully snow but probably rain thursday into friday so I filled the porch stash up again to beat the nasty weather.


----------



## MMH

Well usually January is my coldest month, but I’m looking at a chilly few days! Attached a forecast til Wednesday, looks like I’ll be pulling in a lot more mahogany than I thought. Tonight is 4 pieces of mahogany, 2 pieces of juniper, 1 pine, and little pieces of pine filler. This juniper round tricked me apparently and is just a smidge to big for an E-W or N-S loading, no matter it’ll be my diagonal piece for tomorrow’s heat (it’s 8” diameter).


----------



## stoveliker

MMH said:


> This juniper round tricked me apparently and is just a smidge to big for an E-W or N-S loading, no matter it’ll be my diagonal piece for tomorrow’s heat (it’s 8” diameter).
> View attachment 270616


Why not cut off an inch or two to make it fit? I'm collecting a bunch of round disks that I plan to stack in the stove at some point.


----------



## NickW

Just fired up a full load of beech and sugar maple. 

Full loads are way more controllable now that I'm not making a tunnel on hot restarts and they last longer too. Thanks Begreen! 

That hot spot in the bottom center is the doghouse air trying to drill a hole through a big maple split.


----------



## MMH

stoveliker said:


> Why not cut off an inch or two to make it fit? I'm collecting a bunch of round disks that I plan to stack in the stove at some point.



I suppose I could, but I didn’t notice it until I tried to reload tonight, so insteadI’ll just throw it in with tomorrow’s haphazard load


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 32 with sleet right now with a high of 36 today. I loaded the buck with post and black jack oak.


----------



## thewoodlands

Sine they forecast a cold morning (we had 14.5) we ran the pellet stove overnight but switched over to the wood stove for the day. Our high today was just over 16 degrees with a breeze.


----------



## MMH

Currently -2 F out tonight is 2 pieces of mahogany, 5 pieces of juniper and a couple small pine splits.


----------



## mrd1995

Currently 31F with 20 mph sustained wind, a small load of White Ash. Learning this stove does better with wood south of 18% MC, our Ash and Oak is providing some difficulty with controlling the off gassing MC of 18-22% depending on the size of the pieces.


----------



## stoveliker

Had an overnight fire of 3/4 firebox oak, 22 outside. Will keep the stove going on low for the day to supplement a bit of heat; it's going to be 40 and warming up overnight.


----------



## thewoodlands

Our low this morning was 7.2 degrees, more Cherry in the Liberty.

The 10 day forecast doesn't look that bad for this time of year so we'll put in two loads of Cherry this afternoon and save the better stuff for when it gets really cold.

We do bring in a certain amount of American Hophornbeam for overnight burns when we use the wood stove.


----------



## MMH

It’s -2 currently stuffed some more juniper in


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> It’s -2 currently stuffed some more juniper in


Has this winter been colder in your area than usual ?


----------



## MMH

thewoodlands said:


> Has this winter been colder in your area than usual ?



Not necessarily, we usually get cold snaps like this however this seems early. Normally this is January-early February weather, and typically we only have a couple of them. This seems early, and more frequent. Although this is purely anecdotal and January is just a couple days away.


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> Not necessarily, we usually get cold snaps like this however this seems early. Normally this is January-early February weather, and typically we only have a couple of them. This seems early, and more frequent. Although this is purely anecdotal and January is just a couple days away.


We had a couple weeks of colder weather earlier so we switched from pine to cherry, I'm just waiting for the single digit days and the minus temp nights before we get into the better hardwood.

We heat from the basement so there are nights that we use the pellet stove for the constant heat, last year we burned 53 bags of pellets.

This is our first year with a propane stovetop / oven which really heats up the place nice when cooking.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 20s feels like 11 ish; supposed to warm up and snow tonight.  All pine tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 29 out now with a low of 23 tonight. I have a load of red oak and a couple white oak rounds for overnight.


----------



## JimBear

Heading to around 5* tonight more so more Osage in the stove.


----------



## MoDoug

JimBear said:


> Heading to around 5* tonight more so more Osage in the stove.


I gathered my first Osage today, it has an odd color to it.

Our temp is currently 24, going down two more degrees for a low.  We've got red oak and black locust in the stove.


----------



## JimBear

Probably give it another hour or so then reload with a smaller load of Osage.  I am happy with 12 hours per full load with overnight temps just above 0*.  It’s still 77 in here.


----------



## heavy hammer

30's here and warmer temps coming with rain.  Walnut with a little ash and cedar splits.


----------



## MMH

Low of 6-12 F tonight, another load of pine.


----------



## Grizzerbear

30 degrees now with freezing rain. I got a full load of hickory in for the night.


----------



## JimBear

More Osage tonight, supposed to be around 15* tonight. I just loaded E/W tonight, last night was N/S. I am always amazed at the different burn times & heat output.


----------



## Mark N MO

First reload of the new year, with a temp of  32°,  snow and freezing drizzle is 4 forearm sized red oak splits.  CAT temp is nigh on 850°ish, primary air is mostly turned down.  Ladies and gentlemen,  the lowly 91 is on cruise mode till later this PM.


----------



## MMH

Happy new year everyone; 13 F outside currently, another load of pine going in.


----------



## shortys7777

Ash. Mid 30s. Might go buck some down oak this afternoon and start another stack.


----------



## heavy hammer

I have been throwing in some smaller locust pieces this afternoon.  I filled the garage back up this morning and then spent a few hours in the woods with the younger lab and we ended up soaked and muddy from the rain and melting snow.  So a warm stove sounds good right now.


----------



## NickW

Coals... way too many members of my wife's family in the house with slow cookers going. Windows open trying to keep it tolerable. It's Ok though, need to clean out the ash.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was 74 in the house when I got up. I had to run to town for work this morning to do water samples and check the roads so the wife fired the first load off for the new year.....white oak rounds and hickory. I'm still on coals from that load but I have more of the same on deck to go in here in a hour or so.


----------



## moosetrek

Here in the CA Sierras we're working on p-pine and a little oak.  Mid-30s so daytime burning only for now.

Oh, and a Happy New Year to all!


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

Finished up my stack of hickory now into a stack of oak, ash and cherry mixed. The stacks of wood in my long wood shed are on 10 ft pallet sections and 8 ft pallet sections. The 10 ft sections equal 1.8 cords of wood and the stacks on the 8 ft sections of pallets in my woodshed will give me 1.5 cords of wood. My used up hickory stack was on a 10 ft section so 1.8 cords used so far during "normal" winter burning.  After the mixed hardwood stack I'll be on be another 1.5 cords of just oak. I am guessing I will use all of that wood before Spring shoulder season and will probably dip into my 1.5 cord stack of ash and Norway maple but hopefully not need all of it before I'm back into true shoulder season woods of cherry, pine and birch. All these newly empty bins will be filled with ash and silver maple that are currently sitting on extra 10 ft pallets I have in my yard. Now that it is January I hope to start getting some more tree service log drops to keep my future wood supply up.


----------



## JimBear

Osage & Red Elm in the stove tonight. Supposed to be around 15 again tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 27.7 tonight and we have some cherry on the bottom row with the top row lineup of hard & soft maple we had leftover from last year.

It has started to snow but nothing heavy yet, hopefully we get close to five inches, that will make walking on the ice a tad easier.


----------



## NickW

Ash, sugar maple & cherry just getting lit...


----------



## JimBear

Around 10* tonight so  more Osage going in.


----------



## stoveliker

An overnight load of maple. Tomorrow warm enough for the minisplit, but I'll keep a small fire glowing on the lowest possible Tstat setting so that lighting off the overnight fire tomorrow evening will be fast and easy.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's about 30 here, I'll take some ashes out of the wood stove to the outdoor fireplace. Once I'm back inside, I'll start a fire with some maple and cherry.


----------



## thewoodlands

The Lopi Liberty is loaded with soft & sugar maple, some cherry splits and one small round of American Hophornbeam.

NOAA is calling for a low of 27 in the morning.


----------



## JimBear

More Osage tonight.


----------



## MoDoug

Low of 27 tonight, no wind all day, still ice on all the trees and bushes, burning elm and red oak.  Calling for dense freezing fog tonight and tomorrow.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 29 this morning with a red and post oak load going now. Expecting a high in the mid forties today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 27 this morning with another load of cherry going in the wood stove.


----------



## Caw

Currently regretting putting a few more pieces of ash in instead of letting the am fire die out. 35 out and we are in t-shirts sweating....annnnnd I still have flames. Whoops lol.






I have my thermostat programmed to only use the Den, Kitchen, and Dining Room for the display temps as they are the furthest rooms away. They are the best indicators of any need for the backup heat....though we won't need that unless we can't use the stove for some reason. It easily heats the entire house. I usually shoot for 72/73 and then 68 ish on the cool side of the house for max comfort/wood use efficiency.


----------



## heavy hammer

I should have let the basement stove die out as well last night, it was upper 30's overnight so the house was a little warm with both stoves going good.  I was out in the woods with the dogs late last night and between being cold and wet it felt good initially, but ended up being to much.  A big load of ash in each.


----------



## JimBear

This weeks loads will be Mulberry, American Elm, Slippery Elm, Walnut & a few chunks of Honey Locust that are going punky. Maybe an occasional stick of Osage just to liven things up a bit.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 30.2 out tonight with a forecast low of 27 in the morning, another load of the maples and cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was 29 out when I left this morning and the house was still 74. Its supposed to get in the mid fifties today so I will let the stove go cold until tonight.


----------



## mrd1995

Low 30s this morning, supposed to stay in the low to mid 30s rest of the week. Burning through a North East Hardwood Sampler Pack, starting to get an understanding on the stove. We are getting 10-12hrs of 4 or 5 splits (16-18"), could probably get longer burns if I cut to the recommended 22" for the stove. Live and Learn and Stay Warm!


----------



## sweedish

This has been a mild winter, I’m still burning pine and aspen and have been for 2 weeks.


----------



## stoveliker

37 now, 30 minimum tomorrow morning, 39 during the day tomorrow.

Played tetris with maple.
Nine ~4" splits and two 1.5" to fill some gaps on top.

Poor pic, but good heat.

Video is charring phase in the BK.


----------



## excessads

33 out, amazed how a load of unseasoned ash cranked up to 500F!


----------



## NickW

excessads said:


> 33 out, amazed how a load of unseasoned ash cranked up to 500F!


Ash is the best unseasoned wood. Lights and burns OK, gives decent heat. Waaaaay better seasoned though.


----------



## DuaeGuttae

Caw said:


> Currently regretting putting a few more pieces of ash in instead of letting the am fire die out. 35 out and we are in t-shirts sweating....annnnnd I still have flames. Whoops lol.
> 
> View attachment 271263
> 
> 
> I have my thermostat programmed to only use the Den, Kitchen, and Dining Room for the display temps as they are the furthest rooms away. They are the best indicators of any need for the backup heat....though we won't need that unless we can't use the stove for some reason. It easily heats the entire house. I usually shoot for 72/73 and then 68 ish on the cool side of the house for max comfort/wood use efficiency.



I saw this post and thought that the content might deserve a mention in your "timing" thread.  I realize it's not about keeping coals alive in preparation for an evening load, but it would be a good addition to that thread for people who come and have questions and read back threads to find the answers.  It's something to consider as a possibility when choosing "Option A."

I'm impressed that your little insert does such a good job heating your house.  Do you have excellent insulation and air sealing? 

In keeping with this thread, I will say that I have a fire made entirely of cedar splits and branches in the stove for the overnight burn.  It will actually only drop into the 50's, so not cold tonight and therefore no oak at all.  The cedar does suprisingly well and will leave lots of good coals, but an oak fire would be too much when the cloud cover tonight is acting as insulation for the outdoors.


----------



## stoveliker

2 hrs later, cat at 2/3 of the active zone, cruising nicely on the black maple.


----------



## mrd1995

Just loaded, a split of elm, red oak, black cherry and two more that the previous owner had stacked here not sure what no bark and no I'd markets but they burn well. 31F this morning.


----------



## Jay106n

Shagbark hickory, ash, and red oak


----------



## heavy hammer

Ash and more walnut holding steady in the 30's around here.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 21.7 tonight with a load of cherry & maple going in the Liberty for the overnight burn.


----------



## stoveliker

34, going down to 27 overnight. Windy. Last night's 9 pm load was done at 3 pm, so I cruised on a branch, a short split, and two more branches to keep it warm and keep some coals for easy and efficient relight at night while using the minisplit during the day.

Reloaded again at 9 pm with maple for overnight.
Split some sassafras splits into 1-2" splits and put them within radiative distance of the stove as they were still a bit too wet. Hope to be able to use them in a few days for the "keeping it warm" process during the day.


----------



## Gearhead660

Another foggy night.  Reloaded for the overnight burn.  Ash, some oak and I think a piece of hickory.


----------



## MoDoug

Low of 33 by morning, I'm burning whatever is next in line,, which happens to be elm, elm and elm. I didn't realize I had so much elm, but the Dutch Elm Disease leaves it's signature behind.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 21.2 this morning with another load of cherry going in the stove.


----------



## stoveliker

What can I say; the angled air tubes at the top sides in the BK firebox make it hard to play proper stove tetris. Or maybe it's that I have to empty out some ashes soon. Nevertheless, it's full of maple again. Will burn a little higher tonight b/c it'll be 24 F. Tomorrow still warm enough for the minisplit during the day.

I found the (1-2" dia) trunk of the christmas tree of last year in my stack today. Nice and dry. That'll keep some coals glowing tomorrow during the day for an easy restart with a real load in the evening.


----------



## MMH

stoveliker said:


> What can I say; the angled air tubes at the top sides in the BK firebox make it hard to play proper stove tetris. Or maybe it's that I have to empty out some ashes soon. Nevertheless, it's full of maple again. Will burn a little higher tonight b/c it'll be 24 F. Tomorrow still warm enough for the minisplit during the day.
> 
> I found the (1-2" dia) trunk of the christmas tree of last year in my stack today. Nice and dry. That'll keep some coals glowing tomorrow during the day for an easy restart with a real load in the evening.



I’ll 2nd this, the Tetris gets a smidge difficult on the top


----------



## kennyp2339

Loaded the stove up around 8:30 last night, a mix of red oak and ash, temps dropped to 16 this morning with a light, but stiff wind coming off the swamp, house held at 70deg f which is really nice, I have to leave for work soon and might load 3 or 4 more splits to carry the house to dinner time, suppose to get to 32 deg today.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 31 now with a full load of hickory and one white oak round in the stove. High of 36 expected today.


----------



## mrd1995

More Sassafras and a mystery split of something super dense and white, one of the remaining splits from the previous owners campfire pile. Stove Likes dry, dry we are getting longer more consistent heat out of our Sassafras than our Red Oak. Thought 19-23% Oak would be okay...guess again. Mid to upper 20s here.


----------



## excessads

What's cooking?  It's Ash baby!


----------



## Gearhead660

Some oak and ash uglies to start the day.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -2 this morning with a load of sugar maple and a few splits of ironwood providing the heat.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Alexa says it’s 22.  Just loaded oak and ash.


----------



## heavy hammer

We had temps in the teens last night so I kept the stoves loaded with ash.  We had upper 30's today so I let the stoves die out so I could clean them out quickly.  Then ash and walnut to heat the place up nicely tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 30 out  with a load of white oak and hickory going. Expecting a low of 20 tonight.


----------



## shortys7777

It's been all ash for me lately. Still have 3/4 cord of it on deck. High 20s tonight. Haven't seen many real cold nights for January here.


----------



## JimBear

Heading into the mid teens tonight, I put a slab of Oak, a round of Osage, a round of Honey Locust, 2 splits of Ash & small split of Mulberry in the stove. I got the stove up to temp, kissed mama, told mama & the girls I loved them then ran out of the house like my hair was on fire. The two oldest girls & three of the grand daughters (twins @ 6months & the other one is 5 months ) showed up @ 7:00pm.  None of them sleep thru the night & 2 of them are cutting teeth.    Luckily my rig is sitting at home tonight, I will be using diesel to stay warm tonight.


----------



## Diabel

JimBear said:


> Heading into the mid teens tonight, I put a slab of Oak, a round of Osage, a round of Honey Locust, 2 splits of Ash & small split of Mulberry in the stove. I got the stove up to temp, kissed mama, told mama & the girls I loved them then ran out of the house like my hair was on fire. The two oldest girls & three of the grand daughters (twins @ 6months & the other one is 5 months ) showed up @ 7:00pm.  None of them sleep thru the night & 2 of them are cutting teeth.    Luckily my rig is sitting at home tonight, I will be using diesel to stay warm tonight.


That is a full house/load.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 16.3 this morning with another load of cherry going in the wood stove. It looks like most of this week is nice until Sunday night when things get colder, it's time to bring in some better hardwood.

I'm pretty sure we have some yellow birch and some sugar maple stacked, two face cord but I'll check that today.


----------



## DuaeGuttae

It's been hovering just above the freezing point today with rain, and ice, and snow.  We decided it was a good time to heat with some of our gnarly but small oak, so this tote of wood is in the stove right now.




All except the largest piece on the right, which will probably form part of our overnight.  I think he might be missing his friends, though.




@Caw


----------



## Diabel

I always have just enough shoulder season wood to last me the fall and spring. This year with the temps (most days so far) hovering around freezing mark during the day i use shoulder season wood during the day and harder stuff for the overnight. Just took inventory of wood and it looks like i will be out of softwood in a weeks time. And this week they are calling for few degrees above freezing. Colder weather coming the last week of Jan. Not that i miss it.


----------



## stoveliker

I'm almost out of.my maple, the sassafras is mostly still too wet (I split it smaller now and have been drying it next to the stove).
I brought a wheelbarrow if some cedar, oak, and cherry into the basement to warm up so I can split it tomorrow and measure it's mc. I hope it's good enough, because in a week it'll be 10 or so at night and I am almost out of wood 

So my stove is dark, cold and lonely...

This was the first year with a big effort collecting wood, and I got ahead a lot. But that doesn't help me this winter ..


----------



## Diabel

stoveliker said:


> I'm almost out of.my maple, the sassafras is mostly still too wet (I split it smaller now and have been drying it next to the stove).
> I brought a wheelbarrow if some cedar, oak, and cherry into the basement to warm up so I can split it tomorrow and measure it's mc. I hope it's good enough, because in a week it'll be 10 or so at night and I am almost out of wood
> 
> So my stove is dark, cold and lonely...
> 
> This was the first year with a big effort collecting wood, and I got ahead a lot. But that doesn't help me this winter ..


It takes several years to get ahead. We have all been there.


----------



## stoveliker

Diabel said:


> It takes several years to get ahead. We have all been there.



Good thing the oil is cheap now.,.


----------



## heavy hammer

You will get a head. *  Like Diabel said it takes some time.*


----------



## Mark N MO

This evenings reload, is the same as this mornings.  Pure, unadulterated, strategically split, gently aged, and perfectly loaded red oak.  This reload should last until nearly 6:00 AM.  CAT temp is nearing 950°, very little to no flame, and great heat output.  This is my 13 year with the 91, we have a wonderful working relationship.


----------



## JimBear

A few splits of Siberian Elm for a quick fire to generate some heat & produce a quick batch of ash to throw on the drive way. I guess my least favorite wood is really worth something. No kids or grandkids tonight so it will be rather peaceful around the shack tonight.


----------



## Caw

DuaeGuttae said:


> It's been hovering just above the freezing point today with rain, and ice, and snow.  We decided it was a good time to heat with some of our gnarly but small oak, so this tote of wood is in the stove right now.
> 
> View attachment 271663
> 
> 
> All except the largest piece on the right, which will probably form part of our overnight.  I think he might be missing his friends, though.
> 
> View attachment 271664
> 
> 
> @Caw



Sad logs, best friends for life.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I've been pulling from the wood stack for the last few days. With three girls....one a infant....  a wife that works late and it getting dark so early I haven't had a chance to refill my porch stack until today. Me and my oldest daughter got out early this morning and replenished the porch stack which should last for the next month roughly.

Tonight it's currently 27 with a low of 23 expected and I have a load of red oak and hickory on deck after coals burn down.


----------



## thewoodlands

I didn't run an overnight fire and with the temps at 26 this morning, I loaded up the stove with more Cherry.


----------



## Caw

thewoodlands said:


> I didn't run an overnight fire and with the temps at 26 this morning, I loaded up the stove with more Cherry.



I need to have an overnight fire if the temp is below 40 at night. Well, that or a late evening load. The family isn't happy if its 62 in here when they wake up!

This morning its 24 outside so we have a red oak, cherry, and ash mix. Depending on how warm it gets today I'll either reload more ash this afternoon or let it die until the evening pre-overnight small fire. 

We're in that weird 25 overnight but 40s during the day weather. Kind of annoying burning schedule wise but it uses less wood at least!


----------



## thewoodlands

Caw said:


> I need to have an overnight fire if the temp is below 40 at night. Well, that or a late evening load. The family isn't happy if its 62 in here when they wake up!
> 
> This morning its 24 outside so we have a red oak, cherry, and ash mix. Depending on how warm it gets today I'll either reload more ash this afternoon or let it die until the evening pre-overnight small fire.
> 
> We're in that weird 25 overnight but 40s during the day weather. Kind of annoying burning schedule wise but it uses less wood at least!


It was cool in here this morning, 63 degrees on the main floor and 71 in the basement where the stove is. I ended shutting my eye lids in the recliner and waking up late so I said no fire.

I had the furnace set on 60 and that kicked on when we were getting up.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Caw said:


> I need to have an overnight fire if the temp is below 40 at night. Well, that or a late evening load. The family isn't happy if its 62 in here when they wake up!
> 
> This morning its 24 outside so we have a red oak, cherry, and ash mix. Depending on how warm it gets today I'll either reload more ash this afternoon or let it die until the evening pre-overnight small fire.
> 
> We're in that weird 25 overnight but 40s during the day weather. Kind of annoying burning schedule wise but it uses less wood at least!


Sounds exactly like my house except if it hits 69 or so my wife will inform me it's time to get the stove reloaded. Exact same weather pattern here as well and it is frustrating. It's very easy to overheat the house...for me anyways.....for my wife and the girls it seems impossible to do so lol.

It was 25 this morning when I reloaded with hickory and post oak. Expecting a high of 38 today.


----------



## Caw

Oh yeah I can bake us out of here very fast with this weather. On nice cold days I like to keep the closer room around 72, and the far rooms around 68-70 or so and its easy to maintain. With these mild temps it can balloon to 75 if I'm not careful with load size and/or turning the blower off. Even 32 vs 38 degrees outside is way easier to deal with.

I prefer it to be slightly warmer versus slightly cooler if I had to pick but anything over like 74 (outside of the stove room) is too much for me. 70-72 is just right.

Im loading up a small-medium ish load of ash and cherry now as its cooler than yesterday. Just gonna keep it rolling today instead of letting it die in the afternoon. It's 34 out right now. Oak for tonight.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Temps are in the 30's...a mix of pine, maple, & oak..


----------



## JimBear

Ash, Oak & Siberian Elm in tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 29.5 tonight with more Cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 27 this morning with a load of post oak and two red oak rounds going in the stove. Expecting mid fifties for the next couple days before the polar vortex.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 26.6 this morning with more Cherry going in the stove.


----------



## sweedish

30 out currently, load of pine for the overnight. I kind of like pine, lights/relights gets to temp fast, and it smells pleasant. Also can get 8 hours burn with a full stove.  

plus I’m holding off burning my nicer stuff for colder weather.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 27.5 tonight, just another load of cherry going in the wood stove.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 36 out now with it staying around 33 for a low. I loaded three post oak splits and two red oak rounds for the night.


----------



## MMH

Back from the new arrival; got us a little boy (1st kid) hectic times. Weather during day unusually warm 40-50s almost hit 60 our first day back I heard of for this month. Should be cold again in a week. Low tonight headed for teens. Trusty pine saves the night again.


----------



## JimBear

Ash, Oak & Osage in tonight, wind gusts to 35mph with temps in the 20’s. NWS has us on a Blizzard Warning, calling for 4”-7” snow tonight & tomorrow. Tomorrow’s winds are supposed to gust to around 45-50mph.


----------



## JimBear

MMH said:


> Back from the new arrival; got us a little boy (1st kid) hectic times. Weather during day unusually warm 40-50s almost hit 60 our first day back I heard of for this month. Should be cold again in a week. Low tonight headed for teens. Trusty pine saves the night again.
> 
> View attachment 272006


Congratulations on the birth of your son.


----------



## Caw

MMH said:


> Back from the new arrival; got us a little boy (1st kid) hectic times. Weather during day unusually warm 40-50s almost hit 60 our first day back I heard of for this month. Should be cold again in a week. Low tonight headed for teens. Trusty pine saves the night again.
> 
> View attachment 272006



Congrats! As a man with two kids and the second one on the precipice of being out of diapers all I can say is good luck my friend. I can see the light at the end of the diaper tunnel lol. Lots of work but they are great.

Eventually they become helpful and you get him out back splitting!


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 32 out with a load of post and red oak going in the stove. Expecting a little snow and some wind today. Supposed to have gusts of 40 mph.

Congrats MMH.....nothing like little ones. I got 3 myself. 11,6, and 6 months. They are a lot of fun.


----------



## heavy hammer

MMH congrads!  We have been having temps in the 40's so I let the basement stove go out.  Some maple has been keeping the PE fed but the house was 78 last night.


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> Back from the new arrival; got us a little boy (1st kid) hectic times. Weather during day unusually warm 40-50s almost hit 60 our first day back I heard of for this month. Should be cold again in a week. Low tonight headed for teens. Trusty pine saves the night again.
> 
> View attachment 272006


Congratulations.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 27 this morning with more cherry going in the wood stove.


----------



## Tar12

Same old locust and oak...very nice combo.


----------



## Diabel

Back at the lake this weekend, playing with the Princess. Seven splits of basswood should provide decent heat til tomorrow afternoon. Still unseasonably warm here. Calling for 8-10” of snow tomorrow. Then A bit of a normal Jan temps starting Mon. Loaded the VC with sugar maple before leaving the city.


----------



## heavy hammer

We had temps in the  mid 40's today but the rain and snow moved in so we are back to the 30's now.  Cedar splits and ash feeding both stoves.


----------



## thewoodlands

More cherry will go in the wood stove tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's going down to 29 tonight with more post and red oak for overnight.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Burning thru my last stack of two year old ash now.


----------



## Caw

Nothing today...its 55 out in January in New England!


----------



## Diabel

Reloaded the Princess about an hr ago with hemlock and white birch splits. We actually got 16-17 inches of wet snow. The trees are not liking it.


----------



## JimBear

Oak, Cherry & Osage going in tonight.


----------



## Gearhead660

MMH said:


> Back from the new arrival; got us a little boy (1st kid) hectic times. Weather during day unusually warm 40-50s almost hit 60 our first day back I heard of for this month. Should be cold again in a week. Low tonight headed for teens. Trusty pine saves the night again.
> 
> View attachment 272006


Congrats!  First is hectic, after a couple your a seasoned veteran.


----------



## Gearhead660

Was in 30s yesterday.   Only running the insert.   Load of elm last night, filled with pine this morning.   Installed a better blockoff plate and it seems to be heating better. Carried the load last night and only lost 2 degrees.


----------



## MoDoug

Have some locust, oak and walnut going tonight.  First fire since thursday, but that's because we were gone for a couple days. So far, it's been a very mild winter here.

@MMH, congratulations on the new arrival, exciting times in your household!


----------



## JimBear

Ash, Cherry & Osage going in tonight


----------



## MMH

Has been very unusually warm for this month, have almost cooked out the house the last few days, temps in the 40-50 range. Low tonight headed for upper teens, I’ll throw some more pine in. Thank you all for the well wishes!


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 26.1 at the moment with more Cherry going in the Liberty tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 27 out with a small load of white and post oak going for the morning. Expecting a high of 50 and full sunshine today.


----------



## Gearhead660

Fired up the Tundra yesterday.  Loaded with oak and elm before I left for work this morning.


----------



## heavy hammer

Ash and walnut with some cedar splits here and there to keep the house warm temps have not been to bad in the upper 20's at night and 30's during the day.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 17.6 this morning with another load Cherry going in the Lopi.


----------



## JimBear

Ash & Osage in the stove tonight.


----------



## NickW

More beech, sugar maple, ash & cherry. Cruising along at 600...


----------



## MMH

Headed for single digits, have a pine juniper mahogany mix for tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 1.3 this morning with a load of Cherry and Yellow Birch going in the wood stove.


----------



## MMH

Single digits forecasted again for tonight, it’ll be pine juniper and mahogany again.


----------



## thewoodlands

We were in the low 20's this morning, I loaded up the Liberty with the last splits of Cherry we had inside. We should be burning Yellow Birch, Ash, Sugar / Red Maple and Ironwood for the rest of January.

For February we have two face cord of Beech & Sugar Maple left from last year and then if we need more we will still have more of the above and Cherry.


----------



## MMH

Warming up, teens tonight. Another load of pine in the stove.


----------



## stoveliker

It was 18 F this morning, so I put in some of the wood I'd been saving for colder weather as I don't have enough to burn all the time (yet...). Put in half a load of old small oak splits (3-4" rounds split in half) last night at 9. Kept the house comfortable. Set the BK to high this morning as I'll be letting it go out, using the minisplit and some oil tonight (only 30 F tonight). After that, the next few days will be more burning as it'll be cold at nights again, and near freezing during some days.


----------



## thewoodlands

We went down to -5 earlier this morning but when I finally got up we had 13 degrees.

We have some Yellow Birch and Ash going in the wood stove.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We stayed fairly warm last night....I think it got down to 37. I had a small post oak load in the stove for overnight. Its supposed to reach 54 today so I put a small load in again to hold the house for the day.


----------



## NickW

Coals... lots and lots of coals. Been burning them down since 6:30. Sunny and in the 30's so burning them down to clean it out... Might flip the baffles so the bow is in the opposite direction.


----------



## MMH

Another load of pine down


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 28 out now with a high of 39 today. I put a load of black jack in before heading to work.


----------



## Caw

26 this morning and high of 39...tossed in a load of ash and cherry before bringing the kids to school and getting to work on my wood.


----------



## MMH

In the low 30s right now, supposed to have a snow storm starting this afternoon, a few inches maybe. This winter has been highly unusual for temps and very disappointing for snow/moisture. Threw some pine “shorties” in for today, and brought in a decent mahogany and juniper round for the back side of the storm when the temps drop.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

Might get down to -3  tonight so huge pieces of ash are going in. I'll be burning a stack of ash for awhile then back to oak.


----------



## heavy hammer

Temps were in the 30' and very sunny yesterday so we let the stoves die out.  Colder temps returned today so ash and maple now.  Supposed to have temps in the teens and 20's this weekend so I'll be burning some 4 year old locust this weekend.


----------



## Caw

Quick little load to hold me over until the overnight load. Threw in some maple and red oak shorties N/S in my little 1.85 cu ft Osburn for fun to pretend like I'm a grown up with a big boy stove . You N/S folks sure have it easy when it comes to tetris-ing wood in! Easy mode!

Overnight load will be Ash/Cherry E/W as usual.


----------



## stoveliker

A bit of sassafras and a small oak (misser from hand splitting) at 5 pm to heat up the stove and the basement. Will be a load of too short maple splits for overnight going in later this evening.

I'm planning to have the stove going until next Friday as I made the (arbitrary) choice to not run the minisplit when it's 35 or below during the day (because I hear it gurgling, een defrosting, which gives me the nervous willies because I imagine all the heat going outside...). Forecast has a few days of 37, but I suspect that will only be an hr or two above 35.

So longest run so far in the planning. After that I have to reassess how much wood I have left... But I did find a 10x2 face of cherry scrounge (in between oak...) that I got from a neighbor who moved out and had this in his shed for a few years. It's dry 
So that is a few loads more for this winter.

Also a load or two of red cedar. This was CSS this summer, but measuring its MC (at 72 F for 32 hrs) gave me <18%. I was surprised, but the size of the splits likely helped at <3-4".

Scrounging my own scrounges for usable wood .


----------



## Caw

stoveliker said:


> Scrounging my own scrounges for usable wood .



Next level


----------



## fvhowler

Getting ready for a chilly weekend but not crazy cold. Just started a load of Water Oak, Red Maple and Hickory.


----------



## Gearhead660

Caw said:


> Quick little load to hold me over until the overnight load. Threw in some maple and red oak shorties N/S in my little 1.85 cu ft Osburn for fun to pretend like I'm a grown up with a big boy stove . You N/S folks sure have it easy when it comes to tetris-ing wood in! Easy mode!
> 
> The Tundra was the first N/S loader I used, and after running that for a while, loading the insert just seemed like work.
> 
> Getting down close to zero tonight,  will load Tundra up with ash, oak and elm.  Insert will get stuffed with elm.


----------



## Caw

fvhowler said:


> Getting ready for a chilly weekend but not crazy cold. Just started a load of Water Oak, Red Maple and Hickory.



Never heard of water oak...how does it burn?


----------



## JimBear

Ash & Osage again tonight.


----------



## NickW

Got up late this morning to the sound of an electric heater crinkling in my sons room..... First time this year. Wifey just stirred the coals up this morning before leaving for work instead of throwing a couple of small splits in to help burn the coals down and give a quick blast of heat. Another load of ash, beech & sugar maple tonight; supposed to get down to 3F. Need to get up earlier tomorrow or get a better assistant.


----------



## MMH

Another load of pine, another game of Tetris


----------



## whtl4856

Nice loads of ash last night and this morning. Coldest night we had so far this year but it was 67 in the living room when I got up this morning.


----------



## stoveliker

So, loaded the maple  shorties last night at 9 pm or so. Raked the remaining coals (amounting to about a 8*4*4 " glowing chunk in total) to the front and out about half a firebox of small  sassafras splits (2-3") in there that will tide me over until the reload of oak tonight. I wonder how fast this wood will go.

Burning higher now as it's only 32 max today and will be 18 tonight.


----------



## fvhowler

Caw said:


> Never heard of water oak...how does it burn?


Water Oak is in the Red Oak family and has small leaves. Primarily a southern oak ranging from Maryland to Texas and very common in NC. I have plenty available and it burns really well, though not as good as White Oak, IMO.


----------



## Riff

Black walnut with a split of hickory in it. This is the only wood I bought over the summer, the rest was scrounged, but had lucked into someone who was selling off a little to pay for new splitter and bought 1/3 of a cord.


----------



## heavy hammer

Temps are in the mid teens and the house is very warn burning some maple and 4+ year old locust.


----------



## stoveliker

Just reloaded; the sassafras went really fast at the tail end. Still got 6 hrs out half a firebox.

Now input two big pieces of (short) locust in the center (making one long piece), and filled the rest up with oak.

Charring phase in the pic. Front big locust piece visible in the center.


----------



## Sylvatica

I have found the holy grail. Having lived in PA and burned, oak, hickory, cherry ... most of my life, I now burn one wood almost exclusively now that I'm in TN: Osage Orange.  For me it is the perfect wood. Hotter than Hades, low ash, and cool sparks ( and yes, I burn it in an open fireplace) It radiates into a room like nothing else. The only caveat is the need to know how to sharpen your chains.


----------



## MMH

Storms done, temps dropping back to singles again for a few nights. Mahogany and juniper on deck. Here’s some medium sized rounds that’ll be going in for tonight’s load. Left is juniper right is mahogany.


----------



## stoveliker

Coals or leftover fuel: 12 hrs after loading with small splits of oak and two locust chunks, having run at 60% open all night and on high now for a morning boost.

Will run on sassafras during the day once this load is done and back to oak and a chunk of locust for overnight.


----------



## heavy hammer

I put  a few more loads of locust and maple in the garage today  for the coming week.  temps are supposed to be in the 30's the next few days before we get back into the 20's and teens.


----------



## MMH

Tonight’s 10-20 F, currently 21 with the feels like at 13. A couple pieces of mahogany and pine but mostly juniper tonight.


----------



## Caw

10-15 tonight. Way the F too many coals for me right now. Paying the price after a lazy day of throwing on splits here and there because I was outside working on....you guessed it, firewood lol...all day. I'm power burning it down with some maple kindling then loading up some Ash/Cherry for the night.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I had a load of hickory and red oak for overnight. I woke up this morning and it was 43 out with a high of 51 expected so I will let it go cold for today.


----------



## MMH

It looks like it’s gunna dip into the singles again tonight. We usually have another good cold spell in February so I’ll go with pine tonight and conserve my juniper/mahogany for next month.


----------



## thewoodlands

The previous two nights I used the furnace, tonight the Liberty has a load of Sugar Maple, Red Maple and some Ironwood. At the moment we're at 22 degrees with a forecast low of 8.


----------



## stoveliker

A mix of cedar, cherry, sassafras, and some poor quality oak for a not so cold night. Tomorrow I'll let it go out, to be relighted Wednesday end of the day.


----------



## MoDoug

We're at 32 and very slowly dropping to 29, burning mostly elm because it's next in line.


----------



## JimBear

Osage, Mulberry & Red Elm in tonight


----------



## Gearhead660

Up early this morning.  Some pine to burn down the coals before filling with elm and ash.  When its windy, its real apparent how drafty this ol house is.  Wind chill close to 0 and around 6 inches of fluffy stuff so far.


----------



## sweedish

Currently 27 so warm ish, pine last night, pine today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 15.3 this morning with a load of Sugar Maple going in the Liberty, I just loaded up with more Sugar Maple on coals from this morning.


----------



## stoveliker

The soft wood from last night lasted until 3 pm today or so, which was a nice surprise. As my minisplit was defrosting a few times I loaded some sassafras on the coals this afternoon to have a boost.  Some flurries now outside and tonight it will be 35-37.

The stove won't be reloaded until tomorrow afternoon.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I am running on coals right now with 28 out. I have a load of red oak and hickory sitting on the hearth for later tonite. Expecting a low of 27 here and a high of 32 with snow showers tomorrow.


----------



## Caw

Cherry and maple tonight. Had the kids out on the pond today playing hockey...best place to dry off the winter gear!


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 25.2 tonight with a forecast low of 20, I just turned on the pellet stove for the night.


----------



## buc74

Low of 9 tonight, load of red oak for overnight.


----------



## sweedish

Low of 18, see how the pine does


----------



## MMH

temps in low teens, another load of pine for tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 15.5 this morning, I shut the pellet stove off and started our first fire around 10:15 in the wood stove with some of the maples and ash.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 15.5 this morning, I shut the pellet stove off and started our first fire around 10:15 in the wood stove with some of the maples and ash.


----------



## whtl4856

12 degrees tonight, just loaded as much ash as I could fit in the stove. We’ll see if this carries us through till morning.


----------



## MMH

Highs tonight in the 20-30 as another small/weak system approaches, that pacific storm will dump all its energy in the Yosemite/Sierra range and Reno area (as well as the rain in the coastal parts) so I won’t see any of it. Still trusty ol pine for tonight.


----------



## NickW

All beech & sugar maple tonight, no ash. Low of 1F. Will need to roll my lazy butt out of bed at a reasonable hour in the a.m. to get it going again and keep the electric baseboards from kicking in...


----------



## MTY

Tamarack.  It will probably be in the 20's tonight.  Today was overcast in the morning and sunny in the afternoon.  Yesterday I drug home the last load of wood for the season, and this afternoon I cleaned the accumulated sawdust and chips out of the truck bed.  Now I get to enjoy the fruits of my labor.


----------



## MoDoug

16 now, down to 12 for a low... Elm in the day, I'm not in dismay, oak at night, helps me sleep cozy and tight!

We had our first taste of winter today, some freezing rain and about 3 inches of snow.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 26 out now with a load of red and white oak set ablaze before I left the house. Expecting a little warm up today and the 7 day forecast is showing high 40s to 50s for highs. Pretty warm for January.


----------



## stoveliker

A load of mostly maple from last night about 60 percent gone. 25 this morning, 34 today. Low teens next 3 nights.


----------



## baseroom

9F tonight.  Been burning a nice dry vein of Sugar Maple.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 10 degrees this morning, the pellet stove kept it 70 up here so I turned that off this morning and loaded the liberty up with some ash, cherry, sugar maple and one nice round of ironwood.


----------



## awicherr

19 now ash and oak had to open her up on the intake house was 64 when i got home its 67 and climbing got her packed full and 3 turns open more than normal heating fuel will turn on at 60 hasnt yet this year hoping i can get her roaring before it does


----------



## stoveliker

Some sassafras to tide me over from the maple of last night. 27 now, going to 16. String winds, wind chill tomorrow morning -2 F. So, oak tonight. Old, a little punky, halved 3-4" pieces, but it will have to do. 

If someone on LI has a face cord of truly (<20%) seasoned wood even if it's soft wood as pine for sale, I am interested.
I could also exchange with split oak. Short pieces but top quality. Fresh though.


----------



## Tar12

Been in the teens 3 nights in row...been loading the stove up with locust and oak...been waking up to 76 in the stove room and plenty left in the stove...


----------



## Caw

Highs in the teens and overnights around 0 the next few days. I brought in some of the good stuff to get started. Maple, red oak, and cherry ready for action:







I suspect the resistance heat will click on for the first time this year at 3 or 4 am. My stove struggles to keep the far rooms warm enough overnight when it's below 10 degrees unless I get up to feed it...the firebox just isn't big enough (1.85 cu ft for 1700 sq feet). We only see those temps on occasion here though and its the perfect size 99% of the time. I can run it efficiently and keep the house comfy (68-70 far rooms, 70-72 near rooms, 75 stove room) without any real effort. Any bigger and I'd bake us out of here and waste wood.


----------



## NickW

Caw said:


> Highs in the teens and overnights around 0 the next few days. I brought in some of the good stuff to get started. Maple, red oak, and cherry ready for action:
> 
> View attachment 273040
> 
> 
> I suspect the resistance heat will click on for the first time this year at 3 or 4 am. My stove struggles to keep the far rooms warm enough overnight when it's below 10 degrees unless I get up to feed it...the firebox just isn't big enough (1.85 cu ft for 1700 sq feet). We only see those temps on occasion here though and its the perfect size 99% of the time. I can run it efficiently and keep the house comfy (68-70 far rooms, 70-72 near rooms, 75 stove room) without any real effort. Any bigger and I'd bake us out of here and waste wood.


I fight the same battle... stove is plenty big enough and produces plenty of BTU'S during the day, but I lose it over night. As long as it isn't too cold or windy I can keep the electric baseboards from kicking in overnight. Air circulation is a problem. Today it was cold and  I had it over 80 in the stove room, only 66 up in the LR and 63 in the bedrooms. Once the sun came out it was better.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Expecting a low of 28 tonight with more red and white oak for the overnight.


----------



## JimBear

Slippery Elm, Ash & Osage in tonight, Stove was cold when I got home @ 10:00 pm & the house was @ 66* & the furnace was running. It’s supposed to be mid 20’s overnight & mid 30’s tomorrow so this fill should carry the load till tomorrow afternoon.


----------



## MoDoug

Low of 21 tonight, it's 22 now! With a high of 44 tomorrow, I think I'll let it die down and clean it out. Still trying to decide on sweeping it..  Oh yeah, got oak going!


----------



## whtl4856

11 f this morning. A load of ash got us through the night, just loaded a mix of ash and silver maple. Wind was really sucking the heat out of the house yesterday, should be better today.


----------



## MMH

Loaded the stove around 2 pm yesterday and over loaded a bit, stove was still cruising around 10 PM. Was feeling a bit crappy after round 2 of this vaccine so decided to just go to bed and see if I could catch it when the little one woke up to feed; alas not quite stove is cold and furnace is on. You win some you lose some. So propane for the moment I’ll get the stove goin again this morning after I restock the wood.


----------



## stoveliker

The oak from last night still going strong. 16 F here, very windy, wind chill -8 F.


----------



## fvhowler

Coldest morning so far and had a little snow yesterday. It's 26* this morning, stove is set for a long burn and loaded with water oak and white oak. Will reload about 5pm this afternoon.


----------



## Caw

It's 4 degrees here right now and I burned the 7 am morning load of maple hot with the blower on high as the house was 62. Good coal bed left and still 450-500 STT so Gordon and I are hanging out while the coals burn down. I'm adding some small kindling here and there to speed it up so we can reload and avoid coal mountain. I have to run the stove hard to keep up when it gets this cold.


----------



## thewoodlands

I didn't run either the pellet or wood stove overnight, we burned some oil. This morning we bottomed out at - 3.8 with a load of Ash and Red Maple going in the Liberty.

I did take some ashes out and we have some wind back here that makes it feel a bit colder.


----------



## stoveliker

Caw said:


> It's 4 degrees here right now and I burned the 7 am morning load of maple hot with the blower on high as the house was 62. Good coal bed left and still 450-500 STT so Gordon and I are hanging out while the coals burn down. I'm adding some small kindling here and there to speed it up so we can reload and avoid coal mountain. I have to run the stove hard to keep up when it gets this cold.
> 
> View attachment 273054



that beast will suck up all the heat...


----------



## Caw

He's kind of like a weighted blanket. An extremely heavy one that eats, drools, and farts a lot . He lives in the stove room all year. Winter for the warmth and summer to lay on the cold steel hearth extender. Smart dog.


----------



## shortys7777

Extremely happy last night. Hit 11F and I had a load of 2 big pieces of oak and 4 pieces of ash. Woke up at 3am because my 6 month old woke up and the house was still at 66F. I was worried the back of the house would have issues with that heat. Guess in my 3rd year my wood is better than last year and my first year it was terrible. I did throw 3 pieces in at 3am and didn't even need to open the damper. Loaded it back up at 6 before work at the house was still at 66 back near my kids bedroom. I had it fully closed up with the fan on full seeing 540F just above the door. Got a huge chuck of oak sitting for tonight where they say a low of 7F


----------



## BigJ273

Coldest night of the year here last night. Gonna be even colder tonight.  Nothing but 5 year old oak loaded up!


----------



## stoveliker

After burning down some coals from the oak load of last night, while at the same time melting a big icicle from my chimney cap (and almost running out of wood for this year...), I put in my best load: a small scrounge of Locust. Slabs 8-10" long, 3-4" thick. Is running nicely hot. I am not sure it'll be done by tonight when I have to reload (oak) ... We'll see. If not, I might use a poker to compact the remaining stuff in the firebox to add some oak on top to get me through the night.


----------



## heavy hammer

We had our coldest week so far so it was locust ash and some maple here and there.  We had the furnace run here and there to keep the girls far bedrooms up to temps.  Our 2 labs hang out by our basement stove the Kuma all winter a great place to warm up from the cold and in the summer the basement is nice and cool.  Same as your buddy Caw.  They have a tough life.


----------



## Lakeside

I am running 100% Black Locust. It about all I have . Cold these days with wind / temps down to 8f to night.


----------



## Caw

I always get a kick out of you cat stove hipsters and your 24 hour reloads   . Reload every 6-8 hours like a real man! JK of course.

My wife is always like "why don't we have one of those" and while I sometimes agree with her when I'm lugging wood it was a size issue for us. Couldn't fit a cat in our oddly shaped fireplace even if we wanted one. I'd rather have a quality tube stove than no stove.

Low of 5 tonight. Our stove is the little engine that could when it gets below 10... gotta work a little extra. I'm front loading the heat right now in preparation. Gonna be a little toasty at bed time but it's a small sacrifice for staying warm all night. Full load of red oak and maple around 11-11:30. Should keep us comfy until 7 am.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of -8 but I think we'll get colder since it's -3.1 already. Since we heat from the basement, I'll let the stove go cold and use the furnace tonight. 

We'll get back burning wood in the morning.


----------



## MMH

The wifey was kind enough to get the stove going this morning while I was gone, pulled some wood in enough for tonight and morning, I’ll restock the rest tomorrow. Low headed for 10-20 more pine for tonight.


----------



## sweedish

Currently 7, with a load of cherry for the night. Tomorrow morning a mix of cherry and pine and also bringing another load of wood in the house.


----------



## thewoodlands

We hit a low of - 7.8 this morning, we switched from the furnace to the pellet stove.


----------



## orlkc

Got down to 2F this morning, and supposed to be close to 0F tonight.  All oak in the stove today and tonight.  Supposed to get a foot of snow on Monday night, and there's half of a small oak trunk I want to see if I can get bucked and moved to the splitter before then.


----------



## MMH

Another load of pine for today’s burn


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> We hit a low of - 7.8 this morning, we switched from the furnace to the pellet stove.



Lol, NOAA was not much off then, with -8


----------



## Grizzerbear

Caw said:


> It's 4 degrees here right now and I burned the 7 am morning load of maple hot with the blower on high as the house was 62. Good coal bed left and still 450-500 STT so Gordon and I are hanging out while the coals burn down. I'm adding some small kindling here and there to speed it up so we can reload and avoid coal mountain. I have to run the stove hard to keep up when it gets this cold.
> 
> View attachment 273054



Your pooch reminds me of "the beast" off of the movie the sandlot lol.

Its windy and pouring rain here at 46. I let the stove go cold this morning after last night's fire. I just put a small load of post oak in the stove.  I'm probably going to mess up my timing on my overnight fire tonight. Its suppose to stay warm like this until tonight when a cold front moves through but ahh....o well.


----------



## stoveliker

Bunch of ash uglies and small pieces charring after last night's load of oak, before dialling the Tstat down.


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> Lol, NOAA was not much off then, with -8


Tonight they have us with a low of -10, we'll see how close they are tomorrow morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

I shut the pellet stove off around 1 this afternoon, we have a fire going in the wood stove with some ash and ironwood.


----------



## Caw

Grizzerbear said:


> Your pooch reminds me of "the beast" off of the movie the sandlot lol.



Same breed!  They are English Mastiffs. Gordon is 18 months and 180 lbs of lovable, drooly lap dog.

I have a few large maple splits in the 1600 right now doing some off gassing. This is just a partial load to carry me to bedtime when I'll stuff it with red oak. Low of 5   tonight so we're going with the good stuff.

The blower is a little obnoxious on high. I typically only run it on low which is very quiet but with the extra cold temps today I am running it harder. 





Your browser is not able to display this video.


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## heavy hammer

Lat night we had temps close to single digits.  Tonight we should stay in the 20's.  I'm burning locust and some ash here and there.  I let both stoves die out today the sun kept the house pretty warm we had temps in the 30's.  I cleaned out the summit it was in need of a good cleaning.


----------



## thewoodlands

heavy hammer said:


> Lat night we had temps close to single digits.  Tonight we should stay in the 20's.  I'm burning locust and some ash here and there.  I let both stoves die out today the sun kept the house pretty warm we had temps in the 30's.  I cleaned out the summit it was in need of a good cleaning.


Send the warmer temps this way, NOAA is calling for -12 tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

@stoveliker , how much snow are they saying you'll get from the storm that's coming.


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> @stoveliker , how much snow are they saying you'll get from the storm that's coming.



It varies depending on the track of the low coming up over the atlantic that is supposed to combine with the one coming from California. Could be more rain, could be snow. I've seen 6-18" numbers. So, in all honesty, all I know is that I have prepared, but it might be for nothing.

But they say that rather than a 6-12 hr event, this could be up to 36 hrs. And a lot of wind. So with wet snow (could get rain too after all), power might go out.

So, shovels ready, generator tested, jerry cans filled bird feeder filled , all dry wood that I still have left is in the garage (maple and cherry), or next to the stove (oak, cedar, ash, sassafras). Bbq has gas. So I'm all good.

Except for the fact that I need to get me some bourbon for next to the stove when I can't work because the power is out  

That was probably more than you asked for... Bottomline: 0-18"...


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> It varies depending on the track of the low coming up over the atlantic that is supposed to combine with the one coming from California. Could be more rain, could be snow. I've seen 6-18" numbers. So, in all honesty, all I know is that I have prepared, but it might be for nothing.
> 
> But they say that rather than a 6-12 hr event, this could be up to 36 hrs. And a lot of wind. So with wet snow (could get rain too after all), power might go out.
> 
> So, shovels ready, generator tested, jerry cans filled bird feeder filled , all dry wood that I still have left is in the garage (maple and cherry), or next to the stove (oak, cedar, ash, sassafras). Bbq has gas. So I'm all good.
> 
> Except for the fact that I need to get me some bourbon for next to the stove when I can't work because the power is out
> 
> That was probably more than you asked for... Bottomline: 0-18"...


We do the same when we have a storm coming in except for the bourbon.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

Heavy snow and wind right now. The Ideal Steel is loaded up with a nice N/S load of ash.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're already at -6 tonight heading to -12 according to NOAA, I loaded the wood stove up with some nice rounds of ironwood on top of some nice coals and shut the air down.


----------



## stoveliker

So, the 4-5 yr old oak I have now was not cut by me, but was a gift of someone with too much for his firepit. It all fits nicely N-S.
Except for the first stick (4" dia) for the overnight load. I put it in E-W but it still didn't fit. As I still had quite a lot of coals from the ash uglies earlier today, and the oak is really dry, it was ablaze within 5 seconds.

So now I have a diagonal burning piece in there. I put two smaller pieces behind it, added the second and third (thinner) layer on top, and an oak wedge in the front.

Too much space left... Curious if I will still have a fire tomorrow morning. Set the Tstat lower to stretch the small load, and may need to use some oil in the morning to get comfortable as the basement stove is good at maintaining temp, but slow in bringing it up...

We'll see...


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for 10 ish, tonight is odd/end pieces of juniper mahogany and pine


----------



## Caw

1   this morning. Dog woke me up briefly and I peeked at the thermostat and it was 59 in here....the heat had just come on for the first time this year. I knew it was gonna happen because I reloaded/went to bed early. Not bad work by my little 1600 tho, made it to Jan 31st and it too basically a 0 degree night before needing help!

Loaded with maple now. Getting the box temp up.


----------



## baseroom

Was 3f when I went to bed. Loaded the isle Royale with Sugar Maple and Locust. Nice coals this morning. House was 60...warming up nicely now!


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of -13 this morning before the temp started to rise, we're at -10 . This morning we had some nice coals from the overnight fire so I loaded up some Ash and Maple which took off nice.


----------



## sweedish

Cherry at night, pine during the day, looks like I’ll stick to this schedule until around Thursday/Friday when I need to bring more wood inside.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was 30 out when I got up this morning but the thermostat read 74 so I've let the 74 sit idle this morning. I went ahead and took some ashes out about a hour ago and pulled the coals left up front. I will reload with some hickory and post oak here in just a bit. We got a high of 34 here expected today but it is windy with gusts of 35.


----------



## MoDoug

Grizzerbear said:


> It was 30 out when I got up this morning but the thermostat read 74 so I've let the 74 sit idle this morning. I went ahead and took some ashes out about a hour ago and pulled the coals left up front. I will reload with some hickory and post oak here in just a bit. We got a high of 34 here expected today but it is windy with gusts of 35.


You live near that I44 corridor that gets some goofy weather. We're basically on the same weather pattern, so far it's been an amazingly mild winter.  I left for my winter trout fishing trip to Taneycomo almost a couple weeks ago, took 73 Camdenton to Buffalo. MoDot was clearing trees just west of Macs Creek, looked like cedar and some hardwoods. We had a good trip.

I've been running oak and elm through the stove. The dog days of winter!


----------



## MMH

14 F our, house is 74 just burning down some coals from last night for now


----------



## Grizzerbear

MoDoug said:


> You live near that I44 corridor that gets some goofy weather. We're basically on the same weather pattern, so far it's been an amazingly mild winter.  I left for my winter trout fishing trip to Taneycomo almost a couple weeks ago, took 73 Camdenton to Buffalo. MoDot was clearing trees just west of Macs Creek, looked like cedar and some hardwoods. We had a good trip.
> 
> I've been running oak and elm through the stove. The dog days of winter!



Yea the weather here is odd. We had tornado warnings yesterday evening by Cassville and today it's in the 30s with 35 mph gusts. It has been very mild this winter and very gloomy. Seems like the sun hasn't poked out of the clouds much this winter. Did you have any luck on taneycomo?


----------



## heavy hammer

Both stoves have been running with locust and ash.  My basement stove has not been getting up to the temps I would hope.  Once the cat is engaged I can barely get temps over 700.  I'm not sure if the cat is dying or what.  The same wood is being burned in the summit and it has been roaring great all my wood is 2.5 to 4+ years old.


----------



## kennyp2339

heavy hammer said:


> My basement stove has not been getting up to the temps I would hope. Once the cat is engaged I can barely get temps over 700. I'm not sure if the cat is dying or what.


I was getting some funky outputs and thought my cat was dying to, turns out I had a partially clogged cap, brushed her off and back to normal cruising, fyi the cap didnt look to bad when I was looking at it from the ground


----------



## Riff

4+ inches of snow outside, cherry and hickory in the stove. Sure smelling good around here and everyone is enjoying a quiet afternoon after sledding and snowball fights outside.


----------



## MoDoug

Grizzerbear said:


> Did you have any luck on taneycomo?


We did, caught some decent size trout and spent time with friends!


----------



## heavy hammer

[B]kennyp2339[/B]* I appreciate it.  I went up this afternoon just to clean the cap  and inspect the flue.  We will see if that helps.  I have been having a hard time getting the temps over 800.  Does this sound normal?  Do some cat stove owners run at lower temps?  I know every setup and situation is different but it seems like I used to be able to get the stove probe to 1000+ when burning good hardwood.*


----------



## MEngineer24

Red oak and locust has been the trend here this weekend. Had a winter storm come through with mid 20s and 35mph wind. House has been holding at 75F.


----------



## kennyp2339

heavy hammer said:


> [B]kennyp2339[/B]* I appreciate it.  I went up this afternoon just to clean the cap  and inspect the flue.  We will see if that helps.  I have been having a hard time getting the temps over 800.  Does this sound normal?  Do some cat stove owners run at lower temps?  I know every setup and situation is different but it seems like I used to be able to get the stove probe to 1000+ when burning good hardwood.*


The thing is, is that cats do have a lifespan on them, I think its between 10,000 and 15,000 hrs depending on how you burn, its also known that you can depreciate the cats ability to absorb and reburn the smoke / violets once you get above 1500 deg f (measured directly in the cat itself via probe) Now I think this is your 3rd season w/ the kuma, and you generally burn about 5 months a year continuously - So Mid Nov thru mid April, and your main wood is BL which has a much higher / longer shelf life of btu's available, so 3,650 hrs or so X 2.5yr is almost 9,200hrs, your just about in the general time of cat replacement (due to higher temp heat output). 
I had an excellent voice conversation with a stove manufacturer the other day, he kind of brought me back to earth with two things, #1 - he said I have to try stop sweating the small stuff, you and myself, with our line of work and training, its almost impossible to not think of the small stuff, thats just our nature and we're both held accountable if the small stuff is missed and someone gets hurt. #2 is the great analogy of buying new tires, you but brand new tires for your pickup truck and for the first 10k miles whether its wet pavement, dry pavement or snow, when starting off at a traffic like you wont ever spin your tires, after 10k you start noticing small spin outs, but the tread depth left on the tires tells you that your still in them for another 20k's worth of mileage.  So it is what it is, the analogy got me thinking that my cat wasnt bad, something else changed, found my partially clogged cap and cleaned it, performance returned, I'm not saying thats your case, but rule out the other stuff, then take into account, your burning habits, temperatures and to cat life to advertised life span (many stove co's offer a warrantee on cat life, some do a complete no questions asked replacement, others do a depreciated replacement based on years used.


----------



## heavy hammer

*kennyp2339 I cleaned the chimney cap and inspected the flue both looked good.  I did have a fire this afternoon and the temps stayed at 700- 800 for about 8+ hours.  My burn season is about 6 months.  The cat was replaced May of 2019.  This is the second burning season with this cat.  I do agree with you it is the little things that you pick out.  I have been talking with Begreen as well he said try some 2x4's.  If the cat is on its way out it's not the end of the world, just replace it.  I was not sure if others with cat stoves have had lower burn temps, or if any of this sounds normal.  Many members on here seem to have very high burn temps with their cat stoves, but like I said earlier every setup and situation is a little differnt.  Appreciate the advise. *


----------



## thewoodlands

At the moment it's 1.8 with NOAA calling for a low of -7, I'll go with the pellet stove tonight and then switch back to firewood in the Lopi in the morning.


----------



## Caw

I think @thewoodlands must work for NOAA.


----------



## MMH

thewoodlands said:


> At the moment it's 1.8 with NOAA calling for a low of -7, I'll go with the pellet stove tonight and then switch back to firewood in the Lopi in the morning.



Random question for you, having both pellet and wood; which do you prefer? Do you find applicability in certain situations for one over the other? For example pellet tonight but wood tomorrow etc. Why both why not 2 pellet stoves or 2 wood stoves etc


----------



## stoveliker

As I have a lot to learn in regards to how fast the BK chews through a load, I have a bunch of glowing chunks laying in there now. 1/4 of the box (filled about half full around noon) is still full despite running it on high for the last 3 hrs.

So I am resorting to filling it with shorties tonight to make most use of the space. It's only 26 now so not too cold. Snowing.

Shorties of maple and cherry it is.


----------



## MMH

Burning down coals also at the moment lows tonight in the teens. Another load of pine for tonight. I think I’ll rake coals to the side this time instead of the front and try that. Why you ask? I don’t know, why not I’d reply


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> Random question for you, having both pellet and wood; which do you prefer? Do you find applicability in certain situations for one over the other? For example pellet tonight but wood tomorrow etc. Why both why not 2 pellet stoves or 2 wood stoves etc


If I think that we need the constant heat overnight to heat the upstairs (we heat from the basement) I'll run the pellet stove.  We usually burn between 50 - 55 bags per year.

This year I've been burning wood during the day and the pellet stove at night more often. Before we were offered the property I do must of my cutting on we had the pellet stove so we continue to use it.


----------



## thewoodlands

From what I saw we had a low of -5 this morning, I loaded up the Liberty with some ash and maple.

I didn't burn either stove overnight, I set the furnace on 64 which means our bedroom will be 69.


----------



## Caw

thewoodlands said:


> From what I saw we had a low of -5 this morning, I loaded up the Liberty with some ash and maple.
> 
> I didn't burn either stove overnight, I set the furnace on 64 which means our bedroom will be 69.



Nice. Sorry couldn't resist!

Lots of coals for me right now. 70 in here so letting it burn down for the overnight reload. Going with a combo of maple and red oak tonight through the blizzard. Not cold, 25 or so, but its very windy and snowing.


----------



## Tar12

Just checked our forecast for the next 7 days...the coldest air of the year is headed our way with a low of -8 Sunday night with many single digit nights to follow...the BK will fed a steady night of locust and oak...and I imagine the propane stove will ran a little if there is a lot of wind ith this arctic blast coming in.


----------



## baseroom

Yep same here with another foot of snow on top!  Maple,  ash and Honeylocust hit 900 on top briefly  today.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 12 tonight, we switched over to the pellet stove after supper.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We are expecting a low of twenty five tonight with a load of black jack for the overnight going in before bed time. We are expecting some of the coldest air of the season come saturday and thereafter with a low of 7 saturday night and some days in the teens. That's pretty cool for SW  Missouri standards.


----------



## Caw

thewoodlands said:


> If I think that we need the constant heat overnight to heat the upstairs (we heat from the basement) I'll run the pellet stove.  We usually burn between 50 - 55 bags per year.
> 
> This year I've been burning wood during the day and the pellet stove at night more often. Before we were offered the property I do must of my cutting on we had the pellet stove so we continue to use it.



So do you cold start your wood stove every day? That seems so inconvenient. But maybe that balances with the ease of burning pellets.


----------



## MMH

It was almost 50 today, this weather is rediculous. Let the stove go out, having a small warm up fire before I load for the night. More pine as usual. 40s for another day or two then back to colder weather again.


----------



## thewoodlands

Caw said:


> So do you cold start your wood stove every day? That seems so inconvenient. But maybe that balances with the ease of burning pellets.


Not every day, I'm usually heating with the wood stove at night except for the last couple of weeks.

Since 2008 - 09 we've been burning mostly firewood so a bag of pellets at night and a cold start in the wood stove in the morning isn't a big deal.


----------



## JimBear

Osage & Siberian Elm in tonight, it will be all Osage starting Friday with the Arctic air moving in.


----------



## heavy hammer

I have been burning some locust here and there, the long days the house is empty when we both work and the cold nights for a longer hotter burn.  I think once this cold moves in this weekend everyone is going to be pulling out the good stuff to burn.  I have a few stacks of 4+ year old locust rounds that have been waiting for this weather to show up.


----------



## MMH

Lows in teens tonight; another load of pine. This may be my best game of Tetris yet.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 16.4 this morning with the pellet stove doing its job overnight. We switched over to the wood stove around 10:15 a.m.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 23.9 tonight with a load of ash going in the Lopi.


----------



## stoveliker

I let the stove go out tonight; conserving dry wood. Only 29 or so tonight. Likely sassafras during the day tomorrow.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I put some hickory, post and red oak in for the night. Expecting a low of 28.


----------



## MMH

Low of 15-20, another load of pine down


----------



## davo1028

I've been burning some white elm and its been really great, right about on par with my red oak I'd say. Long burns, good heat, easy to light, and not much ash. It wasn't even that bad to hand split!


----------



## Grizzerbear

I put a medium load of red oak and hickory in the 74 this morning with it 26 out now. We are gunna get to 55 today with full sun. Tomorrow will be in 40s and then the bottom falls out sometime saturday with what looks like a prolonged cold snap......for missouri....of highs in the 20s with teens and single digits for lows.


----------



## Caw

20s? That's not even jacket weather! Hehe.

I threw a load of cherry and ash in the 1600 this morning at about 7:30. Its 31 out now and a high of 36 so normally I'd string the coals along in the afternoon and reload for overnight. However, I'm having the chimney cleaned tomorrow at noon so I'm just gonna let it go out and stay cold until tomorrow afternoon. I'll run the heat pump/resistance overnight thru the service.

It's gonna be chilly in the house. We usually keep it around 72 when burning but I won't turn the heater past 62. Electricity is $0.24/KwH here. Sweatshirts and blankets it is!


----------



## NickW

Ash and beech again. Seasoned sugar maple is gone. 

Be chewing through a lot of wood in the NC30 Friday to next Friday with highs in the single digits and lows down to negative double digits... My burns seem to do better with some ash mixed in rather than all sugar maple and beech. Doesn't get too scary hot and stays burning better on the overnight. 

Re-thinking my burning strategy. This year, due to limited seasoned wood, I burned the sugar maple, ash and cherry as "standard" hardwood and the beech more as "premium" hardwood. I think next year when I have more of the ash seasoned the beech will be my "premium" and sugar maple css this fall will be saved for 2022/2023 and considered a "premium" hardwood. I worked very hard this fall getting ahead and am almost 3 years out (hopefully).


----------



## Caw

NickW said:


> My burns seem to do better with some ash mixed in rather than all sugar maple and beech. Doesn't get too scary hot and stays burning better on the overnight.



I find that mixing woods always gives me a better burn. Maple is my workhorse wood that I always have the most of but when I burn 100% maple loads it tends to be a little hotter/faster than I'd like. It also doesn't produce the best coals.

So during the day when I'm home I like to use primarily maple with a little ash, cherry, or red oak mixed in to slow it down and produce a better/longer lasting coal bed.

For overnight fires I like to go the other way and use primarily ash and red oak as they give the best coals/longer fires and just a little maple or cherry on the coals to get the load going. I also save the big, knotty, and gnarly pieces for overnight.

I've also found that mixing woods is a good way to utilize any less than ideal wood you have or when you're running out of your good wood. For example I have some ash that I split too big around May/June thats like 22-24% that if I were to use alone it would be a poor burn. However if I toss in a few splits of that with my good maple/cherry the load will burn nicely and you can barely tell. I usually put it on top or in the middle of the better wood on a reload...the good stuff on the coals to aid ignition/prevent a smoke out. 

Just some observations I've made this year!


----------



## MMH

It’s currently 20 our highs in the 30s today; had a weak system move through last night, left a dusting on the ground, maybe 1-2” if I’m being optimistic. Loaded more pine this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 23.2 tonight with Accu is calling for a low of 19. The Liberty has a  bunch of ash in it which I'll cleanout tomorrow so tonight we'll use the pellet stove.


----------



## heavy hammer

I have some maple and some small ash splits the house is very warm and temps are not to bad upper 20's tonight.


----------



## MMH

Low around 10 tonight, more pine goin in.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I put a small load of post oak and hickory in this morning. We had a low of 42 last night and it's supposed to be fairly warm for most of the day with a cold front moving through this evening.


----------



## Gearhead660

Stove cranking with a load of elm.  Storm moving in, got sleet/freezing rain right now.  Bitter cold starting tomorrow for the next week.  The Tundra II is all cleaned out and ready.  Will start it up tonight.


----------



## MEngineer24

Filled ours full this morning with a load of red oak and cherry. Was a brutal 15F this morning with wind chill at close to 0F. Cruising at about 450 STT right now as it's mostly coals.


----------



## MMH

13 our, more pine for Dorothy to eat


----------



## Caw

Just had the chimney swept. All is well so I'm firing up a load of cherry and ash as we speak. We've had the heat pump/resistance on 62 since yesterday to keep the stove cold and nobody is happy about it. Time to get it toasty!


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 15.3 when we were having our first cup of coffee and dropped to 12.3 by the time we had our second cup.

We switched over to firewood this morning from pellets, a few ash splits and a bunch of limb wood went in the Liberty.


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> It was 15.3 when we were having our first cup of coffee and dropped to 12.3 by the time we had our second cup.
> 
> We switched over to firewood this morning from pellets, a few ash splits and a bunch of limb wood went in the Liberty.



The moral of the story: two cups is too much


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> The moral of the story: two cups is too much


It was a great day up here in northern N.Y., the sun was very strong but that will change soon enough.


----------



## JimBear

My stove is cold, I let the furnace take over yesterday afternoon & it will run until tomorrow evening. With this cold blast coming in tomorrow night I thought it best to try the furnace out & let a bit of heat radiate off the duct work into the crawl space before this cold spell. Then I’m all  ready to go with a big pile of Osage.

At least that’s my plan, assuming I can tolerate listening to the furnace run that long... I find it rather irritating every time I hear it kick on.


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> It was a great day up here in northern N.Y., the sun was very strong but that will change soon enough.


Same here. Even the sunroom (singe pane, not insulated etc) was 74 today.
Just went out with the kids to a nearby slope for some sledding. Nice bright sunset.


----------



## heavy hammer

I didn't load either stove up last night before I went to sleep.  I figured it's 28 out so the house should be good it was 76+ at 1130.   I get up at 330 so I figured I'll be fine.  At about 230 the furnace kicked on and I thought that was odd but no big deal.  After getting up and taking the dogs out I realized it wasn't as warm as I thought.  I saw 11 and realized it dropped more than I thought. I loaded both stoves up with ash to get the house warm again.  We had temps in the upper 30's today.


----------



## MEngineer24

Caw said:


> Just had the chimney swept. All is well so I'm firing up a load of cherry and ash as we speak. We've had the heat pump/resistance on 62 since yesterday to keep the stove cold and nobody is happy about it. Time to get it toasty!


There's not much better, maybe hickory in my opinion that beats the smells of burning cherry.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Like JimBear I let the heat pump run today. It was in the mid 40s. Good to know it works every now and then.....but it drives me nuts runnin it still lol. When I got home I tossed a small load of various odds and ends uglies in to take the place of the furnace. I have a load of hickory and black jack for the overnight. Its 33 now with 25 for a low tonight.


----------



## MMH

Still burning down today’s load, currently 25 out with the feels like at 15, another load of pine for tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

AccuWeather is calling for a low of 18 and we're at 14.2 tonight, I have a load of the maples going in the Liberty.


----------



## Caw

thewoodlands said:


> AccuWeather is calling for a low of 18 and we're at 14.2 tonight, I have a load of the maples going in the Liberty.



Does NOAA know you're cheating on it?   

Low of 21 here tonight. Just some cherry and ash for tonight. Saving the remainder of the red oak for colder nights.


----------



## thewoodlands

Caw said:


> Does NOAA know you're cheating on it?
> 
> Low of 21 here tonight. Just some cherry and ash for tonight. Saving the remainder of the red oak for colder nights.


NOAA's low for us is 11 but that reading is coming from Massena International - Richards Field Airport that is over 40 miles north of here.


----------



## NickW

Ash & beech again. Looking at what's left in the garage, I may have been optimistic about how much I'd use this year. Wasn't quite full, but I was mostly out of well seasoned stuff. Probably be hitting the outside softwood stacks come March. Nice tetris though...


----------



## Grizzerbear

We have 26 out as of now with 48 for the high today. I have a load of post oak in now. Today looks like the last warm day for quite a spell.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had our first cup of coffee and the temp was 26 this morning, by the time we were done with the second cup it was 32.

Some maple and limb wood went in the Lopi, we're still burning down coals.


----------



## whtl4856

stoveliker said:


> I let the stove go out tonight; conserving dry wood. Only 29 or so tonight. Likely sassafras during the day tomorrow.


Did the same yesterday afternoon. Came to the realization that I’ll run out of my dry stuff if I keep burning 24/7 so I’m gonna start letting the furnace run after the morning load dies down when it’s above freezing in the afternoon.


----------



## whtl4856

Nice load of ash this evening has all the secondaries lit up. I split this wood in November or December but it was dead for a long time before that and measuring in the mid teens on moisture. Ready for this cold snap that’ll last at least the next 10 days.




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## MMH

Let the stove go cold this morning so I could clean her out, been using propane all day, which is like nails on a chalk board. Got about 2-2.5 cups +\- of powder out of the pipe, right on par with usual. Good to go; another load of pine going in to warm the stove back up and another load of pine for tonight.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

We're about to hit single digit highs for 10 plus days and well below zero at night every night for awhile. Wish I had some coal lol but huge oak pieces will have to suffice. I'll also likely be running an afternoon load every day just to keep temps in the house up. We're cycling our furnace to come on a few times a day to heat the basement since the stove heat can't get down there.


----------



## jwatkinson2

-25 this morning. Got the Princess loaded with black spruce.


----------



## heavy hammer

We will probably be using the furnace here and there as well for the next week.  The girls bedrooms are on the far side of the house over the garage.  When it gets this cold it get difficult to keep them warm so the furnace helps out here and there.  Gonna be a week of burning a lot of locust.


----------



## moosetrek

Warm days here but down into the 20s (nothing for some of you!); oak and some ponderosa with no overnight fire.  Hope you all are staying warm too.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 23.7 tonight with a load of sugar maple, red maple and some cherry in the Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 31 out with 26 for a low and a more post oak in the 74. The deep freeze is coming lol.


----------



## Caw

Warm night here with a low of 27. Tossed some cherry and ash into the 1600. Also brought some of the good maple and red oak into the basement in prep for the upcoming cold this week. Secondaries rolling, time for bed.





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## NickW

Big ol chunks of beech and ash tonight. Another nice tetris. Baseboards will probably be kicking in overnight starting tomorrow night and for the next week overnight...


----------



## JimBear

9* this morning, more Osage in today.  It sounds as though this may be the high temp for the next 7 days. The guessers are calling for 3”-8” snow over the next 3 days.


----------



## sweedish

Lows in the single digits/0 this week. Currently about 12. Better than some, I read that the lakes are keeping Michigan 20 degrees warmer than Wisconsin/Minnesota.
High graded the wood stack for Cherry and better.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 18.4 this morning with more sugar maple and some limb wood going in the wood stove. I just through on some junky limb wood to help burn down some coals.


----------



## baseroom

Sitting under some cold Lake effect snow now. 6” of fluff on top of the snowpack. Headed for at least a week in the singles and teens. Got into a vein of Bradford Pear !  Mixing it with the maple and locust!


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 32 with some light snow and a small load of post and hickory going in the stove to carry us till the overnight. We woke up to 26 this morning and as I was doing water samples in town it got to 38 but the first phase of the cold fronts has pushed through and the temps are falling.


----------



## Caw

Nothing for me right now. Reloaded at 6:45 am with a load of ash/ cherry and I've let it go out. It's 45/sunny outside and 70 inside so the sun is keeping the temp steady. 

I'll likely make a tiny starter fire around 7 pm so i can reload on coals for overnight. I hate starting an overnight fire in a cold stove... you waste too much energy heating up the box.


----------



## JimBear

Got home @ 5:15 this afternoon after reloading @ 5:30 this morning.  We had a high temp of 15* & 4” of snow today,  the stove room was still 78* & I still have plenty of coals for a restart at about 6:30 or so this evening.  The Century & the Osage that is seasoned 35-40 years is doing quite well keeping the old shack warm.


----------



## Caw

JimBear said:


> Got home @ 5:15 this afternoon after reloading @ 5:30 this morning.  We had a high temp of 15* & 4” of snow today,  the stove room was still 78* & I still have plenty of coals for a restart at about 6:30 or so this evening.  The Century & the Osage that is seasoned 35-40 years is doing quite well keeping the old shack warm.
> 
> View attachment 273867



35 years of seasoning??? Holy mackerel. How did you manage that? I feel good about myself having 3 years worth of wood on property lol.


----------



## JimBear

Caw said:


> 35 years of seasoning??? Holy mackerel. How did you manage that? I feel good about myself having 3 years worth of wood on property lol.


Lol, they were old fence posts. I wrangle as many of them as I can when I know a fence is getting taken out. I have several cut up that I helped my dad put in when I was kid. I have scored a few that are well over 50years old.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 17.4 tonight with a forecast low of 11, the Liberty has a load of sugar maple, beech and ironwood in it.

We'll put in another two loads of beech and sugar maple tomorrow before our cold snap hits and then I can finish plowing.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 22 out now with a low of 14 tonight. I just put a load of red white and post oak in the buck for the night.


----------



## MMH

Low in the 20s with the feels like in the teens more pine tonight


----------



## Grizzerbear

Woke up this morning to 8 degrees out. I put another mixed oak load in the stove.


----------



## whtl4856

8 degrees right now. Another load of ash in the stove, all I’ll be burning for the next 2 weeks or so. I’ve been burning smaller splits since this cold snap started and couldn’t be happier with my stove performance. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s a different batch of wood or that I’m able to utilize more of the firebox and really pack them in there tight.

I used to do 6 or so large splits and maybe a smaller or medium one to fill in gaps, now I’m able to do maybe 1 or 2 large splits and 8-10 smaller ones (4” across +/-1). This is the first time I’ve burned mostly small splits like this and might be splitting my wood smaller in the future now. Will experiment some more and see.


----------



## Gearhead660

A brisk -12 outside.  Loaded furnace at 5am with whatever was in the pile, probably ash and what I think was hickory.  Currently burning a piece of pine in the stove to help burn down the coals.


----------



## whtl4856

Gearhead660 said:


> A brisk -12 outside.


Makes the -5 in our forecast for next week seem not so bad!


----------



## JimBear

It’s 0* here, @7:30 I put in a 6” & 12” Cedar round & some 1”-3” Elm & Mulberry I found in the pile.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 10.4 this morning with more of the maples going in the Lopi. This afternoon I'll be taking out some ash, it feels good to burn better wood.

With all the plowing I did yesterday, we never did get the two loads of beech and sugar maple in so that will go in today.


----------



## stoveliker

Started the stove again. Snowing at 33 F here. Predictions are 8" or so today. The minisplit would defrost often with the humidity outside, and given that it's going to be cold this week, the stove has been restarted. I'll likely mostly burn during the day and use some oil in early morning to heat up again (we're okay with a cold house at night, but the basement stove does not heat the main floor up fast enough - it's good for maintaining heat, but I don't have enough wood for that...)

Now cut off cookies of ash, oak, a small split of cherry, and some sassafras to fill se holes. Going to be good cruising today.


----------



## NickW

Up to -11 with a brisk wind  . More ash & beech. Heaters surprisingly didn't kick in overnight that we know of, but they must have been close judging by where the thermometers were at.

Gonna need to try to get the temp up in the house tomorrow morning and let it burn down to clean out ash in the afternoon. At least it will be sunny with a high of 10.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 20s, but supposed to hit nearly 50 today apparently, I’ll throw a couple pieces in for this morning and likely let her burn out for rest of the day.


----------



## stoveliker

NickW said:


> Up to -11 with a brisk wind  . More ash & beech. Heaters surprisingly didn't kick in overnight that we know of, but they must have been close judging by where the thermometers were at.
> 
> Gonna need to try to get the temp up in the house tomorrow morning and let it burn down to clean out ash in the afternoon. At least it will be sunny with a high of 10.



The word "high" in combination with 10F is a contradiction in terms...


----------



## NickW

stoveliker said:


> The word "high" in combination with 10F is a contradiction in terms...


Todays "high" is 2.........


----------



## Caw

26 and heavy snowfall here right now. Have a red maple, cherry, and ash cocktail going in the 1600. Cruising along at 550 and drying my boots off....bucked up about 1.5 cords of maple this morning.


----------



## Zombie

Pine, Pine, and more Pine, only thing I have dry at the moment.  Grandpa bear is happy and the house is good and warm.  I got a line on a large amount of free wood today, if anyone is close to the Kernersville area on NC there is more than enough to go around. Bring a trailer, or dump truck. https://winstonsalem.craigslist.org/zip/d/colfax-free-wood-logs/7259270194.html


----------



## Caw

Zombie said:


> Pine, Pine, and more Pine, only thing I have dry at the moment.  Grandpa bear is happy and the house is good and warm.  I got a line on a large amount of free wood today, if anyone is close to the Kernersville area on NC there is more than enough to go around. Bring a trailer, or dump truck. https://winstonsalem.craigslist.org/zip/d/colfax-free-wood-logs/7259270194.html



Holy mackerel! It's only an 11.5 hour drive for me...see you in the morning!


----------



## heavy hammer

Were sitting about 11 right now I have both stoves going with ash and some locust.  Yesterday it warmed up to 25 so while the girls were sledding me and the labs filled the garage back up and played in the woods for a few hours.  Going to be a chilly week but I'm sure everyone is ready.


----------



## MEngineer24

Currently we are at 25F but steadily dropping to the low of 14F tonight. Running cherry right now but will load up full of red oak before bed tonight.


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## MoDoug

Winter finally hit here, dropped to 0 last night, we're at 4 now and that's supposed to be our low for tonight. We got about 4 inches of snow, I know that's nothing.. This is what I've been holding off on burning the oak and locust for. It's movie weather, but I'll have to get out tomorrow!


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## thewoodlands

I'm going to get caught burning down coals tonight so we'll use the pellet stove for heat.  NOAA is calling for a low of 2, earlier it was 8.


----------



## MoDoug

thewoodlands said:


> I'm going to get caught burning down coals tonight so we'll use the pellet stove for heat.  NOAA is calling for a low of 2, earlier it was 8.


I was just noticing how much the coals are building up in my stove, I think I'm going to get caught, but my backup is propane...


----------



## thewoodlands

MoDoug said:


> I was just noticing how much the coals are building up in my stove, I think I'm going to get caught, but my backup is propane...


I never told the wife not to start a second fire , I was outside plowing when she started it. I should've cleaned it out in the morning like I usually do when it needs it.

I've been saving the ashes for the driveway, once we get into the thaw/freeze cycle, our driveway will need all the wood ash, pellet dust and sand that we have.


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## Rusty18

Zombie said:


> Pine, Pine, and more Pine, only thing I have dry at the moment.  Grandpa bear is happy and the house is good and warm.  I got a line on a large amount of free wood today, if anyone is close to the Kernersville area on NC there is more than enough to go around. Bring a trailer, or dump truck. https://winstonsalem.craigslist.org/zip/d/colfax-free-wood-logs/7259270194.html



pine is all I have too, there is other stuff available but I’ve been cutting the pines (22”-28”)  off the house since we bought the house in 2018.  Can’t stand to just let it lay and rot up and can’t give it to anyone for saw logs.


----------



## Tar12

A balmy 3 degrees here now...and more single digit and minus windchill weather to follow...going to keep on keeping on with the locust and oak...


----------



## NickW

Got home from a SB party to the upstairs heaters on and a huge pile of coals in the stove. Burn em down with little stuff and bark to make room for a large overnight load...


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## Caw

27 now, low of 18 tonight. Magic cocktail of Cherry, Ash, and Maple again into the Osburn. I think this has become my favorite combo for not super cold nights. The cherry smells great and is bone dry so it gets the other woods going. The maple burns a little hotter/faster than the ash but leaves few coals whereas the ash is the work horse and leaves great coals for the morning. 

When it gets really cold I bust out the red oak/ash/maple combo. BTUs alllllll night long baby.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for teens again, more pine tonight.


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## MissMac

stoveliker said:


> The word "high" in combination with 10F is a contradiction in terms...


Today's high at my house was a balmy -32*C, and that isn't with the wind chill!  We are in a good old fashion cold snap up here right now, and it's forecast to last the week at least.  All I've got for the stove is jack pine and black spruce.  Have to let the furnace do some of the work in this weather, or I'll be out of seasoned wood in a matter of weeks!


----------



## MoDoug

I spent the last hour burning down my coals, didn't add any new wood, stirred it every 10 minutes or so, and the coals finally burned down to an acceptable amount to get ready for over night burning. Only in the last few minutes did my flue temps go below the optimum temperature on my Fluegard thermometer. Although in that short time, with it being 6 degrees out, the temperature in this room dropped 10 degrees... Time to heat it back up, with more oak and locust.


----------



## Tar12

MissMac said:


> Today's high at my house was a balmy -32*C, and that isn't with the wind chill!  We are in a good old fashion cold snap up here right now, and it's forecast to last the week at least.  All I've got for the stove is jack pine and black spruce.  Have to let the furnace do some of the work in this weather, or I'll be out of seasoned wood in a matter of weeks!


3 degrees is actually balmy here! lol...everytime you guys post from the far north it is a stark reminder of how easy we actually have it here in the "south"..


----------



## Grizzerbear

20 here this morning with a load of post oak going in the buck. Looks like we are gunna have a few days of off and on freezing drizzle. The real cold will set in later this week here.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 7.2 this morning, the ashes from the wood stove went outside in a garbage can in the woods and the Liberty is cranking out the heat.

The pellet stove did its job overnight, we had 71 up here and the basement much warmer.


----------



## MoDoug

@MissMac is here to remind us what whiners we are!  @Grizzerbear, I think the cold front must have settled in between us, for now. It's at 9 this morning, and a stove full of coals, time to stir and burn again. My flue temps have gone back up just from stiring the coals. Then more oak and locust.


----------



## NickW

-3 and the house is chilly. Burning little stuff and bark to take the chill off and burn the coals down. Need to remove some ash, so that will be my goal for the day - get the house warm enough to let the stove go mostly out. I think I'm setting myself up for failure...


----------



## heavy hammer

Low 20's now I reloaded the basement stove with more locust, after 14+ hours hot coals still in the stove and basement is 73.  The upstairs stove is burning down the coals with some cedar splits.


----------



## MEngineer24

All cherry for us tonight. Had a break in the weather today and we are still sitting at 40F right now. Low tonight is high 30s.


----------



## MMH

Lows in the 20s tonight, hit around 50 again today, if this keeps going I’m going to have juniper and mahogany left over for next season. More pine for tonight’s load.


----------



## Caw

19 out now and a low of 16. I was in line for 3 hours to get my vaccine this evening so the wife did the tricky dinner time hold me over reload. Gotta put enough in to keep the temps up and have coals to reload at bed time but not too much or you'll bake and be up all night waiting.

Well...it didn't go well. Only put a few logs on to keep the box warm instead of getting a little more heat out of the stove so its only 64 in here heading into the overnight burn. I normally like it to be more like 68...gonna be a little nippy when we wake up.

Stuffed it to the gills with Ash, Chery, and a single red oak split because f it why not. Hopefully I can avoid the heater turning on early am.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 19 with a low of 16 tonight. I got a load of post oak going in for overnight. Still getting freezing drizzle as of now. It's not adding up to much which is good but the roads sure are slick. Expecting this off and on til Wednesday night when the cold front pushes further south.


----------



## NickW

Same old song... ash & beech. 0 deg F now, supposedly down to -13F overnight... 

Struggling with the whole coals vs BTU vs too much ash thing. Might go grab some softwood tomorrow from the garage to burn it down to fill it up with hardwood again. Too danged cold to let it go out completely. Next ash removal will have to wait until a sunny day closer to 20 degrees. Spent hours trying to burn it down to remove ash and get the heat up with bark today with poor results.


----------



## stoveliker

21 F, going 20 tonight. Did put some sassafras in, hoping to have dialled it in right so that the home doesn't get below 60 and I still have some coals left for tomorrow's load of oak.

Same issue as @Caw ; put in some knotty pieces of sassafras at 7 or so to tide me over till now. And I had too much left, so I couldn't fill the box up as I should. No wife to blame though...


----------



## Grizzerbear

We got 14 out this morning with a full load of post oak again.


----------



## Gearhead660

NickW said:


> Same old song... ash & beech. 0 deg F now, supposedly down to -13F overnight...
> 
> Struggling with the whole coals vs BTU vs too much ash thing. Might go grab some softwood tomorrow from the garage to burn it down to fill it up with hardwood again. Too danged cold to let it go out completely. Next ash removal will have to wait until a sunny day closer to 20 degrees. Spent hours trying to burn it down to remove ash and get the heat up with bark today with poor results.


The struggle is real...
I have a small rack in the house of just pine to burn down coals.  Rake coal to front and throw a split on top.  Gets stove top around 450-500.


----------



## Gearhead660

Juggling 2 burners during the cold spell we are having.  Trying to stagger the loadings to minimize the temp swings.  Working well, woke up to 68 this morning. Menu is boring, ash with occasional oak or elm piece.


----------



## Rusty18

A brush!


----------



## moresnow

Just loaded a full load of Elm. -15F this AM. -29F windchill... Brr


----------



## stoveliker

16 F this morning. 35 and a bit of snow today. Rest of the week won't see above freezing.

Small 3" splits of old (and slightly punky, but dry) oak just now, after a night of sassafras that holds surprisingly well for 12 hrs. 
Keeping the higher BTU wood for the days as we don't need it very warm during the night.


----------



## Caw

About to reload with... get ready for it...

Cherry, ash, and maple! 

I can't stop, won't stop using this combo. I'm addicted. I am starting to run low on seasoned cherry though so I'll eventually be on the more basic maple/ash train to end the season. 

Snow starting to fall again. Oh boy!


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 20s but hitting high 40s again today, we’ll see it is cloudy out and windy so may not be a real heater today like the previous days. Currently burning down coals, we’ll see how today pans out may or may not reload today.


----------



## Caw

After failing on the dinner time reload last night and being too cold I decided to do the opposite tonight. I loaded her up with the usual cherry/maple/ash and let it rip. Settled in nicely at 650 and cruising now...should be nice and warm for the overnight reload later.

PS - This stove top thermometer is the best one I've ever owned as far as cheap magnetic models. It lags as they all do but it's pretty close to my IR once it settles in. I usually zap the pipe/top junction through the air gap for more real time accurate temps when dialing in the air but this thing is good for a quick peek when you're walking by.


----------



## JimBear

I am going to change things up a bit tonight & stuff the Century with some 3 year seasoned Honey Locust. It’s supposed to be 0* tonight & 10* tomorrow then start cooling back down.  Burning down some coals now


----------



## MMH

Let the stove go cold today, warming her back up with some pine....and then? Yup more pine lows in the 20s tonight


----------



## Zombie

Starting off with pine, then pine.  Love the smell.


----------



## moresnow

Caw said:


> After failing on the dinner time reload last night and being too cold I decided to do the opposite tonight. I loaded her up with the usual cherry/maple/ash and let it rip. Settled in nicely at 650 and cruising now...should be nice and warm for the overnight reload later.
> 
> PS - This stove top thermometer is the best one I've ever owned as far as cheap magnetic models. It lags as they all do but it's pretty close to my IR once it settles in. I usually zap the pipe/top junction through the air gap for more real time accurate temps when dialing in the air but this thing is good for a quick peek when you're walking by.
> 
> View attachment 274132
> 
> View attachment 274133


X2 on the Condar Inferno. They are top notch. I run my stove up to the same mark as you have pictured before turning down to my cruise setting. Good and hot! 

After 2 rounds of coal reduction I will be stuffing the box in a few minutes with my next load.


----------



## Zombie

Going to burn this mystery hardwood tonite I think. No idea what it is, no bark on standing dead, smells pretty strong.


----------



## Caw

Burn down those coals baby! Will load with mostly ash tonight and maybe a single maple split to get it going. It's supposed to be a little colder tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We're at 17 tonight with red and post oak in for overnight. Another glazing of ice expected here tonight. Looks like northern Arkansas is gunna get the brunt of this one and I'm fine with that.


----------



## NickW

Ash & beech (I'm a broken record...). A little haze on the glass. I've  finally learned to start earlier, shut the air all the way to have secondaries and no primaries until it settles down, then open it up some for a better more complete overnight burn. Forgot how much I love burning ash.


----------



## Grizzerbear

15 this morning with red oak set ablaze before heading off for work. Roads were slick this morning. I got almost to town and it started freezing rain pretty good.....enough that it was freezing instantly to my windshield and my wipers froze up. That was fun lol.


----------



## MoDoug

Monday night I let the coals burn down then cleaned the stove out of pretty much all ashes and coals, the coals were still hot, thank goodness for welding gloves. I dumped the ashes in the fire pit outside, on some branches and small stuff. There was about 3 inches of snow covering the pit, it smoldered all day, through the night, and finally quit smoking this morning. It amazes me how long fire will smolder, even in this kind of weather, surrounded by snow.

I've read a lot where it is recommended to leave a couple inches of ash in stoves, but my stove seems to burn much better cleaned out. I'm also learning to do a better job of managing coals as I go. I'm burning mostly oak and elm now, it's what's on top the wood rack.


----------



## JimBear

Honey Locust, Osage & a few small pieces of Slippery Elm to fill the voids. Supposed to get down to -2* tonight with -25* wind chill.


----------



## NickW

What's in my stove? Too darn many coals... still. I tried burning them down with silver maple at 5:15, but still too many. Temps starting to drop in the house. Gonna grab some cottonwood or Aspen tomorrow from the outside stacks to try again. I, unlike some, don't like 4" of ash and charcoal in the bottom of my stove. I prefer to remove ash twice a week, but this cold snap is making it difficult to keep the house temp up and let it burn down enough to get at least some of the ash out. Won't hit 30 degrees again until the 21st or 22nd... more ash and beech going in shortly.


----------



## MMH

Lows in the 20s tonight again, more pine for Dorothy


----------



## milothecat

The shop has a full load of burr oak cruising. Just filled the stove in the house with some three year old ash. Supposed to be -37c here by morning.


----------



## Caw

Found enough shorties in the stack this week for a fun N/S load of cherry/ash/maple. Every time I do this I get very jealous of the full time N/S loaders...it's so easy!


----------



## lml999

Just got some cherry...yummy. It's a nice change from the scrub oak I got from a local guy on Cape Cod. Not to self...never buy firewood grown in sand.

I've got some "mainland" oak seasoning...hope that it will be ready for next fall...


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had 12 outside and light snow with a full load of white oak before heading off to work. The wife was off work yesterday and reloaded right before I got home. It kinda messed up my overnight reload where if I didn't put more wood in before bed, the furnace would kick on in the middle of the night or, if i added wood, I knew it would get a little warm. Well with temps as cold as they are I don't want my heat pump running so needless to say, It got "down to your underwear toasty" in the shack last night. Better than freezing I guess.


----------



## Gearhead660

Caw said:


> Found enough shorties in the stack this week for a fun N/S load of cherry/ash/maple. Every time I do this I get very jealous of the full time N/S loaders...it's so easy!
> 
> View attachment 274264


Love my N/S burners.  Makes loading much easier.


----------



## NickW

Down to -8F last night. Up to -4 now and sunny. Burning mid size cottonwood loads today to reduce coals and hopefully get ash out later. Heat wave coming! Not supposed to go below zero tonight, but another week and a half before we hit 30 again.


----------



## Caw

26 and sunny now. I just threw two small ultra bone red maple splits on to burn down the AM load coals. Thing went from 350 to thermonuclear in minutes...I can see the coals vanishing before my eyes!   

This is my preferred method for dealing with coals when its cold out. I usually use bark but small splits work too. Yeah it uses a little more fuel but I can run the blower on high for 20 mins and get a lot of added heat out of the stove while working the coals versus just waiting for it at 350 with the blower off...that's what I do if it's too warm in here.


----------



## MMH

System moving in tonight, raining now cooling off; calling for a couple feet of snow in the mountains and 2-4” in the valley, we’ll either get a couple inches/nothing or get some decent snow being semi close to mountains. Pine tonight and I’ll probably move some mahogany and juniper in tomorrow just in case.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -14.6 this morning. We ran the furnace overnight and we're back burning beech today.


----------



## Tar12

Coldest air of the year moving in and lasting for several days...many single digit nights ....just replenished the indoor wood boxes that I brought in so I dont have to go outside for a few days...lol...and I filled the boxes on the porch as well with Locust and White Oak...I can now ride out a week and a half pretty easy ....currently running a load of 4 year old White Oak and its putting off some incredible heat!


----------



## heavy hammer

I went through about all the locust and ash in the garage this week.  It was cold every day, today we were in the 30's so I cleaned out the summit and filled the garage back up to about full.  The coming week is supposed to be cold as well.  A few nights I fell asleep before I reloaded the stoves and the furnace kicked on.  Then some nights I loaded the stoves to well to wake up to a very warm house.


----------



## Caw

heavy hammer said:


> A few nights I fell asleep before I reloaded the stoves and the furnace kicked on. Then some nights I loaded the stoves to well to wake up to a very warm house



The life of a non-cat wood burner! Blank happens. 

Big old pile of coals for me right now. Timing and temps looking good for the 10:30 bed time reload. Looks like it'll be about 12 so just a regular load of ash/cherry/maple tonight.


----------



## heavy hammer

Caw the Kuma in the basement is a cat stove, it gets very good burn times but a few of the nights I didn't reload it when needed 10-12 plus  hours since last load because the house was warm and I fell asleep.  The summit on the first floor is a non cat but where the thermostat for the furnace is located unless you have it putting out good heat which is 6-8 hour reload times.  The furnace will kick on with these cold temps.  The Kuma burns the stuff down to a fine power, but like most here have been saying the summit was full of coals.  I have been throwing cedar splits on here and there to burn them down.  The temps were in the 30's today and I was able to clean out the summit to get ready for next week.


----------



## Zombie

31* and freezing rain right now, pine and the mystery hardwood just loaded for overnight burn.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 10 out now with a low of 3 and white oak for the overnight. I gotta get my rear in gear tomorrow and get some more wood stacked on the porch before it starts snowing Sunday morning. I expect to be coming and going from the house the next few days to clear streets in town if we get the snow they are saying. Looks like the wife will be in the drivers seat keeping the house warm if so. O yeah they are saying wind chills of -25 to -30 with a forecasted low of-9 Monday night......yowza lol.


----------



## JimBear

-6* with -25* wind chill this morning, supposed to have wind chills down around -25* thru Tuesday with -35* Monday night. Loaded the stove with Osage & Slippery Elm this morning.


----------



## heavy hammer

I just kept the stoves fed with a little maple and small ash splits we only went down to 19 last night so not that bad.  Sunny this morning so the house should stay pretty warm, but some cold temps coming.


----------



## Mark N MO

Currently 4°, N wind @ 13, only one thing.  White oak, perfectly aged like bourbon, meticulously cut to 18" to stuff the maw of the Buck.  Adjust air down to no visible flames.  Cruise through the day @ about 900°-1000°.  Rinse, repeat.


----------



## thewoodlands

Our temp bottomed out at - 15.4 this morning, we're back burning beech.


----------



## baseroom

Ah this cold air has us all working these stoves hard!  Single digits here. Lake effect snow combined with three storms in a row on the way. Forced me to load the garage yesterday. I am currently burning Locust, Hard Maple some apple chunks and a bit of  Bradford pear I got from a neighbor four years ago. Keeping us “warm in the storm “!


----------



## stoveliker

22 F this morning, still going on a load of small-split Sassafras from yesterday evening 10 pm. Woke up to 64 F, which is perfect for us. Dialed up the thermostat, and it's 67 F in an hr or so (stove is in the basement). Got more Sassafras into the garage to split smaller so I can dry it near the stove. With remnants maple and cherry for the days where I want more heat, I will make it through this colder period. In a week or two I see minisplit temps during the day and above 27 or so mostly during the night - I can do that without running the stove overnight as we don't loose heat that fast. And the minisplit will heat things up quickly. Or we use half an hour of oil in the morning.


----------



## Caw

Ash, maple, and cherry this am. Cruising at 600 when I left to volunteer this morning. We'll see what my wife decides to do for the midday reload while I'm gone. Its always a surprise!   

No break from burning for us. Just that really annoying 30-45 degree weather. I forsee letting the stove go out in the afternoon a bunch. Hate to do that but we'll bake ourselves out going 24/7 when it's over 30. I turn on the heat pump when it's 45+.

The good news is we are approaching sugar season. Probably 2-3 weeks away.


----------



## thewoodlands

The last  I looked it was 8.8 tonight, I'll put a bag of pellets in the old Lopi Yankee and use that for heat tonight.


----------



## NickW

-5 already and about to load for the overnight with mostly ash and a little beech...


----------



## Caw

Loaded up the Osburn for the night. The usual cherry, ash, and red maple with a single red oak split for added flavor. 





Your browser is not able to display this video.


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## Zombie

More pine and mystery wood, picked this up a couple days ago, but it's been freezing rain ever since. Got it for free from a guy on craigslist, going back for another load or 2 when it drys up some.


----------



## Tar12

3 degrees with a -12 windchill heading for a low -0...stuffed the Princess full of White Oak and the stove room is 75..cant wait till Monday morning when I have to work outside in this...lol


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 1 out with a -15 wind chill and the snow just started. I'm am on the coal cycle of a load of post oak. This real cold snap is the first time I have ever had to run the stove consecutively. Normally it's a load in the morning and a load for overnight......always starting from a cold stove. It's nice to throw some wood in and be up and running in a snap of the finger.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 10.4 this morning with another load of beech going in the wood stove.


----------



## NickW

Still below zero here and windy. Loads of ash today. Electric baseboards were kicked in this morning. Still trying to get the house up to temp.


----------



## stoveliker

I had let the stove cool down last night. This morning it was 62 F in the home. Fired it up on high with some sassafras to get the basement up to temp and clean the window. Then reloaded with mostly cherry of which I have some left.
If there is no week of cold in March, it seems I'll be able to make it through this winter with the dry wood I have


----------



## ozarkoak

8 degrees here right now has to be zero or below with the wind-chill.  Loading the stove with red/white/post/blackjack oak and some ash. 70 degrees inside right now. I let the stove get cool today and burn up  some charcoal which was a mistake because I have been playing catch up since then.


----------



## Tar12

White Oak and Locust tonight...went from 24 hour reloads to 12 hour reloads to 8 hour reloads..the Princess is keeping up easily....the propane company hates me! lol The feeling is mutual though... ...


----------



## heavy hammer

I'm sure with these temps everyone's reload times have changed.  I'm still getting close to 12 hours with the Kuma in the basement but some of these cold days it more like 8-10.  The summit is doing a pretty good job keeping the first floor warm but were reloading every 6-8.  The garage is filled back up with locust and ash for the coming week going to be another chilly one.


----------



## Caw

I'm having the opposite issue here in MA. It's warm as heck out....low of 30  tonight. I've just been stringing the Osburn along with a split here or there for the last few hours to make it to the overnight reload without baking us out.

Im a non-cat guy...I like the simplicity and quick access to BTUs when I want it but these are the times I wish I had a cat stove!


----------



## Tar12

Caw said:


> I'm having the opposite issue here in MA. It's warm as heck out....low of 30  tonight. I've just been stringing the Osburn along with a split here or there for the last few hours to make it to the overnight reload without baking us out.
> 
> Im a non-cat guy...I like the simplicity and quick access to BTUs when I want it but these are the times I wish I had a cat stove!


I guess I dont get the last part of your post...my cat stove excels in your situation!..it was -0 this am with a -15 windchill and the stove room at 76...I cracked the air a bit and it was soon 79 in the stove room...in 30 degree weather I load every 24 hours...that is simplicity at its finest.


----------



## Caw

Tar12 said:


> I guess I dont get the last part of your post...my cat stove excels in your situation!..it was -0 this am with a -15 windchill and the stove room at 76...I cracked the air a bit and it was soon 79 in the stove room...in 30 degree weather I load every 24 hours...that is simplicity at its finest.



The simplicity comment was just referring to it being a less complicated device that's all. 

I feel I can get more BTUs more quickly out of a tube stove. For the options I had for my fireplace the smaller cat inserts wouldn't be able to keep up during the cold weather...I simply needed more BTUs. The price is more often reloading and the heat isn't as even of course but the top end is typically much higher and I can heat my house thru colder weather. Everyone is always comfy so that's good enough for me. 

I mean yea if I could have fit a BK King in there I'd be all for it lol.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 9.5 tonight headed down to 4, we have some beech coals burning down in the Liberty, I'll shut the fan off on the Liberty and turn the pellet stove on tonight.


----------



## Tar12

Caw said:


> The simplicity comment was just referring to it being a less complicated device that's all.
> 
> I feel I can get more BTUs more quickly out of a tube stove. For the options I had for my fireplace the smaller cat inserts wouldn't be able to keep up during the cold weather...I simply needed more BTUs. The price is more often reloading and the heat isn't as even of course but the top end is typically much higher and I can heat my house thru colder weather. Everyone is always comfy so that's good enough for me.
> 
> I mean yea if I could have fit a BK King in there I'd be all for it lol.


Gotcha! I did not realize you had a insert...


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 1 out with snow now and a low of-2 expected in the morning. Wind chills of-20 to -25. Loaded the buck up with some white oak for the night.


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## Caw

Tar12 said:


> Gotcha! I did not realize you had a insert...



Yep. Small house, giant dog/dog crate. Don't really have the room for a freestander even though we'd love to have one! It just takes up too much space.  The insert does the job well though, we are very happy with it.


----------



## Tar12

Caw said:


> Yep. Small house, giant dog/dog crate. Don't really have the room for a freestander even though we'd love to have one! It just takes up too much space.  The insert does the job well though, we are very happy with it.


Thats all that matters!


----------



## JimBear

Supposed to be -11* here with wind chills down around -30*, Osage & Ash in the Century, loaded it at 8:30pm,  it will be good till 6:30 but I will re-load at 5:30 so I can get it set & be gone by 6:15, plus Mama chirps if the living room isn’t in the 80’s when she gets up @7:00.


----------



## Jay106n

Nothing too crazy here. It’s another day and another full load of seasoned ash.


----------



## Jay106n

Hopefully you south Texas folks have been stocking up! Looks like a hell of a storm coming through!


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a temp this morning of 10.6, back to burning beech in the wood stove.


----------



## Caw

Hitting a warm patch here. 34 overnight and a high of 45 tomorrow and it's going to pour all day... hoping it melts some of this snow!  I'm just going to throw in a weenie load of whatever is on top of my pile tonight, I think cherry, to keep the chill off. I anticipate letting the stove go out after the morning reload. Been going 24/7 for a while now so it'll be a good time to shovel out some ash and clean the glass. 

Weird weather. Back to normal highs of 25-30 and teens overnight on Wednesday and moving forward. Rapidly approaching sugar season!


----------



## walhondingnashua

Freezing rain/sleet/snow tonight with low of 26.  Burning a patch of read oak and hickory sweating everyone out of the basement.  Coldest night coming tomorrow night at projection of 1.  I'll keep running the oak and hickory until the temperatures rise later this week.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's -2 here with a wind chill of -13 as of now. Expecting -10. Today was the coldest day in 130 years here. I got the the stove cranking with white and post oak now.


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## MMH

Small system moved through, little snow not much though. Temps dropped a bit again, 30s today teens tonight. Another load of pine. Another weak system next couple days with cooler temps I’ll likely move some mahogany in.


----------



## Tar12

Wind is ripping and the snow is coming down at a pretty good clip.... damn wind is worse than the temp!got the blower running on the stove tonight! Oak and Locust again..


----------



## JimBear

Guessers are saying -20* here tonight with wind chills around -35*. Loaded up with Osage, Slippery Elm & a split of Ash.


----------



## MoDoug

Our temps last night were -4 temp and -14 wind chill, tonight they're calling for -11 temp and -25 wind chill. Definitely the coldest we've had in a while. Even this weather is keeping me inside, although I do find myself pacing inside several times. I've been running oak and locust, and some elm just because it's there. I'm trying to stay on top of the coals, by just burning them down a few times a day.. The Talking Heads Burning Down the House keeps running through my head, although I've changed the lyrics to Burning Down The Coals! Puff, my stoves name, is holding his own against these temps!


----------



## MMH

Currently 10 out, more pine for Dorothy to chew down.


----------



## NickW

I'm going to start calling my NC "Nancy"...  . Burning down coals with cottonwood.


----------



## stoveliker

Nothing but ashes. 49 today    Heated up during the night under constant rain - how fast does a foot of compact snow disappear... Good thing the solar panels are active again (I can't reach them to sweep the snow off...)

Cooling down to 25 tonight, and tomorrow 33, so I think I'll light up again tomorrow morning.


----------



## heavy hammer

We have about 8 inches of snow with temps dropping close to single digits tonight.  Locust and some ash and walnut to keep things warm.


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## Tar12

Going to hit the low 30s a week out...that will feel nice! Till then the I will carry on with the Oak and Locust while I am waiting on JimBear to bring me a load of Osage..


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## NickW

Tar12 said:


> Going to hit the low 30s a week out...that will feel nice! Till then the I will carry on with the Oak and Locust while I am waiting on JimBear to bring me a load of Osage..


So WI is just a slight detour north on the way to IN... he could drop half the load by me, then head over by you...

Freshly cleaned stove with a mid size load of ash to prep for the overnight load.


----------



## Tar12

NickW said:


> So WI is just a slight detour north on the way to IN... he could drop half the load by me, then head over by you...
> 
> Freshly cleaned stove with a mid size load of ash to prep for the overnight load.


Wasnt planning on any detours...lol


----------



## NickW

Tar12 said:


> Wasnt planning on any detours...lol


Best laid plans of mice and men...


----------



## stoveliker

Starting up the stove top down for a load of sassafras overnight.


----------



## Caw

Got up to 45 today...thankfully to melt all that freezing rain. Let the stove go out after the morning reload and it stayed 68 all day. Gave it a good once over this afternoon and fired it back up after dinner to warm it up for the overnight load. 

Looks like it'll be 21 tonight so just the usual ash, cherry, and maple mix I think. Might only do a 3/4 load as it's still like 35 out now.


----------



## JimBear

Tar12 said:


> Going to hit the low 30s a week out...that will feel nice! Till then the I will carry on with the Oak and Locust while I am waiting on JimBear to bring me a load of Osage..


I guess it didn’t occur to me that I should of negotiated with some Osage when I bought that Simington from you.


----------



## logfarmer

Just threw in a load of locust with a touch of white oak!


----------



## whtl4856

3 degrees right now, just filled a tight load of ash.  Going to get up extra early for a reload for the first time this year as it’s supposed to hit -5 in the morning. This is the coldest we’ve had and the heat pump had an error message this morning, hoping it was just the snow/ice buildup on the unit outside but we will see when I take a look at it. Glad I don’t need to worry about it much with the wood stove, in the past I’d be scrambling and paying “emergency service” rates. Backup heat was still working fine when it kicked on briefly this morning too.


----------



## MMH

Low around 10 tonight, pine for tonight. Highs tomorrow just at freezing, pine and juniper for tomorrow’s load; tomorrow night single digits, mahogany for that.


----------



## NickW

Guessing all ash... Wife got up and loaded it, I got up 10 minutes later and could smell paint during! RAN  downstairs, stovetop was only 600 but the gates of hell were roaring. Guessing she got the flue a bit hotter than I do.  Choked it down, all is good, stovetop only hit about 700. No harm, no foul. 

Might be the final nudge to get the flue probe. Are there any that are worthwhile that are reasonably priced? I saw the Auber digital online for about $150 and that's a bit more than I'd like to spend... Is a dial one worth buying?


----------



## JimBear

NickW said:


> Guessing all ash... Wife got up and loaded it, I got up 10 minutes later and could smell paint during! RAN  downstairs, stovetop was only 600 but the gates of hell were roaring. Guessing she got the flue a bit hotter than I do.  Choked it down, all is good, stovetop only hit about 700. No harm, no foul.
> 
> Might be the final nudge to get the flue probe. Are there any that are worthwhile that are reasonably priced? I saw the Auber digital online for about $150 and that's a bit more than I'd like to spend... Is a dial one worth buying?


She was just cleaning out the flue, getting any creosote build up from your poor burning habits taken care of...






						Condar stovepipe probe thermometers
					

stovepipe probe thermometers



					www.condar.com
				




I bought this Imperial for like $20 or there about. 








						Imperial | Flue Gas Probe Thermometer
					

For installation on double wall stove pipes




					www.imperialgroup.ca


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was -16 here yesterday morning with some post oak before heading to work. The sun showed its face yesterday and the wind laid down with a high of 16. It waspretty nice really. Today its 13 out with some heavy snow and more post oak going with the wife keepin the home fires burnin for the day.


----------



## Tar12

NickW said:


> Guessing all ash... Wife got up and loaded it, I got up 10 minutes later and could smell paint during! RAN  downstairs, stovetop was only 600 but the gates of hell were roaring. Guessing she got the flue a bit hotter than I do.  Choked it down, all is good, stovetop only hit about 700. No harm, no foul.
> 
> Might be the final nudge to get the flue probe. Are there any that are worthwhile that are reasonably priced? I saw the Auber digital online for about $150 and that's a bit more than I'd like to spend... Is a dial one worth buying?


I believe that this is one that people here typically get...it is the one I got...$75 shipped...just received mine and have not installed it yet






						Thermometer for Stove Pipe,Chimney,Outdoor Wood Boiler,w/ Alarm Thermometer for monitoring temperature on stove, chimney, or outdoor wood boiler [AT200CHIM] - $74.99 : Auber Instruments, Inc., Temperature control solutions for home and industry
					

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Holiday sale ends on 1/1/2023! This thermometer kit can be used for monitoring the temperature in stove pipes, chimneys, and outdoor wood boilers. This thermometer reads a thermocouple probe, shows the temperature on its red LED display, and makes a buzzing...



					www.auberins.com


----------



## MMH

Currently 11F out, today’s load will be pine and juniper


----------



## bcarp

Just warmed up (-15C low/-5C hi) so I'll be switching back to lodgepole pine.  Last week we had -30sC over night and -20sC in the day so ran about 70% paper birch which gave off more heat for sure.

Definitely stocking some of both again for next season.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 5.4 this morning with more beech seeing some action.


----------



## MoDoug

It's been a consistent 29 degrees for two days. I'm thinking my weather station in the yard is frozen or broke, or both... my weather app says it's 17 out, heading for a low of 7. I'm running a robust combination of oak and locust coals in my stove. Seems like I'm on coals a lot more than wood, maybe the moisture content is too low. I'd complain to management, but I don't want to go without dinner tonight.


----------



## Zombie

Getting ready for the overnight load. Pine, big splits and mediumish rounds.


----------



## stoveliker

Cherry today and sassafras later tonight. I like full loads of cherry (this was my first).


----------



## JimBear

More Osage, Ash & Slippery Elm tonight. Supposed to be around 0* tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 8.1 tonight, I have five rounds of ironwood with two splits of beech in the Lopi Liberty and a bag of pellets in the old yankee going in the basement.


----------



## MMH

Low going to be 0-5F tonight, all mahogany and couple small juniper rounds for tonight’s load.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 10 here with post and red oak in the buck. Expecting a high of 25 today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low 2.6 degrees this morning, more beech went in the liberty.

Overnight we used the pellet stove (one bag) and the wood stove with ironwood and beech, downstairs was 85 this morning with the temp upstairs at 72. I didn't check the floors with the IR gun but they're usually 74 or 75 degrees.


----------



## MMH

Currently 8F out, house is 71.5, STT still cruising around 375-400 with a heap full of coals


----------



## Tar12

Relief is in sight! Forecasting upper 30s all next week! Going to have to remind the wife to throttle back or she will have it 80 plus in here! Till then more oak and locust in the stove...still on track to burn approx. 4 cord..


----------



## MMH

29F out with a 14 MPH wind making the feels like at 19, a load of pine for tonight. The wind gave a boost in draft creating a nice secondary show for a couple hours.


----------



## Caw

Snowing now, expecting about 3-6". Threw a load of whatever was next to the stove in...it was kind of dark and I was tired lol. It's mostly cherry and maple I think. I didn't pack it very well so I'll probably do a proper load in 3-4 hours after shoveling. Not gonna bother with the snow blower for such a small amount. 

Wish it would stop snowing on my damn rounds in my driveway!


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 2 degrees this morning with a load of red and black jack oak. Expecting a heat wave today.....its gunna get to 32.


----------



## MMH

Will be in the 20-30s today, some snow and rain possible. Had an odd cut of juniper and mahogany so I put those in diagonally for today’s load. Dorothy should cruise nice on those for most of today.


----------



## stoveliker

Still snowing (got another 6" yesterday and so far today). 32 F or so today.

Just reloaded with cherry after the sassafras from last night was done. Warming up the flue a bit while charring the load.

Hope this will be done enough at 11 tonight for the sassafras night reload.


----------



## thewoodlands

We ended up burning a bag of pellets overnight. We had 15.6 this morning with the ashes from the wood stove going out to a metal garbage can in the woods,  more beech and maple went in the Lopi this morning.

We have a temp of 27.4 at the moment, feels great.


----------



## MMH

Still burning down some coals from today’s load. Tonight will be in the high teens to 20s, pine for tonight and I’ll load up the rest of the odd sized pieces of juniper/mahogany in the morning before work; should last a while then the wifey will likely let the stove burn out til I get off Monday.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 18.1 tonight with a possible low of 11, I have some beech with some red maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## Zombie

It was a nice day today, sunny with a high right close to 50*F.  Cleaned the stove, flue pipe, and chimney with the sooteater (what a great tool! I love it.) I added some more firebricks to the Grandpa, pine on the menu again tonite, lows forcast in the mid 20s.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's a balmy 38 now and only going down to 32 tonight. I got some post oak and one big red oak split going in for the overnight here shortly. Got some fifty degree days coming.....maybe a 60....after some record cold the last couple weeks. Crazy weather.


----------



## stoveliker

The sassafras from 11 pm last night ran until 3 pm; it was 34 today with much sun. I put 3 maple shorties in at that time and had to push that coals in a large pile now to add sassafras again. The home did not need a lot of heat with this weather and I'm still quite often wrong in how much wood I load or estimating when it'll be done...

Now if only my solar panels would drop the snow; having the yard slope down away from the home, and with the panels on top of the second story, I am not able to take the snow off. It's been a dismal solar month so far due to the snow. Net metering is fantastic for that. This coming week will be heating mostly with the minisplit. And if no cold snap appears, it might be the last run of the stove.


----------



## stoveliker

Yesterday at 11 pm I had too much coals left (again), so I pushed those in the back as I don't have gloves and don't want to burn my arms...
Therefore I had to load the night sassafras E/W, and I got less in. This morning at 10.30 that was done and I loaded the last of my maple shorties, so I won't have to awkwardly restack them with longer pieces when burning season is over (which might very well be soon here, given my minisplit+solar, and unless mother nature throws another cold snap to this coastal climate).

Lots of sun though today, around freezing but the uninsulated sun room is 75. With those sliding doors open, I left the stove cruising very low because I'll need it again tonight.


----------



## heavy hammer

Yesterday was a cold day in the 20's spent all day working on a 150' steel pole then came home to carry wood till about 7 pm.  Went all the way down to 3 last night but sitting in the mid 30's today a heat wave.  Been burning through a lot of locust and ash these few weeks but it looks like temps will be back in the 30's and 40's.  It looks like everyone here made it pretty well through the cold.  Anyone from Texas I'm sorry for the difficult times you may be having down there.  Hope temps warm up and they get that power grid up and running.


----------



## BigJ273

Just fired up a full load of cherry


----------



## Grizzerbear

We have 28 this morning but will reach a high of 53 with full sun. I put a half load of post and black jack oak in to carry the house until this evening.


----------



## NickW

25 and breezy. BIG difference from below zero and breezy. Wife didn't even throw any more wood in this morning, just stirred it up. Threw in a little silver maple to burn them down and give a little blast of heat at 7:30. Currently 80 in the stove room downstairs and 70 in the LR upstairs.

Probably be starting to burn more softwood during the days with highs in the 30's. Full rack in the house will start lasting a little longer too. Down to less than 1/2 cord each of hardwood and softwood in the garage.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 30.9 tonight with some maple going in the wood stove.


----------



## Caw

Nothing. Warm spell here this week, was 41 today and 45 tomorrow. I haven't touched the stove since 7 am and we're still at 70 degrees inside here! Going to shovel out some ash and fire up a tiny load for overnight. I'll be firing up the heat pump later this week when we hit 45.

I think we may have officially entered the pain in ass non 24/7 burning shoulder season here. It might be overnight fires and a tiny morning reload only for the week. Better bring up some kindling.


----------



## sweedish

Skipped a load today since it got to around 43 today, load of cherry in the stove after work, I’ll soon reload for the overnight, cherry again.
Was in Florida the last 2 weeks so I guess I missed all the real cold weather. My sister house sat and ran the stove while I was away, she did pretty well with it.

now for a joke, I bet the lights on this truck don’t work, heater doesn’t work, it’s mostly blacked out, and it also leaks everywhere


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 32.9 tonight with two splits of some not so great beech, red and sugar maple going in the wood stove.


----------



## MMH

Had to make a day trip to the salt lake area, finally just got home. Cleaned out the ash and turned the propane back off. Currently in the teens, headed for a low around 9F. Had a cold start but tonight’s load will be pine and juniper, with some mahogany on deck for tomorrow nights colder temps.


----------



## Grizzerbear

The stove is cold since yesterday morning and It got to 71 yesterday. It was great lol. I took the day off and cut some wood with my father and ran my new splitter. It only went down to 46 or so last night so I let the heat pump run. Today will be in the fifties but tonight we head back down to seasonal temps of 27 and I will fire the buck up again.


----------



## moresnow

Loaded the stove at 830 PM last night with Elm. Should be good until noon today. We are having very mild weather with mid 20's overnight and high 30's this afternoon. Snow is melting away.


----------



## MMH

Currently 31F out with the feels like at 21 that was the high today; house it at 74. Put a medium sized juniper and mahogany round in this morning, stove should cruise on that until tonight’s load. Tonight forecasted low around zero. This mahogany round is for tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 37.4 tonight with some of the maples and one split of beech going in the wood stove.


----------



## NickW

All ash tonight. Supposed to get down to 20.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 39 out now with a load of post oak and a hickory split. Expecting a low of 29 tonight.


----------



## MMH

The round was a little tight.... 0.5-1” from glass, wouldn’t fit E-W


----------



## stoveliker

Nothing but cold ashes. 49 today. 49 tonight. After my first (main part of the) heating season, I actually miss the heat from the stove. The minisplit is doing fine, and I only have a tin bit of dry wood left so all is good, but... Well, it feels cold in the basement...☹️


----------



## Grizzerbear

I got 28 this morning and 49 for a high. The house was 76 when I got up but I went ahead and loaded the stove with some more post oak and hickory before I left for work.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 24.6 this morning with a load of soft maple going in the Lopi.


----------



## MMH

7F out house is 72, will be using juniper and pine for today’s load


----------



## moresnow

MMH said:


> 7F out house is 72, will be using juniper and pine for today’s load


I really enjoy burning pine! Waaaay less ash handling in my experience. I never have excessive coaling with pine. Easy seasoning and lights off nice. Call me crazy but I feel it's really good stuff! Especially in a low and slow capable stove.


----------



## MMH

moresnow said:


> I really enjoy burning pine! Waaaay less ash handling in my experience. I never have excessive coaling with pine. Easy seasoning and lights off nice. Call me crazy but I feel it's really good stuff! Especially in a low and slow capable stove.



Agreed I don’t mind pine at all for all the reasons you said. I have pinyon pine in my area I’m going to get some this year and try it out; want to use it as a mixing piece in the winters etc


----------



## Caw

Haven't touched the stove since yesterday morning and it's still 65 in the house! It's gonna be 25-30 tonight so I'm about to do a tiny starter load of maple to get a coal bed for the overnight load. 

Great sugaring weather though...got 10 gallons the last 2 days from 6 trees! Other 10 haven't started yet. 

Feb in MA and no fire for 36 hrs here was my home temps...bananas:


----------



## heavy hammer

A little ash and locust temps were about 50 yesterday stoves burned out about 4 this morning and I reloaded them for the day.  We had temps in the 40's today so the house was comfortable.  Just got them going again for the night temps are in the low 30's


----------



## MMH

Today was about the same highs in the mid 30s with the feels like in the 20s, pine and couple pieces of juniper today. Tonight headed for somewhere around 10, will be mostly juniper tonight maybe a piece of mahogany maybe a piece of pine


----------



## Zombie

Just ashes.


----------



## fvhowler

Nothing. Stove got a good cleaning today. Temps have been in the 70s this week in south central NC. Burning season not quite over as the roller coaster temps will start which is typical for March. Probably burn Friday and Saturday.


----------



## Zombie

fvhowler said:


> Nothing. Stove got a good cleaning today. Temps have been in the 70s this week in south central NC. Burning season not quite over as the roller coaster temps will start which is typical for March. Probably burn Friday and Saturday.


Hey neighbor! I'm in north central NC.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 38 now with a low of 31 tonight. I got some post oak and hickory again for overnight.


----------



## MMH

Low headed for single digits tonight; bottom row left to right juniper mahogany juniper, top row left to right pine juniper pine pine.


----------



## MMH

Currently 9F our, three a few more pieces in the stove for the wifey, hopefully those and the heap of coals from last nights load will last til I get off work tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I just left the stove to go cold this morning. It was 33 out but the house was 78 and expecting a high of 50. I will probably be on a one load per day.....maybe two here and there..... schedule for at least the next week with lows just above freezing and highs in the 50s and 60s. With highs like that I'm fine with the heat pump taking over. We have thunderstorms forecasted this weekend.... and when thunderstorms start coming back around after the winter lull...spring is right around the corner down here.


----------



## Caw

Nothing in the stove inside. House is 67 after the 7 am load. Outside syrup evaporator is loaded with poplar uglies and cut up pallets though!


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

Well since "summer" decided to start this week in WI with temps in the 40's, I've been adjusting my stove loads to small and med sized pieces of oak and cherry. Day and night burns. Any split that's nice and big doesn't go into the stove and remains in the woodpile for future use.


----------



## MissMac

burning a little bit of what's left from this year's stack (spruce), with some poplar and manitoba maple from next year's stacks


----------



## Tar12

Let the stove go out for the first time this season..feels odd...lol...by the end of season I am ready to take a break from it but it is bitter sweet! We are not done burning yet...I will clean the chimney tomorrow and I have a load of oak waiting on stand by...


----------



## MMH

Low around 9F tonight, a full load of pine in.


----------



## sweedish

More cherry, but yesterday I was able to skip the afternoon/evening load since it’s been getting warmer. Hopefully I don’t have to break into another bay this season.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32.4 this morning with some not so great maple going in the wood stove.


----------



## heavy hammer

We have had some warmer temps move in so it is a fire here and there.  Temps are going into the 50's today so a small fire in the basement stove just to keep the chill out.  Just some small pieces of maple.  temps for the coming week are in the 30's and 40's.


----------



## MissMac

thewoodlands said:


> We had 32.4 this morning with some not so great maple going in the wood stove.


why 'not so great'?


----------



## Caw

I let the stove go cold after the morning load so now I have some red maple in there to give us a little boost and a coal bed before the overnight load. I do not like doing cold start overnight loads...it isn't nearly as effective. 

Gordon is enjoying the warmth!


----------



## thewoodlands

MissMac said:


> why 'not so great'?


The splits were from some rounds that were on their last leg when they went into the stacks, perfect for this type of weather.

We'll be getting colder here starting tomorrow afternoon, we'll start burning a 4 x 4 rack of beech and sugar maple with some ironwood at night.


----------



## johnhi77

Maple it is for me.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 38.7 tonight with a nice load of the maples going in the Liberty tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I got a mix match load of post, black jack oak, and hickory going for overnight. Haven't burned in a couple days with lows in high 40s. 45 and below is usually my burn temp. Its 43 now with a low of 29 tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 27 now with a black jack round and two oddball post oak uglies in the buck. We're going to get up to 54 with full sunshine today and even a couple mid 60 days Wednesday and Thursday. I plan on taking off one of those days and doing a lil crappie fishin.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 40.1 this morning with rain last night, we have some soft maple going in the wood stove this morning.


----------



## Stinkpickle

It sounds like tonight might be the last one below freezing for a few days, so I have some ash to finish off.


----------



## Tar12

After letting the stove sit idle for 2 days and cleaning the chimney we are headed for a low of 21 tonight  she is stuffed full of oak and locust and cruising and the wife  is happy...


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 38 out now with a low of 29 tonight. I got a white and red oak round with two splits of post oak and a split of black jack for the overnight.


----------



## NickW

Going down to 8 tonight, full load of ash going in once the coals burn down a bit...


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 3 to 4 inches of new snow with some winds earlier that picked up pretty good. The temp tonight is 2.1 with the wood stove being used all day but the pellet stove will be used so we have a constant heat throughout the night.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We have 26 out with a small load of white and post oak this morning. We are going to hit 58 today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We bottomed out at - 2.9 this morning with some winds that made it nasty out, the pellet stove had the temp up here at 71 this morning and 83 in the basement. I turned the pellet stove off and we have a load of soft & sugar maple in the Liberty.

We did get what looks like just over four inches of snow in the driveway, since it's all ice underneath, I packed down the snow on the driveway with the truck but once it looks like the melt will start again, I'll start plowing .


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 15.8 tonight with a load of beech and sugar maple going in the wood stove. If the forecast is correct we should have another 3-5 inches of snow by late afternoon tomorrow with a temp in the low 20's tomorrow morning.


----------



## NickW

Down to 30 tonight, mix of ash and silver maple. High of 44 tomorrow and will see mid 50's next week. Maybe what's left in the garage will last the season out...?


----------



## MoDoug

With day highs in the 50's it's just night time burning from scratch. We're at our low of 36 for the night. I got a mixture of elm, some kind of yellowish wood, and another mystery wood that's heavy and brown... It's scrounge wood from last year, but whatever it is, it's doing great!


----------



## MMH

Got off work this morning to s cold stove as the temps are in the 40-50 range again, possibly hitting 60 this week, while last week highs were 20s-30s. Alas back to only burning st night for now. Pine tonight again.


----------



## stoveliker

Had my first overnight (sassafras) fire since my last post  started the day before yesterday. Howling wind and 21 F that night.
Cherry yesterday during the day, and a 1/3 load into the night. Back to minisplit the rest of the week.


----------



## Gearhead660

Lotsa elm.....and a piece of cherry.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 23.5 tonight with a low in the single digits possible so I loaded up the Liberty with beech and ironwood.


----------



## Stinkpickle

It actually got up to 60 today, so the stove is cold, but the outdoor fire pit is blazing with ash and oak.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I had a half load of hickory last night but this morning I will let it go cold with a high of 70 expected today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 15.3 this morning, the  Liberty has some hard & soft maple going in it this morning.


----------



## MMH

Another load of pine last night, stove will go cold again today as the temps will be in the 50s again; looks like this all week, will cool down a bit next week.


----------



## Gearhead660

Stinkpickle said:


> It actually got up to 60 today, so the stove is cold, but the outdoor fire pit is blazing with ash and oak.


I'm ready for an outdoor fire.   Our fire pit is still buried under snow....


----------



## Gearhead660

Was upper 40s yesterday and looking like upper 30s today.  Warming up the house  with some pine.


----------



## Riff

Currently cold ashes. It's been highs in the 50's with good solar heating so we've not burnt the last couple of days. Going into the 20's tonight we'll probably have a few evenings burning what is left of the cherry.


----------



## MoDoug

Stinkpickle said:


> It actually got up to 60 today, so the stove is cold, but the outdoor fire pit is blazing with ash and oak.


That was us yesterday also, I didn't light the stove, that's the first night in a couple months, my wife and I missed it. A burning stove brings it's own life into the room.  But like you, I had the outdoor pit burning, I used the opportunity to attempt some charcoal and it actually turned out pretty well.


----------



## heavy hammer

Temps were pretty good this week 30's and 40's even hit 50 yesterday but back to cold today.  Just been burning a little maple here and there but back to some locust and ash now.


----------



## stoveliker

Well, 27 F tonight, 35-ish tomorrow, so I just lit up the stove again with some small cedar and maple splits (and oak shavings from hand-splitting this summer). Top-down, of course. 
The overnight load will be cherry.


----------



## MoDoug

With a low of 31 tonight, and working outside till after the sun went down, which made me cold and ready for a fire, I lit it up with some red oak and elm. Feels great!


----------



## Stinkpickle

I’m not giving in.  I don’t care if it’s cold outside tonight.  I’m sitting by the fire pit again.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's still 55 out and only going down to 42 around 7 am. With 73 in the house I will leave the stove cold tonight and have a warm up fire in the morning with some hickory. Going up to 54 tomorrow.


----------



## Tar12

24 this morning...75 in the stove room...packed the stove full of locust last night ...at 3 :20 am it looks like a big piece of coal burning and cranking off the heat...


----------



## fvhowler

38* this morning. Loaded stove with White Oak scraps. Trying to get to the finish line for this season and not tap next year's wood. Cool nights and warm days require one fire in the morning.


----------



## Tar12

That load of locust lasted just shy of 24 hours...walked in this evening and the stove room was 73 and enough coals to start another load..be back to 24 hour reloads with this weather...


----------



## Caw

Big ol' pile of red maple with a few splits of oak and ash mixed in ready for the cold weekend...more in the basement. 30/15 thru Monday then it looks like heat pump time when we hit 60 degrees for a few days. Gotta love March in New England!


----------



## heavy hammer

Caw looks like the same here in Ohio A cold weekend then a few days close to 60.  It will be nice but still a little early to be done burning for the year.


----------



## Caw

Yeah we'll be right back to 40/25 days for a couple more weeks after the warm spell. Lots of cold start overnight and quick AM burns in future. Shoulder season can be such a PITA with all the cold starts!

I'm mostly concerned for my sugar season though. The 60 degree days are not good. Hopefully its early enough to encourage more sap rather than shut it down!


----------



## MMH

Hit 60 today, stoves been cold during day all week low tonight around 24, another night fire of pine


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 43 out with a low of 37 tonight. I got a load of red and post oak with a half round of hickory for the overnight.


----------



## Tar12

Headed down to 25 tonight...more oak and locust..


----------



## stoveliker

25 tonight. A load of cherry. As I had during the day.
Cut two pine trees today, one dead standing and one still (barely) alive.


----------



## Caw

Red maple purring along!





Your browser is not able to display this video.


----------



## heavy hammer

About 25 out right now both stoves have some locust and ash.  I filled the garage back up today but the coming week has temps warming up so the wood should last longer this week.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

First longer term stove shutdown starting tomorrow and lasting most of this week. It doesn't make sense for me to burn when its near 60 outside and that's what they are predicting around here for a few days this week. So today and tonight I've got cherry in there and once the "cold" returns after our taste of "summer" I'll be back to using cherry and punky oak pieces I want to get rid of.


----------



## stoveliker

Carried over the stove today on beer bottle cherry splits on the lowest air possible without stalling the cat at 38 F max with a clear blue sky. With the sunroom at 80 F max (and thus the sliding door open) I didn't even use the minisplit. So three 1 ft long 1.5x2" splits (okay, and the sun...) heated my home today to 72 F  

It appears tonight will be the last night here too for a while (and the question is whether that while will be until November or so...).

One load of cherry to go tonight. 
And I have collected a dozen or so beer-bottle sized splits for a hot load to clean out the inside of the stove when I know for sure I'm done. Will likely have to open the windows then - or put on my swimming trunks...


----------



## Caw

Another round of red maple tonight. It's just a nice versatile wood. Works well in both the cold and shoulder season. Looks like only overnight burns for a while here and let the sun and minisplit work during the day. After this week it'll be back to more seasonal 40/25 weather.  Got a bazillion buckets ready for sap!


----------



## Tar12

stoveliker said:


> Carried over the stove today on beer bottle cherry splits on the lowest air possible without stalling the cat at 38 F max with a clear blue sky. With the sunroom at 80 F max (and thus the sliding door open) I didn't even use the minisplit. So three 1 ft long 1.5x2" splits (okay, and the sun...) heated my home today to 72 F
> 
> It appears tonight will be the last night here too for a while (and the question is whether that while will be until November or so...).
> 
> One load of cherry to go tonight.
> And I have collected a dozen or so beer-bottle sized splits for a hot load to clean out the inside of the stove when I know for sure I'm done. Will likely have to open the windows then - or put on my swimming trunks...


Same scenario here today...stove will be idle all week from the looks of things...my 250 gallon propane tank is still over 50% full from a fill 2 years ago...waiting on the propane company to call up and check on me...lol


----------



## Grizzerbear

The buck has been cold since sunday morning with a high of 70 yesterday. We were under a red flag warning yesterday and I believe today also with the low humidity and breezy conditions. Looks like I won't be firing the stove up until friday or saturday night at least, judging by the forecast. Looks like a lot of us are getting a taste of spring.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 5.8 this morning, hopefully this will be the last of the minus temps. I shut the pellet stove off and built a nice fire in the Liberty this morning while having coffee with the boss.


----------



## clancey

Gosh caw with that wood stacked up like that one can sure see the different color wood and I do believe that the oak is the gray wood on the bottom... New gig now I am learning about the different woods..(3605 posting)...lol  clancey..


----------



## stoveliker

So, after the cat dropped out of the active zone from the cherry load from last night at around 2 pm, it's dark and cold in the stove. Will be back here if we reach <35 F again. So far that does not seem in the works even at nights if I trust predictions 2 weeks out.


----------



## Caw

Stringing along a bed of coals a couple splits at a time in prep for overnight load of red maple later. Looking ahead at the forecast I think it'll be one overnight load tomorrow then a cold stove until Saturday. After that we're back to more seasonable 45/25 temps so more overnight loads for a while.


----------



## thewoodlands

3/9 - It's 28.2 tonight with some yellow birch, sugar & red maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 31.3 this morning with a load of soft maple going in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 26.1 tonight with a load of soft maple, cherry and some yellow birch going in the wood stove.


----------



## MMH

High in the 30s today lit stove up once I got home from work, threw some splits in every one in a while to keep the burn going, tonight is headed for teens. More pine down. Next couple days cooler with some storms so burning all day again for a few then warming back up again and the stove will likely go cold during the day again.


----------



## NickW

Only going down to the upper 40's tonight, so a little silver maple and ash to keep the chill out. 60 & sunny today, upper 50's with rain tomorrow.


----------



## MoDoug

Got up to 73 today, with a low of 59 tonight, have the remains of tonight's fire of oak and elm going, then letting it die down. It's that or turn on the AC..  Having a fire going is kind of an addiction.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 20.1 this morning with more soft maple and cherry going in the wood stove this morning. I think our high temp today was 59.


----------



## MMH

High of 30s today, have some pine in the stove for the day


----------



## JamesGuido

65° today... ashes only


----------



## Caw

We hit 55 today but it's gonna dip down to 35 overnight. House is a comfy 67 so I just threw in a medium load of red maple to take the edge off overnight. Probably not necessary but eh...the wood is right there and we like being warm!


----------



## heavy hammer

In the 60's today no fire, house was in the mid 70's.


----------



## MMH

Small system moving through, lows headed for teens tonight. A decent juniper round and pine for tonight


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 45.7 tonight with another load of soft maple and cherry going in the wood stove.


----------



## MoDoug

It's 65 and I have an unnecessary fire of oak and elm in the coal stage. I'm a bachelor tonight, so I get to inbibe and crank out some music videos of the hard rock variety. Life is good!


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 40.1 this morning, the stove is cold and the driveway received some sand and ashes this morning. We hit 56.3 just a few minutes ago.


----------



## MMH

It’s in the 20s with a smidge of snow on the ground, still burning down last nights load. Lows in the low teens next couple night, I’ll might pull some juniper and mahogany in for that.


----------



## sweedish

Small pine fire after getting home from work, tonight will be a load of pine, quaking aspen and box elder


----------



## thewoodlands

We're still at 55 but dropping so the wife wanted a fire (our first of the day) we have some soft maple and cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## MMH

Low headed for around 10 tonight, a nice juniper and mahogany round in


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 34.3 this morning with a load of cherry going in the wood stove.


----------



## MMH

Currently 9F out, 72 inside the house, stove is still cruising on the rounds from last night and will for most of the morning.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Just got home and lit the stove out of its week and a half slumber with a small load of post oak and hickory. It's rained just over 3 inches the last two days and it's 45 out and raining now.....plain miserable weather to me.


----------



## heavy hammer

We had a pretty warm week 50's and 60's but back to 30's so ash and some small locust here and there to keep the house warm.


----------



## Stinkpickle

It’s still warm tonight.  It’s going to cool over the weekend, though.  We got our covid vaccine shots today, and we both have chills real bad, so I might fire up the stove anyway.


----------



## Caw

68 in the house, 48 and windy outside. Too warm to light before bed so I loaded the stove up with red maple to light in the morning. Supposed to get down to 28... we'll see!


----------



## Sailrmike

Wind is piping up, loaded a 10 pack of oak, hickory, and beech.  Here she is set full low throttle about 20 mins in:


----------



## MMH

Stove cruised most of day on last nights load; let it cool off toward the evening. Tonight’s lows headed for single digits again, house is 73 currently. Tonight is a nice mix, juniper and mahogany rounds and pine fillers.


----------



## MoDoug

It's been warm for several days, and I had a bad reminder of what comes with it, I had a tick on my arm.. yuck! Can't believe they're out already....  we didn't have a fire going last night, and I woke up cold a few times. So today it's oak and elm again.

@MMH , just curious, what elevation are you?


----------



## MMH

MoDoug said:


> It's been warm for several days, and I had a bad reminder of what comes with it, I had a tick on my arm.. yuck! Can't believe they're out already....  we didn't have a fire going last night, and I woke up cold a few times. So today it's oak and elm again.
> 
> @MMH , just curious, what elevation are you?



5740’ at the house


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 14.3 this morning with a strong sun today, more cherry and yellow birch went in the wood stove.


----------



## fvhowler

Have not burned in a week. Stove is empty at the moment with lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s. I think we'll get another cold snap before end of March so burning is not quite over for me.


----------



## Sailrmike

Wind is up, temp is plummeting,  oak is in the stove. Low of 18°F tonight,  so 10 more oak splits before bed should keep the house toasty overnight


----------



## heavy hammer

A few walnut splits in both stoves it is getting cold tonight in the 20's.


----------



## stoveliker

Colder here again; 23 F tonight. Lit up the stove late afternoon with some cut-off cookies, and filled it for overnight with oak just now.

I really do think it's the last burn this season (tomorrow and tomorrow night to go).


----------



## MoDoug

MMH said:


> 5740’ at the house


I know Nevada has a range of elevations, and from your temperature reports I figured you were on the higher side, the high desert. I've only been to Las Vegas and passing through to Death Valley. I love the southwest. Hopefully I'll get to explore Nevada more, we're going to Utah later this year, hopefully a little more westward as well. 

It's been in the low 50's here, low of 43 tonight. Thankfully my wife loves the stove and keeping it warm in here. Tonight we have a pleasant serving of oak, followed by oak.


----------



## MMH

MoDoug said:


> I know Nevada has a range of elevations, and from your temperature reports I figured you were on the higher side, the high desert. I've only been to Las Vegas and passing through to Death Valley. I love the southwest. Hopefully I'll get to explore Nevada more, we're going to Utah later this year, hopefully a little more westward as well.
> 
> It's been in the low 50's here, low of 43 tonight. Thankfully my wife loves the stove and keeping it warm in here. Tonight we have a pleasant serving of oak, followed by oak.



Yeah a lot of folks hear Nevada and think Vegas or Reno; but that’s not all of it, plenty to offer in the smaller communities as well, and lots of unknown tidbits, for example my home county is 4th largest county in US for sq mileage. Lots of hidden jems here, ruby mountains jarbidge wilderness etc. I get off work in morning I’ll send ya a picture of my front door view.


----------



## MoDoug

MMH said:


> Yeah a lot of folks hear Nevada and think Vegas or Reno; but that’s not all of it, plenty to offer in the smaller communities as well, and lots of unknown tidbits, for example my home county is 4th largest county in US for sq mileage. Lots of hidden jems here, ruby mountains jarbidge wilderness etc. I get off work in morning I’ll send ya a picture of my front door view.


It's good to know about the hidden gems, I know there's a lot of beautiful areas to see there. Would love to see the view out your front door!

Here's our fire from last night. It's very interesting to watch the flames in SLO-MO. It was all oak.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 4.6 this morning with a load of sugar maple and some yellow birch going in the wood stove.

Tomorrow morning we could see single digit lows so tonight we're burning a bag of pellets.


----------



## MMH

Hit 60 today, lows tonight in the 20s; another pine fire for tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's been warm here lately. Since Thursday we have received 4.4 inches of rain and though today was clear and sunny, we are expecting strong storms tomorrow night into wednesday again....possibly severe. It does look like a cool down is coming with lows back down in the 30s to end the week and I'll be lighting up the stove again.


----------



## stoveliker

Today I had a pair of cherry knotty pieces and oak cookies that had dried sufficiently.
I just filled up with my last old oak.

Some  maple left for if March throws another fit...


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 5.4 this morning, more sugar maple and cherry were providing the heat.


----------



## MMH

Had a small snow flurry and overcast this morning so threw a few splits in for today. Of course it hit in the 40-50 range again by afternoon. Letting the stove die out ish then another pine load for tonight.


----------



## MoDoug

Grizzerbear said:


> It's been warm here lately. Since Thursday we have received 4.4 inches of rain and though today was clear and sunny, we are expecting strong storms tomorrow night into wednesday again....possibly severe. It does look like a cool down is coming with lows back down in the 30s to end the week and I'll be lighting up the stove again.


It's that time of year, I think you're getting most of the rain that was forecast for us. We live 1/2 mile down a gravel, so keeping the truck and car clean is next to impossible, whenever it rains I park them outside of the garage and take what cleaning I can get from mother nature. Yesterday it started raining, my wife said it sounds like it's raining, I said it sounds like ours cars are being cleaned. About 10 minutes later it started thundering, about 5 minutes after that, it started hailing. Yikes! Now it became an emergency to get the vehicles inside the garage, as we both rush outside to do so. Fortunately the hail was only about 1/2", and of course it ended as soon as we got back to the porch. LOL Spring is here!


----------



## Grizzerbear

MoDoug said:


> It's that time of year, I think you're getting most of the rain that was forecast for us. We live 1/2 mile down a gravel, so keeping the truck and car clean is next to impossible, whenever it rains I park them outside of the garage and take what cleaning I can get from mother nature. Yesterday it started raining, my wife said it sounds like it's raining, I said it sounds like ours cars are being cleaned. About 10 minutes later it started thundering, about 5 minutes after that, it started hailing. Yikes! Now it became an emergency to get the vehicles inside the garage, as we both rush outside to do so. Fortunately the hail was only about 1/2", and of course it ended as soon as we got back to the porch. LOL Spring is here!




 I hear ya on mother nature's free wash service. I live down 4 miles of gravel myself but as I have learned it doesn't really matter how much gravel you drive on, be it a quarter mile or ten, your rig is gunna get filthy lol. We had some tiny pea size hail here about two weeks or so ago. Nothing to worry about causing damage but let me tell ya....when that comes down on a metal roof you know it. Sounds terrible lol. It ended fast as well. Just a big pile left by the downspouts of the gutters. Glad y'all didn't have any damage up there.


----------



## MMH

Not sure about you all but this is about where I’m at lol totally accurate by the way


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 20.5 this morning with a load of cherry providing the heat.


----------



## MMH

Had another snow dusting this morning and dense fog, threw a couple more pine splits in; highs 55-60 range for today and next few days, still just night fires. There will be a few more cold snaps but shoulder season is officially back


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 45 out with very heavy rain right now and a low of 35 expected tonight.  I have a load of post and white oak with a hickory split that I am fixing to light here in just a bit for the overnight. We hit 65 today before these t-storms rolled in....we had a few tornado warnings in the area and there is still one current two counties south now. Come tomorrow morning the weather man says it will be snowing...then back to rain with 20-40 mph winds for the rest of the day lol. Wild weather.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 39 out now and super windy. Expecting a low of 31 with a load of hickory and post oak for tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 33.1 this morning with some rain, more cherry going in the Lopi.


----------



## thewoodlands

They're calling for a low of 9 tonight, I'll put beech, sugar maple and some ironwood in for the overnight load.


----------



## MMH

High just shy of 60 today, stove went cold. Tonight low in the mid-high 30s, a stove of pine will do.


----------



## MoDoug

We've been in the 40's in the day, high 30's for low, I've kept the stove going constant with a split of oak about an hour. Bigger pieces at night, enough coals to restart in the morning. I've actually been going through more wood than I thought, we like it warm.

Edit.. tomorrow we'll have 50 for a high, time to let it die down and clean it out.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Well today is going to be nice and sunny with a high of 55 after a solid week of rain. From my best estimates here at the house since last Thursday we have gotten just under 6.5 inches of rain. Truman lake and Pomme de Terre both rose 2.5 foot each yesterday which figures here right before the spring crappie season. Its 33 now so I put a small load of black jack and post oak in the stove to hold the house over until tonight.


----------



## MMH

Headed for around 60 today, stoves gone cold again


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 13.8 this morning with a load of Cherry going in the wood stove.


----------



## MMH

High around 60 again today. Small system coming in, calling for rain and a few inches of snow. Not likely given the forecasts this winter lol. Low headed for 30s tonight, it’ll be pine when we light the stove up.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We got to 57 today but it's down to 41 now with a load of post oak and hickory in the stove for overnight. Going down to 28 tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 25 out tonight with a load of Beech, Cherry, Ironwood and Soft Maple going in the wood stove.


----------



## MoDoug

It's 81 outside, 34 inside, and a nice toasty load of red oak heading toward ashes! Oops, maybe it's the other way around on the temperatures..


----------



## heavy hammer

We have had some pretty good temps this week 50's.  The stoves have been going out during the day and just a few small fires to keep the chill out.  Thursday it rained and pushed a cold front in for a day or two but we should be back to 50'and maybe 60's this week.  I'll probably just have small fires with a little ash and cedar splits to keep the house warm at night.


----------



## MoDoug

Grizzerbear said:


> Well today is going to be nice and sunny with a high of 55 after a solid week of rain. From my best estimates here at the house since last Thursday we have gotten just under 6.5 inches of rain. Truman lake and Pomme de Terre both rose 2.5 foot each yesterday which figures here right before the spring crappie season. Its 33 now so I put a small load of black jack and post oak in the stove to hold the house over until tonight.


We're thinking along the same lines about crappie fishing, it's getting closer. Not to mention all the rain that helps the morels pop up. Crappie and morels, yum!Mark Twain Lake has risen about 10 feet in he past week.

It's in the mid 40's right now, and I've got red oak crankin' out the heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

We didn't have a fire last night and the temps dropped to 28.5 this morning, the Liberty receive a load of Cherry this morning while we had coffee.

We did put in a small load of Cherry this morning.


----------



## MMH

Got off work this morning, temps chilled back down currently 30 out when some flurries. Threw some pine in the stove. Lows headed for teens, looks this way for a few days. I’ll move some juniper and mahogany in today


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## WoodBurnerInWI

Sadly nothing in the stove till at least Thursday, let the fire die out Saturday since temps warmed to the 60's for a few days. Thursday through Sunday should be cool enough around here for a fire then after that she may be down for good as temps next week look to be the upper 60's....


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 35.4 tonight with a load of Cherry going.


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## MMH

A few juniper rounds and pine splits for tonight


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## Caw

I haven't burned in a few days. It's gotten down to 35 the last couple nights but it was still 50 at 11 pm when I go to bed so I just let the heat pump work for an hour or two. Not fire will likely be Saturday night or Sunday morning.


----------



## sweedish

I think I’ll skip a fire tonight, last few days I’ve only had a pine/quaking aspen fires at night. Going to turn chillier after Friday.


----------



## MMH

High was around 30 today, with some snow flurries. Juniper and pine today. Tonight headed for around 10, well do some mahogany juniper and pine.


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## Grizzerbear

I think we hit 61 today but we had some off and on rain. It's 52 out now with a low of 44 tonight. I haven't burned for about a week now but I just got the stove up to temp with some post and red oak to knock the chill out of the air. I know its 55 out but.....I guess I'm just a sissy.


----------



## MMH

Tonight’s load is a mahogany and juniper round with some pine fillers


----------



## MMH

Currently 15 out, 72 inside; Dorothy is still cruising on last nights load.


----------



## Caw

Still a whole lot of nothing. I'm letting the heat pump do its thing for a few hrs in the am while it's in the 45-60 degree range here. It's efficient, saves wood, and the sun takes over late morning. I program my ecobee to keep it at 65 until 10 am then shut itself off all from my phone. Pretty nifty thermostat. 

Since it's my first year I'm more inclined to save the wood for next year than to have a fire just because. That will likely change as I have a better stock of fully seasoned stuff on hand.


----------



## gthomas785

I ran out of "good" wood just as the temps were picking up over the weekend. Since then I've been burning about 1 load a day of ugly ash branches and pieces of the 100 year old sill from my barn that we replaced last summer.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

Miserable rainy day around here, now there's a good west wind blowing. Wife was cold so I fired up the stove this evening. Burning ash tonight and for the next week at least until temps are back to the mid 60s.


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## MMH

Flurries today, then melted off but never got above 30s, same forecasted for tomorrow. Tonight is headed for around 20, juniper and pine tonight.


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## MoDoug

We had a high of 54 today, so still burning oak and the occasional elm. We sleep in the loft and it gets toasty up there, so my wife took the flannel sheets off.


----------



## firefighterjake

Beech and white birch . . . with this recent spate of nice weather I'm down to two fires a day -- one in the morning and one in the evening.


----------



## MMH

Currently 20 out and snowing, house is 72, I’ll throw some pine in for today


----------



## heavy hammer

Both stoves have been cold this week temps have been in the 60's and 70's even the furnace hasn't been running.  It looks like it will cool down next week so burning should start back up a little to early to call it for the year.


----------



## Gearhead660

Been rainy all week.  Just running insert in afternoon and evenings.  Got some oak and ash burning.


----------



## MMH

Low headed for around 18 ish it’ll be pine for tonight.


----------



## MoDoug

Low  of mid 40's tonight, got oak going!


----------



## MMH

Flurries again this morning, but melted off and hit mid 40s by afternoon, stove went out after that. Tonight headed for around 20 more pine going in.


----------



## Caw

Cloudy rainy day here today. 41 outside and 63 inside...firing up the stove with a load of red maple! When there's no mid day sun to take over the heat pump would be running all day and that's no bueno. First fire in a week or so. Enjoy the ambient sounds of a wood stove heating up and young children!





Your browser is not able to display this video.


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## thewoodlands

We had 43 outside this morning with a forecast of rain this afternoon, the Liberty had some Cherry and Pine going in it while we had coffee this morning.


----------



## patrickk222

pretty soon it'll be red and white oak then maybe a little red maple


----------



## Caw

Wife is asking for a fire to help dry out some clothes but its 57 degrees outside now and won't drop below 50 until 4 am. Plus it's still 68 in here from the am fire. Laundry is going to have to wait...it's a heat pump night! 

I don't like burning when it's this warm, just feels like a waste of hard earned good wood and the heat pump is very efficient. It's a little different in the fall when I have uglies to burn but this time of year it's only grade A primo wood left.


----------



## NickW

High of 38 today with lots of wind. Been burning small loads of silver maple. Overnights have still been getting chilly, so mixed loads of ash, beech & silver maple.


----------



## firefighterjake

Beech


----------



## Gearhead660

Sunny out but quite breezy.  Burning some cottonwood.


----------



## heavy hammer

Had both stoves going this weekend ash and a big split of locust in the basement.  I'm glad I filled the garage back up last weekend since I didn't have any time this weekend.  I worked 16's from Friday on so home time was short.


----------



## MMH

Low headed for around 10 ish juniper and pine tonight


----------



## Caw

68 inside and 59 outside so the stove staying cold tonight. Looks like we'll be burning a bit Friday then just few overnight fires this week. The heat pump can carry us to the afternoon sun when its 40+ in the am. 

This is true shoulder season in New England!


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## MoDoug

The stove has been lifeless for a couple days now, but with a low of 22 tonight, it's fired back up with oak and elm. We're under a red flag warning, with gusts up to 30.


----------



## sweedish

Low of 23, high of 28 Tomorrow, about 30 currently. More pine and quaky, looks like Saturday forward it’s one fire at night


----------



## Lakeside

Just some ashes right now.  I am planning on firing the Fireview up tonight with low temps down to 20f and a cold Friday in the forecast too.

6 year old pic of pup Ben enjoying the soft heat of a soapstone stove.


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## Grizzerbear

Its 25 here this morning with a load of red oak going in the stove. We are expecting lows tonight around 30 tonight so I will fire it up again this evening.


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## Caw

Lakeside said:


> Just some ashes right now.  I am planning on firing the Fireview up tonight with low temps down to 20f and a cold Friday in the forecast too.
> 
> 6 year old pic of pup Ben enjoying the soft heat of a soapstone stove.
> 
> View attachment 277344



Nice looking pup, what breed? Looks a little boxer/mastiff-y!

As for me I have a big pile of bark in there right now just to get a little heat before an overnight light load of red maple.


----------



## BigJ273

Oak/cherry mix. One of the last burns of the season probably tonight or tomorrow. Just burning what I have left in the inside wood box


----------



## Lakeside

Caw said:


> Nice looking pup, what breed? Looks a little boxer/mastiff-y!
> 
> As for me I have a big pile of bark in there right now just to get a little heat before an overnight light load of red maple.



I pup is a Vizsla , I think can see how you would see those breeds.  

Here he is all grown up .


----------



## MEngineer24

Load of oak and locust going in tonight. Was in the mid 60s yesterday and we have dropped to 30F tonight. Calling for it to continue down the the low 20s by morning.


----------



## stoveliker

Last fire of the season; last few weeks it was warm enough for the minisplit to have heating duty, but tonight will be 32 F or so. So I am doing my "stove clean up fire". Started it, got a bed of coals, and added 9 small splits criss cross. 3 cherry, the rest sassafras. Letting it rip on high the whole load.

Then later tonight I'll fill it up with maple and I won't run it low and slow, but keep it on high. That'll clear out all the gunk (from running the cat stove on low) and will hopefully give me a decent temp tomorrow morning. This weekend then giving the stove a good cleaning. Sweep will follow later.

Happy Easter weekend all!


----------



## MMH

Been in the 60s and 70s last few days, nights in the 30s and couple in the 40s, just night fires again. Would go with no fire but with the little one we’re not quite ready for that yet. Cooling off again next week lows in the 20s. Still another solid month of shoulder season fires here.


----------



## MoDoug

Sad day today, I've decided this season is done. I moved the remaining wood to the wood pile, cleaned the stove, and put everything away.  

However if we get a cold blast, the wood really isn't that far away.


----------



## firefighterjake

White birch and a bit of beech.


----------



## MMH

Ashes right now but it’s a smidge chilly out with the wind and a low around 30 tonight. Will be some pine here in a little bit.


----------



## NickW

Also ashes, but next week we'll be back down to the 30's overnight and need a little heat.


----------



## heavy hammer

We had temps in the 60's and 70's all week so the stoves have been cold.  This week is supposed to be a little cooler so a fire maybe started.  I still have some cedar and small locust splits in the garage to burn up if I want to clean out the garage before the end of the burning year.


----------



## Dix

Nothing but some left over ash.

That will change this evening, when we will be offering a lovely mix of 2019 maple, 2019 cherry, and a touch of 2121 pine, topped off with round of 2019 of oak.

Sounds like a wine list


----------



## JimBear

My stove has been cold for a couple weeks now, the furnace would run a bit at night. I cleaned my stove all out & wiped everything down but it’s supposed to be 40 tonight with highs this week in the upper 40’s - low 50’s with lows around 32 & breezy all week so I hauled some Elm & Cherry up this evening & will burn at nights only thru Sunday.


----------



## johneh

Cold ash and has been for over a week


----------



## firefighterjake

Eastern white pine and a bit of beech. I did however have my first day since last Fall with 24 hours of no burning on Saturday . . . almost made it to 48 hours but Mrs. Firefighterjake was cold last night and asked about a fire.


----------



## blades

red oak mill slabs just to take chill off This morning. some more his evening as Nick said it going to side to the 30's tonight.


----------



## MoDoug

JimBear said:


> My stove has been cold for a couple weeks now, the furnace would run a bit at night. I cleaned my stove all out & wiped everything down but it’s supposed to be 40 tonight with highs this week in the upper 40’s - low 50’s with lows around 32 & breezy all week so I hauled some Elm & Cherry up this evening & will burn at nights only thru Sunday.


Sounds like we're on the same path, I cleaned my stove and wiped everything down, but with the forecast of highs in the 50's and low's in the 30's, I'm hauling some wood back to the house. That's ok, I just look at it as a practice run for end of season.


----------



## MMH

Still consistent night fires here


----------



## HisTreeNut

Nothing for the last few days...but if the wifey gets chilly, it is pine poplar, or a combination of the two...


----------



## MoDoug

Oak, Locust, and something else, I think Elm. Long dead scrounge wood. Enjoy this weather!


----------



## NickW

Just put in a small load of ash. Supposed to get down to 29 overnight. Was chilly in the house this morning after no fire last night. Small load of silver maple and ash earlier this evening to warm the flue and make some coals.


----------



## blades

dang it was snowing when i left the house this morning  at 6am central.


----------



## MMH

Woke up this morning to snow and temps in the 20s. Threw a few pieces of pine in for this morning and kept last nights fire going. Pulled some juniper in for tonight.


----------



## Gearhead660

Cottonwood.


----------



## MoDoug

The season is winding down, but there's something special about evening burns, and dinner with the wife. She makes an excellent Chile Relleno!


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

Haven't cleaned the pipe yet so fires are still fair game here!

I started the stove back up yesterday afternoon with ash hunks and chunks, and had some medium sized ash last night for the overnight load. Stove was running all day today and tonight still. Will asses again in the morning but honestly night-time temps are all in the 30's till the end of next week and the heat feels really nice after the stove being out for a few weeks. I might just keep it going till around May 1st. We'll see....


----------



## MMH

Currently 28 out, will be a little chilly this morning with overcast as well. Put another piece of juniper and pine in before work. Forecasting days to warm up but nights will continue in the 20-40 range. Night fires until May is typical.


----------



## woodey

Nothing but a few ashes in the furnace, I'm done till fall.


----------



## weatherguy

Cold, raw and rainy today, rain changing to snow, calling for 4-8 inches, guess we're not done with winter quite yet. I have a load of red oak burning and it feels good.


----------



## Lakeside

Loaded the stove up tonight with some ash.  We have temps going down to mid 30's tonight with snow also in the forecast.  When there is snow I have a fire.  Stay warm - Stay safe - Stay healthy -- Stay Sane too.


----------



## sweedish

Pine and aspen, still fires at night, the occasional morning/evening fire also


----------



## Grizzerbear

I put a small load of hickory and black jack in to warm up. It's been a rainy cool day here with 49 out right now.


----------



## sweedish

sweedish said:


> Pine and aspen, still fires at night, the occasional morning/evening fire also



My one bay is almost empty


----------



## Lakeside

Grizzerbear said:


> black jack


What is Black Jack ?


----------



## Caw

April 16th and we're zoom zooming red maple in the snow...was 70 all week . Welcome to New England.





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## Grizzerbear

Lakeside said:


> What is Black Jack ?



It's a type of red oak. They have a unique characteristic of having a lot of dead limbs near the bottom half of a perfectly healthy tree. Makes some beautiful milled lumber. 









						Quercus marilandica - Wikipedia
					






					en.m.wikipedia.org


----------



## heavy hammer

A cold rainy week I have been small ash splits with cedar and some odd ball pieces here and there to keep the house warm.  Winter isn't over yet.


----------



## Lakeside

Grizzerbear said:


> It's a type of red oak. They have a unique characteristic of having a lot of dead limbs near the bottom half of a perfectly healthy tree. Makes some beautiful milled lumber.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Quercus marilandica - Wikipedia
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> en.m.wikipedia.org



Great link too !

"excellent source of heat for barbecues and wood-burning stoves. However, the wood is not desirable for wood fireplaces because the heat *causes popping*, thereby increasing the risk of house fires." 

Looks like Wikipedia maybe over reacting to the popping.

Learned something new today --- Thanks -- Always learning


----------



## Grizzerbear

Lakeside said:


> Great link too !
> 
> "excellent source of heat for barbecues and wood-burning stoves. However, the wood is not desirable for wood fireplaces because the heat *causes popping*, thereby increasing the risk of house fires."
> 
> Looks like Wikipedia maybe over reacting to the popping.
> 
> Learned something new today --- Thanks -- Always learning


 
Hmmmm....yea that's funny. I've never known it to pop much. Its excellent firewood.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 34 out now with fairly heavy snow to begin around 9am and  temps staying steady today. I got a load of hickory going now.


----------



## MoDoug

The forecast called for snow this morning, and by golly they got it right. It's moderately falling right now. A fire while it's snowing is traditional, so I've got oak and elm going.

@Grizzerbear, I was at Truman last week for the first time, I've heard it's a lot like Mark Twain Lake, and it is just a lot bigger. I had beginners luck with snagging. Stay warm!


----------



## MoDoug

We had fairly heavy snow most of the morning, then flurries and some sleet until mid-afternoon. With a low of 28 tonight and freeze warnings, and a low of 29 tomorrow night and frost, and highs in the upper 50's the rest of the week..... well, the stove is still keeping us warm. Mostly oak. 

Earlier today my wife said, "I love our stove". That alone makes all the hard work worth while!


----------



## Tar12

Thought I was done for the season...NOPE..Heavy snow fall all afternoon with a low of 27 tonight and 30 tomorrow night..just stuffed the stove full of locust and oak and the wife is grinning from ear to ear..


----------



## firefighterjake

Pine and a couple beech splits this morning.


----------



## Grizzerbear

30 out this morning with another small load of hickory and post oak going in the stove. We had a big frost yesterday morning and another this morning. I'll be glad if this is the last of the cool weather because I'm getting anxious to get the garden going.


----------



## firefighterjake

Snow this morning . . . pine and some chunks of some mystery hardwood were fuel for the fire this morning.


----------



## Lakeside

Throw some odd chunks in this morning & some ash.  When it snows I burn.  Location is Granby, Connecticut.


----------



## Gearhead660

Been running insert with Cottonwood all week,  had a cold snap.  Never burned it before.  Works well for shoulder season.  Don't know if I would go out of my way to harvest any, but since it fell in my yard...


----------



## thewoodlands

The temp should be around 28 in the morning with a load of Pine going in the Liberty at the moment and then some hardwood for the overnight load. I have two rounds of Ironwood left from what we brought in near the end of February which will go in with some Maple and Cherry.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 29.5 this morning, we ran the propane fireplace while having coffee.


----------



## Caw

My wife casually said "it's chilly in here today" with her "where is my fire" eyes lol. It was 52 degrees out so I held strong and we let the heat pump work. We keep it on 65 this time of year and just rock sweatshirts . Much cooler than the 70-72 during burning season but manageable...I just hate burning when I don't need to it feels wasteful and the chimney sucks (well, doesn't suck lol) when its so nice out. 

Bottom line: pray for me.


----------



## thewoodlands

Caw said:


> My wife casually said "it's chilly in here today" with her "where is my fire" eyes lol. It was 52 degrees out so I held strong and we let the heat pump work. We keep it on 65 this time of year and just rock sweatshirts . Much cooler than the 70-72 during burning season but manageable...I just hate burning when I don't need to it feels wasteful and the chimney sucks (well, doesn't suck lol) when its so nice out.
> 
> Bottom line: pray for me.


Build a fire for the wife or we won't pray!


----------



## MoDoug

Caw said:


> My wife casually said "it's chilly in here today" with her "where is my fire" eyes lol. It was 52 degrees out so I held strong and we let the heat pump work. We keep it on 65 this time of year and just rock sweatshirts . Much cooler than the 70-72 during burning season but manageable...I just hate burning when I don't need to it feels wasteful and the chimney sucks (well, doesn't suck lol) when its so nice out.
> 
> Bottom line: pray for me.


Sounds like something I would do, and end up feeling guilty about it..  then I find some way to make up for it, then all's good.

however.. as a backup plan..
prayers sent..


----------



## Goose52

Caw said:


> My wife casually said "it's chilly in here today" with her "where is my fire" eyes lol. It was 52 degrees out so I held strong and we let the heat pump work. We keep it on 65 this time of year and just rock sweatshirts . Much cooler than the 70-72 during burning season but manageable...I just hate burning when I don't need to it feels wasteful and the chimney sucks (well, doesn't suck lol) when its so nice out.
> 
> Bottom line: pray for me.


I hear ya... trying to get by with the heat pump here too but living in a cottage on a slab makes it hard to get to 70 which makes for an unhappy wife. the woodbox etc all put away in the shed but eventually i ran out & grabbed a coupla armloads of beech n some kindling. wife is happy and i'm working up a sweat watching tv. happy wife happy life? ehhh not so sure.


----------



## MoDoug

I'm officially shutdown for the season, for the 2nd time! It's official this time!


----------



## heavy hammer

We are still having a few fires here and there just burning up what is left in the garage during the cold nights.  We will see 30's tonight so I'll fire both stoves up with some cedar and ash splits to keep the house warm.


----------



## sweedish

Tonight was a bit of cherry, box elder, pine, apple and dogwood, mixed bag.


----------



## Woody5506

Norway maple. I always tell myself to scrounge more of the lighter maples like norway or silver for the shoulder season. In my opinion they are perfect for this time of year.


----------



## Grizzerbear

A small load of hickory this morning with 41 out.


----------



## MongoMongoson

Boxelder, other soft maple (a little punky), and one small split of ironwood.... I know different species are called ironwood depending on where you are located.  This is hop hornbeam.

The stove has been down for about a week as it has been warm... But the house is getting chilly again and the next few days we are supposed to be in the 30s at night.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

The wife was cold and it might be around 32 tonight so I fired the stove up again! Just some odd shaped pieces of oak and ash. It's nice seeing the fire again I missed it these past several weeks.


----------



## JimBear

I had a Starling in my stove this morning, last year it was a Bluebird over Memorial Day weekend.


----------



## Woodsplitter67

Had the windows open in the house for the past couple days.. house was 60 degrees this morning.. I closed the windows and threw in some oak ugly in the box..


----------



## burning VC

JimBear said:


> I had a Starling in my stove this morning, last year it was a Bluebird over Memorial Day weekend.



Starlings are great, hard to split by hand....I'm not real familiar with bluebirds.....what kind of BTUs do they put out?


----------



## heavy hammer

We have had temps in the 40's and mid 30's at night I have been splitting up what is left in the garage.  Locust splits and some cedar splits have been feeding the stoves the last couple of nights.  Last Sunday we had temps in the 80's.  I'm hoping spring comes back soon.


----------



## Tar12

JimBear said:


> I had a Starling in my stove this morning, last year it was a Bluebird over Memorial Day weekend.


Year before last I pulled out 3 starlings and a sparrow before the start of the season...my bird screen had blown off over the summer...lol


----------



## JimBear

burning VC said:


> Starlings are great, hard to split by hand....I'm not real familiar with bluebirds.....what kind of BTUs do they put out?


Not much


----------



## orlkc

Air.

It's been over a week since the last fire, and looking at the forecast for the upcoming week says that the burning season is over.  I swept the chimney this morning, installed the bird screen in the cap, and vacuumed out the stove and ash pan.  The garden beckons.


----------



## MMH

Haven’t had a fire in a few weeks now, temps nearing 80s. Not anymore! Another cold snap moving through calling for rain and snow, highs 40s and lows in the 20-30s for next several days. Some pine to keep us toasty for a few days.


----------



## Tar12

I am done regardless now...80s-90s this week...AC is running now...wife was pissed that I had it down to 71 in the house....lol...she has to make her usual summer adjustment...lol


----------



## Caw

It's 45 and raining right now...on Memorial day weekend. Debating lighting the stove even though I did my end of year clean out. Wtf if this weather!


----------



## stoveliker

Caw said:


> It's 45 and raining right now...on Memorial day weekend. Debating lighting the stove even though I did my end of year clean out. Wtf if this weather!



Same here. Debated already early this morning... but I didn't light a fire (or used the minisplit even after using it already to cool one day..) Gotta brave the elements 

Woodshed did well in the rain though


----------



## EbS-P

Caw said:


> It's 45 and raining right now...on Memorial day weekend. Debating lighting the stove even though I did my end of year clean out. Wtf if this weather!


light it up that’s what it’s for. Get a package of hot dogs and call it Memorial Day cook in!   i think a nice coating of ash keeps me from seeing the rust In the middle of summer.
Evan


----------



## Caw

Surviving for now. Just gonna let the heat pump kick on early am if it needs to. I've had too many delicious beers to go get wood in the pouring rain . Legs are broken!


----------



## Woodsplitter67

I lit the gas fireplace this morning.. Love the cool weather and rain. Its literally forcing me to relax for once and not work or do projects What a great weekend.. Im going fishing Monday morning.. tomorrow.. were going to waffle house..


----------



## heavy hammer

I cleaned both stoves and chimneys last weekend so I'm done with burning for the year and sure enough this past week was cold and rainy.  Nothing better than a drop from 85 to 45 in a few days.  We just turned on the furnace.  I'm ready to enjoy the summer and wait till Oct. to start burning again.


----------



## MongoMongoson

I have some sugar maple going in the old Quaker tonight.  It will get down to 45 tonight and I have had the windows open airing out the place.


----------



## clancey

Mongo how do you do that sugar maple stuff--Is the old Quaker some kind of old stove?  Sounds different...clancey


----------



## MongoMongoson

clancey said:


> Mongo how do you do that sugar maple stuff--Is the old Quaker some kind of old stove?  Sounds different...clancey


Not sure what you mean about the sugar maple.  The Quaker is an old smoke dragon stove that has been in this cabin for decades.


----------



## clancey

Yea I figured it out and you were talking about sugar maple wood in the stove--lol... Now your "old Quaker" is a masterpiece of "art work"--wow...Never saw a stove quiet like that one...Thanks for sharing and its a beautiful stove and sure hoping it never sugar maples your home with all the dragon smoke...thanks..enjoy the cool temperatures..clancey


----------



## thewoodlands

Our temps are heading down to around 45 so the wife wanted a fire, we have some pine going in the Lopi Liberty tonight.


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> Our temps are heading down to around 45 so the wife wanted a fire, we have some pine going in the Lopi Liberty tonight.



80 today, baseball practice with my son, 76 now.  Watched the international space station fly by around 7.30 while the kids were in the pool and I was sitting at the outside fireplace where some pine was going and smelling nicely.


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> 80 today, baseball practice with my son, 76 now.  Watched the international space station fly by around 7.30 while the kids were in the pool and I was sitting at the outside fireplace where some pine was going and smelling nicely.


That sounds great. Any temps in the 40's, we're burning a fire at night and in the morning.


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> That sounds great. Any temps in the 40's, we're burning a fire at night and in the morning.



Yes, and I'm jealous .
I have to figure out when to switch from the minisplit heat pump to the stove and not burning more than 2-2.5 cords per season (space constraint per the significant other...). But I ran the ac a bit today...


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> Yes, and I'm jealous .
> I have to figure out when to switch from the minisplit heat pump to the stove and not burning more than 2-2.5 cords per season (space constraint per the significant other...). But I ran the ac a bit today...


When we had our house built in 2003, we needed the a/c for a week but we're running it almost a month lately.

We haven't run the a/c and the dehumidifier in a few weeks so the good old electric bill should be a lot less.


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> When we had our house built in 2003, we needed the a/c for a week but we're running it almost a month lately.
> 
> We haven't run the a/c and the dehumidifier in a few weeks so the good old electric bill should be a lot less.



The dehumidifier is still running almost daily in the basement. But the sky is bluer, so the humidity is getting less. Minisplit (ac and heat)  was only installed a year and a half ago, but the electric bill is $13 - ever since I paid off my solar panels.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 41 this morning with a load of pine providing the heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 44 this morning with another pine fire going while we had coffee.


----------



## MEngineer24

thewoodlands said:


> We had 44 this morning with another pine fire going while we had coffee.


Very jealous here! Still hanging around in the 70’s and 80’s during the day. Looking like next week is a cool down for us. Won’t be long!


----------



## thewoodlands

MEngineer24 said:


> Very jealous here! Still hanging around in the 70’s and 80’s during the day. Looking like next week is a cool down for us. Won’t be long!


It warmed up quick today, in the direct sun it's 82. I'm looking forward when the cooler weather moves in and stays but by the end of February, I'll be looking for the warmer weather.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

Lower 40's beginning Wed night and through the weekend. Excited to fire up for the first time this season! Perfect time of year for those to take the chill off fires and also see that everything is working properly. Will be getting into a pine/cherry/birch mixed cord to start shoulder season with maple, oak and elm shorts and uglies on standby if some slightly cooler nights pop up.


----------



## thewoodlands

WoodBurnerInWI said:


> Lower 40's beginning Wed night and through the weekend. Excited to fire up for the first time this season! Perfect time of year for those to take the chill off fires and also see that everything is working properly. Will be getting into a pine/cherry/birch mixed cord to start shoulder season with maple, oak and elm shorts and uglies on standby if some slightly cooler nights pop up.


That's a nice lineup for the shoulder season, we have just under six face cord of White Pine for our shoulder season firewood. We'll save about three face cord for the spring.

We have two face of American Hophornbeam (Ironwood) for the real cold weather along with twelve face cord of Ash and eight face cord of Yellow Birch and Soft & Hard Maple if needed. We usually burn twelve face cord per year.

We'll also burn 50 bags of pellets per year, since our wood stove is in the basement, we burn the pellet stove at night for the constant heat when it gets real cold.


----------



## johneh

Not cool enough for a fire here 
But we are ready propane Full. Firewood 4 cord of maple(sugar)and Red oak at 16%
4.5 tone of Cubix pellets 
Bring it on Mother Nature


----------



## Grizzerbear

We are suppose to get our first bit of cooler weather and some rain tonight with a front moving in after a long spell of hot dry weather. It was 92 today but we got highs of 60s and 70s forecasted for the next few days with lows in the 40s. Not cold by any means and i won't need to fire the stove up but it won't be long now and I can't wait....I got a lot of red oak in my stack for this year. 

The stove has a can of dri-rid in it as of now and the baffles and burn tubes are sitting on the fire bricks. I think I shall get everything in order right now as I am thinking of it. Don't wanna get caught with my britches down.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

thewoodlands said:


> That's a nice lineup for the shoulder season, we have just under six face cord of White Pine for our shoulder season firewood. We'll save about three face cord for the spring.
> 
> We have two face of American Hophornbeam (Ironwood) for the real cold weather along with twelve face cord of Ash and eight face cord of Yellow Birch and Soft & Hard Maple if needed. We usually burn twelve face cord per year.
> 
> We'll also burn 50 bags of pellets per year, since our wood stove is in the basement, we burn the pellet stove at night for the constant heat when it gets real cold.



Ironwood is nice stuff, don't see much if any around where I'm at but it grows here in WI. After shoulder season winds down, I too will mostly be burning ash. I'm starting  with 2 cords of an ash/maple mix cut in 2019, and then will move on to another 2 cords of ash, mostly medium sized splits that was split last Jan. Moisture meter readings show it at 18% on the larger splits and 15% on smaller ones so it should be fine for the stove. My "emergency" cords will be silver maple cut last Nov and I'm hoping to keep all of it to start off next year's burn season. The rest of what I have is 4 cords bur oak and elms cut June and July of 2020 and an estimated 2 cords of honey locust which I'm still working up.


----------



## Niro

I went with a large lopi about a month or so ago. Had only two fires as soon as we could when a cold system came in and it was 50s at night.  It's been 70s and 80s now can't justify a burn here...although I want too.


----------



## Diabel

Last weekend it looked like by this Thursday I will have a fire in the VC. Now it looks like maybe I will hold off a bit longer. Will clean the pipe tomorrow and maybe replace the griddle gasket. It is always 5*F colder at the lake. On Sat will clean that pipe, tighten the door gasket and light one for sure.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 55 this morning so no fire but this afternoon we put in two loads of Pine before the rains move in tomorrow or Thursday.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 49.2 this morning with some good rains so we had a two pine fires.


----------



## Diabel

It was low 50s and rain this morning. VC got fed punky hemlock around 12:00. It took the dampness out quickly. More of the same will go in soon. First fire of the season. Later than usual by about a week.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 39.6 this morning with pine providing the heat.


----------



## armanidog

85F here today in NE Georgia. I'm glad I don't have to harvest wood to keep the air conditioner going.


----------



## mrd1995

We are so close to firing up our stove, we have been in the low 50s for the last week almost every morning. We have a face cord of Norway Spruce and Red Pine ready to go, and a squeaky clean flue and stove!


----------



## firefighterjake

Getting closer here as well . . . there is a bit of a chill in the air, but things still aren't quite cold enough yet for me to want to fire up the woodstove.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had just over 45 this morning so we had a pine fire while we had coffee. We have some rains coming in this weekend so we put in more pine this morning, I think our high was 56 today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 36.6 this morning with White Pine providing the heat.


----------



## MMH

We’ve had a few mornings of 20-30 F, house has been 65 so haven’t lit off yet. Weather calling for chillier temps with highs in the 30-40 and lows in the teens for a couple nights, we’ll see. Getting close!


----------



## ABMax24

We've had the fire lit the last couple mornings, had frost on the windshields again this morning. Probably had a dozen fires already this fall, first one was in August. Somehow we managed to get through September without any snow, but looks like Tuesday we are going to get some.


----------



## Diabel

SNOW!?!?!?!!


----------



## ABMax24

Yup, it's late this year, normally get a small dump in September, I've seen it as early as Sept 6th before, it always melts of course. Halloween is our "snow for the year date" any snow fallen on or after Halloween is usually on the ground until spring. My Grandparents moved to the area in the 50's, Grandpa says he's seen snow every month except July.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're heading down to 49 so I started a pine fire.


----------



## wooddope

Love me some dry pine to crackle and ping, just a touch of piney smell in the house to drive out the chill. So much more festive than full time dead of winter heating.


----------



## thewoodlands

wooddope said:


> Love me some dry pine to crackle and ping, just a touch of piney smell in the house to drive out the chill. So much more festive than full time dead of winter heating.


By the looks of the weather forecast, the pine should heat the house until November gets here.

After we stop burning pine, we'll have Yellow Birch, Red & Sugar Maple, Cherry, Ash and American Hophornbeam for the coldest months.


----------



## Diabel

No fire here for the next week or so


----------



## wooddope

thewoodlands said:


> By the looks of the weather forecast, the pine should heat the house until November gets here.
> 
> After we stop burning pine, we'll have Yellow Birch, Red & Sugar Maple, Cherry, Ash and American Hophornbeam for the coldest months.


Nice  mix but no oak?


----------



## thewoodlands

wooddope said:


> Nice  mix but no oak?


We never had any Oak growing on any of our land we have. I did plant some smaller Red Oak years back but I'll never be around when it's big enough for burning.

I did scrounge some Red & White Oak years back, about one face cord.


----------



## wooddope

I'd trade all my oak for cherry anyways, smells so nice, seasons quick and love the color, never had yellow birch but they tell me it's nice.


----------



## ABMax24

White Birch and a piece of pine, not really early season wood, but I brought home too much Birch on the last load, so instead of leaving it in the rain it went in the stove.


----------



## Diabel

ABMax24 said:


> White Birch and a piece of pine, not really early season wood, but I brought home too much Birch on the last load, so instead of leaving it in the rain it went in the stove.
> 
> View attachment 282809


Beautiful


----------



## wooddope

Better be cold out or it may get warm in the house, looks toasty!


----------



## ABMax24

wooddope said:


> Better be cold out or it may get warm in the house, looks toasty!



It's 2c (35f) outside and has been drizzling all day, so cold enough to run the stove. This time of year I keep the thermostat set low so I can run the stove in the evenings or mornings.


----------



## thewoodlands

wooddope said:


> I'd trade all my oak for cherry anyways, smells so nice, seasons quick and love the color, never had yellow birch but they tell me it's nice.


I seasoned that Oak for 4 years {2 top covered} and some still pizzed water back at me.


----------



## thewoodlands

wooddope said:


> I'd trade all my oak for cherry anyways, smells so nice, seasons quick and love the color, never had yellow birch but they tell me it's nice.


When we started burning, the majority of our firewood was Cherry with maybe two face cord of Sugar Maple. Since our wood stove is in the basement, when it turned colder out, the Cherry doesn't do the job.

I haven't cut much Cherry since the last big windstorm we had knocked down a chit load of Cherry trees. We had 14 on one hill and another six down in a few different areas.


----------



## MissMac

ABMax24 said:


> White Birch and a piece of pine, not really early season wood, but I brought home too much Birch on the last load, so instead of leaving it in the rain it went in the stove.
> 
> View attachment 282809


oh man, i looked at this pic and actually felt radiative heat flush across my cheeks.  i can't wait to light the stove, but first these record-setting temps are gonna have to drop off.  beauty fire man!


----------



## orlkc

Last night I started the first of this year's break-in fires with a bunch of pine 1x scraps as kindling.  Worked pretty well with the stove top peaking at 120F.  Tonight I've started the next step with two small walnut splits and a couple pieces of kindling.  Aiming for not much beyond 200F, so we'll see.


----------



## Diabel

orlkc said:


> Last night I started the first of this year's break-in fires with a bunch of pine 1x scraps as kindling.  Worked pretty well with the stove top peaking at 120F.  Tonight I've started the next step with two small walnut splits and a couple pieces of kindling.  Aiming for not much beyond 200F, so we'll see.


120*F what?!?! I experienced these temps in Death Valley…..chasing wild donkeys…..


----------



## orlkc

Diabel said:


> 120*F what?!?! I experienced these temps in Death Valley…..chasing wild donkeys…..


There's a lot of latitude within the goal of getting the stove warm enough to dry it out but not hot.  It's still warm enough here that we don't need heat yet (40s at night, 60s during the day), so this is a bit early to be sure.  I'm ready for fall though.


----------



## Diabel

All good, do your break-ins. It has been too warm since last Sun to have fires here too. The cold is coming though….


----------



## stoveliker

What's in my stove? Damprid...
68 today, 58 tonight. 72 Next few days...

:-(


----------



## thewoodlands

We're heading down to 49 tonight, we have a pine fire going in the Liberty.


----------



## Diabel

T-shirts here! We are Canadians afterall!


----------



## johneh

Diabel said:


> T-shirts here! We are Canadians afterall!


Time to fire up the BBQ sit in the sun and drink a few wobbly pops
seeing as this weekend is the Canada Thanksgiving maybe cook the turkey on the BBQ


----------



## ABMax24

Not really fall weather yet, but getting there. No fire tonight, little too warm out.


----------



## Zombie

Nothing in the stove right now, I did clean it out and cleaned all the pipes to prepare though.


----------



## clancey

I have to smile for you people are just itching to get started on your stoves "when cold weather comes"...When I burn my stove it will have kiln dried oak pieces about 16 inches...Hoping for snow so all you people can start up your stoves in fact I am praying for snow and cold...clancey


----------



## Sawset

Leaving for South Carolina in a few days, for a month. Seems odd having to button things up "for when the snow flys", when its 78deg and raining. The wood cart is full. All it would take is a few cloudy days in the 50s to light one up, but still, blocks of time can throw me off.


----------



## Diabel

Sawset said:


> Leaving for South Carolina in a few days, for a month. Seems odd having to button things up "for when the snow flys", when its 78deg and raining. The wood cart is full. All it would take is a few cloudy days in the 50s to light one up, but still, blocks of time can throw me off.


Safe travels! Bring as much wood as you can close to the house, you never know what awaits you when you come back….


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 45.6 this morning with another Pine fire going in the Lopi.


----------



## Anduril

Heading into the 40's and 30's F in Northern Utah over the next few days, snow included.  Mixture of pine, spruce, and tree of heaven burning in my Lopi at the moment.


----------



## MMH

And we have lift off, have had a small front come through with temps dipping into the teens at night. Trusty ol pine started us off.


----------



## clancey

Oh Boy, Oh Boy....clancey


----------



## MrCool1

been lighting fires in the evenings since last Wednesday - last night a full load and settled down just before bed -all Doug fir so far, tonight we have a FROST ALERT!
 actual forecast is 33F. makes me laugh! I do enjoy the ambiance, even when it is too warm.
so my wife insists a loading of oak in the stove tonight. she spent over 30 years in Fairbanks, lived close enough to work to walk even all winter. she refuses to be cold ever again! 

today I will be covering the tarp shelter/redneck greenhouse so we can have some veggies for a while still. I put my two (painted black)) water filled plastic 55 gallon drums in a week ago. this section of the garden is a raised bed that we noticed a tarp shelter would fit over.  started stretching out the tomato harvests. now I plant lettuce/radish/beats/peas in mid august and we enjoy them usually until December when it actually gets cold. from now until Thanksgiving (US)  I doubt if we see anything below 30, and that would be the morning dip.
Happy Heating Season!


----------



## clancey

Your better half is a smart lady for who wants to be cold-----------not meeeee....Here in my state they were saying on the radio that they expect "maybe" it to go right above freezing on Wed but I think it will go to freezing (at night this is) so I am begin to winterize my hoses and stuff..Daytime temperatures are still pretty good 70 or so and I just wonder about your tomato's since I have one  and in Oregon did you get a lot of tomato"s this year.? Sounds good and you will just love the heat and especially the ambiance of it all--get a glass of juice or hot cocoa or something and really enjoy it..My new stove will be lite on Oct 28th and my stove installer is suppose to bring over a wood gage to test the moisture and a stove pipe temperature gauge as well and I got some fire extinguishers just in case---lol lol...First time burner here so Happy Heating Season back to you too and you have a sensible better half who does not want to be cold and is getting you in the mood for burning your stove ahead of time...good for her...clancey


----------



## MrCool1

clancey said:


> Your better half is a smart lady for who wants to be cold-----------not meeeee....Here in my state they were saying on the radio that they expect "maybe" it to go right above freezing on Wed but I think it will go to freezing (at night this is) so I am begin to winterize my hoses and stuff..Daytime temperatures are still pretty good 70 or so and I just wonder about your tomato's since I have one in Oregon did you get a lot of tomato"s this year...Sounds good and you will just love the heat and especially the ambiance of it all--get a glass of juice or hot cocoa or something and really enjoy it..My new stove will be lite on Oct 28th and my stove installer is suppose to bring over a wood gage to test the moisture and a stove pipe temperature gauge as well and I got some fire extinguishers just in case---lol lol...First time burner here so Happy Heating Season back to you too and you have a sensible better half who does not want to be cold and is getting you in the mood for burning your stove ahead of time...good for her...clancey


HAHA - yes, she is a smart lady - she was the straight "A" student when we were in school! we caught back up about 12 years ago, both of us going to the local community college - I did beat her GPA this time!!
we are in a cold pocket - usually 2 or 3 degrees lower than the forecast - I do expect it to be frosty - but at least the rain quit.
June 27, 2012 - Jackie and I had been married almost a year - I was in Indiana loading a trailer - at 113 degrees - I called J to tell her that I would be heading west in less than an hour - she told me she was lighting the stove. I pretty much melted into the parking lot!
really?
turns out it was 55 and overcast, she was cold! I think that was her first time lighting. she almost gave up. 
I gave her some ideas and lessons the next fall - she is an ace now - we have competitions - as we are kind of prepper/survivalist - we compete to be the one-strike lite with the ferro rod. no matches are harmed in fire building here!
we only did two tomato plants this year - (water issues) and the little cherry tomatoes just gave up - but the bigger ones have been going on overload - we have been giving baskets of them to the neighbors almost every week.  cucumbers have been steady and awesome - but no extras, as the chickens get one every week - (J does spoil them). the slicing cuke has gone in to overdrive now.
water issues - I am such a goofball - as the rains started coming back a few weeks ago - it finally dawned on me - I setup some buckets off of the tarp shelter - to catch rain water for the garden. nobody has ever called me Einstein! it works well, I haven't had to use any of my hauled water for the garden now in over three weeks!
 I can't use the water off of the house/garage as they are asphalt shingle - but the garage is due for a new roof and it will be metal!

you can never go wrong with fire extinguishers hanging around a few places - I have always (at least in my adult life) had one in the room of the stove, and one near each outside door. I carry the standard 2.5 pound next to the seat in my truck, and also always carry a ten pounder in the truck - and have put out fires out on the freeways at least 5 times, and once while pulling in to a parking lot a dumpster fire was starting - I had that out just as the fire department rolled up - they told me I shouldn't do that, but thanks, and they paid for a refill on my extinguisher.
I have 10 acres of timber - my very own tinderbox I live in - with the house on the SouthEast corner - so I am very diligent on fire safety.
and crazy enough, we want to build an outdoor wood-fired cookstove.
R


----------



## clancey

Thank you so much for sharing that story and its a wonderful story and what a way to start out --just wonderful...My late husband and me were of the same mind set and we lived down south for many many years--what a man he was--came from Michigan and he would have been right up there with all these wood stove burners and fireplaces people and so self reliant we were----good for you two...me I just got my stove in case the grid goes down or something and in actually I am afraid of fires burning..In our old house we had two fireplaces--one in the den for entertainment and the second in the main living room and he took care of all that and for me this is stressful to see this new fire box lite on my porch but my stove installer promised that he would do this so off to a beginning of a nice wood burning experience and I will take pictures as well.. Thanks so much for sharing and we will be burning kiln dried oak I believe after we take the moisture reading...clancey


----------



## Diabel

No fire until weekend. Today was beautiful 74 had a nice fire pit fire. Burning bunch more brush


----------



## MrCool1

Diabel said:


> No fire until weekend. Today was beautiful 74 had a nice fire pit fire. Burning bunch more brush


we had such a bad wildfire season we can't burn brush piles yet. my place has extremely limited room to have a burn pile - so I am anxiously awaiting the big opening day. place is covered in fir and pine - with a few other types - but the ladder fuel is out of control, as even though I have owned this place quite a while - work had me away for weeks at a time, with barely 3 days back a month - so maintenance has been lacking for quite awhile. I have about 1/2 an acre of limbs down, ready to drag out and burn. but in my mind less of a hazard spread out instead of a pile. we didn't see 40 degrees today until afternoon.  made it all the way to 56 though. I did let the stove go out this morning after she left for work!
 will have to light it again tonight  to have J happy tomorrow morning. I am way comfortable with the house under 70, J not so much. I try to keep her comfortable though, I have had to sleep in the truck at -25F a few times, so I understand feeling cold.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 78 today so I'm thinking maybe Friday night we might have a fire.


----------



## Diabel

thewoodlands said:


> We had 78 today so I'm thinking maybe Friday night we might have a fire.


Maybe Friday, Sat for sure. Looking at the weather, the cold from the west is coming this was…..unfortunately.


----------



## Zombie

40s inbound overnight this upcoming week, will be the first fire of the season*.  *Boy lemme tell ya, my wife is excited, she is known to wear a jacket when it's 75 outside.


----------



## thewoodlands

Zombie said:


> 40s inbound overnight this upcoming week, will be the first fire of the season*.  *Boy lemme tell ya, my wife is excited, she is known to wear a jacket when it's 75 outside.


What will you be burning ?


----------



## Zombie

I think some pine, it will still be mid 60s during the day, and 40s ain't that bad.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Well I just lit our first of the season. Its 45 out now and expecting 39 tonight. Similar forecast as zombie with 60s this next week and lows in the 40s after tomorrow nights low of high 30s again. I got a small load of post oak and black jack in the stove.


----------



## MrCool1

Zombie said:


> 40s inbound overnight this upcoming week, will be the first fire of the season*.  *Boy lemme tell ya, my wife is excited, she is known to wear a jacket when it's 75 outside.


My wife is the same way - 75 inside she has 3 layers on and a blanket. get to play with the stove a lot more because of it! I should be ultra skinny from all the sweating from too hot - but it apparently doesn't work that way.
she loves to see it snow - I keep telling her we are supposed to go see it, it isn't supposed to come see  us.
after our little cold spell - we have 72 forecast tomorrow - and I found a load of wood already cut into rounds to go get for a few years out. all I gotta do is run it past the splitter and then stack it.


----------



## thewoodlands

Zombie said:


> I think some pine, it will still be mid 60s during the day, and 40s ain't that bad.


It's still 68 up here but once the front moves through, the temp should drop to 44.


----------



## kennyp2339

thewoodlands said:


> It's still 68 up here but once the front moves through, the temp should drop to 44.


I'm sort of excited to have some change come through, I might even squeak a test fire tomorrow if the weather allows,  this first batch of cold should moderate by mid week, there's another batch coming in for us next week and that will be the true wood burning cold air / end the growing season type stuff.


----------



## thewoodlands

kennyp2339 said:


> I'm sort of excited to have some change come through, I might even squeak a test fire tomorrow if the weather allows,  this first batch of cold should moderate by mid week, there's another batch coming in for us next week and that will be the true wood burning cold air / end the growing season type stuff.


Our temps in the morning next week should be around 37 or maybe below. If the pine heats the house from the basement, we'll stay with it but if the wife wants it warmer, we'll start burning hardwood and save the pine for the spring.


----------



## MMH

Day temps still good here, nights have been teens-30s, small pine fires in the morning. If the weather is like last few years I likely won’t be going 24/7 until sometime next month.


----------



## Zombie

And we're off! First fire of the season, started with some small splits off of a 2x6 and some spliter trash (a combination of chips and bark) and I just layed 2 small splits of pine and 2 small spits of dogwood.  Supposed to get down into the mid 40s tonite.


----------



## stoveliker

What's that Infront of your window? (Spots in the fire view).

Here it was 74 F today, and very windy. Rain expected tonight. So not opening the windows. Instead, when it hit 80 inside, I switched on the minisplit AC again.. :-(

Long term forecast suggests that the stove won't be lit until December...

So, to answer the question in the title of the thread: a can of damprid...


----------



## Zombie

stoveliker said:


> What's that Infront of your window? (Spots in the fire view).


That is the removable metal screen for veiwing the fire.  The "Fireplace series" of the Fisher stoves, Grandma, Grandpa, and XL were double door stoves for this purpose.  Mine is a Grandpa Bear. Here is with the screen off and the doors closed.


----------



## stoveliker

Zombie said:


> That is the removable metal screen for veiwing the fire.  The "Fireplace series" of the Fisher stoves, Grandma, Grandpa, and XL were double door stoves for this purpose.  Mine is a Grandpa Bear. Here is with the screen off and the doors closed.
> 
> View attachment 283408



Ah, I had not seen the doors open as they pointed to the camera. Nice to have a stove and a fireplace in one.


----------



## Zombie

Yea, the basement doesn't have the best lighting, lol.  The doors are swung all the way open against the sides of the stove.  This stove is before the era of glass doors, when it's in "fireplace mode" man it throws heat hard, sitting within 10 feet will almost scorch you, lol.


----------



## thewoodlands

We didn't get any high winds but we did get some heavy rains. The wife wanted a fire so there's a pine fire going in the Liberty.


----------



## bigealta

Still waiting here on coastal NJ. Probably a couple more weeks before we change the air in our Jotul.


----------



## Zombie

What's left from 5 splits put in last night at about 11 pm. 2 Holly, 2 pine, and a nice large chunk of Poplar.


----------



## kennyp2339

The temps did drop up here, low of 47, doesnt feel chilly though, the house held the heat from yesterday just fine, outside there is a slight breeze coming from the NW, its not chilly, maybe crisp is the right word, it does feel refreshing to have dry air moving, hopefully things dry out, its just been a repetitive moist environment up here, with the wet soil.
I have a london broil in the slow cooker, will add the potatoes and carrots a little later from now, low temps tonight will be around 38deg, that might warrent a small fire later this evening.


----------



## Riff

Hit the low 40's last night and the kids were complaining of the chill early this morning so lit a small fire. 4 splits of pine and 1 one cherry were enough to make the place cozy. Nice to sit back with my morning cup of coffee to it.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 45.3 this morning, another pine fire is providing the heat.


----------



## MEngineer24

You all have me jealous waiting for our first fire of the season! October has been unseasonably warm here. First nice cold front settled in yesterday but the heat pump will carry us to mid-late November if I can control myself lol.


----------



## Zombie

MEngineer24 said:


> You all have me jealous waiting for our first fire of the season! October has been unseasonably warm here. First nice cold front settled in yesterday but the heat pump will carry us to mid-late November if I can control myself lol.


I am refusing to turn it on this year, and will be heating with wood only.


----------



## MEngineer24

Zombie said:


> I am refusing to turn it on this year, and will be heating with wood only.


Seeing the rising costs for electricity/natural gas/propane etc. I’d wager there will be lots of folks do the same. Our electric heat pump is very efficient thankfully and doesn’t start hurting the back pocket too much till it dips in the 30’s.


----------



## stoveliker

55 F this morning, indeed feels nice. 75 F in the home.





MEngineer24 said:


> Seeing the rising costs for electricity/natural gas/propane etc. I’d wager there will be lots of folks do the same. Our electric heat pump is very efficient thankfully and doesn’t start hurting the back pocket too much till it dips in the 30’s.



I also am eagerly awaiting for the end of November or so. I almost regret the minisplit and free solar electrons ...

But, in all honesty, having free AC and free heat (minisplit and free wood) makes me quite thankful when I see others getting nervous about energy costs. I'm a lucky guy.


----------



## Zombie

MEngineer24 said:


> Seeing the rising costs for electricity/natural gas/propane etc. I’d wager there will be lots of folks do the same. Our electric heat pump is very efficient thankfully and doesn’t start hurting the back pocket too much till it dips in the 30’s.


Same here, and being in NC we don't get super cold like a lot of the folks on here.  I also have an attic fan that I run instead of the A/C most of the time. Just open the windows and let the fresh air in.


----------



## firefighterjake

A few splits of eastern white pine and some chunks of various species.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 40 degrees this morning with more pine going in the Liberty. We also put in two more loads of white pine today.


----------



## kennyp2339

Some red oak, cherry and maple cut offs, 38 tonight, never got above 54 w/ a NW wind all day, house was 62 when I got home from golfing.


----------



## stoveliker

Home stayed 71 all day.  Fierce, windy, dime size hail storm around 2.30 pm. 52-59 today.


----------



## MMH

Have another cold front moving through, temps in the 30s, pine and some odd pieces/scrap juniper carried us through today. House is a nice 72 degrees.


----------



## Zombie

More holly and pine.  Here are some pics of how I start mine, hardwood bark and chips in the center with pine scraps around the outside, and "fireplace mode". I love having the screen on it, hearing the crackle and smelling it.


----------



## MEngineer24

Still too warm here. 50F currently, supposed to drop in the low 40’s overnight. Heat pump will continue to carry us…. Good news, got the gaskets switched out on the Jotul. She is ready for some cold weather.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 41 tonight with the first overnight fire going in the Lopi, pine.


----------



## ABMax24

Got a little bit of snow last night, had a fire of pine this morning and another going tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 38.1 this morning, pine is still heating the house.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Ash & soot.   Never got to clean the chimney after last winter.  Fixed that problem a few days ago.  Just have to finish the inside of the stove, check the gasket, & firebrick.  then the wifey will build too hot of a fire and roast me out of the house...


----------



## BrownT10

Had 37° overnight. Ended up with a moderate fire with some end cutoffs. Unfortunately, I had the pleasure of trimming my wood to fit in the new stove. So a bunch of end chunks went in. Have the same thing going now waiting for the Sox game.


----------



## ABMax24

It's only a couple degrees above freezing outside with 95% humidity, and been this way all day. Another load of pine in the stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

We didn't have a fire last night but we did have a small fire this morning with the temp at 47, nothing for a fire tonight.


----------



## Diabel

Fire tonight and it looks like from now on…..


----------



## Todd

12 hour reloads of Aspen yesterday. Found out it was a little too much heat for this kind of weather.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a fire this morning (pine) and we have a cold front coming in tonight so I just started another pine fire.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We have 47 now with a low of 39 tonight. I have a small load of post oak getting started just now.


----------



## sweedish

45 currently, high 48 tomorrow, low of 37. My 2nd fire so far this season, box elder and some cherry


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 44.6 this morning, we had a pine fire while having coffee and the wife started another pine fire when I was out in the woods. They are forecasting a temp of 32 tonight.

The basement where the stove is has a temp of 83 and up here it's 74.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

I had shorts and uglies of elm and ash in the stove today, my wife said the house was 83 at around noon and she opened some windows. Big success lol!! Last night it was about 33 and tonight it might hit 32 or lower so the ash splits have come out. Weather looks good for 24/7 burning for the foreseeable future so pine/cherry mix during the day, ash splits at night if in the 30's or more pine/cherry mix for overnights that aren't in the 30's.


----------



## mrd1995

Norway Spruce, Black Cherry and some rough cut hardwood scraps, upper 40s today and damp. We will be flirting with the 50s during the day and 40s at night for the next month or so.


----------



## MMH

Highs have been 40-60s with lows in the 20-30s, another small system moving through next few days, still small morning pine fires. Really hoping for a good winter this year.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Just ashes. It looks to be pretty warm here the next couple days with lows in the 50s and some severe storms Sunday night. It looks like after that we may be in to more regular night time fires.


----------



## fvhowler

Nothing...my burning has not started. Still in the 80's here but nights are getting cooler. Probably 2-3 weeks from my first burn. The stove is ready, pipe cleaned, new gaskets, touch up on the enamel. All I need  is cooler weather.


----------



## MEngineer24

A dual purpose fire this morning. Baking the door gasket cement and stove polish.  Secondly, just curbing my need to have a fire. Now maybe I can wait to start full force later into November lol. A few cherry splits and pine this morning.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 30s, with the first of two systems coming through. More pine.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 31 this morning with more pine going in the Liberty.


----------



## MMH

Mountains saw some snow, raining down here in the valleys. It’s in the 30s out so another pine for tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

They say we'll have a low of 32 tonight so I loaded up the Lopi Liberty with some pine.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 28.2 this morning, more pine went in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

We didn't have a fire overnight but with the rain and the temp at 41 this morning, we started a fire with pine.


----------



## Gearhead660

Windy with rain yesterday, so started up the insert with some Elm.  First fire of the season.  Love a fire on a cool damp day.


----------



## Caw

Overnight 3/4 load of maple followed by a reload of about 5 more splits of maple at 8 am kept us warm today. Gross 50/foggy/rainy day out there. Fire probably wasn't necessary but it was very relaxing and comfortable. Perk of being far ahead wood wise is you can splurge on the 50/50 days. I won't start it again until the tomorrow morning likely. Maybe before bed we'll see.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was a damp cool 55 and windy day out bush hogging right of ways. It's 45 out now with a low of 38 tonight with a small load of post oak and pignut in the 74.


----------



## MMH

Had an over night fire last night, second one this year, threw a couple more pieces of pine in this morning, overcast and highs in the low 40s.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 44.3 this morning with some heavy rains overnight and more rain today, another load of pine is going in the wood stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

They have us heading down to 40 with more rain tonight, I'll start a fire with pine about 9 tonight.


----------



## MEngineer24

Low in the 40’s tonight being very damp from yesterday and this mornings rains.  Cherry and some pine this evening. 3/4 of a load. Nothing like a fire to warm you up and dry the air out on these nights.


----------



## Stinkpickle

This year is weird.  The fall has been warm, so I’m holding off until my chimney sweep comes, and I’m gonna have him clean out my gutters at the same time.  So I won’t light up the stove until all the damn silver maples around my house drop their leaves.


----------



## sweedish

46 windy and some rain all day. Nightly loads of cherry, ash and boxelder. 
     The other night I did a load of strictly boxelder, honestly pine burns as long, it’s also very ashy and doesn’t coal, overall not very impressed.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 39.3 this morning, more pine doing the trick today.


----------



## shortys7777

Burning some oak. Low of 41 house was 63 when I got home. Its the only dry wood I have after a terrible summer. Good think I should have more than enough.


----------



## MEngineer24

Cherry keeping the chill away again this evening. 50F here with high winds and rain. Just up to an evening fire here as of now.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Another cool, windy, rainy day with 2 1/4" of rain the last 2 days. Its 46 now with a low of 40 tonight. I just lit up two post oak splits and a hickory and post oak round.


----------



## NickW

Cleaned the chimney at home last weekend while home and had some mixed bag fires of ash and silver maple. Listening to the Packer game in front of the new Strattford II fireplace in the cabin right now. Did a scab plug to the blower from a temporary outlet to run the blower and have a little hotter fire to continue the break in. Blown in insulation was finished today, just need the furnace hooked up and running to get the house warm for the sill plate foam to go in. Seems to be heating pretty effectively with a medium sized fire and upper 40's outside.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 36 degrees tonight with it 73 up here, I just loaded up the Liberty with pine for the night.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32.4 this morning, more pine providing the heat.


----------



## stoveliker

Had my first "electrons" firing in the minisplit yesterday. DampRid still in the stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 39.2 tonight with a load of pine going in the wood stove.


----------



## moresnow

38F @6 AM  here. It was damp, cold and windy last night. Chucked a couple of big Red Oak splits on a nice coal bed to get through the night. Heading for 60F today! Yeehaw. Not complaining.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 43.4 this morning, more pine went in the Liberty. We should be switching over to hardwoods this coming Thursday or Friday the latest. We'll still have just under two face cord of pine left for the spring.


----------



## MEngineer24

Chilly and wet here again this evening. Will start a fire soon, more cherry to fight off the moist air.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 45 out now with a low of 40 for tonight. There's 3 post oak splits and a round going for the heat now.


----------



## ABMax24

-3c (26f) outside right now, going down to -10c (14f) overnight.  Looks like we have one week left of daytime highs above freezing, then winter is going to set in. Pine in the stove right now, will start mixing birch in with the pine from now on.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's still 51 out with the temp up here at 72 but with some rain coming in tonight and tomorrow, I have a pine fire going.


----------



## PaulOinMA

Newspaper, lots of kindling,  and oak.  58 tonight at 11 PM.  Still waiting for our first fire this season.


----------



## Caw

PaulOinMA said:


> Newspaper, lots of kindling,  and oak.  58 tonight at 11 PM.  Still waiting for our first fire this season.



We've had 4 or 5 fires so far this season. We had a bunch of 40 ish nights in a row and I figured what the heck. Normally I'd just run the heat pump at 65 but it's early shoulder season and the wife was cold. Don't have to twist my arm! 

Going to be warm and dry for Halloween tomorrow! Then it looks like there will be some overnight fires coming up.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 46.4 this morning with the temp up here still 72. The forecast is for rain most of the day so I started another fire in our wood stove with some pine.


----------



## Grizzerbear

44 out now with a low of 38 tonight. Some more post oak in the 74 for the night. Looks like some colder than average temps for most of next week and finally we should get our first frost tomorrow night.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 48.2 tonight with a pine fire going in the wood stove tonight.


----------



## firefighterjake

Pine, chunks, punks and uglies . . . a remarkably warm Fall so far this year.


----------



## fvhowler

Forecast for 70 degrees to day and tomorrow, but there is hope.  With highs in 50's and lows in the 30's, it looks my first fire of the season will be Wednesday. Listen to me complaining about a 70 degree day. Any wood burner would understand!


----------



## Gearhead660

Got chilly  out trick or treating yesterday.  Started up the insert with chunks from the mixed bin-O-uglies.  Working from home so keeping it going today.


----------



## clancey

About 50 degrees and icy rain mist -roads slippery...I have kiln dried oak wood in my fire. clancey


----------



## walhondingnashua

Have had only 4 afternoon/ over night fires so far (more because of dampness).  First frost this morning finally and around freezing over night for the next week.  Been burning uglies but time to get into some ash, soft maple and sassafras tonight.

Warmest October on record according to Channel 9 out of Wheeling/ Steubenville.


----------



## thewoodlands

clancey said:


> About 50 degrees and icy rain mist -roads slippery...I have kiln dried oak wood in my fire. clancey
> 
> View attachment 284507


That should keep you nice and warm once you can load it up, congrats.

Zap


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 43.2 this morning with more pine going in the wood stove while we had coffee.


----------



## Jay106n

It’s was an unusually warm October. I have not even moved wood from the stacks to the stove room yet, but I’ve had a few spot fires here and there.  Still kinda warm this evening but temps should drop to the 30’s tonight so I fired her up with a pine load to start with a couple maple sticks on top. Will do a full maple/ash load later tonight.


----------



## ericm979

51 and raining here in the California coast range.  I have Madrone and Doug Fir in the stove.  The cats are enjoying it.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was a cool and drizzly day here today. Its 41 out now with a low of 36 tonight. I got some post and red oak going now.


----------



## sweedish

41 out with a low of 36, highs of mid 40’s, lows in the lower 30’s forecasted this week. Ash, cherry and boxelder.


----------



## ABMax24

More pine and birch, -12c (10f) coming tonight.

Playing around with the camera on my phone, doesn't pickup the blue colors as well as the eye does.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 38.5 tonight with another load of pine going in the Lopi.


----------



## MMH

Raining out and temps going down to 30s tonight. A load of pine in for tonight’s fire.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 36 out now with a high of 49 for today and a red oak load going in the stove.


----------



## Riff

Currently about 40F with a chilly rain coming down. Forecast for our first frost/freeze tonight with temps in the upper 20's, a couple of weeks later than normal. Have a load of shorts and punk going now and more set aside for an evening fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 35.2 this morning, after we voted I started a pine fire. Looking at the weather forecast, we only have a few nights below 30 with the temps during the day sort of like we've had this week, maybe even warmer.

I'm thinking about burning pine until it gets colder.


----------



## Gearhead660

thewoodlands said:


> We had 35.2 this morning, after we voted I started a pine fire. Looking at the weather forecast, we only have a few nights below 30 with the temps during the day sort of like we've had this week, maybe even warmer.
> 
> I'm thinking about burning pine until it gets colder.


Nothing wrong with pine.  I like burning pine.


----------



## Gearhead660

More uglies for the insert.


----------



## thewoodlands

Gearhead660 said:


> Nothing wrong with pine.  I like burning pine.


It took me a couple of years before the wife agreed but she likes burning pine, saves on pellets, oil and hardwood.

I did tell her that I would clean the chimney after we were done burning pine each year, that sealed the deal.


----------



## MEngineer24

First good cold front has set in for the week here. Will be dipping in the lower 30’s and high 20’s for the first time this year. A mixture of oak, locus and cherry to warm us through the evening and overnight.


----------



## moresnow

thewoodlands said:


> We had 35.2 this morning, after we voted I started a pine fire. Looking at the weather forecast, we only have a few nights below 30 with the temps during the day sort of like we've had this week, maybe even warmer.
> 
> I'm thinking about burning pine until it gets colder.


As much as you have, keep on keeping on with your Pine!


----------



## thewoodlands

moresnow said:


> As much as you have, keep on keeping on with your Pine!


Before I get going on the pine again, I want another two face cord of hardwood c/s/s before the Nov. 15.

I have been thinking about another stacking area for pine but that might have to wait until next year.

@moresnow , what temps are you getting in your area?


----------



## moresnow

thewoodlands said:


> Before I get going on the pine again, I want another two face cord of hardwood c/s/s before the Nov. 15.
> 
> I have been thinking about another stacking area for pine but that might have to wait until next year.
> 
> @moresnow , what temps are you getting in your area?


We are very warm yet with highs in the 40's and 50's with lows between 25 and high 30's. We even have a couple days in the 60's forecast over the weekend. Oddly warm fall. I am not complaining.  At all!


----------



## thewoodlands

moresnow said:


> We are very warm yet with highs in the 40's and 50's with lows between 25 and high 30's. We even have a couple days in the 60's forecast over the weekend. Oddly warm fall. I am not complaining.  At all!


That must be what we're going to get,  Friday we hit 47, Saturday 49 and we keep on getting warmer with the temp almost hitting 60 on 11/12.


----------



## sweedish

Gearhead660 said:


> Nothing wrong with pine.  I like burning pine.


1st year I burned almost all pine, just faster reloads.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 41 out with a low of 35 tonight. I have a small load of post oak for overnight.


----------



## NickW

Pine, pine and more pine... it's all I have ready here in the northwoods of WI. Until the furnace is connected or I get wood from home up here, it's gonna be pine. I am going to haul some seasoned hard and soft wood from home (southeast WI). I was shocked when I tested the black ash I css last fall up here and some still wouldn't register on the meter. The birch was better, but not ready. Can't complain too much though, it's 64 degrees inside and right around 30 outside. Never got over 35 today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 34.7 tonight with another load of pine going in the wood stove.


----------



## MEngineer24

More cherry going in the stove this morning to warm up the house. 45 is the high today with a low of 30F.


----------



## shortys7777

Nights have been in the 30's. Having nightly fires with mostly oak. gets us through the night and the next day.


----------



## MMH

Another small batch of pine for this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 34.5 this morning with more pine keeping us warm today. We also put in a small load of pine this morning.


----------



## ozarkoak

Hello all! Another burning season is upon us  Got the chimney swept today and burned 2 small break ins for the soapstone. This year will be almost exclusively hickory and red oak. Hope everyone had a good summer and I'm excited to read about everyone's wood burning adventures this season.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 29.8 tonight with either pine or some hardwood going in the wood stove. I added a few rounds  from cherry tops and some smaller splits of yellow birch on top of the pine.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's  39 as of now with a low of 30 tonight. I have some more post and red oak for tonight. Im trying to finish up last years stack still.  I figure maybe a half cord left and I will be burning primarily all red oak the rest of the year.


----------



## MEngineer24

Low of 30’s tonight, currently it’s 40 with a stove full of cherry and some oak. Cold is supposed to continue through the weekend. Once it dips into the 20’s I might sneak into the locust stash.


----------



## fvhowler

First fire of the season. Chilly, drizzley day here, mid-40s. Starting off wih scrap post oak, hickory and red maple. Its good to be back!


----------



## shortys7777

fvhowler said:


> View attachment 284708
> 
> 
> First fire of the season. Chilly, drizzley day here, mid-40s. Starting off wih scrap post oak, hickory and red maple. Its good to be back!


Beautiful set up


----------



## thewoodlands

The temp bottomed out at 27.1 this morning, more pine went in the wood stove.


----------



## MEngineer24

More oak and cherry for the evening/overnight. Supposed to be a low of 34F tonight.


----------



## NickW

Back home tonight after blowing the serpentine belt in the driveway this morning up north. Nothing like doing a serpentine belt on a diesel on a gravel driveway Anyway, just loaded the NC30 up with a mix of ash and aspen. Nice to be back to the familiar stove instead of the new fireplace up north and decent wood. Going to haul some of the good stuff up with me Sunday to tide me over until the furnace gets finished...


----------



## BrownT10

I have a coals burning down. Will put a partial load of oak in overnight and will have a good bed of coals in the morning. The wife keeps it going during the day as she works from home.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 38 now with a low of 32 tonight. I got some red oak going in the 74 for overnight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 27.7 with NOAA calling for a low of 25 tonight, the Liberty is loaded up with maple for the night.


----------



## firefighterjake

Some chunks and uglies -- red maple I believe. I also used some smashed up 2 x 4s from a forcible entry class at a recent Fire Academy which were perfect for use as kindling.


----------



## MMH

Woke up to 20s outside, another load of pine went in for the morning warm up.


----------



## WiscWoody

We’ve been down to the low 20’s lately and I’ve been burning my old hollow interior doors that I cut up into 18" squares and some other miscellaneous scrap  wood ie. oak mower crates and whatever I have on hand. I won’t be burning cord wood for another month or so since I need to get rid of all the scrap I have laying around… it’s a disease for me picking it all up and bringing it home for the kill.


----------



## clancey

That's one way to clean up around the area but is that stuff good to burn (the hollow door) because would not that be considered "treated wood"--just wondering no negatives here...What kind of stove do you have WiscWoody and you sure live in a pretty state as well..clancey


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 24.9 this morning with three splits of hardwood going on the bottom and the rest was pine.


----------



## MEngineer24

More cherry and a few small oak rounds warming the house this evening.  Had low of 26F this morning and are supposed to drop back down to 24F tonight.


----------



## WiscWoody

clancey said:


> That's one way to clean up around the area but is that stuff good to burn (the hollow door) because would not that be considered "treated wood"--just wondering no negatives here...What kind of stove do you have WiscWoody and you sure live in a pretty state as well..clancey


First Off, I won’t burn treated scraps as I know they will pollute our good clean air up here in the northland and I wander about the old doors but I think it’s ok, not as clean as cord wood of course but they are made with some kind of softwood for the frames and a thin wood for the shell and some corrugated cardboard like materials inside of them in a honeycomb pattern. I dont know what kind of finish they put on them back in the 70’s when they were made but it’s not a polyurethane. The biggest thing for me is that I have to put them in one at a time with some other scraps like since they really take off and burn rapidy But choking off the air helps keep them In check. I have a Drolet advanced burn (tubes) stove. I’ve checked my chimney when I burn them too and theres no visible smoke coming up and out.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 44 now and we are suppose to get down to 35 tonight. I just started a load of black jack and red oak. I've been burning one load per day the last week or so with day time highs having gotten up tothe 50s. If the forecast holds up it looks like I will be burning 2 loads a day around a week from now with lows in 20s and highs in the 40s.


----------



## MEngineer24

Reloaded the stove for the night with some oak and a few pieces of locust. Headed for a low in the 20’s tonight.


----------



## BrownT10

Reloaded with 4-5 splits of red oak


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 28.8 tonight with NOAA forecasting a low of 29, the overnight load is going with three splits of hardwood on the bottom and the rest is pine.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for 20-30 again, I’ll do a night fire instead of morning to switch it up, pine of course.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 25.8 this morning with more pine going in the wood stove.


----------



## MEngineer24

Loaded up for the night with oak and black locust. Calling for a low of 27 F tonight.


----------



## clancey

You will need those two woods and that will burn hot--and you will be warm..Yes..clancey


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 46 out and we are only getting down to 40 tonight. I have a small load of post oak for the night. Looks like the stove will go cold for the next 4 days or so. Highs will be in the 60s and even a 70 in there  I believe with lows in the 50s. I think around Thursday they are forecasting some cold air to arrive again.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 29, we're at 28.4 with three splits of maple on the bottom with two smaller rounds of cherry on the top.


----------



## MMH

Looks like another low of 28-30 tonight. Got a good shot of the cat chewing through the pine, another load of tonight of course.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 27.4 this morning with another load of pine heating the house.


----------



## wooddope

Pine and popple both 2 years dry and some splitter trash on top make a nice quick popper of a fire in my Caddy furnace.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 35, more pine for the overnight fire.


----------



## Rusty18

Ashes from 3 pieces of pine, just a little something to give the heat pump a break.


----------



## MMH

Low around 20 tonight, more pine for the win.


----------



## ozarkoak

Looks like my stove will be empty until at least Thursday. Beautiful weather blew in and they are calling for highs in the low 70's until at least Wednesday.


----------



## MMH

Currently 21 out, house is 71. I put a couple pine uglies in,


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 35.3 this morning, more pine heating the house.


----------



## BrownT10

Coals right now. Will let it die out tonight. I loaded this morning with 6 splits of red oak and left at 7:30am and got back at 6pm to a bunch of hot coals and the stove top fan still going. It was a balmy 58° out today, house at 70°. I am happy with the 10+ hours and still have the ability to not have to do a cold start.


----------



## MEngineer24

Ash filled cold stove tonight. There probably won’t be another fire here till at least Thursday night. Warmer weather has settled back in bringing some highs up to 70F.


----------



## Stinkpickle

I’m still grilling outside in a t-shirt, so I haven’t fired it up yet.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 43,  we're at 41.4 with another load of pine going.


----------



## MMH

Low headed for around 30 tonight,  another pine fire in.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 44.4 this morning with more pine going in the wood stove.


----------



## Piney

It’s only been -15C around here in the mornings lately.  And, like always, there are only pine trees.  Lit the main stove in mid-September and it will burn steady until mid-March.  On pine.  
Sigh.


----------



## stoveliker

Piney said:


> It’s only been -15C around here in the mornings lately.  And, like always, there are only pine trees.  Lit the main stove in mid-September and it will burn steady until mid-March.  On pine.
> Sigh.


Pining for something else than pine ...


----------



## Piney

stoveliker said:


> Pining for something else than pine ...


Pine is fine but ..,,..


----------



## thewoodlands

Piney said:


> Pine is fine but ..,,..


This is the longest we've burned pine in November but since we usually go from winter to summer and skip spring, we'll burn the hardwood in what was spring.


----------



## Piney

thewoodlands said:


> This is the longest we've burned pine in November but since we usually go from winter to summer and skip spring, we'll burn the hardwood in what was spring.


That makes sense!


----------



## sweedish

Stove had a day and a half break, It got to 65ish as a high yesterday, tonight a low of 32, so a short fire for now until bedtime reload. Mostly boxelder, but I may also throw in a split or 2 of cherry so there are coals for morning reload.


----------



## Rusty18

Warning sarcasm ahead...
You all burning pine all of the time is liable to cause the magnetic poles to flip or the earth to start turning the other direction!   At the very least it may cause the fuel in your neighbors lawnmower to go bad this winter! 

Stove is mt at the moment it’s 65F outside.


----------



## stoveliker

Lol. 1/6 of what I have for this winter is pine.  Because it lights easier on cold starts and too-late reloads of the d*mned oak that I drown in that is 3 years old but still about 20 pct... ;-)

That was facts and sarcasm mixed together. The grass is always cleaner on the other side.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for upper 20s…..the poles are flipping…more pine


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 41 tonight, more of that pole flipping pine went in the Lopi.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 41.5 this morning with a load of pine going in the stove.

NOAA is calling for a low of 29 tonight with a load of hardwood heating the house.


----------



## MMH

Low headed for around 30, more pine tonight.


----------



## Diabel

So far it has been 100% hemlock/basswood mix. I am running out of kindling. Maybe will put some hard maple in this eve and hopefully have some coals in the morning for easy restart.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 41.2 this morning, I started another pine fire around 11 a.m., we have some possible 40 mph winds coming in so I'll get burning after supper and let it go cold overnight.


----------



## ozarkoak

Tried to get through to tomorrow but the lows are going into the low 30's tonight. Today was beautiful but the wind was blowing pretty good so solar gain was low.  A few tiny oak splits just to keep the chill off. True shoulder season here this year.  Weather man is calling for 50-60's highs and 30's lows for the rest of the month.


----------



## Grizzerbear

ozarkoak said:


> Tried to get through to tomorrow but the lows are going into the low 30's tonight. Today was beautiful but the wind was blowing pretty good so solar gain was low.  A few tiny oak splits just to keep the chill off. True shoulder season here this year.  Weather man is calling for 50-60's highs and 30's lows for the rest of the month.



Boy it was windy today. Before yesterday the leaves were pretty well still on the trees for the most part. Today all but stripped the trees of the leaves. Makes deer hunting easier. Amazing the difference a day can make.

Its 40 out now with a low of 35 for tonight. I have some post oak for the heat tonight.


----------



## Jay106n

Gearhead660 said:


> Nothing wrong with pine.  I like burning pine.


Pine smells nice.


----------



## Jay106n

Simple maple load tonight


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a fire after supper yesterday but nothing overnight. We had 49.1 this morning with some heavy rains we needed so after the wife trimmed up what's left on the old skull, I started a pine fire.

We really didn't get any high winds so that was nice.


----------



## Gearhead660

Snow showers today and windy.  Half loads of elm and oak in the Myriad, as to not cook me out of the house...


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

I'm currently burning  red maple that's been sitting on my overflow pallet for slightly over a year and pieces were starting to get moldy so into the fire they go (and now I have room for the rest of my freshly cut locust!). If overnight temps threaten to fall below 20 I will toss some hickory in. Like Gearhead, we're supposed to see our first real snowfall this weekend. Firing up the snow blower tomorrow before the snow hits just to make sure nothing's wrong with it!


----------



## thewoodlands

WoodBurnerInWI said:


> I'm currently burning  red maple that's been sitting on my overflow pallet for slightly over a year and pieces were starting to get moldy so into the fire they go (and now I have room for the rest of my freshly cut locust!). If overnight temps threaten to fall below 20 I will toss some hickory in. Like Gearhead, we're supposed to see our first real snowfall this weekend. Firing up the snow blower tomorrow before the snow hits just to make sure nothing's wrong with it!


What do you have for a snowblower?


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

thewoodlands said:


> What do you have for a snowblower?


It's just a simple single stage Yardmax brand from Farm and Fleet. I use it to clear the sidewalks around the house since we live on a corner lot and have sidewalks on two sides.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 38  now with 28 for a low tonight. Another blustery day today and we had some spitting snow also. I got some good ole hickory going in the buck now. I'm soaking up the heat cause tomorrow mornin I will be perched on a ridge deer hunting. Lol this will be me!


----------



## rottiman

low 50's here today.  39 right now.  Aside from 1 small fire last week, I have yet to commence to firin' this fall.  They are yapping about a change starting tomorrow night so will probably strike a match for that.


----------



## ozarkoak

Grizzerbear said:


> It's 38  now with 28 for a low tonight. Another blustery day today and we had some spitting snow also. I got some good ole hickory going in the buck now. I'm soaking up the heat cause tomorrow mornin I will be perched on a ridge deer hunting. Lol this will be me!
> 
> View attachment 285266


Good luck tomorrow morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 34, we're at 35.1 with a load of pine going in the wood stove.


----------



## Diabel

I am back at the lake and woke up the princess with hemlock and couple of hard maple splits.


----------



## sweedish

Boxelder mostly and a bit of cherry, I brought more wood in tonight, rat fucked the wood shed and dug out the not so good stuff since it’s still early. I imagine I’m hardly the only one who does this. Next few fires look like mostly more boxelder along with quaking aspen, maybe the odd split of pine.


----------



## Caw

Heat pump today and tonight. Not going below 40 at night for another night or two.


----------



## kennyp2339

Running some big maple in dark box mode, suppose to have a cold front come through today and knock temps back to freezing tonight, hopefully the wind picks up and takes the rest of the leaves off the tree's so I can button up the yard tomorrow.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It was 26 this morning when I put a load of hickory and a post oak piece in the stove. It should be toasty when I get back in the house.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 34.1 this morning with another load of pine giving what it can for heat, I just loaded up again since I didn't burn enough yesterday.


----------



## rottiman

Idling along on a diet of mixed hardwood.  Been fired up since this morning and all of the dampness has disappeared.  Very comfortable sitting here watching Ohio State beat up on Purdue after Michigan beat down my Nittany Lions.


----------



## Diabel

3pm reload E/W (not my favorite), all hemlock, splits were too long for N/S.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 34.2 tonight with some pine burning down, the overnight load will be some nice hardwood.


----------



## D8Chumley

Finally my first fire yesterday, a mix of cherry and ash. I worked in a t shirt 3 or 4 days last week, while it was nice I’ve been itching to get the stove fired up. 32* this morning and the dogs are all happy sleeping by the stove


----------



## fvhowler

Coldest morning we've had here at 34*. Burning sweetgum, white oak and some other scraps from the wood pile.


----------



## MEngineer24

Fired up the stove this morning  full of red oak and some black locust with outdoor temps at 28F. It’s been a blustery day today.  Just coals right now, expecting a reload tonight of more oak and locust to carry us through the night.


----------



## Diabel

MEngineer24 said:


> full of red oak and some black locust


Wow big guns already! It is only Nov 14th


----------



## thewoodlands

I missed the overnight load since someone fell asleep the recliner so this morning the bottom row was all hardwood and the top all pine. When I came in around 2 this afternoon, I started a pine fire on some nice coals.

We had a temp of 30.4 this morning.


----------



## rottiman

Same temp here this a.m.  Just starting to snow here although the ground is warm and current temp.40.  They say snow here all night and 1-3" accumulation.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Got home this morning from hunting and smelled the hickory burning. The wife loaded the stove for me late this morning since the house was still warm enough before I left the house. Running on coals now and the house is still toasty. It got to fifty today and probably wont need a overnight fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> Same temp here this a.m.  Just starting to snow here although the ground is warm and current temp.40.  They say snow here all night and 1-3" accumulation.


East and South of us are getting snow at the moment, we're suppose to get a dusting.


----------



## rottiman

thewoodlands said:


> East and South of us are getting snow at the moment, we're suppose to get a dusting.



Just checked and it is still a cold miserable rain and 38.  If we see any snow it won't stick.  Just put another split on and it is SOOOO nice in here.


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> Just checked and it is still a cold miserable rain and 38.  If we see any snow it won't stick.  Just put another split on and it is SOOOO nice in here.


We have just over 35 with some rain, I put about three splits of pine on some coals after supper, that should get us to the overnight load.


----------



## Grizzerbear

rottiman said:


> Just checked and it is still a cold miserable rain and 38.  If we see any snow it won't stick.  Just put another split on and it is SOOOO nice in here.





thewoodlands said:


> We have just over 35 with some rain, I put about three splits of pine on some coals after supper, that should get us to the overnight load.



That's the worst kind of weather. Seems like our winters are always like that anymore.....just warm enough that it is rain. That kind of weather really soaks into your bones.


----------



## Riff

40F, going to a low around freezing. Possible snow to the west of us. Have a split of maple and some punky oak going to make the house nice and cozy.


----------



## thewoodlands

Riff said:


> 40F, going to a low around freezing. Possible snow to the west of us. Have a split of maple and some punky oak going to make the house nice and cozy.


Is this your first cold weather?


----------



## rottiman

Grizzerbear said:


> That's the worst kind of weather. Seems like our winters are always like that anymore.....just warm enough that it is rain. That kind of weather really soaks into your bones.



You are dead bang on with that.  On top of that, we seem to be seeing more bouts of ice instead of snow.  I HATE ICE


----------



## Grizzerbear

rottiman said:


> You are dead bang on with that.  On top of that, we seem to be seeing more bouts of ice instead of snow.  I HATE ICE



Yea ice is no good. We had a pretty bad one here in 2007. Around a 11/2". We were out of power for two weeks. Hate driving on it too.


----------



## thewoodlands

The overnight load is locked in, hardwood on the bottom with pine filling out the top row.


----------



## rottiman

Grizzerbear said:


> Yea ice is no good. We had a pretty bad one here in 2007. Around a 11/2". We were out of power for two weeks. Hate driving on it too.



Yeah, a few years ago I took a flip on my driveway and shattered my left elbow.  Still have the pins, plates and cables as a reminder.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 33.3 this morning with a load of pine going in the Liberty. We had rain and snow overnight with the snow not lasting and it's snowing again but won't accumulate .


----------



## rottiman

thewoodlands said:


> We have 33.3 this morning with a load of pine going in the Liberty. We had rain and snow overnight with the snow not lasting and it's snowing again but won't accumulate .




Sounds like your weather is the same as ours.  Talking to a buddy down in Kingston this a.m., he said they had 1 inch on the ground there.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA has us with a low of 29, we're at 30.9 tonight with a full load of hardwood locked in for the overnight load.


----------



## Diabel

Came back to the city Sunday afternoon the house was warm but the furnace was making strange sounds. Shut it off, loaded the VC with hemlock, reloaded around 11:00pm with sugar maple and beech. Lots of coals in the firebox in the morning. The VC did its job just fine. Just loaded the stove with sugar maple and ash. 

Furnace guy came this afternoon and the exhaust motor/blower is shot, he is hoping to have one sourced by tomorrow afternoon.


----------



## thewoodlands

Diabel said:


> Came back to the city Sunday afternoon the house was warm but the furnace was making strange sounds. Shut it off, loaded the VC with hemlock, reloaded around 11:00pm with sugar maple and beech. Lots of coals in the firebox in the morning. The VC did its job just fine. Just loaded the stove with sugar maple and ash.
> 
> Furnace guy came this afternoon and the exhaust motor/blower is shot, he is hoping to have one sourced by tomorrow afternoon.


We had the same thing happen three years ago.


----------



## clancey

I hate ice too and today it was in the 70's and i am waiting for the cold so that I can light my wood stove--I am getting addicted...I broke my shoulder in ice and what a trip that was so I feel for you rottiman and can well duplicate that issue for I broke my elbow too by stepping in a hole that threw me off balance...We just need to be more careful and more wise...Staying home and enjoying our stoves would slow us down a bit especially with some hot chocolate or our favorite beverage..so in the meanwhile I am waiting for the cold weather to come and it seems late this year.. clancey


----------



## rottiman

Diabel said:


> Came back to the city Sunday afternoon the house was warm but the furnace was making strange sounds. Shut it off, loaded the VC with hemlock, reloaded around 11:00pm with sugar maple and beech. Lots of coals in the firebox in the morning. The VC did its job just fine. Just loaded the stove with sugar maple and ash.
> 
> Furnace guy came this afternoon and the exhaust motor/blower is shot, he is hoping to have one sourced by tomorrow afternoon.



Good thing you had the wood stove.


----------



## Diabel

rottiman said:


> Good thing you had the wood stove.


Yes. The stove is too small to heat the whole house. The main floor is nice and toasty. 
I hope the parts are not on a back order…..apparently it happens a lot lately. It is suppose to dip to -5*C (23F) tonight!


----------



## rottiman

Diabel said:


> Yes. The stove is too small to heat the whole house. The main floor is nice and toasty.
> I hope the parts are not on a back order…..apparently it happens a lot lately. It is suppose to dip to -5*C (23F) tonight!


Precisely why I set my self up to be covered with the basics of day to day living (water, hydro and heat)  should there be a extended issue from normal sources.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30.3 this morning with some of that great white pineloak  going in on top of some nice coals. We brought in the last of what I had stacked for the pine we planned on burning this year, we usually have six face cord but some lazy azz only stacked one face cord in the last stack instead of two, once we're done burning the rest of the pine we'll have burned five face cord.


----------



## MMH

Low headed for low teens tonight around 13, I’ll throw a small mahogany round in tonight with the pine.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 23, we're at 29.3 with a load of hardwood going for the overnight fire.


----------



## Rusty18

5 pieces of pine on a 3 piece night!  Just went ahead and opened up the door to the garage...better than dumping it out an open window.   76F and still climbing.


----------



## Riff

thewoodlands said:


> Is this your first cold weather?



No, we've had on and off nights drop into the 20's since just before Halloween. Normal first frost here is early October, it was late this year and just before Halloween.


----------



## fvhowler

Stove is going cold for the next couple of days as mid-70s return. Cooler by the weekend and colder air next week.


----------



## Diabel

24/7 here


----------



## thewoodlands

I didn't check but the wife said it was 30 this morning, more pine in the pine stove!


----------



## BrownT10

More oak, just end cutoff pieces keeping the house a comfortable 73°, a little warm for my liking. Happy wife, happy life


----------



## Grizzerbear

Me and a buddy were building a deck today in t shirts around 10 am and it was in the high 60s. If we saw one goose flying south we saw thousands. They just kept coming and coming. Around noon the wind turned from the southwest to out of the north and it was an immediate 20 degree drop with 20 mph winds the rest of the day. 

Its 43 with rain showers now and a low of 32 for the night. I have three big splits of hickory and a post oak round for overnight.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for high teens, a stove stuffed full of pine will do.


----------



## moresnow

32F now and dropping into the low 20's or even teens. Just reloaded a fairly full load of mixed H.woods. Still looking like reasonable temps overall for some time yet. Now if we could convince the guy running the wind machine to back off it would be nice! Stay warm all.


----------



## thewoodlands

The temp has been climbing tonight, we're at 49.1 tonight with a load of pine going in the wood stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

We haven't had a fire yet today with the temp hitting 55.4 this morning, we've dropped almost two degrees since the 55.4  with the colder weather coming in later, pine time.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I put  tiny load of post oak and hickory again in to warm the house up about a hour ago. It is 48 right now and sunny but man is it windy. I think 15-25 mph winds today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We we hit 43, I started another fire with pine. It has been a wet damp day so keeping heat in the basement will keep everything up here nice and warm, we're at 40.8 at the moment.


----------



## wiredneck1

been as low as 26 here at night with day time temps in the mid 40's, mosty white pine/red pine mix along with some basswood that needed to be moved.


----------



## ozarkoak

Low supposed to be about 26f tonight.  High today was 50 I let the stove go cold during the day. got down to about 70 inside. Just re-fired, red oak, same as it ever was.  50 for a high tomorrow again low in the low 30's . I will be in the woods tomorrow night chasing them silly deer.


----------



## Grizzerbear

ozarkoak said:


> Low supposed to be about 26f tonight.  High today was 50 I let the stove go cold during the day. got down to about 70 inside. Just re-fired, red oak, same as it ever was.  50 for a high tomorrow again low in the low 30's . I will be in the woods tomorrow night chasing them silly deer.


Good luck, hope you get one.


----------



## JamesGuido

low of 23ºF tonight for the eve of the Beaver Moon...
heard the furnace kick-in so i crawled over there to fire up "Jøtie"

having surgery in a month, looking forward to all day-every day wood heat during my recovery days
tonight, all oak.







stay warm folks 🔥


----------



## ozarkoak

JamesGuido said:


> low of 23ºF tonight for the eve of the Beaver Moon...
> heard the furnace kick-in so i crawled over there to fire up "Jøtie"
> 
> having surgery in a month, looking forward to all day-every day wood heat during my recovery days
> tonight, all oak.
> 
> View attachment 285744
> 
> 
> stay warm folks 🔥


Wishing good things for you and your surgery.  Relaxing and healing in front of a fire sounds just about as good as it can get.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Expecting a low of 27 tonight with it 31 out now. I put just three sticks of post oak in to tie us over for the night.


----------



## BrownT10

Cold stove today, let it go out this morning with 65° here today. Took the opportunity to run the sooteater up and clean the ashes out of the stove. Looks like burning weather coming up the next couple days.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 36 tonight with a low of 30 forecast from NOAA, the bottom row has three splits of maple and the second row pine with a very small round of ironwood on the very top.

I'm thinking on Monday we'll have burned all the shoulder season wood for this heating season and we'll move on to hardwood until we stop burning in the spring.


----------



## MMH

Low of around 30 tonight with some precip coming. More pine on deck.


----------



## thewoodlands

After coffee our temp was 32.4 this morning with more pine going in the wood stove.


----------



## Diabel

Loaded the VC  with basswood yesterday afternoon, went out for dinner. Around 9:00pm the stove was still at 500 (stovetop) with lots of red coals. House was warm, decided to let it go out. This morning the furnace was on duty. Will empty the ashes and maybe clean the glass. 

Funny, I was running out of kindling last week from all the morning restarts. Stove has been going 24/7 since last Sunday. Just from picking splits from the wood piles I have gathered a bunch of it. 

Will be burning more hemlock/basswood during the day and sugar maple and beech overnight until New Year.


----------



## moresnow

20F this AM. The wind finally stopped. Scoop a few ash's and toss in another mixed load. My wife hailed me from the back door this morning. Laughing. We had a nice 2 or 3 year old Doe Whitetail drinking out of our cats water dish. While the cats sat around her! Not unusual to see the deer in my grove at all. Very unusual to see one sharing breakfast with the cats 10ft from my back door!


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 29 out right now. I just put a stick of hickory, black jack, and a round and split of post oak in the stove. Expecting 49 today


----------



## ozarkoak

Grizzerbear said:


> It's 29 out right now. I just put a stick of hickory, black jack, and a round and split of post oak in the stove. Expecting 49 today


Just hit 50 here. I love that black jack oak. It burns really hot. My house is surrounded by black jack. Most people think is ugly but I think its really cool looking.  We are so lucky to live in an area jam packed with beautiful hardwood.


----------



## Grizzerbear

ozarkoak said:


> Just hit 50 here. I love that black jack oak. It burns really hot. My house is surrounded by black jack. Most people think is ugly but I think its really cool looking.  We are so lucky to live in an area jam packed with beautiful hardwood.



My dad always said that black jack was only good for firewood and it is excellent firewood no doubt. But it does make some beautiful milled lumber with that black streak running through the center. I'd like to cut one some day and have it milled by some amish neighbors of mine and build a kitchen table. It's one of my favorite trees. I had two in the center of my circle drive but unfortunately wind took them out. I'm actually in a deer stand in a black jack right now!


----------



## rottiman

Temp. starting to drop  with a stiff west wind.  Dropping down to 25 tonight so I just fired up the stove again.  Probably go for a few days now as we are supposed to have a wet weekend.


----------



## MEngineer24

Finally getting back to cold weather here. Looking at a low of 28F tonight. Have a load of pine/red oak from earlier today that’s coals now. Will be loading up in a few hours for overnight.


----------



## stoveliker

First fire of the season here. A mixture of pine and oak.


----------



## Diabel

stoveliker said:


> First fire of the season here. A mixture of pine and oak.


WHAT!?!


----------



## stoveliker

Diabel said:


> WHAT!?!



Why what?


----------



## Diabel

stoveliker said:


> Why what?


First fire of the season.
I have likely gone through 1/3 cord


----------



## stoveliker

Ah. Benefit of the solar-minisplit - stove combo.
Free heat all year long.


----------



## thewoodlands

I've had three splits of hardwood with the rest pine going, it should be down to coals when I load up for the overnight load, NOAA is calling for a low of 24.

The overnight load will be all hardwood. We still have almost a full 4 x 4 rack of pine left that should get us to Tuesday or maybe Wednesday depending on how cold it gets.


----------



## fvhowler

Grizzerbear said:


> My dad always said that black jack was only good for firewood and it is excellent firewood no doubt. But it does make some beautiful milled lumber with that black streak running through the center. I'd like to cut one some day and have it milled by some amish neighbors of mine and build a kitchen table. It's one of my favorite trees. I had two in the center of my circle drive but unfortunately wind took them out. I'm actually in a deer stand in a black jack right now!
> View attachment 285809


I cut some black jack oak, hickory and post oak today. I'm a big fan of all the oaks and we are blessed to have so much of it.


----------



## Diabel

thewoodlands said:


> I've had three splits of hardwood with the rest pine going, it should be down to coals when I load up for the overnight load, NOAA is calling for a low of 24.
> 
> The overnight load will be all hardwood. We still have almost a full 4 x 4 rack of pine left that should get us to Tuesday or maybe Wednesday depending on how cold it gets.


It sounds like you are doing same as me, softwood in the day and hardwood at night


----------



## thewoodlands

Diabel said:


> It sounds like you are doing same as me, softwood in the day and hardwood at night


It's always nice having coals in the morning when starting your first fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

Diabel said:


> It sounds like you are doing same as me, softwood in the day and hardwood at night


I wish that I had put up more pine, it would come in handy for burning down coals once the real cold weather moves in and we're burning our best hardwoods, sugar maple and ironwood for us.

We'll have three or four face cord of beech ready for next year with another two face cord of ironwood.

This year we have two face of ironwood ready with yellow birch, sugar maple, cherry and a bunch of ash.


----------



## Zzyk

Cherry slab and box elder here... Due to unforseen circumstances this year may be tight.  Saving the good stuff for later.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 46 now with a low of 38 tonight. I got a load of post and black jack going now for overnight.


----------



## thewoodlands

I have an overnight load of hard and soft maple going in the Liberty, the outside temp is 26.2.


----------



## stoveliker

Burned down my start up load to coals. Ran the stove high because it's a basement dweller - have to heat up the basement considerably before enough heat comes up (also the reason I don't burn just one night or one day).

Now refilled with 4 5" red oak splits, and 6  4" sassafras splits, 18" long. Will be good until I reload before going to a friend to take down a pine or two in the afternoon.


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> Burned down my start up load to coals. Ran the stove high because it's a basement dweller - have to heat up the basement considerably before enough heat comes up (also the reason I don't burn just one night or one day).
> 
> Now refilled with 4 5" red oak splits, and 6  4" sassafras splits, 18" long. Will be good until I reload before going to a friend to take down a pine or two in the afternoon.


We heat from the basement too, when we had the house built in 2003 I wanted a wood stove up here and the wife wanted a  valor propane  insert with a glass front, she won but it sure heats the place up quick so it's nice.


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> We heat from the basement too, when we had the house built in 2003 I wanted a wood stove up here and the wife wanted a  valor propane  insert with a glass front, she won but it sure heats the place up quick so it's nice.



Yes. I can use the minisplit to help boost a bit in the mornings (we let it cool down a bit during the night) because the stove in the basement heats best in a steady mode. The minisplit still gets about 2 kWh of heat for every kWh put in at 17 F so it's good for a boost, but I wouldn't want to run it full days at those temps. So the stove.

I also made a register in the floor between living room and basement through which I'm pulling the coldest air down towards the stove (and warm air up through the stairs). This allows me to dial up the inline fan for quicker heating of the living room.

In the end, with the stove (a BK), and the "heat reservoir" that is my basement, I can keep the temps in the living room as even as I want.


----------



## MMH

Rainy and cloudy today, lows tonight in the upper 20s. You guessed it, more pine.


----------



## MEngineer24

It’s 27F this morning. Reloaded a partial load of red oak and a few short pieces of white oak limb wood on top of some coals from the overnight fire. Nothing beats a relaxing fire with a hot cup of coffee on Saturday morning.


----------



## Caw

stoveliker said:


> Ah. Benefit of the solar-minisplit - stove combo.
> Free heat all year long.



Yeah same here with the solar, heat pump, stove combo. What's a utility bill? 

That said I've been burning for about 2 weeks, mostly overnight. My heat pump is rated down to 37 degrees and we've had a lot of 25-40 degree nights. Also it's early season and I just like burning lol. 

Right now I've got red maple going:





Your browser is not able to display this video.


----------



## stoveliker

Caw said:


> Yeah same here with the solar, heat pump, stove combo. What's a utility bill?
> 
> That said I've been burning for about 2 weeks, mostly overnight. My heat pump is rated down to 37 degrees and we've had a lot of 25-40 degree nights. Also it's early season and I just like burning lol.
> 
> Right now I've got red maple going:
> 
> View attachment 285867



I had made up my mind to use the stove when it's below 40 F for at least a day and a night. Last year (with insufficient dry wood) I went with the stove below 35 F (as then I hear the heat pump go thru thaw cycles which makes me cringe, heating the outside...).

I think I might start even earlier next  year. Keeping track of how much wood I use.

It's been hard, waiting to light up when I see this thread very active...


----------



## Caw

stoveliker said:


> I had made up my mind to use the stove when it's below 40 F for at least a day and a night. Last year (with insufficient dry wood) I went with the stove below 35 F (as then I hear the heat pump go thru thaw cycles which makes me cringe, heating the outside...).
> 
> I think I might start even earlier next  year. Keeping track of how much wood I use.
> 
> It's been hard, waiting to light up when I see this thread very active...



I was also more judicious with my wood last year since I had a finite amount of good dry stuff. This year I have 6 cords ready so I'm just burning whenever I feel the need. Being 2+ years ahead has its perks for sure. 

I have my racks set up in a way to make it easy to track usage so I'm very curious how much we use. I plan to use about 4 cords give or take depending on the weather.


----------



## stoveliker

Caw said:


> I was also more judicious with my wood last year since I had a finite amount of good dry stuff. This year I have 6 cords ready so I'm just burning whenever I feel the need. Being 2+ years ahead has its perks for sure.
> 
> I have my racks set up in a way to make it easy to track usage so I'm very curious how much we use. I plan to use about 4 cords give or take depending on the weather.


Yes. I can easily track it now. I'm weary of the La Nina forecast (second half of the winter colder), so I've been fighting my fire urges at the start of this season 
Got a shed built and filled this year, putting me 3 years ahead.
Next year I'll have 2  year old cherry, ash (3 year but 1 year in rounds), maple, and either 3 year old oak or (if I burn that this year) 1 year old pine (to be cut this afternoon). Scrounging gives variety.

The year after it'll be 3 year old white oak, red oak, and locust.... (tree company drop). The year after 4 year old red oak, and some less old softer woods (to be obtained, likely some pine and maple).

2-2.5 cords per year. So I have to be a bit judicious in burning. (Though I'm not sure I will burn through the oak, ash, sassafras, and pine, totaling 8 facecord of about 16-17" long splits, half of it oak, I have available for this year - making my wife "concerned"  as she wants the stacks gone from beside our home and on our driveway, "since I built a shed" in the back yard - but I'm not moving it, it'll be gone when it's burned. )

Last year I limped by on 3 face cord. But I only used 2 weeks of oil (during a chimney problem right around christmas...). This year will be no oil, period. So I think with 2-2.5 cord I should be fine. I guess it's a bit milder here than in MA.

Back to the topic. As I said: oak and sassafras. But the only stuff in the glowing pile that's left from 12 hours ago seems to be the oak, predictably. Cruising at 70 F in the LR (I guess 80-is in the basement..)

And now I'm going to make a spreadsheet of wood, consumption, burn start date, total burn days/hours (keeping track of cat life). Wood burning nerd, I guess.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 21 this morning with another load of pine doing the job.


----------



## Caw

stoveliker said:


> Wood burning nerd, I guess.



Welcome to the club! 

Burning a light load of two year old red maple now, building up a coal bed for the overnight load of more red maple!


----------



## MEngineer24

Stove currently burning down coals of red oak from the evening fire. Waiting to bank the stove for the night in a few hours. Calling for a low of 24F tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Just ashes tonight. Its 50 out and since we are only going down to 47 tonight I figure to let the heat pump work a little. Looks like I'll be burning again tomorrow evening with a low of 28 forecasted. We are getting a lot of up and down weather right now with a warm front one day and a cold front the next.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 34.9 tonight with three splits of hardwood on the bottom row and the rest pine.


----------



## fvhowler

36 this morning with red maple, post oak and hickory warming the house.


----------



## Caw

It's 40 outside so I just threw 3 maple splits on the overnight coals to take the morning chill off. Looking at the forecast we won't be burning again until tomorrow night.


----------



## MEngineer24

34F this morning. A few small splits of red oak on last nights coals to beat the chill till the sun warms us up some. Supposed to reach 50F today. Stove will probably go cold over today and have an overnight fire tonight.


----------



## BrownT10

Burning some oak cutoffs today. Looks like cold overnight weather is moving in a little later this week. Tis the season, almost..


----------



## rottiman

37 here this a.m. supposed to go up to 43 later today.  I let the stove burn down last evening.  Supposed to "cool down" tonight so I'll probably re start it tomorrow morning.  Been a easy year so far on the wood supply.  Never had a stop & go burning season this late in November here.


----------



## MMH

Currently 21 out, didn’t have a fire last night, no good reason not to, started a small pine fire this morning.


----------



## stoveliker

Some glowing coals left from yesterday's noon reload. Home is 68 and outside will be 55 today, 52 tonight, 55 tomorrow. So any need for heat will be taken care of with the minisplit.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32.5 this morning, more pine in the stove.


----------



## MMH

Low headed for upper teens again. Another load of pine for tonight.


----------



## sweedish

Ash, along with 1 piece of cherry and 1 of pine. My reload got delayed, so needed something I can burn a little hotter overnight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 40.3 tonight with another load of pine going in the stove, tomorrow we'll be done with our shoulder season wood and we'll move on to hardwood for the rest of the heating season.


----------



## Grizzerbear

44 out with a low of 29 tonight. I got post oak and black jack splits with one nasty knotty hickory piece in the back of the stove.


----------



## rottiman

30 here this a.m.  Supposed to get colder here the next 2 days so I'll fire up the stove this morning with a diet of mixed hardwood.


----------



## MEngineer24

More red oak going in the stove this afternoon. Windy and cooling down here throughout the day. It’s damp from the overnight rain we had. Supposed to dip down in the low 20s overnight with windchill in the low teens.


----------



## Gearhead660

Was in low 20's this morning.  Burning uglies, uglies and more uglies.  Only 2 more totes to burn though.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 41 this morning but since we had some running around we needed to do we didn't have a fire this morning. When we came back I started a fire with the last of the pine.

Once that was locked in, I headed outside for more work pulling stumps with the 4540 but when I came in the wife had a nice hardwood fire going. We're at 31.8 at the moment.


----------



## rottiman

thewoodlands said:


> We had 41 this morning but since we had some running around we needed to do we didn't have a fire this morning. When we came back I started a fire with the last of the pine.
> 
> Once that was locked in, I headed outside for more work pulling stumps with the 4540 but when I came in the wife had a nice hardwood fire going. We're at 31.8 at the moment.



We are the same temp. here right now, supposed to drop down to 10 tonight.  Comfortable 72 here in the nest.


----------



## Diabel

rottiman said:


> We are the same temp. here right now, supposed to drop down to 10 tonight.  Comfortable 72 here in the nest.


10*F!?!?
Where in are you? Must be toward north


----------



## rottiman

Diabel said:


> 10*F!?!?
> Where in are you? Must be toward north








						Pembroke, ON - 7 Day Forecast - Environment Canada
					

Current conditions and forecasts including 7 day outlook, daily high/low temperature, warnings, chance of precipitation, pressure, humidity/wind chill (when applicable) historical data, normals, record values and sunrise/sunset times




					weather.gc.ca


----------



## Diabel

Just reloaded with few pieces of punky hemlock to carry me over to say 9:00-9:30. For the night it will be a load of hard maple. Temp steady here mid 30s. It has been a warm fall. Temps falling come closer to the weekend. At the lake, apparently it will be mid teens at night. Princess will get her legs stretched some…..


----------



## Diabel

rottiman said:


> Pembroke, ON - 7 Day Forecast - Environment Canada
> 
> 
> Current conditions and forecasts including 7 day outlook, daily high/low temperature, warnings, chance of precipitation, pressure, humidity/wind chill (when applicable) historical data, normals, record values and sunrise/sunset times
> 
> 
> 
> 
> weather.gc.ca


About 1 1/2h north of me. Wow. Stay warm neighbour!


----------



## moresnow

17F this AM. 21F for tonight. Big warm up to the 50's  tomorrow. The wife and I brought up 4 Red Ryder wagon loads of small uglies/crotch's/cut offs etc I had put aside while bringing up the good stackable stuff. Today was nice and the wife is off work. Guessing we now have 5 days of small ugly chunks stacked inside to use up. Why not, it's all Red Oak.


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> We are the same temp. here right now, supposed to drop down to 10 tonight.  Comfortable 72 here in the nest.


We're at 70 up here with the basement at 78. The next two nights NOAA has us dropping to 19 but I think we'll get colder.


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

Roller coaster temps this time of year, thankfully this year I have a nice variety to burn depending on day and night temps. Last night burned this year's first load of hickory since the temps went well below 20 overnight and I only have about 1.5 cords of hickory so that stuff is being saved for the coldest weather. Tonight some decent sized ash splits. Tomorrow and Wednesday will both be near 50 for the daytime highs so I'll be burning a mixture of pine, cherry and birch. Those nights I plan on just using up more shorts and uglies to get rid of them (and make room for more logs!!) Thanksgiving day and Friday will be cold again so maybe hickory at night and ash during the day. Weekend and next week upper 40s so probably the pine/cherry/birch mix again till that's all gone and I can reload that section of my woodshed with newly split stuff!!


----------



## ozarkoak

Wild swings here in North Arkansas too. expect lows in the 50's or 20's and highs in the 30's or 70's. Got a nice box of red oak burning right now Ill throw in a few sticks before bed at around midnight and most likely wont need to fire back up until late afternoon/evening  tomorrow. Cold box starts are making me wish I had split more kindling but not going to complain. Ill take the wood saving. Have a great night guys


----------



## Tar12

Low of 25 tonight...been running the stove pretty much 24/7....tonight will be a load of white oak and locust..brought in some ash that I need to check the moisture on tomorrow..I think its ready...


----------



## Diabel

Wow 
White oak and locust! That is like -100*f territory! What will you burn in Jan/Feb?


----------



## Tar12

Diabel said:


> Wow
> White oak and locust! That is like -100*f territory! What will you burn in Jan/Feb?


Well, since I have 16 cord of locust and 8 cord of white oak and 9 cord of ash...it will be a mixture of these 3 ...


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 27 tonight heading down to 20, the liberty is locked in for the night with some hard & soft maple and a few rounds of ironwood.


----------



## MMH

Kept dorothy going today, was a bit chilly. Tonight lows headed for teens-20s, another load of pine for tonight.


----------



## Diabel

Just dropped a 5” split of hard maple, 5” round of hard maple and a 5” split of black locust. Maybe, just maybe this will produce coals in the morning. Will report


----------



## thewoodlands

Diabel said:


> Just dropped a 5” split of hard maple, 5” round of hard maple and a 5” split of black locust. Maybe, just maybe this will produce coals in the morning. Will report


Do you have alot of black locust in your area?


----------



## NickW

Home for a week and a half for deer season and other commitments. Haven't been home for more than 4 days at a time since April because of the build in the northwoods. First full hardwood load of the season - all ash. Been a little chilly inside in the morning with overnight lows in the upper teens and mixed loads... Daytime burning had been some old punky honey locust and aspen.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 32 now and we will stay there till sunrise. I've got two splits of hickory, a round of hickory, and another round of white oak going for the night.


----------



## BrownT10

Just loaded a 3/4 load of red maple for overnight. Will burn the coals down in the morning and reload before I am off to work to keep the wife toasty.


----------



## stoveliker

Red oak cut offs. 41 now, 33 tonight.


----------



## BrownT10

Maybe I should try your way of reloading by stuffing the firebox and then letting it catch. I have found some success at getting a bottom row going and then adding a few more then a few more until up to temp and close air down incrementaly. What is everybody's method of loading a full box?


----------



## Diabel

thewoodlands said:


> Do you have alot of black locust in your area?


No.
About six yrs ago in a local kid park full of black locust (city planted) some bug went though and killed al the trees. I grabbed some in my scrounge days….
It seems  city is planting  honey mostly in the city now


----------



## stoveliker

This may depend on the stove you have. For me it works best stuffing it (I didn't do a good job here, some space in the top left, but more there would have slit to the window). The Tstat prevents overfiring. At least, that's the idea. I'm keeping track of the initial half hour in which I char the load. Then I go to a lower overnight setting.

Opening and adding often does create more smoke than opening once (stuffing it) and the not opening for a long time - is what I've been told.


----------



## thewoodlands

BrownT10 said:


> Maybe I should try your way of reloading by stuffing the firebox and then letting it catch. I have found some success at getting a bottom row going and then adding a few more then a few more until up to temp and close air down incrementaly. What is everybody's method of loading a full box?


When we're burning hardwood, we'll load up on a certain amount of coals so the wood takes off, once I see it get going, I start shutting the air down a little at a time.


----------



## thewoodlands

BrownT10 said:


> Maybe I should try your way of reloading by stuffing the firebox and then letting it catch. I have found some success at getting a bottom row going and then adding a few more then a few more until up to temp and close air down incrementaly. What is everybody's method of loading a full box?


Watch what type of hardwood you put a full load in your stove. We have a liberty lopi and if you put a full load of seasoned beech in when it's 20 below on top of a nice coal bed, it's gonna take off and the stove top temp could hit close to 700 (800 is max for our stove) I'm not sure what stove you have but we only have the bypass and the air control no cat. You can control your stove top temp by how much wood you put in it if you have a stove like ours.


----------



## BrownT10

That makes sense. Coincides with the research I have done and the manual. I am afraid that if I stuff it it will run wild in a blink of an eye or the flue temp will rise so quick I will need to shut the air down too soon and then get a smoldering fire. I guess I will have to tinker with it. My reload has been working for me but it would be nice to open the door once instead of a few different times, but not the end of the world. Creating less smoke is a plus though if true.


----------



## MMH

BrownT10 said:


> Maybe I should try your way of reloading by stuffing the firebox and then letting it catch. I have found some success at getting a bottom row going and then adding a few more then a few more until up to temp and close air down incrementaly. What is everybody's method of loading a full box?


I think it’s just something you have to experiment with, and also depends a bit on your stove. I will also stuff it…for example…



But caveat as I should have mentioned, you have to be careful with what your loading, and know your stove. I can control my stove quite well; I’m a bit more careful when I shove mahogany in there.


----------



## BrownT10

thewoodlands said:


> Watch what type of hardwood you put a full load in your stove. We have a liberty lopi and if you put a full load of seasoned beech in when it's 20 below on top of a nice coal bed, it's gonna take off and the stove top temp could hit close to 700 (800 is max for our stove) I'm not sure what stove you have but we only have the bypass and the air control no cat. You can control your stove top temp by how much wood you put in it if you have a stove like ours.


I have an Osburn 3300, no bypass, just single air control and a key damper that I am only slightly closing to offset the strong draft a bit. SBI says my max stove top temp is 900° but it seems to run great between 625° and 750° which is the max I have hit. Also, I am burning mainly red oak with MC between 17-20%, so probably unlikely to overfire unless I forgot about it.


----------



## thewoodlands

BrownT10 said:


> Maybe I should try your way of reloading by stuffing the firebox and then letting it catch. I have found some success at getting a bottom row going and then adding a few more then a few more until up to temp and close air down incrementaly. What is everybody's method of loading a full box?





BrownT10 said:


> That makes sense. Coincides with the research I have done and the manual. I am afraid that if I stuff it it will run wild in a blink of an eye or the flue temp will rise so quick I will need to shut the air down too soon and then get a smoldering fire. I guess I will have to tinker with it. My reload has been working for me but it would be nice to open the door once instead of a few different times, but not the end of the world. Creating less smoke is a plus though if true.


Our draft is good but at 20 below it's really great especially with seasoned wood. Find out what works for you and your setup with the different types of wood you have.

When I started burning, I never gave it a second thought about filling the stove with our best hardwood, I've changed my mind years ago. There's  very good info on this site so when these members that have been burning much longer than I have give you info, use it.

I checked our stovetop temp just a few minutes ago, it settled in at 550.


----------



## thewoodlands

BrownT10 said:


> I have an Osburn 3300, no bypass, just single air control and a key damper that I am only slightly closing to offset the strong draft a bit. SBI says my max stove top temp is 900° but it seems to run great between 625° and 750° which is the max I have hit. Also, I am burning mainly red oak with MC between 17-20%, so probably unlikely to overfire unless I forgot about it.


Nice stove, how do you like it?


----------



## BrownT10

thewoodlands said:


> Nice stove, how do you like it?


I think it will be a good stove and have since warmed up to it after a few weeks of frustration. When loaded and pushed it will provide the heat we need. I heat from the basement and rarely turn heat on on the first floor. The stove is under our living room and fairly close to a stairwell so not much issue heating the main floor. So far, so good but still trying to get it dialed in with minimum babysitting and maximum efficiency.


----------



## thewoodlands

We bottomed out at 19.3 this morning, more of the maples went in the wood stove on top of some nice coals.


----------



## Diabel

Coldest morning thus far this season, 25*f. Just reloaded with hemlock/basswood mix. Should be good til about 3:00-4:00pm


----------



## rottiman

Got up to 26 here today.  Supposed to drop to 16 tonight.  Mixed diet of hardwood is on going in and the temp is a very comfortable 72 here in the nest.  All is good.


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> Got up to 26 here today.  Supposed to drop to 16 tonight.  Mixed diet of hardwood is on going in and the temp is a very comfortable 72 here in the nest.  All is good.


The wind we had today "wood" get into the old bones when I was working outside, how was it in your area?

We're at 19.4 already.


----------



## MMH

Stayed chilly today, I kept the stove going with some splits here and there; high tomorrow in the 30s with lows around 10 for tonight and tomorrow night. I’ll bring some mahogany in.


----------



## stoveliker

stoveliker said:


> Red oak cut offs. 41 now, 33 tonight.
> 
> View attachment 286107



These cut offs lasted from 10 pm until 3 pm the next day. Kept the stove going with some pine bits and pieces until now (9 pm).

It was blustery  today. Windy.

Now 37. Tonight will be 31 F.

Just loaded up with red oak pieces again. 
Almost done with them. Then sassafras splits. 

Not loaded very well/ full, but it'll be okay given the burn until 3 pm today with only slightly more.


----------



## NickW

Ash


----------



## BrownT10

A load of red oak overnight. Filled the box pretty  full with a single load as opposed to adding a little at a time. Seems to be working well once it caught.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a pellet stove before we ever bought the land that I usually cut on so tonight the old yankee pellet stove received its first bag of the year, we're at 15.5 already so the constant heat throughout the night should keep the house around 71, the pellet stove is in the basement too.

Since Curran Renewable Energy is a local family from where I grew up and have workers from the surrounding area, we use their pellets.

We'll start the wood stove back up tomorrow morning, maybe even put in a few more loads of hardwood  before Thanksgiving.


----------



## stoveliker

That is nice; buying pellets that have many big names in the business, from a local company.


----------



## BrownT10

Still trying to maximize efficiency and clean burn. Do those with tube stoves find a you can achieve a clean burn with minimal smoke with only secondaries going and little to no primary flames? I am trying to find the balance while maintaining stove top and flue temps. Here is what I got going. No smoke in tee near stove, some smoke out the chimney, but it's dark and seems that exhaust shows in the dark more, similar to a truck exhaust.


----------



## BrownT10

A few minutes later


----------



## NickW

I am still working on perfecting my technique... Generally you should have some primaries firing. 

On a full load I need to choke the air down to fully closed to 1/8 open to keep it under control, but at some point overnight it'll die out mostly and smoke the glass and leave mostly charcoal in the morning instead of coals. I am playing with letting the wood char more before shutting it down and starting the overnight load earlier to open the air up to 1/4 open before going to bed.


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> That is nice; buying pellets that have many big names in the business, from a local company.


When we were kids and maybe playing sports in the summer or at a camp on the St.Lawrence River, the Curran boys were in the woods with their father felling trees at a early age, they were always hard workers.

Two of the boys took the business to a new level when they got bigger with Seaway Timber Harvesting, later on when the pulp mill in Cornwall Ontario closed they were hauling logs a longer distance so they started the pellet mill.

They were still having to haul some logs to Quebec (sawmill) so I'm pretty sure they purchased the equipment and started their own,  I'm pretty sure that's in Ogdensburg New York.


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> That is nice; buying pellets that have many big names in the business, from a local company.


This is the truck they started out with, I'm not sure who the young kid is on top of the logs but behind the truck is Pat, I think he took the company to a new level with the help of his brothers.


----------



## stoveliker

Cool pic. Hard times sometimes, but honest and therefore satisfying work.


----------



## Diabel

stoveliker said:


> Cool pic. Hard times sometimes, but honest and therefore satisfying work.


Hard work dur sure


----------



## MMH

Currently 19 out, have 3 mahogany splits on bottom E/W and topped off with pine N/S.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had a small post oak fire last night. The stove will go cold today since it will be in the 60s. Its suppose to be pretty windy with 30 mph gusts today. The wind is coming before a cold front that will come through this evening with rain and bump us down to highs in the 40s tomorrow.


----------



## kennyp2339

Brief warm up tomorrow for turkey day, I will load up the garage rack today with my 10day supply. Cold winds coming back for Friday and possibly our first snow event for Sunday night into Monday, after Friday its looking like long term cold for a while, I'm personally loving it. 
I will keep burning my uglies until I cant make it to that portion of the yard with the wheel barrel, once that happens I'll switch over to the good stuff.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 12.2 this morning, the pellet stove kept the temp up here at 68. I switched over to the wood stove for the day, we could hit 39 today.


----------



## rottiman

Was down to 10 here at 3 a.m..  Woke up to 17 @ 6 and it is now 28.  Supposed to top out @ 43 later today.  Gonna keep the stove idling along all day.


----------



## MMH

Currently 13 out, house is 71 and dorothy is still cruising on the mahogany from last night.


----------



## stoveliker

Loaded halfway up with line, oak, ash, maple pieces. 46 f today, so firmly in minisplit territory, but I can't stop burning ...
So it'll be cruising on low today.and tonight. Tomorrow 53 so I'll let the stove go out tomorrow morning. The Friday evening it'll be on again.


----------



## clancey

Your addicted--lol clancey


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 29.3 tonight with the wood stove getting a load of hard & soft maple, NOAA is forecasting a low of 31 tonight.


----------



## stoveliker

Filled it with some pine branches. Will let it go out tomorrow morning. Thursday will be warm enough for the minisplit. Friday evening I'll relight.


----------



## fvhowler

32 this morning. Stove filled with blackjack oak, red maple and post oak. Beautiful Thanksgiving morning in Carolina.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30 this morning, I never checked but that's what the wife reported. Another load of the maples went in the wood stove after the first cup of coffee.

We might get 6-8 inches of snow with some winds starting tomorrow so I filled the tractor and the rtv with diesel, then went down to fill two five gallon diesel tanks.


----------



## stoveliker

Remnants of pine branch wood burning down. 33 this morning. Will let the stove cool off today. Will be 53 or so.

Be back burning Friday afternoon.

Now off to split some pine we took last Saturday. Will be taking another 45 ft pine this coming Saturday. That should fill the shed to max capacity.


----------



## xshmoox

Finally fired the buck 80 insert here the other day.  On a full load of dry ash I’m nailing 12 hour times with the cat still in the 800-1000 range at the 12 hour mark! Can’t complain about that!


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had a load of post oak this morning with 34 outside and a high of 40.  Should keep the house warm until this evening with it being sunny outside. Happy Thanksgiving y'all.


----------



## thewoodlands

With all the cooking today adding heat to the house and the outside temp still in the mid 30's, we haven't had a fire since this morning. The wife would like an overnight fire so I'll make one around 9:45 tonight.

I have some jobs outside that need to be done before this storm comes in so hopefully I'm up and out early.

Winter Storm Warning
Start
End
Friday, November 26, 1:00 PM EST
Saturday, November 27, 1:00 PM EST
Source: U.S. National Weather Service
...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM FRIDAY TO 1 PM EST SATURDAY... * WHAT...Heavy snow expected. Total snow accumulations of 4 to 8 inches below 1000 feet, and 6 to 10 inches above. Winds gusting as high as 30 mph. * WHERE...In Vermont, Lamoille, Eastern Franklin and Eastern Chittenden Counties. In New York, Southeastern St. Lawrence and Southern Franklin Counties. * WHEN...From 1 PM Friday to 1 PM EST Saturday. * IMPACTS...Travel could be very difficult. Areas of blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility. The hazardous conditions could impact the evening commute. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...A mix of snow and rain will develop Friday morning before transitioning to all snow in the afternoon and continuing through Friday night. Snow will taper off Saturday morning. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... If you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food, and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency. Please allow extra time if travel is necessary.


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> With all the cooking today adding heat to the house and the outside temp still in the mid 30's, we haven't had a fire since this morning.



Same here. Minisplit stayed off all day. I did escape for a few minutes to split two wheelbarrows of the pine I got last week.

Be safe in the storm.


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> Same here. Minisplit stayed off all day. I did escape for a few minutes to split two wheelbarrows of the pine I got last week.
> 
> Be safe in the storm.


Thanks, we really won't need to go anywhere so other then taking care of any possible tree damage around the driveway, I'll be enjoying the fire and more turkey tomorrow afternoon in the house.


----------



## MMH

Stove cruised most of the morning on the splits of mahogany from last night, luckily it stayed chilly ish today so we didn’t get baked out with all the cooking. Lows headed for teens, loaded up on the coals and another load of pine in the history books.


----------



## sweedish

Quaking aspen, Austrian pine, dogwood, ash, and apple. Quite a variety this morning.


----------



## rottiman

Went to bed with a temp of 37, woke up to 36.  Looks like the bulk of the quick moving storm is supposed to stay south of us (Enjoy it Zap ).  Temp is supposed to start dropping today and stay in the 20,s & teens for the next week.  The current temp up in Manitouwage  (NW Ontario) is sitting on 0 so the cold isn't far away.  Ole' Black Betty is just idling along on a diet of mixed hardwood and the house is a pleasant 72.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had a load of post oak and hickory last night with  low of 21. Its 24 now but sunny and supposed to get to 54 so I started a small load of post oak to hold us over until the evening.


----------



## NickW

Steady diet of the punky honey locust during the day today. I get about 3 hours out of a load regardless of size.

Took the morning off from hunting as it was quite late by the time we got home from Thanksgiving activities and I had the stove fired back up. After the morning hunt yesterday there was a nice buck laying in the neighbor's yard 10 yards off the road next to a pine tree, but he took off before we even tried to put the sneak on him after getting permission... Old bucks are SO smart and sneaky!


----------



## WiscWoody

It was 11 last night and just 14 out now at 9am and I’m still burning small scrap wood gathered from mower crates, small branches, construction scraps etc. I always collect it and pile it up then use a old miter daw to chop it all up and sock it away and this winter I need to get rid of much of it. I Bet I could heat my small place with it for most of the cold winter up here. What stinks is that I have to keep stocking the stove often with the stuff but when it dips below zero I’ll add some cord wood I’m sure.


----------



## St. Coemgen

Apple.

Some of our fruit trees died this year.


----------



## WiscWoody

BrownT10 said:


> A few minutes later
> 
> View attachment 286210


Are your tubes red hot in the photo? I don’t think I’ve ever gotten my stove that hot, hot enough to illuminate the tubes… I think the incoming air keeps them cool, hot but cool if you know what I mean.


----------



## NickW

WiscWoody said:


> Are your tubes red hot in the photo? I don’t think I’ve ever gotten my stove that hot, hot enough to illuminate the tubes… I think the incoming air keeps them cool, hot but cool if you know what I mean.


On full hardwood loads my tubes get that hot too... glowing red/orange with stt 650+.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 20s out, threw some more pine in for this morning.


----------



## stoveliker

Just lit up again. First load is scraps, cut offs, branch wood of oak, ash, maple, pine - to get the basement warm again before we need the heat upstairs.


----------



## rottiman

NickW said:


> Old bucks are SO smart and sneaky!


Yes we are !!    LOL


----------



## thewoodlands

I'm not sure what the temp was this morning (maybe 36) I started a fire after the first cup of coffee. Before I started the fire I took some ashes outside to the garbage can next to the outside fireplace, we'll use the ashes on certain parts of the driveway later on.


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> Went to bed with a temp of 37, woke up to 36.  Looks like the bulk of the quick moving storm is supposed to stay south of us (Enjoy it Zap ).  Temp is supposed to start dropping today and stay in the 20,s & teens for the next week.  The current temp up in Manitouwage  (NW Ontario) is sitting on 0 so the cold isn't far away.  Ole' Black Betty is just idling along on a diet of mixed hardwood and the house is a pleasant 72.


When I checked the temp after I came in, we were 31 point something with some snow falling. Nothing for wind yet but the front hasn't moved in yet.


----------



## rottiman

thewoodlands said:


> When I checked the temp after I came in, we were 31 point something with some snow falling. Nothing for wind yet but the front hasn't moved in yet.


26 with a strong NW wind and spitting snow.  At 11 it was 35.  Get ready


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> 26 with a strong NW wind and spitting snow.  At 11 it was 35.  Get ready


Thanks @rottiman , hopefully we are. How much snow are they calling for in your area?


----------



## BrownT10

WiscWoody said:


> Are your tubes red hot in the photo? I don’t think I’ve ever gotten my stove that hot, hot enough to illuminate the tubes… I think the incoming air keeps them cool, hot but cool if you know what I mean.


The tubes actually looked worse in the photo. The rear tube was glowing a bit but not for too long. I doubt it is uncommon for them to glow if a full load is in and running hot. I could be wrong


----------



## rottiman

thewoodlands said:


> Thanks @rottiman , hopefully we are. How much snow are they calling for in your area?


They said 5 cm.(2")  we got maybe 2cm., barely covering the grass.


----------



## WiscWoody

NickW said:


> On full hardwood loads my tubes get that hot too... glowing red/orange with stt 650+.


Wow that’s hot I bet you get some real good heat from the stove them!


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> They said 5 cm.(2")  we got maybe 2cm., barely covering the grass.


We have three inches on the ground at the moment and that is on a very wet ground, we have some wind but nothing bad.

We'll see if there's enough to plow in the morning.


----------



## rottiman

thewoodlands said:


> We have three inches on the ground at the moment and that is on a very wet ground, we have some wind but nothing bad.
> 
> We'll see if there's enough to plow in the morning.


White patches, bare patches here.  Snow over and the wind is settling down.  24 degrees right now.


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> White patches, bare patches here.  Snow over and the wind is settling down.  24 degrees right now.


The last I looked we were just under 26 with a low of 18 forecast for tomorrow morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 23.5 tonight with snow still coming down, looking at the backyard with the light on, it looks like we have 5 plus inches.

It's 72 up here and the basement at 80, the wood stove is getting a break tonight with the old pellet stove supplying the heat.


----------



## MEngineer24

Low headed for 20 tonight with blustery conditions. Just loaded up for the day overnight with red oak splits and some locust rounds.


----------



## stoveliker

Sassafras and the last of the pine branch wood for overnight. Sassafras and proper pine splits next.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 44 out with a low of 39 tonight. I have a half load of hickory and black jack for the overnight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

BrownT10 said:


> The tubes actually looked worse in the photo. The rear tube was glowing a bit but not for too long. I doubt it is uncommon for them to glow if a full load is in and running hot. I could be wrong



My tubes glow pretty regular. Especially the back 3. It's pretty common.


----------



## MMH

Low headed for around 25 tonight, more pine for tonight’s fire.


----------



## clancey

If you lived in the NE and a snow storm was coming about 4 inches would you still heat with pine, or even mixed for that matter---just curious--old clancey


----------



## BrownT10

I would not heat with pine regardless. That is foreign to my family but each his own. If it works for many then great. Plenty of hardwood around here.


----------



## stoveliker

clancey said:


> If you lived in the NE and a snow storm was coming about 4 inches would you still heat with pine, or even mixed for that matter---just curious--old clancey



Yes I would. What matters is the total  weight of the wood you put in the stove. That determines the heat you can get out of that load. Pine has a lower density, so filling the box with pine rather than e.g. oak means there is less Btus in the stove. Hence it'll last less long until you need to reload. Or you run it so that it lasts the same time, but you get less Btus per hour of runtime. The latter is the reason why some people (with access to both pine and hardwood) use pine in the shoulder season when less heat is needed.

As long as it's properly dry, it's good wood.


----------



## Longknife

Bringing in some shoulder season wood this week, I came across this, which was a portion of a large vine I was happy to uncover and rid from my woodlot a few years ago.

I've spent a lot of hours ridding this woodlot of vines, which were strangling out large portions, and I'm guessing the removal of this put a big dent in their proliferation


----------



## MMH

clancey said:


> If you lived in the NE and a snow storm was coming about 4 inches would you still heat with pine, or even mixed for that matter---just curious--old clancey


Some of those who have access to hardwoods believe pine to be the devils wood; for others it may be all we have. I have burned pine, in all temps and weathers, even during single digits or negatives, I can get 10-12 hours out of pine and keep the house at around 70 or above.


----------



## stoveliker

Reloaded just now. Found a few splits of 3 year old maple (and a small 2 yr old dogwood one, and put 3 too long sassafras splits e/w underneath.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 17.4 for a low this morning, loaded the stove with cherry, yellow birch, red & sugar maple.


----------



## heavy hammer

Temps were arounf the upper 20's last night some locust with maple to get a longer burn time.  The house is pretty warm now about 76.  I have been letting the bbasement stove burn down at night no overnnight reloads yet just not cold enough.  The summit one the main floor is keeping the house warm enough through the night.


----------



## rottiman

13 last night,  24 and blue bird clear right now.   3 year old Red Oak and Beech keeping it comfortable here.  Watching Ohio State/Michigan followed by my  Nittany Lions/Michigan State.


----------



## weatherguy

First snow of the season last night, low in the 20's only up to 34 for today, I have lots of nicely seasoned oak this year with some ash. Next year I have oak, hickory and hard maple. I still mix in some NEIIL's but Im flush with wood.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 51 out now with a low of 37. I have some hickory and post oak in the house ready to go in the stove before bedtime. 



rottiman said:


> 13 last night,  24 and blue bird clear right now.   3 year old Red Oak and Beech keeping it comfortable here.  Watching Ohio State/Michigan followed by my  Nittany Lions/Michigan State.



Watching the Nittany/Michigan state game as well. It's been a good one. Makes me jealous of y'all northerners with your snow. Makes me wanna put the for sale sign up and head north lol.


----------



## thewoodlands

We might have a low of 9, we'll use the pellet stove tonight.

We're at 10.9 already, we'll see how low the temp gets.


----------



## WiscWoody

I burn some pine with my hardwoods sometimes with no problems but yes we have lots of hardwood here too so I burn that mostly.


----------



## firefighterjake

And just like that . . . good bye fall and hello winter temps.

Switching over to the better wood (i.e. my woodshed splits and rounds) vs. the punks, chunks, uglies and softwood I have been burning up to this point.


----------



## stoveliker

It was 32 this morning. Light snow, nothing on the ground. 40 now, still snowing a bit. The basement was 79, home was 68 (we like it that way; any warmer and I feel like a lady having to change clothes every time I go outside). Refilled with pine and sassafras.


----------



## thewoodlands

Our outside temp bottomed out at 6.3 this morning, the pellet stove kept everything up here 68. I shut the pellet stove off and then loaded up the Liberty with some hard & soft maple.

Saranac Lake NY had a low of zero.


----------



## clancey

Don't have that problem and decided  for now using my kiln dried oak  wood for any future fires because of its dryness . I got my ax out with a larger screwdriver and some assorted other steel tools  for now and tapped my split and it actually split--to my amazement...(another member suggested this method) for measuring wood moisture but the probe was still not that easy to get into the wood to measure the moisture so I lightly hammered it in and the reading was 10%...The problem that I do not have is "cold temperatures" for this week our temperature here is about 68 degrees and on Thursday I believe 71 degrees and sunny...so I am waiting for cold weather and snow with no real work being done on my wonderful wood stove area..so I wait to be able to put wood in the wood stove..nothing burning for now..clancey


----------



## Stearn786

33 here right now with flurries. Wind finally died down last night. Ash and some mixed soft/hard maple today, couple of pieces of black walnut tossed in for fun. I've been setting the honey locust aside to let it dry a little more in the basement. Last summer's humidity wasn't much good for drying dense hardwood


----------



## kennyp2339

clancey said:


> Don't have that problem and decided  for now using my kiln dried oak  wood for any future fires because of its dryness . I got my ax out with a larger screwdriver and some assorted other steel tools  for now and tapped my split and it actually split--to my amazement...(another member suggested this method) for measuring wood moisture but the probe was still not that easy to get into the wood to measure the moisture so I lightly hammered it in and the reading was 10%...The problem that I do not have is "cold temperatures" for this week our temperature here is about 68 degrees and on Thursday I believe 71 degrees and sunny...so I am waiting for cold weather and snow with no real work being done on my wonderful wood stove area..so I wait to be able to put wood in the wood stove..nothing burning for now..clancey


I love the cold, but rather soak in a few more days in the 60's, golfing was so much fun this year.


----------



## clancey

If you want warm weather some more---you get cold and if you want cold weather (so that you can use your wood stove) you get hot weather--life has its problems...lol ---I want some snow...clancey


----------



## Gearhead660

Was out of town for the weekend, had the (cringe) propane boiler heating the house.  Glad to be back with the stove cruising on  ash, hickory and elm uglies.


----------



## stoveliker

A game of Tetris with pine and sassafras.

Yeah, yeah, I need to practice more to be perfect. But more perfect screws up my reloading schedule. I already have to blow the thing on high the last two hours to get it down far enough for a 12 hrs reloading period. (And the pieces were not that straight.)


----------



## Grizzerbear

35 out now with 33 for a low. I've got some hickory and black jack going to heat the house tonight. It was 55 today with blue skies. Spent the day cleaning the yard of leaves. Finally got done but I'm thinking about getting a lawn vac before next fall. It's just getting old doing it by hand and seems to be more leaves every year. It also always needs to be done during hunting season which I can't stand lol.


----------



## NickW

Grizzerbear said:


> 35 out now with 33 for a low. I've got some hickory and black jack going to heat the house tonight. It was 55 today with blue skies. Spent the day cleaning the yard of leaves. Finally got done but I'm thinking about getting a lawn vac before next fall. It's just getting old doing it by hand and seems to be more leaves every year. It also always needs to be done during hunting season which I can't stand lol.


It can wait until hunting season is over...


----------



## sweedish

Cherry, pin cherry, pine, boxelder. Split and checked a round and it’s reading 14%.


----------



## thewoodlands

Accu says we're heading down to 17, it's 22.8 tonight with a load of cherry, soft and hard maple going in the wood stove.


----------



## Grizzerbear

NickW said:


> It can wait until hunting season is over...



Yea true lol.....I'm tagged out actually but it still didn't feel right to be raking leaves during deer season.


----------



## Caw

It was 31 degrees outside and 67 in the house when I woke up. Threw in a medium load of red maple to take the edge off. I'm ready for colder weather, I'm tired of shoulder season start/stopping!





Your browser is not able to display this video.


----------



## rottiman

Running on a diet of Maple, Beech and Red Oak.  Temps. ranging from low teens to low 20's night/day.  Load stove about 9 each night and wake up about 6 to a really good bed of coals ready for the day's re fire.  Stays a very comfortable 72 here in the nest.  Still love my NC-30 after 12 years.  Haven't needed to kick in the 2nd stove (Regency R3) going on 2 years now.


----------



## stoveliker

Just reloaded with some oak scraps . Not a full load otherwise it's not ready to reload by bedtime.


----------



## JamesGuido

Nothing but ashes…
As we’re vacationing in Sanibel


----------



## thewoodlands

The wife said it was 21 this morning, the liberty saw another load of soft & hard maple.


----------



## BigJ273

Just loaded up some maple and holly.


----------



## BigJ273

Fred Wright said:


> We're still on the old reliable red maple. Hasn't gotten cold enough in this neck of the woods to bring in oak.


Fred what part of DE u from?  I grew up in DE


----------



## stoveliker

JamesGuido said:


> Nothing but ashes…
> As we’re vacationing in Sanibel



but still missing the burning, eh? Have to check in here to satisfy the craving while on the beach


----------



## JamesGuido

stoveliker said:


> but still missing the burning, eh? Have to check in here to satisfy the craving while on the beach


You know it!


----------



## heavy hammer

A few big rounds of ash and some locust here and there.  I did load both stoves up this morning with some large splits of locust since we would be gone all day working.  14 hours later and the basement is still 71.


----------



## stoveliker

Reloaded with sassafras and I got some oak from another stack because it'll be 28 tonight - coldest yet this season.


----------



## fbelec

22 here right now. cruzing with maple and oak. 72 in the house. haven't heard the boiler.


----------



## Grizzerbear

After a overnight load of hickory and with a low of 39 right now we will make it to  60 today so right now I'm letting the stove go cold. The house is 74.  It's only supposed to get down to 45 tonight then high forties the next two nights with highs around 70 Wednesday and Thursday. We will be flirting with record highs here. Looks like the stove will rest until Friday.


----------



## stoveliker

28 now. Still chewing through the oak and sassafras from yesterday. I noticed again how much more energy there is in a box full of oak vs pine or sassafras; it's not yet halfway done...


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 21.2 this morning with some ashes being taken out of the wood stove, we loaded it up with yellow birch, cherry, red and sugar maple.


----------



## ozarkoak

Crazy nice here the last few days and according to the forecast its looking like its going to stay that way for the next at least week or so. Supposed to be close to 80 by Thursday :O Needless to say the stove is quite. I may think about another break-in fire by the time its cold enough to fire up again.


----------



## Pinus strobus

It’s 37 here in NW PA and there are 3 splits of oak in the Kuuma VF 100. With the warm temps, I let the coals burn way down before repeating process.  Getting around 5 hours of heat per load in my 2000sq ft home.  Seems like a waste of good oak. Looking forward to some arctic air.


----------



## Diabel

I am just about to reload. I have been running 24/7 pretty much, morning load hemlock, afternoon load hemlock and night load (mainly) hard maple. The maple will carry the load with nice big coals til around 9:00am with the cat sitting at around 500*.


----------



## stoveliker

Put a few "tide-over" pieces in around 5 pm after the 10.45 pm load of yesterday. Granted I dialled down the thermostat a bit, but I kept the house at 68 from 10.45 pm until 5 pm on that sassafras and oak load. Will reload with sassafras and pine tonight.

 Then will let the stove go out tomorrow; 40 during the night and 50 ish during the day Thursday and Friday. Friday end of the day will be the next fire.


----------



## Diabel

stoveliker said:


> Put a few "tide-over" pieces in around 5 pm after the 10.45 pm load of yesterday. Granted I dialled down the thermostat a bit, but I kept the house at 68 from 10.45 pm until 5 pm on that sassafras and oak load. Will reload with sassafras and pine tonigh
> 
> t. Then will let the stove go out tomorrow; 40 during the night and 50 ish during the day Thursday and Friday. Friday end of the day will be the next fire.


Sometimes with the BK I have a hard time finding a good reload timing. Not quite I get the 24h reloads. It is ok if my initial fire is started come night time. I just loose few hrs every day, which is fine. But if I start the initial fire in the morning, then my next morning is an early one. 
Not a bad problem to have. With the VC it is like a cloak, morning load, afternoon load, night load.


----------



## stoveliker

Diabel said:


> Sometimes with the BK I have a hard time finding a good reload timing. Not quite I get the 24h reloads. It is ok if my initial fire is started come night time. I just loose few hrs every day, which is fine. But if I start the initial fire in the morning, then my next morning is an early one.
> Not a bad problem to have. With the VC it is like a cloak, morning load, afternoon load, night load.



Yes. I generally start fires in the afternoon because it gets colder during the night triggering the need for a fire.  I can and have had 24-26 hr reloads but that is just for kicks. Heating from the basement, and having a minisplit for milder weather means I don't often run at the 20-30 hr reload schedule. So, sometimes I have to burn things down quickly before bedtime, and sometimes I have to put smaller loads in or have a few pieces like now to get me to the reload with a decent amount of coals.

Each stove has its wishes


----------



## Grizzerbear

Well call me a liar. When the wife got home she started giving me a bunch of guff on why I didn't have a fire started. I said, "its 51 out". She says "I don't care it's cold".  Okay.





Your browser is not able to display this video.





48 out now with 46 for the low.


----------



## Diabel

That is one clean glass!


----------



## Grizzerbear

Diabel said:


> That is one clean glass!


Lol....it ain't always that clean. I just cleaned it before this load for the first time in about a week. After around a full week of burning the bottom left side of the glass will be hazed over.


----------



## stoveliker

Grizzerbear said:


> Well call me a liar. When the wife got home she started giving me a bunch of guff on why I didn't have a fire started. I said, "its 51 out". She says "I don't care it's cold".  Okay.
> 
> View attachment 286800
> 
> 
> 48 out now with 46 for the low.



Lol. When I told my wife and kids that tomorrow I'd let the fire burn out, they looked at me in a way that suggests I might be following you in the liar's ranks...

Anyway, reload with pine and sassafras now. 38 tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 29.1 tonight with a low of 27, I have a small load of yellow birch, red & sugar maple in the Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

I saw a temp of 29.5 this morning with more of the same going in the wood stove. With Accu forecasting just over 0.25 inches of rain tomorrow, we'll put some wood in today and I'll clear the inch of snow off the driveway in hopes that the rain will melt what's packed down underneath the new snow.

I hope we don't have a winter of a snow/rain cycle.


----------



## stoveliker

stoveliker said:


> Lol. When I told my wife and kids that tomorrow I'd let the fire burn out, they looked at me in a way that suggests I might be following you in the liar's ranks...



So, the stove slumbered on today after last night's reload. But the (what my daughter calls "puppy dog"-) look of my wife made me a liar too.

 "Can you still refill?" Yes, but it's warm and we can use the minisplit. "But at least for tonight?"

I guess @clancey will be happy ...

Sassafras is going. A bunch of too long splits (the old DutchWest took longer ones) E/W. Good for a long slow burn.


----------



## NickW

Hit 35 here in the northwoods today, down to 33 tonight. Been burning a mix of punky honey locust shorts and pine to bring the temp up and keep the gas furnace from kicking in and help drywall mud cure. Used a big old beech short last night with the punky honey locust and pine for the overnight and still had a few embers this morning.

Hoping the wife and kids are being successful at home with the NC30...


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 26.2 tonight with NOAA calling for a low of 26, more soft & sugar maple are putting out the heat for the night.


----------



## BrownT10

More oak going in now for overnight. 28° now and started to get this stove dialed in better.


----------



## thewoodlands

I had a  some running around the needed to get done so after that was done I started a fire around 10:15, out in the real world it's 42 but back here we were just over 36.


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> I had a  some running around the needed to get done so after that was done I started a fire around 10:15, out in the real world it's 42 but back here we were just over 36.


In this particular part of the real world it is an unreal 57 F today. No reloading here. So I at least partially keep my word...


----------



## Caw

62 outside right now. It was 30 when I woke up so I threw 2 maple splits on the coals to take the edge off but I don't think we'll be burning until tomorrow. Overnight temps are gonna be 40+ so we'll be good. Heat pump can work if need be. 

62 in December in New England. W T F.


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> In this particular part of the real world it is an unreal 57 F today. No reloading here. So I at least partially keep my word...


We hit our high of the day so far, 40.1  with NOAA calling for a low of 23 tonight,18 for a low on Friday and 14 for a low on Saturday. Sunday NOAA has a forecast low of 31 with a high of 40.

We'll see how much snow we have left after the rains come on Sunday night and Monday.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 75 here now.....a new record. Only going down to 50 tonight then 73 tomorrow with a late evening cold front coming in to bring us down to 43 for a low tomorrow night.  No burning here until tomorrow night or Saturday morning.....I ain't lying this time folks.


----------



## EbS-P

We maxed out at 72 today forecast is for 75 tomorrow.  looking like I will not be burning for at least a week.


----------



## Gearhead660

Just ashes today.  Let it burn out last night.  Will clean out stove and light it back up tonight. Been a mild week, even rode bike to work a couple times.


----------



## JamesGuido

The usual oak I always burn… but I brought home some palm bark I picked up from the beach the other day from Sanibel Island… used it as kindling…


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Oak maple ash and pallets. My wood pile is all mixed together so I never know what I'm gonna get.


----------



## thewoodlands

The temp is at 32 tonight with a  forecast low of 22, the wood stove has a load of cherry and red maple going tonight.


----------



## MMH

Another 12 days off so I’m back to rescue the stove from the wife and propane. Tonight’s lows headed for upper 20s, started this evening around 5 with some odd juniper ends, then stuffed dorothy full of pine for the over night fire.


----------



## Caw

Was 65 degrees outside yesterday and the house got to 70 from the sun so overnight I decided to leave the stove cold. Woke up to a 62 degree house so she's loaded up with red maple getting up to temp.


----------



## BrownT10

I ran the sooteater up the chimney and cleaned most stuff off to where I could see the orange or the clay liner. Cleaned out stove and cleaned glass and lit a fire this evening. Will run it all weekend, but supposed to have 60° on Monday. Will put a load of oak in overnight.


----------



## stoveliker

Started the stove again. Used the last 2*4 cut offs I had from my shed roof built to get it nice and hot quick before the night reload.


----------



## rottiman

Got up to a high of 23 here today currently sitting @ 19 with a predicted low of 9 overnight.  Ole' Black Betty rollin' on with a diet of Red  Oak, Maple and Beechwood.  A pleasant 73 here in the nest.  1st  major snow incident scheduled for sunday/monday with up to 10" predicted with 40 mph winds predicted from the NW.  Monday it is supposed to be a one day heat wave with temps reaching 45 and rain before it really snaps down cold starting tuesday.  A really stupid winter so far.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 16.2 tonight with NOAA calling for a low of 11, we'll burn the pellet stove tonight and take some ashes out of the wood stove tomorrow morning and start burning firewood again.


----------



## fvhowler

Stove is cold now. The 70s have returned and may not burn until next Wednesday. I'm okay with a little break before winter really sets in.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Stove is cold here as well. Hit 73 today as me and my father hit the lake and did a little crappie fishing. A cold(er) front is moving through late tonight that will have the stove fired back up tomorrow evening.


----------



## MMH

Low headed for low-mid 20s, more pine for dorothy; also a weird December here haven’t started burning 24/7 yet with highs hitting 50s still, had 60 the other day.


----------



## stoveliker

39 now, 34 low, 45 tomorrow. Pine and sassafras carrying the load.


----------



## stoveliker

Interesting observation: after that stack of 2*4 cut offs (11 about a ft long) burning nice and hot, I noticed quite a few big dark gray clinkers in my ashes when I reloaded.

Suggests that existing ashes (a significant part from sassafras) can be re- configured (for lack of a better term) into clinkers when a subsequent fire is hot enough. I.e. clinkers don't only form in fresh ashes. Makes sense, but I had not thought of that myself yet.


----------



## sweedish

Cherry and pine uglies. I’m around today to do more frequent reloads, so I’ll burn those and some punky stuff also.


----------



## Caw

25 out this morning, cherry and maple doing work.


----------



## WiscWoody

firefighterjake said:


> And just like that . . . good bye fall and hello winter temps.
> 
> Switching over to the better wood (i.e. my woodshed splits and rounds) vs. the punks, chunks, uglies and softwood I have been burning up to this point.


Yes the low Monday evening is supposed to be -7 so I can hopefully burn up a lot of the scraps I have around.


----------



## MMH

Was 20 when I got up this morning, threw a couple more splits in until the sun starts putting in the work.


----------



## thewoodlands

Good ole @rottiman sent us his cold weather, we had 8.4 this morning with another load of the maples and yellow birch heating the house. Our temp is at 32.6 this afternoon.


----------



## incinerator

Low 30Fs this morning/afternoon and clouds.  Mostly pallet wood (pine) and chunks of white pine i've had sitting around from probably 8 years.  Still solid.  Have lots of oak (red and white), but saving that for real winter weather.


----------



## thewoodlands

incinerator said:


> Low 30Fs this morning/afternoon and clouds.  Mostly pallet wood (pine) and chunks of white pine i've had sitting around from probably 8 years.  Still solid.  Have lots of oak (red and white), but saving that for real winter weather.


When are you due for your colder weather?


----------



## rottiman

thewoodlands said:


> Good ole @rottiman sent us his cold weather, we had 8.4 this morning with another load of the maples and yellow birch heating the house. Our temp is at 32.6 this afternoon.


Hey, I love to share.....................  we started at about 12 here this morning.  It started to snow hard about 7 a.m. and lasted about 2 hours giving us 3".  The temp climbed up into the mid 20's and is currently @ 26.


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> Hey, I love to share.....................  we started at about 12 here this morning.  It started to snow hard about 7 a.m. and lasted about 2 hours giving us 3".  The temp climbed up into the mid 20's and is currently @ 26.


We're still at 30.2 tonight, we did get some snow that gave us a quick two inches later this afternoon but with the warmup and heavy rains coming, we won't have any left when Monday is over with.


----------



## incinerator

thewoodlands said:


> When are you due for your colder weather?


Forecast shows 7F Monday night.  I'll probably have to turn the furnace (nat gas) for the 1st time.   1st year burning wood, but i use to have a pellet stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

incinerator said:


> Forecast shows 7F Monday night.  I'll probably have to turn the furnace (nat gas) for the 1st time.   1st year burning wood, but i use to have a pellet stove.


We've had our share of colder nights so far this fall, by the way we're starting out it looks like it could be a winter of snow with rains moving in behind it, that will give us plenty of ice which sucks.


----------



## Diabel

Snow i like and can deal with. Ice on the other hand…….impossible to deal with. Steep driveway to my house makes it me hating ice.


----------



## MEngineer24

Weather has been so inconsistent here as per usual this time of year. Got a small fire of some half rotted red oak tree I cut up last year. That stuff dried fast this summer. 37F here currently.


----------



## Diabel

Night load. Some sugar maple with a toper of black locust. I want to sleep in tomorrow…….


----------



## BrownT10

More red oak, put in a couple rounds and some uglies. Reload in the morning and finishing splitting and stacking some maple and black birch tomorrow for use in 2 or 3 years.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We hit 55 today. The weather here has been unusually warm for this time of year and really all fall....dry too. Its 46 out with a low of 43 tonight. I have some post oak and black jack in for the night.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 28.4 tonight with NOAA forecasting a low of 18, just the pellet stove tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

Diabel said:


> Snow i like and can deal with. Ice on the other hand…….impossible to deal with. Steep driveway to my house makes it me hating ice.


The wife likes walking the dog on the trails around the house so when we get ice, it's a groan.

Usually our ice on the driveway doesn't get real bad until late February and March but when we get a winter with snow & rain, it gets bad.


----------



## Diabel

This snowed over is ok, iced not good!


----------



## MMH

Low headed for mid-high 20s again, pine for the win. Here’s my forecast for this week, brought some mahogany and juniper in tonight for that.


----------



## NickW

WiscWoody said:


> Yes the low Monday evening is supposed to be -7 so I can hopefully burn up a lot of the scraps I have around.


Yes, and potentially up to 10" between early Sunday and Monday afternoon. I'll be heading back to the northwoods Monday morning in the slop. SE WI isn't supposed to get much snow.


----------



## sweedish

thewoodlands said:


> The wife likes walking the dog on the trails around the house so when we get ice, it's a groan.
> 
> Usually our ice on the driveway doesn't get real bad until late February and March but when we get a winter with snow & rain, it gets bad.
> 
> View attachment 287041


Is that a driveway or frozen over ditch?


----------



## Caw

Woke up at 8:30 and reloaded with a full load of maple and oak before looking at my phone and realizing it's going to be 45 today. Whoops. It's now 72 in here and we're approaching coaling. Shorts and t-shirt day inside here!

Remember to always check the weather before loading. I almost always do but was tired and lazy. Being so far ahead on wood though it's no biggie. Another case for getting as far ahead as you can!


----------



## sweedish

Quaking aspen.


----------



## stoveliker

Some oak and sassafras. Running it low because it's going to be 46 f but I don't want to restart for tonight. Tomorrow will be crazy: 59....


----------



## Caw

stoveliker said:


> Some oak and sassafras. Running it low because it's going to be 46 f but I don't want to restart for tonight. Tomorrow will be crazy: 59....



I often run into the "I don't need heat now but I don't want to start from scratch tonight" situation this time of year. I usually end up feeding it a few splits at a time with the blower off just to keep it going. It's a little wasteful but we get some heat and the night load is much more effective. I absolutely hate starting my overnight fire in a cold stove. Sometimes I'll even light a tiny fire and reload on that to avoid it. 

Another reason for getting ahead on wood so you can do these things!


----------



## stoveliker

Caw said:


> I often run into the "I don't need heat now but I don't want to start from scratch tonight" situation this time of year. I usually end up feeding it a few splits at a time with the blower off just to keep it going. It's a little wasteful but we get some heat and the night load is much more effective. I absolutely hate starting my overnight fire in a cold stove. Sometimes I'll even light a tiny fire and reload on that to avoid it.
> 
> Another reason for getting ahead on wood so you can do these things!



Yes last time I started the stove cold, I made a fire of 11 or so 1 ft long 2*4s (that is 1/3-1/2 box for me).  Gets it hot quick, burns down quick, and reloading at the right time for overnight makes things easy.

Today the stove is cruising very low (mine has a large turn down ratio, allowing to have 11000 BTU/hr output or so, which when heating from the basement is ok). But at 46 now, it's 71 in the home. Slightly higher than we like.


----------



## thewoodlands

sweedish said:


> Is that a driveway or frozen over ditch?


Driveway.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 24.2 this morning so I shut the pellet stove down. Since we started burning pine I had promised the wife that I would clean the chimney when we were done burning pine, I did that today, all was good and not much came down in the bag.


----------



## Diabel

thewoodlands said:


> I clean the chimney when we were done burning pine, I did that today.


Wow! Is burning pine dirty?


----------



## Caw

Absolutely nothing tonight. Its 73 in the house now and look at this weather. 60 degrees in December in New England?!?!

The last thing we need is more water. I got my tractor stuck in the front yard doing leaves yesterday. 







House will hold the heat enough to make it until tomorrow for the heat pump to kick on.


----------



## stoveliker

Same here. 73 inside. 40 now, but increasing to 59 from now until tomorrow. Will let it burn out. (Also because I could run it really low tomorrow, but with an even colder flue and high windgusts (up to 55 mpg or so), I am concerned about short downdrafts, so as I don't need the heat, I'll let it go out tonight.)


----------



## thewoodlands

Diabel said:


> Wow! Is burning pine dirty?


No but that was the agreement I had with her, she wasn't sold on the idea of burning pine so that's what we worked out.


----------



## Diabel

thewoodlands said:


> No but that was the agreement I had with her, she wasn't sold on the idea of burning pine so that's what we worked out.


Just razzing you


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 72 up here so no fires tonight, with the temps getting close to 50 tomorrow we might not need one until the temp starts dropping tomorrow night.


----------



## thewoodlands

Diabel said:


> Just razzing you


We had bought a new sooteater last year when my shoulder felt bad and the brush was hard to push up the pipe so I used it for the second time, works great.

The pain in my right shoulder was my gallbladder thickening up hitting the nerve that runs in behind the gallbladder to your right shoulder, I had my gallbladder removed so the shoulder feels great.

The diseased gallbladder (partial blockage with gallstones) didn't give me any pain in that area but the pain in my right shoulder was bad.


----------



## NickW

Milking some coals out a little longer for the overnight load. 34 now, single digits the next M & T nights and won't get above freezing again until Thursday in SE WI. Heading back to the snow mess in the northwoods tomorrow, below zero up there tomorrow night. Bringing some more better wood up with me for the overnight burns, pine and punky honey locust doesn't last long. Hoping to get in and the snow cleared before the temps drop drastically...


----------



## rottiman

24 and snowing here now.  We are supposed to get 6-10" by tomorrow morning.  The temp is supposed to rise to 45 for a short time in the a.m. and then dive down to single digits tomorrow night.  The snow vs. freezing rain/rain line is about 40 miles south of us.  Time to put another log on the fire.  Put a portable soft cab on the tractor yesterday to stop getting a snoot full of snow and wind every time I clean up the yard.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

56 and rain here in Indiana. Got some big pine stokers in tonightmixed with some maple and pallets


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> 24 and snowing here now.  We are supposed to get 6-10" by tomorrow morning.  The temp is supposed to rise to 45 for a short time in the a.m. and then dive down to single digits tomorrow night.  The snow vs. freezing rain/rain line is about 40 miles south of us.  Time to put another log on the fire.  Put a portable soft cab on the tractor yesterday to stop getting a snoot full of snow and wind every time I clean up the yard.
> 
> View attachment 287151


Nice looking tractor, is that the one you've always had or is it a new one?


----------



## rottiman

thewoodlands said:


> Nice looking tractor, is that the one you've always had or is it a new one?


Got this one in November of 2017 so this is the 4th winter on it.  Have both a 60" power angle plow and a 54" commercial grade front mounted blower for snow duties


----------



## Diabel

rottiman said:


> 24 and snowing here now.  We are supposed to get 6-10" by tomorrow morning.  The temp is supposed to rise to 45 for a short time in the a.m. and then dive down to single digits tomorrow night.  The snow vs. freezing rain/rain line is about 40 miles south of us.  Time to put another log on the fire.  Put a portable soft cab on the tractor yesterday to stop getting a snoot full of snow and wind every time I clean up the yard.
> 
> View attachment 287151


It is white here at the moment. Apparently, we will have an “all rain” event tomorrow! I hope. All white at the lake, heading there on Tue. hopefully it will not be freezing rain.


----------



## rottiman

Diabel said:


> It is white here at the moment. Apparently, we will have an “all rain” event tomorrow! I hope. All white at the lake, heading there on Tue. hopefully it will not be freezing rain.


Report sounds like you will get more of the ice,  and then rain in Ottawa.  We are supposed to get more snow and ice pellets up here in the valley.


----------



## Jay106n

Just a little maple tonight


----------



## MMH

rottiman said:


> Got this one in November of 2017 so this is the 4th winter on it.  Have both a 60" power angle plow and a 54" commercial grade front mounted blower for snow duties
> 
> View attachment 287154


I also have a bx, no cab though; how do you like yours? I’ve thrown around the idea of throwing a cab on, soft vs hard etc.


----------



## MMH

thewoodlands said:


> We had bought a new sooteater last year when my shoulder felt bad and the brush was hard to push up the pipe so I used it for the second time, works great.
> 
> The pain in my right shoulder was my gallbladder thickening up hitting the nerve that runs in behind the gallbladder to your right shoulder, I had my gallbladder removed so the shoulder feels great.
> 
> The diseased gallbladder (partial blockage with gallstones) didn't give me any pain in that area but the pain in my right shoulder was bad.


Classic referred pain, right (gallbladder/liver) left (spleen) etc. Glad you got it taken care of.


----------



## MMH

Low headed for low 20s again, I’ll start another pine fire tonight. Weathers calling for snow and single digits to negatives for lows, we’ll see!


----------



## stoveliker

Added a few sassafras splits to keep the home warm before it reaches upper 40s outside at around midnight.


----------



## ABMax24

-23c (-10f) here tonight. More birch and a little pine.


----------



## tebenhoh

Typ0 said:


> I just know it's wood.


Yep, that’s what I got! It’s wood and it’s very dry… averaging about 10% with some even lower. Here’s the garage stash I replenish from the outside racks, but I couldn’t tell you what it is. I have access to rounds of pecan and white oak, but I got ahead last year so I have to burn some to make room on the racks. Ashes and coals in the stove now due to higher temps lately; 20’s tonight so it will be loaded and burning this afternoon. Cheers!


----------



## rottiman

MMH said:


> I also have a bx, no cab though; how do you like yours? I’ve thrown around the idea of throwing a cab on, soft vs hard etc.


Love it and I also love the new soft cab I put on it.


----------



## Grizzerbear

32 here this morning with 15 mph winds. I have some post and red oak in the stove for the morning. Looks like we will get to 42 today.


----------



## Caw

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> 56 and rain here in Indiana. Got some big pine stokers in tonightmixed with some maple and pallets
> 
> View attachment 287152



Cool classic stove, what is it?


----------



## stoveliker

Well winds are not bad (they were high late in the night/early morning).

Given that it'll be 37 tonight, the weather allows good control even when warm (55 now), I just loaded a few more split. I'll let it simmer all day, and have the fan (pulling cold air from the floor if my living room and blowing it onto the floor of the basement so that warm air goes up thru the stairs) off. Gives me a nice warm stove tonight for a real reload. I'll just have to live with a 74 F home... T-shirt and shorts then ..


----------



## NickW

28 degrees with a wind advisory. Just loaded up with all aspen. Heading to the northwoods but my older son is off work on Mondays so he can re-stoke again around noonish.


----------



## Caw

45 headed to 60 today so the heat pump/solar doing their thing. Have it set to 65 for the day, we'll just wear sweatshirts. If I lit even a small fire I'd roast us out of here. This is the time of year for the cat bois gloat! _  _


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 41.2 this morning with the temp at 44.5, not much for wind yet but that should hit when the cold front comes in. 

We're running the pellet stove for a bit, we received some good rains overnight and today so it looks like the driveway should be clear of any ice before the cold front hits.


----------



## clancey

Yea I heard on the news a big one is coming in for your area and other areas in the NE  because they were warning truck drivers of high winds and possible fogs on the highway...Here where I live last night it got about 20 degrees and wondering how today will be because did not hear the rest of the news..But if it remains cold---boy its fire stove time---Yes...last week took a whole bunch of the kiln dried [ oak } out of my wood shed into the house so I am ready.. clancey


----------



## thewoodlands

clancey said:


> Yea I heard on the news a big one is coming in for your area and other areas in the NE  because they were warning truck drivers of high winds and possible fogs on the highway...Here where I live last night it got about 20 degrees and wondering how today will be because did not hear the rest of the news..But if it remains cold---boy its fire stove time---Yes...last week took a whole bunch of the kiln dried [ oak } out of my wood shed into the house so I am ready.. clancey


Nothing like a good fire, hopefully the weather allows you to have a fire. They're even calling for possible thunderstorms for our area.

I did see southwest of us in Watertown NY off of Lake Ontario, had people that had lost power. The winds can get real bad coming off the Lake.


----------



## thewoodlands

clancey said:


> Yea I heard on the news a big one is coming in for your area and other areas in the NE  because they were warning truck drivers of high winds and possible fogs on the highway...Here where I live last night it got about 20 degrees and wondering how today will be because did not hear the rest of the news..But if it remains cold---boy its fire stove time---Yes...last week took a whole bunch of the kiln dried [ oak } out of my wood shed into the house so I am ready.. clancey


This happened in Syracuse NY.









						High winds down power lines, rip roof off Dewitt bakery; gusty winds to continue into tonight
					

High winds initially knocked out power to more than 5,000 customers, most restored. Lake-effect snow is expected to hit Oswego.




					www.syracuse.com


----------



## rottiman

Got about 4" of snow last night.  35 and raining now.  Supposed to snap down over night.  They yapped about high winds here but haven't seen any yet.  Gave Ole' Black Betty a cleanout this morning, then threw a couple of chunks of maple in her.  Set for another week or so on the ash front.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Caw said:


> Cool classic stove, what is it?


A wehrle wisdom oak 159 #19 I know it's horribly inefficient but it's what I got for now. From what I can tell between from 1905 and 1930


----------



## ozarkoak

Yesterdays high was 73 Last night at midnight it was 64 degrees. Massive storm blew through high winds the whole deal.  Woke up this morning to 36 degrees.  North Arkansas is crazy. Topped out so far today at 43 with a low of 25 being called for.  loaded up with red oak and with the winds I will keep her burning until they slow down. Funny they are calling for 70's thursday and possibly 80's friday.  Stay warm, friends.


----------



## Tar12

Headed for a low of 16 tonight with wind chills below that...just loaded up a full load to the gills type of load of white oak and locust in the Princess..I have burned enough of this combo to expect 74-75 in the stove room in the morning...happy wife...


----------



## thewoodlands

With all the rain we received with the warmer weather today, the driveway is pretty much clear of snow & ice.

The last I looked we had 34.2 and it was snowing. We're running the pellet stove since after supper but when it's time to hit the sleeper, I'll shut the p.s. off for the night, we've had some good winds tonight so tomorrow morning we'll fire the wood stove up again.


----------



## lefties

dry freestanding elm,,,didnt have to split it. Warming nice.  Door is open. Put an 8 inch round piece in at 10 last night and at 8 this morning house was still 76 with solid bed of coals.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Big load of pine maple and oak tonight. Bout to melt my face sitting next to it


----------



## c604

Red oak, and Ash for the overnight load tonight.


----------



## NickW

Got to the northwoods just before 3 today to 7 degrees and blustery; spent the next couple of hours snowblowing, then ran to the local big box. Now it's zero and kindling a small fire to warm up the flue in the Strattford II. Will have a softwood fire and load up with a mix of beech, ash and softwood for the overnight. This certainly isn't as easy as the NC-30 at home, but once warmed up it heats nicely. Glass gets smoked pretty easy, but some of the pine is a little marginal I'm still learning it...


----------



## lefties

Main thing is we are all warm!


----------



## NickW

Nice secondaries going even if the phone photo sucks...


----------



## lefties

baseroom said:


> 20's here too!  Mostly ash mixed with Silver maple.  Watching the secondaries light up was so much better than the football game last night!!


here too


----------



## incinerator

ozarkoak said:


> Yesterdays high was 73 Last night at midnight it was 64 degrees. Massive storm blew through high winds the whole deal.  Woke up this morning to 36 degrees.  North Arkansas is crazy. Topped out so far today at 43 with a low of 25 being called for.  loaded up with red oak and with the winds I will keep her burning until they slow down. Funny they are calling for 70's thursday and possibly 80's friday.  Stay warm, friends.


Extended looks insanely mild (maybe record temps for eastern half of the US) mid month.  I just read several spots in Alaska had record or near record cold November, so it is out there.   18F here this afternoon and lots of wind, but sun was out...11F now and should be low single digits by morning.  Big chunks of white pine filled the stove early and reloaded this afternoon and evening.  Will probably throw some white oak on tonite before bed.  Living room sat around 73F all day.   Still no furnace.  Burn burn burn.


----------



## MMH

Highs today were 30-40 and cloudy, kept the stove going. Tonight’s headed for low 20s again, pressures starting to drop as the system makes its way over. House is a nice 72 and more pine for the night load comin up.


----------



## parthy

First -25 of the season with a new stove and no vapour barrier.  Not much sleep.  Also bought a newer vehicle and couldn't plug it in for various reasons, so essentailly was up every 3 hours.  Car started, went through too much wood, but that is what it is until March. Not the stoves fault. I had to work a long day and it still had coals, but it was rather cool. lol I am not a fan of pine at this moment to be honest.  I am alone and work 8 hours and it is dark at almost 4:30 here, so I need to spend every minute mining for the good stuff.  Big learning curve but also know what to do next year.  My wood is all seasoned well. no issues. Just that I am 63 and it is dark all the time. lol
 I should have added, that after Christmas, as the house is undergoing renovations, we are going to move my bedroom essentially into the living room by the wood stove and just plastic off the bedrooms.  Because of supply issues, nothing is going to get done till very early spring.


----------



## NickW

-25! BRRRR! Makes my -2 look balmy...

So I lied (there's been a bit of that on here lately I saw...😉). Overnight load is all hardwood. We'll see what this baby can really do. Hopefully not glow red!


----------



## sweedish

The low of 18 tonight  may force me to up my game, I suppose a load of black cherry is in order for tonight


----------



## parthy

hahaha.  It is going to minus 27 tonight but i don't work for 4 days, and it is getting warmer.  It is almost 10pm at night and pitch black outside and I have to go get more wood inside.  I need to figure this out.  I do have heaters to fill in but hydro is like gold right now.  So sleep is an aside. lol  I came home tonight with emergency vehicles all over my road right near my house and honestly thought my house was on fire.  I don't know what it was, but they were blowtorching something at the end of my property where there are no pipes.  I honestly didn't realize the amount of wood  I would use with the house under renovations.


----------



## NickW

Yes, I was shocked at the amount of lumber it took to get the cabin/house (mostly) built...


----------



## parthy

I work at a lumber store.  the prices are insane.


----------



## stoveliker

I ended up with a stove that simmered the home to 75 F. Too hot for my taste.

Put 3/4 a load of sassafras in for overnight. 37 minimum temp early morning.


----------



## BrownT10

Stove was cold until this morning. Lit a fire before heading off to work. Expecting cooler temps ivernight next few days.


----------



## ozarkoak

Put in a medium size load of red oak in last night before bed. Woke up 74 inside 25 outside and a nice bed of coals left over for the refill.  Could have probably slept for another hour or two.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I had a load of red oak and hickory last night with a low of 27.  I put a medium load of post oak and hickory in this morning  to keep the house warm until this evening. Its cloudy with a high of 42 today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We still had some good winds going on last night and early this morning so I set the furnace at 62 overnight, our house temp was 68 when we had our first coffee so we set the furnace to 58, it won't run set at 58.

We had 22.6 this morning with hardly any winds so I started a fire in the wood stove with some cherry and red maple, the house temp is just over 70.


----------



## stoveliker

38 F this morning. Wind picked up yesterday afternoon and evening while it was cooling down. Home is still warm enough from yesterdays unintended (in-home) heat wave. (Cat-) stove is simmering. It seems Friday morning I will be letting the stove go cold. Then from Sunday it's an annoying 50-53 during the day while in the 30s at night. My stove works best running continuously rather than only having night fires. Not sure what I'm going to do then...

But until Friday it's burning time. Maybe I can finish the sassafras, after which I'll go pine and if it's cold overnight, oak.


----------



## Gearhead660

thewoodlands said:


> We still had some good winds going on last night and early this morning so I set the furnace at 62 overnight, our house temp was 68 when we had our first coffee so we set the furnace to 58, it won't run set at 58.
> 
> We had 22.6 this morning with hardly any winds so I started a fire in the wood stove with some cherry and red maple, the house temp is just over 70.


We had some strong winds yesterday.  Temp started at 40 and dropped to single digits quick.    Was a crisp 7 degrees this morning.   Threw a couple pine splits in to burn down coals and get some quick heat.   Burning some elm, oak and locust now..


----------



## clancey

Gosh if you get some more 7 degrees I have a feeling you will be burning just oak...I read that the wood is the hottest burn and do not know if this is right...enjoy --I cannot use my stove until friday when we "might get cold weather and snow"---waiting for it...I will burn some kiln dried oak 16 inch pieces and enjoy the beautiful fire..clancey


----------



## NickW

Weather guessers lied, it was -13 this morning not -5. Overnight full hardwood fire wasn't enough to keep the furnace from kicking in, but I think I had the air open too far too long and sent BTU'S up the chimney. Furnace is set to 58, have it up to 64 with softwood in the Strattford II. It's up to 0 degrees F at 11:42...

Hope the wife got a good enough daytime load going in the NC30 at home to keep the electric baseboard heaters from kicking in while she's at work, although it's not quite as cold there.


----------



## Nate R

Got my 520 square foot cabin in process.....last weekend I finished the main insulation work. Got out of there Sunday while we got 7-8" of snow!
I'll be up this weekend, will be a good test to see how cold the interior and slab gets unoccupied with temps like today! And it'll be a good test of how much wood I'll go through in a weekend. I'll be weighing what I burn. 

I burned a LOT of lumber scraps recently before the cabin was insulated...I'll be burning red pine and red oak splits this weekend, the oak I CSS in 2018 and 19.


----------



## lefties

Dry standing american elm still.


----------



## thewoodlands

Gearhead660 said:


> We had some strong winds yesterday.  Temp started at 40 and dropped to single digits quick.    Was a crisp 7 degrees this morning.   Threw a couple pine splits in to burn down coals and get some quick heat.   Burning some elm, oak and locust now..


I checked the house property for downed trees, we had a few very small trees come down but nothing that would go in the stacks.

Tomorrow I'll check a few more area that are higher in elevation.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Loosing track of all the different woods in my pile but got pine oak maple ash Bradford pear and one baby size mulberry split for tonight


----------



## ozarkoak

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> Loosing track of all the different woods in my pile but got pine oak maple ash Bradford pear and one baby size mulberry split for tonight
> 
> View attachment 287272


That is a super cool looking stove.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

ozarkoak said:


> That is a super cool looking stove.


Thanks. Inherited it for free from a guy I work with. Got about 2k in the install. It's not efficient but I like to split wood anyway


----------



## Grizzerbear

35 out now with a low of 27 tonight. I have some red and post oak with hickory for overnight. Looks like we will hit 55 tomorrow.


----------



## BrownT10

27° here now and just loaded 6 red oak splits for overnight. House is 72° and will reload in the morning before going ro work. Wife did a good job and kept it going today until I got home late.


----------



## stoveliker

34 now. A low of 32 tonight. Tomorrow 43/33 and they say snow.

Added 3 pieces of pine around 3 pm to keep it going. Now a full reload of sassafras.


----------



## thewoodlands

Accu has us with a low of 15 so the pellet stove will provide the heat tonight.


----------



## MMH

Low headed for around 20 tonight, I started a small fire this afternoon to get the stove warmed up, used a couple splits of the red elm I have; took off without a hitch so I’m assuming it’s under 20% I got a few more to actually split and check tomorrow. Another load of pine down for tonight.


----------



## rottiman

Down to 13 last night and sitting on 16 now.  Loaded Betty up with Red Oak last night ending with a good bed of coals this a.m..   Gradual temp. swing up into the 40's and rain on saturday.  Wierd winter continues, no appreciable
snow on the horizon for the next week or so.


----------



## Grizzerbear

26 out this morning with red oak and post oak in the stove to heat the house for the day


----------



## shortys7777

Oak. temps in the 30s last night and today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 18 this morning with the Lopi getting a load of cherry.


----------



## rottiman

20 here now supposed to drop to 9 tonight with some light snow and up 19 tomorrow.  Betty is digesting a diet of primo Red Oak and couldn't be burning any better if she tried.


----------



## MMH

Currently 37 out, house is 70. Checked the elm and the splits I checked are 10-14%, not bad considering it was cut green in January, sat in rounds til April then s/s. First real winter system coming through, only calling for a couple inches of snow possibly but lows headed for single digits starting tomorrow night. Have juniper and mahogany for those nights. I’ll start a warm up fire here shortly with some pine, then it’ll be red elm and pine for tonight with a low headed for the teens again. Another nice evening cozy by the stove watching Christmas movies with the mini me. Stay warm all.


----------



## sweedish

Coals, along with a piece of aspen. I’m trying to burn down the coals since I’ve been burning cherry for a few days.


----------



## BrownT10

Burning down coals before a reload of red oak.


----------



## MEngineer24

More red oak and a few small splits of black locust for the overnight.


----------



## NickW

Ash and beech with one chunk of the punky honey locust. Getting tired of drywall mud and sanding...


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 24.4 tonight with a few good sized splits of yellow birch and the rest is soft maple. NOAA is calling for a low of 17.


----------



## stoveliker

What can I say: after adding three oddly shaped ash pieces in the afternoon to carry the stove until the night reload, I filled it with sassafras again around 8.30. Some bent splits though, so it isn't as full as normally. It should carry until 8 am or so.

39 then, a low of 33 tonight.


----------



## Gearhead660

Found some hickory chunks in the uglies bin.  Smells amazing.


----------



## BrownT10

Woke up to coals and my ritual of loading 2/3 of a box of full of red oak. As usual, the wife keeps it simmering during the day.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Hickory and post oak last night with a low of 42. A warm front started moving through around midnight last night and its 48 now with 30 mph gusts. Going up to 67 today. Looks like no fire until maybe tomorrow night, after a high of 72 friday we will go back to 33 that night. Roller coaster weather for the last few weeks down here.


----------



## ozarkoak

Grizzerbear said:


> Hickory and post oak last night with a low of 42. A warm front started moving through around midnight last night and its 48 now with 30 mph gusts. Going up to 67 today. Looks like no fire until maybe tomorrow night, after a high of 72 friday we will go back to 33 that night. Roller coaster weather for the last few weeks down here.


You and I are in the same area. Im right on the Missouri border. Like you said, possibly may need to light up either tomorrow night or Saturday morning. Then looking at the forecast the 13th through the 17th looks like it may be warm enough to leave the box cold.  Cold wind last night turned into a nice warm wind this morning.  Deer season opens back up here the 26th-31st so I hope we get some cold weather then. I missed a doe on closing day. She was 20 feet away and I missed. 20 feet.


----------



## NickW

ozarkoak said:


> You and I are in the same area. Im right on the Missouri border. Like you said, possibly may need to light up either tomorrow night or Saturday morning. Then looking at the forecast the 13th through the 17th looks like it may be warm enough to leave the box cold.  Cold wind last night turned into a nice warm wind this morning.  Deer season opens back up here the 26th-31st so I hope we get some cold weather then. I missed a doe on closing day. She was 20 feet away and I missed. 20 feet.


🤣🤣🤣 OOPS! I will NOT reveal the closest deer I've missed..., but it's a downright rotten feeling when you could hit it with a thrown acorn. Head up and get back out there!


----------



## Grizzerbear

ozarkoak said:


> You and I are in the same area. Im right on the Missouri border. Like you said, possibly may need to light up either tomorrow night or Saturday morning. Then looking at the forecast the 13th through the 17th looks like it may be warm enough to leave the box cold.  Cold wind last night turned into a nice warm wind this morning.  Deer season opens back up here the 26th-31st so I hope we get some cold weather then. I missed a doe on closing day. She was 20 feet away and I missed. 20 feet.


Yea it's been very warm. We might break another high temp record tomorrow. I've been there done that missing deer close. It inevitably happens if you hunt enough. Best to completely miss than wound one and it gets away though is how I try to look at it. Good luck, hope you get one.


----------



## MMH

In the 30s today with snow, maybe a couple inches on the ground. Pine for today’s warmth.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 16.3 this morning with a load of yellow birch and cherry going in the Liberty.


----------



## BrownT10

Ozzy gets the normal diet of 6 splits of red oak tonight.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for single digits, will be mahogany juniper and pine for tonight’s fire.


----------



## MEngineer24

More red oak and a few locust splits keeping us warm through the overnight. Headed for a warm up through the weekend. Stove will probably be cold for the next few days.


----------



## NickW

Burning down some pine, then ash and beech for overnight. Snowmageddon coming tomorrow afternoon through midday Saturday... 12-18" here in the northwoods if you believe the weather guessers... Home in SE WI is only supposed to get a coating to an inch.


----------



## stoveliker

Added a split of pine, one cedar, and an ash ugly this afternoon. That's done now.
34 f now, a low of 32. Tomorrow 50. I'll likely let the stove go cold tomorrow, as it'll be 50-39-60-43 (day, night, day etc), so the minisplit can do the job.

Will then brush the cat and scoop some ashes out this weekend.

Edit: of course I forgot to note what I reloaded with: sassafras.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 16.5 tonight with a load of red & sugar maple, yellow birch with a few rounds of ironwood for the overnight load.


----------



## Caw

28 right now and I'm absolutely pooped so I just loaded up a little early with red oak and red maple. Going to be 45 tomorrow so likely a tiny am reload then let it go out for the day. Saturday looks 50+ so it's likely gonna be a low wood usage weekend. Could be the last for a while but you never know up here in New England.


----------



## Caw

As promised, a small 6 split N/S load of shorties to take the edge off this morning. Working a 4 hr OT shift so I'll be home at 1:30 but I doubt I'll even reload it. Going to be pretty nice out today. Love how fast dry wood takes off!


----------



## MMH

Currently 3F out, house is 74. Today’s high is in the 20s. Dorothy is still cruising on last nights load


----------



## BrownT10

MMH said:


> Currently 3F out, house is 74. Today’s high is in the 20s. Dorothy is still cruising on last nights load
> View attachment 287422


Looks like you rake the coals to one side on a reload? I may try this method. Do you find it effective?


----------



## MMH

BrownT10 said:


> Looks like you rake the coals to one side on a reload? I may try this method. Do you find it effective?


Yeah I’ve done both, rake to front, or rake to a side. I’ll rake front when I’m doing my bottom splits E/W, but I can usually fit just a bit more wood loading N/S; so I’ll rake to the side for the N/S loads. I found for me when raking to the front and loading N/S the splits end up angled so I lose a little space. Probably splitting hairs. Lol long story short yes it works for me, stove was still around 350-375 STT active cat when I left the house (about 20 mins ago), so I’m going on 16 or so hours now.


----------



## rottiman

29 and freezing rain predicted here for later tonight.  They are saying freezing rain in the morning and then the temp is supposed to climb to near 50 and then dump 20 to 40 mm of heavy rain before it drops to 27 with very strong NW winds.  Betty is digesting a diet of 7 year old Red Oak very nicely.


----------



## stoveliker

Warm ashes. Was out today, came back at 3 and the last coals we're glowing from yesterday's evening load in the basement, with the living room at 68.

Was 50 today, 38 low tonight, 58 tomorrow. So I'll use the minisplit for the next few days.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for around 0F tonight, another mahogany juniper pine mix going in.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 32.7 tonight with a load of cherry going in the wood stove for the overnight fire.


----------



## ozarkoak

70 degrees here right now. Massive tornadoes in north east Arkansas.   Supposed to be 35 by morning after this cold front blows through.  Box is cold and keeping an eye on the weather. I hope everyone is safe! this looks like it may be a close to historic tornado outbreak.


----------



## thewoodlands

ozarkoak said:


> 70 degrees here right now. Massive tornadoes in north east Arkansas.   Supposed to be 35 by morning after this cold front blows through.  Box is cold and keeping an eye on the weather. I hope everyone is safe! this looks like it may be a close to historic tornado outbreak.


Stay safe.


----------



## ozarkoak

thewoodlands said:


> Stay safe.


Thank you. It looks like our Kentucky friends are in the line of fire right now. Man these things make me so sad.


----------



## thewoodlands

ozarkoak said:


> Thank you. It looks like our Kentucky friends are in the line of fire right now. Man these things make me so sad.


I was in Raleigh North Carolina when my father was in the hospital recovering one spring (not sure what year it was) there was a tornado outbreak in the south happening, when it hit N.C. we had one 10 miles north and one 10 miles south of us,  being from northern New York, that was close enough.


----------



## Jay106n

Maple and ash. Not looking to coal up, later today is gonna be raining and warm doubling tonight’s lows.


----------



## dafattkidd

MMH said:


> Lows headed for around 0F tonight, another mahogany juniper pine mix going in.


Where did you get mahogany? Are these splits or construction debris?


----------



## Grizzerbear

35 this morning with 10-20 mph winds and cloudy. I have some red oak and post oak for heat this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 37.2 this morning with some winds but nothing bad yet. The wood stove saw another load of cherry this morning, it's 46 just north of here by 4 miles so I'm not sure if we'll have another fire today.

NOAA has a high for our area of 54 before the high winds move in.


----------



## thewoodlands

ozarkoak said:


> Thank you. It looks like our Kentucky friends are in the line of fire right now. Man these things make me so sad.


The outbreak when I was in North Carolina was 2011, when I finally made it home a week later, there was flooding going on along the river.


----------



## ozarkoak

Grizzerbear said:


> 35 this morning with 10-20 mph winds and cloudy. I have some red oak and post oak for heat this morning.


Funny went to bed it was 70 woke up it was 35 and cold winds. I had already set the stove up last night with some red oak. Got up this morning all I had to do was light a match,


----------



## thewoodlands

ozarkoak said:


> Funny went to bed it was 70 woke up it was 35 and cold winds. I had already set the stove up last night with some red oak. Got up this morning all I had to do was light a match,


That sounds like it's good and dry. My only scrounge was White & Red Oak, I let that season four years (top covered for 2) and I still had some splits spitting water back at me when I burned it, maybe my splits should've been smaller.


----------



## MMH

dafattkidd said:


> Where did you get mahogany? Are these splits or construction debris?


I have a mountain mahogany species locally, it’s the one of very few hardwoods I have.


----------



## ozarkoak

thewoodlands said:


> That sounds like it's good and dry. My only scrounge was White & Red Oak, I let that season four years (top covered for 2) and I still had some splits spitting water back at me when I burned it, maybe my splits should've been smaller.


Yep the wood is nice and dry it came in at around 30% last year which kind of sucked. But I crisscross stacked it last fall in probably the best place I could. Sun from sun up to sundown and full wind. Its coming in this year under 20% on a fresh split face.   I have not needed more than one match yet this year. Completely different heating this year with properly dried wood. I was actually thinking of creating a post on the difference between dry and wet wood so the unbelievers and new burners could get an understanding.


----------



## MMH

Currently 9F, house is 71, stove still cruising on last nights load.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Pushed my old stove to a new limit tonight. Loaded it up fuller than I ever have. mostly maple with a little bit of oak. Got stove top up past 550f. What a difference in heat output. Got the bottom to glow so I'm guessing I over fired it? Or is that safe on 100yr old cast iron?


----------



## MMH

Low headed for teens tonight, quite windy as well with another system making it’s way in. A pine load for tonight…and a partridge in a pear tree.


----------



## MEngineer24

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> Pushed my old stove to a new limit tonight. Loaded it up fuller than I ever have. mostly maple with a little bit of oak. Got stove top up past 550f. What a difference in heat output. Got the bottom to glow so I'm guessing I over fired it? Or is that safe on 100yr old cast iron?
> 
> View attachment 287518
> View attachment 287519
> View attachment 287520
> View attachment 287521


Yes, that certainly looks like an over fire.


----------



## MEngineer24

Woke up to 32F this morning. Load of red oak and a few small locust splits warning us up. High of 45 predicted today. Will most likely be scrounging for coals later tonight for the overnight load up.


----------



## clancey

If I "over fire " my stove would it look like that? (thinking over-firing means too much wood) are I right with this thinking and is it "safe"?? clancey


----------



## BrownT10

Overfiring is not necessarily too much wood. It is running the stove to temps in excess of manufacturer specs and possibly or likely damaging a stove by warping and/or weakening steel, cast or other components.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 20-30 range with winds again; threw some pine in for this morning.


----------



## Gearhead660

Got a couple splits of white pine burning down the coals so it will be ready for the overnight load.


----------



## thewoodlands

I'm not sure on the temp this morning but since we stopped burning before the windstorm came in, I went out this morning so I could check the wood & pellet stove pipes, all was good, we fired up the Liberty with some maple & cherry.


----------



## Grizzerbear

43 out now with a low of 38 tonight.  Some red oak and hickory for the overnight.


----------



## BrownT10

After a cold stove on Saturaday because of warm temps I cleaned the stove and then lit it up mid afternoon today and have a load of oak in overnight. I got some time in splitting the rest of my black birch and stacking it and also set up some new pallets for future stacks. I have many oak trees that were killed from gypsy moths that I will be cutting and splitting over the winter. That stash will likely be used 3 years from now if all goes as planned. I was able to get a bunch of oak, hickory,  cherry and ash over the summer and ran into some maple and a bit of elm fairly recently. Scrounging a bit and plenty to cut on my property. Still looking to get a log load through work at some point.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 36.3 tonight with a load of cherry going in the wood stove for the overnight burn.


----------



## MMH

Low headed for around 20, windy again; another load of pine for tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> Low headed for around 20, windy again; another load of pine for tonight.


I think we might get some 40 mph winds again on Thursday but I'm sure that forecast can change.


----------



## Grateful11

27˚ and calm wind right now. Just some hot coals, getting ready to load her up with some Red Oak for the night. Supposed to be 70˚ by Friday, crazy weather.


----------



## MMH

thewoodlands said:


> I think we might get some 40 mph winds again on Thursday but I'm sure that forecast can change.


Yeah ours has been in the 20’s gusting 30’s the mountains are seeing higher obviously but nothing to crazy down here; certainly not what some of you all see.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 20s out, threw some pine in today. Storm should be moving in today, more snow with single digit temps coming again, but I won’t get to play as I’ll go back to work tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 38.3 this morning with another load of cherry going in the wood stove.


----------



## BigJ273

Just reloaded w some maple


----------



## NickW

Just threw some more pine in the Strattford II which will be coals for the overnight in 3 or 4 hours. Haven't heard anything from home about burning the house down with the NC30, so I assume they're doing OK with it.

I think I'm going to cut my wood for here in the northwoods for the Strattford II 12" so I can load it N/S. E/W just doesn't go as well. The hardwood and punky honey locust shorts loaded N/S burn so much better than the 16" pine loaded E/W. First load of the day is the punky honey locust N/S with pine E/W on top to get things heated up and some coals, during the day I do pine E/W with sleepers under for airflow, overnight is hardwood shorts and uglies N/S mostly but occasionally regular 16" hardwood E/W. It will be nice when I  get my wood supply up here on par with home.


----------



## MEngineer24

More locust and red oak going in for the overnight. Low headed for 23F. Was a cold one this morning at 17F.


----------



## Diabel

I let the stove go out after the morning load. It got too warm  in the main house level. It was mid 40s and sunny. Then there was some major cooking in the eve. Will have to start a new fire in the am. I will be waking up to the sound of the furnace.


----------



## MEngineer24

Started a fire this evening and loaded up for the overnight. Expecting a low of 30 tonight. Red oak splits keeping us warm.


----------



## sweedish

Have not read the posts on here in a few days. When did we start naming our stoves? 
    In that case, currently Dr. Kenneth Noisewater is working on some pine, ash, aspen, pin and black cherry.


----------



## NickW

Just talked to my wife, so Professor (N)icholas (C)harles the III, (D)r emeritus hasn't burned the house down... 

OK that's pretty bad...

Have the build in the northwoods up to 69 with the Strattford II. Have I mentioned how tired I am of drywall mud...


----------



## MEngineer24

Stove is full of cold ashes this evening. Temps are supposed to soar to a high of 67 tomorrow. Currently 52F. Heat pump will carry us for a few nights till the next cold front moves in.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's still 71 out with 23 mph winds right now so the stove is cold. It has been ridiculously windy with a peak wind gusts of 53 here today. We have a cold front blowing through around midnight that will take us down to 43 so I will let the heat pump do some work until tomorrow morning. I helped a buddy building another deck all day today and when I pulled up the drive I noticed that the wind had blown the barn tin off of one of my stacks. I got it all back up though.


----------



## Diabel

Grizzerbear said:


> It's still 71 out with 23 mph winds right now so the stove is cold. It has been ridiculously windy with a peak wind gusts of 53 here today. We have a cold front blowing through around midnight that will take us down to 43 so I will let the heat pump do some work until tomorrow morning. I helped a buddy building another deck all day today and when I pulled up the drive I noticed that the wind had blown the barn tin off of one of my stacks. I got it all back up though.


I suppose your weather is fast blowing toward great lakes. 
Suppose to be warm and windy here tomorrow


----------



## Diabel

I have maybe 1/4 cord of hemlock left and about 1/3 cord of black locust here. Not good!


----------



## stoveliker

I hope that's not all for this winter?


----------



## Diabel

stoveliker said:


> I hope that's not all for this winter?


This is in the city. At the lake I have about 6yr worth supply. I am selling the house where the VC sits,  I will be a one stove member (hopefully) soon.


----------



## stoveliker

Diabel said:


> This is in the city. At the lake I have about 6yr worth supply. I am selling the house where the VC sits,  I will be a one stove member (hopefully) soon.



Glad to hear; a Northern neighbor with less than a cord left mid December would be a sad story.


----------



## Diabel

Ohhh i remember back in ……not sure the yr. buying “seasoned “ wood in mid Feb and stuffing the box full of it and all I could hear was the water steaming….
We have all been there and the novices can only learn from reading here about our mistakes or learning through the season from their own….


----------



## Diabel

Had a morning hemlock fire, by 2pm it was 57 outside. Main house level was too warm. No fire til tomorrow afternoon. 
NG  will likely be running some in the morning.


----------



## Diabel

Edit.
It is 57 right now. It was closer to 59/60 this afternoon. Totally stupid weather


----------



## Grizzerbear

38 out now with a low of 35 and rain  tonight. I've got some post oak for the heat tonight.


----------



## NickW

Last week northern WI was below zero then got a foot of snow. Yesterday was so warm and foggy that the shingle nails sticking through the sheeting in the garage were condensing and occasionally would drip.



Crazy.

Back home now. Did a load of softwood to get ready for the overnight


----------



## stoveliker

That (nails) is from condensation against cold nails?


----------



## NickW

stoveliker said:


> That (nails) is from condensation against cold nails?


Yes! It was over 60 and foggy, had been below zero early in the week, then a foot of snow on the roof keeping them cold. I got a ladder and climbed up into the trusses. Every nail had a drop of water on it. Every 8d sheeting nail that missed the truss was the same thing... craziest thing I ever saw. Probably a thousand nails. I noticed it because of the random drips on the garage floor. Everywhere, no puddles or leaks, just random single drips...


----------



## Diabel

Are you heating the garage? Likely not


----------



## NickW

Diabel said:


> Are you heating the garage? Likely not


No. Uninsulated and I had it open to warm it up a little 🤣🤣🤣


----------



## Diabel

NickW said:


> No. Uninsulated and I had it open to warm it up a little 🤣🤣🤣


That what did it, opening the door


----------



## NickW

Oh yeah, I get the physics behind it. Just never occurred to me that it was something that could/would happen.


----------



## stoveliker

Indeed. Wow. Dehumidifier would have had a field day in that space. ..


----------



## MEngineer24

Too warm here again tonight. The heat pump is doing its thing.  Expecting a low in the 50’s. This is some interesting weather. I can’t ever seem to recall a December with highs in the 70’s especially this close to Christmas.


----------



## Gearhead660

Has been a warm week so far.  Had the insert doing heating duties.  Was 63 yesterday, back to seasonable tonight getting down into the 20s.  Letting the insert go out and fired up Myra with some Elm.


----------



## Grizzerbear

MEngineer24 said:


> Too warm here again tonight. The heat pump is doing its thing.  Expecting a low in the 50’s. This is some interesting weather. I can’t ever seem to recall a December with highs in the 70’s especially this close to Christmas.



I agree. I can recall a fluke day here and there over the years.....but never as many as we have had here this year.


----------



## fbelec

off track here cuz the stove is out again tonight. it happens here in new england every 5 or 6 years we get a warm december then when it hit late january into febuary  we get really cold and get deep snows. were going to get wacked soon. after midnite here and still 51 degrees


----------



## Grizzerbear

39 with rain this morning and a load of post oak and red oak. Going up to 50 today.


----------



## Diabel

41 right now slowly dropping to 25 overnight into Sat. Will empty the ashes this morning and brush the cat. Will light a fire in the afternoon (hemlock) and reload for overnight around 9:00pm. I do not think we will see above freezing temps for a while here.


----------



## ozarkoak

High 30's last night 44 and rain right now. A few pieces of red oak and it got a little warm 79. I'm not a huge fan of anything much over 73-75.  Down to mid to low 20's tonight.  By the time it cools down in here enough to re fire I'm betting I will have to start all over.  By the end of next week they are saying 60's again.


----------



## Jay106n

Cooler temps coming in tonight. Fired her up after a week long shutdown.  Nothing fancy, just some maple.


----------



## c604

30's and rain here this evening.  After not burning all week we have a crazy mix of Ash, Red Oak, Kentucky Coffee Tree, and Honey Locust burning away in the Kozy Heat Z42CD.  I'm ready for some freeze up so I can skid some logs out of the woods.  Mud season needs to stay in the spring!


----------



## stoveliker

Could have waited till tomorrow; 46 now, dropping to 40 tomorrow morning. That seems also to be that max for tomorrow. But I couldn't wait... I'll keep it smoldering (cat stove) overnight.

Mix of sassafras, pine, and dogwood.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had a load of red oak and post oak last night with a low of 32. Its 34 now with a load of post oak and hickory for the morning. Expecting 40 for a high.


----------



## MEngineer24

Looking at a cold stove again today. There’s a cold front coming in overnight tonight. High of 65 today waking up to 20’s in the morning.


----------



## Diabel

Decided to mix it up a bit this morning. Normally, with temps around 35s I burn hardwood overnight and hemlock, basswood during the day. The softwood gets max 6h burns. After 6h the relights maybe a bit tough. I will be out most of the day (time to get a new phone). Loaded the VC with one split of sugar maple, one of yellow birch, one of ash and a 3” (branch wood) round of honey locust. I should have plenty coals when I get home around 6pm.


----------



## stoveliker

Reloaded on a coal bed and a few large chunks because I have to get groceries... Bit too early but so be it.
Two small splits of dogwood, and three crooked splits of pine will carry me to the evening reload.

Miserable, grey, rainy, 43 F day today.  Tonight 42. Tomorrow 42. But tomorrow night 26 F. Will put some oak in then 😁


----------



## HisTreeNut

I might be burning something that resembles pine along with some effin poplar, & some random light wood that I cannot remember at the moment.  Too warm to burn all day and just cold enough at night to get the house chilly...


----------



## stoveliker

Reloaded with pine for the night.


----------



## Grizzerbear

31 out with 22 for the low. Hickory and post oak for the overnight.


----------



## NickW

Back home for a few days. Going down to 18 tonight. Load of ash. Man, what a difference an extra year of seasoning makes... Last year went way better than the first year, this year is that much better. Shut down the air sooner and farther, more controllable, longer burns.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Did first somewhat overnight in brand new vogelzang. 5+ hrs had big coal chunks left in it this morning. 32outside. Reloaded with some fat pine stokers and some Bradford pear. Gonna try boiling water for coffee and cooking breakfast stovetop today


----------



## MEngineer24

Cold front set in for the day. Just started a load of red oak limb wood. Temps are predicted to continually drop throughout the day to a low in the 20s overnight. Currently it’s 37.


----------



## BigJ273

Cherry and maple tonight


----------



## stoveliker

Oak, mostly red (some pieces I'm not sure; scrounging wood).
Four 5" rounds on the bottom, the rest splits. All branchwood.
31 now, decreasing, 26 low. Tomorrow 37.

First ever only oak load.

Have run mostly low, so apologies for the window blackness... The disadvantage of my stove.

Lol, and the Legos of the kids in the background...


----------



## Grizzerbear

27 out now with 26 for the low. I've got some post oak and hickory for the overnight heat.


----------



## clancey

Gosh I bet that fire feels good and when I use my wood stove I get the urge for a hot chocolate and I think I am addicted to wood burning...enjoy..clancey


----------



## MMH

Got off work couple nights ago. We got around 6” snow with the last storm, temps have been in single digits to negatives since. Swept the pipe and have been burning mahogany and juniper mostly since.


----------



## BrownT10

18° here this morning, lowest so far. Woke up to a few coals and after getting heating the flue again a load of red oak. 

I will have a load of black oak dropped today that came off a job site. This tree was massive and can only handle som of the branch wood, which is the size of alot of trees.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 23 out right now but we are expecting a high of 50 today. I just put a small loafd of black jack and post oak in an hour ago to hold us over until the sun does its thing.


----------



## BigJ273

Just loaded up some maple, holly, and cherry. Already got a good slow rolling flame going


----------



## NickW

Back in the northwoods. Down to 3 tonight, high of 17 tomorrow with 2-5", down to 2 tomorrow night. Same drill - punky honey locust and pine during the days, ash & beech overnight. Brought more shorts up from home - ash and box elder.


----------



## Diabel

28f out and the afternoon load is being consumed. Two large hemlock splits and one odd split of hash.


----------



## stoveliker

That oak from last night took 18.5 hrs to be done. That was nice. This afternoon I put a few shorties and bent pieces in to tide me over till now. 
34 now. A low of 33. Tomorrow 42. 

I'll be splitting some pine at.my friend where we took it down. He allowed me to put a rack there (and the SO didn't allow more.of those here and the woodshed is full...). So I can't have an 18 hr run as I need to reload it tomorrow morning. Hence, pine it is.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Same as the other day...something like pine, effin poplar, and the random light wood...might actually be a gum tree of some kind as I have thought about it.
EDIT: Cat is liking it also...and the other cat decided to join her...


----------



## Diabel

stoveliker said:


> That oak from last night took 18.5 hrs to be done. That was nice. This afternoon I put a few shorties and bent pieces in to tide me over till now.
> 34 now. A low of 33. Tomorrow 42.
> 
> I'll be splitting some pine at.my friend where we took it down. He allowed me to put a rack there (and the SO didn't allow more.of those here and the woodshed is full...). So I can't have an 18 hr run as I need to reload it tomorrow morning. Hence, pine it is.


Them BK stoves…. i always get messed up when it comes to reloads. The intervals are just too far apart..


----------



## stoveliker

Diabel said:


> Them BK stoves…. i always get messed up when it comes to reloads. The intervals are just too far apart..



Yes, I'm struggling a bit. 15-20 hrs sucks. But doing 12 hrs feels like waste (and gets it too hot).


----------



## Flame On

Norway maple (the last of five we've had to take down since we moved in,) and ash,  cuz man, there is ash coming down everywhere! I'm kinda getting sick of it. I can't explain it, but ash just seems messier than maple, cherry or beech.


----------



## MEngineer24

More red oak and black locust for the overnight.


----------



## NickW

Flame On said:


> Norway maple (the last of five we've had to take down since we moved in,) and ash,  cuz man, there is ash coming down everywhere! I'm kinda getting sick of it. I can't explain it, but ash just seems messier than maple, cherry or beech.


Yes, with all the brittle dead branches and bark peeling off it is messy; but it burns nice and seasons fast. Not the BTU'S  of hard maple or beech, but definitely the go to wood for many of us for day to day burning.


----------



## MMH

Last nights load carried through until late this afternoon, highs today in the 20s, some pine for the day. Lows tonight in single digits again, loaded up with some more pine and mahogany.


----------



## MEngineer24

More red oak going in this morning on last nights coals. Chilly morning at 26F.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Last night was a load of post oak and red oak. This morning it is 24 outside with a small load of red oak going. Expecting a higj of 51 today.


----------



## MMH

Was 4 out this morning, house is 71. Dorothy is still eating through last nights load.


----------



## MissMac

Finally have some time to stick close to home, so feeding the stove a steady diet of uglies which I had intended to burn this fall.  They burn just as good now though, and the yard is already looking better 

Using my nice splits of birch and spruce for overnight burns.  Temps are around -20*C here this week, so need my fat splits for overnight.


----------



## MEngineer24

At home for Christmas break. Reloaded with some various limb wood..red oak and locust of course.  Currently sitting at 40 for the high. Temps are dropping though.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

For the first time ever have some seasoned hardwood to run in her. 16%mc ash that is scavenged a truck bed full of. Exited to see what this stove will do with. Some decent wood lol


----------



## stoveliker

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> For the first time ever have some seasoned hardwood to run in her. 16%mc ash that is scavenged a truck bed full of. Exited to see what this stove will do with. Some decent wood lol



Enjoy!


----------



## fvhowler

Rain and 38 degrees tonight. Just a cold/damp day and night. Post oak and Sweetgum are keeping us warm tonight.


----------



## BigJ273

Maple and cherry tonight


----------



## Tar12

Down to 22 tonight...just loaded up a load of burr oak and locust..beautiful combo for these cold nights!


----------



## JamesGuido

Unburnt oak… noticed that this early am going to work… 
Musta been dying soo bad, those pieces never caught on. 🤔


----------



## stoveliker

Be careful adding wood and then walking out; sometimes a stove can take off on you.


----------



## stoveliker

37 and rising outside. So after adding two cookies of oak this morning to the 1/2 burned firebox of pine from last night   (b/c I went out today), I now reloaded with pine. Tomorrow 45, so I'll have it cruising the coals for  long time tomorrow, and I didn't feel the need to use oak tonight.


----------



## JamesGuido

stoveliker said:


> Be careful adding wood and then walking out; sometimes a stove can take off on you.


I added the wood last night… noticed deadwood this morning…


Anyway, added more to it now… Oak Fire.


----------



## stoveliker

JamesGuido said:


> I added the wood last night… noticed deadwood this morning…



My point is that adding wood and leaving the stove before it is in stable cruising mode can be dangerous. Leaving for bed or for work doesn't make a difference.

Also,.make sure you don't turn down the air too soon (as evidently happened here) - it can result in a lot of creosote in the chimney.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for around 10 to teens tonight, 3 pieces of red elm 3 pieces of juniper and the rest will be pine of course. Going to warm up a tad ahead of the systems moving in, I’ll probably take advantage and clean the ashes as I’ve got quite the pile again..


----------



## Grizzerbear

Expecting a low of 25 tonight with 38 out now. I've got a big red oak round with some hickory and white oak splits for the overnight. Expecting  highs to be above normal for the foreseeable future.....50s and 60s......after a very warm fall. Winter is looking like it will be a big ole goose egg around these parts.


----------



## Diabel

Grizzerbear said:


> Expecting a low of 25 tonight with 38 out now. I've got a big red oak round with some hickory and white oak splits for the overnight. Expecting  highs to be above normal for the foreseeable future.....50s and 60s......after a very warm fall. Winter is looking like it will be a big ole goose egg around these parts.


You never know


----------



## NickW

Ash and beech tonight in the northwoods. Going down to 2. Might get above freezing Friday, but I'll be back home. Next week highs in the teens and single digits or below 0 overnights. Home in SE WI is 10-15 degrees warmer and the NC-30 is there keeping things warm. 

The Strattford II doesn't heat like the NC30, but it doesn't need to with good insulation & sealing and NG furnace instead of '78 insulation and electric baseboard...


----------



## MEngineer24

Black locust and red oak for the overnight. Supposed to be a blustery Wednesday morning at 24F. High tomorrow is 36. Looks like I’ll be keeping the stove burning through the day again!


----------



## Grizzerbear

23 outside this morning with some more red and post oak.


----------



## MEngineer24

Mid 30 s this morning. Reloaded some red oak limb wood on last nights coals. High of 40 expected for today.


----------



## stoveliker

I loaded with pine at 7 pm last night. It was 37 and rising. Today topped out at 45 with a nice sun after the rain stopped at 10 am.
The load of pine lasted exactly 24 hrs keeping the home at 68 F (also courtesy of the sun and not very cold temps). This is what's left now upon reload with pine. Tonight a low of 32, and it has gotten very windy. So I'll be running higher due to the larger heat loss of the home. No 24 hrs for me on this load.


----------



## MMH

stoveliker said:


> I loaded with pine at 7 pm last night. It was 37 and rising. Today topped out at 45 with a nice sun after the rain stopped at 10 am.
> The load of pine lasted exactly 24 hrs keeping the home at 68 F (also courtesy of the sun and not very cold temps). This is what's left now upon reload with pine. Tonight a low of 32, and it has gotten very windy. So I'll be running higher due to the larger heat loss of the home. No 24 hrs for me on this load.
> 
> View attachment 288279


 The devil pine ain’t so bad after all.


----------



## MMH

Currently low 30s out, house is 71. Took advantage of the higher temps and did a quick hot clean, reloaded with a couple pine splits and a piece of elm to tide us over until tonight. I’ll throw some more pine and red elm in for tonight with the lows headed for teens-low 20s.


----------



## stoveliker

MMH said:


> The devil pine ain’t so bad after all.



Exactly. It's dry wood. It'll burn and provides heat.


----------



## NickW

Not a fan of E/W pine in the Strattford II up north. Keeps smoking the glass. Getting better about it, but it's still kind of finicky.

Back home with the NC30 loaded up with ash.


----------



## MEngineer24

Overnight load of black locust and red oak just went in on coals from earlier today. Supposed to dip down in the low 20’s tonight.


----------



## bigealta

MEngineer24 said:


> Overnight load of black locust and red oak just went in on coals from earlier today. Supposed to dip down in the low 20’s tonight.


How do you like the rangely?


----------



## MEngineer24

bigealta said:


> How do you like the rangely?


It’s been an excellent heater so far. This is our second year with it and it heats our 2500 sqft ranch with ease. I don’t really use the top loading door as the stove runs best for me N/S. I bought this stove from the original owner who kept it in perfect condition. Only thing I’ve had to do to her so far is change gaskets.


----------



## MEngineer24

Another load of red oak and black locust to start the morning. We are sitting at 20F.


----------



## BrownT10

More red oak. 25° here and home for the next 6 days so will chew through the pile a bit. Going to start cutting up the monster black oak, I have my work cut out for me, but perfect weather to work out in, sunny and about 30°, doesn't get any better than that.


----------



## stoveliker

35 now, 36 high today. Reloaded with 2 ill-fitting oak cookies to get me to tonight's reload


----------



## Grizzerbear

After last night and this mornings load of red oak and hickory the stove some embers left and that's it. I took out the ashes a few minutes ago and I won't be firing her up again until Wednesday night it looks like.

 It got to 55 here today and tonight's low is only 51. Expecting a high of 71 here tomorrow. I think the weather man said this was the second warmest december so far on record and that winter temps have increased by 3.4 degrees since 1970.


----------



## stoveliker

Just reloaded with oak; splits and branch wood. (And two slivers of pine to fill out the top.)


----------



## MEngineer24

Reloaded some white and red oak splits with a few rounds of black locust on top for the overnight.


----------



## MMH

Low headed for around 20. Had rain and snow today but nothing stuck, snow for the next week as well. A full load of pine for tonight.


----------



## MEngineer24

MMH said:


> Low headed for around 20. Had rain and snow today but nothing stuck, snow for the next week as well. A full load of pine for tonight.
> View attachment 288380


I’m sure all that precipitation you are getting out there is well received considering how dry of a year you’ve had. Enjoy it!


----------



## thewoodlands

On single digit nights, we've been burning the pellet stove and the wood stove during the day. The warmer temps that we have are perfect for the wood we're burning, soft maple and cherry.


----------



## stoveliker

35 now, 38 max today. Had first 3/4" of snow on the ground this morning, most melted away by now.
Just reloaded with some crooked pine pieces and an old maple cookie to tide me over to the evening major reload.

It seems that tomorrow I'll let the stove go out; tonight minimum 33, tomorrow max 47, tomorrow night min 41, Sunday max 45. Those are minisplit temps. Sunday night 35 and Monday 38, so late in the afternoon on Sunday depending on when it starts cooling down, I'll restart the stove. 

Will take some ashes out tomorrow when the stove is still warm.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 20s out with winds gusting around 30, threw a couple small knarly pieces of juniper and mahogany in this morning, will add a couple more and a twisted piece of pinyon pine in to hold it over until tonight’s load.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 23 tonight with some snow moving in but ice, sleet and rain coming in behind that. The wood stove has some soft maple and hard maple in it tonight.


----------



## stoveliker

Just reloaded with pine. 32 outside, but going up from here to 47 tomorrow.


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> Just reloaded with pine. 32 outside, but going up from here to 47 tomorrow.


Are those normal temps for your area at this time of year?


----------



## BrownT10

Same old red oak for me. After a day of loading cutoffs and cookies, I put 6 splits in for overnight. 27° outside now and a balmy 72° inside. A bit warm for me, but nor back heating from the basement in a day in the low to mid 20's just idling Ozzy along.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for teens, another load of pine for tonight.


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> Are those normal temps for your area at this time of year?



The 47 is not, I think. But I have only lived in this part of the US since Dec. '17. So my sense of normal with respect to the weather is not yet reliable, I think.

It does seem to fluctuate a lot here; wind coming from your side and it gets cold, wind from over the water or from e.g. the Carolinas and it gets warm.


----------



## woodey

Loaded 5 splits tonight in the Kuuma Vapor Fire. First picture at loading 10:54, second picture at 11:03, and third at 11:07, at which point the computer shuts down to pilot mode and the furnace is in full gasification mode. You can’t see the flames from the gasification burn as they take place in the chamber above the door.  All sugar maple tonight.


----------



## stoveliker

Cool. Seems quite similar to (how I operate) my cat stove. Char the load, and then glowing stuff and an orange cat.


----------



## woodey

stoveliker said:


> Cool. Seems quite similar to (how I operate) my cat stove. Char the load, and then glowing stuff and an orange cat.


You can't see the flames from the gasification as they burn off in a chamber above the door, If you open the door quickly and look up you can see them for a second but they stop when the extra air is introduced to them from the open door.


----------



## stoveliker

woodey said:


> You can't see the flames from the gasification as they burn off in a chamber above the door, If you open the door quickly and look up you can see them for a second but they stop when the extra air is introduced to them from the open door.



Yes. No flames here often. Just a glowing cat that I can see when I put my head down and look up steeply through the window.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32.5 this morning, a load of cherry is going in the Lopi. We have rain at the moment with ice happening  just west of us.


----------



## clancey

Its been too warm for me to appreciate the burning in my wood stove--in the high 60's I think..at night it does get cold above freezing and would rather start burning in the day time--just in case something goes wrong--still feel insecure--new burner--lol I burn kiln dried oak 16 inches split and put about three or four of them in...Mountains here got snow but not me...clancey


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for teens again, another system/winter storm advisory coming in tonight through tomorrow afternoon. Another load of pine down. Merry Christmas.


----------



## thewoodlands

I never looked at the temp this morning but I'm thinking it was around 23, loaded the wood stove up with cherry while we were having coffee.


----------



## clancey

We have been so spoiled here in the city--(50,s) about that 23 makes me shutter with a chill..Fire wood loading time just as you did with a hot cup of coffee..I bet it feels nice in the house too. clancey


----------



## stoveliker

After a day and a half with the minisplit, it's 41 and decreasing now. Low of 30. So I lit the stove again.

What's in it? Last year's Christmas tree to warm it up for an overnight reload. I had taken the branches off, cut it up and split it in half to dry it faster (was only 2-3" dia, but better safe than sorry).

I thought that was appropriate. 
Full load of pine later tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 24.5 tonight with a load of soft & hard maple with a round of ironwood in the wood stove.


----------



## stoveliker

36 and increasing tonight. Put some pine cookies and three oak shorties in to keep me warm until tomorrow morning. Then it'll be the minisplit.


----------



## MMH

Another storm blew through today dropped a couple more inches with high winds. Lows headed for negative 5-10, will be 5 splits of mahogany and some pine.


----------



## NickW

26 and windy, dropping to upper teens, another load of ash. Going to start getting a little colder and will need to bring some beech in. Northwoods got snow last night and will again tomorrow. Going to try to beat tomorrow's before the roads get bad and start cabinet install.


----------



## fbelec

nothing in the stove right now all tho it's cold enough. in mass. i'm in south florida right now where it's been 80's and getting humid day after day so running the air conditioning. be here for the week so  have a break from the stove.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had a low of 40 last night with two white oak rounds and two red oak splits. Its 44 with rain now but we are supposed to get to 60 today so I will let the stove go cold. Looks like just night fires for the next several days until saturday night when a strong cold front will make it's way through.


----------



## MMH

Currently 5 out snow falling again, stoves still cruising on the mahogany from last nights load. Let it snow.


----------



## stoveliker

MMH said:


> Currently 5 out snow falling again, stoves still cruising on the mahogany from last nights load. Let it snow.



What stove do you have?


----------



## MMH

stoveliker said:


> What stove do you have?


BK ashford 30.2


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32 this morning with a load of cherry going in the wood stove.


----------



## stoveliker

Raked the last coals together from yesterday's load. We got 2 hrs of sun today which added some heat, and the partial load meant to get us thru the night  lasted the whole day... Cat now on the verge of reaching the inactive zone. Max temp outside bwas 48 F.
With the heat reservoir that is my basement still providing heat upstairs, I will only need the minisplit tomorrow morning.


----------



## clancey

That sounds really good stoveliker...clancey


----------



## sweedish

Swept the chimney this evening  and emptied the ash. So no fire this morning. Currently  running a load of pine and aspen on high to catch up.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 22 tonight so I'll go with a full load of cherry when I make the overnight fire.


----------



## BrownT10

A typical load of red oak. I think I have learned this stove after weeks of some frustration. Upon a full load I need to allow the wood to catch and very slowly and in small increments close the air to avoid it running loose. Now this does take some time to char the wood and get things stable, but well worth it. I am currently running at stove top about 450° and slowly rising and flue reading under 400° with no smoke. Needless to say I am more optimistic about this stove and its performance. 

One thing I did have to learn with these new tube stoves, you can't have a raging fire with real burning wood like a campfire. It is wildly inefficient and there is a ton of wood consumption and lots of smoke. I never had a stove with glass so only was guessing on what was happening inside based on temps and smoke. Now I know and I think I have a pretty good handle on that after weeks of alot of wood consumption and inefficient burns. Thank goodness for this forum to be able to get real data from real world experience and the knowledge of folks on this site.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for negatives again, 4 mahogany splits and 4 pine splits for tonight.


----------



## clancey

You people sure had some snow...watching the weather...clancey


----------



## ozarkoak

In the  low to mid 40's today. Mansfield is cruising at  515° right now with a few red oak splits. Supposed to warm up into the 70's again. A cold front is supposed to blow through Saturday evening, calling for  a high of 70 and then a low of 14. Weird winter.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had a low of 33 last night with some more white oak rounds and red oak splits.  I loaded the stove with some post oak this morning with a high of 43 today and foggy and rain right now.


----------



## MMH

Currently single digits out with the wind chill house is 72, scattered snow showers; finally got the drifts plowed. Dorothy is still cruising on the mahogany from last night.


----------



## Diabel

25 here. More hemlock/basswood mix


----------



## stoveliker

Nothing... But cold ashes until Sunday.


----------



## ozarkoak

stoveliker said:


> Nothing... But cold ashes until Sunday.
> 
> View attachment 288682


You must have a secondary heat source. 44 degrees and I'm firing something up.


----------



## Diabel

ozarkoak said:


> You must have a secondary heat source. 44 degrees and I'm firing something up.


Most of us do. I believe he runs the heat pump when it is relatively warm out, to save wood. I personally have so much firewood it would not cross my mind to run the pump while J am in the house.


----------



## stoveliker

ozarkoak said:


> You must have a secondary heat source. 44 degrees and I'm firing something up.



Yes. A minisplit (and free solar electrons courtesy of net metering).  Can heat my home down to 17 F (they say - but efficiency and fire addiction are such that I'll use the stove then...)
If it's one day, I won't let the stove go cold as it's only one load. But a stretch longer than that above 40 and with night temps above 35 and I'll burn some electrons.


----------



## MMH

Currently about 10 out, house is 72. Just threw some pine splits in for the afternoon. I’ll fill up with mahogany and pine when I head to work tonight around 6 and hopefully that will carry through the morning before the wifey starts using the devil propane


----------



## JamesGuido

Yea, 30° now, but the 1st I fired up myself since my surgery… wife was starting the fires before. Tough to get down to fill & torch, let alone refill from the woodshed. 
Should be a bit more mobile in another week or two. 

This Jøtul stuffed with oak.


----------



## stoveliker

I like your inside woodrack! Repurposed kitchen cabinet?


----------



## JamesGuido

stoveliker said:


> I like your inside woodrack! Repurposed kitchen cabinet?


Thanks 😊 
Yes, actually a Costco special dining room hutch that hid our booze… 
Wife decided to tear off the four doors & toss in the wood. 
Doubled the amount inside now than what we used before. 



Besides… everyone knows we drink🥃


----------



## clancey

Pretty neat idea...clancey


----------



## stoveliker

clancey said:


> Pretty neat idea...clancey



The drinking?


----------



## clancey

lol lol No the cabinet wood holder..silly..clancey


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Ran out of my good seasoned ash. Back to pine and marginally seasoned maple. Bradford pear and oak. Stove runs so much different with wood above 20% 😡


----------



## BrownT10

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> Ran out of my good seasoned ash. Back to pine and marginally seasoned maple. Bradford pear and oak. Stove runs so much different with wood above 20% 😡
> 
> View attachment 288724


What stove is that? Tube or cat?


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

BrownT10 said:


> What stove is that? Tube or cat?


Brand New vogelzang bp2020 cheap Chinese stove made by us stove co. It's secondary air tube


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had a low of 38 last night with some post oak and red oak for the heat. Its 40 now and super foggy with some post oak and hickory going in the stove. Expecting 51 for the high.


----------



## BrownT10

I let the stove out last night while I have my chimney guy take a look at the flue since I have an oversized clay liner and now has a 6" collar on the new stove. I wanted him to check it for peace of mind and all looked good, he said it want even close to needing a cleaning, but he did clean the cap with had some chunks but the cap hasn't been touched in 10 years, though the flue has been cleaned annually. He said no liner is necessary and that everything looks great, so pretty exited about that. It should get even better with learning to burn clean and have a better wood supply going forward. I am currently cutting and splitting on stuff 3 years out. I took the opportunity to clean out stove and stove pipe, which wasn't too bad either.


----------



## BrownT10

Oh forgot to mention, the wife didn't like the temp of the house without the stove keeping it warm today. It looks like I will fire it up in the morning. Looks like cold weather next week too.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32.4 this morning and it was around the same temp the last I looked tonight, we had a drizzle going on for most of the day with a high of 35 back here, a load of cherry this morning with another load of cherry going in for the overnight burn.

I'm seeing some reports of 5-8 and 8 - 12 inches of snow on TV for our area but nothing like that online, tomorrow before getting some standing rotten pine on the ground, we'll get another load or two of wood in.


----------



## Tar12

Been doing 24 hr. burns with oak in this milder weather but the forecast says thats fixing to change with single digit lows on the horizon...I will be bringing up some locust today and filling the wood boxes up in preparation for the cold front...


----------



## fvhowler

Unseasonably warm in NC. Have not burned in a week. Based on forecast, colder air arrives Monday. This down time allowed for a good cleaning of the stove.


----------



## c604

Geothermal has been doing the work this week.  Looks like temps will be cold enough for some burning tonight and for the week ahead.  I'm ready with a cord stacked on my porch of Ash, Red and White Oak, some Walnut and a bit of Honey Locust.   I've got a bunch of Beech and Shagbark Hickory for next year to try out and see how they burn.


----------



## PAbeech

Its been the weirdest winter.. to warm for a fire. But sunday night into monday is going to be in the teens.


----------



## NickW

c604 said:


> Geothermal has been doing the work this week.  Looks like temps will be cold enough for some burning tonight and for the week ahead.  I'm ready with a cord stacked on my porch of Ash, Red and White Oak, some Walnut and a bit of Honey Locust.   I've got a bunch of Beech and Shagbark Hickory for next year to try out and see how they burn.


Pretty premium selection... 

If you've never tried it, season some low BTU stuff for those in between days where the geothermal isn't quite enough but a "premium" hardwood fire has you opening windows. Aspen, box elder, cottonwood, soft maple, pine, etc. are great in shoulder season and are ready way faster than most hardwood.


----------



## Grizzerbear

35 out now with rain turning to snow/ ice in a few hours....not expecting much accumulation.....and some red oak and hickory in the buck. Temps will be falling through the day with a low of 10 this evening. Looks like we finally will be getting some consistent cooler temps with another good cold front and chance of snow Thursday.


----------



## stoveliker

PAbeech said:


> Its been the weirdest winter.. to warm for a fire. But sunday night into monday is going to be in the teens.



Yes. The swings...
52 today. Tuesday morning low of 22. Wednesday high of 51...


----------



## ericm979

PAbeech said:


> Its been the weirdest winter.. to warm for a fire. But sunday night into monday is going to be in the teens.



It's been  colder than usual out here on the west coast. The stove is full of eucalyptus and bay right now.


----------



## PAbeech

ericm979 said:


> It's been  colder than usual out here on the west coast. The stove is full of eucalyptus and bay right now.


Send that cold front my way ive got wood to burn and heat to enjoy


----------



## clancey

A lot of temperature changes--today Texas is in the 70;s maybe a bit higher and tomorrow the weather station says about 20-21 degrees--that's a swing... clancey


----------



## Grizzerbear

11 out with snow. I got some red oak and post oak going for now.  The low last night was 8 with red oak, white oak and hickory.


----------



## ozarkoak

Grizzerbear said:


> 11 out with snow. I got some red oak and post oak going for now.  The low last night was 8 with red oak, white oak and hickory.


Yesterdays high was in the low 60's. Woke up this morning to 18 and some pretty good winds.  A few red oak splits is the cure.  Hope everyone is warm and toasty.


----------



## JamesGuido

19°F outside with 6” of fresh snow and a cozy 72° Indoors…
Jøtul F500 burning oak…
It’s lovely!


----------



## PAbeech

Burnt some beech and maple this morning to build coals.. getting ready for a cold front today and tm. I have ash beech and maple warming up on the hearth.
And yes i plan on finishing the wall and mantle with some brick or a nice slate style tile


----------



## Grizzerbear

ozarkoak said:


> Yesterdays high was in the low 60's. Woke up this morning to 18 and some pretty good winds.  A few red oak splits is the cure.  Hope everyone is warm and toasty.


Y'all get any snow down there. It just ended here with maybe a inch.


----------



## ozarkoak

Grizzerbear said:


> Y'all get any snow down there. It just ended here with maybe a inch.


Nope it spit some flakes and that was it.


----------



## sweedish

18 our right now, some ash in the stove currently, tonight will be a mix of ash and cherry


----------



## stoveliker

41 out now, a low of 30 tonight, a high of 31 tomorrow (and snow... No idea how much), with a low in the lower 20s tomorrow.

So I restarted late this afternoon. Pine for the night.


----------



## NickW

6 now, going down to 1 tonight. Brought some beech in to mix with the ash for the overnights. Won't see above freezing in the foreseeable future, will be below zero overnight several times in the next week.


----------



## MEngineer24

Finally got our first snow of the year. It’s been mild for the last week so the stove has been cold. Got a load of black locust maple and red oak burning this morning. Temps are still dropping as this system moves through.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had 11 this morning with post and red oak going in the stove. Last night we had some post oak, red oak and hickory. Expecting a high of 37 today.


----------



## Riff

61F yesterday, today we have 3+ inches of snow and it's 29F. Have a mix of maple and red oak in the stove to burn while the little ones burn off some energy in the snow.


----------



## Beer Belly

Mostly Maple....maybe a piece of Ash or Oak, not sure, just threw it in


----------



## stoveliker

31 all day so far today. Decreasing to 24 or so tonight. They predict snow, but so far the precipitation has been on the ocean. Maybe some this afternoon. (Kids are hoping...)

The pine of last night is done. Two crooked pine pieces and a curved cherry piece, and two 11" oak shorties for now to have enough heat to dry some snow gear later this afternoon (they hope) and before the oak reload tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

Our temp bottomed out at - 9.6 this morning, yellow birch was what the wood stove started the day with.

Our temp hit 7 above after I came in from sharpening eight chains.


----------



## stoveliker

So the baby load from earlier today is already done. 29 outside and decreasing. Quite windy too. Evidently burning faster.

So I reloaded with red oak for the night. And a stick of fir - because that's what the BK thread is all about today...
(Literally a stick; 1" dia, top of the Christmas tree of last year.)


----------



## sweedish

A bit of boxelder and quaking aspen, trying to burn my coal pile down from these past few days of cherry and ash. Tonight will be more cherry.


----------



## MMH

Have had temps in the negatives, it was negative 10-20 last 3 nights, singles to teens for highs. Warming up today as a warmer front comes through, temps back to teens-20s at night. Had mahogany last night, pine today; pine and juniper for tonight’s fire.


----------



## c604

Ash and Walnut doing the job for tonight.  Have some Honey Locust on stand by for later in the week when our temps drop to single digits.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 29 out now but only going down to 27 tonight. I've got more post and red oak started for the overnight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

27 out now with a small load of black jack and post oak.  Expecting a high of 50 today but it's supposed  to be windy also with gusts at 40-50 mph this evening.


----------



## NickW

Coals, lots and lots of coals from last nights ash and beech. Pulled them forward and am contemplating what to throw in next. Man are my overnight loads so much better with 18-24 month wood instead of 4-6 month. Definitely going to stay on the 3 year plan. Busted butt last winter getting there, should be easier staying there now. 

We haven't had the warm weather some of you have had. It's been pretty normal if not a little below normal...


----------



## stoveliker

The oak of yesterday is done now. Took only 16 hrs; a low this morning of 21. Today 33.
Filling with some ash shorties, a knotted piece of ash, and a few cherry sticks. Don't know when that'll be done...


----------



## baseroom

Got down in the singles here.  Black Locust doing a great job.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 20s out, winds gusting near 40, expecting snow the start again in a couple hours, threw some pine in for this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 4.6 this morning, more yellow birch went in the Lopi.


----------



## BrownT10

It's 23° out and a partial load of red oak overnight.


----------



## stoveliker

BrownT10 said:


> It's 23° out and a partial load of red oak overnight.
> 
> View attachment 289153


Lots of coals and ashes? (How deep is your stove below the lip?


----------



## BrownT10

It's 2 maybe 3 inches to floor frim lip. I let cosls burn down some but raked most to one side and hitting bed early. Usually I will load later, but didn't want to wait to burn it down. My wife had a bunch of coals buildup from today and o got impatient because I am tired. How much do you let the coals burn down before reloading? I am guessing it takes awhile to get to cruising from alot less coals? I am all for advice, this it the first one that has run hot right off the bat in cold weather. I noticed that if I pack tighter with a couple big splits I have better control.


----------



## stoveliker

BrownT10 said:


> It's 2 maybe 3 inches to floor frim lip. I let cosls burn down some but raked most to one side and hitting bed early. Usually I will load later, but didn't want to wait to burn it down. My wife had a bunch of coals buildup from today and o got impatient because I am tired. How much do you let the coals burn down before reloading? I am guessing it takes awhile to get to cruising from alot less coals? I am all for advice, this it the first one that has run hot right off the bat in cold weather. I noticed that if I pack tighter with a couple big splits I have better control.



I am lucky by the fact that my stove is in the basement. So I can run down the coals (with less heat output from the stove) for a while before my living area up the stairs sees a measurable temperature decrease - because the "heat reservoir" in the basement keeps the upstairs warm for a while. My stove has (closed) tubes with combustion air (going to the window airwash, which is the only air into the stove) that run slightly upward from back to front - and that sucks, because if I rake the coals to the front (for good burning of the load since the air comes in the front), I will bump into the top of stove way sooner in the front than in the back (b/c now both bottom and top are tapering in the front). Therefore  I will not reload (barring need - as in "too tired to wait"; I get it) until I can spread out the coals in a thin layer on (or in) my ashes. It ignites well then, so no need to have all coals in front.

But I will take out ashes when they are more than 2" thick - I'll go down to 1/2" then or so. I have a cat-poop-scoop (all metal) from amazon that I use to filter out the coals (hot or cold), put them to one side, and then scoop the ashes from the other side. Then I move the coals to the emptier side and scoop ashes on the opposite side.


----------



## BrownT10

I also heat from the basement and love it. As you say that heat reservoir keeps my first floor warm for a long period once stove has started to cool. Then once loaded again the temps upstairs will jump up even on colder days. I can't image having a stove in my living space, at least not in my setup. I will occasionally rake coals flat in a thin layer which is probably what I could have done tonight. Sometime when I load too much overnight I end up with a bunch of coals to burn down in the morning before loading and going to work. I have gotten that timed pretty well so I can load without too much delay in the morning. There wasn't much ash in my firebox as it was mostly coals. I do exactly what you do with a shovel with holes and stack coals in one side and fine ash on the other. I do this every handful of days not allowing it to building more than half inch or so. Then on the lawn it goes, my grass seems to love it.  About how long do you get up to temp and cruising when loading full on a thin layer of coals/ash?


----------



## stoveliker

BrownT10 said:


> I also heat from the basement and love it. As you say that heat reservoir keeps my first floor warm for a long period once stove has started to cool. Then once loaded again the temps upstairs will jump up even on colder days. I can't image having a stove in my living space, at least not in my setup. I will occasionally rake coals flat in a thin layer which is probably what I could have done tonight. Sometime when I load too much overnight I end up with a bunch of coals to burn down in the morning before loading and going to work. I have gotten that timed pretty well so I can load without too much delay in the morning. There wasn't much ash in my firebox as it was mostly coals. I do exactly what you do with a shovel with holes and stack coals in one side and fine ash on the other. I do this every handful of days not allowing it to building more than half inch or so. Then on the lawn it goes, my grass seems to love it.  About how long do you get up to temp and cruising when loading full on a thin layer of coals/ash?



My (cat) stove recommends to go full blast 20-30 mins before setting at the lower output I want. By then it heats so much that it's hotter than I want. 
I'd say I get reasonable output in 5-10 mins after reloading. Not max or cruising level output, but fair. But I suspect this is quite stove (and draft-chimney) specific.


----------



## BrownT10

Ah, I have been thinking maybe I should have gotten a cat stove, actually looked at the Ideal Steel, which my father has. I shyed away from it do to my oversize masonry chimney. Thinking I should have done it, I still wonder. Oh well, this stove isn't bad, but would like to set it and forget it sometimes.


----------



## stoveliker

I don't know your stove, but one can often dial in a non-cat and walk away once it cruises? That is set it and forget it? I guess we all do that over night.

Anyway, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Just enjoy the heat.


----------



## MMH

Did a quick hot clean this evening. Lows headed for high 20s tonight, another load of pine for tonight. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.


----------



## thewoodlands

BrownT10 said:


> It's 2 maybe 3 inches to floor frim lip. I let cosls burn down some but raked most to one side and hitting bed early. Usually I will load later, but didn't want to wait to burn it down. My wife had a bunch of coals buildup from today and o got impatient because I am tired. How much do you let the coals burn down before reloading? I am guessing it takes awhile to get to cruising from alot less coals? I am all for advice, this it the first one that has run hot right off the bat in cold weather. I noticed that if I pack tighter with a couple big splits I have better control.


You can close the air down real quick when loading up on some hot coals with our Lopi Liberty, I've loaded up with a stove top temp of 300. 

You should be able to control how hot your stove burns by how many splits you put in along with how much air you give it.


----------



## thewoodlands

The temp is 23.2 tonight with some nice maple splits on the bottom row and some yellow birch filling out the top row.


----------



## stoveliker

The mostly ash baby load of today is done. I'm not too happy; it appears the ash splits just convert into ash splits - pil s and piles of fluffy ash...

Oak, pine, sassafras, and maple do better... It may be that I'll be emptying out the stove a lot this season...

Anyway, 29 now, 29 for a low and 48 (and rain..) tomorrow... Sigh. But after that it'll remain below 40, so I won't let the stove go cold.

Pine for the night - and however long I can stretch it tomorrow.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had a low of 26 here last with some high winds and red oak for the overnight This morning its 27 out and calm with more red oak and post oak in the stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

Our temp this morning was 25.2, another load of yellow birch went in the wood stove.


----------



## shortys7777

Mostly oak. Throwing in a little maple with it. We hit 18 the other night which is the coldest so far this year. Woke up in the middle of the night and put 3 extra splits in and by morning still had coals and the house was at 64. Nice easy re load before work. Can't tell you how much better burning has been the past couple years compared to my first year with wet wood.


----------



## vatmark

Finally got cold enough to have a fire last night. In the stove is pallet wood sleepers and I think oak.


----------



## NickW

stoveliker said:


> The mostly ash baby load of today is done. I'm not too happy; it appears the ash splits just convert into ash splits - pil s and piles of fluffy ash...
> 
> Oak, pine, sassafras, and maple do better... It may be that I'll be emptying out the stove a lot this season...
> 
> Anyway, 29 now, 29 for a low and 48 (and rain..) tomorrow... Sigh. But after that it'll remain below 40, so I won't let the stove go cold.
> 
> Pine for the night - and however long I can stretch it tomorrow.


Not angry, but don't bash the ash. 

Way better than pine. Not even close.

 No, it doesn't have the BTU'S or burn time of a "premium" hardwood like oak; but it is a good burner and readily available. Seasons quickly, starts easily, burns decently even if not well seasoned (20-25% - try that with oak), coals pretty well. I'll take it over birch any and every day and probably over cherry or elm, although I do like cherry and elm. I have to burn down the coals after 10 hours on a full load of ash in my NC30 (tube stove, not a cat) to make room for the next load. Yes, it leaves a lot of ash...and clinkers.

If I had access to more of the premiums I'd still burn a lot of ash. I save the little bit of oak, locust, beech, hard maple, hickory, etc for the really cold weather.


----------



## stoveliker

NickW said:


> Not angry, but don't bash the ash.
> 
> Way better than pine. Not even close.
> 
> No, it doesn't have the BTU'S or burn time of a "premium" hardwood like oak; but it is a good burner and readily available. Seasons quickly, starts easily, burns decently even if not well seasoned (20-25% - try that with oak), coals pretty well. I'll take it over birch any and every day and probably over cherry or elm, although I do like cherry and elm. I have to burn down the coals after 10 hours on a full load of ash in my NC30 (tube stove, not a cat) to make room for the next load. Yes, it leaves a lot of ash...and clinkers.
> 
> If I had access to more of the premiums I'd still burn a lot of ash. I save the little bit of oak, locust, beech, hard maple, hickory, etc for the really cold weather.


I was just surprised by the mess it left...

I know it seasons fast. This was 2 year. I'm burning 1 y/o pine right now, measured at 15% or so. The stove has been chewing on it for 12 hours, and I'll have quite a bit of hours left. So no bashing pine either  (It's warm outside though today, so I dialed the stove way down.)

It's what you get, scrounging. This year I have about 1.25 facecord of ash, the same in pine. Half a face cord of sassafras is already gone. And 5.25 face cord of oak.
Next year it'll be cherry, ash, oak, and some maple. And pine if needed. The year after only oak and some locust (and pine if needed).  So I'll see how cherry does then.


----------



## NickW

I know, @MMH burns lots of pine and likes it too. 

I've gotten an attitude towards pine this year. 16-18% in the new Strattford II in the northwoods cabin build and it keeps smoking the crap out of the glass. I've had no problems with any other woods, but man do I have to keep the air open a long time with the pine to keep the glass fairly clean. Certainly isn't the easy breather the NC30 is and gets some "dead zones" where the air just doesn't seem to move (front corners, particularly the left). Heats well even with aspen or box elder (or pine...).

I'm going to css to 12" all future wood for it for n/s loading. Maybe that will help the pine too.


----------



## MMH

NickW said:


> I know, @MMH burns lots of pine and likes it too.
> 
> I've gotten an attitude towards pine this year. 16-18% in the new Strattford II in the northwoods cabin build and it keeps smoking the crap out of the glass. I've had no problems with any other woods, but man do I have to keep the air open a long time with the pine to keep the glass fairly clean. Certainly isn't the easy breather the NC30 is and gets some "dead zones" where the air just doesn't seem to move (front corners, particularly the left). Heats well even with aspen or box elder (or pine...).
> 
> I'm going to css to 12" all future wood for it for n/s loading. Maybe that will help the pine too.


Yes pine is mostly all we have in our area, pine and juniper species are the most abundant at least; it does the job just fine. It does blacken the glass but a good hot fire in the morning usually clears it up for me. I haven’t touched the glass once this year actually.


----------



## MMH

Highs are hitting 30-40 range today, I threw in a couple odd pieces of mahogany, a small elm round and some pine, should carry us through the day.


----------



## NickW

MMH said:


> Yes pine is mostly all we have in our area, pine and juniper species are the most abundant at least; it does the job just fine. It does blacken the glass but a good hot fire in the morning usually clears it up for me. I haven’t touched the glass once this year actually.


Well that's good to know... I can keep the centers of the glass pretty clean, but those outsides where the air just doesn't circulate well is the struggle.

Had a few flakes of paper thin creosote floating around outside. Going to pick up a sooteater to run up the chimney. No way I'm going up an 8 pitch with snow to clean top down. Screen up top is pretty clear looking and that's the first place to get buildup, so I'm not overly concerned.

Currently 19 and on the tail end of a weather advisory (got about 6"), going down to 8 tonight. Standard daytime fires of box elder and pine, then ash with the occasional chunk of beech overnight. About to get cold here, Sunday and Monday will struggle to get above zero and into negative double digits overnight.

Also, I think the family is all about to be quarantining... Niece's we saw at Christmas tested positive today, my son started showing symptoms Monday but can't get tested until tomorrow; so there'll be some "close contact" quarantining going on.😡 At least I have a boatload of drywall and painting supply's on hand.


----------



## stoveliker

Hope you'll get through this without serious issues.


----------



## NickW

Thanks, appreciate it. 3 of the 4 of us are immunized, so hopefully it won't be severe symptoms if/when we get it.


----------



## rottiman

Well, looks like it is finally going to get a little colder shortly..........................


Tonight



18°F

Flurries
*Thu*
6 Jan





16°F*
30%
Chance of flurries
Night




7°F
30%
Chance of flurries
*Fri*
7 Jan




3°F

A mix of sun and cloud
Night




-13°F

Clear
*Sat*
8 Jan




10°F

A mix of sun and cloud
Night




9°F

Periods of snow
*Sun*
9 Jan




32°F
70%
Chance of flurries
Night




-8°F

Cloudy periods
*Mon*
10 Jan




0°F

Sunny
Night




-26°F

Clear
*Tue*
11 Jan




1°F


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> Well, looks like it is finally going to get a little colder shortly..........................
> 
> 
> Tonight
> 
> 
> 
> 18°F
> 
> Flurries
> *Thu*
> 6 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 16°F*
> 30%
> Chance of flurries
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 7°F
> 30%
> Chance of flurries
> *Fri*
> 7 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 3°F
> 
> A mix of sun and cloud
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -13°F
> 
> Clear
> *Sat*
> 8 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 10°F
> 
> A mix of sun and cloud
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 9°F
> 
> Periods of snow
> *Sun*
> 9 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 32°F
> 70%
> Chance of flurries
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -8°F
> 
> Cloudy periods
> *Mon*
> 10 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 0°F
> 
> Sunny
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -26°F
> 
> Clear
> *Tue*
> 11 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 1°F


I see -7 forecast for our lowest low (we'll get colder) and not much snow unless the Lake Effect shifts north.

The trails are still closed until we get a good 8-10 inches of snow.


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> Well, looks like it is finally going to get a little colder shortly..........................
> 
> 
> Tonight
> 
> 
> 
> 18°F
> 
> Flurries
> *Thu*
> 6 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 16°F*
> 30%
> Chance of flurries
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 7°F
> 30%
> Chance of flurries
> *Fri*
> 7 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 3°F
> 
> A mix of sun and cloud
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -13°F
> 
> Clear
> *Sat*
> 8 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 10°F
> 
> A mix of sun and cloud
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 9°F
> 
> Periods of snow
> *Sun*
> 9 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 32°F
> 70%
> Chance of flurries
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -8°F
> 
> Cloudy periods
> *Mon*
> 10 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 0°F
> 
> Sunny
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -26°F
> 
> Clear
> *Tue*
> 11 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 1°F


This looks like it could be nasty.








						Up to 13 inches of snow possible, says National Weather Service
					

The NWS forecasts total snow accumulations of 7 to 13 inches and winds gusting as high as 40 miles per hour in Jefferson County.




					www.wwnytv.com


----------



## BrownT10

Another load of red oak. Spread the coals out a bit with a decent load.


----------



## stoveliker

It appears to me you could load more? (if this is the overnight load)


----------



## stoveliker

Stretched last night's pine load till now. Scooped out some ashes (burned some Ash yesterday...), and reloaded with pine for overnight. 45 F now, 38 F low. 39 F tomorrow.
Snow predicted Friday here. Kids are hopeful. I got 3/4 bucket of ashes ready if needed...


----------



## enduring

I’ve got burning what is left from the wood I bought in March 2020. We don’t burn that often. I think I’ve got a few pieces of ash, walnut, and ? No oak.


----------



## BrownT10

stoveliker said:


> It appears to me you could load more? (if this is the overnight load)


 Definitely could have loaded more. It's about 40° out and I try to find a balance to not have a bunch of coals to burn down in the morning. I am also trying to master the technique before going full box in cold weather. This load it simply to maintain house temp, which isn't an issue in this weather heating from the basement.


----------



## incinerator

13F and heading for single digits.  I've been burning a mix of about everything from various pine, to oak and fruit wood.    With all the people telling me how much nat gas has gone up in price, the kids will be sleeping in snowmobile suits   Burn burn burn!


----------



## MMH

NickW said:


> Well that's good to know... I can keep the centers of the glass pretty clean, but those outsides where the air just doesn't circulate well is the struggle.
> 
> Had a few flakes of paper thin creosote floating around outside. Going to pick up a sooteater to run up the chimney. No way I'm going up an 8 pitch with snow to clean top down. Screen up top is pretty clear looking and that's the first place to get buildup, so I'm not overly concerned.
> 
> Currently 19 and on the tail end of a weather advisory (got about 6"), going down to 8 tonight. Standard daytime fires of box elder and pine, then ash with the occasional chunk of beech overnight. About to get cold here, Sunday and Monday will struggle to get above zero and into negative double digits overnight.
> 
> Also, I think the family is all about to be quarantining... Niece's we saw at Christmas tested positive today, my son started showing symptoms Monday but can't get tested until tomorrow; so there'll be some "close contact" quarantining going on.😡 At least I have a boatload of drywall and painting supply's on hand.


Yeah I get the same, corners usually stay coated, I can get them clean ish with a good hot burn but they’re black by the end of the day/night, I’d say 80-90% of my glass stays clean though.


----------



## thewoodlands

The temp tonight is 34.3, another load of yellow birch with a few splits of maple will provide the heat for tonight.

We didn't put any wood in today but tomorrow we'll put in two loads, I'm thinking it will be more yellow birch and maple. I thinking we should start putting in some ironwood, one load should work.


----------



## MMH

Dorothy is still eating through today’s haphazard load, lows headed for upper 20s-low 30s tonight, it’ll be another load of pine.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Just packed her up with pine ash oak mulberry maple and Bradford pear. Down to 7 overnight. House is at 41. Made me realize how drafty house is and how undersized stove is lol


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> Just packed her up with pine ash oak mulberry maple and Bradford pear. Down to 7 overnight. House is at 41. Made me realize how drafty house is and how undersized stove is lol


Just found frozen pipes had to turn on spaces heater.


----------



## stoveliker

Hm. Hope they haven't burst?


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had a low of 14 last night with some red oak and post oak for the heat. This morning it is 16 out with light snow and a load of red oak and hickory with a small round of post oak. Temps are supposed to hang around there all day.


----------



## Gearhead660

Having some crisp days  lately with temps creeping out of single digits for the highs.  Feeding the furnace a diet of Elm and Locust.


----------



## ozarkoak

20 outside and snowing. 76  and headed up  inside. Red oak and hickory doing the work.


----------



## rottiman

Went to bed last night it was 34 and wet snow.  Got up this a.m. to 16 and 1" of fresh frozen  ???? snow.  Total of about 3" of frozen (concrete) snow.  Unheard of for this time of the year in Ontario.  Snow mobiling non existent in this part of ontario this year.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 24.4 this morning with more yellow birch going in the wood stove.

@rottiman , the gates to the snowmobile trails are still locked up at this end. We received maybe an inch of snow today before everything shifted south of us. I'm not sure if we're in for the rain, ice & snow this weekend but if we do get all three, it won't help out the trails much unless we receive a chit load of snow. I'm glad we bought old sleds years ago, if we only get a month of use out of them this year, we might sell them and then next winter we'll receive a ton of snow.


----------



## sweedish

No fire this morning due to wanting to do an ash clean out. Currently quaking aspen for a high burn playing catch up before loading with cherry before bed.


----------



## weatherguy

thewoodlands said:


> We had a low of 24.4 this morning with more yellow birch going in the wood stove.
> 
> @rottiman , the gates to the snowmobile trails are still locked up at this end. We received maybe an inch of snow today before everything shifted south of us. I'm not sure if we're in for the rain, ice & snow this weekend but if we do get all three, it won't help out the trails much unless we receive a chit load of snow. I'm glad we bought old sleds years ago, if we only get a month of use out of them this year, we might sell them and then next winter we'll receive a ton of snow.


You'll get all snow, not sure how much though, 5-10 here but I'm east of you. I have about 80% seasoned red oak this year and that's what I've been burning. Hate to burn oak all year but it's all I got that's seasoned. Next year I have oak, hickory, cherry and ash.


----------



## NickW

weatherguy said:


> You'll get all snow, not sure how much though, 5-10 here but I'm east of you. I have about 80% seasoned red oak this year and that's what I've been burning. Hate to burn oak all year but it's all I got that's seasoned. Next year I have oak, hickory, cherry and ash.


Terrible problem to have... Let me help you out. I'll load my truck and trailer with aspen and trade you for just a trailer load of oak 😉.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 20.2 tonight with a low of 16 forecast by NOAA, we'll load up with some soft and hard maple with a round of ironwood filling out the top row.


----------



## BrownT10

Looks like I will be plowing in the morning with 4-7" of snow coming tonight and early tomorrow. I loaded up a box of red oak after cleaning some ashes out.


----------



## NickW

Going down to -8 tonight, another load of ash in the Strattford II in the northwoods. Before coming up I made sure the boys brought in beech to mix with the ash overnight at home. That makes a really nice fire with a lot of coals yet 8-10 hours later. Usually I'll just open the air a little in the morning and stir things up and let it go for another hour or 2 before doing a softwood load.


----------



## stoveliker

30 now. Starting to snow in 2 hrs or so. 3-6" predicted last I looked. After a baby load at 3 when the pine was finished, I now reload with oak for overnight.

Edit: and some pine on top. Oak I had handy was not enough to fill.


----------



## Tar12

Setting at a balmy 5 degrees right now with a -9 windchill...loaded up the Princess with a load of 20% Oak and 80% locust..stove room is 76 degrees with the bedrooms at 72...I am going to pass on duck hunting in the morning...lol


----------



## MMH

Low headed for 20s tonight, 4 pieces of pine and the rest red elm.


----------



## stoveliker

At least 6" of snow here. And still falling.
Of course the oak from yesterday is still keeping our home warm.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had a load of red and post oak last night. This morning it is 8 out with a giant split of hickory and some post and red oak in with it.


----------



## ColdInCanada

We got down to -45C/-49F two nights ago. Warmed up to a balmy -31C/-24F as of this morning. The BK Princess is loaded same ever with the biggest splits of spruce I can fit (usually 6-9 depending exact size and shape) I get about 8-10 hours of burn out of a load since mine is a non-cat stove. I wish I had some of that hardwood you southerners get! Spruce, pine and aspen are all we have up here. Got about 3 cords of aspen that should be ready for next year though!


----------



## incinerator

-14F overnight.  Put a huge chunk of a i think white ash in right before bed along with some red oak splits.  House was very toasty at that time (73F in hallway).  Woke up at 5am and it was still glowing red so i fill it back up and got it going good again (66F in hallway).    I swear wind and 2F is worst then no wind and -14F.   Sun is out so house will warm up nicely (south facing/lots of glass).   Furnace continues to stay in the off position


----------



## MMH

Highs in the 30s today, more pine to tidey us over


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

Some nice cold weather here in WI for most everyone in the state. Been getting into my hickory cord for day and night burns. Burns great, smells great!


----------



## stoveliker

Reloaded with some pine until tonight. Windy, snow on the ground (tho the shoveled driveway is clear now, dried out).

I see a 21 F day and 10 F night predicted coming Tuesday. Will be running higher then...


----------



## MEngineer24

Load of cherry and red oak mix going right now after the morning load of white oak and locust needed refreshed. Snowed 5 additional inches on the previous snow we had from earlier this week. Wind chill is in the low teens currently. Headed for lows in the single digits overnight.


----------



## Qvist

Silver Maple and Black Locust mix. Coldest night of the year so far at 13 degrees tonight. Although that's nothing compared to what I hear from others.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 20.2 this morning with more maple and yellow birch going in the wood stove. NOAA is calling for a low of -4 in the morning, we're burning the pellet stove and in the morning I'll take the ashes out of the wood stove.


----------



## rottiman

Sitting on "0" right now headed down to - 10 tonight and a high of 8 tomorrow.  Loading Betty up with some healthy Red Oak splits shortly for the all night run.


----------



## c604

We were in the low single digits last night, headed close to that again tonight.  Burning White Oak and cruised through last night no problem, burning Ash at the moment and will switch back to the White Oak for overnight.  Happy to have some freezing temps so I can skid some logs out of the woods without tearing up the trails.


----------



## stoveliker

Overnight reload with oak, and 2 pieces of ash and a piece of pine. 28 now, 23 low,  31 tomorrow.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for teens, you guessed it… more pine goin in


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> Lows headed for teens, you guessed it… more pine goin in


We have a night off for both stoves, the furnace will provide the heat tonight.


----------



## sweedish

a combination of apple, mystery wood, but the consensus was black locust, and some mulberry. May be the nicest load of firewood this stove has ever burned.


----------



## fvhowler

Coldest morning I've had here in NC. It's 23* with a load of white oak, beech, dogwood and sweetgum keeping us warm.


----------



## rottiman

-10 here this a.m..  Stirred  Betty back to life put in some Beech and Oak and away we go.............


----------



## MEngineer24

5F here this morning with a load of white oak and black locust going.


----------



## MMH

28 out now, high headed for low 30s today, threw a couple pieces of juniper and pine in for today.


----------



## stoveliker

28 now. Oak from last night done. Reloaded with some small pine splits and branches. Did a full load because I think I'll be able to burn it down low enough for the night reload because it's small stuff.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had a low of 16 last night with red oak and post oak for the heat. This morning I reloaded with some red oak and black jack. Down to two big chunks of coals in the back but its toasty in the house with 40 outside now.


----------



## thewoodlands

Our temp finally bottomed out at - 11.7 this morning, I took the ashes out this morning and we're back burning the wood stove. 

I also did a full cleanout on the inside of the pellet stove, after we burn another nine bags, I'll clean the pipe.


----------



## MEngineer24

Added a few pieces of black locust and white oak on this afternoons coals to coast the stove to the overnight load point. Warmed up some today in the mid 30's. Currently we are sitting in the mid 20's.


----------



## Wildwoods

Getting down to teens tonight.  South Jersey I have a mix of cherry and white oak.


----------



## MMH

Currently 26 out, NOAA calling for low teens tonight but I have a sneaking suspicion we’ll end up with single digits tonight; so Dorothy will have a nice diet of juniper red elm and mahogany.


----------



## stoveliker

21 now, and slowly increasing. Tomorrow 38 and rainy. Loaded with pine. Big splits, but it didn't work out well; some bends, and three splits were just more than the width of the firebox (N/S loaded), so I ended up with some gaps because they started burning and it was not possible to rearrange. Earlier reload tomorrow...


----------



## sweedish

Cherry last night, cherry and some boxelder this morning.


----------



## MEngineer24

More white oak and black locust mix last night and this morning. Went to bed and woke up to mid 20's. Currently, we have warmed up to 34F. Rain system moving through today to melt our snow from a few days ago.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the teens out, house is 72. I’ll throw some pine in for today.


----------



## rottiman

We made it up to 32 right now.  NW wind is starting. now and temp is supposed to drop to 0 by this evening with a 
-11 wind chill under strong NW winds.  High of 7 tomorrow before it drops to -26 tomorrow night.  Going to keep Betty loaded with a diet of Beech and Red Oak.  If it gets too miserable tomorrow I might have to fire up Lil' Fella too.
Woo Hoo ......."let er' blow"


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had a low of 41 last night with a small load of red oak and post oak. Its 37 now with sunshine. Just loaded a small load of red oak and post oak to get us to tonight's overnight load.


----------



## stoveliker

Gray overcast day now (some sun this morning). 42 now. I let coals of last evenings pine burn down a lot and took out the ashes while still having some glowing coals for draft to keep the home clean. My bucket is now full - first time this season.

Added a few oak shorties and a pine knotty split to tide me over to tonight. Running low because I'm using the minisplit anyway.


----------



## BrownT10

A couple pieces of cherry, a  couple maple splits, few red oak splits and 1 small round.


----------



## sweedish

Mystery wood, presumed to be locust, and apple. The good stuff tonight!


----------



## sweedish

sweedish said:


> Mystery wood, presumed to be locust, and apple. The good stuff tonight!


It’s taking a long time to get to optimal temp I know that. Yes, it’s dry.


----------



## stoveliker

Pine for overnight.


----------



## NickW

2 big chunks of ash surrounded by box elder. Starting to run a bit low on wood here in the northwoods. Will need to bring more with next time home. Currently -7 with -22 wind chill. Going down to -13 tonight and "might" get "up" to zero tomorrow.

Wife tested positive and has lost her sense of taste & smell, older son tested positive last week, younger son tested negative (we figure it's a false negative and going to have him re-tested), I have some symptoms but can't get a test scheduled here in the northwoods so I'll have to wait until I get home. Assuming I'm positive. May head home earlier than planned due to the results of some of my symptoms...


----------



## MMH

NickW said:


> 2 big chunks of ash surrounded by box elder. Starting to run a bit low on wood here in the northwoods. Will need to bring more with next time home. Currently -7 with -22 wind chill. Going down to -13 tonight and "might" get "up" to zero tomorrow.
> 
> Wife tested positive and has lost her sense of taste & smell, older son tested positive last week, younger son tested negative (we figure it's a false negative and going to have him re-tested), I have some symptoms but can't get a test scheduled here in the northwoods so I'll have to wait until I get home. Assuming I'm positive. May head home earlier than planned due to the results of some of my symptoms...


Good luck to you and yours


----------



## MMH

Let the stove cool off and did another clean out; lows headed for single digits agin tonight. Another mixed load of mahogany, red elm, juniper and pine.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We got down to 15 last night with some more red oak and post oak. This morning we have 18 out with more post oak and some white oak.


----------



## JamesGuido

5° right now with today’s high topping off at a balmy 10°F
JøtulF500v3 will be burning oak all day, all night… 
A warm🔥up expected tomorrow with temps in the 20’s possibly the 30’s


----------



## MMH

Currently 5F out, house is 70. Dorothy still eating through last nights load; STT 398, I’ll do my errands then feed her some more when I get back.


----------



## thewoodlands

The recliner got me last night, I woke up about 9:45 p. m. still feeling tired so I never started a wood stove fire, pellet stove or even set the furnace so it would kick on, the temp was 14.7 this morning so I ran the furnace for 10 minutes and started a wood stove fire with some junk yellow birch that only lasted two hours.

The next fire was some yellow birch and ironwood, it's 69 up here with the basement at 75 heading up.

Two years ago I raided our wood dump and s/s four face cord of wood, I'm thinking in another 10 days we'll be through the rest of the wood from our wood dump, that will be the last time it goes in our regular stacks. I'm thinking the rest will go for outside fires or the best of the worst will go for shoulder season wood.

NOAA is calling for a low of -15 tonight for our area.


----------



## rottiman

Yup....... now it's getting down to winter,  currently 5 and windy............

12:26 PM EST Monday 10 January 2022
*Extreme Cold Warning in effect for:*


Barry's Bay - Killaloe
Petawawa - Pembroke - Cobden
Renfrew - Arnprior - Calabogie
A period of very cold wind chills is expected.

Hazard:
Temperatures from minus 25 to minus 32 degrees Celsius.
Wind chill values near minus 35.

When:
Tonight into Tuesday morning.

Discussion:
Bitterly cold arctic air combined with light winds will bring extremely cold wind chills to the regions beginning near midnight. This is the coldest air so far this season. Wind chills will improve Tuesday morning after sunrise.

Extreme cold puts everyone at risk.

Watch for cold related symptoms: shortness of breath, chest pain, muscle pain and weakness, numbness and colour change in fingers and toes.

Dress warmly. Dress in layers that you can remove if you get too warm. The outer layer should be wind resistant.

Cover up. Frostbite can develop within minutes on exposed skin, especially with wind chill.

Please continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada. To report severe weather, send an email to ONstorm@ec.gc.ca or tweet reports using #ONStorm.

*Mon*
10 Jan



12°F
30%
Chance of flurries
Tonight




-20°F

Clearing
*Tue*
11 Jan




5°F

Sunny
Night




1°F
60%
Chance of flurries
*Wed*
12 Jan




25°F
60%
Chance of flurries
Night




7°F
40%
Chance of flurries
*Thu*
13 Jan




12°F

Cloudy
Night




-4°F
30%
Chance of flurries
*Fri*
14 Jan




9°F

A mix of sun and cloud
Night




-6°F
40%
Chance of flurries
*Sat*
15 Jan




10°F
60%
Chance of flurries
Night




3°F

Clear
*Sun*
16 Jan




14°F

Sunny


----------



## MMH

Currently 26 out house is 71, just reloaded with a piece of juniper and 2 pieces of red elm. That should carry us over until tonight. Caught another good shot of the cat last night.


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> Yup....... now it's getting down to winter,  currently 5 and windy............
> 
> 12:26 PM EST Monday 10 January 2022
> *Extreme Cold Warning in effect for:*
> 
> 
> Barry's Bay - Killaloe
> Petawawa - Pembroke - Cobden
> Renfrew - Arnprior - Calabogie
> A period of very cold wind chills is expected.
> 
> Hazard:
> Temperatures from minus 25 to minus 32 degrees Celsius.
> Wind chill values near minus 35.
> 
> When:
> Tonight into Tuesday morning.
> 
> Discussion:
> Bitterly cold arctic air combined with light winds will bring extremely cold wind chills to the regions beginning near midnight. This is the coldest air so far this season. Wind chills will improve Tuesday morning after sunrise.
> 
> Extreme cold puts everyone at risk.
> 
> Watch for cold related symptoms: shortness of breath, chest pain, muscle pain and weakness, numbness and colour change in fingers and toes.
> 
> Dress warmly. Dress in layers that you can remove if you get too warm. The outer layer should be wind resistant.
> 
> Cover up. Frostbite can develop within minutes on exposed skin, especially with wind chill.
> 
> Please continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada. To report severe weather, send an email to ONstorm@ec.gc.ca or tweet reports using #ONStorm.
> 
> *Mon*
> 10 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 12°F
> 30%
> Chance of flurries
> Tonight
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -20°F
> 
> Clearing
> *Tue*
> 11 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 5°F
> 
> Sunny
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 1°F
> 60%
> Chance of flurries
> *Wed*
> 12 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 25°F
> 60%
> Chance of flurries
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 7°F
> 40%
> Chance of flurries
> *Thu*
> 13 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 12°F
> 
> Cloudy
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -4°F
> 30%
> Chance of flurries
> *Fri*
> 14 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 9°F
> 
> A mix of sun and cloud
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -6°F
> 40%
> Chance of flurries
> *Sat*
> 15 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 10°F
> 60%
> Chance of flurries
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 3°F
> 
> Clear
> *Sun*
> 16 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 14°F
> 
> Sunny


I just took the dog for a walk, no wind yet here but we're down to 10 degrees.


----------



## rottiman

Down to 1 here now.  The real snap is supposed to hit here around mid night with heavy winds from the NW


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> Down to 1 here now.  The real snap is supposed to hit here around mid night with heavy winds from the NW


We're just above 8 degrees with a bit of wind from what I can see from the flags movement, we're getting some snow too.


----------



## MEngineer24

Loaded this morning full of white oak and black locust. Stove coasted all day. Did an ash cleanout when I got home from work. Reloaded on the morning coals with a few small splits of red oak to warm the house for the evening. Will reload tonight with more white oak and black locust mix. Temp headed for the low teens with subzero wind chills tonight. This new weather pattern has been keeping the Jotul working hard.


----------



## MMH

One more night of single digits, one more healthy mixed load.


----------



## stoveliker

After some less-straight pine at 2 pm to get me to now, I loaded with oak. 
25 now, 17 for a low, 18 tomorrow.
I hope I can dial in properly to be at 67 tomorrow morning. Learning curve...


----------



## NickW

Back home in SEWI.  Nice load of ash and beech in the NC30. Couple of pretty monster splits. "Only" supposed to be down to -6 here as compared to -15 in the northwoods.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had a low of 25 last night with some more red oak and post oak. This morning its 28 out and I have some red oak that was charred in a brush fire for the morning heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of - 15 this morning, we didn't go with a fire overnight but set the furnace, back to burning wood this morning.


----------



## stoveliker

A low of 17 this morning. Home was 65 (see learning curve). Have to see the Dr. with my daughter in an hour (and half an hour away or so), and with the max today of 18, I dialed up the stove a bit, but I think I'd need to reload when I'm gone, so I added a knotty piece of maple and oak. Ooph, it was hot opening that glowing mountain, as there was about 35-40% of fuel left.


----------



## rottiman

-21 here this morning.  Currently -13 under sunny skies.  Betty and Lil' Brother both rolling on on a mixed hardwood diet.  House is a comfortable 75 and all is good.


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> -21 here this morning.  Currently -13 under sunny skies.  Betty and Lil' Brother both rolling on on a mixed hardwood diet.  House is a comfortable 75 and all is good.


We get a warmup tomorrow so hopefully more dead pine will come down with a fire in the outside fireplace the next day.


----------



## MoreMesquite

Caw said:


> Overnight 3/4 load of maple followed by a reload of about 5 more splits of maple at 8 am kept us warm today. Gross 50/foggy/rainy day out there. Fire probably wasn't necessary but it was very relaxing and comfortable. Perk of being far ahead wood wise is you can splurge on the 50/50 days. I won't start it again until the tomorrow morning likely. Maybe before bed we'll see.
> 
> View attachment 284002


That is a really nice display of the temp sensors in your house. What app are you using and the hardware that provides all that info? Thank you so much!


----------



## shortys7777

I loaded up the stove with oak before work but won't be home till late. First time this winter the thermostat will kick on. its 11 outside.


----------



## stoveliker

Adding pine now to burn down some coals and last to mid evening or so (hopefully) for an overnight reload with oak.


----------



## Caw

MoreMesquite said:


> That is a really nice display of the temp sensors in your house. What app are you using and the hardware that provides all that info? Thank you so much!


It's an Ecobee and I love it. I have the Ecobee3 Lite with four remote sensors. IIRC it came with two and I had to buy two additional sensors.

I can view and control everything right from my phone. It allows me to program my ac/back up heat based on different room readings and to be able to make adjustments when I'm not at home. 

For example, in the winter I use the dining room, kitchen, and den to determine if the backup heat comes in as they are the coldest rooms. In the summer I use the living room as it's the warmest room.  





__





						Smart Thermostats & Smart Home Devices | ecobee
					

ecobee designs intelligent thermostats, cameras, and sensors that work better together to improve everyday life.




					www.ecobee.com
				




I know they sell them at Lowe's in addition to online.


----------



## stoveliker

Pine done. Reloaded with oak for overnight. 16 F now, minimum of 14 F in an hr, then 24 at 7am, going up to 38 tomorrow... Weird.

Next cooldown Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night.

Nice clean window btw from burning hotter   (second pic with flame, first pic was door open).


----------



## thewoodlands

Our temp is at - 0.4 and rising, the Liberty is loaded with some not so great yellow birch and some really nice rounds of ironwood.

We're suppose to hit 28 for a high tomorrow, that will feel great.


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> Pine done. Reloaded with oak for overnight. 16 F now, minimum of 14 F in an hr, then 24 at 7am, going up to 38 tomorrow... Weird.
> 
> Next cooldown Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night.
> 
> Nice clean window btw from burning hotter   (second pic with flame, first pic was door open).
> 
> View attachment 289650
> View attachment 289652


Do you have a Nor'easter coming at you this weekend? Accu had it on TV when I was getting the fire going.


----------



## stoveliker

Yes seems like it. It depends on the exact path etc whether there will be (a lot) of snow.  But that seems not to be predicted anymore, I see.
Friday night low of 10, Saturday high of 17, low of 11. 
Wind depends a lot on path again.

I'll fill the rack in the garage so I'll be good (can easily run 2 wks off of that rack).


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> Yes seems like it. It depends on the exact path etc whether there will be (a lot) of snow.  But that seems not to be predicted anymore, I see.
> Friday night low of 10, Saturday high of 17, low of 11.
> Wind depends a lot on path again.
> 
> I'll fill the rack in the garage so I'll be good (can easily run 2 wks off of that rack).


We'll get some wood in before a possible storm too, that will give me more time for plowing if we do get hit.  Maybe all these areas I made for snow storage in the woods instead of just off the driveway can get some use.


----------



## stoveliker

Yes, I've seen the pics. Better put snow there if you mow them in summer 

Here I manually shovel. Suburban smaller space.

But it is the first winter with a rack in the garage (with a door to the basement and stove). Before any bad weather i fill  it up and it feels good.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for 10-15 tonight, mostly red elm tonight with a piece of mahogany and some pine.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had a low of 32 last night with some more red oak and post oak that went in the stove for the overnight.  I decided against reloading this morning since it's going to get in the fifties today. We are supposed to have highs in the fifties tomorro then back in the forties friday before some colder air moves in and  what's looking like some snow this weekend.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 20s out, threw a few more splits of elm and juniper in this morning to carry us over. Highs are supposed to hit low 40s today so I’ll to the “wait and see method” before loading more.


----------



## thewoodlands

After the second cup of coffee this morning we hit 20.7 with a high just over 29 today. The morning load was all yellow birch, it isn't the best stuff but the temp up here is 70 with the temp in the basement where the stove is at 78.


----------



## Caw

Was using primarily red oak the last couple days during the cold snap but we're back to primarily red maple now. 

I was looking out back and I think we've used about 1.5 cords so far this season. What about you guys? @stoveliker ?


----------



## thewoodlands

Caw said:


> Was using primarily red oak the last couple days during the cold snap but we're back to primarily red maple now.
> 
> I was looking out back and I think we've used about 1.5 cords so far this season. What about you guys? @stoveliker ?


We used five face cord of pine for shoulder season wood, after we're finished with the stack of yellow birch, that will make 6 face cord of hardwood, 4 of the 6 face cord was iffy hardwood, that will be the last time I raid our wood dump.


----------



## enordy

Caw said:


> Was using primarily red oak the last couple days during the cold snap but we're back to primarily red maple now.
> 
> I was looking out back and I think we've used about 1.5 cords so far this season. What about you guys? @stoveliker ?


Sounds about right - really took off this past week.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 27 out tonight with more punky yellow birch, some nice sugar maple with two nice size splits of ironwood going in the Liberty.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for low-mid 20s tonight, a full load of pine went in for tonight’s fire. Have been using the “zipper method” that I found on here of course today and tonight to burn down all the built up coals from the last weeks mahogany and elm. Learn something new everyday.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had a low of 33 last night with a big red oak split and some post oak and hickory that went in the buck for the overnight. It was 34 this morning when I loaded the stove with a decent size post oak round and two splits for the day. We are expecting a high of upper forties today.


----------



## BrownT10

MMH said:


> Lows headed for low-mid 20s tonight, a full load of pine went in for tonight’s fire. Have been using the “zipper method” that I found on here of course today and tonight to burn down all the built up coals from the last weeks mahogany and elm. Learn something new everyday.


What is the "zipper method" exactly?


----------



## thewoodlands

BrownT10 said:


> What is the "zipper method" exactly?


My understanding of it is, rake your coals to the middle in front of the dog house (where the air comes in) and they burn down quicker.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 26.4 this morning, the dog decided to get the wife up just after 4 a.m. so when I finally got up, she had a nice fire going.


----------



## MMH

BrownT10 said:


> What is the "zipper method" exactly?


As I understand, and someone correct me if wrong, you take your coals and rake them to the middle in a N/S heap, and lay splits in a N/S direction to each side and all over top etc (or any direction probably depending on what works for your stove). This helps to burn down your coals.

I had been burning mahogany and elm for about a week, so I had a stove FULL of coals. I tried this method for 24 hours (day fire and night fire) and it worked pretty well.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 30s out, I let the stove cool down and did another clean out. Found some pine shorties and we’re off to the races again.


----------



## davo1028

BrownT10 said:


> What is the "zipper method" exactly?


Here's an old thread on the zipper method - zipper method - Hearth.com


----------



## BrownT10

Interesting, I will have to try this. After burning a bunch of loads of oak my coal buildup is excessive and waiting for it to fully burn down isn't practical without losing heat output. Perhaps I will try it this weekend when the temps will be single digits.


----------



## NickW

Been low 30's last couple of days after some pretty chilly weather. Been burning Aspen during the days to minimize coal buildup. Going back to the icebox tomorrow so I topped off the inside rack today. 

Test came back positive overnight, so 3 of the 4 of us were positive. Nobody has serious symptoms, but each has their own special little combination of some same, some different symptoms... Son is back to work following the latest guidelines, younger son who was negative is going to school, wife is working from home enjoying her man-slave making lunch for her, baking and doing dishes.


----------



## Caw

When I want to get rid of a coal mountain I just take them forward and let the air wash hit them. I'll throw on a pile of bark to give a boost of heat and help burn burn down too. It works quickly and you don't lose heat waiting. If you don't have bark you can use a few pieces kindling, say 2" or less bone dry pieces. 

This is a common issue for hardwood burners during cold snaps so it's good to have a technique to deal with excess coals. The best technique though is prevention - once secondaries have stopped open the air back up and let it run as hot as safely possible. You'll end up with less coals and faster reloads.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for 20s, more pine for tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

The house was still warm yesterday evening before I went to bed so I never reloaded for the overnight. Woke up this morning to 32 outside so I lit the stove off with some more charred red oak from a brush fire and post oak rounds.


----------



## MMH

Currently 23 out, highs headed for high 30s, threw my last 2 pine splits on this morning. Will try to restock the wood holders before I go back to work tonight.


----------



## stoveliker

feeling a bit under the weather, stuffy, sore throat. Covid test says negative. 

Last night at 8 pm put a 75% load of oak in (shorties N/S and two crooked pieces E/W in front, with some empty space - you can see I am focused on playing good stove tetris). Still going on - but it was fairly warm, 40 now.
This afternoon the cool down starts, 12 low overnight, 20 tomorrow, 14 low tomorrow night.


----------



## BigJ273

Just loaded up a full load of oak. Cold spell coming through tonight


----------



## rottiman

Currently -2 here with a drop to -20 tonight.  Looks like we will only get a brush (northern edge) of the forecasted storm for Sunday night/Monday (1-3").  Feeding both Betty and Lil' Brother with a very comfortable 75 here in the nest.


Tonight



-20°F

Clear
*Sat*
15 Jan




0°F

Sunny
Night




-17°F

Clear
*Sun*
16 Jan




9°F

Sunny
Night




0°F
60%
Chance of snow
*Mon*
17 Jan




16°F

Periods of snow
Night




3°F
60%
Chance of snow
*Tue*
18 Jan




7°F

A mix of sun and cloud
Night




-9°F

Snow
*Wed*
19 Jan




9°F

Snow
Night




-15°F

Clear
*Thu*
20 Jan




0°F


----------



## BigJ273

Jesus. Makes my low of 20 tonight look comfortable


----------



## stoveliker

38 now and decreasing to 13 tonight. The oak of yesterday evening is done, so I put a few uglies of (what I think was ) maple, some oak and a piece of ash on the remaining coals. Will burn it off on high so that the flue is nice and warm, and I get a heat boost in the basement before I put in the overnight oak load in a few hours.


----------



## thewoodlands

I'm burning down some coals from some yellow birch, I'll load up with more yellow birch and some nice rounds of ironwood in about an hour. 

Because I wanted to take ashes out this morning from the wood stove, we burned a bag of pellets last night. The wind chills are heading in the chitter tonight and tomorrow so I'm not sure if we'll burn the pellet stove or go with the furnace.  We're in the 35 to 40 below WCV area.


----------



## stoveliker

they forecast that with the windchill it will feel like -5 here at 8 AM tomorrow morning.


----------



## c604

Burned Ash last night,  burned Ash this afternoon, Burning Ash now.  Think I'll burn some Beech and Honey Locust for the overnight load for a change.  The last time I burned Beech the secondary flames were so bright and clear It was like a light was on most of the night! Really enjoying my first winter with the Kozy Heat.


----------



## NickW

c604 said:


> Burned Ash last night,  burned Ash this afternoon, Burning Ash now.  Think I'll burn some Beech and Honey Locust for the overnight load for a change.  The last time I burned Beech the secondary flames were so bright and clear It was like a light was on most of the night! Really enjoying my first winter with the Kozy Heat.


Ash and beech together make a really nice combo...


----------



## thewoodlands




----------



## rottiman

We are in the PEMBROKE area


----------



## rottiman

A very complex system is expected to track up the East Coast this weekend and has the potential to bring significant snowfall accumulation to parts of Southern Ontario starting Sunday night and continuing through Monday. This type of system is particularly a nightmare to forecast for Southern Ontario since the heaviest precipitation will track right along the American border with a very tight gradient between heavy snowfall and very little accumulation.
A slight change in the track of the system will have big impacts in terms of exactly how much snow will fall on our side of the border and how far west it will encompass. Considering we’re still over 48 hours away from the start of the snow, there’s a lot of time for the track to change as we get closer. However, there is some confidence in some parts of Southern Ontario and how they will be affected by this storm. This includes the Niagara Region and Eastern Ontario (Ottawa, Kingston, Brockville, Cornwall) which is very unlikely to escape this snowstorm unless it tracks significantly further east than expected.

Snow will start to pick up around the Niagara and Hamilton region sometime late Sunday evening or close to the midnight hour. It will continue to spread to the northeast throughout the overnight and into Monday morning. The worst conditions are expected during the early morning hours around Lake Ontario and later in the morning for Eastern Ontario.
Persistent snowfall will continue throughout the afternoon especially for Eastern Ontario, but it will begin to taper off starting from the southwest in the late afternoon and clearing in Eastern Ontario by midnight. Keep in mind this timing may change as we get closer since the system can slow down or speed up - we should have a better idea late Saturday on the exact timing.
There will also be wind gusts ranging from 40-70km/h accompanied by the heavy snowfall so driving conditions will likely be very poor with blowing snow possible. This snowstorm may impact the current plan for schools to return to in-person learning with school bus cancellations highly likely. The best chance at bus cancellations would be through the Niagara Region and Eastern Ontario with the probability decreasing the further to the northwest you go.
It’s a little too early to talk about exact snowfall accumulation due to the significant amount of uncertainty regarding the track of this system. We know that a lot of people do focus on the numbers so we have provided a very rough idea of the potential accumulation from this system. We have higher confidence in the Niagara Region and Eastern Ontario (the closer to the US border, the higher the probability) which could see snowfall accumulation of over 25cm by the end of Monday.

Those in Hamilton, Toronto, Peterborough and Bancroft are right on the line of seeing significant snowfall which makes this forecast very difficult. We’ve outlined the zone on the map (in the white hatched circle) we think could be subjected to very significant changes in the forecast depending on the track. Right now, we can say that there is a fair amount of confidence in accumulation over 10cm for those regions. However, we are being quite cautious with these numbers and some models are showing much higher totals than we’ve shown here. *If* the system maintains the current track, it wouldn’t be out of the question to see widespread accumulation between 20-40cm.
We believe it’s important to post a forecast this early due to the potentially significant impacts it could have on our region. This is now your chance to plan for a snowstorm and make any alternative arrangements for Monday should it occur. *We can’t emphasize enough that this forecast will likely change*. The best that can be done is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, we don’t want you to be unprepared! There’s no harm in being over-prepared.
Check back on Saturday and Sunday for a more detailed forecast once we get more confidence in the track of the storm.


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> A very complex system is expected to track up the East Coast this weekend and has the potential to bring significant snowfall accumulation to parts of Southern Ontario starting Sunday night and continuing through Monday. This type of system is particularly a nightmare to forecast for Southern Ontario since the heaviest precipitation will track right along the American border with a very tight gradient between heavy snowfall and very little accumulation.
> A slight change in the track of the system will have big impacts in terms of exactly how much snow will fall on our side of the border and how far west it will encompass. Considering we’re still over 48 hours away from the start of the snow, there’s a lot of time for the track to change as we get closer. However, there is some confidence in some parts of Southern Ontario and how they will be affected by this storm. This includes the Niagara Region and Eastern Ontario (Ottawa, Kingston, Brockville, Cornwall) which is very unlikely to escape this snowstorm unless it tracks significantly further east than expected.
> 
> Snow will start to pick up around the Niagara and Hamilton region sometime late Sunday evening or close to the midnight hour. It will continue to spread to the northeast throughout the overnight and into Monday morning. The worst conditions are expected during the early morning hours around Lake Ontario and later in the morning for Eastern Ontario.
> Persistent snowfall will continue throughout the afternoon especially for Eastern Ontario, but it will begin to taper off starting from the southwest in the late afternoon and clearing in Eastern Ontario by midnight. Keep in mind this timing may change as we get closer since the system can slow down or speed up - we should have a better idea late Saturday on the exact timing.
> There will also be wind gusts ranging from 40-70km/h accompanied by the heavy snowfall so driving conditions will likely be very poor with blowing snow possible. This snowstorm may impact the current plan for schools to return to in-person learning with school bus cancellations highly likely. The best chance at bus cancellations would be through the Niagara Region and Eastern Ontario with the probability decreasing the further to the northwest you go.
> It’s a little too early to talk about exact snowfall accumulation due to the significant amount of uncertainty regarding the track of this system. We know that a lot of people do focus on the numbers so we have provided a very rough idea of the potential accumulation from this system. We have higher confidence in the Niagara Region and Eastern Ontario (the closer to the US border, the higher the probability) which could see snowfall accumulation of over 25cm by the end of Monday.
> 
> Those in Hamilton, Toronto, Peterborough and Bancroft are right on the line of seeing significant snowfall which makes this forecast very difficult. We’ve outlined the zone on the map (in the white hatched circle) we think could be subjected to very significant changes in the forecast depending on the track. Right now, we can say that there is a fair amount of confidence in accumulation over 10cm for those regions. However, we are being quite cautious with these numbers and some models are showing much higher totals than we’ve shown here. *If* the system maintains the current track, it wouldn’t be out of the question to see widespread accumulation between 20-40cm.
> We believe it’s important to post a forecast this early due to the potentially significant impacts it could have on our region. This is now your chance to plan for a snowstorm and make any alternative arrangements for Monday should it occur. *We can’t emphasize enough that this forecast will likely change*. The best that can be done is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, we don’t want you to be unprepared! There’s no harm in being over-prepared.
> Check back on Saturday and Sunday for a more detailed forecast once we get more confidence in the track of the storm.


15 gallons of diesel - check
20  gallons of gas - check
Both vehicles full - check
Wife made chili tonight - check
I'll make spaghetti sauce tomorrow - check
We'll make a new meatloaf dish on Sunday - check
Grocery shopping done - check
Great dog food supply in the basement - check
A good firewood supply inside - check
We're in for 12 -18 inches of snow from the forecast tonight - we'll see


----------



## BrownT10

A load of maple, cherry and oak. Pregaming for the single digits tomorrow. Have the house at 72° currently and will run hard tomorrow.


----------



## BrownT10

Went to bed with house at 73° and woke up to house being 70° heating from basement with no other source of heat used on main floor. It is currently 3° outside and I am burning some coals down and will reload again.


----------



## NickW

Still 74 downstairs in the stove room this morning but down to 65 upstairs. Low teens outside, load of aspen on the coals in the stove. I've discovered that opposite campfires I prefer aspen over pine in the stove and fireplace, but hate it in campfires where I love the pine...

Chuckling at @thewoodlands... sounds like my planned days today and tomorrow food-wise, but we're not getting smacked by this storm. 

Chicken fajita stuffed peppers going in the slow cooker this morning and going to split some wood; tomorrow: homemade donuts for breakfast, homemade crunchwraps for lunch (breakfast style - sausage, eggs, hash browns, cheese, salsa - in a tortilla), make zucchini bread in the afternoon, stuffed zucchini for dinner....


----------



## stoveliker

13 and very windy here. The oak from last night is gone. I should have taken out some ashes yesterday; I couldn't fit in as much as I normally do. Now I'll have to make do with the space in the stove for a while.

Loaded with pine now. Will run it quite high; it's 66 upstairs, so I want some extra heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

- 17.4 this morning with some wind, back to burning some yellow birch in the Lopi.


----------



## rottiman

-21 this morning with a slight breeze.  Betty and Lil' Brother both had a nice bed of coals after the all night burn.  House was a pleasant 74 at 7 this morning.  Currently -13 and sunny.  All is good......................


----------



## Grizzerbear

I just reloaded on last nights red oak and post oak coals with more of the same. Its 33 out and windy as all get out with a pretty good amount of snow falling. It's just started to stick and the Nws says a dusting to a inch. Accuweather says 4-8 inches. Lol.....I guess it's wait and see.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Any of y'all northerners watching the Bill's and Patriot's game tonight. Gunna be a good one. Man it is going to be cold lol. Like 6 at kickoff I believe. It hurts just thinking of it.


----------



## NickW

Grizzerbear said:


> Any of y'all northerners watching the Bill's and Patriot's game tonight. Gunna be a good one. Man it is going to be cold lol. Like 6 at kickoff I believe. It hurts just thinking of it.


Anyone but the Pats....

Go Pack Go! I think this year is going to be very interesting. Nobody looks invincible and depending on what teams can keep guys off the Covid list or have a bunch on it will play a big part.


----------



## Grizzerbear

NickW said:


> Anyone but the Pats....
> 
> Go Pack Go! I think this year is going to be very interesting. Nobody looks invincible and depending on what teams can keep guys off the Covid list or have a bunch on it will play a big part.



Yep.....I haven't got over the 2018 season where brady knocked my chiefs out of the playoffs. The man is a legend though. If my chiefs don't make it I am rooting for a Bill's vs Pack bowl game. I like both teams. I agree it's the most level playing field I have seen.


----------



## thewoodlands

@NickW , the wife is cooking a beef stew after I get done the sauce,  I better get on the treadmill this coming week every day.


----------



## rottiman

Grizzerbear said:


> Any of y'all northerners watching the Bill's and Patriot's game tonight. Gunna be a good one. Man it is going to be cold lol. Like 6 at kickoff I believe. It hurts just thinking of it.


The kind of weather football SHOULD be played in..................................


----------



## rottiman

I'm afraid my Steelers will be breaking out the golf clubs come Monday morning.  Thanks Ben for all the memories.


----------



## Grizzerbear

rottiman said:


> I'm afraid my Steelers will be breaking out the golf clubs come Monday morning.  Thanks Ben for all the memories.



Don't count ben out yet. There were some years there when the chiefs season was spoiled by Roethlisberger. It wouldn't surprise me none if the steelers upset us tomorrow. The chief's have been very inconsistent this year.


----------



## rottiman

Grizzerbear said:


> Don't count ben out yet. There were some years there when the chiefs season was spoiled by Roethlisberger. It wouldn't surprise me none if the steelers upset us tomorrow. The chief's have been very inconsistent this year.


I hope your right but I have a weird feeling about this one.


----------



## rottiman

Watching the Mecum Classis Car auction from Kissimmee Florida.  Many record prices being paid so far.  Doesn't look like there is any shortage of $$$$$$$ in that segment of the world.  So body just paid 1.9 million for a 2016 Pagani.  Absolutely mind boggling


----------



## BrownT10

Grizzerbear said:


> Any of y'all northerners watching the Bill's and Patriot's game tonight. Gunna be a good one. Man it is going to be cold lol. Like 6 at kickoff I believe. It hurts just thinking of it.


Yes I will be watching. The weather plays into the Pats favor, but they will have their hands full. Go Pats!


----------



## BrownT10

NickW said:


> Anyone but the Pats....
> 
> Go Pack Go! I think this year is going to be very interesting. Nobody looks invincible and depending on what teams can keep guys off the Covid list or have a bunch on it will play a big part.


Anyone but the Pats!! Haha, a true sign of extreme success. GO PATS!


----------



## MEngineer24

White oak this morning on last nights coals. Got the wood racks full in the house and on the porch. Excepting this next storm system to move through early tomorrow morning. Bring on the snow!


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> The kind of weather football SHOULD be played in..................................


I'm a Viking fan, when Bud Grant was coach they had some cold games and I don't think he would allow heaters on the sidelines.


----------



## stoveliker

Reloaded with red oak. I'm now missing one row of splits due to too much ash. As it's 17, going down to 11 I didn't empty ashes today. Needed the heat.

Tomorrow 31, so I'll use the minisplit for a bit and make some space in the stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at -16.8 already, I'm not sure what we'll heat with tonight. If it's the wood stove there will be some nice size rounds of Ironwood going in with Yellow Birch.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We're at 29 right now with a low of 22 tonight. I just put some red oak splits and a hickory round on some coals from the previous load for the heat tonight. Stay warm folks.


----------



## thewoodlands

Grizzerbear said:


> We're at 29 right now with a low of 22 tonight. I just put some red oak splits and a hickory round on some coals from the previous load for the heat tonight. Stay warm folks.


Send that warmer weather this way!


----------



## PAbeech

-7 right now plan on burning this maple all day. And getting ready for a nor'easter


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of - 19.1 @ 11:12 p.m. last night with a temp of - 16.4 this morning. More Yellow Birch and some Ironwood went in the wood stove early this morning.


----------



## fvhowler

Freezing rain and 28* in central NC. Stove is full of post oak today.


----------



## Grizzerbear

thewoodlands said:


> Send that warmer weather this way!


 
If I could I would buddy. -19 yikes.....now that is true cold.

I seen on accuweather that the eastern 2/3rds of the country will be much below average this coming week. I think the cold sets in Wednesday for us after highs around 40 Monday and Tuesday which is average this time of year. 

We had 22 this morning with some more red oak in the stove for the heat. 22 is our forecasted high Thursday.


----------



## stoveliker

I see a cold snap Thursday evening - Friday evening here indeed: 16 F low, 25 high, 17 low.


----------



## thewoodlands

Grizzerbear said:


> If I could I would buddy. -19 yikes.....now that is true cold.
> 
> I seen on accuweather that the eastern 2/3rds of the country will be much below average this coming week. I think the cold sets in Wednesday for us after highs around 40 Monday and Tuesday which is average this time of year.
> 
> We had 22 this morning with some more red oak in the stove for the heat. 22 is our forecasted high Thursday.


This will be our first cold stretch this winter so we'll put in more Ironwood tomorrow after I plow. Today the sun is strong which is nice, just a little tease from Mother Nature with our temp at 18.9 at the moment, feels like summer.


----------



## Rusty18

30F here about 1/4” under 1.5” snow and it’s pouring it down.  Stove is cruising on some yellow pine.


----------



## Pinus strobus

Black , white and red oak in the furnace in nw pa. Snow is coming down and it’s 21F.   Bring it on!


----------



## Grizzerbear

29 out with all red oak in the stove for the heat tonight.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 28 out right now with a full load of more red oak. I had to reload the wood rack yesterday. Looks like I'm going to be burning a lot of red oak and hickory here on out this year.


----------



## stoveliker

Yesterday evening it was 28. Got a dusting of snow, but it transitioned quickly into rain. Stormy during the night. 47 F now(!!). The stove will go cold, ashes will be scooped, and maybe I'll run the soot eater to have a look how it's going.


----------



## c604

25 outside and 73 inside with a mix of ash and walnut doing the job.  Dodged the bullet with the snow and ice here in south central Indiana, only a dusting of snow.  Trading firewood to the horse farrier for his services today!  I've got 16 pallets of mainly ash with a splash of oak and honey locust  that is ready to burn this year.  Need to sell some off because it looks like good cutting for the next several years before the ash is gone,


----------



## stoveliker

Stove still too hot for a soot eater run. Turns out that in the 3" of ashes was a solid 2" of glowing coals.

So I used my cat poo scooper to separate ashes and coals. This (pic) is not in my stove anymore. The coals will be used to relight later on as it'll be 28 tonight. It already came down from 47; it's 40 now.


----------



## Rusty18




----------



## sweedish

Went to the u.p snowmobiling with the wife, came home today, so a hot load of aspen to play catch up, and then probably a load of cherry.


----------



## thewoodlands

Last night I ended up waking up in the recliner @ 11:30 p.m., I didn't feel like making a fire so I had made sure the pellet stove ready earlier that day, I made sure that was going before calling it a night.

This morning was in the low twenties so the pellet stove was shut off and the wood stove saw another load of yellow birch and maple.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We have a low of 32 tonight with it being 33 now. I've got some red oak, hickory, and a good size post oak round for the overnight. We will hit 55 tomorrow before the cold front comes in early Wednesday morning.


----------



## Grizzerbear

32 out this morning with more red oak and hickory for the heat.


----------



## stoveliker

29, windy, sunny. Still chewing through the oak branch wood from yesterday evening.


----------



## NickW

22 going up to 28 today then down to 2 tonight in the northwoods. Box elder and pine while I work during the day, ash overnight. Supposed to be -20 Thursday night. Warned the boys to get more wood in today at home for the cold snap.


----------



## thewoodlands

We hit -10.7 last night so I went with the pellet stove, when we had our first cup of coffee this morning it was 19.2, back to the wood stove after taking out some ashes.

It's still over 32 tonight so we'll go with the wood stove.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 19 out now with a low of 8 with 10-15 mph winds and a wind chill of -10 in the morning. I've got some red oak and hickory going for the overnight.


----------



## stoveliker

47 today... So I let the minisplit do its thing while the oak from yesterday night smoldered along. In the afternoon I added a piece of ash. I now reloaded with oak shorties that I'll have keep smoldering until tomorrow morning.

Tonight a low of 37. Tomorrow a high of 37, but around noon we nosedive to freezing, so the minisplit will then be switched off and the stove will take over again. (Tomorrow night a low of 16 is predicted and that will be lows for the next 5 days or so with the highs around or below freezing.)


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 30.2 tonight with it dropping down to 4, I have a load of Maple & Ironwood going in the Liberty.


----------



## NickW

1 dropping to -9 tonight with wind, so I'm under a wind chill advisory. Loading up with all ash shortly. 

Hope the boys brought in more wood at home yesterday like I told them to or Mumsy will chase their silly butts outside in the cold to get more in...😆


----------



## thewoodlands

NickW said:


> 1 dropping to -9 tonight with wind, so I'm under a wind chill advisory. Loading up with all ash shortly.
> 
> Hope the boys brought in more wood at home yesterday like I told them to or Mumsy will chase their silly butts outside in the cold to get more in...😆


I see you're sending the weather east, thank you!


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for around 20 tonight. Another load of pine down.


----------



## rottiman

Yup...........it is now winter, currently -10.  Both stoves rollin' on.....................

*Thu*
20 Jan



1°F

Sunny
Tonight




-20°F

Clear
*Fri*
21 Jan




7°F

Sunny
Night




-6°F

Clear
*Sat*
22 Jan




19°F

A mix of sun and cloud
Night




12°F
70%
Chance of flurries
*Sun*
23 Jan




16°F

A mix of sun and cloud
Night




-17°F

Clear
*Mon*
24 Jan




7°F

Cloudy
Night




-6°F
60%
Chance of flurries
*Tue*
25 Jan




3°F
60%
Chance of flurries
Night




-18°F

Cloudy periods
*Wed*
26 Jan


----------



## MMH

18 outside, 70 inside, threw a couple pine splits on for this morning.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 13 out now with a wind chill of 1 but we do have full sunshine. I just put some more red oak in the buck.


----------



## Ryan McGomery

Red elm, elm and ash


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 9.4 the last I looked, Accu has us having a low of -18 but I'm thinking we'll get colder. I ask the wife if she wanted both the wood & pellet stove going tonight, she just wanted the pellet stove so the old Yankee is going.

This morning before I headed outside, I started a nice fire with some Sugar Maple & Ironwood, the area the couch is in was 85 so for the first time this year, the heat made her come up here.


----------



## fvhowler

Coldest part of winter for us so far. High 29 tomorrow with some snow. Have been breaking out the heavy artillery...white oak to heat the house this week.


----------



## stoveliker

The oak from yesterday was done around 4 pm. I added a split of cherry, two crooked pieces of ash, and a 4" dia knotty oak branch. It was 37 this morning, 32 at 4 pm with 3/4 of snow on the ground.

25 now and a low of 16 F tonight. The next 4 nights will be in the teens with daytime highs in the 20s.

Reloaded with red oak.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 8 out now with a low of 6 tonight.  I have a pretty god sized red oak round.....probably 6 inches.....and various other red oak and hickory splits in the stove for the heat tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at - 26.3 this morning and we usually get colder, the pellet stove is still going. I did run the furnace for ten minutes this morning.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 1 out now. A little colder than forecasted but the sun just popped over the horizon and we got blue skies. I just started a full load of red oak and hickory. We will make it to 29 today.


----------



## stoveliker

The oak from yesterday evening is gone; it was 16 this morning, 21 now. A reload of pine.


----------



## shortys7777

Oak. High of 22 today. Thankfully my wife is working from home and can reload before I get home.


----------



## thewoodlands

Grizzerbear said:


> Its 1 out now. A little colder than forecasted but the sun just popped over the horizon and we got blue skies. I just started a full load of red oak and hickory. We will make it to 29 today.


Send it this way, we have another - 20 coming at us tonight.


----------



## JamesGuido

had hip replacement surgery of the 22nd of December.... which means, i'm home a lot. 
While the outside temps weren't too bad (20's) until the past week or two (single digits), 
the Jøtul F500 has been burning oak almost 18-20/7... 
shoulda been keeping track how much I've gone thru...


----------



## rottiman

Warming up here, +1 today and only down to -11 tonight.  Both stoves rollin' on, all is good.


----------



## Riff

Got up to 18F today, supposed to get down to 2F tonight. Have red oak and cherry currently burning in the stove.


----------



## JamesGuido

...in the wings....






more oak.


----------



## rottiman

I am @


Tonight



-11°F

Clear
*Sat*
22 Jan




18°F
40%
Chance of flurries
Night




7°F
30%
Chance of flurries
*Sun*
23 Jan




7°F

Sunny
Night




-13°F

Clear
*Mon*
24 Jan




14°F

Periods of snow
Night




9°F

Periods of snow
*Tue*
25 Jan




14°F

A mix of sun and cloud
Night




-24°F

Clear
*Wed*
26 Jan




3°F

Sunny
Night




-6°F

Clear
*Thu*
27 Jan




16°F
30%
Chance of flurries

a little shy of having burned 2.6 cords so far...........


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> I am @
> 
> 
> Tonight
> 
> 
> 
> -11°F
> 
> Clear
> *Sat*
> 22 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 18°F
> 40%
> Chance of flurries
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 7°F
> 30%
> Chance of flurries
> *Sun*
> 23 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 7°F
> 
> Sunny
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -13°F
> 
> Clear
> *Mon*
> 24 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 14°F
> 
> Periods of snow
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 9°F
> 
> Periods of snow
> *Tue*
> 25 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 14°F
> 
> A mix of sun and cloud
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -24°F
> 
> Clear
> *Wed*
> 26 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 3°F
> 
> Sunny
> Night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -6°F
> 
> Clear
> *Thu*
> 27 Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 16°F
> 30%
> Chance of flurries
> 
> a little shy of having burned 2.6 cords so far...........


Sending that warmer weather this way, you're a good man @rottiman .


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> Sending that warmer weather this way, you're a good man @rottiman .



And powerful, it seems. Controlling the weather (without contrails . 😂).
On the resplitting big splits, maybe I should try that too rather than telling the wife to exercise more...


----------



## Grizzerbear

thewoodlands said:


> Send it this way, we have another - 20 coming at us tonight.



She's been air mailed and on the way lol. The cold front started heading out today so tomorrow we will make it to the mid forties. 

Its 21 out as of now and expecting 18 for a low tonight. I have more red oak and hickory for the heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

Grizzerbear said:


> She's been air mailed and on the way lol. The cold front started heading out today so tomorrow we will make it to the mid forties.
> 
> Its 21 out as of now and expecting 18 for a low tonight. I have more red oak and hickory for the heat.


Send us the Red Oak and Hickory, forget about the weather, we're at -12.5 already tonight.


----------



## rottiman

thewoodlands said:


> Send us the Red Oak and Hickory, forget about the weather, we're at -12.5 already tonight.


Your colder than us,  we are sitting @ -6 right now.


----------



## thewoodlands

rottiman said:


> Your colder than us,  we are sitting @ -6 right now.


I'd take that after the temp this morning, I bet the houses on the river across the road were 10 to 15 degrees colder than we were this morning.


----------



## Rusty18

20F here today heading to 0 by daylight.   Burnt one load of pine and house temp shot up to 76 with the window open an inch.  I’m already running stove as low as I can when I burn, gonna have to start opening the window(s) more I guess.


----------



## BrownT10

A load of red oak with one large cherry split for overnight. Temp of 12° out now, love this crisp cold weather. Looks like it will warm up over the weekend. Cutting and splitting to be done


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at -16.5 with a forecast low of -20, I have the wood stove loaded up with Sugar Maple with some Ironwood going, in the opposite corner the pellet stove has one bag in it pushing out more heat.


----------



## stoveliker

23 F now, a low of 17. Pine done and oak for the night.


----------



## sweedish

High of 16 today, currently about 12. Was home a decent portion of the day, so pine and other low tier woods burned. A load of mostly cherry and bit of ash.


----------



## sweedish

sweedish said:


> High of 16 today, currently about 12. Was home a decent portion of the day, so pine and other low tier woods burned. A load of mostly cherry and bit of ash.


For tonight


----------



## c604

10 here this morning with beech and ash working great, stove is 450 measured above the center of the doors and putting out lots of btu's.  Going to move some ash and cherry logs out of the woods today to work on later.


----------



## Caw

JamesGuido said:


> had hip replacement surgery of the 22nd of December.... which means, i'm home a lot.
> While the outside temps weren't too bad (20's) until the past week or two (single digits),
> the Jøtul F500 has been burning oak almost 18-20/7...
> shoulda been keeping track how much I've gone thru...
> 
> 
> View attachment 290419
> 
> View attachment 290422
> 
> View attachment 290420
> 
> View attachment 290424
> 
> View attachment 290425
> 
> View attachment 290426
> 
> View attachment 290429
> 
> View attachment 290427
> 
> View attachment 290428



Love your stove set up! Looks great and probably works great too being so central.


----------



## Caw

Big load of red maple doing work in the Osburn 1600 this morning. I was up early randomly and threw in a medium load at 6 am so this is the first reload of the day. It's 15 degrees outside and a nice 68 inside!

Secondary combustion is a beautiful thing!





Your browser is not able to display this video.


----------



## stoveliker

I had a lot of space in the oak yesterday evening (due to some coals not well spread out). I reloaded at 10.30 with mostly maple and some ash.


----------



## Rusty18

Some maple and pine.  Got the door open to garage bringing it up to temp too so it’s more comfortable working on the truck later.  

Got down to 0F here last night.


----------



## stoveliker

Caw said:


> Big load of red maple doing work in the Osburn 1600 this morning. I was up early randomly and threw in a medium load at 6 am so this is the first reload of the day. It's 15 degrees outside and a nice 68 inside!
> 
> Secondary combustion is a beautiful thing!
> 
> View attachment 290459



Funny how different the secondaries look in a tube stove. Much more vigorous.

These are secondaries where the oxygen from the air wash meets the gases (before the cat eats the leftovers).

And this is rather"rowdy" for my stove. Often much more lazy, more blue.


----------



## Rusty18

Lol if saw secondaries like that on the vc I’d probably be feeding it a load from a fire extinguisher!


----------



## thewoodlands

We had another cold azz morning, - 25.5. I loaded the Liberty up with Sugar Maple and one round of Ironwood.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 32 out now and we are gunna pretty much stay there with a low of 31 tonight. I just lit some more red oak splits with some smaller red oak and hickory rounds I want to get burned up for the overnight.


----------



## stoveliker

I had a load of pine in the stove in the morning, and put in a few ash and maple pieces in around 5.

Now an overnight load of oak.
28 high today, 25 now, a low of 20 overnight.

I see a low of 8 Wed-Thur night...


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 18.5 tonight so we'll go with the pellet stove but in the morning I'll clean some ashes out of the wood stove and get that going again.


----------



## DuaeGuttae

Lots of oak: Live and Red, and one piece of cedar (technically a juniper) to fill a gap.   Cedar and oak are our standbys.  This load is burning on coals from a more unusual selection.  They are  fruit wood coals from our back yard: cherry, pineapple guava (feijoa), and satsuma mandarin orange wood.  The cherry died completely from the February freeze that hit Texas in 2021 because it wasn’t dormant at the time.  The feijoa also died to the ground but is coming back from suckers.  The mandarin orange we protected with frost cloth and two poultry brooding lamps that saved the main trunk, but all the many branches died.  The orange wood in particular was small, more kindling than logs, but my eleven-year-old son had a chainsawing lessong with his father this afternoon.  The larger wood that he cut was green and needing to be seasoned, but this small stuff that we had pruned off with loppers and kept in our barn was already dry.  He cut it to stove length this afternoon, so I gathered an armload and put it in the stove for our evening fire.  My son loves to heat himself up right in front of those stove, and I think he was happy when I pointed out that he was warming himself up from the fruits of his hard work this afternoon.


----------



## JamesGuido

Caw said:


> Love your stove set up! Looks great and probably works great too being so central.


thank you! when we bought the house in '91, it had this old stove in it with a wall behind it...







removed the wall and replaced the stove with a VC...






now the Jøtul in it's place.
the central location is ideal 'cept for the room in the rear of the house... stays cool there.

today, more snow overnight and temps at 10ºF with that wind feel at -12º...






...and more oak burning...


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 18 this morning, I took the ashes out (thrown in the outside fireplace) and started a fire in the wood stove.


----------



## Caw

JamesGuido said:


> thank you! when we bought the house in '91, it had this old stove in it with a wall behind it...
> 
> View attachment 290502
> 
> 
> removed the wall and replaced the stove with a VC...
> 
> View attachment 290508
> 
> 
> now the Jøtul in it's place.
> the central location is ideal 'cept for the room in the rear of the house... stays cool there.
> 
> today, more snow overnight and temps at 10ºF with that wind feel at -12º...
> 
> View attachment 290506
> 
> 
> ...and more oak burning...
> 
> View attachment 290507



Oh yeah much better without the wall there's almost always going to be a room in most houses that is cooler unless it's purely open. For us it's the dining room which is fine by us we're only in there to eat. 

We have a wall between our living room where the stove is and the den where the TV and slider to the deck is. We want to take it down once day but it's weight bearing and filled with ducts and electrical. It's easily a $25,000+ wall so that's on indefinite hold lol.


----------



## stoveliker

The oak of last night is gone. (Clearly I'm burning harder these days, but also I have quite a bit of ash and coals - it looks like ashes, but when I want to scoop it's a solid 2" layer of glowing mass of coals underneath. It's too hot to take out. So it's limiting how much wood I can put in the stove.)

I have a lot of ash shorties. So I put a bunch of those in. Not a full load because of size and shape. Will have to do that again before the overnight load.

Hoping the hot burn will clear up some of the coals.

The glass stays nice and clean though, these days.


----------



## MR. GLO

Rookie mistake....im on my last night of good wood...then onto not ready to burn wood.  It's the worst feeling....when you buy a new shed and 6 cords to get on a 3 year plan and you run out of wood and realize you need another shed.   Burnt  cords already and my red oak isn't ready. 

I tried craiglsit today 
..it was painful...but they just don't understand it needs to be cut and covered....they think laying in a pile outdoors is ready to burn....

Anyone in Mass or lower nh area selling ready to burn?  

Even the kiln dry wood is selling at 22 percent or higher....


----------



## thewoodlands

The last I looked we were at 4.4 heading to -15 according to NOAA, it's 72 up here with the basement at 80 plus, that's where the wood stove is located.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 31 out with a low of 30 tonight. I've got more red oak for the overnight.


----------



## Caw

stoveliker said:


> The oak of last night is gone. (Clearly I'm burning harder these days, but also I have quite a bit of ash and coals - it looks like ashes, but when I want to scoop it's a solid 2" layer of glowing mass of coals underneath. It's too hot to take out. So it's limiting how much wood I can put in the stove.)
> 
> I have a lot of ash shorties. So I put a bunch of those in. Not a full load because of size and shape. Will have to do that again before the overnight load.
> 
> Hoping the hot burn will clear up some of the coals.
> 
> The glass stays nice and clean though, these days.


I just rake forward and throw in a few 1-2" kindling splits and burn it wide open in this situation. Gives me a short burst of heat and lowers the coals for the next reload. Bark works really well for this too. Sometimes I'll do it 2-3x in a row until I'm satisfied, especially for overnight, and then fully reload.


----------



## Caw

MR. GLO said:


> Rookie mistake....im on my last night of good wood...then onto not ready to burn wood.  It's the worst feeling....when you buy a new shed and 6 cords to get on a 3 year plan and you run out of wood and realize you need another shed.   Burnt  cords already and my red oak isn't ready.
> 
> I tried craiglsit today
> ..it was painful...but they just don't understand it needs to be cut and covered....they think laying in a pile outdoors is ready to burn....
> 
> Anyone in Mass or lower nh area selling ready to burn?
> 
> Even the kiln dry wood is selling at 22 percent or higher....


Oh no, that is unfortunate. I live next to an old orchard and the owner processes firewood as a side business. I think he has a few bins of red oak left from last year and some limb wood. It may have a little rot on it but it would be better than green. If you want to shoot me a DM I can tell you more about it.


----------



## stoveliker

Caw said:


> I just rake forward and throw in a few 1-2" kindling splits and burn it wide open in this situation. Gives me a short burst of heat and lowers the coals for the next reload. Bark works really well for this too. Sometimes I'll do it 2-3x in a row until I'm satisfied, especially for overnight, and then fully reload.



I tried that, but no luck.
Also heating from the basement, doing that a few times didn't make enough heat (for the SO).

Maybe I need to be more diligent early on; the coals are *not* from the "last load"; it's an accumulation of coals that seem not to burn well because of being covered with ash, but to remain glowing. From the intermittent fires early in the season I remember being amazed about the persistent heat coming out after the fire has gone down. Like it's a soap stone stove. I guess it's from the layer of coals. Nice heat,.bit not enough when heating from the basement in 32 and below weather.


----------



## stoveliker

Reloaded with ash for the overnight fire.
32 and light snow outside now.. 23 for a low, 31 high tomorrow.


----------



## MR. GLO

What do you get your stt too?


----------



## Caw

stoveliker said:


> I tried that, but no luck.
> Also heating from the basement, doing that a few times didn't make enough heat (for the SO).
> 
> Maybe I need to be more diligent early on; the coals are *not* from the "last load"; it's an accumulation of coals that seem not to burn well because of being covered with ash, but to remain glowing. From the intermittent fires early in the season I remember being amazed about the persistent heat coming out after the fire has gone down. Like it's a soap stone stove. I guess it's from the layer of coals. Nice heat,.bit not enough when heating from the basement in 32 and below weather.


Do you have a metal bucket? Why not just shovel out the coal/ash mix and place it on the driveway outside of dump it into a firepit outside if you have one. That's perfectly safe. Leave like a 1/2" layer of ash in the stove and boom your ready to rock again. I do this when we get a major cold snap and I need to remove as much ash as possible to fit more wood overnight. I burn a lot of maple which produces a lot of ash.


----------



## stoveliker

Caw said:


> Do you have a metal bucket? Why not just shovel out the coal/ash mix and place it on the driveway outside of dump it into a firepit outside if you have one. That's perfectly safe. Leave like a 1/2" layer of ash in the stove and boom your ready to rock again. I do this when we get a major cold snap and I need to remove as much ash as possible to fit more wood overnight. I burn a lot of maple which produces a lot of ash.



That is what I have been doing - when the stove is cold enough. An 18*20 inch firebox with 2" of glowing mass radiates a boatload of heat though when disturbed/exposed. Just bought welding gloves...

I let it cool down in th bucket on the driveway, then use a (soil/stone) sifter (?) to separate the ashes for in the yard. I'm planning to at some point out the black coals back in the stove when it's warmer outside.

That's the plan for Tuesday. 41 high, so minisplit time and stove clean out. Wednesday night will be 10-ish so I need the space.


----------



## Caw

stoveliker said:


> That is what I have been doing - when the stove is cold enough. An 18*20 inch firebox with 2" of glowing mass radiates a boatload of heat though when disturbed/exposed. Just bought welding gloves...
> 
> I let it cool down in th bucket on the driveway, then use a (soil/stone) sifter (?) to separate the ashes for in the yard. I'm planning to at some point out the black coals back in the stove when it's warmer outside.
> 
> That's the plan for Tuesday. 41 high, so minisplit time and stove clean out. Wednesday night will be 10-ish so I need the space.


You only just bought welding gloves??? Oh man, I go thru 1-2 pairs every season. I get right in there with them, pick up and move coals that may fall out or a log that needs moving etc. I can't imagine trying to rake or shovel without them!

I use these and love them:






						RAPICCA Leather Forge/Mig/Stick Welding Gloves Heat/Fire Resistant, Mitts for Oven/Grill/Fireplace: Amazon.com: Tools & Home Improvement
					

RAPICCA Leather Forge/Mig/Stick Welding Gloves Heat/Fire Resistant, Mitts for Oven/Grill/Fireplace: Amazon.com: Tools & Home Improvement



					www.amazon.com
				




I typically wear out the right gloves and the left stays brand new so we use those to weed the rose gardens and thorn bushes out back.


----------



## stoveliker

MR. GLO said:


> What do you get your stt too?



I have a convective jacket so I don't know.  
And a cat stove, so position would matter a lot.

Flue probe is normal (,300-800, depending on how hard I drive the stove). I do have a magnetic thermometer on the door above the seal (so with a 3/4" gap?).
It runs between 200 and 500.


----------



## stoveliker

Caw said:


> You only just bought welding gloves??? Oh man, I go thru 1-2 pairs every season. I get right in there with them, pick up and move coals that may fall out or a log that needs moving etc. I can't imagine trying to rake or shovel without them!



Hands look red, with the occasional blistering stripe...


----------



## NickW

Down to 1 tonight with 2-4" forecast. Teens tomorrow, -11 tomorrow night, 1 Tuesday, -20 Tuesday night (northwoods). Oak in the Strattford II. 

Scrounged around out in the campfire wood shed and found some oak which is helpful. Also a little ash and birch in there and a small hoard I had in the garage. Running low on softwood, so I tried burning some of the iffy hardwood from outside with it. Worked pretty well. Will be hauling more wood up next time I head home.

Congrats @Grizzerbear on your Chiefs win. What an awesome game to watch! Too bad my Packers laid a bit ugly egg last night...😭😭😭


----------



## MMH

Got back from vacation in Tahoe this evening and cleaned out the stove. Currently 20 out house is 70 lows headed for 10-15 tonight. Stove is cruising on pine for tonight’s load.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 54 out now so I let the stove go cold this morning and let the heat pump cycle a little for the day. Expecting a low of 18 tonight so the stove will be fired back up this evening.



NickW said:


> Down to 1 tonight with 2-4" forecast. Teens tomorrow, -11 tomorrow night, 1 Tuesday, -20 Tuesday night (northwoods). Oak in the Strattford II.
> 
> Scrounged around out in the campfire wood shed and found some oak which is helpful. Also a little ash and birch in there and a small hoard I had in the garage. Running low on softwood, so I tried burning some of the iffy hardwood from outside with it. Worked pretty well. Will be hauling more wood up next time I head home.
> 
> Congrats @Grizzerbear on your Chiefs win. What an awesome game to watch! Too bad my Packers laid a bit ugly egg last night...😭😭😭



Thanks. It was the best game I have ever seen in my life with no exaggeration. Both teams....just pure excellence. It was hard to see the pack lose in that environment the game was played in. I mean cold and snowy......that embodies green bay football. Sorry for your teams luck though.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had another cold azz morning - 22.9 before the temp started to head the other way. I ran the pellet stove overnight, it kept the house at 67.


----------



## Tar12

Temps are trending down here...started running straight loads of locust yesterday...I am glad that I am setting on 20 cord of it because its habit forming...lol


----------



## c604

Will be burning white oak, red oak, and honey locust for the next few days.  Have quite a few ash trees moved to the wood lot to start bucking and splitting.  I'm going to have to think about long term wood storage soon.  Good problem to have I guess!


----------



## TheBigIron

Just loaded some mulberry and oak, going to be 0 tonight with some negative wind chill temperatures.  Secondary burn is engaged 🤘🏼🤘🏼..


----------



## stoveliker

After letting the stove almost go.cold to get out some ash and a lot of (hot) coals (that I'll reuse later), I ran on a few small odds and ends, including an oak split that was too long and hence went in diagonally.

Reloaded now on the half-burned stuff. It was 34 and mostly sunny today, so I didn't need much heat.

Reload with oak and maple for overnight. 29 and lightly snowing now, going up to 35 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow a high of 41 (a low of 20, and then a cold day of 24 and low of 10 Wednesday. At least I'll have space in my stove for some good loading then.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for around 10 tonight, it’ll be another load of pine for that. Looks like single digits coming back for lows this week, so I’ll bring in some mahogany for those nights.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 15 out this morning with a load of red oak in the buck.


----------



## Gearhead660

A crisp -5f this morning.   Load of elm and locust in the insert and pine in Myra for some quick heat and to burn down the coals from last night.


----------



## Caw

Was about 28 outside and 67 inside when I woke up so I threw in a big load of maple around 6:30 am. Going to hit 40 today so I'll likely let it go out this afternoon and give it a good cleaning as we have a cold snap coming in tomorrow. I want to have as much room for wood as possible! If I need more heat I have some too long stuff I'll throw in diagonally.

Guard dog is monitoring the front yard for activity:







As I'm typing this the stove heat got him. It's the best sleep medicine:


----------



## JamesGuido

Clear skies and -6° in SE Wisconsin this morning with a predicted high of 10°
Last night’s heat died down…
Loaded now with more oak.


----------



## BrianVA

JamesGuido said:


> Clear skies and -6° in SE Wisconsin this morning with a predicted high of 10°
> Last night’s heat died down…
> Loaded now with more oak.
> 
> View attachment 290640


I like your set up! 👍


----------



## MMH

Was lower teens this morning when I got up, house was 72. Threw a few pine splits in for the morning.


----------



## clancey

Like you stove and set up as well...clancey


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 13.5 this morning, more of the Maples and Ironwood went in the Lopi.


----------



## Tar12

We are looking at -1 tonight..the windchill is already -2..went through my locust stash and pulled out select 8 inch splits and crammed the stove full ...just about ready to dial it in for the night..


----------



## stoveliker

The maple and ash from yesterday evening 10.30 was done at 7.30 pm today. Yes, it was 41 F outside, so the stove didn't have to crank. I let it simmer expecting to use some of the solar electrons in the minisplit upstairs - but simmering ash and maple was enough..

I put two shorties on, running high, to make the box hot again as it was 35 out and we could use a boost.
Now I refilled with maple, ash, and two splits of oak. I think white oak, but I'm not sure. It'll be 21 for a low tonight, and only 26 tomorrow for the high.

I'm signing off as I don't feel good - shivers (while sitting in a 79 F stove room...), and dizzy when I move. So the stove will have to do the job until tomorrow morning. Sleep well all.


----------



## sweedish

Ash, mulberry, and a bit of dogwood.


----------



## MMH

Currently 11 out, lows headed for single digits. Even load for Dorothy tonight of mahogany and pine.


----------



## clancey

If you think you have a flu or something take a double dose of vitamin c and plenty of fluids and go to bed and keep warm and if you need some nutrition tomorrow and cannot cook get someone to buy you some ensure to keep your energy up--sleep well...keep warm and have hot tea too just for the liquid of it and heat feeling it gives...hope your okay stoveliker.. clancey


----------



## incinerator

Sitting at -17F.  Oak keeping it 70F in here before bed.  I'm stuffing it full of oak and sleep time.  I'll wake up in a few hours and reload.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

0f out. With wind-chill of -15. House is at 46 after the overnight. Just loaded up with pine maple mulberry and walnut.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> 0f out. With wind-chill of -15. House is at 46 after the overnight. Just loaded up with pine maple mulberry and walnut.


Just heard propane furnace kick on. Its set at 40f and the thermostat is in the basement. Only 3rd day this year it's kicked on


----------



## TheBigIron

Just loaded with white oak it’s -7degF outside, maybe I’ll check on it at lunchtime and add some mulberry splits that I have ready.


----------



## JamesGuido

minusNINE now 
high today 14ºF, a little warmer than yesterday
Jøtul full of oak burning


----------



## MMH

Currently 0 out, house is 72, Dorothy is still cruising.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had 10 this morning with another full load of red oak going in the stove after the same for last night.


----------



## Caw

15 outside 68 inside. Quick load of bark at 8 am today to burn down some coals and take the edge off. Shoveled out some ashes and reloaded at 10 am and we're cruising at 650 on red maple. 

I love burning red maple. It's a nice in-between wood between soft wood and oak for 20 degree days but boy does it make a chit load of ash.


----------



## stoveliker

It seems I'm back. No idea what was. 101 fever -> sleep -> normal (I hope, and insofar I'm ever normal ...).
Last nights load is now gone. 25 F outside.
Reloading with ash shorties - my go to stuff these days during the day, leaving the straight long stuff for overnight burns as I can fill it up nicely.


----------



## Caw

stoveliker said:


> It seems I'm back. No idea what was. 101 fever -> sleep -> normal (I hope, and insofar I'm ever normal ...).
> Last nights load is now gone. 25 F outside.
> Reloading with ash shorties - my go to stuff these days during the day, leaving the straight long stuff for overnight burns as I can fill it up nicely.



I used to hate when I'd uncover shorties in the wood stack and throw them in the fire pit bin. Now I've learned to love them for this reason. They are perfect for during the day when you don't need a full load and/or just want to burn down some coals. Saves the good stuff for when you need it. 

I do the same thing with the too long stuff. Can just toss 1-2 in diagonally and get the same effect.


----------



## stoveliker

Yes. A quicker reload is not a problem during the day. I put some 22" oak in a few days ago. Diagonal...


----------



## Rusty18

Ashes...cold ashes.  High twenties and lots of sunshine here, letting the windows handle the heating today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had -19.5 this morning with a load of Sugar Maple and some Ironwood going in the Liberty.


----------



## Rusty18

Will be the one and only load today.   Should get everything nice n toasty for the night.


----------



## TheBigIron

stoveliker said:


> It seems I'm back. No idea what was. 101 fever -> sleep -> normal (I hope, and insofar I'm ever normal ...).
> Last nights load is now gone. 25 F outside.
> Reloading with ash shorties - my go to stuff these days during the day, leaving the straight long stuff for overnight burns as I can fill it up nicely.


Glad your back doing good


----------



## JamesGuido

coldass wind outside... 
toasty inside....
grilling thighs outside...






Stay Warm Folks!!


----------



## gthomas785

Packed full of red oak for the night


----------



## Rusty18

gthomas785 said:


> Packed full of red oak for the night
> 
> View attachment 290780


Yea, I’m not brave enough to give my stove that much fuel.  I think it would hurt itself.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have - 16.6 tonight, I loaded up the pellet stove for the constant heat overnight.


----------



## gthomas785

Rusty18 said:


> Yea, I’m not brave enough to give my stove that much fuel.  I think it would hurt itself.


Sometimes having a short chimney pays off


----------



## Rusty18

gthomas785 said:


> Sometimes having a short chimney pays off


Hey, the short ones work too!


----------



## stoveliker

After running with four 1 ft  small shorties of ash during the day, and twice some kindling to try to burn down some coals, it's oak for the night. A bit too much space on the left but it started burning already before I was done and I wanted to close the door...

20 now, 14 low overnight.


----------



## thewoodlands

-19.8 and still falling.


----------



## Caw

9 degrees outside, 69 inside, a big load of red maple going in. I absolutely LOVE rectangular splits!


----------



## Pinus strobus

-1F Outside and 70F inside. Just threw an ash, locust and oak mix in the Kuuma.  Kids are sleeping in a warm, cozy house.

Eat your heart out Propane company


----------



## MMH

High today was in the 30s, got back from training around 7PM this evening temps outside we’re in the 20s, inside was 71, stove was 250-300 STT and cat had just fallen inactive from last nights load. Lows tonight are forecasted for teens but I have a sneaking suspicion we’ll end up in single territory again..so another healthy load of mahogany pine and juniper went in when I got home and it was off to the races again.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 29 this morning with some light snow. I got more red oak in the buck this morning.


----------



## Rusty18

Wonder which scale is right?  Been using it for 3 years and just now noticed.

I’ve always used the F scale but if the C scale is right I ain’t been running the stove nearly as hard as I thought I was.  Will have to check with the IR and see...or suck it up and weld a thermocouple on the griddle and be done with it!

Edit: see posts below, I was shown the error of my ways!


----------



## gthomas785

Rusty18 said:


> View attachment 290813
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wonder which scale is right?  Been using it for 3 years and just now noticed.


Why can't they both be right?


----------



## Rusty18

gthomas785 said:


> Why can't they both be right?


200C would be 424F not 390


----------



## gthomas785

By my math, 200 degrees Celsius is 392 Fahrenheit. I'd say it's pretty close


----------



## Rusty18

gthomas785 said:


> By my math, 200 degrees Celsius is 392 Fahrenheit. I'd say it's pretty close


Well egg on my face.  This has not been my week. I didn’t do the equation i just (wrongly) 100c=212f then 200c=424.  I see my mistake now!  For anyone else stumbling across this in the future
(200*°C* × 9/5) + 32 = 392*°F
Thanks for setting me straight. *


----------



## gthomas785

Rusty18 said:


> Well egg on my face.  This has not been my week. I didn’t do the equation i just (wrongly) 100c=212f then 200c=424.  I see my mistake now!  For anyone else stumbling across this in the future
> (200*°C* × 9/5) + 32 = 392*°F
> Thanks for setting me straight. *


Dont worry we all have days like that


----------



## stoveliker

Last nights' oak is gone (few 5" long pieces glowing left). Low this morning was 14 F, 21 and sunny outside now. High of 29 F later today.


----------



## Caw

11 outside, 64 inside. I power burned down the coals from the 6 am reload1 split at a time all morning and here we go again. 100% red maple.


----------



## Caw

10:50 first air shut down to 50%.  STT 400. The wood gets going fast when it's cold outside, we have a 24' chimney that likes to draw.





Your browser is not able to display this video.


----------



## Caw

10:55 air down to 25%, STT 500. Turning the blower back on.
	

		
			
		

		
	





Your browser is not able to display this video.


----------



## Caw

10:58 air down to 10% where it will stay. STT 550 and blower up to medium. This will slowly climb to steady state around 700 degrees. 



> Your browser is not able to display this video.


----------



## Caw

And that my friends is reloading am EW tube stove in a cold snap. Pretty easy and quick process with good wood and a strong chimney. 

I think the mistake a lot of people make is waiting too long to the the air down and let it get way too hot. This wastes wood and can damage the stove. I find shutting it down as soon as possible gives me the best and most even cruises. I mostly just go by visuals in the firebox. The flames don't lie!  With a recessed insert a flue probe isn't an option and STT temps lag behind a little bit.


----------



## BrownT10

Caw said:


> And that my friends is reloading am EW tube stove in a cold snap. Pretty easy and quick process with good wood and a strong chimney.
> 
> I think the mistake a lot of people make is waiting too long to the the air down and let it get way too hot. This wastes wood and can damage the stove. I find shutting it down as soon as possible gives me the best and most even cruises. I mostly just go by visuals in the firebox. The flames don't lie!  With a recessed insert a flue probe isn't an option and STT temps lag behind a little bit.


I have an Osburn tube stove. I definitely find the EW loading is more  controllable when real cold. I also have a tall chimney and can run away if not closed down pretty quickly.


----------



## Caw

BrownT10 said:


> I have an Osburn tube stove. I definitely find the EW loading is more  controllable when real cold. I also have a tall chimney and can run away if not closed down pretty quickly.



Yes absolutely. I usually save up my shorties to do a N/S load here and there for fun and it can get out of control fast if you don't watch it. I'll usually only do 1/2 to 2/3 loads this way. The design of the airwash and doghouse is really for EW so it's not surprising. N/S orientation gets more air. 

Even EW the stove likes to burn and will run away if you let it when its cold out. I typically like to just relax by the stove with the dog and get the air down ASAP for best results. Then it's just set it and forget it for 6 hours give or take depending on the load. It's not a huge stove only 1.85 cu ft. 

I had one small overfire incident this year where I got distracted post reload and hit 850 STT for a 15 minute period. Everything was OK and I got it under control quickly but it was scary for sure.


----------



## BrownT10

Caw said:


> Yes absolutely. I usually save up my shorties to do a N/S load here and there for fun and it can get out of control fast if you don't watch it. I'll usually only do 1/2 to 2/3 loads this way. The design of the airwash and doghouse is really for EW so it's not surprising. N/S orientation gets more air.
> 
> Even EW the stove likes to burn and will run away if you let it when its cold out. I typically like to just relax by the stove with the dog and get the air down ASAP for best results. Then it's just set it and forget it for 6 hours give or take depending on the load. It's not a huge stove only 1.85 cu ft.
> 
> I had one small overfire incident this year where I got distracted post reload and hit 850 STT for a 15 minute period. Everything was OK and I got it under control quickly but it was scary for sure.


I had previously been doing NS loads as I can obviously load more but the temps run hotter it you're on top of it. I can easily get overnight burns with a partial load in the 3.3 cf firebox. I like to mix it up though and I basically only burn red oak for the next couple years then I will have other stuff in the queue.


----------



## MR. GLO

Caw said:


> Yes absolutely. I usually save up my shorties to do a N/S load here and there for fun and it can get out of control fast if you don't watch it. I'll usually only do 1/2 to 2/3 loads this way. The design of the airwash and doghouse is really for EW so it's not surprising. N/S orientation gets more air.
> 
> Even EW the stove likes to burn and will run away if you let it when its cold out. I typically like to just relax by the stove with the dog and get the air down ASAP for best results. Then it's just set it and forget it for 6 hours give or take depending on the load. It's not a huge stove only 1.85 cu ft.
> 
> I had one small overfire incident this year where I got distracted post reload and hit 850 STT for a 15 minute period. Everything was OK and I got it under control quickly but it was scary for sure.


Great info and thanks for videos...i been using pe summit for almost a month now and turning the air down early does help me. Having a blower fan is a neat trick to control the stt. I have not purchased that yet..  

When I turn down the air early it will still creep sometimes to 750 plus with an almost 3/4 full box.  The downside...Turning air down early I find more smoke on startup and reloads even with good flames and wood. 

The flue damper works great to control the stt and but sometimes that lowers flue temps  too much for me.  I measured the flu 18 in 24 in and at the adapter area...guessing double wall might help a little. 

If I use the damper too early and not let the interm flue temp get to 600 or so and before using all of the air inlet stage adjustments  it will give me a lower flue temp burn.   So basically I'm sitting at the stove for 15-20 minutes on reloads before I can go to bed. 

With a pre 2020 stove I didn't need a chair near the stove to make all the adjustments.


----------



## JamesGuido

Nothing.  36º outside today so, i cleaned her out.


----------



## thewoodlands

We hit - 20 at 10:53 p.m., we loaded up some Sugar Maple & Ironwood this morning.


----------



## stoveliker

A devilishly grinning piece...


----------



## Rusty18

stoveliker said:


> A devilishly grinning piece...
> 
> View attachment 290902


Not so much a thumbs up sinking in molten metal as a fist bump sinking in a pit of coals!


----------



## incinerator

Mid 20Fs some i'm burning some top quality pallet wood.  I think its syp (its yellow and dense and has a nice smell).   Calling for -8F by morning so i'll load it up good before bed and probably have to get up in the  night to add some more.    Still no furnace usage


----------



## thewoodlands

Accu has us having a low of 12 tomorrow morning, I'll load up the stove with Maple and Ironwood tonight.


----------



## Marconis

Not a stove but open fireplace loaded with nothing but relaxation. Bourbon helps. Mix of oak, birch, and likely some ash.  20* and feeling all of my heat from the radiators goin’ right up the chimney. At least it’s warm within a five foot radius of the fireplace, ha. We’ve burned every night this week, something we never really do. Addicted.


----------



## stoveliker

That disturbing piece wasn't gone yet and it's bed time. So I raked all the junk (from that piece of oak and two 1 ft long ash pieces) forward, loaded 5*5" square but only 1 ft long ash pieces behind it, added longer thinner ones on top and an oak piece across in front.

The stuff starts burning too soon when it's 78 F after having been a few feet from the stove for a day or two... No chance of proper stove Tetris..

28 now, which is also the low. Tomorrow 33 during the day. Then snow at night. They predict 12-18" still. And 70-90 mph gusts, with regional outages expected overnight and Saturday.

I'll load up the rack in the garage.
So, even if I'm not here, I'll be warm. That is after sledding and shoveling.


----------



## MMH

Have work training all week that’s about 12 hours each day so I’m not getting my mahogany in early to come up to temps during the day, tisk tisk. Oh well; lows headed for 0F loaded up tonight with pine and juniper. Not nearly as exciting as Caw’s tutorials, but a nice steady predictable ashford, the primary’s will die down within 5-10 mins and it’ll be a coal glowing otherwise black stove for the night.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 28 this morning with hickory and red oak for the heat. I had a load of red oak last night. The stove is getting pretty full with ashes and I need to clean the glass. I will take care of all that this evening before reloading.


----------



## Caw

MMH said:


> Not nearly as exciting as Caw’s tutorials


I live to entertain and educate the people! I'm currently laid up on the couch waiting for my am pain meds to kick in. The mornings are the worst. 

It's 65 in here so I just threw in a load of big maple pieces. Not going to get Yoon cold this weekend but we're expecting the same storm as @stoveliker. Current estimates have me in the 12-18" belt with further east towards the city getting more like 18-24" which is pretty rare, it's almost always the other way around. 

We brought in wood the other day but it's been cold so the stove is chowing it down. We're gonna get back out there and top the inside racks off later today before it starts just in case. We don't have a generator so if the power goes out we'll all be camping out in the living room or 1st bedroom upstairs, those are the warmest rooms in the house if my blower doesn't work. The insert does protrude 9" so we get some heat off that and the glass but not enough for the whole house. Good enough in a temporary situation though.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 5.4 this morning after the first cup of coffee, I ran the pellet and the wood stove overnight so we woke up to a temp of 72 in the living room and 68 in the bedroom, I'll take that heating from the basement.

We're just burning the wood stove and the temps up here are still 72 and the bedroom still at 68.


----------



## baseroom

Back below 0 tonight here.  Save the Locust and Hickory for the nights.  During the day I have cut ash a littler shorter and run it north south.   Been nice ......I am running through a fair amount of would this January.  I have plenty so not worried though!


----------



## JamesGuido

A New Ash Grate!


----------



## thewoodlands

We have - 11.3 already with the pellet stove going in the basement, I'll load up the wood stove around 10 with some Maple and Ironwood.

The temp here in the living room is hanging at 70 and the bedroom at 67.


----------



## bikedennis

The power company took down a giant cedar close to home.  With my neighbor we got 6 truck loads.  Cedar burns good in my BK.  Neighbor has a BK also.  Cedar burns hot and fast but is controlled in these stoves.


----------



## all night moe

Only going down to 7*F tonight.
Been feeding the stove dead ash limb wood and some splits of petrified black cherry.
Before I konk out I'll throw in a mix of locust, oak, and hicory. If I do this at 11 I'll be good till 5am. Been running the stove hotter on these colder days/nights.


----------



## sweedish

Currently 1, mulberry along with some ash, and 2 rounds of pin cherry that barely had the clearance to fit, I should have took a picture, Then filled in the gaps with dogwood.


----------



## stoveliker

Last night's oak was done at 4.30 or so (it was 29-33 today, so I didn't need a lot of heat; home was 70.5 all day) after which I took out two scoops of ashes, raked the coals to the front, and burned three times two sticks (1"*1") of cedar and ash on top. Helped a little, but I think that works better with a more directed airflow right to the coals. After that I put 3 small punky pieces of oak on. I reloaded with proper oak splits for overnight at 10.30.

It's 33 outside. Flurries started at 2. It's now been lightly snowing for 3 hrs. Accumulation of 3/4" or so. Wind is picking up.

A low of 26 tonight, a high of 26 tomorrow, and 11-17" of snow to go.


----------



## thewoodlands

From what I saw before I called it a night, we had a low of - 18.7. I had both the pellet and wood stove going in the basement overnight, the living room temp this morning was 69 and the bedroom at 66.

We're back burning just the wood stove today, the forecast temp tonight is - 11.


----------



## stoveliker

Last night's oak was done at noon. Reloaded not completely full with a mix of pine, ash, and a maple split. Running high; wind is howling, temperature is dropping. 20 F now outside, with a wind chill of 5 F. May do another load before the night load.

Snow has become lighter. About a foot on the ground (in the snow gauge that is the trampoline with its safety net). Not sure how much more; forecast says snow until 8 pm or so.


----------



## Caw

Just tossed in a couple splits of maple to burn down the morning load coals. 71 in here 17 outside and about 12-15" on the ground so far. I'm running the stove pretty aggressively trying to get ahead in case of a power outtage. I'm pretty reliant on my blower/tower fan to move the air around. I will reload with a box full o maple once it's time!

🍁


----------



## stoveliker

Here too; using a fan to get the heat up


----------



## thewoodlands

@Caw  & @stoveliker , we could have another storm coming in on Feb. 2 & 3 for our area, we could get 11-18 inches of snow (still early so that will change) but they're talking about the areas on the east coast getting hit today with snow & wind possibly getting rain that could cause flooding, The Groundhog Day Storm.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had a low of 18 last night with red oak for the heat. This morning it was 21 with red oak and hickory in the stove. We are going to have a run of nice days with highs in the 50s....nearly 60 monday.....and then a chance of a winter storm Tuesday night into Thursday morning with some of the coldest temps of the season Thursday night. They are still ironing out where the low will end up traveling which will determine if we actually get snow or just rain so we shall see.


----------



## Caw

thewoodlands said:


> @Caw  & @stoveliker , we could have another storm coming in on Feb. 2 & 3 for our area, we could get 11-18 inches of snow (still early so that will change) but they're talking about the areas on the east coast getting hit today with snow & wind possibly getting rain that could cause flooding, The Groundhog Day Storm.



Gotta love New England weather. Mid Jan thru early March can get really wild. I'd prefer snow honestly. A big rain storm would lead to some real flooding issues then possibly ice. It was such a wet summer all the ponds are very full.


----------



## thewoodlands

Caw said:


> Gotta love New England weather. Mid Jan thru early March can get really wild. I'd prefer snow honestly. A big rain storm would lead to some real flooding issues then possibly ice. It was such a wet summer all the ponds are very full.


The way winters have been in the past is after we get snow the rain came in, last year was the first time that when the snows came....they stayed.

We'll put in extra wood tomorrow and then I'll make sure the snowbanks are pushed back far enough, if we get a bunch of snow and then rain/freeze, they won't be frozen in along the driveway.


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> @Caw  & @stoveliker , we could have another storm coming in on Feb. 2 & 3 for our area, we could get 11-18 inches of snow (still early so that will change) but they're talking about the areas on the east coast getting hit today with snow & wind possibly getting rain that could cause flooding, The Groundhog Day Storm.



I have about 13-14" on the ground. Still coming down, but lightly now. We won't get rain; it's 20 and decreasing to 14 overnight. Strong winds though, see wind chill temp below.


----------



## thewoodlands

Caw said:


> Gotta love New England weather. Mid Jan thru early March can get really wild. I'd prefer snow honestly. A big rain storm would lead to some real flooding issues then possibly ice. It was such a wet summer all the ponds are very full.


Once we get above freezing during the day and below at night, we have better ice than most NHL rinks.


----------



## all night moe

9pm with wind chills expecting to hit -30* One of the coldest nights Ive had here yet. I believe it will be an accurate forecast. I'm in the hills at about 1300ft or more. Have a mix of everything burning right now. Small rounds and splits. For overnight, I've been saving a 6'' apple round and an 8'' pignut hickory round. I fill the remaining space with some smaller rounds of locust, and oak. Our Husky and Akita have been laying on the floor trying to keep cool. 🤣

BTW, it's been almost 20yrs since I've had the pleasure of burning apple. I'm quite impressed. We have 9 of them growing here. 4 have some decent dead wood limbs.  2 are 30' or so in height with good dia limb wood. I find this stuff to be ready burn this time of year. I'll be doing some climbing soon when it gets a bit nicer out.


----------



## bigealta

Wind still 25 here on NJ coast  with temp at 16f. Wind chill way colder. Gonna load up with some petrified oak. Jotul f400 still up for the task and keeping poorly insulated cape house warm.


----------



## thewoodlands

- 13 already, the Liberty will get another load of Sugar Maple and some Ironwood tonight.


----------



## bigealta

Looks pretty close to dialed in for overnight, going to bed now.


----------



## Grizzerbear

36 now with a low of 27. I've got more red oak for the overnight.


----------



## stoveliker

16, wind chill 4, low of 14.
After the pine/ash/maple from earlier today was done, I burned three pieces of punky oak. After that I used some 1*1" ash pieces to burn down some coals.
Now it's red oak for overnight.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's - 15.2 tonight with the pellet and the wood stove going in the basement.


----------



## MMH

Have had single digit nights all week. Another load of pine and mahogany for tonight.


----------



## all night moe

MMH said:


> Have had single digit nights all week. Another load of pine and mahogany for tonight.
> View attachment 291110


Burning the Mahogany kills me ..... such beautiful and expensive wood.


----------



## JamesGuido

15ºF in Raymond this Sunday morning....
burning oak is gonna heat up the place for two local roundball games around the noon hour
(#22Marquette at #17Providence)
(Minnesota at #11Wisconsin)

Hope you folks in the New England states and surrounding areas are staying warm


----------



## MMH

all night moe said:


> Burning the Mahogany kills me ..... such beautiful and expensive wood.


Mountain mahogany is the only hardwood I have in my area


----------



## TheBigIron

Just loaded some cherry and black locust, time for championship games..


----------



## thewoodlands

Our temp bottomed out at - 23.3, I'm not sure what the wind chill was but these double digit below zero temps can leave when this month ends.

I loaded up the wood stove this morning with Sugar Maple and Ironwood, I'll take some ashes out and reload with hopefully the same.


----------



## MMH

Looking like single digits or lower at nights for the week. I refilled the stack and moved more mahogany in; threw some odd pieces of elm in an hour ago for the wife before I head for work.


----------



## stoveliker

So, 24 today, 23 now, 16 for a low tonight.
After last night's oak was done around 12.30, I burned some combo of ash and maple. I reloaded for overnight with red oak around 8.30. Not a fully stuffed load because of some places where small branches had been that bulged out. Good wood, but a bit of air in between. I hope it'll be okay until tomorrow 8 is or so. Then I'll burn some big noodles oak knots during the day.


----------



## all night moe

4* here. Actual temperature with no windchill. Feels good compared to the hell unleashed last night. 
Old Moe is ingesting a garden salad. Nice even heat. 300* stove top. Got get her stoked up with a couple of big rounds on the coals with some surrounding splits. That should get me through the night.  I'll be up for a while longer anyway.  Work has come to a crawl.


----------



## thewoodlands

It finally warmed up some here in Northern New York, we're at 8.6 tonight with a load of soft maple, hard maple and four rounds of ironwood in the Lopi Liberty.


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> So, 24 today, 23 now, 16 for a low tonight.
> After last night's oak was done around 12.30, I burned some combo of ash and maple. I reloaded for overnight with red oak around 8.30. Not a fully stuffed load because of some places where small branches had been that bulged out. Good wood, but a bit of air in between. I hope it'll be okay until tomorrow 8 is or so. Then I'll burn some big noodles oak knots during the day.


Hopefully Accu is wrong, they have us getting a low temp of -24 at night on 2/4.


----------



## Grizzerbear

32 this morning with red oak for the heat this morning. I put a small load in since it will get to high 50s today.


----------



## baseroom

After so many single digit days and nights its a balmy 28  !  Burning ash.  Saving the rest of my hickory and locust until after the next storm when temps will dive once more.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 2.6 this morning with more maple and ironwood splits going in the wood stove.


----------



## baseroom

thewoodlands said:


> We had 2.6 this morning with more maple and ironwood splits going in the wood stove.


Wow. Ironwood You may as well be burning coal.  Getting ready for the next blast?? We are here!


----------



## JamesGuido

30° here…
Small oak fire stirring…




What’s in your grill?


----------



## thewoodlands

baseroom said:


> Wow. Ironwood You may as well be burning coal.  Getting ready for the next blast?? We are here!


When we have seasoned Ironwood, we usually burn a face cord a year and January up here in Northern NY was our coldest in about eight years an we heat from the basement so when we were -23 or -26 we needed it.

We also have a pellet stove in the opposite corner in the basement, we burn that at night with the wood stove during the coldest months. We burn 50 bags a year in the old Yankee Pellet Stove.

How has your winter been in the Rochester area?


----------



## stoveliker

Today was slightly punky oak uglies day after last night's load was done. 28 for a high, 25 now, low of 22.

Reloaded 2 half,-noodled and half-split oak crotches (so 4 Y-shaped pieces), one split of oak, and a small ash split for overnight. Lots of space left, do here's hoping the low of 22 will help get me till tomorrow.

Charring the load:


----------



## TheBigIron

Woke up at 0500, house little chilly 64, racked my coals loaded with some 16% white oak and cherry, house 68 secondary burn engaged.  Maybe check on it around lunchtime.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Just ashes. I left the stove to go cold last night.  We got close to 60 yesterday and I don't think we went below 43 last night so I gave the buck a rest. We will be running it pretty hard here come tomorrow morning when the snow and cold temps move in.


----------



## thewoodlands

I ran the pellet stove overnight, we had a temp of 1.4 this morning and the P.S. was shut off, we're burning some of the Maples in the wood stove today.


----------



## stoveliker

The oak Y's from last night are done. The low was 19, not 22 as they had predicted.
I just added 2 oak uglies and a "X27 misfire" (sliver). 33 now, 34 for a high.


----------



## Zzyk

Oak oak and more oak... Been well below zero every night.  Mostly by double digits.  My favorite is -18.  50 degrees below freezing is fun!


----------



## JamesGuido

Zzyk said:


> Oak oak and more oak... Been well below zero every night.  Mostly by double digits.  My favorite is -18.  50 degrees below freezing is fun!


I like oak. 
All I burn. 
Including on this quite evening in Raymond… still upper 30’s yet comfortably warm indoors.


----------



## NickW

Load of aspen going right now to get the temp back up and rewarm the fireplace in the northwoods. Nice day today with sun, this mornings aspen load got it a little too warm for drywalling... I was sweating! Let it burn out, just a few coals for the reload. Overnight will be beech, ash, birch and maybe a little oak. Will depend on how the tetris works out.


----------



## Labfriend

Red oak and pear


----------



## stoveliker

Some more oddly shaped oak. 34 now 33 all night. Tomorrow I'll let the stove go cold and either tomorrow or Thursday I'll run the soot eater thru the flue. 

Tomorrow 39, Thursday 42, Friday 43, with tomorrow and Thursday night a low of 34-35. I'll use the minisplit then.

Friday night 19, so Friday afternoon I'll light up again.


----------



## BrownT10

Load of red oak going. Should have enough in the basement to last through February, then might have to dip into next year's stack a bit depending on March temps.


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 36 out now with some rain. Expecting a low of 22 tonight and some freezing rain turning to snow. I got a full load of red oak for the overnight going now.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 29.2 tonight, the wood stove has some not so great maple going in it for the overnight load.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had 22 this morning with snow and sleet falling. Had a load of red oak and hickory stuffed in the stove for the heat today.


----------



## stoveliker

The oak pieces of last night are gone now. Waiting for it to cool down before I run the soot eater. But maybe it'll be tomorrow. A low of 34 tonight, so doable with the minisplit.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30 degrees this morning, we're burning some not so great maple today with our outside temp hitting 47 today.


----------



## JamesGuido

a friend sent some ironwood...
looks to awesome to toss in the stove...
they're about 3"x12" each...
really hate to burn'em...


----------



## thewoodlands

JamesGuido said:


> a friend sent some ironwood...
> looks to awesome to toss in the stove...
> they're about 3"x12" each...
> really hate to burn'em...
> 
> View attachment 291370


Throws some nice heat when seasoned.


----------



## all night moe

JamesGuido said:


> a friend sent some ironwood...
> looks to awesome to toss in the stove...
> they're about 3"x12" each...
> really hate to burn'em...
> 
> View attachment 291370


I got a 1/2 dozen of those in limb wood too. There sitting in the basement near the wood furnace. Right on top of a stash of shag hickory. maybe a wheelbarrow or better. They were by the furnace when we moved in. They're dry as can be, and I didn't have it in me to "waste" em in the furnace. They're my back up stash now .....

I hoard hickory too.


----------



## JamesGuido

thewoodlands said:


> Throws some nice heat when seasoned.


I'm certain of that!


all night moe said:


> I got a 1/2 dozen of those in limb wood too. There sitting in the basement near the wood furnace. Right on top of a stash of shag hickory. maybe a wheelbarrow or better. They were by the furnace when we moved in. They're dry as can be, and I didn't have it in me to "waste" em in the furnace. They're my back up stash now .....
> 
> I hoard hickory too.


My intention was to use it as wood for smoking meat... 
It is supposedly very good for low n' slow cooking and emits a mild smoke flavour...


----------



## c604

Temps dropping to low 20's tonight with snow.  Loaded up with ash earlier and will load up with more ash for the overnight.


----------



## TheBigIron

Just loaded some smaller elm and oak uglies that I couldn’t split.  Racked my coals around pretty easy restart this morning.  12 inches of snow fell in the last (24 hours) wifey fed the stove yesterday while I was working..


----------



## thewoodlands

We were just above 30 this morning with more maple going in the wood stove, the temp up here is 70.

We received more rain than snow overnight but the roads are good and the driveway has snow on it and not ice. Most of our snow (6-11) will come during the day and tonight.


----------



## NickW

-13 this morning at 7. Load of Aspen in the Strattford II on a good bed of coals has the temp up to 70 from the 64 the gas furnace is set at. 

Hit a new high temp as I could smell paint curing. 868 on the door hot spot with the air 100% shut, which is about 650 stt. No flue temp as it is all class A chimney. I have to go by how the fire is acting to shut down the air. As soon as I start getting decent secondaries I start shutting down. Often I'll have to open back up again and then shut down again as this is not the easy breathing NC30 at home. I think the outside air intake really restricts the air flow until things are well heated. I do really like the new Auber digital flue probe I installed at home.


----------



## JamesGuido

NickW said:


> -13 this morning at 7.


wow! where in SE WI are you?
it was 11 above at 5:30am in northern Racine county...


----------



## Grizzerbear

Firewood. The wife's at home feeding the stove. I've been in at work plowing snow since 3 or so this morning. I'd say we got about 8 inches right now with snow still falling with 15 degrees out.. It looks to be done snowing around 3:30.


----------



## NickW

JamesGuido said:


> wow! where in SE WI are you?
> it was 11 above at 5:30am in northern Racine county...


I'm in the northwoods building now. Usually up 10 days, home 4. Get north of Stevens Point and Wausau and it's usually 10 degrees colder during the day and 15-20 colder at night. Lots more snow too.


----------



## JamesGuido

NickW said:


> I'm in the northwoods building now. Usually up 10 days, home 4. *Get north of Stevens Point and Wausau and it's usually 10 degrees colder during the day and 15-20 colder at night. Lots more snow too.*


oh boy... do i know that. Stay warm up nort!


----------



## NickW

JamesGuido said:


> oh boy... do i know that. Stay warm up nort!


Strattford II is doing it's job... well insulated and sealed new construction is pretty easy to heat; and the gas furnace kicking in isn't as offensive as the electric baseboard heaters at home.

Funny thing about the temps is that in summer it's often warmer here than SE WI because of Lake Michigan's cooling effect. I'll sometimes get cooling effect from Lake Superior here when winds are from the north or northwest, but the summer weather from the SW is predominant and hot.


----------



## JamesGuido

Expecting “lake effect” snow now til 7…
Other than that, it’s just 20° in semi fashionable Raymond Wisconsin
Oak burning once again


----------



## DuaeGuttae

My normal loads consist mostly of oak and cedar in various combinations.  We’re having cold (for us this far south) and ice today, so I brought in lots of wood yesterday: big knotty cedar trunks for overnight and odd twisty pieces and y’s and chunks of both oak and cedar for burning down coals or loading empty spaces.   I did a reload just before dinner and didn’t want to make it too big and have to wait for it to burn down for the overnight load, so I used just three pieces.  One of those was a piece of cedar trunk that had a branch protruding that would have made it hard to load with others.  It was medium sized.  Around it on either side I packed two pieces of oak branch wood.  Neither was as large as the cedar, but I figured that they would take a while to burn down and give some good support to the cedar.  Imagine my surprise when I glanced at the stove a bit ago and saw the cedar burning merrily away and almost not even any oak coals remaining.  Granted they were smaller pieces, but still.




I just opened up the air to burn that down some more.  My husband recently noodled a large cedar stump that had been sitting in our barn for three or four years. It gave us six short but very knotty pieces.  I’m hoping to get two more in the stove for the overnight load (forecast for 17 degrees).


----------



## fvhowler

No burning for last few days. Got up to 71* today. Colder by the weekend. White oak is on tap.


----------



## NickW

-9 right now. Load of beech, ash and birch going.


----------



## sweedish

Pine. Tonight will be cherry and ash.


----------



## thewoodlands

15.8 tonight with five plus inches of snow on the ground, it's still snowing so we might get another five by morning. I have a load of the Maples and four rounds of Ironwood going in the Lopi Liberty.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had a low of 11 last night with post and red oak for the heat. I loaded up this morning with red oak and post oak again with a high of 30 expected today and sunshine.


----------



## JamesGuido

Been burning a lot being home for the last 6 weeks....
Jøtul filled with oak...


----------



## Tar12

With this extended cold snap I have been feeding the Princess a steady diet of White Oak and Locust...this stove always amazes me with the ultra steady heat output! I loaded up last night at 7:30 and it was 18 outside..after the stove had settled in the stove room was 77.0 degrees..when I awoke this morning at 8:30 the temp.was 10 degrees outside stove room was 76.2 degrees! I installed a Auber AT200 a couple days ago and like a kid with a new toy I was constantly monitoring the pipe temp..this proved to be ultra boring as it proved out what I already knew and the temp held extremely steady...


----------



## stoveliker

2 days with a cold stove. Cleaned out the ashes, took the pipe off and ran a soot eater through. Brushed the cat. All looks good.

This morning was 51 outside, second day of dreary rain. It's 37 now, decreasing. I saw some sleet  an hour back. I think we won't get ice. 

I started the stove again at 11.30 this morning. It's good; it felt cold in the basement the last two days (even if it was 64 after a month of 24/7 burning there...)


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 7.5 this morning with eight inches of new snow, three driveways plowed and the ashes taken out with both stoves going.


----------



## JamesGuido

Oak.
Naturally.


----------



## whtoak

Burning white oak and hickory right now in the Jotul F500. It was 60's all day, now it is down to upper 30's. In the Virginia area. We have had some weird weather since last November.


----------



## Caw

Maple time! 🍁 🍁 🍁 🍁 🍁 






Your browser is not able to display this video.


----------



## Ashful

Five years in, and this is still the most inanely boring thread I have ever seen.


----------



## stoveliker

You're welcome.
Or you're welcome not to look at it...?


----------



## BrownT10

I guess I am not that sophisticated...must be insanely boring. Huh


----------



## BrownT10

He must have at least been intrigued, if he took the time to log on and post.


----------



## Grizzerbear

19 out with a low of 10 and ten inches of dry powdery snow on the ground. I've got some more red and post oak for overnight.


----------



## stoveliker

28 right now, they give a24 for the low. We did get some freezing rain (I saw 1/20 of an inch on some wood outside), and now there is 1/2" of snow.
The stove has been loaded with oak. 69 in the home.


----------



## MMH

Got off work last night, wife had loaded the stove but her loads usually won’t last through the night so the propane kicked on this morning ugh; did a quick clean out this morning but left the stove cold. High was in the 30s today but had good sun so house didn’t dip down to bad, it was 66 around 730 when I started up again. Lows headed for around 10 +\- for tonight. A decent diet of pine mahogany and red elm went in.


----------



## fvhowler

Winter is back in NC. White oak is heating the house today. My favorite.


----------



## stoveliker

Reloaded with a baby load of maple and ash at 11.30 to have enough heat for when some friends cover later today. Basketball game of my son now 😁


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had a temp of 15 this morning when I got up at 7. I slept late and the heat pump was in emergency mode. Yikes. First time I've had that happen this year but I was tuckered out from two overtime days in a row. I jumped up and loaded the stove with some more post and red oak. Its 37 out today with full sunshine and not a cloud in the sky.


----------



## stoveliker

That's the best weather to me; bright, not too hot to do stuff. But cold enough to warm up near the stove after being outside.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Yea it's great weather out today. Me and the two older girls just got back from sledding. They are tuckered out.


----------



## MMH

Was in the teens this morning when I finally rolled out of bed, threw some pine splits in. Currently in the high 30s today


----------



## MMH

Was in the teens this morning when I finally rolled out of bed, threw some pine splits in. High of 30s today. Lows headed for around 10 again. Another load of pine and red elm. Oops looks like I may have double posted, my bad.


----------



## stoveliker

Reloaded yesterday at 7 pm or so with oak for overnight. I had about an hour of heat left now but as I have to leave, I reloaded with ash and maple. 

I believe a low of 14 last night, 18 now, but heating up considerably to 30 for a high today. Bright and sunny crisp morning here.


----------



## zmender

14F overnight. Mixture of 23% MC hardwood (mostly oak) and biobricks in ~5in:1 brick ratio. Reloaded last night around 10:30, 7AM was nice thick coal bed. House stayed at 64F all night (furnace kicks in at 62).


----------



## sweedish

Currently 21 out. Pine and boxelder


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 20s but warming up, house is 71. Threw a couple more pine splits in for this morning while we wait on the solar energy.


----------



## fvhowler

Ashful said:


> Five years in, and this is still the most inanely boring thread I have ever seen.


If you have nothing to add to this topic, please refrain from commenting and move along.


----------



## JamesGuido

it's actually 40ºF outside, clear sunny skies - not a cloud to be seen
...and my stove with burning oak inside it is keeping the furnace from running... 
patio door cracked open a bit allowing some fresh air inside this home...
It's a perfect early February winter Sunday 
i believe a Tanqueray & Schweppes may be in order...


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 11.4 last night before I hit the sleeper, when we had our first cup of coffee this morning it was -3.2.

Overnight I ran the pellet stove, we had 68 up here and 66 in the sleeper. We're back burning the wood stove today.


----------



## JamesGuido

thewoodlands said:


> We had - 11.4 last night before I hit the sleeper, when we had our first cup of coffee this morning it was -3.2.


🥶


----------



## Grizzerbear

I put a load of red oak in at 5 this morning. It's clear skies and sunny at 42 right now. Another beautiful day.


----------



## thewoodlands

JamesGuido said:


> 🥶


We should be through the worst but I'm sure we'll have more minus nights.


----------



## Caw

Coal mountain! I'm burning some gigantic logs I had. It's literally over half full of coals kind of funny lol.  Just gonna be tossing on small splits one at a time and bark to resolve it over the next few hrs.


----------



## stoveliker

Ash and maple of this morning is done. Was 29 for a high today. Nice and sunny. Spent the afternoon outside cutting the last pieces of the wood that was in my driveway racks - a few were 22" or so and that's too long for my current stove. Then I disassembled the racks (and chipped the Christmas tree branches; still need to cut the trunk).

The driveway is nice and clear now. Will be relocating the basketball hoop to a better position..

Reloaded with ... Oak. (Red).

It's 29 now and it'll not get lower tonight. This week seems to be fairly mild; around 40 during the day and around 30 during the night. Tough to avoid cold starts if I also use the minisplit. We'll see.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 21.7 tonight with the wood stove getting a load of soft and hard maple with four rounds of ironwood on the top row, the temp up here is 70 and the basement is 78.


----------



## Gearhead660

Myra cruising with a load of oak, locust and elm for the overnight.


----------



## stoveliker

Nice pic! What stove is that?


----------



## sweedish

Cherry.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for teens tonight. A full load of pine.


----------



## Gearhead660

stoveliker said:


> Nice pic! What stove is that?


Myriad 2.


----------



## TheBigIron

Plowed snow all weekend, kids were home by themselves during the day so NO fire all weekend, but just loaded with cherry and white oak with a small split of Osage.  Secondary combustion engaged, probably check on it at lunchtime..


----------



## Grizzerbear

Had a low of 22 last night with red oak and hickory for the heat and more red oak for this morning. Expecting a high of 45 or so today.


----------



## JamesGuido

20ºF now, with a high of only 26ºF.
need to reload...






...more oak.


----------



## Gearhead660

In the stove-  pine.
On the stove-  pancakes.


----------



## thewoodlands

I think we had a temp just over 16 this morning, another load of the maples and some cherry went in the Liberty.


----------



## stoveliker

The oak from last night was done at 5 pm. Yes, while starting out at 29 F or so, it went up to 39 F today. But no solar heating as it was a dreary, foggy, rainy day...

I put 4 of the 2-3" cut offs of the splits I shortened yesterday on the coals, and now I reloaded. Ash, maple, and a punky oak knotty piece. Not a very tightly packed stove. 36 and rainy now, 36 and rainy all night. Tomorrow 40 and rainy.  Blech. Keeping the stove on because it doesn't eat much, and it gives at least some ambiance during a gray day (yes, some orange glowing is better than a cold stove).


----------



## Marconis

Some birch and oak


----------



## MMH

Low headed for teens tonight after hitting 50 today, another load of pine down; on another note I think I’ve possibly secured a steady state of hardwood scraps from a cabinetry place locally. Fingers crossed.


----------



## zmender

100% black locust @ 13%~18% MC, BOOOYAAAH! This is an indulgence I can't afford on a regular basis.

Living room is 73F, highest since probably since September? haha.


----------



## stoveliker

Nice!


----------



## TheBigIron

Woke at 0500 this morning racked my coals from my overnight load, reloaded with white oak and honey locust.  Each splits are about 15% MC easy restart this morning.  Have a great day people…


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had a low of 33 last night with hickory and red oak for the heat. Its 35 out now with a one big red oak round and some various small rounds to heat the house this morning. Expecting a high of 58 today.


----------



## stoveliker

40 F today. Simmered last night's load, kept the home at 70 for 21 hrs, of course with help from the sun.

Just added one oak ugly and two small (almost kindling) maple splits. Tonight will be a low of 29. I hope the oak is far enough done when it's bedtime reloading time.


----------



## Marconis

Open fireplace loaded with oak and I’m fairly certain maple. I’m an arbrorist but my bark/wood ID is horrendous. Did a little top down with a nugget and smaller kindling. Bottom logs are hissing more than I’d like but it’s way hot in there with minimal smoke so I’m not concerned. Only way to tolerate this awful movie, Frozen, that my kids want to watch 6 times a day. And beer, of course. Going to be warm on Long Island for the rest of the week so getting in some fire while I can.


----------



## JamesGuido

Marconis said:


> Open fireplace loaded with oak and I’m fairly certain maple. I’m an arbrorist but my bark/wood ID is horrendous. Did a little top down with a nugget and smaller kindling. Bottom logs are hissing more than I’d like but it’s way hot in there with minimal smoke so I’m not concerned. Only way to tolerate this awful movie, Frozen, that my kids want to watch 6 times a day. And beer, of course. Going to be warm on Long Island for the rest of the week so getting in some fire while I can.
> 
> View attachment 291833


Beer (or Tanqueray) makes everything bearable.


----------



## stoveliker

Lol, I remember those days. I've seen (or sat thru) Frozen about 837 times... 

You have my sympathy. 🤣


----------



## MMH

Highs were in the 50s again today, almost feels like shoulder season except the wrong darn month. Let the stove go out, house is 72. Lows in teens again tonight, will start with pine and top off with more pine and some red elm.


----------



## stoveliker

Reloaded with ash and maple. 34 now, 29 for the low.


----------



## clancey

Marconis--what a beautiful set up and that beer sounds good to me so I am getting one out of the fridge...Does your TV get affected by the heat being above the fireplace? Lots of people have their TV over the mantle but I would not take the chance with the electronics but I guess the fire does not affect the workings of the TV and lots of people have them that way...clancey


----------



## Grizzerbear

Marconis said:


> Open fireplace loaded with oak and I’m fairly certain maple. I’m an arbrorist but my bark/wood ID is horrendous. Did a little top down with a nugget and smaller kindling. Bottom logs are hissing more than I’d like but it’s way hot in there with minimal smoke so I’m not concerned. Only way to tolerate this awful movie, Frozen, that my kids want to watch 6 times a day. And beer, of course. Going to be warm on Long Island for the rest of the week so getting in some fire while I can.
> 
> View attachment 291833



I feel your pain. I've got three girls so I've been there done that lol.

We have a low of 28 tonight with a full load of red oak tonight.


----------



## Marconis

clancey said:


> Marconis--what a beautiful set up and that beer sounds good to me so I am getting one out of the fridge...Does your TV get affected by the heat being above the fireplace? Lots of people have their TV over the mantle but I would not take the chance with the electronics but I guess the fire does not affect the workings of the TV and lots of people have them that way...clancey


Hi Clancey, Thanks! A lot of guests over my house have asked that, and the answer is no. The top of the mantle does not get hot, only the bottom, and I think that the mantle shelf protrudes enough that it actually pushes the heat away from the surrounding walls. The top of the mantle, TV screen, TV base, and back wall are always cool to the touch even after burning for several hours.


----------



## clancey

That's wonderful and it saves a lot of space and I notice on here that quite a few are using up their mantles just that way--good for you--happy burning--looks pretty..clancey


----------



## JamesGuido

to get the dampness outta the air, started the stove about an hour after the smoker this morning...
oak in the Jøtul...






pork and garlic in the Weber...






garlic is done, pork has hours to go.


----------



## BrownT10

JamesGuido said:


> to get the dampness outta the air, started the stove about an hour after the smoker this morning...
> oak in the Jøtul...
> 
> View attachment 291880
> 
> 
> pork and garlic in the Weber...
> 
> View attachment 291881
> 
> 
> garlic is done, pork has hours to go.
> 
> View attachment 291882


What time is supper?!


----------



## NickW

JamesGuido said:


> to get the dampness outta the air, started the stove about an hour after the smoker this morning...
> oak in the Jøtul...
> 
> View attachment 291880
> 
> 
> pork and garlic in the Weber...
> 
> View attachment 291881
> 
> 
> garlic is done, pork has hours to go.
> 
> View attachment 291882


I could make it there by dinnertime even going through the Milwaukee rush hour traffic. I'm just up by the Washington, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac county junction...😁. 

Unfortunately, I just got home a couple of hours ago and am expected to have our dinner ready for everyone else...


----------



## JamesGuido

BrownT10 said:


> What time is supper?!


supper? ?  you from Wisconsin?


NickW said:


> I could make it there by dinnertime even going through the Milwaukee rush hour traffic. I'm just up by the Washington, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac county junction...😁.
> 
> Unfortunately, I just got home a couple of hours ago and am expected to have our dinner ready for everyone else...


take your time, supper's around 7 and there will be leftovers...


----------



## stoveliker

No garlic here in the stove. I added two short cherry splits at around 3 because last night's load was done and I wanted to keep the stove warm. 41 out today, and sunny. 71 in the home.


----------



## MMH

Hit 50s again today, highs near 60 next week. This is crazy. Let the stove go out again, will relight this evening.


----------



## BrownT10

JamesGuido said:


> supper? ?  you from Wisconsin?
> 
> take your time, supper's around 7 and there will be leftovers...


Haha, not from Wisconsin, but have been there. Raised in NH, always was supper to me.


----------



## stoveliker

Reloaded with ash and maple just now. I'll simmer it tomorrow again; want to keep it warm for the 32 low tomorrow night. I am only letting it go cold if it's above 40 for 24 hrs or more. That'll happen Friday morning until Saturday afternoon.


----------



## fbelec

JamesGuido said:


> to get the dampness outta the air, started the stove about an hour after the smoker this morning...
> oak in the Jøtul...
> 
> View attachment 291880
> 
> 
> pork and garlic in the Weber...
> 
> View attachment 291881
> 
> 
> garlic is done, pork has hours to go.
> 
> View attachment 291882


love that garlic spread on some good Italian bread


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for 20s tonight, a load of pine for that.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had a low of 28 last night with some red oak and hickory for the overnight again. I let the stove go cold this morning with a high of mid 50s forecasted for today.


----------



## thewoodlands

With the warmer weather, we've been burning some pellets when needed. We hit 46 yesterday with a low of 36.4 this morning.

Since we have this warmer weather, I did a full clean on the inside of the wood stove this morning, when I finished I started a fire in the wood stove with some Ash.


----------



## MMH

Currently 30 out, house is 73. Will let Dorothy go out again today. Might take advantage and run the soot eater up there today.


----------



## woodey

Let the coals in the Kuuma die out last evening as we were at 40 and got up to 42 this morning. I set the propane furnace at 68 and will wait until late tomorrow before firing up the Kuuma.


----------



## stoveliker

So, yesterday's load of ash and maple is done. 23-ish hrs. Of course it was not cold; 29 for a low early morning, 46 for a high, and sunny.  But the stove did its thing; it kept the basement at about 77 and my living room at about 70-72. I didn't need the stove; could have done it with the heat pump during the day, but tonight is going to be a low of 32 again. So I wanted to keep the stove warm for the fire that is starting now. This is what was left. 

Tomorrow I'll let it go cold. 48 or so for a high, and 45 for a low. Saturday then 50. But 30 Saturday night, and colder on Sunday. So I'll relight Saturday afternoon.

I'll be taking some ashes out tomorrow or Saturday for the cold snap Sunday night and Monday.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 28.6 tonight with a load of Ash going in the wood stove.


----------



## MMH

Ran the soot eater up there today, did a quick ash clean out. Lows headed for 20s. Doing a quick warm up with some pine and then I’ll load some more….you guessed it..pine.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 26.4 this morning with another load of Ash going in the Lopi. It was still 69 up here before the first fire I started later this morning.


----------



## MMH

Hit 50 something again today. Lows headed for upper teens. Started with a couple pieces of pine and small piece of mahogany, will load up tonight with another full load of pine.


----------



## TheBigIron

Low teens this morning loaded with mulberry and a few elm uglies.


----------



## thewoodlands

Since it has been warmer, I haven't been looking at the outside temps. Last night I filled the wood stove up with Ash, up here was 70 and the basement 74.

This morning I loaded the Liberty back up with all Ash, 70 up here and the high temp in the basement hit 77.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Been burning red oak and hickory for the last couple nights and mornings with lows in the 20sand 30s and a low of mid 20s last night. I've got some coals in the stove right now for the overnight reload.


----------



## c604

I've been burning through some 4 year old walnut during the day and reloading with ash and oak at night. Walnut burns well but my gosh it is messy! Luckily I don't have much of it left.


----------



## stoveliker

Restarted the stove. 42 right now (after a 53 f high ...), and decreasing to 30 or so tomorrow morning. 1-2" snow predicted.

Full firebox top down start. (Bedtime stove starting, so no way to start with a bit, and create a coal bed for a night reload.)

 Oak on the bottom, ash above that. Pine on top, minus one split that was filled with two cedar sticks, some splitting trash, and a few rolled up papers.

Fire started directly below the car, and when I tried to close the bypass 7 minutes in it already immediately started glowing.

Will run it higher than normal to warm up the basement. So likely a morning reload tomorrow.


----------



## sweedish

A load of apple and mulberry, man that smoke smells good when I step outside, and now I want to smoke ribs or something.


----------



## NickW

Back home for a few days again. Ash & beech just got loaded and working on settling in. Down to 4 tonight.

Heading back to the northwoods Monday. Need to haul more wood up again. The ash & birch up there is down to low 20's mc on a fresh warm split, so I've been mixing it with good stuff from home. Temps below 0 for the overnights up there still.


----------



## sweedish

sweedish said:


> A load of apple and mulberry, man that smoke smells good when I step outside, and now I want to smoke ribs or something.


As far as heat, I should not be too far off from locust according to the btu chart.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 5.9 tonight with a forecast low of - 3, we have the pellet stove going in one corner and the wood stove in the other corner with a load of Ash and two rounds of Ironwood.

It's 70 in the living room and 68 in the sleeper.


----------



## MMH

Another day in the 50s, low headed for around 20. A full load of pine for tonight again.


----------



## c604

15 this morning.  More walnut and a couple pieces of ash on the coals from last night's load.  With this walnut I'm burning I'll have to scoop some ashes out today.


----------



## Gearhead660

In the single digits this monring.  Got some maple in Myra.  Couple pieces of pine in the Tundra to burn down the pile of coals from the load of hickory  last night.


----------



## JamesGuido

running dangerously  low of dry oak... burnt more than i expected since Christmas / surgery
however, this house has been toasty every cold day.
last week before i start my final 40 days of work.


----------



## zmender

Just got back to 60F home after a week on road. Snow is coming down heavy. Black locust mixed with mystery wood. 

This snow is throwing off my plan to build a new wood rack. Now I have about a cord of seasoned quality locust sitting on the ground gathering snow on top. Not happy at all.


----------



## rottiman

-16 here this morning, currently -9.  Ole' Betty humming along on 4 yo Red Oak blocks.  A comfortable 72 in the nest.  Getting ready to see the Bengals kick LA's arse tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 0.4 this morning, the basement was 81 (shut the P.S. off) the living room was 69 and the bedroom was 67, the floors up here were 76.4.

I loaded up the wood stove with Ash and a few rounds of Ironwood, the temp up here is still at 70.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 30s out, heading for near 60 again; house is 70. Dorothy will go out again. Have a small cold snap on the way.. finally.


----------



## Jay106n

Lol just got an email from Hearth advertising this thread that I created 7 years ago. I logged in and it was the top thread in the woodshed section, 209 pages long and adding. I think I should get a royalty or something 😂. I just love seeing every ones burning strategies.

Anyway, I got a mix of ash and maple running today after a few inches of snowfall.


----------



## stoveliker

Jay106n said:


> Lol just got an email from Hearth advertising this thread that I created 7 years ago. I logged in and it was the top thread in the woodshed section, 209 pages long and adding. I think should get a royalty or something 😂. I just love seeing every ones burning strategies.
> 
> Anyway, I got a mix of ash and maple running today after a few inches of snowfall.


Nice. And you made the fist post on the 210th page.

I enjoy this one. Even if a lot is repetitive, I like reading what others burn, what issues (e.g. coals) they run into, motivation for letting the stove go cold. Just a no-nonsense reading of others' experience in something I enjoy myself. 

So, thank you for starting this.


----------



## stoveliker

I just reloaded with pine. 30 outside and still snowing. 3-4" on the ground. 67 inside (and 77 in the basement). Just like I like it. But going to crank it up a bit because tonight will be 19 for a low.


----------



## zmender

Collected about 1/3 cord off ground. Time for a quick meal and I’m gonna hit road again for next week.


----------



## rottiman

Got up to 5 today and headed for -20 tonight.  Ole' Betty keepin' us warm as we are watching "who dey"  put it to those "left coasters"!


----------



## MMH

Temps headed for 20s tonight, gunna start off with some red elm, then I’ll do another full load of pine for the over night.


----------



## stoveliker

Got 5-ish inch of snow today. 28 now, 18 for a low. Tomorrow a high of 26 and sunny, but I'm not sure that'll be enough to have the snow slide off of the solar panels; it was 31 today so the snow is now well-frozen and icy, stuck to the panels.

Reloaded with (red) oak. Not entirely full because quite some pine coals were left and three pieces were a bit crooked.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was - 2.6 the last I checked, I turned the pellet stove on and started another fire in the wood stove with more Ash and Ironwood. When the basement temp hit 79, I came up here, it's 69 in the living room and 67 in the sleeper.


----------



## sweedish

Currently 7 out, continuing on with another overnight load of mulberry and apple, with some small bits of cherry and locust filling in the gaps.


----------



## Grizzerbear

I had some red oak and post oak for the overnight with a low of 22. Its 23 out now but we are expecting a high of 54 today so I didn't reload this morning. I figured I'd let the heat pump work a little bit.


----------



## thewoodlands

Our low was - 5.9 this morning, the living room temp was 70 this morning, the floor in the living room was 76.6 and the bedroom temp was 68.

The high temp in the basement overnight was 84, I shut the P.S. off and started a fire in the wood stove with some Ash.


----------



## rottiman

Was -16 earlier this a.m..  Sitting at -6 right now.  The Red Oak blocks keeping it at 72 here in the nest.


----------



## MMH

Urgently in the 30s out, heading for 40s, maybe 50s today, cloudy out. Small system supposed to be coming in this evening. House is 72, I’ll throw a couple morning pieces in and see what it looks like later this afternoon.


----------



## MMH

Well, got scraps from the source I mentioned earlier, was expecting more dimensional lumber scraps but it’s mostly kindling size pieces. I’ve got a few decent pieces, mixed hickory cherry and maple so I’ll call it mystery load. Also got in touch with another source who takes a tree trimming companies wood and mulches it, sounds like there willing to let me come cut and take some. Hopefully that works out as well. 

High was in the 50s again today, cloudy and windy but house stayed warm. Currently in the 40s out with lows headed for low 20s and rain/snow mix tonight into tomorrow morning, likely only a dusting. House is currently 69. Will start up with a couple small pine splits, and I’ll end with a healthy mixed diet, I’ll come back and show that later.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at - 5 tonight already, the P.S. is on with the overnight load going in the wood stove later on, more Ash and Ironwood.


----------



## Marconis

Maple, with a log that got some snow “drying”; loaded 20 minutes prior to photo. Started this season thinking I’d be a weekend warrior, instead been burning (inefficiently) almost everyday since the new year. End of February may be the last of it. Going to build a woodshed this spring and start hunting around for some quality wood to buy a proper cord for the fall. 

Been fun.


----------



## zmender

I’m sitting in a hotel room with air conditioning that is drying out my nose. 
Wife at home treating the stove as an open fire place burning assorted New England hardwood. And it’s 8F outside.


----------



## stoveliker

After running on pine and some (garden; 4" dia) fir today, I reloaded with red oak, maple, and two small sticks of what I think was black walnut from a neighbor's yard. Hi today was 25, 22 now, a low of 16 tonight.

Went sledding with the kids down a hill in a nearby park this afternoon. Almost froze my butt off... Wind blowing, drifting powder like groups of snakes wiggling close to the ground, sun setting. But we had fun 😊


----------



## thewoodlands

It's - 8.7 at the moment with the temp up here in the living room at 70 and the bedroom at 67.


----------



## MMH

Tonight’s load is 4 pieces of pine, mahogany split, red elm split, juniper split, 4 slabs of the mystery wood and mystery fillers. The mahogany has a thicker end in the back, but left a gap up front I didn’t notice until to late.


----------



## stoveliker

Yeah, that happens to me too. Starts off too fast to adjust. And if there only was perfectly straight wood....


----------



## thewoodlands

At 5:11 this morning our temp was - 6.7, we had 70 in the living room, 68 in the bedroom and the high in the basement overnight was 87.

I shut the P.S. off just after 6 and we're back to burning Ash in the Lopi.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 20s out and still snowing. Looks like a couple inches. Dorothy is still cruising, house is 73-74. Let it snow.


----------



## shortys7777

Oak load last night. 5 when I woke up this morning and loaded it with oak before leaving for work. Wont be home till late so the heat will probably turn on. Hopefully my wife starts the fire when she gets home.


----------



## stoveliker

After some pine and more 3" fir today, it is now time for oak and maple. 27 for a high today. 25 now, 21 for a low tonight.

Tomorrow I'll let the stove go cold until Friday afternoon.


----------



## gthomas785

Oak. Heading down to 11 tonight, which looks like the last of the serious cold we'll be seeing this year.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's - 0.5 tonight, we'll burn down the coals in the wood stove and take them out tomorrow morning, they'll go in a metal garbage can. The P.S. is on and will provide the heat for tonight, it's 68 in the living room and 66 in the bedroom.


----------



## bigealta

Oak but it’s that every day since that’s what I’ve been hoarding the last few years.


----------



## sweedish

Ash, pin cherry, black cherry, boxelder.


----------



## JamesGuido

47ºF out now with a high of 53 and rain...
the little dry-ready-to-burn wood i have left i'll save for colder days
So, Ashes are What Is In My Stove Right Now.

kinda looks bored, sitting there with no flames


----------



## Gearhead660

Having a heat wave right now before the front comes through.  Let the Tundra go out so I can clean the ashes out.  Just loaded Myra up with Hickory and Locust.  That should last a while...


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 16.2 this morning, I shut the P.S. off and took out the ash from the wood stove. When I came back in I started a fire with another load of ash going in the Liberty.

It was 70 in the living room and 68 in the sleeper this morning.


----------



## Sawset

Heat wave it is.  Close to 50 today, heading to 5.
The midwinter wood is all white oak.
When pulling trailer loads from the woods, I had to be careful of the ice that has formed.  Don't just drive on up --- and slide backwards back down.


----------



## Marconis

Oak/maple, just started 15 minutes ago.


----------



## JamesGuido

could not take it any more... had to fire it up.
sick of hearing the furnace kick in...
old dirty mix of some dry hardwood... a piece of non-dry will be added once it heats a bit...
just too damp inside to not do it!


----------



## Sawset

JamesGuido said:


> just too damp inside to not do it!


This is the time of year where dry heat really comes in handy.


----------



## Gearhead660

Sawset said:


> This is the time of year where dry heat really comes in handy.


Especially with the fog and rain we are getting tonight.


----------



## MMH

Refilled the wood for the wifey before I went to work. After hitting nearly 60 everyday last week, we’re back to what looks like typical winter.


----------



## thewoodlands

We just had the one fire this morning with the temp inside still at 67, with the winds picking up tonight, we'll go without a fire so I'll run the furnace for about five minutes before I call it a night.


----------



## sweedish

Mostly cherry with boxelder


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 41 with rain when we had our first cup of coffee, we're back to burning some ash in the wood stove. The temp in the basement is 75 and up here we finally hit 69.


----------



## stoveliker

Not much. I took out some ashes. Saw one or two still glowing coals. 50 out there today...


----------



## baseroom

thewoodlands said:


> When we have seasoned Ironwood, we usually burn a face cord a year and January up here in Northern NY was our coldest in about eight years an we heat from the basement so when we were -23 or -26 we needed it.
> 
> We also have a pellet stove in the opposite corner in the basement, we burn that at night with the wood stove during the coldest months. We burn 50 bags a year in the old Yankee Pellet Stove.
> 
> How has your winter been in the Rochester area?


not very harsh until the beginning of January...Then normal for here, cold and snowy....good ole Lake Ontario adding to the fun.  I have plenty of dry ash that I burn most of the time.  I break out the hickory and locust for the coldest nights.  only gets to about -10 here.  Not like where you are


----------



## TheBigIron

Came home plowing snow after a 12 hour shift, wife has the stove blazing with honey locust mulberry and some red oak.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a chit load of rain today (still raining hard out) it's 35.2 out tonight, 70 up here with a load of Ash and some Ironwood going in later for the overnight load.


----------



## clancey

From a little bit I know Ash sounds real good to me and to put some ironwood  with it for longer burning sounds just perfect...clancey


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 11 out now with a full load of hickory and post oak. Expecting a high of the mid 40s today.


----------



## JamesGuido

9º with sunny skies at 7:45 Friday morning... my last day off of work from hip surgery...
at least until April 25th (1st full day of retirement)

anyway, Jøtul filled with some mixed hunks of dirty hardwoods...
about out in the house, gonna have to drag some in here soon.
gonna be a cold weekend


----------



## stoveliker

Just started the stove. Power is out since 3.37 am. Predicted restoration with crew onsite is 4 pm. 55 F this morning. 43 now. 23 for a low.
 Time to get the basement up to temperature for the overnight fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 9.5 this morning (still is) I loaded up the wood stove with more Ironwood and Ash. We also received five inches of snow with more coming in.

It looks like we'll have a second system coming in with more wind and snow.


----------



## stoveliker

Reloaded with oak and pine.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 6.1 tonight, four splits of Ash on the bottom row with another two rounds and two splits of Ironwood on top row. It's 68 in the living room, 66 in the sleeper and 78 in the basement where the stove is.


----------



## fvhowler

Just a chilly 30 degrees this morning. Post oak, red maple and bradford pear keeping the house warm.


----------



## JamesGuido

5º in Raymond Wisconsin.
stove is cold.
time to fix that.


----------



## c604

19 here this morning.  Burning a mix of ash, walnut and white oak this morning,  Need to cut and split some ash logs today while its frozen outside.


----------



## zmender

Cold starting the stove after a week on the road. 

Bottom of the stove is a layer of biobrick (9 bricks). Kindling was the snapped twigs that gathered on driveway and patio past week. Once fire was going I moved onto maple and ash splits. This fire is hot right now.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had a low of high 20s last night I believe. I had some hickory and post oak for the overnight. We are getting by on the coals left over right now with 36 out and full sunshine.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a temp of 20.6 this morning with the living room 65, the sleeper was 64 and the basement was 70. The wood stove received another load of ash.


----------



## bipsic

Maple, Oak, and a nice bed of embers from eco logs, which make my life much easier, since I just got my chimney liner installed Feb 1, and I don't have much dry wood yet.


----------



## stoveliker

Nice. That is an insert? What kind?


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> Nice. That is an insert? What kind?


It says Ashley on the bottom right.


----------



## bipsic

thewoodlands said:


> It says Ashley on the bottom right.


Ashley, I used to have an old Tremont slammer insert that was 8" so I replaced it with the Ashley (made by Breckwell) with a 6" size and 3 baffles inside across the top. It is 2.6 cu ft, so I can almost make it thru the night with oak splits. Supposed to get down to 19 tonight, so I have a few oak splits saved to keep us warm .


----------



## zmender

18F tonight and everything is wet and slippery from snow spalls this afternoon. 

Reloaded with 28% MC oak ( ) and 16% MC locust (). Tomorrow morning 9, 10am when I wake up living room will be around 65F and a bed of coal in stove for reload.


----------



## stoveliker

We're gone for a couple of days. The stove will still be chewing on the oak I stuffed it with this morning. Burning low, so the home should be about 63F. 

In the Airbnb there is a nice woodshed outside. A fireplace inside. Fan. And fake flames :-(

Nice place though. Quiet, rural, animals for the kids (daughter while eating some pizza: one of the goats licked my hand - and I think I washed them. All good; good for her immune system.) But the remote control fireplace fake flame electric heater in a wall is not my thing...


----------



## thewoodlands

Accu has a low for our area hitting - 4 so the wood stove is burning down coals and the pellet stove has one bag in it and running for the overnight heat.


----------



## zmender

21F, 63F in house... burnt down faster last night than I expected. Reload with biobricks, wet oak, and locust.


----------



## NickW

Load of aspen to burn down last nights coals and give a quick heat burst in WI northwoods. High of almost 40 today after not seeing 20 for a week and negative mid teens overnights. Will get some ash out after this load burns down. 

Big storm with cold temps and wind forecast for Monday afternoon into Wednesday morning. 10-15" of snow.


----------



## JamesGuido

40° right now with a high of 55. Very windy with gusts to 45mph expected...
Stove was cold this morning so I cleaned the glass (1st time since Christmas) and emptied the box of ash.
Started a small fire with dirty mixed hards…


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 7.4 this morning, I shut the pellet stove off and the Lopi received another load of Ash with the same going in tonight. Our outside temp is 38.1 tonight and the temp up here at 70.


----------



## clancey

I wonder about the use of the different types of  wood to use and why ash because I thought oak was better in the way of btu"s and I believe Pine burns quicker and for a shorter time and oak gives you longer burning. So why Ash wood what makes this so good in burning for cold weather. ? clancey


----------



## zmender

seems white ash almost comparable to red oak in BTUs: https://www.firewood-for-life.com/firewood-btu.html


----------



## clancey

That is neat information---thank you...clancey


----------



## thewoodlands

clancey said:


> I wonder about the use of the different types of  wood to use and why ash because I thought oak was better in the way of btu"s and I believe Pine burns quicker and for a shorter time and oak gives you longer burning. So why Ash wood what makes this so good in burning for cold weather. ? clancey


We usually burn beech, ironwood or sugar maple during our coldest temps but the beech and sugar maple will get more time seasoning, that will be ready for our coldest months in 2022-2023 . Mixing in some ironwood with ash makes for nice heat and overnight burn.

Even when we've had some minus nights lately, the day temps are on the rise so ash is what we'll burn. Since the EAB was found in our county, I started felling ash to heat with.

We use the pellet stove on colder nights too for the constant heat, last year we burned 50 bags and this year we'll burn 53 if we use what we have here.

We had 35.3 this morning with the temp in the basement at 71, up here in the living room 68 and the bedroom 67.


----------



## MMH

Got off work last night pretty late so we let the propane go, wides been using it for the 5 days I was at work which hurts the rear…highs in the 30s today with snow off and on for a few days, lows headed for 10 or below through this cold front. Started up with pine and Dorothy is off to the races again.


----------



## JamesGuido

today was the first day since dec23 this stove wasn't lit in the morning...
had to return to work after recuperating from hip replacement surgery...
and lemme tell'ya it was tough.

anyway, fired up the Jøtul with some mellow dylan to ease thru the next 8 weeks... retirement on the horizon
dirty oak and perhaps some filthy maple too inside.
thanks for viewin'


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 30.2 tonight with the wood stove getting another load of ash and just for @clancey , two small limb wood rounds of ironwood. 😉

The basement temp hit 74 heading north, the living room temp is 69 and the sleeper is 68.


----------



## stoveliker

You like sleeping warm...(I prefer 60 I'm the bedroom).

Is your bedroom this temperature also at the end of the night?


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> You like sleeping warm...(I prefer 60 I'm the bedroom).
> 
> Is your bedroom this temperature also at the end of the night?


We usually have it 64 but the warmer temps outside has the bedroom temp up 4 degrees.

The temp should be pretty close to 68 in the morning with the outside temps were having.


----------



## MMH

Low temps for a few days, highs in the 20s lows single digits or lower, snow for a couple days. Brought mahogany in for that. Tonight is 4 pieces of mahogany 4 pieces of pine and mystery fillers.


----------



## thewoodlands

Our outside temp was 25.1 this morning with the basement at 70, the living room 67 and the bedroom temp was 66 with more ash going in the wood stove this morning.


----------



## MMH

Currently 22 out feels like 10. House is 71, dorothy still cruising on last nights load.


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> Currently 22 out feels like 10. House is 71, dorothy still cruising on last nights load.


We just hit 52, crazy weather for February in our neck of the woods.


----------



## MMH

Currently 24 out, feels like 13; house is 70. Just reloaded with a piece of pine juniper and mahogany for the rest of this afternoon. @thewoodlands same here we had 60 just last week and highs in the 50-60 range for almost 2 weeks or so before this system came through.


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> Currently 24 out, feels like 13; house is 70. Just reloaded with a piece of pine juniper and mahogany for the rest of this afternoon. @thewoodlands same here we had 60 just last week and highs in the 50-60 range for almost 2 weeks or so before this system came through.


Tomorrow we go from 44 to 3 and then Sunday night Accu has us hitting - 10. We're having a crazy azz February weather wise.


----------



## Tar12

Its been a crazy February here as well..62 yesterday..59 today headed down 25 tonight and hanging out in the low 20s at night for several days...just fed the Princess a belly full of Oak...its all good.


----------



## thewoodlands

I didn't think we needed a fire but the boss wanted one tonight so I loaded up the liberty with ash for the overnight burn.

It's 47.3 tonight with the living room temp at 70.


----------



## MMH

Currently 20 out with the “feels like” at 10, lows headed for around 10. Always end up near 0 with this type of weather. House is 71. Loaded up tonight with 4 pieces of mahogany 5 pine splits and some more mystery fillers.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 45.3 this morning with the living room temp at 70 and the sleeper at 69. We started off the morning with a load of ash going in the wood stove.

The outside temp has dropped to 26.4 with some strong winds and it's started snowing some.


----------



## MMH

Currently 16 out with the feels like at 2. High today in the low 20s. A nice odd chunk and juniper and mahogany with some mystery pieces are going in for today.


----------



## stoveliker

Came back from our trip to PA. 60 outside... But a low of 27 tonight. So I lit the stove. 3 splits of pine to get it going (and heat up the basement) before the night reload.


----------



## stoveliker

Basement is 80, all is warm, burned off the creosote that was caked on my window from the long slow oak burn when I left for a few days with a hot short fire to start the stove, flue, basement. Now a reload of red oak. A bit shorter pieces than I like (15" or so vs 17-18") but it will only be 27 for a low. So it's enough fuel for the night.


----------



## zmender

Just got home after several days on road. Cold starting the stove.

Bottom layer - 9 biobricks 
2nd layer - locust splits 
3rd and up - assorted small splits and faggots from the yard 

Result - nice blue secondaries


----------



## MMH

Currently 11 out with the wind chill making -1, house is 71. Lows headed for -7 tonight, which will be coldest part of this system. Dorothy cruised all day on the juniper and mahogany pieces. Reloaded with mostly mahogany, some pine splits and mystery fillers.


----------



## all night moe

Ashes with an overnight low of 12*
Temps expected to drop over the next 4 days. Scrambling for wood to feed the furnace.
Looking forwards to the end of March.


----------



## NickW

-5 in the northwoods, ash & beech. The 10-15" forecasted was actually around 6", so much easier cleanup. Heading home tomorrow and should beat the next system coming in there with (supposedly) 2-4"... Probably get a dusting or 8"...


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 8.4 tonight with NOAA calling for a low of - 3, I'm going with just the wood stove tonight that has a bottom row of ash and the rest filled with ironwood.

The basement temp is 77 heading up, it's 68 in the living room and 67 in the sleeper.


----------



## MMH

Hit negatives last night, currently 0 out house is 68. I’ll be turning the stove up and then having a pine bin fire to help burn down the coals of burning mahogany for the week.


----------



## JamesGuido

fired up the Jøtul about 10 today (had factory time from 5am to 930)
added some old apple to it cuz i was going be out side for a few hours... love the scent.
stove's been going since... old dirty mixed hards with the apple (did scent some hickory too)






sitting at that lap top behind the stove eating smoked string cheese & surfin' the web (when was the last time ya heard that?)
here's my view:






snow expected tonight, 'bout 4 to 6" er'so... Stay warm!


----------



## MMH

Trying to burn down coal-zilla…


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 3.5 this morning with the basement at 70 and up here 65 before the first fire.


----------



## ClintonH

I finally got into my oldest wood--c/s/s January 2014.  Hard maple, beech, red oak hickory.


----------



## stoveliker

It's a bit boring these days; after last night's oak was done, I added three uglies of oak. Then I used three 2" splits to burn down some coals. And now a reload of oak. All red. Not too packed; bit twisted pieces.  But 33 now, 32 for a low, and 38 and rain tomorrow.


----------



## thewoodlands

I never did look at the temp last night but since the ashes in the wood stove were going out this morning, we burned a bag of pellets. We had 13 this morning with the temp in the basement at 72, the living room 67 and the sleeper 66.

We're back to burning the wood stove and the ashes are in a metal garbage can near the outside fireplace.


----------



## all night moe

Does "What's in my furnace?" count?

24'' hickory split, two 14'' round uglies of red elm, chunk of hard maple, 6-8''x 40'' long round of black locust, chunk of barkless something I didn't recognize, and a couple oak uglies. Firebox has plenty room for more. I'm trying to conserve what wood I have. 

28* and "fells like 1* " with the wind chill. Feels cold in the house. Glad Feb is about over. One more month to go ......

I miss running my All Nighter.


----------



## stoveliker

Yes, it does 

Why are you switching from stove to furnace?

Here after last night's oak was done (at 2 pm if I remember correctly), I put 3 oak uglies in. That's done now. So a reload of oak. All red again.

Today was 37 for a high, 1/4" and icicles in the trees. Started thawing just before branches would come down. 30 now, a low of 20.

Tomorrow some (Ukrainian) friends over to distract them a bit. They like it warm, and I like to show flames. So I'll be running higher tomorrow, and on small loads of oak uglies with an inch of punky sapwood on the outside.


----------



## all night moe

stoveliker said:


> Why are you switching from stove to furnace?


Long story short, insurance company will not allow wood stoves. My hands are tied in regards to the stove until I either pay the house off, or refinance with different lender and new insurance agent.

The kicker is they will allow as many  LP space heaters I want. As if they're safer .....


----------



## stoveliker

That sucks. Can't you change insurance companies?


----------



## all night moe

I would have to refinance the house first. I'm on a land contract.

Strange as it sounds, I'm better off with a 5yr plan. Selling 40 cord each of those years.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 8.4 this morning, I went with the pellet stove overnight and the house was 67 before we had our first cup.


----------



## zmender

For giggles I loaded with "questionable" wood that I left indoor for about a  week. What a mess. Reloaded on 1/2 stove of good coal, built up criss-cross. Caught on fairly quick but after about 30min of flames it was left smoldering. Had to push in a locust split to the bottom of pile to recover. Now living room is nice and toasty at 71F, outside 25F.


----------



## all night moe

zmender said:


> For giggles I loaded with "questionable" wood that I left indoor for about a  week. What a mess. Reloaded on 1/2 stove of good coal, built up criss-cross. Caught on fairly quick but after about 30min of flames it was left smoldering. Had to push in a locust split to the bottom of pile to recover. Now living room is nice and toasty at 71F, outside 25F.


I have some red oak I split in July/Aug. It was a standing dead, then a log that sat for a year. Mid Oct I brought a bunch of it inside and stood them up on end behind the stove. It's a corner install with plenty of room behind it. I started lighting them off, here and there, on nightly cold spells starting mid Jan. No split smaller than a 4x4. They burn very pleasantly.


----------



## blotter

cottonwood from the pasture that was laying for a couple of years before I moved here. There's a standing dead one that I'm going to attack next until I get my chit together and source the better stuff around me 

I'm in one of the colder areas of the lower 48 and it's been -20s for more days than I care to count this winter and I'm in a mobile home that's ten years older than me. Obviously not anywhere close ideal, but the stove is oversized and I jam it full and the cold wakes me up if I need more heat. The little bit of Boxelder and Green Ash I've burned has shown me how pointless cutting up another 5-6' across monster is, but it's going to fall in my pasture eventually and make a mess, likely taking out fencing if I don't take care of it. I want to buy the abandoned neighboring farmstead and its 11 acres that has more wood worth burning than my 500 acres. There are a bunch of useful buildings for storing wood, would make for a nice little firewood operation setup.

I would say the majority of firewood advertisements around here mention cottonwood because there isn't much on these plains. Market is small, but I imagine it would be easy to find repeat customers willing to pay to not burn cottonwood.


----------



## all night moe

blotter said:


> Boxelder


It's not worth the time.


----------



## stoveliker

After last night's oak was done, I added two big knotty (and slightly punky) oak pieces. Added two pieces of maple at 6 or so. Kept the home at 71 all day. We reached 34 for a high today, it's 32 now, and a low of 28 forecast. 

Another load of red oak. The maple was not done yet, so only about 70 pct load due to not being able to play Tetris. But I'm tired, so it's bed time.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 21.2 tonight with a load of ash going in the wood stove for the overnight load. The temp in the basement is 77 heading higher, the living room up here is 68 and the sleeper is 67.


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## MMH

Warmed up into the 30s today, so I let the stove cool off and did a quick clean out. Was able to burn down most of the coals from the last week but the mahogany coals will turn into rocks basically so I can never truly burn them completely; on the bright side they’ll coal and hold heat for days. Alas it reminds me that my softwoods aren’t so bad. Tonight’s  lows headed for singles again, but we’re going to warm up starting tomorrow, hitting almost 60 again on Wednesday. Then another system coming through dropping temps and some precip. This has been the craziest weather year so far. 

I got bored so here’s an evening reel…
After the clean out started back up with some mystery pieces. House was 69, outside in the teens. 




Dorothy is warmed back up and ready for dinner, let this go for couple hours. House is 71. 


A full load of pine for tonight’s fire. 




Dorothy is cruising for the night. House is 72, outside is 12. Have a good night y’all.


----------



## fvhowler

Burning old red maple and bradford pear scraps with a good piece of white oak.  Rain and mid-40s today.  I think my full-time burning ended last week. Day time temps trending warmer.


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## DonTee

I have a mix of beech, maple, and ash in the stove. It’s 20 outside and 75 in the house. Supposed to get down to zero tomorrow, so maybe just a few more cold days.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 21.2 this morning with another load of ash going in the Lopi. The basement was 73 before our first fire, the living room was 67 and the sleeper was 65.


----------



## Tar12

What a roller coaster ride Feb. has been! Just loaded up a load of locust and oak for a 24 hr. burn...going to be pretty mild according to the 10 day forecast...might be close to being done burning for the year.


----------



## thewoodlands

Our outside temp is at 14.2 heading for a low of - 5 according to NOAA, we'll go with the pellet stove tonight for the constant heat.

The basement temp is 75, living room temp is 69 and the sleeper is 68.


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## Gearhead660

Elm limb wood.  Makes for easy N-S loading.
Getting into a stretch of warmer weather,  will only  have the stove burning this week.


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## stoveliker

Goodlooking fires, @MMH  and @Gearhead660 !

Here the oak of last night 22.30 was done around 17.30 - nice run ( 28 overnight low, 42 for a high today helped by the sun). I added two small pieces to keep some coals until now. Reload with... Red oak. A low of 21 predicted tonight, tomorrow 32.

Tomorrow night will be cold again (22, so yes all is relative...), and then Thursday night 17. But Friday night might be my last fire... The minisplit seems suitable for what's predicted after that. I have burned 4 face cord so far this year, at 17" long splits mostly, that's less than 2 cords.

We'll see what March brings (tho I'll be traveling for work one week, and my wife won't light up the stove...)


----------



## zmender

Starting to see comments along lines of "done burning for the year" or "last fire"... Do you plan to burn in Mar and April when it's still getting chilly?


----------



## stoveliker

zmender said:


> Starting to see comments along lines of "done burning for the year" or "last fire"... Do you plan to burn in Mar and April when it's still getting chilly?



Given that my stove works best for continuous burning, and given that I have minisplits and solar panels, I made an agreement with myself that this year I will only burn if it was below 40 F for 24 hours or more.  (So one 34 F night won't be a fire night; the minisplit can heat well down to 17 F, though at lower efficiency, of course.) I'm not sure whether that will happen again after this week. But if it does, I'll surely burn. (Or if I get the burning itch I'll also burn...  )

I will do one last full firebox running as hot as I can to crust up all the creosote in the box so I can brush it out of the stove  before the humid summer comes around. But I'll only do that when I'm absolutely sure that there won't be another fire for this season. I guess sometime in late April.


----------



## zmender

Minisplit + solar panel sounds like a fantastic idea, essentially free heat... does  the solar panels generate wattages enough for you to run the heater?


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## stoveliker

zmender said:


> Minisplit + solar panel sounds like a fantastic idea, essentially free heat... does  the solar panels generate wattages enough for you to run the heater?



Yes. I have net metering. So the surplus I make in summer can be used to heat in winter. The only bill I have since '18 is $13.50 or so per month to be connected. And some oil for hot water.


----------



## MMH

zmender said:


> Starting to see comments along lines of "done burning for the year" or "last fire"... Do you plan to burn in Mar and April when it's still getting chilly?


Everyone’s set up and situation are different; for me, this is just setting up to be a much earlier shoulder season. So, I’ll still have fires but I won’t be burning 24/7 anymore, maybe a warm up fire in the morning, or a night fire etc.


----------



## MMH

Today got into the 40s. Threw a couple pine splits in this morning then let the stove go out. Stove still usually holds some heat though even letting it go out during the day. STT around 200-250 when I fired back up again. Started with 2 juniper splits and some mystery wood to light off again around 5 this evening. Lows headed for low-mid 20s, another load of pine for that.


----------



## DonTee

I’ll definitely be burning into March and April. The woodstove is the primary heat source in my house. Maybe not burning for 24/7 much longer though. 

This morning it was 0 outside and 75 inside.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had - 8 this morning, the pellet stove had the basement at 81, the living room was 68 and the sleeper was 67. We went back to burning ash in the wood stove today.


----------



## fvhowler

zmender said:


> Starting to see comments along lines of "done burning for the year" or "last fire"... Do you plan to burn in Mar and April when it's still getting chilly?


For me in NC, I start dialing back in late February and will burn in March as needed. Usually, I start getting withdrawals and start a fire on a chilly April night because I know it could be the last fire until November. Always a mixed bag for me this time of year....I start missing burning before the season is over but then look forward to warmer weather.


----------



## BrownT10

Mix of oak and a maple for partial overnight load.


----------



## Rusty18

Well I got to the point I had to burn some oak...little bit different than burning pine!


----------



## zmender

Loaded the stove up with locust. I'll do a quick fire in the AM tomorrow and let the stove cool down in afternoon to clear out ashes. 

I think I'm burning overnight fire too hot (in a wasteful sense, not overfiring). I wake up with entire house around 64-66F, when the only room occupied is bedroom. I can easily let the house cool down another 2~4 degrees overnight.... 

Probably going down to 1.5 loads per day next week - a hot enough fire at 8am to bring house from low 60s to low 70s in the morning, catch last of the coal around 4, 5pm with a partial reload to make sure living room is at least 68 until midnight. No need for overnight burn. This will save me a lot of wood.


----------



## MMH

Hit around 60 today, will do that for next 2 days before another system comes through. Lows headed for 20s tonight, another (almost 100% win) pine Tetris for that.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 12.2 this morning with the house at 66, we're back burning ash in the wood stove.


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## stoveliker

Forgot to update yesterday night. I had some baby load of oak sometime during the day yesterday. At 11 or so I reloaded with 6 short (14") splits of red oak. 
This morning it was 23 F outside. 67 F inside - the way we like it.

A high for today is 44 F, tonight a low of 35 F. I think I'll keep the stove warm - simmering on a minimal amount of wood. Tomorrow 44 F and 39 for a low. Still hesitating what to do...

Thursday - Saturday is stove time. But Sunday it's 54. Looks like those days will be the last for a while.


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## zmender

It's 40F outside but with overcast + melting snow it feels much colder. Started with a small partial load around 8am at 66F, finally living room crested to 70 just a few minutes ago. It doesn't feel warm ....


----------



## NickW

Home for a week. High temps mid 30's to low 40's for the foreseeable future. Coals from the overnight load get raked forward and simmer until mid afternoon if it's sunny, then a mid sized softwood load as the sun goes down, then a full size hardwood load overnight.


----------



## stoveliker

So, yesterday's small evening reload is done. Three oak splits now to keep the stove (cat) just active. Tonight 35 and I'll keep it going with a small load overnight.


----------



## zmender

Today was chilly despite of the forecast and 40F high. I didn’t clean the stove, instead kept the coals from this morning glowing all afternoon and reloaded when living room dropped to 68. Fed 9 biobricks and 1 locust split. Living room back to 71F. I’m not adding more fuel tonight and gonna let it coast overnight & burn out all coals. Chimney brick is nice and hot and I hope this will prevent living room from dropping below 62F (at which point oil kicks in) until morning.


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## thewoodlands

The outside temp tonight is 19.2, the basement is 75 heading up, the living room is 68 and the sleeper is 67. The wood stove received a load of ash and some ironwood for the overnight load.


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## stoveliker

Just put 4 shorties of red oak in, dialed the stove down. Will keep it simmering with a few pieces until it gets to be below 38 or so tomorrow 8 pm. Prefer to keep the stove and the basement  warm for the next cooldown.


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## MMH

zmender said:


> Today was chilly despite of the forecast and 40F high. I didn’t clean the stove, instead kept the coals from this morning glowing all afternoon and reloaded when living room dropped to 68. Fed 9 biobricks and 1 locust split. Living room back to 71F. I’m not adding more fuel tonight and gonna let it coast overnight & burn out all coals. Chimney brick is nice and hot and I hope this will prevent living room from dropping below 62F (at which point oil kicks in) until morning.
> 
> View attachment 292914
> View attachment 292916


How do you like the bio bricks?


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for around 30 tonight. Got some yard work in today and ripped out a small peach tree that died so I started the evening fire with some small red elm splits, the peach and the mystery wood. Made for a nice aroma when I loaded the night pine load.


----------



## zmender

MMH said:


> How do you like the bio bricks?



I like them. For most circumstances I'll take low MC splits over biobricks, but I only have ~25%MC oak and small qty of 15%MC locust. So biobricks help me burn the more questionable woods. They comp for high MC wood. I think some old mathmagic showed a single 2lb brick can comp about 0.3cu ft of 25%, for a cumulative average of 20% MC. When comping wet wood, you can tell that heat output is reduced, but at least there's some secondaries while the water evaporates.

1) They are a good "baseline" for fixing stove operator mistakes. I may have too much / too little coal, may have charred splits but not lighting, may have a smoldering mess... I can light off a few biobricks and burn my way out of these situations

2) They help me get heat, fast. They are small so air circulates well, once a group of them lights up I get crazy secondaries. 9 bricks tonight got my living room to 73F... probably one of the highest temps this living room had seen in some weeks

3) Coals feels like hotter / longer? With splits living room cools off quickly once flame dies, but these bricks continue to put out good heat until they completely extinguish.. living room cruised at 71F almost all night. 

4) Smaller sizes.. helps with firebox tetris as needed.

They annoy me due to needing a solid coal bed to light off reliably... the instruction tepee method just leaves me with a smoldering mess. I still have to go through the entire motion of starter -> kindling, if I'm cold firing a stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

Our low temp this morning was 10.2, both the sleeper and the living room were 66, the basement was 72 before our first fire.


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## thewoodlands

It's 22.2 tonight with a load of ash going in the wood stove, the basement is 75, the living room 68 and the bedroom is 67.


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## zmender

Going to hover around 38F outside tonight. Living room coasted around 68F most of evening. Chimney mason is still warm from the fire earlier today and I decided not to burn overnight and let living room temperature drop, furnace will catch if it reaches 60F. I'll cold start stove tomorrow morning and burn continuously until Sunday.


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## stoveliker

The bit of oak from last night lasted until 3 pm. Added two small splits, and now a half sized reload. Red oak and an odd foot of 3" round maple.

40 now, after having seen 37 earlier this night. Is going to remain 40-ish until it starts dropping tomorrow around 3 pm. A low of 17 tomorrow night. Last time this year, I think.


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## MMH

Lows headed for around 30 tonight, started off this evening with more mystery pieces and couple small splits of pine before the night load of pine goes in.


----------



## Tar12

After letting the stove go cold for a couple days I fired her back up this morning with a mix of oak,locust and ash as it 32 out..I will keep her running for the next 24-30 hours and then saturday its supposed to hit 73 ...lol


----------



## TheBigIron

Insert has been idle for the past 3 days, was able to scoop my ashes out leaving that inch bed.  Just loaded with some oak and red elm.  Temps are currently 28 outside.


----------



## zmender

Living room drifted down to 62F this morning, which means oil boiler did not fire yesterday for non-occupied areas.

Fired up stove this morning an hour ago, living room already back to 66F. Going to be low of 16F tonight with 15mph winds, so gonna keep stove burning hot until stones and masonry heat up to stabilize living room temperature.


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## stoveliker

The half-load of oak from last night is still simmering. Has been ~40F outside ever since the reload. Nice and sunny. 
I did dial up the thermostat of the stove now though, because it's going to start dropping soon to the overnight low of 18 F. So I need to get my basement from the 72 F it is now up higher so I can pump some heat up the stairs with the fan (that has been off for 2 days or so) once it's needed. The drawback of a basement stove: slow timescales, so looking ahead is needed.


----------



## zmender

stoveliker said:


> The half-load of oak from last night is still simmering.



I gotta gimme a cat stove one of these days. 

Temp outside starting to drop down to 16F overnight and living room dropped from 71F to 68F. Morning load of biobricks and locust has lot's of coals and probably an hour of flames too if I stir it, but to make my evening easier I partial load with locust. Next reload will be for the overnight fire around midnight.


----------



## Riddlefiddle

Cherry and maple with a bit of poplar mixed in.


----------



## stoveliker

zmender said:


> I gotta gimme a cat stove one of these days.
> 
> Temp outside starting to drop down to 16F overnight and living room dropped from 71F to 68F. Morning load of biobricks and locust has lot's of coals and probably an hour of flames too if I stir it, but to make my evening easier I partial load with locust. Next reload will be for the overnight fire around midnight.


The load of last night is still going. Even if I increased the temperature (Tstat) at 2-ish. It's been 80 in the basement half an hour after I did that.
This was half a load, 60% full at most. Red oak.
3 cu ft firebox though.

But, it's not (only) the cat in the stove. Yes, that's needed here, but it's not sufficient. It's the (bimetal coil) thermostat as well. It keeps the heat output constant. If a split falls, often burn rates go up (new surface exposed). That makes things go quicker. Especially when running at low heat output. The Tstat, when it senses a higher temperature, will close the air a bit to keep the same heat output. That (!) is what makes it possible to run low, slow, and thus long.

Note (emphatically) that long burns sound nice, but they do NOT work like that when it's 10 F outside - one needs more heat then. And in the end, the firebox is a certain volume, and thus can contain a certain amount of BTUs. Technology as described can spread that over more hours, but that is always at a lower output. When it's cold, I'm at a 10-12 hour reload schedule.

People often read "long hours" and then are disappointed that they have to reload each 8-12 hours in mid-winter. But that still is the case also for my stove. It's not miracle. Just science/engineering.


----------



## Riddlefiddle

Yes, I agree with the split falling aspect. When a split falls it does reveille a new surface to burn.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Ashes. It's been in the 60s and 70s this whole week. Looks like the stove will be fired back up Sunday night or Monday morning again with a cold front bringing some rain/snow mix and cooler temps again.


----------



## stoveliker

zmender said:


> I gotta gimme a cat stove one of these days.



Just added two maple splits to get me to the overnight loading. This is what was left at 6.30 pm from last night 11 pm half full reload (again, with minimal heat "requested" from the stove).


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 10.2 this morning, the basement was 70, the living room and the sleeper were 66 before our first fire.

More ash went in the Liberty before I went out plowing.


----------



## stoveliker

Man, you plow a lot of snow. How big is the area you have set aside for storage? And how high can you pile it? (I see 10-15 ft piles near my local Home Depot - but they do that with big bulldozers.)


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> Man, you plow a lot of snow. How big is the area you have set aside for storage? And how high can you pile it? (I see 10-15 ft piles near my local Home Depot - but they do that with big bulldozers.)


Here's a link to my thread, we have a chit load of storage areas in the woods that aren't even close to full.





						Mahindra 4540
					

Red Maple sounds yummy..lol thanks..clancey  We have some pretty good winds going on at the moment, maybe mother nature will put some food down for the deer.




					www.hearth.com


----------



## stoveliker

Reloaded with all red oak. 28 F now, 18 predicted low. So a full load.


----------



## zmender

Full reload of locust and oak for overnight. Tomorrow morning living room should be around 66F and lots of coals in stove, next reload around 8AM.


----------



## stoveliker

Nice! 

How big do you split?


----------



## zmender

stoveliker said:


> People often read "long hours" and then are disappointed that they have to reload each 8-12 hours in mid-winter. But that still is the case also for my stove. It's not miracle. Just science/engineering.



I definitely get that - 100 BTUs in, at best get 70, 80 BTUs out, regardless of stove tech. 2.5 Cu ft firebox will contain only so much BTUs, and when it's cold outside, heat will only last as long as there's wood to burn. 

Where I'm getting at is that from what I read in this forum, cat stoves (especially BKs) have the tech for sustained lower BTUs over longer hours. When it's 40, 50F outside, a cat stove will happily output say 5k BTUs per hour, eating up all the smoke, whereas a non-cat stove will either be operating at 70%+ efficiency at 30k BTUs or smoldering along at 5k spewing smoke.


----------



## zmender

stoveliker said:


> Nice!
> 
> How big do you split?


My personal preference is about 4-6in. 6in is about largest I can burn reliably overnight, and anything smaller than 4in I either don't split, or I split down even further for relighting / kindling.


----------



## stoveliker

Yes. (Though I don't know if a stove that can do 5k continuous; mine is 10-11k) So with another stove, people make small and/or intermittent (hot) fires to remain comfortable.

I think it's more a difference in convenience of operation than anything else. And some folks just like flames and making fire.  There were no flames in my stove for a few days (apart from a few minutes after adding fuel). Just black. (Only when I open the door can you see that it is glowing.)

Even now, after 20 minutes of flame it's back to glowing, tho not black at this higher setting.

Anyway, enough about the stove. This thread is about what is in it. Lotsa oak in my case.


----------



## zmender

Ultimately this is what I want to avoid. This is with 15%ish wood, I still can’t avoid puffs of smoke when I turn down heat for the night. The fire will burn (mostly) smokeless during day because I want the heat, but stove definitely smokes when intake gets reduced for the overnight burn. (FYI there’s visible secondary when this picture taken)


----------



## DonTee

I see I’m not the only one that looks at the chimney before I go to bed. 

I’m burning maple and beech again. This morning when I woke up it was -2 outside and 72 inside.


----------



## zmender

DonTee said:


> I see I’m not the only one that looks at the chimney before I go to bed.



Clear chimney, clear conscience 

Clear chimney means I've fully utilized the wood, maximized the BTUs, and minimized the pollution.


----------



## zmender

16F, 66F living room, full reload for a high of 34 today.


----------



## DonTee

Sometimes it’s a little too warm in the house, and my wife threatens to open a window, and I tell her “trees died so that you could be warm”. And then she gives me that look. Haha


----------



## thewoodlands

The lowest forecast temp for this morning (3/4) was -7 so I went with the pellet stove last night, we woke up to -16.2 this morning.

I've been burning some ash & ironwood today.


----------



## thewoodlands

They say we'll have a low of 10 in the morning, the wood stove has some ash in it and the pellet stove is on a medium feed rate. If it's colder we'll be set for heat.

The basement is 81, the living room is 69 and the sleeper is 67.


----------



## stoveliker

After feeding some 5 splits of oak around noon today (max temp was 33F), it's 29 now, a low of 25 forecast. I reloaded with - red oak... Again.

Took off before I was done trying to fit some smaller pieces on the top, so I gave up. D*mn dry wood...


----------



## zmender

Burnt total of 2.5 loads today with small, partial reload around 5pm.  25F currently with low of 22. Reload with biobricks and locust since I want to go to bed and not mess with air controls.


----------



## Caw

I'm too tired to get up and go see. Lol


----------



## Gearhead660

Ashes and some coals.   No fire today.  Going to be in the 60s today.  Let the boiler stretch its legs this morning.  Have only run it 2 days this season.  Stove will get a cleaning this afternoon.


----------



## zmender

Woke up to 67F living room and lot's of coals. Masonry are still hot from last night fire. Partial reload on questionable oak and locust. It's enough to hold living room at 70ish until sunset. I'll either light a small evening fire or just use masonry heat to carry us overnight.


----------



## Tar12

I will be switching over to running just Ash now as the cold temps ease...give my Oak and Locust stash a break...lol


----------



## thewoodlands

The pellet stove did the job overnight, we had 2.2 this morning with the basement temp at 82 (85 was the high) the living room was 70 and the sleeper temp was 68.

We're back to burning ash today and tonight.


----------



## Riff

Cold ashes. It hit 65F today and might hit 70F Sun/Mon. Nice to let the stove take a break.


----------



## zmender

Lesson learnt - if it’s 30s outside, living room will drop at least 10F over course of night. I need living room to be 70 going into bed time. 

I let the fire burn out last night around 7pm. By midnight living room dropped to 65F, this morning 61F. At this point I’m pretty sure oil was on last night. 

Got a load of oak, locust and biobricks now, loaded criss cross for a hot burn. High of 58F today and no need for long burn time. Need my BTUs now.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a temp of 41.2 this morning with rain, the basement was 70, the living room and bedroom were 66. We had a fire this morning, when I came in from plowing off the slush on the driveway, I shut the fan off on the wood stove. The temp up here in the living room is 71, some of that is from the sun.


----------



## stoveliker

The stove is slowly cooling down from last night's load 5 one ft long oak splits. It was 37 then, but has since continuously warmed up. 55 now, rainy. 58 for a high, 56 tomorrow with 50 low overnight.

Tuesday afternoon I'll likely relight.

Will empty out some ashes tomorrow or later this afternoon.


----------



## Tar12

Upon checking the forecast that is all over the place for the next 10 days with night time lows of 17 degrees to mid 30s ...it was time to gather up some kindling from my free saw mill  score from this past year..it is all oak trimmings and I went over board when I had him load my dump trailer...lol...I am going to have to step it up and get it processed before it rots on me..thinking about bundling up a bunch of it and storing it in the barn for shoulder season...


----------



## PaulOinMA

Getting warmer here.  Punky wood to get rid of it.  Also working on the large piles of kindling branches and small trees that are off the driveway.   Want to clean up a lot the rest of this season.


----------



## thewoodlands

The wife wanted a fire tonight so I have one going, the outside temp tonight is 38.2, the basement is 72, the living room is 70 and the sleeper is 68. NOAA is calling for a low of 31.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 33.1 this morning with the basement temp at 70, the living room at 68 and the sleeper was 67.


----------



## thewoodlands

More ash in the wood stove for the overnight load, it's 29.1 outside, the basement is 74 heading higher, the living room is 69 and the bedroom is 67 or 68.

NOAA is calling for a low of 22.


----------



## sweedish

Ash and cherry, chilly at night still. Daytime it’s ditchwood, boxelder and quaking aspen.


----------



## firefighterjake

Wood . . . specifically firewood.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 20.1 this morning with more ash providing the heat, the basement is 79, the living room is 68 and the bedroom is 67.


----------



## zmender

Wife was out of town and all heat was off except for an electrical heater in bedroom yesterday. Bedroom toasty at 68F, rest of house 58-62. 
Wind is picking up and dropping down to 20s tonight - just built fire backup on locust and sticks collected in yard. Probably going into a continuous fire again until this weekend.


----------



## thewoodlands

zmender said:


> Wife was out of town and all heat was off except for an electrical heater in bedroom yesterday. Bedroom toasty at 68F, rest of house 58-62.
> Wind is picking up and dropping down to 20s tonight - just built fire backup on locust and sticks collected in yard. Probably going into a continuous fire again until this weekend.


The east coast might be in for another storm (snow) this weekend, we'll see how it develops throughout the week.


----------



## zmender

thewoodlands said:


> The east coast might be in for another storm (snow) this weekend, we'll see how it develops throughout the week.


Going to fill up all oil / gas canisters. If nothing else, hedge against the oil price increase.


----------



## thewoodlands

zmender said:


> Going to fill up all oil / gas canisters. If nothing else, hedge against the oil price increase.


Earlier this morning the WC had us getting 8-12 but just before noon they had dropped it to 5-8 of snow. We're set on gas but we'll get more sand for the three point sander, we should be in for more rain and then freezing temps, if we do get ice, we'll be set.


----------



## stoveliker

I'm back   (for a few days). 

44 for a high today, but a low of 33 forecast overnight. So I started the stove with some  (2") oak splits and oak shavings from splitting around 5.30 pm.

Basement is warming up. Will reload with oak for overnight when it's ready.

Tomorrow 37 hi, 30 low, so I'll keep burning. Thursday 44 hi (so simmering), 30 low, burning. 
Friday 48 hi and 40 low, Saturday 48 hi. So I'll let the stove go cold Friday morning.
Saturday night 21 for a low, so I'll start Saturday afternoon.

Then Sunday morning I am leaving for a week at a conference for work, so I'll stuff it then (37 hi), and the family will use the minisplit the rest of the week, including Sunday night at 32... Enough kWhs in the net metering bank for that. The rest of next week seems lower 50s highs and around 40 lows. So perfect minisplit weather when I'm gone.


----------



## bigealta

Burning up the funky junky stuff now.


----------



## c604

Burning some 4 year old walnut that was at the bottom of a row in my stack.  I will be back to ash and oak soon.  I'm hoping I have enough on my porch to last me the rest of the season so I don't have to bring more up.  Loving the wood heat and smaller utility bills.   I did take a break from burning and spent some time in South Beach Miami Florida last week.  I must say I did burn myself in the sun on the beach though


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 23 out tonight with some ash & ironwood going in the wood stove. The temp in the basement is 75 heading north, we're at 68 in the living room and the sleeper.


----------



## zmender

Loaded up with some dry oak and locust with nice blue coal like secondary. smoke stack is clear, conscience is clear for bed =)


----------



## zmender

thewoodlands said:


> It's 23 out tonight with some ash & ironwood going in the wood stove. The temp in the basement is 75 heading north, we're at 68 in the living room and the sleeper.


how did you score the ironwood?


----------



## zmender

Base of locust loaded E/W, random wood shorties loaded N/S above. Temp going to hover around 30 today and snowing until midnight.


----------



## stoveliker

Snowing here after some sleet earlier. 1" on the ground, road still clear (but salted).
Oak from yesterday evenings sloppy (had taken ashes out, and my firebox was bigger than I was used to... so I didn't bring enough wood in from the garage)  reload  still keeping us around 68.


----------



## thewoodlands

zmender said:


> how did you score the ironwood?


We have 136 acres I cut on, after the winter or windstorms we always have damaged trees, that's where I get most of them. Some of the ironwood came from widening a trail for our RTV.

Hopefully we don't have any damage to the ironwood this year, we only burn a face cord per winter so we're set.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 18.1 this morning, the basement was 72, the living room and the bedroom were 66 this morning before our first fire.


----------



## fvhowler

50 degrees and raining today. Burning scrap pieces of oak and sweetgum just to keep the damp chill off. Have not burned in almost two weeks since its been very warm around here.


----------



## zmender

Family hanging out in living room, lots of small splits over coal for ambience. Heat is secondary tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

Accu is calling for a low of 27 tonight, we'll load up the Liberty with more ash. The living room temp is 69 and the bedroom is 67.


----------



## stoveliker

I added 2 small splits at 2.30 today, and reloaded with 75 pct full box of red oak now. It was a dreary day; snow, sleet. 2-3" in the lawn, some slush on the road. 34 F now, a low of 31 F. Tomorrow 44 for a hi, so I'll be simmering the stove for the 29 low of tomorrow night and using the minisplit if needed.


----------



## bigealta

Ahh….Maybe not the best idea I’ve ever had.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 18.1 this morning with the temp in the basement at 72, the living room and the bedroom were 67.

More ash went in the wood stove for our first fire this morning.


----------



## stoveliker

bigealta said:


> Ahh….Maybe not the best idea I’ve ever had.
> 
> View attachment 293362



Why? Looks good to me!


----------



## bigealta

ha.. 1 piece takes up the whole firebox, it's been around for years in my yard and it was time to go. i should have cut it with the chainsaw. It's gonna be a smoldering hunk for the next 4-5 hours. i'll try to add "burner" splits around it, but i can't fit any in.


----------



## stoveliker

bigealta said:


> ha.. 1 piece takes up the whole firebox, it's been around for years in my yard and it was time to go. i should have cut it with the chainsaw. It's gonna be a smoldering hunk for the next 4-5 hours. i'll try to add "burner" splits around it, but i can't fit any in.


If it's dry, it was a good thing to do 🔥
It'll last you until tomorrow


----------



## stoveliker

Yesterday night's load lasted until 6.30 today. I was half an hour too late so I used two small sticks of cedar to get it going again. Then two small splits of oak.

Reloaded now with about an 85 pct load of red oak, most with a 3/4 inch punky layer on the outside.
It's 37 F now and the low will be 30 F.

Tomorrow I'll let it go cold once it's done. Because it'll be 47 or so, so I'll empty out as much ash as i can. Saturday afternoon I'll restart it for a cold 24 F night. But it'll be a half load as I have to leave for a trip for work very early Sunday morning, and I want to stuff the box then so that my family will have a 24 hr burn starting Sunday morning early.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 24.1 tonight with another load of ash providing the heat, the basement is 74, the living room and bedroom are 68.


----------



## zmender

bigealta said:


> Ahh….Maybe not the best idea I’ve ever had.
> 
> View attachment 293362


How’s it burning?


----------



## zmender

Reloaded 6pm with locust, all logs still intact, mostly as coals. Lemme see if I can stretch this to 8am tomorrow


----------



## Tar12

Headed for a low of 26 tonight..20 Friday night..11 Saturday night and 19 Sunday night..then a very nice warm up! Till then the Princess will be fed a steady diet of Locust for a few days...I have been very impressed with the BTU output and long burn times of this locust!


----------



## zmender

This morning was 31F outside and 63 in living room. Stove had enough coals to relight splits directly, although not much heat output at this point. Masonry above the insert still hot to touch and I think this is what kept hose warm past few hours.

reloaded with locust and biobrick, this will be a hot load.


----------



## bigealta

zmender said:


> How’s it burning?


I had to leave for a few hours yesterday. So i could not watch it but it burned down and by the time i got home was able to poke some charcoal chunks off it and add a couple smaller splits. It burned down faster than i thought and turned into a huge chunk of charcoal.


----------



## Caw

A whole lot of nothing right now. Might be a few overnight fires this week but the heat pump is going to be doing most of the work. 

I'll throwing wood into the evaporator though. It was a light wood year so I have a surplus and don't need to cut up pallets. It runs much better on cordwood anyways.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 26.1 this morning with another load of ash providing the heat. We had 70 in the basement, 67 in the living room and 65 in the bedroom before our first fire.


----------



## zmender

Reloaded around 7:30pm with 50% locust and biobricks, fire should be out when I wake up tomorrow, need to clean up ashes.


----------



## stoveliker

I gave in. Last night's reload was still not done at 7 pm today, so I increased the air to 75 pct open. I did that because I wanted to get the ashes out for a box stuffing on Sunday morning before I leave. But now I see that tomorrow already at noon it's cooled down so much that it's stove time (rather than tomorrow night). So it's not 24 hrs above my threshold of outside temperature and thus I did n ash clean out today while I still had two or three shovels of glowing coals when the cat was on the verge of falling out of the active range at 9.30 pm (i.e. 23 hrs after the last reload of an 80 pct full firebox...). I reloaded with oak and will keep it simmering until tomorrow noon. It's nice, after all, having the stove hot...🔥


----------



## MMH

Had another small system blow through that brought some chilly temps again, days in the 20s and single digits-low teens at night. Have been burning a nice mix of pine juniper red elm and mahogany. Supposed to be back in the 50s starting tomorrow so will likely let the stove go out in the morning.


----------



## Tar12

It got colder than expected last night with a low of 11...I cleaned out ashes as it had been awhile and I wanted to get a little more capacity...as it was I was only able to get 8 pieces of squared up locust splits in the belly of the Princess at 7:45 pm..now its 7:45 am and its 74 in the stove room and 70 in the bedrooms and 12 outside.....love me some locust! lol..looks like I will repeat this procedure through Sunday evening then the warm up begins!


----------



## JamesGuido

Caw said:


> A whole lot of nothing right now. Might be a few overnight fires this week but the heat pump is going to be doing most of the work.
> 
> I'll throwing wood into the evaporator though. It was a light wood year so I have a surplus and don't need to cut up pallets. It runs much better on cordwood anyways.
> 
> View attachment 293370
> View attachment 293371


is this contraption for syrup??


----------



## zmender

zmender said:


> Reloaded around 7:30pm with 50% locust and biobricks, fire should be out when I wake up tomorrow, need to clean up ashes.



Still had a small handful of burning clinker and coals left, and I used that as an excuse to clean up stove... Tbh after burning out all coals overnight there's less than 1/2 inch of ashes.

47F outside, 63F inside. Temperature gonna drop 20 degrees next 12 hours. Rebuilt fire completely, 5 locust splits and topped off 1/5 of firebox with twigs from the yard. Fire spread along the secondary tubes and mostly smokeless within about 5-10 minutes, and 45min into startup I have got nice light-yellow/blue tinted secondary.

Living room should warm up to 68-71F next hour or two. Next reload will be around 5pm.


----------



## Stinkpickle

The car said it was 9 degrees when I got back from the gym this morning, so I loaded up the stove with ash and hackberry.


----------



## MEngineer24

Mix of cherry, hickory and oak warming the house this morning. Snowy, cold day and we are headed for a low in teens for the first time in weeks. It was 65F yesterday with snow today. March weather is fun.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 28 degrees this morning, the basement was 72, the living room 67 and the bedroom was 66.

Our first fire this morning while having coffee was mostly ash and a few rounds of ironwood, the temp up here in the living room is 70.


----------



## Bobbob

20 degrees out right now and stove is full of silver maple. Used about 3 cords this winter of a 6 cord stash of it. Heading to around 10 degrees overnight, so I'll reload several more times before bed. Finally have the new stove figured out and can get a good 8 hr overnight burn after jamming it full before bed. I'm enjoying the maple but kinda can't wait to get it all burned because I love burning cherry and have almost an endless supply.


----------



## stoveliker

Last night's load is done. Reloaded with half a load so I can stuff it tomorrow morning before I leave for the airport.

Still red oak.

Was 44 today, but started cooling around noon. 31 F now, a low of 23. About an inch of snow on the ground and still snowing after much rain. Strong winds remind me why I built the shed; the last rack with a tarp is not doing well..


----------



## Caw

JamesGuido said:


> is this contraption for syrup??


Yep. It's just a wood stove made out of cinder blocks in my firepit. Have a full size sheet pan for the top where I boil. I can get thru 15 gallons in an 8 hour boil. The chimney is about 6 ft tall and really helps. I usually make a giant one in my driveway for 3 sheet pans but I'm injured and didn't want to do all the heavy lifting. It's a lot of weight to move.


----------



## Corey

In the stove right now... dinner.  Goin' cheap tonight... just a burger-n-fries night!


----------



## Caw

Corey said:


> In the stove right now... dinner.  Goin' cheap tonight... just a burger-n-fries night!
> 
> View attachment 293474


Do you run into any issues with the grease? I'd love to try something like this but I'm concerned it'll just be a huge mess. I just stick with potatoes and marshmallows for the kids.


----------



## fvhowler

Winter returned to NC. Headed down to 24 degrees tonight. Stove loaded with Beech and White Oak.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a outside temp of 13.6 tonight with NOAA calling for a low of 9, it's 69 in the living room and 68 in the bedroom.

I just started the pellet stove so the basement should be around 78 in the morning if not higher.


----------



## Corey

Caw said:


> Do you run into any issues with the grease? I'd love to try something like this but I'm concerned it'll just be a huge mess. I just stick with potatoes and marshmallows for the kids.


Nothing major.  I typically put the burgers/steak/chicken/whatever on the grate, then set the whole thing in the stove at once, so minimal issue there.  I throw a kitchen towel down on the hearth to catch any drips while I'm burger flippin' or similar, and have my plate handy to rest the spatula on.  Worst part is probably a few spatters on the glass, but that burns off with the next hot firing.

I would also say -  not sure how all stoves are set up, but I pretty much close all air when grilling burgers, especially.  They do tend to flair up a bit if I leave any air open.  Other, less greasy items aren't usually an issue.  Though possibly an EPA stove might not close down tight enough.  But you could probably still manage that with good control of the coals.


----------



## MMH

Was in the 50s today with good sun out, let the stove go cold from last nights fire which threw heat until around noon. Lit up tonight with pine and more pine in for the over night fire, lows headed for 20s. Scattered snow forecasted for tomorrow, fake spring # 4 here…


----------



## stoveliker

Corey said:


> Nothing major.  I typically put the burgers/steak/chicken/whatever on the grate, then set the whole thing in the stove at once, so minimal issue there.  I throw a kitchen towel down on the hearth to catch any drips while I'm burger flippin' or similar, and have my plate handy to rest the spatula on.  Worst part is probably a few spatters on the glass, but that burns off with the next hot firing.
> 
> I would also say -  not sure how all stoves are set up, but I pretty much close all air when grilling burgers, especially.  They do tend to flair up a bit if I leave any air open.  Other, less greasy items aren't usually an issue.  Though possibly an EPA stove might not close down tight enough.  But you could probably still manage that with good control of the coals.



And you grill them with the door closed?


----------



## stoveliker

Reloaded with oak here; perfect timing as I had a good amount of coals left.

Filled it with oak to the brim. Pieces without the punky 1" on the outside. I saved some extra straight pieces that allowed for a no-space tight Tetris.

The wife will attend the stove while I'm gone. I.e. only adjust the thermostat until the load is done.

Should last 24 hrs. Minisplit time rest of the week.

See you next week


----------



## TheBigIron

Just reloaded with some (17%) black locust, after an all night of ash and some red oak.  Temps are supposed to come up today and throughout the week.  Secondary burn is engaged and cruising along..


----------



## Corey

stoveliker said:


> And you grill them with the door closed?


Yes, otherwise it gets a bit too rowdy in there!  ...at least with burgers/steak, the grease will lead to flare-ups, so I keep the doors closed and control the air.  With chicken/salmon/pork, etc flare-ups aren't really a problem, but in that case, it pulls a lot of my warm house air up the flue, too.  Always have to keep that efficiency in mind!


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 30s and gloomy. Threw a couple pine splits in to warm back up and enjoy the coffee.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 8.1 this morning but the pellet stove did its job, the basement was 77, the living room was 70 and the sleeper was 68.

Our fire this morning was ash with a two splits of ironwood.


----------



## MMH

Let the stove cool off and did a clean out. Temps in the low 30s cloudy with scattered flurries. Started back up with 2 pieces of juniper 2 pieces of pine a piece of pinyon pine and a stick of mahogany.


----------



## bigealta

Back to oak with these last 2 cold days, Stove loving it as it was not that pleased with the super punky and funky junk it choked on last week.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 21.2 with the Liberty getting another load of ash with a nice size round of ironwood. The basement is 75 and the living room is 69.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Ashes again. It's in the mid forties right now and we are expecting the mid 60s to 70s for highs with the lows only going to the mid forties this week. Looks like friday night will be the next time I fire off the stove. Been burning a lot of red oak and hickory though. It's been rather repetitive burning this winter lol.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 26.1 this morning, the basement was 72, the living room and the bedroom were 67 with another load of ash going in the Liberty.


----------



## woodey

Just shut off the computer and will let pilot mode burn down these coals which will take me to early evening. If the forecast holds this may be the last fire for me till fall 🤷🏼‍


----------



## zmender

Stove is cold - on business trip until next week.


----------



## sweedish

Got to 49 today, currently 30. Another load of ditchwood. Quaking aspen and boxelder.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 33.4 tonight with another load of ash going in the wood stove, the basement is 74, the living room and bedroom are 68.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 31.1 on the wireless this morning, the house started off at 67 with more ash going in the wood stove.


----------



## MMH

Currently in high 30-low 40 range but cloudy with rain and light frozen mix. Let stove die out from last nights fire, should have known. Starting back up with juniper, pinyon pine mahogany and red elm. That should last us until tonight’s fire.


----------



## stoveliker

Well, even in Chicago it's 50s... If I'd be living here, I'd also only  have cold ashes in my stove...


----------



## bigealta

1 fire a day now. oil heat off for good till next winter.


----------



## thewoodlands

We were around 33 this morning with the temp in the house at 67, another load of ash went in the Liberty.


----------



## fvhowler

I think my burn season has come to an end. With lows consistently in the 40-50s and highs 60-70s, I'll just let the heatpump carry the load. Now focusing on scrounging for 2024 firewood which I'm almost done.


----------



## NickW

Northwoods highs 40-55 and lows 20-30, SE WI highs 35-65 and similar lows (both for the foreseeable future...). SE WI has a weather system coming through at the end of the week which is why there's such a big swing. Still full hardwood loads at both overnight (ash, beech maybe a little birch & cherry). Daytime depends on the sun and temp - usually a softwood fire in the morning, try to milk the coals until a softwood reload late in the afternoon. Softwoods are aspen & box elder right now.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 33.1 tonight with another load of ash providing the heat. It's 76 in the basement and 68 in the rest of the house.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had just over 35 this morning, we had a small fire in the wood stove with some ash while having coffee.


----------



## zmender

Wife burnt up all my kindling and probably 10 paper boxes while I was away 

cord wood pile left untouched


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 34.1 this morning, we had a nice fire in the wood stove that the wife liked because someone thought it would be okay not having a fire overnight.


----------



## buc74

Raining and 40f, all red oak.


----------



## Stinkpickle

It’s just above freezing, and l loaded up with some heavy ash that’s about to roast me out of the room.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 37.9 tonight with a load of ash going in the wood stove. The basement is 74 heading up, the living room is 69 and the bedroom is 68.


----------



## woodey

43 here in the valley, no fire  in the last 5 days.


----------



## thewoodlands

I'm not sure of the temp this morning but the wife wanted a fire so we did, it's still 71 up here and it's raining pretty hard.


----------



## woodey

thewoodlands said:


> I'm not sure of the temp this morning but the wife wanted a fire so we did, it's still 71 up here and it's raining pretty hard.


Power outage here, had to switch to the propane stove for some heat


----------



## thewoodlands

woodey said:


> Power outage here, had to switch to the propane stove for some heat
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 293742


Can't like that, you must've received some strong winds?


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 47.3 tonight with another load of ash going in the wood stove. The basement is 72 at the moment, the living room is 70 and the bedroom is 69.


----------



## NickW

29 going down to 24 in the northwoods. Load of ash, beech & birch going in the Strattford II. 75 on the far side of the Great Room where the fireplace is, 69 down the hall where the bedrooms are. Mornings have been a small load of mixed hardwood and softwood then the solar gain is enough until the sun goes down. Rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow coming M-W; so may burn more.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 32.4 tonight with another load of ash going in the wood stove, it's 72 in the basement and 68 up here.


----------



## zmender

Fired up stove this morning with a few locust splits and oak kindling. 43F outside and 61F in living room. About half load total, fire good till early afternoon. This week high 50s, low 30s, and I’ll be home - so a fire each morning as primary heating for house.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 28 this morning with another load of ash going in the Lopi Liberty. The basement was 70 and up here was 67.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 30.7 tonight with the temp up here at 70 and the basement at 74. The overnight load is another load of ash.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 23.2 this morning, up here was 68 and the basement was 70, another load of ash went in the Lopi while we had coffee.


----------



## stoveliker

Started the stove at 53 F this afternoon.  48 F now, 36 F for a low. So a start with a few punky pieces of cherry and an 80 pct load of oak for overnight and however long it lasts tomorrow. Not according to my rules (24 hrs below 40 F needed for the stove) but I missed it...

Yay, Sunday and Monday night it'll be 29 F. So more fire in the near future.


----------



## sweedish

Cherry and quaking aspen.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 26.2 tonight with a load of ash and a nice size split of ironwood going in the wood stove. The basement is 75, the living room is 69 and the bedroom 68.


----------



## NickW

Ash, beech & birch. Winter storm warning on - ice, then snow.


----------



## thewoodlands

NickW said:


> Ash, beech & birch. Winter storm warning on - ice, then snow.


Don't send it this way.


----------



## NickW

thewoodlands said:


> Don't send it this way.


If I could control it, it wouldn't be here...😜


----------



## zmender

This morning was 28F outside / 60F in living room. Burning down a half-load of biobrick and locust. Temperature gonna be cruising high-30s and low-40s for next day and half, I'm going to burn continuously until tomorrow night.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 41 out now with coals from a load of post oak and red oak from this morning burning down. Looks like we will be down in the 30s for lows and highs of 40s for the next few days. Had to take off work today because my oldest daughter has the flue. She seems to be doing pretty well today though.


----------



## stoveliker

Slowly running down the load from last night. Still heating the upper floor to 69 F. Will let it go cold when this is done. Sunday afternoon, I'll relight, with the last reload Monday night (so heat until sometime Tuesday). A 27 F night they predict now --> Real fire


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 23.1 this morning with the basement at 72 and everything up here was 67 before our first fire which was a load of ash.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 37.6 tonight with another load of ash going in the wood stove, the basement is 74 and the rest of the house is 69.


----------



## Gearhead660

NickW said:


> Ash, beech & birch. Winter storm warning on - ice, then snow.


Must be up north.  Nothing but rain down here...


----------



## Gearhead660

Typical spring temps here.  35 ish at night, around 50 daytime highs.  Burning elm in the insert.  Furnace shut down for the season.


----------



## thewoodlands

Gearhead660 said:


> Must be up north.  Nothing but rain down here...


We're getting heavy rain tonight, Accu is calling for 0.75 just overnight.


----------



## zmender

Full reload of locust - I didn’t manage it well and let it smoldered for 2 hrs while I was watching movie. Finally caught secondary now, need it to burn hot rest of night.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 37.6 this morning with the basement at 72, the living room was 69 and the bedroom was 68 before our first fire with another load of ash.

We had heavy rain overnight with some thunder and more heavy rains today, it looks like a day off from any firewood work outside.


----------



## NickW

Gearhead660 said:


> Must be up north.  Nothing but rain down here...


Yep. Lost power 4 times yesterday. Last time was 10:00 last night and power just came back on at 10:00 or so this morning. Snowblower belt is worn out, won't turn the auger with the wet heavy snow, and the new one I brought is the wrong size. Heading home today, hopefully I can make it out.


----------



## shortys7777

Loaded up with oak when I left for work. Rain and a 43 out. Stopped burning 24/7 a couple weeks ago but still days I need to keep it going all day and night.


----------



## zmender

42F outside this morning at 8, 66F inside. Last night's load of locust still were semi-intact, knocked it down for a thick bed of coal. Reloaded 80% full of locust. 

Hovering around 45~50F range next 24hours, warming up to 60F by noon tomorrow. Probably do a partial reload late afternoon and let fire go out overnight for a quick clean out tomorrow afternoon.


----------



## HisTreeNut

Dropped to where it is cool enough to have a fire.  Back to burning pine & assorted uglies.  The wifey is happy.
I also think I want to be a cat ..


----------



## thewoodlands

We have an outside temp of 38.8 tonight with another load of ash providing the heat tonight. The basement is 72 getting warmer, the living room is 69 and just a guess but I'm thinking the bedroom is 68.


----------



## zmender

Wife wanted ambiance from stove so I’ve burnt lots of small splits and a few bricks of biobricks. Living room 70F now and outside temp steady 45ish next 12 hrs, so gonna let fire burn out as planned


----------



## bigealta




----------



## stoveliker

That looks great!


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 38.1 this morning with the basement temp at 70, the living room and the bedroom were 68. Another load of ash went in the Liberty this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 34.5 tonight with another load of ash going in the wood stove. The basement is 74, the living room is 69 and the bedroom is 68.


----------



## clancey

The temperature is pretty darn good I say...clancey


----------



## Bobbob

36 out right now. Only warming up 3 degrees today. Loaded up this morning with more silver maple. Basment at 73 and main floor 68. Sitting by the stove enjoying my morning coffee. I do believe it's Spring but no sign of it this weekend😁


----------



## Tar12

I have 2 of my grandsons for the weekend and they love helping papaw with the stove so I let them "help" me load the stove..lol...so we loaded up with oak and locust last night and they fell asleep by the stove in sleeping bags watching cartoons..they are living large at papaws...lol..we had a over night low of 31 and its looking like several nights of low 20s in the forecast ...garden prep on hold again..the Princess will stay on the oak and locust diet.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 33.2 this morning with another load of ash getting reduced, the basement and the bedroom were 68 and the living room 67 this morning.


----------



## zmender

Temps heading down to 20s next 5 days. Cleaned out stove this afternoon and got a hot load of oak and locust. 

Real fire for the next several days - regimented reload + continuous burn.


----------



## c604

Temps dropping back into the 20's tonight.  Burning some 4 year old white oak and loving the heat!


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 36 out tonight with another load of ash going in the wood stove. The basement temp is 76 (stove location) the living room is 71 and the bedroom is 70.


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> It's 36 out tonight with another load of ash going in the wood stove. The basement temp is 76 (stove location) the living room is 71 and the bedroom is 70.



Where do you measure the basement temperature, i.e. how high above the floor/below the ceiling?


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 25.2 for a low this morning, the basement was 70, the living room and the bedroom were 69 this morning.

We loaded up the liberty with more ash and a few rounds of ironwood this morning, we have some single digit temps coming in tonight according to NOAA.

We received a little over two inches of snow overnight, hopefully this is the last of the snow.


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> Where do you measure the basement temperature, i.e. how high above the floor/below the ceiling?


It's over on the coffee table in front of the couch.


----------



## stoveliker

thewoodlands said:


> It's over on the coffee table in front of the couch.



Ok. I'll start measuring at a similar height as well so I can compare; now I measure at the ceiling near the stairs where the warm air goes up. I asked because my basement temps are often warmer than yours, but that makes sense this way.


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> Ok. I'll start measuring at a similar height as well so I can compare; now I measure at the ceiling near the stairs where the warm air goes up. I asked because my basement temps are often warmer than yours, but that makes sense this way.


Our high temp in the basement burning just ash is 77 to 79 during the night.

I always give the temp we start out with.


----------



## zmender

48F outside, living room 67F before reload. Temps will start dropping steadily in a few hours down to overnight low of 21. 

Full reload with locust to make sure I stay ahead of the cold. I can maintain 66F-69F easily but heating the house is another matter especially when cold/windy outside.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low tonight of 9, Monday night 8 and Tuesday night 6, we saved three bags of pellets we had at the house for some single digit temps at night so that's what we'll go with.

We're at 19 already with the wood stove getting a load of ash and ironwood, the basement is 77 heading higher, the living room is 72 and the bedroom is 70.


----------



## stoveliker

38 F now and decreasing to 25. Started the stove at 6 pm with some scraps from a project, reloaded now with red oak for overnight.

76 at the ceiling and 72 at 3 ft (both 20 ft away from the stove).

Edit: and 69 upstairs.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 13.5 tonight, the wood stove fan is off and burning down coals. The pellet stove is on, the basement temp was 77 before I turn the P.S. on, it's 71 in the living room and 70 in the bedroom.

Our temperature reading is 12 -14 feet from the wood stove and maybe two feet off the cellar floor.

Tomorrow morning we'll start burning the wood stove again for the day, the first load will be ash and some ironwood.


----------



## zmender

32F outside and dropping. Indoors is nice and toasty with living room at 70F (about 5 ft and shielded from radiant heat of stove). full reload with locust now. Tomorrow morning at 8am there will be thick coals and living room at 66F.


----------



## zmender

21F with flurries, stove behaving exactly as predicted... 65F living w/ very thick bed of coals, still good heat coming out of blowers. Full reload to heat up home, probably partial reload w/ shorties and uglies late afternoon to hold living room at >68 until evening reload after supper.


----------



## DonTee

11 degrees outside. Inside it’s 73 degrees downstairs and 75 degrees upstairs. I’ve been burning just ash for the last week. 

I think our high today is 19.  All our snow was gone until 2 days ago. Now we have 4” or so on the ground.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 6.6 for a low this morning, we started out with the basement at 77 and the living room and bedroom at 69.

We shut the pellet stove off and started a fire in the wood stove with some ash. We received four inches of snow with a good wind, so far our high today is 12.9.


----------



## zmender

I got a problem... both good and bad.

Good - Recently wife developed interest in keeping fire. Awesome that the lady is proactively taking care of the fire.

Bad - She treats the stove as a fireplace - as in loves to running the thing with door open, and pretty much tosses a split in whenever instead of following a reload schedule.

Soooooo.... it's 9pm, I've got a stove that's criss-crossed about 80% full of coal and splits that are still outgassing. Best I can hope for is burning down those splits before bedtime at midnight and get overnight reload, with enough density to have bed of coal tomorrow morning.

Edit - won't be so bad if the house is warm. living room dropped down to 65F from 70F while going through at least 2, 3 full reload worth of locust splits.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have a temp of 11.1 tonight with NOAA calling for a low of 8, the basement is 75 with the bedroom and living room at 67.

I shut the fan off on the wood stove and have the pellet stove going.


----------



## Cluttermagnet

Tonight I'm burning mostly Red Oak and Cherry, with a little Maple
or Southern White Pine at times. Local temp tonight is around 28F,
probably low 20's overnight with a wind chill. If it gets cold enough,
I just shift to all Oak in the stove. Later this week, back up to around
70F. Weird weather. I'm going to call this a lower than average BTU
winter here so far.

We have such a variety of wood in this area. Occasionally I can get
some Locust. There is always plenty or Oak. Also burn Black Gum,
Apple, and Tulip Poplar fairly often.


----------



## stoveliker

After last night's load was done around 3 pm, I added 2 too long splits and 2 too short ones. Now it was time to reload. Oak again. Two splits showed dark wet spots on the cut end after they got hot :-( 
Only one stack (about 1.25 face cord of 18" long) left under a tarp. Apparently this last wood from my second to last tarped stack was leaked on by the tarp... That's why I built the shed. One more stack to go next year and no more tarps after that.

Was 32 max today, 25 forecast for a low.
Basement was 75 at reload time, 78 at the ceiling. Living room was 68.


----------



## burning VC

Red oak heart, red oak split....some old dead White Pine (gooey stuff)
up from to kick it off....

Grandpa Fisher dont give a split!...


----------



## zmender

Since last post we burnt lot's of poplar shorties and uglies. Good for flames + ambiance and managed to burn down coals somewhat. 11:40pm and bedtime, living room is 66F about 2~3 degrees lower than plan. I managed to stuff 4 locust splits and 2 biobricks into the stove. 60% throttle and secondaries are firing like crazy. I sure hope there's enough coals tomorrow morning 8 hours from now.


----------



## zmender

7AM - stove was about 40% full of coals, good heat but only maintained 63F in living room with windy 19F outside. Stuffed back of stove with 4 biobricks and front with 2 medium splits. About 1in of room on top of stove between fuel and secondary tubes. This morning will try to burn down coals.


----------



## moresnow

65/30. Super windy. Again! Dropped a single split on the coals a couple hours ago,  wide open throttle to melt them away as it's to windy to dispose of ash's this AM. At least the sun is gaining horsepower by the day this time of year. Stay toasty everyone.


----------



## NickW

Back in the  northwoods. Was nice being home with the NC30 for a few days. Load of box elder on last night's coals in the Strattford II. 21 degrees with ice coming tonight, then a little snow tomorrow, then a few hours of nothing, then 4-8" Wednesday night through Thursday night, then more ice on Saturday (if you believe the weather guessers...).


----------



## thewoodlands

I ended up shutting the pellet stove off about 1:45 this morning, the wood stove didn't have anything in it either and the furnace was off.

Our outside temp this morning was 10.2, the basement was 68 this morning with the temps up here at 63, I put some ash and some ironwood in the wood stove, that's off at the moment and the pellet stove is back on.


----------



## zmender

thewoodlands said:


> I ended up shutting the pellet stove off about 1:45 this morning, the wood stove didn't have anything in it either and the furnace was off.
> 
> Our outside temp this morning was 10.2, the basement was 68 this morning with the temps up here at 63, I put some ash and some ironwood in the wood stove, that's off at the moment and the pellet stove is back on.


Is the stove in basement and pellet stove main floor? Which is the main / supplement heater?


----------



## thewoodlands

zmender said:


> Is the stove in basement and pellet stove main floor? Which is the main / supplement heater?


Both are in the basement. Before we we were offered the land I cut on we had a pellet stove installed in the basement, years later when we bought the other land and the cost of pellets were six bucks a bag, we bought a Lopi Liberty that's in the opposite corner from the P.S.

We really don't have a spot up here for either, when we had the house built in 2003, I wanted a wood stove up here and the wife wanted a propane fireplace insert with a fan, I lost that little battle but we do like the propane fireplace. We haven't used it much this year but that's okay.


----------



## thewoodlands

@zmender , in January we had 18-20 days below zero so heating from the basement with those temps can be a challenge but running the pellet stove at night for the constant heat really helps out.


----------



## stoveliker

bleh; after last nights load was done around 2 pm, I added 2 punky oak splits to tide me over to now. I reloaded a 60 pct load of oak. That's the last of that rack. One tarped rack left with some oak and some cedar. Was 39 today, will be 29 tonight. tomorrow 44/39, than 60/52.  This is my last fire for the season. Going to miss it (which is a good thing; better this way than being completely done with it...).

On the coals tomorrow morning I'll add 5 pine splits and 2 maple splits that I'll run wide open to burn off/crisp up all the creosote in the box from the shoulder season low burning. THen I'll scoop the ashes, brush the crispy stuff from the walls of the firebox, get the telescoping section of my pipe off and cap both ends (so no cold standing air comes out thru my air intake, stinking up the basement). Plug the intake as good as I can and add a damprid in the firebox.

I'll have the chimney swept by a professional. Not that I need it (used the sooteater twice this winter), but to have a receipt for my insurance, and to have some eyes 27 ft up where I'm not going given that there is only 14 " to walk next to the solar panels on the gable edge of the roof 2 stories up...


----------



## buc74

32f and burning red oak and ash. Looks like we'll still be burning into April.


----------



## zmender

thewoodlands said:


> @zmender , in January we had 18-20 days below zero so heating from the basement with those temps can be a challenge but running the pellet stove at night for the constant heat really helps out.



During those super cold periods, was the temperature differential between main and basement? Basically the pellet stove was the "base heat" and the stove was the "peak heat" if I understand correctly


----------



## zmender

Wife has being burning one-off splits afternoon. By 9pm stove was about 60% full, 30% ash / coal and 30% almost-coal like splits. Stuffed the stove about 85% full of locust splits. 
Tomorrow morning around 8am, I will have thick bed of coal and living room be around 65F. I'll reload with 4~6 biobricks and 4 splits. Planning to let fire burn out tomorrow afternoon / evening for a quick road trip down to DC to see the cherry blossoms.


----------



## thewoodlands

zmender said:


> During those super cold periods, was the temperature differential between main and basement? Basically the pellet stove was the "base heat" and the stove was the "peak heat" if I understand correctly


I'm not sure on your first question, I'm pretty sure the high temp in the basement with the wood & pellet stove going overnight hit 89, I'm not sure what the temp was up here but I did shut both off in the morning until more of the heat made its way up here.

When it's really cold the wood stove is used all day and then the pellet stove is used at night for the constant heat it will put out.

The first area I started burning out of holds ten face cord, eight were ready for this year. Five face cord I robbed from what I call our wood dump over two years ago, it looked better when I stacked it but five face should've been burned in the shoulder season  but we made it through that chit wood.

We should be set with really nice hardwood for about four or five years depending on how much we burn during the colder months.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 18.5 tonight with the wood stove burning down coals and the pellet stove providing the heat, the basement was 77 before I turned the pellet stove on, the living room is 68 and the sleeper is 67.


----------



## sweedish

28 tonight. Mix of ash, cherry, boxelder and quaky.


----------



## zmender

27F this morning with good coal bed. Lined back of stove with biobricks and remaining locus splits.. maybe 80% load? Heading out late afternoon / stove will be cold till Saturday.


----------



## moresnow

thewoodlands said:


> I'm not sure on your first question, I'm pretty sure the high temp in the basement with the wood & pellet stove going overnight hit 89, I'm not sure what the temp was up here but I did shut both off in the morning until more of the heat made its way up here.
> 
> When it's really cold the wood stove is used all day and then the pellet stove is used at night for the constant heat it will put out.
> 
> The first area I started burning out of holds ten face cord, eight were ready for this year. Five face cord I robbed from what I call our wood dump over two years ago, it looked better when I stacked it but five face should've been burned in the shoulder season  but we made it through that chit wood.
> 
> We should be set with really nice hardwood for about four or five years depending on how much we burn during the colder months.


How much of the season did you get through by burning your very abundant supply of Pine? Curious.


----------



## stoveliker

The firebox-clean-out-end-of-season fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

moresnow said:


> How much of the season did you get through by burning your very abundant supply of Pine? Curious.


I'm not exactly sure but usually we start burning our shoulder season wood the third week of September unless it's real warm.  We usually have six face cord up but I only had five face ready, I'm thinking we made the switch over to hardwood in early November.

This coming fall I'll keep track when we start and stop burning our shoulder season wood.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 6.6 this morning, the basement temp was 75, the living room was 67 and the sleeper was 66.

I ran the pellet stove overnight on the highest area in the low setting, the wood stove still had coals this morning from some ironwood that was burning down before I shut the fan off when the P.S. went into use, I loaded some ash up this morning after stirring up the coals and it took off nice.

Tonight we're suppose to be around 45 degrees, that will feel nice.


----------



## Isaac Carlson

Low 30's here with rain/snow/wind.  Used up the last of the maple and threw some locust in the stove.....too warm.
I'll have to get more low btu wood, because all we have left is "good stuff".


----------



## NickW

Isaac Carlson said:


> Low 30's here with rain/snow/wind.  Used up the last of the maple and threw some locust in the stove.....too warm.
> I'll have to get more low btu wood, because all we have left is "good stuff".


Tough problem to have 🤔. Just make smaller loads, much better situation than only having crap. If you want to do a trade, I'm in North Central WI until next week. I have lots of pine and aspen; although it's not css 😂.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 35.1 tonight with another load of ash going in the wood stove, the basement is 72 heading up, the living room is 68 and the bedroom is 67.


----------



## Jay106n

Stove is cold but I’m running the open fireplace with maple sticks just for fun


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 35.2 this morning with the basement temp at 72 and everything else up here at 67, more ash is providing the heat.

We're suppose to hit 66 today but we'll see what our high temp actually hits.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 37 tonight, just another load of ash going in the Lopi.


----------



## NickW

Down to 15 or so tonight, another load of ash, beech and birch. Gotta keep it going during the days too with the windows cracked to allow moisture from the drywall mud to escape.


----------



## zmender

Came home this morning to 56F living room. Lit up a full load of locust in  stove to help recovery.


----------



## zmender

Temp 40-50s until Friday. Neighbor's latest oil bill was 4.89$/gal and I don't have minisplit... so here we go.

Burning lot's of 20~30%MC shorties and uglies (don't want to burn <18% locust) with air full open and slightly cracked open stove door. Smoke stack is clear, putting out a enough heat to maintain living room / home office in 66F range.


----------



## thewoodlands

zmender said:


> Temp 40-50s until Friday. Neighbor's latest oil bill was 4.89$/gal and I don't have minisplit... so here we go.
> 
> Burning lot's of 20~30%MC shorties and uglies (don't want to burn <18% locust) with air full open and slightly cracked open stove door. Smoke stack is clear, putting out a enough heat to maintain living room / home office in 66F range.


We've been burning a load of ash at night or in the morning if needed, the house has been 67 to 69.

I did clean the pipe with the Sooteater on Tuesday morning, all was good.


----------



## Caw

Shut'er down for the season. Wife already took over the wood spot with a basket. Nice and clean, ready for fresh paint this summer:


----------



## stoveliker

@Caw, is the top of the insert the hottest part? What does the (magnetic, I presume) thermometer indicate? 

(I'm asking because of the whitish discoloring - which seems too vaguely defined to be drool-related  )


----------



## Caw

stoveliker said:


> @Caw, is the top of the insert the hottest part? What does the (magnetic, I presume) thermometer indicate?
> 
> (I'm asking because of the whitish discoloring - which seems too vaguely defined to be drool-related  )



That is a magnetic Condar and it's actually fairly accurate when compared with my IR gun. The hottest part of the stove is about an inch or two behind it but that's inaccessible due to the surround so I just use it as a guide for a quick visual peak. I know that if it reads X it's slightly hotter than that value.

I think the discoloration is a result of a bunch of things:

1. It's the hottest part of the stove. I've zapped it with the IR gun many times all over to confirm. It likes to cruise between 650-750 degrees on a good hot burn which is pretty warm but overfire is listed as 840 degrees by SBI so I'm not too concerned about that standard range. I did have two brief overfire situations this year at about 850 degrees for 10-15 minutes. I think it likely cured/cooked the paint a little bit extra during those events. It's been running fine all year afterwards and I plan to have my sweep give it a good once over too when he's out for the seasonal pipe cleaning. 

2. Ashes. Since the finish is rough right now the ash dust adheres to it very easily. I haven't bothered to clean it since I'll be sanding and refinishing it this summer.

3. I repainted (poorly) the forward section of it once so there are different amounts of paint and finish in places. Some has work off as it didn't take well (I didn't prep nearly well enough) so it's not uniform looking. I think when it got too hot it exacerbated the look difference 

4. Dust. There is a lot of dust/dander in here from the winter of burning and the dog. We haven't done our big cleaning yet and I'm not bothering to touch the stove until I redo it. 

Drool is the reason for all this paint stuff in the first place but not the color changes. Here's a pic I took just now to show what needs to be fixed. Im confident I can do a good job this time. You can see where I ran my finger thru the dust on top. It all looks much more uniform to the naked eye:


----------



## stoveliker

I'm put at ease


----------



## Gearhead660

Spring has been cool so far, still burning but smaller loads.  Currently burning apple of the 2018 vintage.


----------



## zmender

More moist shorts and uglies... I collected about 2 wheelbarrows full of them.

If I keep stove throttle maxed out and leave tiny crack on the door, these things burn smokeless (every now and then a whiff of smoke but nothing really visible) and hot enough to keep house close to 70F, as the sole heater in the house (except bedroom). Have to reload is a pain in the ass but wife loves the flames and happily tossing in a few pieces every hour or two. Basically a more efficient fireplace.

Every time I go walk the dog I bring back one or two birch skinnies (about 3~4in across) and I got about a quarter cords this way. I'll dry these out and burn them in fall shoulder season.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had some good rains overnight and this morning with a temp of 42 so the Liberty received another load of ash.

It looks like I'll burn over my 12 face cord but under 13.


----------



## DonTee

I have a small fire going right now. All ash. It’s 47 outside and 77 inside. It’s been raining all night/day. 
At least the last of our snow finally melted away. 

I didn’t have a fire overnight and the house was 72 when I woke up.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 41.5 out tonight with more rain, I have a small load of ash going in the wood stove tonight. The basement temp is 72 heading up and 69 up here.


----------



## firefighterjake

Chunks and uglies . . .


----------



## clancey

I think more snow will be coming for the NE just saying no proof...clancey


----------



## DonTee

We have a chance of snow on Sunday here. But the weather after that looks nice.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 34.3 this morning with another small load of ash going in after 11:30, we'll be dropping down around 36 again with another small load of ash planned for the overnight burn.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 36.3 tonight with another load of ash going in the wood stove, the basement is 72 and the rest of the house is 70.


----------



## zmender

41F tonight, and tomorrow's low will be 36F. Got a small fire with low quality hardwood shorts tonight - should be enough to keep living room at around 65F.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 27.7 this morning with another load of ash going in the wood stove.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 43.3 tonight with some not so great birch going in the wood stove, that should keep the temp up here 69 to 70.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 34.5 out tonight, we're still burning some not so great birch.


----------



## NickW

30 now, down to 23 tonight. Ash & beech yet for overnights. Smaller loads when it stays over 40 overnight. Sunny days it's a small softwood fire first thing in the morning, then nothing until the sun goes down. Probably only a couple weeks left for burning in SE WI, but when I go back to the northwoods it'll still be overnights for awhile I bet.


----------



## zmender

41F outside with high of 51F tomorrow. Cold starting stove after not burning for about 2 weeks with maple and oak splits. This batch of wood  was very hard to burn (moist) back in Dec / Jan but caught on almost instantly this time around. Amazing what 3 months of drying can do.


----------



## moresnow

25/68. Elm  keeping the place comfy.


----------



## JamesGuido

Birch.... it's all i have remaining....
but it's dry and it's keeping the house toasty on these cool spring mornings in southeastern Wisconsin







*We hope everyone has a Blessed and happy Easter!*


----------



## zmender

40F... dropping to mid 30s overnight. Living room is nice and cozy at 69F from burning maple and oak. Reloaded with couple large ash and oak splits for overnight burn.


----------



## zmender

Watching some of the coolest secondary flames - looks as if there are whiskers of flame dancing in the stove in mid-air, not connected to top or bottom


----------



## JamesGuido

thewoodlands said:


> It's 34.5 out tonight, we're still burning some not so great birch.


What is wrong with your “not so great birch”?? 🤔


----------



## NickW

JamesGuido said:


> What is wrong with your “not so great birch”?? 🤔


Betting it's punky. Birch does that quickly, usually while still standing. Most of my dead birch tree's in the northwoods are junk firewood. I've got some birch logs stored up off the ground that are probably pretty iffy because I didn't score the bark and didn't get them split right away.


----------



## firefighterjake

Maple and ash . . . possible snow in the forecast today.


----------



## thewoodlands

JamesGuido said:


> What is wrong with your “not so great birch”?? 🤔


Some of it had punk in it, I was burning it until January hit (we had 18 to 20 days below zero) it's perfect for these temps.

Most of the birch I cut had been damaged and started rotting from the top down, those are the splits we've been burning.

I usually have two face cord of pine ready for the spring but I never did get it split and stacked.


----------



## thewoodlands

firefighterjake said:


> Maple and ash . . . possible snow in the forecast today.


It stayed warm enough overnight that we had rain, we're finally getting some snow but we'll see if we get the 6-10 they called for.


----------



## bigealta

Burned up all the uglies a few weeks ago. Thought we were almost done burning, but this winter just keeps lingering. Have to go back to the good wood for the next few days.


----------



## DonTee

We got about 3” of wet snow last night and this morning. It only got up to 35 today and is windy. I’m burning ash and beech.

Outside is 34 and inside is 77.

I guess we had it pretty good here. I have a buddy in southern NY who said he got close to a foot of snow, and a lot of people are without power.


----------



## thewoodlands

Overnight our rain turned to snow but it's gone already, it was 30.5 this morning with some maple providing the heat. We've been keeping our temps up here at 70 and the bedroom at 68.

The maple we're burning is better than the not so great birch but it still came from the our wood dump a few years back. I'm not sure how much we have left in the stack under the cover but once that is gone, we have some ash ready.


----------



## JamesGuido

it's like 45º and damp outside... 'sposta warm up.. then again drop in temps like Ma Nature can't decide whether to make some happy and some sad ernot...
anyway, more "pretty decent" *birch in my jøtul *warming the home... 
heard next week it'll drop back to the lower 40's for highs... 
and monday is my "official" first day of retirement so i'll be stokin' the stove in late april as my new job.
CFW.


----------



## stoveliker

Congrats on looking back at a life of work, and forward to a life of  work you do for yourself!


----------



## JamesGuido

stoveliker said:


> Congrats on looking back at a life of work, and forward to a life of  work you do for yourself!


wow... Thank you so very much! i never looked at it like that.
everyone makes a big deal of it yet it's just me not having to wake to an alarm that i'm excited about. (not that i'm a late sleeper anyway...)

Thank you again.
i think my eyes are watering my face hair


----------



## sweedish

Cherry and boxelder, looks like a fire at least once a day for the next week.


----------



## NickW

Sounds like SE WI. Looks like light burning for at least a week. Heading back to the northwoods tomorrow. Will be burning there longer by the look of the forecast. Half load of ash in the NC30 right now for overnight.


----------



## thewoodlands

The wife said the house was cooling off so I have a small load of ash in the Liberty.


----------



## Tar12

After a week of no burning I just fired a load of ash off...I will let it burn its course..then repeat the next 2  evenings...


----------



## NickW

Got back to the northwoods about 3:45. 31 degrees and snow squalls. Surprisingly very little snow left on the ground. I've done 2 mid size loads of box elder fast and hot to get the temperature up and will have beech, ash and maybe some birch for the overnight. 28 now, down to mid teens tonight.


----------



## zmender

Overcast and rainy all day - living room dropped to 63F. Got a fire going on evening with oak and beech limb wood I picked up in the woods while walking dog. 

Next couple of nights we are back in the high 30s overnight - will probably burn random limbs I find in the yard.


----------



## johneh

Cold and windy snowed this morning 
sugar maple keeping the homestead warm


----------



## Bobbob

Gonna get to 27 tonight. Have a mix of maple and elm keeping the stove hot right now.  Love my fires but ready for some steady warm temps now. It is almost May...


----------



## bigealta

1 fire every evening still going on here at the NJ coast.


----------



## Smokey-the-Canuck

I burn 100% maple.  My loads are max every time.  Not seen are the three small logs perpendicular behind the lot.


----------



## stoveliker

Looks good! What stove is that?


----------



## Smokey-the-Canuck

a work horse, England's 30-NC.  I have a bunch of automation on it.  Happy camper, I am.


----------



## stoveliker

Work horses are good! Especially if they provide comfort


----------



## bigealta

Smokey-the-Canuck said:


> a work horse, England's 30-NC.  I have a bunch of automation on it.  Happy camper, I am.


Did you try top down starts in that stove?


----------



## Smokey-the-Canuck

Not really.  I put in a few kindling sticks the size of pencils vertically with paper and start it that way.  It is slow to start with zero ashes and coals.  When it starts I get a nice controlled burn.  Happy with the unit.  great bargain.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 35.2 tonight with a load of Ash going in the wood stove, it's 70 up here in the living room, 69 in the sleeper and 75 and getting warmer in the basement where the stove is.


----------



## zmender

40F outside w/64F living room. Last night burnt through a large knurly piece of beech. Reloaded this morning with large piece of maple and bits and pieces of broken limbs from yard.


----------



## shortys7777

Oak. Really wish I was done but lows in the 30s and highs only reaching mid 50s call for a chilly house.


----------



## bigealta

Smokey-the-Canuck said:


> Not really.  I put in a few kindling sticks the size of pencils vertically with paper and start it that way.  It is slow to start with zero ashes and coals.  When it starts I get a nice controlled burn.  Happy with the unit.  great bargain.


Worth giving it a try. Should put out much less smoke on start up. Also pretty cool to see a ripping fire on top of the splits with super fast time to strong secondary burn.


----------



## zmender

+1 for top 1... I stack kindling right up against 2ndary tubes and very quickly you'll see fire jets shooting out even when just burning kindling. Smoke stack clears out in a matter of minutes.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 27.2 this morning with a nice load of ash going in the wood stove while we had coffee. We started off with a living room temp of 66 this morning and a temp of 68 in the sleeper.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 28 tonight and 27 tomorrow night, we have another load of ash going in the Lopi.


----------



## zmender

Burning oak and beech tonight. Oak splits are limbs blown down with wind, beech limbs were scrounged from nearby power line clearing.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 26.2 this morning with another load of ash providing the heat.


----------



## thewoodlands

More ash tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We gad 25.5 this morning, more ash went in the wood stove. Saranac Lake New York had a low of 18.


----------



## sweedish

Boxelder and quaking aspen this morning, looks like one a day fires for another week at least.


----------



## thewoodlands

I didn't have a fire overnight and this morning was 31 so the house was 65, we had another fire with some ash and with the help of the sun we're up to 70 in the house.


----------



## Gearhead660

Its May and we are still burning!  Very cool and wet spring.  Elm and pine burning in the insert.


----------



## bigealta

May 8, Just made another fire this morning. Damp and cool this spring not letting go.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32.7 this morning but the house was still 68 from the overnight fire so we didn't have another fire this morning.


----------



## zmender

Past few days had us low of mid-40s, high of mid-50s. Currently living room is 60F, bedroom 62F. 

Wife volunteered to light the fire and hand picked couple of the prettiest logs on the rack. So now we are burning a full load of ~15%MC black locust. I think we will cook ourselves out of house pretty soon.


----------



## zmender

bigealta said:


> May 8, Just made another fire this morning. Damp and cool this spring not letting go.


Agreed there, as much of a pyromaniac as I am, I'm looking forward to warmer days.


----------



## VintageGal

Black oak in the little lopi. Stove cruising at 600°.


----------



## Gearhead660

No fire,  just mini split this evening.


----------



## thewoodlands

No fire overnight with a temp of 36.4 this morning, no fire this morning while having coffee but we'll have one tonight unless someone falls asleep in the recliner again.

The house is 70 from the sun with the doors opened to the porch, feels great.


----------



## kennyp2339

I almost 100% this past Saturday was my last one of the season, even at 42 deg at night with rain showers and a stiff wind the house warmed to much during the day due to sun angle, I did the black and white cat test, he went out, came back after 20 min, his black fur felt warm even though it was cloudy lol. 
Time to re-fill the shed racks and move other splits around, I got plenty of ash tree's that are standing dead to drop and process to. It was another fun season here.


----------



## thewoodlands

It has been a cool damp day so we're having a shoulder season wood fire, 78 in the basement where the stove is and 72 up here.

After tomorrow the temps will be warmer for the week, we usually start feeding the Lopi Liberty on September 15 and the latest has been the 25 of September. Since oil and propane prices are up, we won't use any of those until the coldest weather hits. 

I think that I'll cover another two face cord of shoulder season wood, that will give us just under eight face cord for this fall and next spring if needed.


----------



## Rusty18

thewoodlands said:


> It has been a cool damp day so we're having a shoulder season wood fire, 78 in the basement where the stove is and 72 up here.
> 
> After tomorrow the temps will be warmer for the week, we usually start feeding the Lopi Liberty on September 15 and the latest has been the 25 of September. Since oil and propane prices are up, we won't use any of those until the coldest weather hits.
> 
> I think that I'll cover another two face cord of shoulder season wood, that will give us just under eight face cord for this fall and next spring if needed.


A/C still sucking down the KW’s here.  Not looking to need heat for another 2 months at least!


----------



## DonTee

Highs in the 70’s for a few more days here, and then a couple days in the 80’s. We did get down to 51 the other morning, but then the temp came right back up again. 

I’m thinking no fires for us for at least another month or so. I’ve been eyeing the wood out in the woodshed. I should pull some pieces out and do a moisture test just for funsies.


----------



## ABMax24

Still no sign of a cooldown here, we burnt a couple fires this time last year, AC is still going full blast this year.

We had the hottest August I've ever seen, and no appreciable rain in the last month. Now we've had 3 large forest fires start in the last 3 days and the smoke is rolling in.

I'm ready for a fire, but forest fires aren't quite what I wanted.


----------



## thewoodlands

ABMax24 said:


> Still no sign of a cooldown here, we burnt a couple fires this time last year, AC is still going full blast this year.
> 
> We had the hottest August I've ever seen, and no appreciable rain in the last month. Now we've had 3 large forest fires start in the last 3 days and the smoke is rolling in.
> 
> I'm ready for a fire, but forest fires aren't quite what I wanted.


I hope you get some rain.


----------



## stoveliker

I'm jealous. Last two years had the first fire October 29 and November 19.  The minisplit was cooling today (or more dehumidifying), and will be heating before a fire is lit.

I have my shed bay with 2.75 cords (oak, ash, and cherry this year) available. That should be enough (with the minisplit for times when  it's 40+ F for 24 hrs or more). But I have an extra 1.5 face cord of oak and a face cord of pitch pine ready as well. So I may use the minisplit less.than normal in spring.


----------



## Woodsplitter67

Its bee a warm humid summer.. I've been saying since mid july I've been looking forward to the cool down.. Im about 40 days to my first fire and even that I will need to keep the windows open to cool the house down enough.  Im sitting on 14 cords.. what im burning this year is a mix of oak and cherry.. probably.. a 70/30 mix.. I did a full clean out in may so the stove is ready to go.. I can't wait.. really looking forward to more cooler weather..


----------



## walhondingnashua

Just a little north of you rusty18.  I can't complain about the rain this summer, my yard looks great and the gravel road in front of the house never got very dusty.  I can complain about the temperatures.  My electric bills have been the worst in 6 years in this house.

The rainy weekend has made me want to light the stove.


----------



## Rusty18

walhondingnashua said:


> Just a little north of you rusty18.  I can't complain about the rain this summer, my yard looks great and the gravel road in front of the house never got very dusty.  I can complain about the temperatures.  My electric bills have been the worst in 6 years in this house.
> 
> The rainy weekend has made me want to light the stove.


The rain has been real hit n miss here.  We would get a sprinkle and Marietta/Reno would about get washed away.  Been that way all summer.  I had a mini excavator rented last weekend digging out for a driveway improvement project and dug stumps out with the remaining hours.  At one point I was 6-7’ deep and still in dry dirt.  We could really stand a light drizzle for about 3 days here.


----------



## Deppizzymo

It has been the driest summer I can remember here in northeast Missouri. We have gotten 1.5 inches essentially since mid-July. I have had to water my trees/shrubs like crazy and I know it's likely all just falling down the fissures in the ground. This is our first winter on wood. I am sure our piles dried out a little faster than a normal year so we will cross our fingers we have enough. My family thinks we have a "crazy amount" but my family does not heat 100% with wood. They are more ambient fire/supplement with wood people. I keep trying to tell them that this is a 100 year old 2600 square foot house with bad insulation and we are planning to burn 24/7. It is going to need a lot of wood. We also are trying to put back enough for next year's pile too but I am certain we don't have enough for 2 years yet.


----------



## MEngineer24

Deppizzymo said:


> It has been the driest summer I can remember here in northeast Missouri. We have gotten 1.5 inches essentially since mid-July. I have had to water my trees/shrubs like crazy and I know it's likely all just falling down the fissures in the ground. This is our first winter on wood. I am sure our piles dried out a little faster than a normal year so we will cross our fingers we have enough. My family thinks we have a "crazy amount" but my family does not heat 100% with wood. They are more ambient fire/supplement with wood people. I keep trying to tell them that this is a 100 year old 2600 square foot house with bad insulation and we are planning to burn 24/7. It is going to need a lot of wood. We also are trying to put back enough for next year's pile too but I am certain we don't have enough for 2 years yet.


I get the same comments from my family but I look at it as “money in the bank.” We’ve had the wettest summer here since I can remember and even broke some rainfall records. Overall  it’s been cooler than normal so I foresee an earlier than normal first fire for us.


----------



## Todd

Almost fired up Sunday morning, it was a cool 37 out and 66 inside but I knew it was going to be sunny day and 70 so I held off. It’s been a pretty normal Summer here temp wise but lacking rain the last two months. I usually have a few take the chill off fires in Sep and will be full time 24/7 by mid Oct.


----------



## stoveliker

(In summer) I have the stove pipe off, capped off the thimble and the opening of the stove, and stuffed something in the air-inlet. 

My stove contains the remaining ashes that I could not scoop out, and a pot of damprid.
()


----------



## BKVP

It was only 90 yesterday!  After having 110-116F the past couple of months, the 80's-90's feels super!  But realistically, we are probably a few weeks away from needing a fire.  Besides, having two deer tags & elk in my back pocket is a good excuse to bring a chainsaw along.....


----------



## stoveliker

I suggest to keep the saw quiet when you're trying to bag a deer...  🤣


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a fire last night  and with the temp at 40.4 this morning, we had another fire while having some coffee. It was a cool day today and with the same temps forecast for tomorrow morning, we're having a small shoulder season fire tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We were just above 44 this morning but we didn't have a fire.


----------



## Stelcom66

I'm looking forward to the cooler, even cold weather, always do. Going to be abnormally warm tomorrow 9/18 in the mid 80s.


----------



## MMH

I echo everyone here. This summer was hot, 90-100s. Finally cooling down temps now 60-80 and we got a years worth of rain last week or two. Stoves cleaned, but likely won’t have fires for a while still.


----------



## Stelcom66

thewoodlands said:


> We were just above 44 this morning but we didn't have a fire.


You lucky! Sounds nice. A very dry summer here too - for quite a while the area was classified as being in a severe drought. A decent amount of rain I think changed the rating to 'Abnormally dry'.  I guess the silver lining of that is maybe better wood seasoning.


----------



## MEngineer24

Stelcom66 said:


> You lucky! Sounds nice. A very dry summer here too - for quite a while the area was classified as being in a severe drought. A decent amount of rain I think changed the rating to 'Abnormally dry'.  I guess the silver lining of that is maybe better wood seasoning.


Very interesting how the north was so dry this year. We had one of the wettest summers on record for this area since the 50’s! Been cooler than the last several years also.


----------



## NickW

WI didn't have too many days over 90, but some pretty long stretches of mid to upper 80's. Also had a fair amount of rain. Only one short stretch where the lawn started to dry out and turn brown.


----------



## thewoodlands

Stelcom66 said:


> You lucky! Sounds nice. A very dry summer here too - for quite a while the area was classified as being in a severe drought. A decent amount of rain I think changed the rating to 'Abnormally dry'.  I guess the silver lining of that is maybe better wood seasoning.


I like the cooler weather, that's for sure. We might get over two inches of rain coming in over a three day stretch so we moved in a bunch of shoulder season wood. 

We were very dry in April but our area was real wet in May and just enough rain after, that we stayed out of any drought stage. The month of September can get real wet for us and most of the northeast, hopefully it isn't that bad so I can get my arse on the back hill and drop some Ash before the EAB gets it.

I think last night we only dropped to 57 but I had a small fire which should be enough that I won't have to run the dehumidifier.


----------



## Rusty18

MEngineer24 said:


> Very interesting how the north was so dry this year. We had one of the wettest summers on record for this area since the 50’s! Been cooler than the last several years also.


What part of wv are you in?  I’m originally from arnoldsburg, mom still lives there.  She’s had trouble getting dry weather to put up hay all summer.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Very hot and dry here this summer. Expecting possibly record breaking temps the next three days. Had a stretch of around 5 or 6 weeks that I didn't have to mow and a cousin of a guy I work with had his well run dry. We have had a quarter inch of rain at my place in the last three weeks and no rain in the next 7 day forecast. Can't wait for real fall weather.


----------



## BKVP

Expected 80F here in Walla Walla today....


----------



## MEngineer24

Rusty18 said:


> What part of wv are you in?  I’m originally from arnoldsburg, mom still lives there.  She’s had trouble getting dry weather to put up hay all summer.


We live in the southern part of the state. Same thing here, hay season has been rough. There has been a few fields around me that got their rows saturated and were bailed for mulch hay.


----------



## Todd

First fire of season, 5 small splits of Aspen this evening. Outside temp 48 at 8pm, suppose to be lower 30’s by morning. This little load should hold the heat in here til next evening.


----------



## MMH

Jealous you have ignition already! I’ve got temps hitting mid-high 30s tonight and tomorrow night but 70-80 in the days so alas still nothing here. What kind of aspen do you have in your area and how do you like burning it?


----------



## Todd

MMH said:


> Jealous you have ignition already! I’ve got temps hitting mid-high 30s tonight and tomorrow night but 70-80 in the days so alas still nothing here. What kind of aspen do you have in your area and how do you like burning it?


Mostly Quaking Aspen but a couple patches of Bigtooth. I have 23 wooded acres and I’ve been thinning out the Aspen that’s been choking out the better hardwoods like Oak, Maple and Cherry. I like how it burns it doesn’t coal up like Oak, burns hot and I can get away with 12 hour burns in the shoulder seasons so I’ll keep burning it as my main source as long as I can.


----------



## MMH

Todd said:


> Mostly Quaking Aspen but a couple patches of Bigtooth. I have 23 wooded acres and I’ve been thinning out the Aspen that’s been choking out the better hardwoods like Oak, Maple and Cherry. I like how it burns it doesn’t coal up like Oak, burns hot and I can get away with 12 hour burns in the shoulder seasons so I’ll keep burning it as my main source as long as I can.


Nice. I have it in my area as well, never burned it though for what reason I don’t know; I’ve always thought it would be great in shoulder season. Next time I’m cutting I’ll have to get some.


----------



## snojetter

Todd said:


> Mostly Quaking Aspen but a couple patches of Bigtooth. I have 23 wooded acres and I’ve been thinning out the Aspen that’s been choking out the better hardwoods like Oak, Maple and Cherry. I like how it burns it doesn’t coal up like Oak, burns hot and I can get away with 12 hour burns in the shoulder seasons so I’ll keep burning it as my main source as long as I can.


Nice to see another burner not shy to promote burning poplar.  Fantastic firewood in my opinion!  I'm surrounded by oak and ash, but I like to get as much poplar as I can.  Major benefits in my opinion are 1) light (once it dries down) so easy to move around, 2) easy to cut and split so it doesn't take a toll on the saw or body (I split by hand) and 3) generally splits "square" so very easy to make stable stacks that will stay put.  The only downside is burn time, but I can get 8 hours even in the middle of winter in my Princess so no real issue there.  In reality, it gets mixed with all my other wood types so it's very welcome in my woodpiles!


----------



## WoodBurnerInWI

Almost did a fire last night but the temps stayed a bit too warm for my liking so still waiting to kick off this year's burn season. Next week I see a nightly low of 39 and 41 so hopefully those two back to back nights of lower temps will hold and I can start burning this year!


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 39.5 this morning with a shoulder season fire started  once I grabbed my first cup of coffee, the wife started another fire while I was outside felling some dead junk azz pine for the outside fireplace.

Our high so far today was a touch over 47 with a frost advisory on for our area tonight.


----------



## Todd

Probably burn another load of Aspen tonight. Was down to 34 this morning only 57 now. Cabin still at 67, once it hits 65 it’s fire time!


----------



## johneh

We had frost last night and today did not get above 45 
No fire in the wood furnace  but the pellet stove is on 
keeping the house at a comfortable 70 
Frost again tonight


----------



## Marconis

Taking advantage of the 53* with a nice breeze. Red oak.


----------



## Gearhead660

Mini split warming the house.   Nice fall evening for fire outside.  Maple, pine and ash branches.


----------



## stoveliker

64 max here, clear sky, and very breezy. 56 now, going to 50 minimum tonight. No heat needed. 

Collected a lot of branches from the lawn for the fire pit. Too windy for a fire now though.


----------



## Marconis

stoveliker said:


> 64 max here, clear sky, and very breezy. 56 now, going to 50 minimum tonight. No heat needed.
> 
> Collected a lot of branches from the lawn for the fire pit. Too windy for a fire now though.


I actually had to put mine out, the wind was really whipping embers around even with the screen on. Didn’t want to wind up on the news for a mini forest fire.


----------



## NickW

I'm going back and forth between having a campfire outside or firing up the Stratford II inside. It was in the 30's last night and cold by the campfire. Tonight is only going down in the 40's, but the cabin feels a little chilly...


----------



## stoveliker

NickW said:


> I'm going back and forth between having a campfire outside or firing up the Stratford II inside. It was in the 30's last night and cold by the campfire. Tonight is only going down in the 40's, but the cabin feels a little chilly...


I vote for both. More fire is better... 😜

A short camp fire so you don't get too cold, and then a good warm stove inside.


----------



## orlkc

Just kicked off the first break-in fire of the season with a few pine scraps.  Down into the 40s even early in the evening.  Would have been a good evening for the outdoor fire pit instead if it wasn't so windy.


----------



## NickW

We've got crappy weather moving in, campfire wins because I won't be able to have one for a few days...


----------



## Stelcom66

48º at 10:30pm, that's more like it - feels good. How it should be for fall. Will put away the fans and probably set up the firewood holder near the stove tomorrow, Not sure about a fire yet.


----------



## Riverbanks

Three pine splits, na, that didn't do it, three more splits of poplar. The dog is happy, back to her spot


----------



## oilstinks

What's in my stove? Well right now it's ashes from any mail with sensitive info like account numbers and such.


----------



## MEngineer24

oilstinks said:


> What's in my stove? Well right now it's ashes from any mail with sensitive info like account numbers and such.



Same situation here. I usually don’t see temps below the 40’s until the end of October. Still have some time to procrastinate cleaning the chimney.


----------



## Stelcom66

oilstinks said:


> What's in my stove? Well right now it's ashes from any mail with sensitive info like account numbers and such.


Same here - been using it in place of the paper shredder that doesn't work very well.


----------



## NickW

First fire of the season in the Northwoods just lit. Damp & chilly 47 outside, high of 54 expected with clouds and drizzle. Not a big one for now, just enough to take a little bit of the chill out and start to warm all the steel up.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32.7 on the wireless located on the porch, the roof had some frost on it. We didn't have a fire overnight but had one this morning.


----------



## SpaceBus

It was really windy last night and this morning, so I gave in and lit the cookstove and ran two small loads. I miss how much hotter the cookstove makes our DHW compared to tankless unit set to 130f.


----------



## Diabel

Placed some splits by the stove. Might light it up in the morning.


----------



## Larch

4 medium splits of lodgepole pine this morning in my king just to keep it going until tonight's reload, wishing I  didn't now lol. Pretty much in the 30's every night but still to warm during the sunny days still


----------



## Diabel

It has started then. Shoulder season is on in a lot of places. I do not really need to light it tomorrow but I want to…


----------



## Split

Hurricane Fiona nailed Nova Scotia today. Lots of power outages, rain and high winds. We thankfully didn't lose power but a couple within 30 minutes of us did. I fired up a small fire for comfort when they dropped over for a hot lunch. It burned well. 

Mostly small splits of birch and one maple. I tossed in a split of willow on start up. 

Was a good day to have a woodstove in NS today.


----------



## Stelcom66

Split said:


> Hurricane Fiona nailed Nova Scotia today. Lots of power outages, rain and high winds. We thankfully didn't lose power but a couple within 30 minutes of us did. I fired up a small fire for comfort when they dropped over for a hot lunch. It burned well.
> 
> Mostly small splits of birch and one maple. I tossed in a split of willow on start up.
> 
> Was a good day to have a woodstove in NS today.


Wow - yea just saw how bad it was on the news. Glad you didn't lose power and are safe. Nice to have the wood stove just in case.  I know many that have them will need to use them.


----------



## stoveliker

We gave my son a baseball game for his birthday. So today we were at the Yankees vs Red Sox game. It was hot. Sweating.

Judge unfortunately did not get a home run for his record. "We" won though.

Long hot day, two hrs driving (plus half an hr in the Bronx, but that can't be called driving...), 4 hr game, 2.5 hrs back.

They say it was only 70 F, but without wind and in the sun it was not yet stove time....


----------



## Diabel

62 right now. Too warm to have a fire. Maybe latet on this week


----------



## bigealta

Still warm here in NJ and for the foreseeable future. I like to hold off on 1st fire to re acclimate the body to colder temps.  Looking at mid -late Oct.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a shoulder season fire, it's 51 out but damp so instead of running the dehumidifier in the basement, we're having a fire when the basement or house needs it.


----------



## DonTee

The wife talked me into having a small fire. It’s 45 outside and 74 inside. Burning some 3 year old cherry. 

I agree about the humidity. It’s 84% humidity outside right now.


----------



## NickW

Mix of pine, cherry and ash this morning in the Stratford II in the WI Northwoods. In the 30's outside now but going up to the mid 60's today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We a freeze warning on for the morning, it's still 72 up here but I'll run a shoulder season fire tonight.


----------



## Riverbanks

This is starting to feel like a fall from years ago, lit one tonight, the forecast for the a.m., it told me to throw to more sticks on, but I am not swapping summer to winter clothes yet!


----------



## SpaceBus

I almost lit the stove this morning, but then I realized I forgot to turn on the heat pump last night and the sun is going to be out today.


----------



## DonTee

Got the BK cruising on low right now. 38 outside and 75 inside. Burning cherry again. 

Maybe next year I’ll have a mini split too.


----------



## SpaceBus

DonTee said:


> Got the BK cruising on low right now. 38 outside and 75 inside. Burning cherry again.
> 
> Maybe next year I’ll have a mini split too.


We went with a pair of portable AC/Heat units and it's been cheap to operate so far.


----------



## wooddope

Getting chilly here tonight so I fired up some junk wood and scrap cardboard to drive it off but have doors and windows open so it will not get too warm. The dog loves it, he can come and go as he pleases, and I am enjoying the smell and warmth. It won 't be long before it's full time burning so this a good time to let it burn just for fun.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 34 this morning with a load of shoulder season wood going in the Liberty.


----------



## SpaceBus

Not quite as cold here, but with lows and nights in the 40's I loaded up the cookstove this evening since we woke up cold this morning. I cooked a nice stuffed yellow (spaghetti?) squash from our garden. Everything but the rice filling was locally produced/grown.


----------



## Simonkenton

I cranked up the stove for the first time this season.  All locust.  Locust kindling even.  It was kinda hard to get going but it burned well.


----------



## MEngineer24

First fire of the 2022-2023 season today. Got it going with some pine scraps, cut offs and some crumbling oak pieces from a half rotted oak I cut up a few years back. 50F here but its been raining since yesterday from the remnants of Ian.


----------



## Riff

And first fire of the year going. No solar heating yesterday with highs in the 50's and a slow, cold rain makes for a chilly morning to the wife and kiddos. Have some maple and northern catalpa scraps going.


----------



## Diabel

Finally, lit the fire this afternoon. Cold wind coming from northwest. This is the latest ever.


----------



## Simonkenton

I am ripping and roaring again tonight with a load of total locust including locust kindling.  Hard to get started but it is burning hot right now!  Love that locust.  I have an electric splitter, and if you split locust small enough it works for kindling.


----------



## MEngineer24

Another shoulder season fire here this morning. Same conditions as yesterday, 48F and has been raining/overcast since Friday evening.  Few cut offs and some half rotted oak maple mix to knock the chill off.


----------



## kennyp2339

Nothing yet for me, I was close last night but the temps just held stable at that point of fire vs no fire (66 deg f inside) this afternoon we're suppose to have more rain and 52, maybe this evening I'll do a quick batch of cherry / ash, but only if it feels damp and raw inside.


----------



## Stelcom66

What is a 'Shoulder season'?


----------



## stoveliker

The seasons left and right of the main body of the winter heating season. When less heat is needed. I.e. fall and spring.


----------



## SpaceBus

Ran a big load of shorts and uglies through the cooker this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 34.2 tonight with possible frost, it's 73 up here and 71 in the sleeper. I have some pine mixed in with about three splits of ash that were in here from when we stopped burning in the spring, the basement is 79 heading north.


----------



## Crummy

Spruce in the stove all last month, today and for the next 210 days. Really like the variety.


----------



## Riverbanks

Lol, poor stove, how about a piece of fruitwood?, Mix things up a bit


----------



## Crummy

Riverbanks said:


> Lol, poor stove, how about a piece of fruitwood?, Mix things up a bit


Actually I guess she does get a single sliver of fatwood once in a while but just when I let the coals dwindle down a little too far for a fast restart. I find that sometimes there is nothing but a spark left but the cat will still be well over 500°.


----------



## thewoodlands

In my post above from last night, I said that there were three splits of ash for the overnight fire with pine. I actually filled the liberty up with ash, when the basement temp hit 79, I shut off the fan. The temp up here was 72 heading to 73 when I called it a night.

We had a temp of 28.4 this morning with the temp up here at 70 and the basement still at 73, we had a fire with just pine this morning, the temp up here at 72.

I think tomorrow we'll put in what is leftover of the ash from last year, tonight should be in the 20's again so the overnight fire will be all ash.

This morning we still had a nice bed of coals from the ash.


----------



## bigealta

Had to have 1 st Fire just because it’s been raining for 3 days straight and going to continue for probably at least 2 more days. Got to dry it out in here.


----------



## Diabel

bigealta said:


> View attachment 299863
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Had to have 1 st Fire just because it’s been raining for 3 days straight and going to continue for probably at least 2 more days. Got to dry it out in here.


@bigealta , just curious….in your avatar, what is the dog going after?


----------



## Diabel

I wish I was burning right now. Sold the house no more stove. All I see is rooftops from high above. Weekends only for me now, burning at the cottage. Keep the pics coming, love them.


----------



## thewoodlands

Accu has our area with a low of 29 tomorrow morning, the basement is 77 getting warmer and up here is 72 with the Liberty seeing a load of ash for the overnight low.


----------



## ABMax24

ABMax24 said:


> We've had the fire lit the last couple mornings, had frost on the windshields again this morning. Probably had a dozen fires already this fall, first one was in August. Somehow we managed to get through September without any snow, but looks like Tuesday we are going to get some.



Posted this exactly a year ago. What a difference a year makes, have only lit the stove once this season and just because I could. The AC unit even ran a dozen times today. Looking at the 14 day forecast there will be no need for the stove in that time frame, and I'm certainly not putting the cover back on the AC unit in that time either. We've only had frost once this fall so far.

So for now all my stove has in it is a small pile of ashes.


----------



## bigealta

Diabel said:


> @bigealta , just curious….in your avatar, what is the dog going after?


Frisbee, if u look close you can see its right when she caught it. It was one of those soft or fabric frisbees. The hard frisbees started cutting her mouth as she hits them pretty hard.


----------



## Simonkenton

A Jotul and a Stihl 029.  Exactly what I have, a good combo.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30.4 this morning with a temp up here at 70 and in the basement 73. We had a small shoulder season fire while we had coffee, it's 72 up here and still 73 in the basement where our stove is.


----------



## thewoodlands

Accu is calling for a morning low of 34 for our area, I had a small shoulder season fire after supper with the temp up here at 73. I think that I'll burn some ash tonight before I call it a night.


----------



## Jay106n

Been a few rainy days with little sunlight. Tossed a few cherry pieces and maple top sticks just to keep the furnace from kicking on.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 32.4 this morning, the basement was still 73 and the temp up here was 71. We had a small shoulder season wood fire while having a cup of coffee.


----------



## Todd

Nice cool Fall day in the mid 40’s. Fired up the stove with a half load of Aspen. Cooking some grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.


----------



## buc74

Poplar and some very dry ugly oak pieces.


----------



## stoveliker

the one time that ugly is good! Ugly pieces of oak (when very dry) are fantastic!


----------



## Garbanzo62

Waiting for mine to get installed, so I am guessing the installation instructions.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 42.4 this morning, we had a small shoulder season fire since the temp was going to be in the 70's today.  We hit 70 at 2:45 this afternoon.


----------



## stoveliker

Garbanzo62 said:


> Waiting for mine to get installed, so I am guessing the installation instructions.


lol. I'd keep them. In case you ever sell your stove. 
(There is a member here that has in his signature that "manuals are for lighting up a stove" or something to that effect...)


----------



## Seanbear

Im burning kiln dried oak and maple. I have logs too, but its not real cold here in PA, only 30s so far at night. I get the kiln dried free, I just have to pick it up. Its a win win!


----------



## thewoodlands

We were in the high 40's this morning with rain coming in so we're having a shoulder season fire.


----------



## GrumpyDad

Todd said:


> Nice cool Fall day in the mid 40’s. Fired up the stove with a half load of Aspen. Cooking some grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.
> 
> View attachment 300039


I really like that tin you have for your wood.  Im trying to find something like that, which isnt some cheap paint garbage that I would get at a box store.   I also considered a half whiskey barrel.  Those are some nice logs you have there.  I have faux log paneling (that is spreading/cupping from the heat).  It looks like I will be replacing with some sort of stone next summer.  I really like the look though of a wood stove near wood (within proper clearances of course)


----------



## Todd

GrumpyDad said:


> I really like that tin you have for your wood.  Im trying to find something like that, which isnt some cheap paint garbage that I would get at a box store.   I also considered a half whiskey barrel.  Those are some nice logs you have there.  I have faux log paneling (that is spreading/cupping from the heat).  It looks like I will be replacing with some sort of stone next summer.  I really like the look though of a wood stove near wood (within proper clearances of course)


Thanks, it’s an old copper boiler, been in the family for awhile, works great for firewood.  I’ve seen them in antique shops.

The logs are 10” Lodgepole Pine. I was thinking of putting some rock behind there but the wife likes it the way it is.


----------



## MEngineer24

Low 40’s this morning with another shoulder season fire going. Supposed to be a cold front moving through today into tomorrow. Calling for our first below freezing temps for this fall.


----------



## c604

Mid 30's here this morning.  Burning cherry last night and this morning. I like it for this time of year,  if I need a little more heat it's easy just to add a piece of ash in the mix too.


----------



## Gearhead660

Some pine and elm.  Waiting for the first fire of the season.  Got down to the 30s this morning with a nice frost.  Mini split still able to keep it comfortable.


----------



## Stelcom66

It was near 80 hear yesterday, n/g IMO. Was in the 40s overnight, nice getting back to normal. Had just one fire this season earlier in the week, probably will tonight. Picked a few partially ripe tomatoes to ripen indoors, 32º is possible tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30.2 this morning with the house still at 70. We had a small shoulder season wood fire and another smaller fire after, the temp up here is 72 heading to 73.

Last night I did have a fire with some ash, we still had enough coals this morning that the pine took off.


----------



## MEngineer24

31 this morning with a small load of cut offs and crumbling red oak pieces. Supposed to be a high of 61 today. So a small fire was all we needed to beat the chill.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 41.1 this morning with the house still at 70 in some rooms and 71 in the living room. Last night I did have a five split ash fire, a shoulder season wood fire is going in the Lopi at the moment. The basement is 77 and it just hit 72 up here.

We had some good rains today, we'll see what tomorrow brings.


----------



## thewoodlands

The temp up here is 73 with the temp in the stove room (basement) at 79, I'm burning down some pine with the overnight load of ash going in around 10.

We're at 38.4 tonight with a possible low of 32 in the morning.


----------



## Garbanzo62

Insert was installed on Saturday. Waiting for Building Permit to be issued and the Inspection to start the paint curing process.


----------



## thewoodlands

We should be dropping down to the low 30's tonight, it was 72 up here when I started a shoulder season wood fire earlier tonight, for the overnight fire, I'll go with a load of half ash and pine.

It's 34.2 out at the moment with a inside temp of 72 up here heading north.


----------



## stoveliker

Still nothing here.
Was upstate Fri-Mon. Nice colors. Had a fire outside, as well as in the fireplace inside every day


----------



## whatyousmokin

Past weekend lows in upper 20s-low 30s, highs mid 50s:  cottonwood🙃 Just enough heat to take chill out.  Split a split and measured the moisture content:  17-20%, very little smoke  but lots of ash.  Saving my good stuff for harsh weather.


----------



## MMH

Still nothing here. Nights have been hitting mid 30s-40s days still 60-80 and sunny so enough solar gain. Someday….


----------



## Todd

Burned a full load of Aspen last night. Cabin sits at 75 this morning, probably won’t fire up again til this evening. Highs today in lower 40’s rain and snow showers today and tonight.


----------



## NickW

Last night did a 3/4 load of ash, aspen and pine in the Northwoods. Weak coals only left. This morning I have aspen and pine in. Rainy and chilly. Down to 26 tonight and only a high of 38 tomorrow.


----------



## MMH

Ask and you shall receive! Woke up this morning temp in 30s house at 64.5 we have lift off.


----------



## JamesGuido

Fired up this morning and kept it on… still burning
Got oak in there
Only burn oak, it’s all I got
Shocked to see it was only 48° outside… didn’t believe so I got out my Thermapen…
Suresh*t it is.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 72 up here just from cooking, I made spaghetti sauce with some pasta for supper but the basement temp was 66 so I started a fire after eating.


----------



## NickW

2 pine & aspen loads with 1 piece of hardwood each during the day yesterday kept the cabin at 68-70. Almost full overnight load of ash and cherry at 8:15 last night still had the blower running this morning. Went to bed at 71 degrees at 11, got up at 69 degrees at 7.  Was in the 20's overnight.


----------



## Gearhead660

First fire of the season!   Elm and pine.  Was 32 this morning and only getting up to 50 today.  Has been burning all day.  Now the wife will want a fire every day....


----------



## Woodsplitter67

a little oak and cherry for the morning fire.. cat settled in at 950


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Firstborn of the season today outside 35 house at 55. Burning some junk chunks and some slats from behind the plaster walls from my bathroom remodel


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Burning more lath from behind the plaster walls tonight. Unknown wood but I think it's some kind of hardwood. It's 102 years old if it's original to the house(I'm guessing it is). 6.5% moisture easiest burn I've ever had. From start to full secondaries and full air shutoff in under 10 minutes. Makes me wish my actually wood stash was single digit seasoned


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 45.3 out tonight with the temp in the basement at 77 heading up, the temp up here is 72 going on 73 with the floors between 76 and 78.....just another load of pine going in the wood stove.


----------



## NickW

Ash and cherry in the Stratford II in the Northwoods. 71 on the thermostat back in the hall, Great Room and loft are about 74. 34 outside with a winter weather advisory.... Couple inches coming and lots of wind.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 51 out with a low of 35 tonight. I've been using the heat pump for the last few weeks when I could have justified some shoulder burns but I figured I would run a small load of post oak knots and crotch pieces tonight to get her up and running since we are expecting our first cold snap tomorrow night. I see you northern folks getting some snow. Jealous.


----------



## wooddope

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> Burning more lath from behind the plaster walls tonight. Unknown wood but I think it's some kind of hardwood. It's 102 years old if it's original to the house(I'm guessing it is). 6.5% moisture easiest burn I've ever had. From start to full secondaries and full air shutoff in under 10 minutes. Makes me wish my actually wood stash was single digit seasoned


My Dad used to burn a fair amount of it when I was young and man does it rip. I wish I had a source for some as it is the best fire starter. I think it was softwood/piney cuz it was like fireworks in the stove. Frightening to think about a whole houseful of it going up in a structure fire..


----------



## ozarkoak

Supposed to get cold the next few nights lows 30s to mid 20s.  Think I will light a break in fire tonight.  Got the stack and stove cleaned yesterday.  Typical Arkansas head fake. 30 today and 78 by Saturday.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 43.5 this morning with the temp up here still at 71, once we poured the second cup of coffee, I started a small pine fire in the wood stove.


----------



## Bobbob

Gonna get our first snow of the season tomorrow.  It's about 40 out right now and have a load of maple and ash keeping things warm


----------



## MEngineer24

Got a night fire going with some oak cutoffs and some sassafras. Supposed to dip down in the low 30s tonight. Currently up to 79 in the stove room. Rest of the house is a cozy 72.


----------



## BrownT10

Not that cold out in NE now but rainy and damp weather. Wife wanted the stove going to take the chill off so a load of cherry went in.


----------



## sweedish

Bit of snow today. Now rainy and a north wind. A couple of weeks ago a load of junk wood was brought in and that’s what’s burning. A mix of mostly boxelder  and quaking aspen. I’ll burn better stuff later in the season. Looks like 1.5 fires per day for a few days


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 38 out now with a low of 25 tonight. I've got some hickory ant post oak for the overnight. I went ahead and loaded the wood rack on the porch this evening since we are expecting a few cool days.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

30 with chance of flurries tonight. Bout to load up our first full overnight burn. Got silver maple pine ash and crabapple for tonight. Felling very lucky because first pieces I grabbed tested at between 6 and 13% Mc after fresh split. Much better than our first burn year (last year) when I was scrambling for wood and burning mostly upper 20s to low 30s mc%Mc. This forum has been a huge help


----------



## ozarkoak

Lit the break in fire earlier in the day. Let her cool down and now a few splits of oak just enough to take the chill off and bring the stovetop up to a low 300 degree or so. 40 degrees outside and 70 inside.  Im going to let it cool off and drive her a little harder tomorrow.  Hope everyone is doing well.


----------



## thewoodlands

At the moment it's 44.2 out, I loaded up the Lopi with pine before checking the temp in the basement (it was 79) up here is 72 and I'm thinking the basement might hit 89. I let the load burn down some and then shut the fan off.


----------



## Stinkpickle

Nothing tonight, but it’s supposed to dip down into the 20s tonight and tomorrow night, so I’ll kiss summer goodbye tomorrow with some 2020 derecho hackberry.


----------



## Woodsplitter67

right not mostly oak with a couple cherry.. got the low burn going with cat settling in at 1150..


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 41.5 this morning, we started off with a basement temp of 72 and the temp up here was 71 but we still had a small pine fire this morning before I headed outside.

Tonight NOAA is calling for a temp of 32 for our area.


----------



## MEngineer24

Currently 39 out, got in from work. Stove is going now with some sassafras and silver maple splits. Tossed in a few red oak cutoffs im trying to use up. Supposed to dip into the 20’s overnight.


----------



## Nateums

Well, it's the first fire of the season already.  Time just keeps moving faster and faster.

Just burning a couple leftover hemlock beam ends to take the chill out of the air.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Nateums said:


> Well, it's the first fire of the season already.  Time just keeps moving faster and faster.
> 
> Just burning a couple leftover hemlock beam ends to take the chill out of the air.
> View attachment 300815


Is that a cook stove as well? Can it heat your whole house? Looks very cool


----------



## Nateums

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> Is that a cook stove as well? Can it heat your whole house? Looks very cool


Yup its been heating the house and cooking a lot of our food since 2016. Great little Amish built stove. No secondary combustion, but very air tight. Only takes around 1.5 cord to heat our house, with a minisplit in the shoulder seasons.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Nateums said:


> Yup its been heating the house and cooking a lot of our food since 2016. Great little Amish built stove. No secondary combustion, but very air tight. Only takes around 1.5 cord to heat our house, with a minisplit in the shoulder seasons.


That is really cool. A wood Cookstove is on my list but the Mrs.  Thinks 1 stove is enough


----------



## shortys7777

First burn of the season. Little ash. Low of 36.


----------



## MEngineer24

Just loaded up before bed. Maple and sassafras again.


----------



## BrownT10

I am letting the fire die out and have the windows open currently. Been going on on low, with mostly coals today and in the 40s now. Heating from the basement I can heat the entire house including 2nd floor, at these temps, though a bit too warm for my liking. That insulation I put up seems to make a difference for sure.


----------



## Grizzerbear

More hickory and some red oak tonight. Expecting a low of 23 with 33 out right now.


----------



## ABMax24

Maybe one of these weeks I'll get to light my stove, we're still enjoying a prolonged summer, still running the AC in my truck everyday coming home from work. They're calling for snow on Saturday, but also +7c (44F), not sure how that's going to work? 🤷‍♂️


----------



## thewoodlands

The outside temp is 34.5 tonight with the basement temp at 79 and the temp up here at 73. I loaded up the Liberty with pine tonight.


----------



## Qvist

First Fire of the year. Likely the first frost tonight. Walnut in the stove. Sweet potatoes dug tonight. Garden done for the year. A change of season.


----------



## MMH

Been having  morning fires last few days. Looks like a front is moving in later this week with first snowfall forecasted, calling for highs in the 40s and overnights teen-20s. I’ll be moving some wood around for that.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30.1 this morning, the basement was still 73 and the temp up here was 71. We did have a shoulder season fire this morning and a small fire this after noon.

Up here is 72 and the last I checked the basement was 79.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Gets down to 29 tonight house at 62. Maple pine ash and cherry for the overnight


----------



## ABMax24

Well I broke down and lit the stove, barely cool enough for it, but that's okay. So now I'm roasting in front of the fire.

Just a couple pieces of tamarack and some birch uglies.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We got 38 out now and we will hang around  that temp for the night with a low of 36. I have a big ole nasty crotch piece of post oak and some smaller splits of hickory and post oak for the heat tonight. Goin back up to the 70s for a few days starting tomorrow.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 39.4 tonight, I just started the overnight fire with some pine. The temp in the basement before the fire was 73 and up here it's 71.


----------



## Woodsplitter67

I did a fire prior to going to be last night. Didnt load the box just some splits like 4 and turned it all the way down.. house felt good this morning.. lit the stove again on some coles left from last night... temps this morning in the upper 30s..


----------



## MMH

Currently 30 outside house is 65, getting a little pine fire going this morning.


----------



## GrumpyDad

Someone forgot to inform me that it was going to frost last night.  I woke up, remote started the car and when I went out to get in there were tiny droplets of frozen water everywhere.  I failed to cover the 'mums', so that's just awesome.  And I have the summer slicks still on the car.  AHH it's happening so fast.  I just realized I will be skiing most likely in 36 days!


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 36.3 this morning, the basement was 71 and the temp up here was 69. We had a fire this morning and then the wife put another three splits on some coals when I was outside, we have a temp up here of 72.


----------



## MEngineer24

More sassafras and maple tonight. Low of 29 being called for.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have an outside temp of 36.5 tonight, before I loaded up the wood stove with the overnight load the basement temp was 77 and the temp up here is 71.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 34.5 this morning with a load of pine going in the wood stove. The temp up here before the fire was 71 with the basement temp at 73.

Tonight the outside temp is 49.1, the basement temp at 70 and the temp up here at 71 before I started a fire with pine.


----------



## MEngineer24

30 here this morning with maple and sassafras going again.


----------



## MMH

Currently 32 out and first snow of the season. House is 71. Some pine with a dash of red elm.


----------



## NickW

Was 30 this morning so made a medium size pine & aspen fire. Currently 69 inside and 65 outside. Going down to only 52 tonight and 59 Sunday night, so probably won't have another fire inside until Monday night. Will be burning the brush from the aspen we took down last weekend tonight in the fire pit.


----------



## stoveliker

MMH said:


> View attachment 301162


Why is the dog not laying there? Still have to get used to the heat? (That's a dog "bed", right?)


----------



## MMH

stoveliker said:


> Why is the dog not laying there? Still have to get used to the heat? (That's a dog "bed", right?)


Lol yes he usually curls up there but has been chasing the kiddo around. Here’s an older pic of his usual.  He’ll be back…


On second thought…maybe he’s protesting because we switched his bed 😂


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 43.5 this morning and the house at 69, with a nice sunny day forecast for today, we went without a fire.


----------



## NickW

Here's tonight's fire...


----------



## Stinkpickle

It was 80 degrees outside today, so the stove was cold....and so was the A/C.


----------



## thewoodlands

I started a fire after supper tonight, the house was at 68 but has climbed to 71. The temp outside is 51.7 tonight.


----------



## MMH

Got home tonight around 7, snow coming down again temps in the low 30s. Lows headed for teens. Dorothy had a good diet of pine red elm and mahogany for tonight’s fire.


----------



## MEngineer24

31 this morning with a small load of maple to warm the house. Supposed to reach back up into the 70s today. This will probably be the last fire for a week or so. Looks like a warming trend for next week.


----------



## MMH

Currently 23 out, house is 73. Dorothy is still cruising on last nights meal.


----------



## Montanalocal

Snow from last night.  Snowing now and will likely snow all day today.  Four loads per day of always-available beetle-killed Ponderosa Pine in my humongous Blaze King K40 King keeping us nice and toasty up at 5,000 ft. elevation in central Montana.


----------



## stoveliker

4 loads in a King?
That's a lot. Unless they are all as filled as the one in the pic? 

Nice pine fire though!


----------



## Montanalocal

stoveliker said:


> 4 loads in a King?


Yea, 4 loads.  My large pine trees are quite knotty, and thus split quite irregularly, so they cannot be loaded densely.  Plus, they have been dead so long they are somewhat pithy.  In addition, I have several fans going on the stove to strip enough heat off to heat my large two story house.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a temp of just over 43 this morning, the house was at 67. We haven't had a fire yet with the house temp at 68.


----------



## MMH

Temps currently 35 out with the feels like at 25. House is 73.  Last nights load lasted 18 hours, I just threw in a couple pine rounds to take us through the rest of the day until tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

The wife said the house felt cold so I started a shoulder season fire with some pine, I might have another small fire tonight before I call it a night.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for 10-15 tonight. I’ll do a full load of pine tonight. Oh and the wiener went back to his spot.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We got right at 4 inches of rain since yesterday evening which is a godsend cause we need it. It cooled off quite a bit from this morning so when I got home I put in a few small splits of hickory and red oak to heat the house up. It's a damp 43 now with a low of 37 tonight so I will put in a small load of red and post oak  on the coals to tie us over for the night.


----------



## thewoodlands

Grizzerbear said:


> We got right at 4 inches of rain since yesterday evening which is a godsend cause we need it. It cooled off quite a bit from this morning so when I got home I put in a few small splits of hickory and red oak to heat the house up. It's a damp 43 now with a low of 37 tonight so I will put in a small load of red and post oak  on the coals to tie us over for the night.


Send it this way, we've been pretty dry.


----------



## Grizzerbear

thewoodlands said:


> Send it this way, we've been pretty dry.



I hear ya. Seems the whole country could afford a good soaking. This map obviously doesn't take into account this weeks rain but it puts it into perspective how bad the drought is. I read a couple days ago that the Mississippi river level somewhere around the bootheel of Missouri was the lowest recorded in 30 or 40 years.  The local weather station is talking about another chance of rain here this weekend. Hopefully it's a pattern change and it will give us both some rain. This map is from noaa.


----------



## GrumpyDad

Grizzerbear said:


> I hear ya. Seems the whole country could afford a good soaking. This map obviously doesn't take into account this weeks rain but it puts it into perspective how bad the drought is. I read a couple days ago that the Mississippi river level somewhere around the bootheel of Missouri was the lowest recorded in 30 or 40 years.  The local weather station is talking about another chance of rain here this weekend. Hopefully it's a pattern change and it will give us both some rain. This map is from noaa.
> 
> View attachment 301405


Here in the NE, we welcome dry weather.  Usually it is quite the opposite though.  This summer though, I only had to cut my grass for most of the summer once every 1.5 - 2 weeks.  It was glorious.  And even then, it was to knock down some grass that grew higher than others.  Now fall is back, the pond is filling back up from the rain and run off.  The grass is very green, and the return of warmer weather is causing the green devils to grow again.  
Oh I cant wait until I can drain the gas in my tractor, run out what's in the bottom of the tank and carb bowl, and never sit my butt on that thing until April.


----------



## Grizzerbear

GrumpyDad said:


> Here in the NE, we welcome dry weather.  Usually it is quite the opposite though.  This summer though, I only had to cut my grass for most of the summer once every 1.5 - 2 weeks.  It was glorious.  And even then, it was to knock down some grass that grew higher than others.  Now fall is back, the pond is filling back up from the rain and run off.  The grass is very green, and the return of warmer weather is causing the green devils to grow again.
> Oh I cant wait until I can drain the gas in my tractor, run out what's in the bottom of the tank and carb bowl, and never sit my butt on that thing until April.



Yea I probably mowed 5 times this summer. I quit mowing about a month and a half ago and we only got our first frost last week. The downside of no rain here though.....where we normally see 40 or so inches of rain per year....is this is cattle country. A lot of folks are already feeding hay that they need to get through winter and really can't spare and have been for a month or so. I'd say a lot of smaller operations sent their cattle to the sale barns and cut their losses.


----------



## Niro

Been burning ash on and off since oct 1.  Shoulder season is great still had ne need to turn on the boiler yet.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have some cooler weather coming in later tonight so it looks like we'll start burning again in the morning. Friday morning we should be in the low to mid 20's.

We usually burn 6 face cord of shoulder season wood in a heating season, 4 in the fall and 2 in the spring. This year I had 8 face cord ready with a plan of burning 6 in the fall and 2 in the spring but we'll see when mother nature brings in the colder weather and when we'll make the switch to better hardwood.

We also have a pellet stove that we'll use at night when it gets really cold, we usually burn 50 - 53 bags per year but last year since I didn't have enough shoulder season wood up, we burned 63 bags.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Been warm here. 1st burn of the week. Been jonesin to light the stove all week long. Got on some junk half ant eaten ash  and some junk half spalted maple for the overnight


----------



## sweedish

Was about 70 as a high yesterday, and temp has been dropping ever since this morning and rain. Had not had a fire since last Friday.   Lit a load of boxelder and quaking aspen. Supposed to be a low of 34 tonight.


----------



## ABMax24

Some 12% pine, like gasoline loading onto coals, load as fast as you can, slam the door and shut the air down.


----------



## NickW

Load of ash and cherry in the Stratford II. Supposed to get down to 24 tonight. Doesn't like E/W loads even with the bottom row N/S, so anything over 16" is getting cut in half. Glad I've been cutting to 12" lengths to fit behind the andirons, but have to work my way through the longer stuff in inventory. 16" will fit N/S except right by the andirons, but too close to the glass seems to mess with air flow almost as bad as E/W loads.


----------



## MMH

Had another small front move through with some scattered snow flurries. Lows headed for 10-15 again, loaded up some mahogany and red elm with a pine round for the night.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 40.5 this morning with a load of shoulder season wood going in the wood stove. I was outside most of the day and just started another shoulder season fire, our temp inside is 69 and the basement is 75.


----------



## Niro

Going down to 38 by morning.  Lit some ash and some punky scrouge wood I split.  Should keep thinks at 74 in here.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Gets down to 36 tonight house at 65. Big slabs of maple and ash. 1 piece of Bradford pear and some lath from the bathroom


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 31.6 tonight with Accu calling for a low of 25 for our area. It's 69 in here with a load of ash on the bottom row and some pine on the top row planned for the overnight load.


----------



## dafattkidd

MMH said:


> Had another small front move through with some scattered snow flurries. Lows headed for 10-15 again, loaded up some mahogany and red elm with a pine round for the night.


Is the mahogany lumber scraps or actual firewood?  I actually burn a decent amount of mahogany, but it's always lumber scraps.  I don't think I've ever seen anyone else mention burning mahogany in here.


----------



## MMH

dafattkidd said:


> Is the mahogany lumber scraps or actual firewood?  I actually burn a decent amount of mahogany, but it's always lumber scraps.  I don't think I've ever seen anyone else mention burning mahogany in here.


Firewood; I have curl leaf mountain mahogany in my area. Only natural hardwood I have. I try to use it sparingly and only bust it out when the temps are below 15F.


----------



## shortys7777

Load of ash this morning for the wife while she works from home. First fire in 5 days.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 24.5 this morning, the house temp was 68. We had a fire early and the wife made another fire when I was gone, the house temp is 71.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Low of 36 tonight. Probably last burn for almost a week. Gonna be warm here. Ash maple pine and cherry for overnight. House almost to hot at 68


----------



## thewoodlands

Accu is calling for a low of 27, we're at 31.3 tonight. The temp in the basement is 77 heading up, the temp up here is 71.

I loaded the Liberty with pine tonight.


----------



## MMH

Warmed up a bit lows in the 30s tonight. More pine for Dorothy.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30 degrees this morning for an outside temp, the basement was still 72 and up here was 69.

We had a shoulder season wood fire this morning and the wife made one before I came back in, it's 71 up here.


----------



## begreen

I just loaded up the woodbox and the T6 for next week's weather change. 55º now, but the high temp will be 10º colder starting Nov. 2nd.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for 20s tonight, another load of pine.


----------



## dafattkidd

MMH said:


> Firewood; I have curl leaf mountain mahogany in my area. Only natural hardwood I have. I try to use it sparingly and only bust it out when the temps are below 15F.


I'd love to see pictures of this as split firewood.  Is it similar in look, feel and density to Mahagony from south and central America?


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 34.5 tonight, the basement was 73 and the temp up here is 71. The liberty has a load of pine going, once the basement temp hits 77, I'll shut the fan off for the night.


----------



## dafattkidd

Oak and locust with birch bark, top down fire tonight. Temps are in the upper 30s, so I am happy to have a small fire this evening.


----------



## MMH

dafattkidd said:


> I'd love to see pictures of this as split firewood.  Is it similar in look, feel and density to Mahagony from south and central America?


----------



## thewoodlands

We didn't have a fire last night but the house was down to 67 or 68 depending what room you were in this morning so we had a fire, the temp outside was 40 this morning.

The wife wants a fire tonight so I'll start one after the hockey game.


----------



## Qvist

Not very cold tonight,  In the mid 50s but it's been rainy all day. A mix of walnut and hackberry.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for 30s again, another pine load down. Happy Halloween.


----------



## thewoodlands

We were just over 50 this morning with rain, the temp up here was/is 70 so we didn't have a fire.


----------



## MMH

Got another system blowing in bringing cold air with it again. I moved some wood in to refill the inside stack and moved some elm and mahogany in for the coldest parts.


----------



## thewoodlands

We finally had a soaking rain overnight and today so even though it's 50 out, I started a shoulder season wood fire in the wood stove. 

It was 66 in the basement and 69 up here.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Qvist said:


> Not very cold tonight,  In the mid 50s but it's been rainy all day. A mix of walnut and hackberry.
> 
> View attachment 301806


I really like your hearth setup. Very nice


----------



## clux

Western Juniper limb.  I counted 125 annual rings the first try and 128 the second, they're stacked so close it's hard to count.  Either way that's a lot of years for 2 1/2" radius.  Going in the stove tonight.


----------



## Qvist

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> I really like your hearth setup. Very nice


Thanks the stone and brick was here when we moved in. The stove was my doing.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 47 this morning with heavy fog, I didn't have a fire this morning. The temp up here is 69.


----------



## Qvist

Sounds like our weather. 50 with fog.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 20s out with some fog now after frozen mix today. Dorothy’s been eating pine today.


----------



## Seanbear

28 is the lowest here that ive seen at least. That will be the high soon, and single digits at night. LOVE it.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 40.5 tonight with a forecast low of 35, I'm just burning down some cookies with a load of pine splits going in later, it's 70 up here.


----------



## MMH

Currently high teens out, headed for around 10 tonight. House is 73 right now. A nice healthy load of mahogany red elm and some pine.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 35.9 this morning so we had a shoulder season fire.


----------



## MMH

Temps in the 30s out. Another load of pine in for tonight. Winter storm watch this weekend-next week calling for heavy snow and possible power outages, we’ll see. I restocked our porch wood supply and moved some elm and mahogany in for the single digit nights after the storm passes through.


----------



## bigealta

70's here in NJ. Only had 3 or so fires this year. Good news for the wood pile!


----------



## johneh

Nothing but ash ( not the wood) 74today a record here and the same Sunday


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 57.3 this morning, we didn't need a fire but I promised the wife last night that we would have one.

I think the outside temp back here hit 73 today, the house temp is 72.


----------



## MMH

Sprinkled most of the day today, cloudy and windy out. Temps currently in the high 30-low 40 range lows headed for around 30. More pine tonight, house is 72.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Nothing.  75 today.  Same tomorrow.


----------



## Simonkenton

Nothing.  We had a high of 78 and low of 62.  The high should be 62.  Very warm November.


----------



## shortys7777

Haven't burned in over a week. No complaining. 70 plus again today. I left the house in a t-shirt. Not complaining.


----------



## MMH

Storm finally started, rain and thunder this morning followed by some snow thunder and snow. Threw some pine and elm rounds in for today.


----------



## thewoodlands

Accu is calling for a low of 29, it's in the low 40's out with some cutoffs going in the Lopi, the temp up here is 70.

Once everything burns down to coals, I'll have a fire with some pine splits later.


----------



## MMH

Temps 32 out, lows headed for 20s still snowing. Guessing 4-5” out there. House is 73 with a full load of pine in for tonight.


----------



## MMH

Finally some good snow! Got up this morning and plowed driveway. Threw a pine round in and had my coffee. Cheers!


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 32 this morning, after voting I did some work outside and started our first fire about an hour ago. The temp in here is 68.


----------



## Diabel

What a change in the weather in 72h. Going from low 70s on Sat/Sun to 38 this morning. Was at the lake Fri-Mon did not dare to light up. Had doors and windows open most Sat. Will likely be putting winter wheels in the next couple of days😝


----------



## zmender

Happy new burn season everyone! First fire of many to come. (I missed the chill about 3 weeks back while out of town).

Over the summer, cleaned out the chimney throughly. Currently loaded her up with ~20% oak shorts and uglies and biobricks. 35F here we go!


----------



## Jsd245

Yep maybe 30 degrees tonight In CT . I’m burning a standing dead black birch that I cut down and split on Sunday.  It was a bit punky with a core of solid wood- I almost left it in the woods  but I figured id give it a shot as it seemed pretty dry. Holy  cow is it burning nice. I’ve never had luck with standing dead wood and actually had it be dry enough to immediately burn, this is a first.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Low of 40 tonight. Cold weather comes on Friday. Load of maple ash and cherry for overnight stove room at 69


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 26.4 tonight, Accu us calling for a low of 19. We're running the pellet stove for the first time since last spring, the temp up here is 71.


----------



## ABMax24

Burning down a load of pine coals so I can reload for night.

Going to be -29c (-20f) here tonight. We had an extremely warm August, September, and October. November is not following that trend.


----------



## MMH

Winter weather advisories extended for tonight, lows around 10-20; another full load of pine in. Cold air coming behind the storm starting Thursday with highs in the 0-20 and lows of 0-10, probably negative with wind chills.


----------



## Hilljack with chainsaw

Not too cold yet. 1 piece of hickory, 1 elm, 1 basswood, an old box of Valentine chocolates and some stale crackers.


----------



## Diabel

ABMax24 said:


> Burning down a load of pine coals so I can reload for night.
> 
> Going to be -29c (-20f) here tonight. We had an extremely warm August, September, and October. November is not following that trend.
> 
> View attachment 302352


Wow! Stay warm Alberta!


----------



## zmender

ABMax24 said:


> Burning down a load of pine coals so I can reload for night.
> 
> Going to be -29c (-20f) here tonight. We had an extremely warm August, September, and October. November is not following that trend.
> 
> View attachment 302352




Wow that's really cold, had to re-read it in case my eyes playing trick on me.

I grew up in Calgary and usually Halloween lined up with first snow. -30C in November is crazy


----------



## zmender

MMH said:


> Winter weather advisories extended for tonight, lows around 10-20; another full load of pine in. Cold air coming behind the storm starting Thursday with highs in the 0-20 and lows of 0-10, probably negative with wind chills.


How many hours of burn time do you expect with a full load of pine?


----------



## Garbanzo62

Burning some scrap pieces and a punky branch segment


----------



## Craig800

Burning everyday now -30c (-21f) outside. Spruce and Tamarack is our main fire wood. Wood stove is in the basement and is around 1000 square feet. Top floor is another 1000 square feet roughly. Heats entire house without fans moving the heat to a nice 22c (71f)in this weather.


----------



## Craig800

ABMax24 said:


> Burning down a load of pine coals so I can reload for night.
> 
> Going to be -29c (-20f) here tonight. We had an extremely warm August, September, and October. November is not following that trend.
> 
> View attachment 302352


In the same boat here. You are not far from me. I'm in Whitecourt. What a beautiful August it was though. But damn sure cooled off quick


----------



## MMH

zmender said:


> How many hours of burn time do you expect with a full load of pine?


I can usually get 10-14 hours depending on how hard I’m running the stove, even in weather like this I have no problem on 12 hour cycles.


----------



## MMH

Last day of the storm went out with a bang, blowing snow and drifts, driving home tonight was near 0 visibility at times; I’ll be plowing again in the morning. The cold weathers setting in now. Tonight’s load is mostly red elm with a splash of pine.


----------



## zmender

Partial loaded stove afternoon around 6pm, but lost more heat in living room overnight than expected.. 59F in living room, 43F outside. 

Lit up a few biobricks with the remaining coal and a few twigs, once burning nicely loaded 75% with oak shorts. It'll be mid-60s today and I just need to bump living room back up to around high 60s.


----------



## bigealta

57F inside downstairs this morning. But i'm still holding out and will open windows in a couple hours to bring in the mid to high 60's today.


----------



## MMH

Currently 8F out, lows heading for negatives. House is 73F. A full load of red elm and mahogany for tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

Wednesday morning our temp was 22.6, the temp up here was 69 and 75 in the basement. We had a pine fire this morning but nothing is planned for tonight.

Today the high temp in the sun was 68 and the temp up here hit 74.


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had mid 70s here yesterday but a cold front moved through around mid night and its 36 out now. I have a  load of post oak and hickory in the stove now. After a long streak of warm weather it looks like we will finally be burning regularly here with 40s for the highs and lows in the 20s for the foreseeable forecast.


----------



## MMH

Currently 5F out house is 70. Threw a slab of elm in for the morning then I’ll be burning down coals for the rest of the day. 




Got some good secondaries from last night also




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----------



## thewoodlands

I didn't look at the temp this morning (around 50?) but we had one shoulder season fire, the house temp is 72.


----------



## Gearhead660

Yesterday....70*  riding bike in tee shirt, house windows open.
Today....high mid 30s and windy.  Will be like that for week or so.  Fired up Myra this morning.


----------



## NickW

Been burning aspen and pine during the day and cherry and ash overnight since the weather turned. Down to 22 tonight in the Northwoods. Just loaded cherry and ash.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

First night starting a week of 24/7 burn cycle. Lows at 28 tonight. Stove room at 74. Mostly ash. 1 big maple and 1 small cherry split


----------



## thewoodlands

We're getting some heavy rains tonight (we needed it) the temp outside is 60 and the house temp is 71 to 69 depending on what room you're in, no fire tonight.

Sunday the temps start cooling off, we'll stick with pine but if we need it we'll burn pine with some hardwood at night. If they call for temps below 20 at night, we might use the pellet stove set on a medium heat output, that should keep the temps up here 69 or 70.


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 32 out now with a low of 24 tonight and it's looking like we might start getting some light snow here in a few minutes judging by the weather radar which would be our first of the season. I have a load of hickory and red oak going for the overnight. Up bright and early tomorrow for deer season. I'll be stoking the buck before I head out in the morning.


----------



## ozarkoak

35 outside and burning the exact same as Grizzerbear, red oak and hickory.  It was 75 yesterday and beautiful but it looks like winter is here now, the  10 day forecast is looking pretty cold.  I think the low tonight is supposed to be 29 and 22 tomorrow.


----------



## NickW

Grizzerbear said:


> Its 32 out now with a low of 24 tonight and it's looking like we might start getting some light snow here in a few minutes judging by the weather radar which would be our first of the season. I have a load of hickory and red oak going for the overnight. Up bright and early tomorrow for deer season. I'll be stoking the buck before I head out in the morning.


Good luck! Season doesn't start here until next Saturday. Had a nice 10pt trot across the road in front of me on the way to vote Tuesday morning about 8:00...


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

First full morning reload of the season. All ash with 1 little cherry split. Outside 29 stove room 64. Lost 10 deg inside overnight. But thats a big improvement over last year


----------



## ozarkoak

Woke up this morning an inch of snow and 28 degrees.  Loaded up last night around 10:30pm ,  about  half  a load.  Still 72 in the house. Small house, big stove. Glad we went that route. You can always add less wood but you can't add more than the stove will hold.


----------



## Wood1Dennis

We have had a warm dry fall here.  I rode my motorcycle to work three days this week! That changed on Friday, I think my riding days are done until spring. The 10 day forecast is for highs in the low to mid 30's and lows in the 20's. Not that cold yet but it changed in a hurry from the unusually warm weather we were seeing. 
This morning the wood furnace is happy with a diet of elm and ash!


----------



## Grizzerbear

We had 23 this morning with another load of red oak and hickory in the stove. Its 26 now with a 15 mph breeze. Gotta admit the house is gunna feel good when I walk in a few hours from now.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Had to go into work and salt. We got a surprise 2" wife kept stove running.  Feels good to roast infront of the stove for a while.


----------



## thewoodlands

We received around 2.65 inches of rain overnight and this morning, I'm thinking our outside temp this morning was around 52.

The house was still 69 and 70 before the first cup of coffee but I still made a pine fire and then before I headed outside, I threw some cookies in, the temp up here is still 72.


----------



## NickW

thewoodlands said:


> We received around 2.65 inches of rain overnight and this morning, I'm thinking our outside temp this morning was around 52.
> 
> The house was still 69 and 70 before the first cup of coffee but I still made a pine fire and then before I headed outside, I threw some cookies in, the temp up here is still 72.


Important question...what kind of cookies?


----------



## thewoodlands

NickW said:


> Important question...what kind of cookies?


These were pine but the wife did say she would make some chocolate chip cookies!


----------



## MMH

Woke up this morning and inside temp was 67 because I didn’t do my due diligence and burn down coals so I had a small packed night load for a single digit night. Still not to bad considering low was near 0 and I was only able to throw 5-6 pieces in. High was 27 today, was burning down coals all day. Tonight’s low headed for around 10-15 I’ll be doing a full load of pine tonight to keep the coal train down.


----------



## MMH

Gearhead660 said:


> Yesterday....70*  riding bike in tee shirt, house windows open.
> Today....high mid 30s and windy.  Will be like that for week or so.  Fired up Myra this morning.
> View attachment 302570


Glad to see we all have good names! My Dorothy is pleased 😄


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 42.8 out tonight, the temp up here is between 70 to 72 depending on what room you're in. The basement was 75 before I started a pine fire.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

MMH said:


> Glad to see we all have good names! My Dorothy is pleased 😄


My son named our stove tree trunks. After an elephant on adventuretime cartoon


----------



## ozarkoak

24 degrees outside. Red oak in the stove and 4 puppies in my bathtub because its too cold for them outside.


----------



## Bobbob

34 out right now. Got the stove going right after the coffee. Last load in at 9pm and good coals this morning. I have her full of silver maple and a few chuncks of ash


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Outside at 29. Stove room 61 upstairs 61 back of house 55. Morning reload of ash 1 crabapple split. And 1 piece of lath


----------



## Beer Belly

Small load of Ash. Wet and cold outside, warm and toasty inside


----------



## Gearhead660

Wood1Dennis said:


> We have had a warm dry fall here.  I rode my motorcycle to work three days this week! That changed on Friday, I think my riding days are done until spring. The 10 day forecast is for highs in the low to mid 30's and lows in the 20's. Not that cold yet but it changed in a hurry from the unusually warm weather we were seeing.
> This morning the wood furnace is happy with a diet of elm and ash!
> 
> View attachment 302584


I don't consider riding season over until the snow flies!  Well, enough to have salt and sand spread anyway.


----------



## zmender

Cold starting with oak, poplar, and biobricks


----------



## MMH

Currently 15 out with the wind chill making it 7; house is 69, threw some more pine in.


----------



## johneh

I have just put my first fire of the season on 
It is 0 and the real feel (wind chill) is -10
Latest I have ever lit. the furnace in my 43 years
 of heating with wood . Some kindling and 5 splits
 of sugar maple house is a comfy 22


----------



## weee123

Finally starting to cool off in NJ highs of 40s next week with mid 20s overnight. Stove room 61 today so I’ve got a load of walnut and catalpa in right now to take the chill off. 

Getting up to 61 today so I’m finally gonna get to winterize the garden before it gets too cold.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 44.3 this morning and then dropped real quick to 33. Before our first fire, the dining room was 69.5, the basement was 72,  the bedroom and the living room were 70. 

The first fire (pine) had the temp up here at 72 and the high in the basement hit 79.


----------



## DonTee

Rain with some snow flurries here today. It’s 36 outside right now. I have some ash, beech, and cherry in the stove right now. It’s 78 in the house, and we have some windows cracked so it stays below 80


----------



## stoveliker

First lighting this afernoon. 46 F and falling to 36 overnight.

A few pieces of 4 year old (red) oak. And 4 year old cedar cut offs to get the thing going. Will reload with oak for overnight. 

The cut offs are almost branch like from some trees that were on the border between me and a neighbor. 3-5" dia. My previous stove could take longer pieces (E/W sideloader), so now I have to cut some shorter. But it's good material for an easy starter fire, and for tiding me over when needed for a few hours until the evening reload.


----------



## Marconis

First fire of the season in the fireplace!

Did a top down with oak, and a couple logs (toothpicks) of simple Simon kiln dried on the top just to get it roaring hot. Oak isn’t quite ready yet.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Marconis that is a nice big looking fireplace!


----------



## Marconis

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> Marconis that is a nice big looking fireplace!


36”, baby!


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

I know fireplaces are not efficient but I sure do miss having one


----------



## Marconis

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> I know fireplaces are not efficient but I sure do miss having one


Yeah, not using this for heating at all. Just to relax and enjoy. We have mini splits in our bedrooms so we can deal with having the damper open for most of the night when the fire is out.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Stove room at 65. Full diet of ash for overnight. And1 small split of unknown. Lows headed for 20f. Plugged in space heater in crawlspace. Those pipes like to freeze


----------



## MMH

Cleaned out Dorothy today. Lows headed for 0-5F. House is 74F. A full load of pine tonight.


----------



## stoveliker

Oak, and one pine split (top, second to right) for overnight.

Loosely packed; it's not winter yet, 36 for a low, and tomorrow will be 48 F, so I can simmer it .


----------



## 30WCF

37 now with a low of 27. House is hovering around 72/73 with some oak.


----------



## stoveliker

Nice. And the inside is warm from something else.


----------



## Caw

100% local 3 year old northern red oak. It's a beautiful thing to be prepared!






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----------



## zmender

42f outside with low of 31. Burning punky but dry locust and biobricks. This is a hot fire….


----------



## thewoodlands

We have an outside temp of 26.6 tonight with a low of 20 forecast by Accu, the basement started out at 75 and the rooms up here are between 70 and 72.

I loaded up the Lopi Liberty with four splits of ash on the bottom row and four splits of pine on the top row.


----------



## Wood1Dennis

Gearhead660 said:


> I don't consider riding season over until the snow flies!  Well, enough to have salt and sand spread anyway.


True enough, I don't quit easily. It was snowing flurries when I washed the bike this weekend, and with a couple of inches forecast Tuesday night I did put the bike on the rack and tucked it away for the winter! Always a sad day, but now I look forward to the first rides in spring.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Stoveroom got down to 57 overnight. It's 21 out now. Morning reload ash and maple. We lose alot of heat through our 100yr old big storeroom windows


----------



## MMH

currently 4F out, house is 71F. Threw a couple elm splits in and got the first cup of coffee to start the work week.


----------



## zmender

31F outside and 65F in living room. Reloaded about 80% full with 4 splits of dried punky locust, some of them rotten enough I can stuff it with a minisplit lol. But all very dry. 2, 3min for flames to catch on, 5min for secondary to start firing, 20min for smokestack to completely clear. 

Clear smoke, clear conscious.


----------



## thewoodlands

The house was 69 this morning before our first fire, the basement was 73. We've been burning pine today with rooms up here between 69 - 71. The low this morning was 25.2.


----------



## Bobbob

Finishing up another load. Mixture of sassafras, maple and ash. High today was 38 but a cozy 70 upstairs and a toasty 78 down in the basement.


----------



## stoveliker

House was 70 all day long. I simmered the (cat) stove; kept it warm providing only minimal heat as it was 46 or so outside with a bright sun.

The 3/4 load from yesterday night needed some cedar uglies around 1 pm to keep the stove warm.

I'm burning from my last tarped rack outside - the first burning from a shed bay is next. 
Brought in some maple or ash uglies to tide me over an afternoon until the evening reload. Also five 6" thick 16" dia cookies of red oak from the ends of logs. I split them in half, and they read 13% on the fresh surface. Given the 46 F temp (rather than the 70 F for which the moisture meter was calibrated), I think this is around 15-16%. That'll be some nice burning when it gets colder.


----------



## weee123

Nice temp drop today perfect for hunting. Had a shot on a big doe but it was too dark to take the shot. Did get to watch 3 does duke it out with a raccoon which was hilarious.

Got a mix of oak and walnut going into the 20s tonight first time this season


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 36 out now with a rain/snow mix with a low of 31 tonight. We might get a dusting to a inch of snow. I just got the buck loaded and running with some more red oak and hickory for the night.  I saw 2 does with 3 little one this evening. I couldn't do it. Just can't make myself take a doe with little ones still with her. I also saw 3 big ole long beards. I heard them fly up to roost and to top it off I heard a coyote do a little bit of barking right at dark. It was a good hunt.


----------



## zmender

30F outside with low of 28. Full reload of stove with locust, oak, and bio bricks. Took about 20min for smokestack to be come clear and turning down air for the night.


----------



## stoveliker

The only wildlife I saw here were my rowdy kids...

Some too long oak loaded E/W here. That orientation sucks. So 2/3 of a firebox full. I'll let the stove go out tomorrow! 40 F now, low of 33 F. Tomorrow 47 and tomorrow night 43. Probably Thursday end of the day relight. Minisplit until then.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have an outside temp of 23.2 tonight, the rooms up here are 69-70. Tonight we're going with the pellet stove and tomorrow morning we'll get back to burning in the wood stove.


----------



## highanddryinco

Well, tonight it's Pine. 





Tomorrow with highs in the 30's, lows in the teens, it'll likely be Pine. Wednesday looks about the same so probably Pine. Thursday though, high of about 25 and a low of 7 and a little snow, I may have to switch up  to a heavy dose of Pine.  I could go on.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

32 with flurries out now. Stove room 61. Full ash diet for the morning reload


----------



## zmender

23F this morning. About 1/3 of the firebox was coals, although only the front was actually glowing rigorously with back of stove very dark. Full reload (although really only 4, 5 medium splits) and turned down to around 1/3 air after 15min.


----------



## shortys7777

Ash last night. Hit 25 of a low.  My son woke up in the night so I threw a few more pieces in and had some coals this morning. More ash to keep the chill out since no one will be home till after 5. It'll be ash again tonight again. got a half cord to burn through before the oak starts.


----------



## weee123

Went to do the before bed fill up and I guess my coal bed was a little too much for the n/s loading and it started running away. 800f flue temp and rapidly climbing secondaries were flame throwers. Thinking I’m going to have to install a key damper to be able to control it better since I can’t cut off my secondary air hole (dont know where it is).


----------



## stoveliker

(Though this might deserve its own thread) How tall is your chimney?
Sometimes it can help better control the stove in such cases if you dial down the air sooner upon a reload.


----------



## weee123

stoveliker said:


> (Though this might deserve its own thread) How tall is your chimney?
> Sometimes it can help better control the stove in such cases if you dial down the air sooner upon a reload.


It’s 21’ tall. I think my main problem is I’m used to loading on a full hot bed of coals for e/w loading and with n/s I’ve found it takes off way faster than I’m used to. So I’ll either need to dial it back faster or just burn the coals down more.


----------



## boomfire

Ash and Oak mixture with Pine for kindling. Someone is enjoying the fruits of my labor [it's her new favorite spot now]


----------



## stoveliker

Last night's 3/4 load is done for. The cat dropped out of the active range around 1.30 this afternoon. So warm ashes only now.

A few days of minisplit ahead. Thursday afternoon I'll likely light up again.


----------



## thewoodlands

Our low this morning was 17.8, our temp up here was 69 or 70 depending what room you were in. I shut the pellet stove off (basement temp was 75) and started burning pine.

The temp up here is between 70-72.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 30.2 for a low this morning, we ran the pellet stove overnight, the temps up here are between 70 & 71 and the basement temp was 78.

I shut the pellet stove off this morning and started a pine fire, when the basement hit 83, I shut the fan off on the wood stove.


----------



## Gearhead660

Got our first measurable snow yesterday/ last night.


Loaded Myra with oak, elm and a chunk of buckthorn.


----------



## kennyp2339

Black widow cherry.. for real, always wear your gloves when pulling from the stacks until it gets below freezing.


----------



## Kevin Weis

White Oak and English Walnut mix.  35 out right now.  Sunday night supposedly down to 17.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 27.7 tonight with NOAA forecasting a low of 22. I just loaded up the wood stove with some yellow birch, the basement temp is 77 and the rooms up here are 70.


----------



## dafattkidd

Oak, pine and walnut. 38° headed down to 35°.


----------



## Isaac Carlson

A bit of silver maple until the weekend temps hit zero, then we get into the oak, elm, and locust.  I have some hackberry somewhere in the stacks too.  Sorry, no window on the cookstove, so no pics.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Ash and maple. Both me and wife were gone late. Then I had to go back to work for salting. Loading schedule got outta wack. Stove room at 51f. For morning reload.


----------



## PAbeech

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> Ash and maple. Both me and wife were gone late. Then I had to go back to work for salting. Loading schedule got outta wack. Stove room at 51f. For morning reload.
> 
> View attachment 302979


I'm curious do you have any issues loading and burning wood so close to your glass door?


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

PAbeech said:


> I'm curious do you have any issues loading and burning wood so close to your glass door?


Not yet. Its not ideal but only have .1.6cf firebox trying to heat old drafty 3k sqft house. So I have to stuff it as full as possible. When we upgrade to bigger stove I won't load this way


----------



## dafattkidd

Upper 30s last night. Oak and walnut.


----------



## PAbeech

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> Not yet. Its not ideal but only have .1.6cf firebox trying to heat old drafty 3k sqft house. So I have to stuff it as full as possible. When we upgrade to bigger stove I won't load this way


Ok I have a 1.6cf box as well and I'm always super worried about burning the gasket. I have to get super strategic loading it up at night, should I not be as worried if coals and wood end up on the glass and gasket?


----------



## stoveliker

The gasked won't burn.
I have wood sometimes within 1/2" of the window. The window will get black there, but it does not matter for safety purposes (if you don't have to open the window while the wood is not yet burned down...). This holds for N/S loading. E/W loading has its own issues with rolling splits. (In that case, have a triangular one at the front, sloping down towards the back, to have the stack fall into the stove rather than to the window.)


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Cherry. Bradford pear. Ash. Maple for the overnight. lows go to 22 tonight. Stove room at 57. Gonna get cold in here tonight


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

PAbeech said:


> Ok I have a 1.6cf box as well and I'm always super worried about burning the gasket. I have to get super strategic loading it up at night, should I not be as worried if coals and wood end up on the glass and gasket?


I'm not gonna recommend this at all. But I have crammed wood in this stove so hard that when I closed the door it cracked a rear firebrick but not the glass. I wouldn't worry to much about a piece lightly touching the glass from my experience


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 25.2 this morning, it was nice loading up some pine on yellow birch coals from the overnight burn. Before our first fire this morning, the basement was 73 and the temps up here was 69.

We might drop below 20 in the morning so I'm thinking we'll go with the pellet stove tonight.


----------



## PAbeech

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> I'm not gonna recommend this at all. But I have crammed wood in this stove so hard that when I closed the door it cracked a rear firebrick but not the glass. I wouldn't worry to much about a piece lightly touching the glass from my experience


Tha


stoveliker said:


> The gasked won't burn.
> I have wood sometimes within 1/2" of the window. The window will get black there, but it does not matter for safety purposes (if you don't have to open the window while the wood is not yet burned down...). This holds for N/S loading. E/W loading has its own issues with rolling splits. (In that case, have a triangular one at the front, sloping down towards the back, to have the stack fall into the stove rather than to the window.)


Great thanks for that. That'll make it a lot easier for me


----------



## BrownT10

About 2/3 load of mosley oak and a couple pieces of cherry. A balmy upstairs, so loaded enough to leave some coals in the morning. A huge difference since adding a bunch of rigid insulation to the concrete walls. Much more heat upstairs and even the second floor is 67 without using propane.


----------



## stoveliker

Pine. Including the Largest block I (ever) had. Near 8". More or less square. Barely fit between the bricks at 18" long, so positioning is not perfect with the hole at the bottom right.

 40 now, 33 for a low.
71 upstairs, 81 at the ceiling of the basement.


----------



## Qvist

Going down to 26 tonight. Ash and Walnut mix. The attic was insulated in the spring it's making a big difference. I've gone from a fire barely keeping up to overheating the house.


----------



## NickW

20 degrees and windy. Burning down the coals a little to load in some box elder. Back home for a couple of weeks. Days are box elder from what I am seeing right now and ash overnight. Sure is nice running the NC30 at home compared to the Stratford II in the Northwoods...


----------



## dafattkidd

NickW said:


> 20 degrees and windy. Burning down the coals a little to load in some box elder. Back home for a couple of weeks. Days are box elder from what I am seeing right now and ash overnight. Sure is nice running the NC30 at home compared to the Stratford II in the Northwoods...


The Stratford II is a beautiful unit.  What is it about the  NC30  you enjoy so much more?


----------



## thewoodlands

Last night we had an outside temp of 23.2 when I called it a night, the temp up here was 70 - 71.

This morning we had a temp of 25.2, the temp in the basement was 77 and the temp up here at 70. I shut the pellet stove off and we started back burning pine, the temp is still at 70 up here feeling like 78.

Not much going on for snow outside but our town road out front is pretty slick, hopefully they get some sand down on it.


----------



## NickW

dafattkidd said:


> The Stratford II is a beautiful unit.  What is it about the  NC30  you enjoy so much more?


Ease of operation. The Stratford II heats effectively but takes quite awhile to get to temperature and doesn't breathe nearly as nicely. The airflow inside is not great on the sides in the front. E/W loads absolutely suck even with runners underneath. Even with N/S loads the sides of the glass get smoked somewhat. I suspect that the outside air intake affects it also. The NC30 with no outside air is so much easier...


----------



## Grizzerbear

Its 33 out now with some more red oak and hickory to hold us over for the day.  Looks like a gradualwarm up for the next week or so after tonight.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Down to 22 tonite.  Ash and English Walnut mostly tonite.


----------



## stoveliker

Last night's 10.45  reload of pine was done at 7 pm, 20 hrs in. Last night had a low of 29 or so while windy, today a high of 41. Home was an even 71 all day.
I guess my home doesn't need a lot of BTUs with the attic sealed and R48 insulated, and high efficiency windows.

Put one punky split of oak and one knotty split of pine in to get me to the 10 pm reload. Dialed the stove up because my wife was.with my son at his basketball, and I predicted she'd come home very cold. Indeed. So it's 74 now, and I'm sweating...


----------



## patrickk222

currently i have hop hornbeam


----------



## Grizzerbear

It's 21 out now with a low of 19 tonight. I stepped out on the porch about 30 minutes ago to grab some firewood and I heard what I believe was a doe bust off into the woods just crashing through the brush and blowing all the way. I imagine she's on the opposite side of the county by now lol. I put some red and post oak in for the overnight.


----------



## PAbeech

Looking at 20 degrees tonight. Beech wood loaded up


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Headed for 16 tonight. Stove room at 53. Cherry. Ash. Bradford pear for overnight


----------



## Qvist

Low of 24 tonight ash and Walnut.


----------



## stoveliker

Pine again (and two small oak ones to fill up gaps).


----------



## ozarkoak

25 out 72  inside and just jammed some oak in for the night.  Cold for the next 3 nights and then back to highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s. Ill take it.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 26.2 out tonight, I have a load of yellow birch with a few splits of pine in the Liberty. The rooms up here are between 68 - 70 and the basement is 77.


----------



## Bobbob

22 out now. Just added a load of ash and black locus.  She'll be running all weekend. 68 upstairs this morning and 75 in the basement. Have the HVAC fan distributing the heat. Works well for my situation.Not warming up here for a few days


----------



## moresnow

22f/67f now with a brisk wind. It was 14f last night when I loaded about 7pm. Actually, turned on the stove fans last night to boot out a little extra heat. Still have a number of hrs worth of Red Oak glowing along nicely. Good stuff.


----------



## Tar12

Dropped to 19 last night...i loaded up with some 4 yr oak and locust and the stove room was 75 this morning..happy...happy wife....lol


----------



## Qvist

Dropped to 21. Lower than expected.  More walnut gone.


----------



## c604

Another Hoosier checking in at 19 outside also.  Have a nice mix of Ash and Honey Locust doing the job this morning.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Hello fellow Hoosier. I'm at 19 right now to. Got down to 9 overnight I think. Running stove with all she's got. Stove room and upstairs at 50 back of house low to mid 40s


----------



## DonTee

21 outside and 78 inside. Burning some ash, maple, and cherry.  Stove is on low/med. About 325 degrees stt. 

We might get some more snow tomorrow it sounds like.


----------



## ozarkoak

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> Hello fellow Hoosier. I'm at 19 right now to. Got down to 9 overnight I think. Running stove with all she's got. Stove room and upstairs at 50 back of house low to mid 40s


Stove size issue or wood issue?


----------



## Stinkpickle

The windchill is 10 outside, but living room is 75 thanks to a load of hackberry and ash.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

ozarkoak said:


> Stove size issue or wood issue?


Stove size. It's a 1.6 cu ft firebox and we have a 100year old drafty 3k sqft house that gets heavy wind.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 25.2 this morning, the basement temp before our first fire was 73, up here was between 68 - 69 depending on what room you're in.

I loaded up the wood stove with pine which brought the temp in the basement up to 77, I had my second cup of coffee upstairs.


----------



## Kevin Weis

English Walnut and some White Oak.  Down to 21 tonight.


----------



## Tar12

Headed to 17 tonight and 13 tomorrow tonight...I am repeating last nights load but increasing the amount of locust..that locust burns like coal...good stuff!


----------



## sweedish

High of about 25 today, was busy in the shed all day and was late with the reload, got a load of cherry on high, then a mix of cherry and ash tonight. 

Something unrelated to firewood, I shot a big dear yesterday.
If you count it the old hanging ring way, it’s a 27 point, 1” or longer tines it’s a 24.


----------



## PAbeech

Low 20s tonight with a "real feal" of 8° beech does such a good job heating my house 👍


----------



## stoveliker

Was out late today.  Did not have time to refill the wood next to the stove with pine. So I reloaded with red oak and the last split of pine.

31 out now, 71 in the living floor, 77 in the basement at knee height, 82 at ceiling height.


----------



## zmender

Low of 25 with windchill of 14F tonight. Topped off with oak and locust and 2 pieces of biobricks tucked into open spaces. 69F in living room and hoping to maintain 65F when I wake up tomorrow morning.


----------



## zmender

20min after reload with air at ~30%.


----------



## NickW

Ash....

Got my buck this morning too. Nothing like the one @sweedish got - a 5pt, but on the heavily hunted public land I go to I see a buck about once every 5 years. Last one I tagged was like 12 or 15 years ago. I usually get at least one doe a season though, so the freezer gets stocked.😁


----------



## KBCraig

I'm burning Canawick bricks this year. I started late (I'm a skinflint, plus I couldn't find my Sooteater to clean the flue until Wednesday), so I'm only on my fourth sleeve. So far, so good. 

I've burned Biobricks, Envirobricks, RUF, and processed my own cordwood. These bricks seem pretty much like the others. Price in northern NH was $400/pallet, plus a flat $100 delivery fee, so I sprung for five pallets.


----------



## incinerator

Red oak chunks and lilac.  The lilac i cut over a year ago and seems plenty dry.  Excellent burning wood--i wish i had more.  I'll save the bigger chunks for colder weather.  11F right now so still shorts and tshirt


----------



## DonTee

We’re supposed to get a bit of snow today. They say 2-3’. Just loaded up the BK with maple and ash. 22 degrees outside and 77 degrees inside.

I’m not sure we’ll get that much snow, and maybe the weather guys just got scared by what happened to Buffalo, and are predicting more just in case.


----------



## ohlongarmisle

Pig nut hickory 4 years old.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

12 outside. We were out late at a freindsgivinh thing last night an messed up reloads. Got maple ash and Bradford pear in for moring. Stove room at a brisk 44. Back of house at 40 or so. We cheated qnd used space heater upstairs last night


----------



## zmender

House cooled down far more than I expected... 61F in living room. 

Plenty of coal for relight although I might've gotten ahead of myself by putting a too big of a gnarly piece in that's not catching. I'll probably have to spend rest of morning putting in small splits in any spaces that opens up.


----------



## Marconis

Oak. Margot approved.


----------



## stoveliker

Maple uglies going to be loaded now, as last night's oak is done for. 
36 max today, and stormy (no rain but a lot of wind).

26 for a low tonight so I'm going to run it a bit harder and hope this'll get me to around 10 pm for another load of oak.


----------



## BigJ273

Loaded up some super dry holly tonight.  Coldest night of the year so far.


----------



## zmender

Random branches I found in the yard. My stove is probably 60%, 70% of coal. Gotta burn these down next couple of hours.


----------



## zmender

BigJ273 said:


> Loaded up some super dry holly tonight.  Coldest night of the year so far.
> 
> View attachment 303363


Holly the shrub? How well does it burn? I'm curious, never heard of it being used as firewood before.


----------



## BigJ273

zmender said:


> Holly the shrub? How well does it burn? I'm curious, never heard of it being used as firewood before.


Actually quite well. My first year trying it. My buddy has a TON of it he was clearing off of his hunting property. Giant trees (bushes).  Dries fast and burns great., nice and hot.


----------



## EbS-P

First fire of the year.  Tulip poplar.  
I Love how this stuf burns.  Say what you want about it as firewood down here it’s all I need 75%!of the time.  It  Just lights fast and on a full load close the air all the way and just run on complete secondary combustion.


----------



## sweedish

EbS-P said:


> First fire of the year.  Tulip poplar.
> I Love how this stuf burns.  Say what you want about it as firewood down here it’s all I need 75%!of the time.  It  Just lights fast and on a full load close the air all the way and just run on complete secondary combustion.



A lot of what I burn is quaking aspen and boxelder, it all burns when dry


----------



## Qvist

24ﾟ with a wind chill of 18 right now going down to 21ﾟ tonight the woodstove is loping along burning walnut slowly overheating the house. 74 upstairs 79 in the basement.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 13.3 out tonight heading to single digits, the pellet stoves going in the basement with the temps up here between 68-70.


----------



## PAbeech

Same as last night, upper teens and single digits "real feal" beech as usual doing a dam good job being the only heat source I'm using so far this winter


----------



## Kevin Weis

Mid teens tonight.  Walnut and Ash.


----------



## zmender

25F and heading to teens in windchill, topped off oak and locust with biobrick in nooks. This baby is burning hot! Primary air completely closed and the running on secondary.


----------



## zmender

60F and reload with oak and locust. 20F outside.

Turns out one of my sliding doors in living room was not closing properly - I could see the morning light through the crack and there was an inch of frost indoors next to the crack. Bet that'll help with my living room draft problem.


----------



## shortys7777

Loaded up the ash last night. Threw a few splits in around 2pm. Had some solid coals this morning for another full load. Wife is home today so she'll be warm.


----------



## Garbanzo62

Right now Ash and some  left over coals.  Need to clean out the Ash so figured I let things die down.  Going to try to make a perforated shovel so I can sift out the coals from the ash.


----------



## thewoodlands

Our temp bottomed out at 5.9 last night, this morning was 13.4. The temp in the basement was 73 with the temps up here between 66 - 68.

I set the pellet stove on the lowest setting in the high range, the next time I'll turn the feed rate up higher.

We're back to burning in the wood stove.


----------



## stoveliker

Garbanzo62 said:


> Right now Ash and some  left over coals.  Need to clean out the Ash so figured I let things die down.  Going to try to make a perforated shovel so I can sift out the coals from the ash.


I have this.
Amazon product


----------



## Garbanzo62

stoveliker said:


> I have this.
> Amazon product



Never thought of a litter box scoop. My daughter has cats so if it doesn't pan out I'll give ti to her


----------



## NickW

Garbanzo62 said:


> Right now Ash and some  left over coals.  Need to clean out the Ash so figured I let things die down.  Going to try to make a perforated shovel so I can sift out the coals from the ash.


FYI - my purchased coal sifter has diamond shaped holes 3/8x7/8. I am going to try a 3/8" hole first, then go up from there if necessary for one for up north.


----------



## stoveliker

Last night's oak is done. 39 F for a max today. Home was 70-71 all day. The sunroom (single pane, no insulation) even got up to 70 for an hour or 3 or so, so I worked a bit from there with the sliding doors open. Stove simmered.

I put one misshapen pine split in there, and two small ash uglies to get me to the night reload later this evening.


----------



## ABMax24

Pine and tamarack, although I'm really not sure why, it's 4 degrees above freezing right now.


----------



## weee123

Burning down a load of walnut to get coals for the night load. Replaced the door gasket today. Gasket near the hinges wasn’t sealing at all anymore. 

It’s like a new stove and burns way better now can’t wait to see what kind of burn times I get now


----------



## zmender

Couple rollers on my sliding door stuck - now that I pay attention to it, I can see a crack about 3-5mm running along length of the glass door. 

Short term I put duct tape length of door both inside and outside. I’ll have to replace both rollers once it warms up outside bit more. 

For now I’ve done a hot clean of coal and ashes and running a warm “refire” with 50/50 split of bio bricks and cord wood. Finger crossed for 65F living room tmr morning.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Got a little warmer today. Lows going to 26 tonight. Stove room back up to 58. Finally comfortable again. Wasn't ready for tge deep freeze we had this early


----------



## moresnow

26F/68F. A load of Ash and Elm just went in. 5 minutes in a we have wisps of smoke and nearly fire. Should be able to hit the rack soon.


----------



## stoveliker

Mix of non-ideally shaped ed oak and pine. 33 F for a low tonight, and tomorrow sunny and 48. So it'll be a simmering day; I'll keep the stove warm for a night fire tomorrow night.


----------



## stoveliker

As i had said, we simmered today. Last night's load is almost done. Pic shows what's left. 20 hrs.

I could have gone for another hour or two simmering, but scheduling requires me to reload for the night (and tomorrow's simmering) now. So oak and pine again. 85 pct full load. 42 now, min of 35 overnight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 19.2 this morning, we ran the pellet stove last night so the house was between 68 - 70 this morning.

The morning load was pine and then some cookies after supper, the overnight load will be some ash and pine.


----------



## weee123

Getting actual burn times and a controllable stove now with the new gasket. No more runaways. 

Burning black walnut, catalpa, and sassafras. I absolutely hate black walnut. It ashes so much it’ll actually choke itself off. Oh well not much more left.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 30.7 tonight with a load of ash and some pine in the wood stove, the rooms up here are 69-70.


----------



## Isaac Carlson

There's a reason walnut is used for gun stocks...  We burned some one year and it was not great.

I just put a load of oak in for overnight.  Teens and single digits tonight.  Just had the dog out and it was pretty nippy.

I wish we could see the fire inside the stove.  I'm thinking more and more about putting a window in the door and relocating the air intake.  It's a summer project of course, but I still think about it.  How far can secondary tubes be from the wood and still work?


----------



## weee123

I’m definitely less than happy with it. Only reason I even have the walnut in my supply is a buddy took one down and offered me the wood so I grabbed it.


----------



## Simonkenton

I like black walnut.  A big one was growing in the meadow, the creek had undermined the roots and it fell over.  No rot.  I got 5 truckloads from that tree.  22 million BTU/cord.  Easy to split and has that funky smell.  Not as good as oak, but pretty good.


----------



## stoveliker

Isaac Carlson said:


> There's a reason walnut is used for gun stocks...


Can you explain that to my ignorance? I thought it was nice looking and tough (not cracking easily).

I read your remark as a response to "ash --> it smothers itself" but can't relate that to other uses...


----------



## weee123

stoveliker said:


> Can you explain that to my ignorance? I thought it was nice looking and tough (not cracking easily).
> 
> I read your remark as a response to "ash --> it smothers itself" but can't relate that to other uses...


It is beautiful but it splits just looking at it. Its a dream to split and dries quick and I honestly feel bad burning such a pretty wood. 

My biggest gripe with it is how much ash it produces. It’s honestly a ridiculous amount to where I’m shoveling ash out every few days and will smother itself out. A walnut split will cover the walnut split underneath it with ash and hamper it’s ability to burn


----------



## stoveliker

Yes, I can see that (so mix it; first layer walnut, second layer on top something else).
But I would like to learn what then (b/c not ashes) makes it good gun stock material.


----------



## weee123

This is what I found on it for curious minds. Basically the perfect wood for it with this stuff in mind.

Walnut is *hard, dense, and resilient*. It resists warping, suffers little shrinkage and isn't prone to splitting, which is important when working with something as lively as a shotgun. It's easy to work and takes fine chequering exceptionally well.


----------



## Simonkenton

I built my Summerbeam out of black walnut, and the King post too.  It is hard but it is easy to work, and it has beautiful grain.  I cut this tree down on my property, and slabbed it out with my chainsaw.  It took many hours to sand it, with a 7 inch disc grinder, and a belt sander.  The fine powdery sawdust from black walnut will make you sick, it has toxins in it.


----------



## stoveliker

Back on topic, last night's 7 pm load of oak and pine is done. I put in a maple ugly and a 4" long 3" dia maple branch piece to keep some coals for a later reload.

48 now, 33 for a low. The home has been 72-73 all day. But that included some from the oven pre-thanksgiving work.


----------



## stoveliker

Loaded oak for the last fire for a while. No fire needed for a few days (50s during the day and 40s for a low, so the minisplit will be sufficient, and Sunday I'll be flying out for work. Two days of a low 32-33 next week but given my wife doesn't want to start a fire, I'll let things be done with the minisplit.)

Long red oak pieces left over from my previous stove. So e/w. Thick as well (6"). One 6" round of cedar. Some were even too long for e/w, so I have a gap in the middle. It'll be enough for overnight.

And tomorrow there will be some cooking done too...


----------



## Dieselhead

A little pine/fir on this turkey day.


----------



## Dieselhead

It’s good cat chow


----------



## stoveliker

The 80 pct load of oak and cedar from last night ran out after exactly 24 hrs. Stove is cooling down. I'll do some ash clean out tomorrow, and will use the minisplit until I am back from a work trip Friday next week. (And the forecast says even then it'll still be minisplit weather...)


----------



## Kevin Weis

34 now with a few small splits of Walnut and Hackberry.  Was 56 earlier today so was struggling not to overheat the room.


----------



## zmender

45F with overnight low of 37F. slow burning assorted hardwood I bought fall 2021 - by weight of the splits, feel like oaks and maples.

used my thanksgiving day installing new draft guards and spread 2 tubes of caulk around windows that felt drafty. Hopefully this will allow me to save some wood this year.


----------



## Marconis

Oak! Got the tree up. Anytbing better?


----------



## zmender

Gonna be 27F overnight. Relit a warm stove top-down with dry maple, locust and a few biobricks filling in spaces. 

Clear smoke at 25% air, glowing red secondary tubes. Good night!


----------



## MMH

Happy late thanksgiving everyone! I’ve been continuing the temp tradition here which has been going for weeks now. It’s currently 9F out with the feels like at -1. House is 71 and Dorothy is still eating through last nights load of elm and mahogany. Todays high is headed for around 20. I’ll throw some pine in for that.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Some Green Ash and a little Black Cherry this evening.  The cat loves the Black Cherry for some reason.


----------



## Caw

100% local 3 year old northern red oak! Normally I'd be burning more maple or cherry this time of year but this year's wood is all oak. Good problem to have. My wife is great and all but I LOVE oak!


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for single digits tonight, currently in the low teens out house is 71.  A load of pine and elm in.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Ash and silver maple for overnight. Lows to 17 stove room at 54


----------



## KBCraig

My first impression of the Canawick bricks was that they left too much ash. 

Then I realized that with very moderate temps, I was just not getting complete combustion. For a couple of days now when the fire is low, I've stirred the embers, and left the bypass open and the door cracked to feed plenty of air. 

The volume of "ash" has actually gone down, since most of it wasn't ash, just unburned wood.


----------



## JamesGuido

I’ll be burning lots more wood than ever now that I’m retired and home all day/night.
Oak burning now.  Actually, oak is all I got.
Hate hearing the furnace kick in.


----------



## weee123

Some chunky black walnut


----------



## Marconis

Maybe I don’t want a wood stove…


----------



## NickW

Loaded full with ash. Probably going to overheat the house because it's only going down to 29 tonight.


----------



## sweedish

A stove full of only cherry. Supposed to be in the 40’s as a high tomorrow, I may switch to a mix of boxelder and quaking aspen for the daytime.


----------



## NickW

sweedish said:


> A stove full of only cherry. Supposed to be in the 40’s as a high tomorrow, I may switch to a mix of boxelder and quaking aspen for the daytime.


Agreed. I've been burning a mix of mostly box elder with occasional pieces of pine, aspen, cottonwood and silver maple during the mild days lately...


----------



## thewoodlands

We're still burning mostly white pine with some of the overnight fires getting three splits of ash. Sooner or later the colder weather will move in so we've been bringing in more hardwood so we're ready, especially with the hard rains we've been getting.

We still haven't burned a face cord of hardwood, we've been reducing a bunch of pine splits so far this year, six face cord so far. We're into the eighth face cord, we'll keep burning pine until it gets real cold. We might mix the pine with some ash during the day and then go with all hardwood at night.


----------



## DonTee

Loading up the BK after a 22 hour burn. It’s 33 outside and 78 inside. Wood is ash, beech, cherry, and maple. 

It hasn’t been too cold, but was pretty windy. Temps in the 20’s with 20+mph wind.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 38 for tomorrow morning, it's between 70 & 71 up here. I load the wood stove up with pine tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 40.1 after this first cup of coffee this morning, the temp up here was 69. We had a pine fire this morning with the high temp up here getting to 71, the temp is at 70 this afternoon.

It isn't real windy back here today but it looks like western NY has a bunch of power outages from the wind.


----------



## DonTee

It’s pretty windy here today. I was just at the grocery store, and all sorts of stuff was blowing across the parking lot. 

The wood I loaded 2 posts up is still going in the stove  
37 outside and 77 inside.


----------



## thewoodlands

DonTee said:


> It’s pretty windy here today. I was just at the grocery store, and all sorts of stuff was blowing across the parking lot.
> 
> The wood I loaded 2 posts up is still going in the stove
> 37 outside and 77 inside.


After I posted about the winds not being real bad back here, they picked up. The wife went up the road to a neighbor's house, she said it was very windy.

I see the power outages are starting to hit just below Watertown NY.





						Storm Center React
					






					outagemap.ny.nationalgridus.com


----------



## DonTee

Im right below Watertown. Haha. 

Weather says winds are 25-35 mph and gusting to 50.


----------



## Diabel

DonTee said:


> Loading up the BK after a 22 hour burn. It’s 33 outside and 78 inside. Wood is ash, beech, cherry, and maple.
> 
> It hasn’t been too cold, but was pretty windy. Temps in the 20’s with 20+mph wind.
> 
> View attachment 304403


@DonTee 
Is that a Princess? That is a lot of splits! Unless they are small. If i can fit 6/7 splits in mine I am happy. Must me way bigger splits.


----------



## stoveliker

Back from my work trip. Still in the 50s here but a low of 35 forecast. So I started the stove. (At 56 F... Great draft with the tall chimney...)

I loaded some too long rounds of cedar and oak e/w, and some pitch pine on top n/s.

The piece.of pine in the pic was at 14 percent (I split a big piece to measure). So what is cooking on the end here is pitch, not water. It was much more initially, brown. Some pieces stay completely dry. Others are literally dripping when it melts. First time insaw that this year I was worried about wet wood. But it really isn't.

I hope the cat eats all the vapors.

It's not the best packed.load because of.some oddly shaped pieces. But it'll do until some time tomorrow.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Lows to 16 tonight stove room at 62. Big ash chunks and some Bradford pear for overnight


----------



## DonTee

Diabel said:


> @DonTee
> Is that a Princess? That is a lot of splits! Unless they are small. If i can fit 6/7 splits in mine I am happy. Must me way bigger splits.


Yup it’s a Princess. I have some bigger splits on the bottom, and smaller splits to fill in the top. Maybe I could bump up my burn times if I used bigger splits. It’s just what I happened to have on hand. 

I’ll try for a 30 hour burn one of these days


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 32.1 tonight with NOAA calling for a low of 26, I just loaded up the Liberty with some ash and pine, the basement (stove room) is 77 getting warmer and up here is between 69 and 70.


----------



## stoveliker

A few hours later I have a tarry blob that slowly breathes...


----------



## c604

21 here and just loaded up with ash and a couple pieces of honey locust. I've got a pallet of just honey locust on the porch waiting for cold weather.


----------



## ClintonH

c604 said:


> 21 here and just loaded up with ash and a couple pieces of honey locust. I've got a pallet of just honey locust on the porch waiting for cold weather.


17 here, NW OH.  Letting some coals burn down (coffee 1st), then I'll load  3 pieces of red oak.


----------



## PAbeech

25 degrees outside and 75 inside after last night's load of beechwood. Won't have to burn till 5pm or so. going to be 35 today.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 25.3 this morning with the basement at 70 and the temps up here between 68 and 69. The first load was pine with some cookies going on some coals when I came back in, the temp up here today is between 69 and 70 with the stove room (the basement) at 77.


----------



## Labfriend

36 outside 78 inside, oak and poplar mix


----------



## Tar12

I am running the usual weekend/vacation load of uglies consisting of ash,oak and locust...


----------



## Caw

Have nothing but hardwood this year...good problem to have  Red oak go brrrrrrrrrrr!






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----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Lows to 25 tonight stove room at 65. Some fat ash chunks for the overnight


----------



## stoveliker

I had a few maple and cedar uglies and "longies" (so long as to have to go in diagonal) to carry me over from last night's load to the reload just now.

Pitch pine and oak loaded now. Tomorrow afternoon when this load is done, I'll let the stove go cold. It'll be cold until Thursday afternoon according to the current forecast.

71 inside, 31 outside, forecast low of 28. Tomorrow's high forecast to be 50.


----------



## NickW

Ash and cherry.

Got back to the Northwoods yesterday afternoon and refused to turn the thermostat up. Tried to get back up to temperature with just the fireplace. Took awhile, but got it there. Overnight low was 5 above, so between that and having to get the walls warm it took a bit. I turn the thermostat up as the fireplace heats the air... Hit 60, thermostat goes to 59; hit 64, thermostat goes to 63; etc. That way when I stop getting adequate heat overnight the furnace just has to maintain. Had a semi scary hot overnight fire with some nice dry beech and ash. Actually partially closed the intake damper to slow it down. Never had to do that before.

 Today hit almost 30 and only going down to the mid 20's tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 31.5 out tonight, I have some ash mixed in with pine for the overnight load. The rooms up here are between 70 and 71 with the basement temp at 75 heading up.


----------



## stoveliker

A check on that load from earlier tonight made me see the (Northern) lights


----------



## Dieselhead

21 outside this am, 43 for a high today, I figure pine will get me by for the next 10-12hrs before the overnight reload.


----------



## thewoodlands

Our temp this morning was 27.5 with the temps up here between 68 and 69. We had a pine fire this morning with the temp up here this afternoon still at 69.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 40.3 this morning with the rooms up here between 66 & 68 and the basement at 70.


----------



## 1kzwoman

15f this am going to touch 32 today. Ashes only .  Tossed a split in then read weather report duh! It’s 82 o in stove room 67 in kitchen.  75 and loving it with sourdough bread raising.


----------



## weee123

Cold and rainy day today. Mix of black walnut catalpa white oak and a sassafras round.


----------



## Kevin Weis

42f and rain here.  Ash and some Apple this evening


----------



## Sawset

I've been burning some apple lately, but it does leave a lot of ash. Clinkers too. It's that 50yr old wood I was left with. I thinks it's dry. Is it the apple, or age, not sure.


----------



## thewoodlands

I'm not sure what the temp was this morning but it's 44.8 this afternoon, we have some pine going in the Liberty.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Sawset said:


> I've been burning some apple lately, but it does leave a lot of ash. Clinkers too. It's that 50yr old wood I was left with. I thinks it's dry. Is it the apple, or age, not sure.


The Apple I've been burning is well seasoned and doesn't seem to leave any more ash than well, Ash.  Does leave more than say OAK though.  Supposed to be middle of the road as far as BTU's.


----------



## MMH

Sounds like some of you have had some mild temps. I’ve had quite the opposite, actually unseasonably cold here given the last 6-7 years. The temps here plummeted after the storm about 2-3 weeks ago with  negative to single digit nights and highs of 0-20s. I did have a brief spell of warmth where we had teens at night and 30s during the day. But we’re back to the cold snap. Have had freezing fog last 2 days after another system rolled through; woke up this morning to -2 out house was 71 highs in the 20s with the wind chills making that singles-teens, and that’s occurring for the next several days again until another system moves through. Okay enough meteorology.

 Been busting into the hardwood pile much earlier this year, good thing I had a decent stash of that elm. Tonight was mostly pine and a dash of elm again. Currently 9 out house is in the mid 70s. The master stays much cooler as it sits behind the stove and our curtains aren’t really anything more than decorative. Yesterday morning when I woke up, even I was a bit chilly so I checked and the room was in the low 60s. So I’ll be buttoning up on the window loss and see what that does. 

On a final note I caught some decent secondaries and glowing.




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----------



## Todd

-14 this morning, full load of Aspen brought cabin back up to the mid 70’s from 64.


----------



## PAbeech

MMH said:


> Sounds like some of you have had some mild temps. I’ve had quite the opposite, actually unseasonably cold here given the last 6-7 years. The temps here plummeted after the storm about 2-3 weeks ago with  negative to single digit nights and highs of 0-20s. I did have a brief spell of warmth where we had teens at night and 30s during the day. But we’re back to the cold snap. Have had freezing fog last 2 days after another system rolled through; woke up this morning to -2 out house was 71 highs in the 20s with the wind chills making that singles-teens, and that’s occurring for the next several days again until another system moves through. Okay enough meteorology.
> 
> Been busting into the hardwood pile much earlier this year, good thing I had a decent stash of that elm. Tonight was mostly pine and a dash of elm again. Currently 9 out house is in the mid 70s. The master stays much cooler as it sits behind the stove and our curtains aren’t really anything more than decorative. Yesterday morning when I woke up, even I was a bit chilly so I checked and the room was in the low 60s. So I’ll be buttoning up on the window loss and see what that does.
> 
> On a final note I caught some decent secondaries and glowing.
> View attachment 304802
> 
> 
> View attachment 304801


Yah it was cold over here in pa about a week or two ago but warmed up. I can't stand when it warms up unseasonably. I've never realized NV got so cold but it makes sense. This forum is so neat being able to talk with people all over, so much info.


----------



## MMH

PAbeech said:


> Yah it was cold over here in pa about a week or two ago but warmed up. I can't stand when it warms up unseasonably. I've never realized NV got so cold but it makes sense. This forum is so neat being able to talk with people all over, so much info.


Yeah agreed. I’m up in the northeast corner, we’re nothing like Vegas (in any way) so while my summers are desert like, The rest of my seasons are still there also.


----------



## spuldup

Temperatures have been on the warmer side this last week.  Used the opportunity of 50F yesterday to install a cast iron key damper to keep the heat down in the new 36' tall, 8" chimney on the Brunco WC190.  Also cleaned out the circ blower.  Found it was over half plugged with some random paper that had been there since before we bought the house.  Much smoother and quieter now!


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 35.1 this morning with more pine going in the wood stove, we had 67 up here before our fire this morning.

It's 70 up here at the moment, I made some spaghetti sauce for part of our meal tonight so the propane warmed things up pretty good.


----------



## stoveliker

I relighted the stove. A low of 33 F tonight. A Pine and oak mix.


----------



## sweedish

Burning down the coals currently, then more cherry and ash for tonight. I also am going to have to bring wood in after the morning’s load


----------



## Kevin Weis

Some Apple, Oak and a little Hackberry.


----------



## NickW

Same as @sweedish... Just finished burning down coals with some bark, loaded the Stratford II with ash and cherry. 14 degrees out here in the WI Northwoods. Assuming the missus has the NC30 loaded with ash at home...


----------



## thewoodlands

Accu is calling for a low of 19 tomorrow morning, I'll go with a load of ash for the overnight load. The temp up here is between 69 and 71 depending on what room you're in.

It looks like the overnight temps for the next 4 nights will be dropping below 20 so we'll start getting more ash in along with more pine that will be for some fires during the day.


----------



## Niro

Ash going down to mid 30s tonight. Saving the Oak for below 20.


----------



## MMH

Currently around 10 out but will warm up a bit as we’re getting some moisture in the morning. A load of pine in for tonight.


----------



## PAbeech

Really nice base of coals after last night's load at 9pm. Nice and warm 75 inside the house and 27 outside


----------



## Kevin Weis

25f this morning.  Starting with Walnut and Apple.


----------



## MMH

13 out and snowing. House is 71. More pine.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 25.3 this morning with the temp in the basement at 72 and the rooms up here between 68 & 70. We had a pine fire in the wood stove this morning.


----------



## stoveliker

A bunch of thin cedar rounds and two and a half  oak splits. 39 outside now, the low is forecast at 30.

70 inside all day, after adding one oak and one pine split around 2 pm. It was warm (though windy and not pleasant) at 44 max today.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 20.1 tonight with NOAA calling for a low of 13, the basement temp is 77 heading up with the temps up here at 69 & 70. The Liberty is loaded up with ash and two splits of maple.


----------



## zmender

24F tonight before windchill. Living room at 66F and top floor down to 69F after the noon reload burnt down. Reloaded with a giant @$$ piece of knarly red oak (6, 7in diameter), 3-5in locust, and about 6 pieces of biobricks filling in.

smoke clear after about 20min at 75% air. Turned down to about 25% for overnight burn.


----------



## MMH

Currently 23 out with the temps increasing tonight before the next system moves in. Another round of winter weather advisories and storm warnings starting tomorrow followed by singles and negatives again next week. I’ll probably move a little bit more wood and grab some elm and mahogany for that. House is 73 with another load of pine in for tonight.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 12 this morning, the basement was still 72 and up here was 66 to 67. We loaded up on some nice coals with a few splits of pine and the rest was ash, the temp up here is 69.


----------



## zmender

Gone from home most of day.

In the morning around 7AM reloaded with giant pieces of oak and medium locust splits.

Got home around 9PM with living room dropping down to 64F and oil heater just kicking in. A handful of coals remained. Reloaded with a few pieces of (oak?) kindling,  dry locust splits, with 3 biobricks on top layer for the "instant gratification". Had to keep the stove door open until some resemblance of secondary burn (~15min), kept air at 100% until unequivocal secondary burn (another ~15min). Now it's an hour after reload, about 40% throttle, the stove sounds like an engine roaring, and living room temperature recovering.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 18, we're at 15.6 tonight . Tonight we're going with the pellet stove and start burning in the wood stove tomorrow, the temp up here is 67 tonight.


----------



## stoveliker

36 out now, a low of 35 is forecast. 70 in the home, 77 to 82 in the basement (hip to ceiling).

Reloaded with pine and two oak splits.


----------



## MMH

Hit almost 40 today felt like summer. Storm is beginning tonight. I moved some wood to refill the porch stack, and moved some elm and mahogany for the drip in temps after the system. 


Currently 32 out with the feels like in the 20s, storm starting tonight, house is 72. All pine tonight.


----------



## zmender

For folks burning pine... do you know which species of pine it is? USU source (https://forestry.usu.edu/forest-products/wood-heating) lists it between 16-21 MBTU/cord, and suggests incredible house insulation / burn efficiency if the wood is at lower end of BTUs


----------



## zmender

This morning around 8am (10~11hrs burn since last reload) living room around 62F, 33F outside and overcast. Couple handful of fist-sized coals left but not enough to cover the bottom of stove.

Last night I left couple pieces of decently dry splits around stove (MC 15%~20%) and those went in... those 5, 6in splits instantly caught on. A few more pieces of biobricks to fill in spaces, we are cooking 20min later with clear smoke stack and able to turn down air to ~50% to recover living room temperature before wife wakes up.


----------



## mpaul

This morning woke up to a nice bed of coals from a 10 hour overnight burn. Overnight in the low 20s; house at 71. 
Cloudy and snow today with highs in the low 30s. Loaded up with a mix of oak and maple.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 20-30 range out, house is 74. Will have a cup of coffee and then throw some pine in for when the snow starts.


----------



## stoveliker

zmender said:


> For folks burning pine... do you know which species of pine it is? USU source (https://forestry.usu.edu/forest-products/wood-heating) lists it between 16-21 MBTU/cord, and suggests incredible house insulation / burn efficiency if the wood is at lower end of BTUs


Someplace on this website I discussed what pine I have. Turns out it is pitch pine for me.


----------



## MMH

zmender said:


> For folks burning pine... do you know which species of pine it is? USU source (https://forestry.usu.edu/forest-products/wood-heating) lists it between 16-21 MBTU/cord, and suggests incredible house insulation / burn efficiency if the wood is at lower end of BTUs


I’m currently burning Idaho white pine, but locally I have pinyon pine (and others that aren’t allowed to be cut).


----------



## thewoodlands

zmender said:


> For folks burning pine... do you know which species of pine it is? USU source (https://forestry.usu.edu/forest-products/wood-heating) lists it between 16-21 MBTU/cord, and suggests incredible house insulation / burn efficiency if the wood is at lower end of BTUs


We're burning white pine and if it's a colder day we mix some ash in with it.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 19.2 this morning with the temps up here between 66 and 69 with the basement temp at 73.  

After cleaning the wood stove pipes, I started a fire with some ash and white pine, the temp up here is 71.


----------



## PAbeech

stoveliker said:


> Someplace on this website I discussed what pine I have. Turns out it is pitch pine for me.


Pitch pine is very common on long Island. I grew up In Lindenhurst and when I would drive out east I loved seeing the pine "forest" bc in Lindenhurst its a concrete jungle with no trees lol


----------



## stoveliker

Yes.

Interesting stories about whaling ships being sealed with pitch from these forests.

Here are two pieces with leftover fatwood from a pitchpine tree. I took most of that off (for firestarter), but I now see this is still there. Going to burn this at some point when I can look at how it will behave.


----------



## MMH

Have 5-8” depending on the spot, and still coming down. Calling for an additional 5-6” between rest of today and tomorrow on top of what’s left from the last storm. Got the driveway plowed. Threw in a few more pieces to tide us over for rest of afternoon and to bake the pipe a bit the cap has from frozen chunks around it. Currently in the  20s with the feels like at 14.


----------



## PAbeech

MMH said:


> Have 5-8” depending on the spot, and still coming down. Calling for an additional 5-6” between rest of today and tomorrow on top of what’s left from the last storm. Got the driveway plowed. Threw in a few more pieces to tide us over for rest of afternoon and to bake the pipe a bit the cap has from frozen chunks around it. Currently in the  20s with the feels like at 14.
> View attachment 304999
> 
> View attachment 305000
> 
> View attachment 305001


Nice! We got 6 inches in pennsylvania. Supposed to get a bigger storm Thursday can't wait


----------



## stoveliker

We got a few of those hard rain drops (not freezing rain but frozen pieces, ticking on your coat) today. Yesterday night I saw a few snow flakes. Nothing on the ground.


----------



## zmender

Ever since yesterday, I feel like chasing warmth. Probably reloaded 2x today, each time about 30%, 40% of total fire box capacity. Also running throttle 50%~75% much of the day. I'm reluctant to push stove further, knowing it would just eat up wood and send BTUs up chimney without too much in return.

Interestingly I re-read the stove manual today - rated for 57k BTU max, but only around 27.6k "EPA BTU". My guess is that 28K BTU is more or less enough to sustain warmth or increase temperature in less challenging situations, but if I'm behind in reloads (away from home yesterday) or challenging conditions (overcast + wind), the 28K is not enough. My next stove, if in the same house, needs to purr away 25k-35k BTUs super efficiently all day long and reach somewhere 40k if needed.

Anyhow....

Reloaded with dry locust + biobricks. If I sustain 63~64F in living room overnight, I'll be able to hit 67F~68F tomorrow, without touching oil.


----------



## PAbeech

Tonight's load of sugar maple and beech. 74 inside and low of 20 over night


----------



## thewoodlands

Accu is calling for a low of 19 in the morning, it's 22.2 tonight. The wood stove is loaded up with ash for the night, the stove room is 79 and the rooms up here are 69,70 and 71.


----------



## stoveliker

35 now, light snow, 1/2 to 1" on the ground (driveway still just wet).

Reloaded with pine and 2 oak splits. Low forecast of 33.

80 f at hip height, 84 at the basement ceiling. 73 on the living floor. (I cut off some too long oak splits, and the bucket of 1-2"long  cut offs was blasted through to clean the window a bit.)


----------



## MMH

Lows heading for around 10 tonight. A full load of pine in. After the next push of snow temps will plummet again with highs in the teens and lows in the single-negative range, I’ll pull the elm/mahogany in for that.


----------



## zmender

22F outside and 62F inside at 7:30am. Full load of bricks and locust just went in. Forecasted to be sunny by mid morning, that’ll give a nice boost to indoor temp.


----------



## shortys7777

Still burning ash.  got about 3 inches of snow. First of the year. house was at 66 this morning. Loaded it up before I left.


----------



## MMH

Round 2; snows coming down again, winter weather storms/advisories have been extended until this evening now. I’ve got drifts the size of our chicken coop in various locations, I’m going to have to tractor again today. Threw some pine in for this morning, I’ll be bringing hardwood in for later as well. House is 72.


----------



## boomfire

Got 4 inches of snow between yesterday and overnight. Cleared out the snow, a long drive way (about 100 yards), parking space and made path to my firewood so i can haul uninterrupted. Took about an hour and half. Setup christmas tree over the weekend.  Have Some oak and ash mix in the fireplace. 30 outside and 78 Inside.


----------



## PAbeech

boomfire said:


> Got 4 inches of snow between yesterday and overnight. Cleared out the snow, a long drive way (about 100 yards), parking space and made path to my firewood so i can haul uninterrupted. Took about an hour and half. Setup christmas tree over the weekend.  Have Some oak and ash mix in the fireplace. 30 outside and 78 Inside.
> 
> 
> View attachment 305064
> 
> 
> View attachment 305066


What part of pa? I got 6 inches and Supposed to get more thursday


----------



## boomfire

PAbeech said:


> What part of pa? I got 6 inches and Supposed to get more thursday



hello neighbor, i am near shohola, i just measured it was about 5 inches not 4.  It is possible snow got compressed a bit as it is heavier now.


----------



## thewoodlands

The temp bottomed out at 15.2 this morning, the basement was still 72 and the other rooms were between 66 to 68.

I loaded up the wood stove with some ash and pine, the high temp today was 19.4 back in the pines.


----------



## Kevin Weis

20's tonight with a mix of Apple and Mulberry.


----------



## Bobbob

33 out and burning a mixture of maple and ash


----------



## mpaul

Woke up to about 3” of snow. Overnight low tonight of 15 in forecast. Heat my 2,000 sqft house solely with wood. Luckily I worked from home today and was able to get a jump start on it. Downstairs is at 74 and upstairs at 70. Once my afternoon load burns down, I’ll do an overnight of red oak and shagbark hickory.


----------



## zmender

8pm - 66F in living room, pretty much stuck here all day, with my throttle limited to 50% (by choice). Based on anecdotal experience, wide open throttle simply leads to greater loss through chimney and doesn't really warm my house.

I got about 2hrs before bedtime. For now, tossed in 3 medium sized splits to burn down coal bed, air at 75% until flame catches.  Around 10pm I'll do a full reload with oak, locust, and biobricks.


----------



## stoveliker

The load of pine and 2 splits of oak of last night 11 pm is done. The high today was 37 F, cloudy. Melting snow. The low is forecast to be 24, it's 31 now.
The home has been a constant 69 F all day.

Red oak reload at this point.


----------



## thewoodlands

We're at 8.6 already tonight, the basement started out at 75 and the rooms up here are 67 to 68. Tonight we'll go with the constant heat throughout the night so we have the pellet stove going.

NOAA is calling for a low of 2.


----------



## PAbeech

Lows around 11 degrees tonight. Loaded up with beech wood. 74 degrees inside


----------



## stoveliker

We're the splits on the right shorter? If not, why not load the whole box N/S?


----------



## PAbeech

stoveliker said:


> We're the splits on the right shorter? If not, why not load the whole box N/S?


Yah I've got a strange assortment of sizes of firewood. That's what happens when you're not operating the saw and just loading the truck with logs 😂


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> We're the splits on the right shorter? If not, why not load the whole box N/S?


In our stove (Lopi Liberty) we get a longer burn time loading east to west.


----------



## PAbeech

stoveliker said:


> We're the splits on the right shorter? If not, why not load the whole box





thewoodlands said:


> In our stove (Lopi Liberty) we get a longer burn time loading east to west.


And yah e/w I get the longest burns. And it actually helps I had some really short logs because I can fill in the gaps when I load with different sized pieces. I'm trying to save my longer 16-17 in pieces for January february


----------



## stoveliker

@PAbeech
Ok,that makes sense. I disliked the stacking of different sizes, so I now buck my own

@thewoodlands
Yes, but at a lower output per hour. I hear people doing e/w in mid winter, but it does (should) result in less heating even if for longer. Seems like a better way to do this in the shoulder seasons?

(Edit: unless the efficiency goes up burning e/w.)

I'm still gaining skills in splitting (by hand) as square as possible so I can stuff as much and as tight as possible n/s. (My current wood is still mostly triangular.) Doing that right should slow down the burn too at a constant air setting.


----------



## thewoodlands

stoveliker said:


> @PAbeech
> Ok,that makes sense. I disliked the stacking of different sizes, so I now buck my own
> 
> @thewoodlands
> Yes, but at a lower output per hour. I hear people doing e/w in mid winter, but it does (should) result in less heating even if for longer. Seems like a better way to do this in the shoulder seasons?
> 
> I'm still gaining skills in splitting (by hand) as square as possible so I can stuff as much and as tight as possible n/s. (My current wood is still mostly triangular.) Doing that right should slow down the burn too at a constant air setting.


We like burning N/S because we get more heat out of a load but I did cut all of this years pine longer for a e/w burn, we liked burning N/S enough that I've been cutting down all the pine we've brought in.....almost eight face cord!  

I just thought that because most of the pine we're burning is past its prime that a longer burn time would be better, I'll never do that again.


----------



## MMH

Storms mostly done, got everything plowed and shoveled again. Tonight’s low is headed for around 10, house is 73. I’ll do another load of pine tonight and start throwing in the hardwood over the next day or so. 

@stoveliker I’ve also found the same thing I get longer burns loading e/w but I lose the heat output, for me it hasn’t been worth it; I’ll use it at times when I don’t need the heat but want to keep the stove going otherwise it’s all n/s for me.


----------



## zmender

stoveliker said:


> I'm still gaining skills in splitting (by hand) as square as possible so I can stuff as much and as tight as possible n/s. (My current wood is still mostly triangular.) Doing that right should slow down the burn too at a constant air setting.


I feel like half of my problem comes from those square splits that are stacked too tight and preventing good circulation. The worst are the wedge splits that allows me to stack super tight.. and next hour I'm poking around with the iron trying to get some circulation in the oven


----------



## 1kzwoman

A few embers, up to reload (pine)and shovel 8” of new snow,temps in mid teens. More snowfall to come today and tomorrow. No unnecessary travel on roads .
With -15 forecast lows through next week, I shoveled out the wood pile too.
Beautiful calm and quiet outside now.


----------



## MMH

Currently 20 out house is 72. I’ll have a cup of coffee then throw some more pine in for today.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Was 24f this morning at 8:00 AM.  Re-load with some Mulberry, Red Oak and I think there was a Silver Maple split in there too.  I hate Silver Maple but it was in some bought wood from earlier this year.  Intrepid cruising 400 STT and around 900 CAT temp.


----------



## NickW

Aspen and pine here in the Northwoods. Ceiling fan got installed yesterday in the cathedral ceiling of the Great Room... Wow, what a difference! 

Storm is bearing down. Going to do some shopping and go to the laundromat so I have clean socks and undies before it gets here...


----------



## zmender

26F this morning. I ran an experiment last night by leaving the blower off, and woke up to a 60F living room. Guess I won't be doing that anymore.

Reloaded with oak and locust.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had a low of 1.8 this morning, the basement was 77 with the rooms up here between 66 & 68. We're back burning the wood stove, another load of ash and some pine.


----------



## highanddryinco

Cold low 20's here today with a bit of snow. Cold looks like it's hanging around for a week or two.  So...pine, pine, pine keeping us nice and toasty. However, I've been scrounging dead ash from the neighbors the last few years as all our street side trees are starting to die off. (My two just died last year) I've cracked into my small secret stash and started to mix in a few pieces with each load. Wow, the joy of hardwood rarely seen here out west! Love it.


----------



## stoveliker

The oak of last night is done. I added two pieces of pine that had a big knot and a cedar round/branch to get to the night reload.


----------



## mpaul

Lows going back down to the teens again tonight. Stove is 3.0 cuft but have to load e/w only. This is my last year burning wood that I bought already cut and split. So have it loaded with shorties filling the gaps. Can’t wait until next year when I burn the wood I’ve cut to 20” that will fill the stove in e/w loads.


----------



## weee123

Got a load of some chunky black walnut and catalpa. Not much more left of it before I’m into my oak supply for the real cold. 25 outside currently with a low of 22. Stove room is 73 upstairs 67.


----------



## stoveliker

Red oak reload for the night. Two half rounds of only 5" long (16" dia or so). Bunch of shorties, and one longer split. Poorly filled box, but given how long last night's load took, it should be fine.

36 F now, a low of 25 F forecast. Home is 70 F as all day.


----------



## Qvist

24 out going down to 21. More Walnut. Lots of walnut to burn this year.


----------



## zmender

32F now, 24F overnight. Living room is maxed out at ~66F without oil furnace. Def going to need a higher BTU stove when the time comes. Full reload with oak, locust, and a TSC red stone sawdust brick that I picked up over weekend.

I've burnt a couple of these bricks past few days. Love the larger size compared to BioBricks. I can literally use it as a split. The RedStone bricks is a bit too crumbly and I can't reload on top of it without blocking off air in the rest of firebox. I imagine this would be great fuel in a cat stove where you load up 40~80lbs of the stuff and let it smolder for the next couple of days to slowly extract the heat.


----------



## MMH

Colder weather moving in starting tonight. Forecast for rest of this week calls for the lower temps. I’ll start the hardwood tomorrow, and use that until I go back to work in which the wifey will likely use the propane. 


For tonight it’s currently in the high teens out headed for around 10, house is 73. Another load of pine.


----------



## thewoodlands

NOAA is calling for a low of 14, we're at 19.6 tonight. The basement temp was 79 before I loaded up the ash for an overnight load, up here is 69 to 70 with the sleeper at 67.


----------



## Cluttermagnet

This past week, temperatures overnight hovered around 32F +/-.
Burning mainly Red Oak with the occasional piece of White Oak.
Also mixed in- some Cherry. Occasional pieces of Black Gum,
Bartlett Pear, Apple. Maple, Dogwood, Beech (branches) etc.
A little Tulip (Yellow) Poplar. The East Coast is a wood gatherer's
paradise. So much to choose from. Oh, and lately I'm burning a
lot of Ewe or some similar evergreen. We had an old one,
probably 50 years old, give up and die. Anywhere from branches
1-2" dia. for kindling to trunk sections 6-10". Split and stacked for
a year, it burns hot and coals nicely; was well worth the effort to
process it. Probably pretty high BTU relatively, and not any smoky
pine-like pitch seen coming off it. I love all the variety. I've learned
so much about different wood types since my wood stove debut
in 2007...

Just had a dead White Oak taken down in our back yard. Beetles
got it. Have lost several Oaks the past 10 years, probably EAB or
something similar chewing on them. White Oak was around 17-20"
DBH. Probably 70-90YO. I'll count the rings later. Close to a cord
in it. I have it reduced to rounds now, and will get it split and
stacked soon. Seasons 2 to 3 years, of course- White Oak needs
a lot of time for that.

Clutter


----------



## weee123

zmender said:


> 32F now, 24F overnight. Living room is maxed out at ~66F without oil furnace. Def going to need a higher BTU stove when the time comes. Full reload with oak, locust, and a TSC red stone sawdust brick that I picked up over weekend.
> 
> I've burnt a couple of these bricks past few days. Love the larger size compared to BioBricks. I can literally use it as a split. The RedStone bricks is a bit too crumbly and I can't reload on top of it without blocking off air in the rest of firebox. I imagine this would be great fuel in a cat stove where you load up 40~80lbs of the stuff and let it smolder for the next couple of days to slowly extract the heat.


I actually really like those red stone bricks. I got a pack to try em out. They last a while in my stove and burn really nice on a hot bed of coals. They’re definitely crumbly, I was loading one in and the corner busted off and exploded sending saw dust everywhere which was fun.


----------



## zmender

They are nice as long as I don't need to reload on top of it. They aren't cord wood and uses are more specialized. 

I load it on the side of stove to fill the gaps (my stove fits up to 20in, my logs are cut 16~18in) where over 6, 7 hours they completely burn down.

I also like placing it upper-most back location underneath first row of secondary tubes. The dryness maintains super hot secondary burn while rest of stove just smolders along slowly. 

24F outside with 35mph wind gusts. Living room at 61F. Nice bed of coal leftover from last night. Reloaded with oak and locust.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the singe digits out house is 74, threw a couple pine splits on for this morning.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 7.9 for a low this morning, the basement temp was 72 and up here was 66 to 68 before our first fire.

Our fire this morning was ash and some pine.


----------



## mpaul

zmender said:


> They are nice as long as I don't need to reload on top of it. They aren't cord wood and uses are more specialized.
> 
> I load it on the side of stove to fill the gaps (my stove fits up to 20in, my logs are cut 16~18in) where over 6, 7 hours they completely burn down.
> 
> I also like placing it upper-most back location underneath first row of secondary tubes. The dryness maintains super hot secondary burn while rest of stove just smolders along slowly.
> 
> 24F outside with 35mph wind gusts. Living room at 61F. Nice bed of coal leftover from last night. Reloaded with oak and locust.


I know the red stone has two different styles. Larger three pack bricks and smaller six pack bricks.  I have used them both and find the larger bricks are very crumbly and not very effective. The smaller more condensed six pack bricks work well. I find the put out as much heat as my regular wood. I do find they don’t burn as long though. I was on TSC over the weekend and saw a new twelve pack of bricks. Didn’t pick any up but Interested to see how they perform. 
I have about a dozen six packs stored in my garage that I have in case of emergency. Probably only burn one or two packs a year.


----------



## weee123

70 in the stove room after coming home from dinner and 29 outside. Stuck a massive chunk of black walnut in (6x6 with a huge knot in it) in the back and 2 smaller splits in front. Went right up on the hot coal bed I made for it.


----------



## stoveliker

35 f outside now, low forecast of 31. Upstairs is 68, basement is 77 at hip height and 83 at the ceiling.

I extended last night's load with three pine splits, and reloaded now with oak.
Two 5" thick cookies (in half, so four half cookies, because I had tested the moisture content a month ago or so, was a nice 13 percent), and a few small splits. All red oak. Took off before I was done reloading.

Left three half cookies e/w, and one n/s on the right, with the splits on top.

These splits of red oak are a bit punky on the outside 1", but it is what I could get three years ago (had been standing dead).


----------



## zmender

~25F most of the day with strong wind gusts. Missed a reload this afternoon due to work and oil furnace kicked in around 4pm. Full reload round 5pm with pine, poplar, and silver maple, which are now coaling by now (11pm) and living room recovered to 65F.

Can't reload too much due to coals, so stuffed it as full as I could with oaks, locust and biobricks. I usually wake up around 4am to pee, I'll probably do a partial reload that time with small splits that I've prepared - oak, beech, and locust.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the teens out and snowing again calling for additional 1-2”, house is 70 after returning from work, lows headed for upper single digits tonight.  Another full load of pine. Hardwood temps begin tomorrow.


----------



## boomfire

Total snow accumulations of 6 to 14 inches between today and tomorrow. Currently snowing heavily at inch an hour.  3 so far on the ground.

Ash and Pine in the fireplace. 72 Inside, 29 Outside


----------



## thewoodlands

I'm not sure what the temp was last night but after waking up in the recliner, instead of starting a fire, I clicked on the pellet stove so the temps up here were between 67 & 68.

This morning I never checked the temps but I'm thinking the low 20's, I loaded up the wood stove with pine.  The temps up here are 69 & 70.


----------



## PAbeech

boomfire said:


> Total snow accumulations of 6 to 14 inches between today and tomorrow. Currently snowing heavily at inch an hour.  3 so far on the ground.
> 
> Ash and Pine in the fireplace. 72 Inside, 29 Outside


This storm turned out to be quite a bummer so far.. it doesn't seem like we'll be anywhere near 14 inches.


----------



## mpaul

The weather is the only profession where a  forecast can continuously be wrong but they still get paid.


----------



## itzacyn1

Jay106n said:


> Temps were in the 20's this morning. I woke up and checked the firebox of my All Nighter Moe, which I found still had some coals from last nights overnight burn. I tossed in a few pieces of pine to get it started up again, shortly followed by a link or two of cherry which coal up real nice, and topped off with some ash splits to last a few hours.
> 
> I vary my wood types by time of day, outside/inside temps, and length of burn.  What is in your stove right now?


Right now maple smaller pieces. have built up a very thick bed of gorgeous coals and will set a large dogwood round in for overnight in an hour. I have a 1951 Floyd-Welles Combination cookstove (Fuelane "Happy Cooking" edition) that was my grandparents and after a partial restoration it was installed 4 weeks ago, so still learning it's quirks and how close I can get to an overnight burn with the smaller firebox.


----------



## itzacyn1

PAbeech said:


> This storm turned out to be quite a bummer so far.. it doesn't seem like we'll be anywhere near 14 inches.


Heard lots of ice around Scranton


----------



## NickW

PAbeech said:


> This storm turned out to be quite a bummer so far.. it doesn't seem like we'll be anywhere near 14 inches.


Same here, but I'm thankful! The predictions of 8-12" & 10-15" turned out to be about 7", but very wet and heavy. If all the rain and sleet was snow we probably would have had 20"+.


----------



## PAbeech

mpaul said:


> The weather is the only profession where a  forecast can continuously be wrong but they still get paid.


You've got that right. Unreal


----------



## PAbeech

NickW said:


> Same here, but I'm thankful! The predictions of 8-12" & 10-15" turned out to be about 7", but very wet and heavy. If all the rain and sleet was snow we probably would have had 20"+.


Yah same here. Makes sense as the snow is coming from the west. It's looking like about 6 inches here wet n heavy


----------



## NickW

Tonight's load of ash and cherry in the Stratford II here in the Northwoods...


----------



## zmender

Like others mentioned the storm is a disappointment so far. Rain finally started around 9:30pm vs forecast of 4, 5pm. Pretty calm despite of forecast of gust up to 50mph. However I'm thankful - for this is a good relief to heat up the house. Burning the same, I've finally hit 68F in living room. 

Looking fairly mild tonight (low of 39F). Given I now have an inch or two of ashes from running the stove so hard past week, I'll burn hard overnight, full reload early morning tomorrow, and let it die out over afternoon to clean up ashes. 

Soooo with that said.... full reload with red stone bricks, locust, and white oak. Smoke stack clear in about 20min at ~90% throttle, turned down to ~40% for overnight burn.


----------



## MMH

Had another 3-4” between last night/night previous, had to plow again to get the wifey mobile out. Currently 12 out low headed for -1F house is 72. A full load of elm and mahogany in for tonight.


----------



## PAbeech

itzacyn1 said:


> Heard lots of ice around Scranton


Yah my wife works in scranton and was send home early. Lucky for me I'm out on workers comp as a letter carrier in scranton. Good time to be out


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 31.8 tonight with the snow starting about an hour ago (nothing real heavy.....yet) it's 77 in the basement with the temps up here 69 to 70. The overnight load is some ash with pine.


----------



## 1kzwoman

New fire pine pine and pine! Got about 14” of new snow from the storm that passed through over the last couple days. Down to 9 degrees now and heading to 0 tonight. Predicted lows in negative teens through Christmas


----------



## Woody Stover

itzacyn1 said:


> Right now maple smaller pieces...will set a large dogwood round in for overnight in an hour.


Gotta love that Dagwood! 🤗 A guy I know just bought a stove a couple months ago, for his new digs. He needs dry wood so I've been helping him out, going out and scrounging up a quad- trailer load a week that he can take home in his little car. Now, it's a violation of my principles to give away dry, primo wood, but I scraped up a load for him yesterday, starting with....some o' dat dry, bark-gone pink gold! I started feeling better about my loss, after I finished the load by dumping on him a bunch of Assafras. 😏
Got a load of Maple in our stove right now. As Gee-orge Nooory would say..."shigger" Maple. 😆


----------



## Woody Stover

itzacyn1 said:


> I have a 1951 Floyd-Welles Combination cookstove (Fuelane "Happy Cooking" edition) that was my grandparents and after a partial restoration it was installed 4 weeks ago, so still learning it's quirks and how close I can get to an overnight burn with the smaller firebox.


Way cool! 😎


----------



## boomfire

PAbeech said:


> This storm turned out to be quite a bummer so far.. it doesn't seem like we'll be anywhere near 14 inches.



So far 10 inches of snow here.

I have cleared 5-6 inches of snow last night. Woke up and another 4 inches of snow on the ground, I need to clear it fast as rain is coming down. what a mess.

They are still projecting another 4-8 inches today if this rain converts into snow.


----------



## MMH

Currently -2F our house is 72, loaded up this morning with a big elm slab and some mahogany


----------



## moresnow

20F/70F with all day light snow yesterday and some overnight, another shot of real winter temps on the way with lows dipping below zero in the near future.  Brrr, Stay warm all.

Burning oversize R,Oak splits from what must have been the end of a long day of splitting


----------



## sloeffle

Threw six ash splits, and some splitter trash in last night at 9PM, pics were taken around 11AM today. Temps have been in the mid 30's, house is set to 68 during the night and 70 during the day. Heating roughly 3k square feet.

Got to love gasification.


----------



## zmender

sloeffle said:


> Threw six ash splits, and some splitter trash in last night at 9PM, pics were take around 11AM today. Temps have been in the mid 30's, house is set to 68 during the night and 70 during the day. Heating roughly 3k square feet.
> 
> Got to love gasification.
> 
> View attachment 305363
> 
> 
> View attachment 305364


Approximately how many cu ft of wood did that take you?


----------



## sloeffle

zmender said:


> Approximately how many cu ft of wood did that take you?


Firebox is 22x23x29 inches ( 8.5 cu ft ). I'm just spit balling here, could be a little more, a little less. Bottom of the firebox was covered one split high, plus a little bit thrown in on top. I've been stacking my wood together as tight as possible to help with off gassing. Seems to be helping some with consumption. First year running a gasser. Wood is roughly 20% moisture, stored in totes outside that are top covered.

(20*21*4)/1728 = .97 cubic feet of wood, let calls it 1 cubic foot of wood.


----------



## zmender

sloeffle said:


> Firebox is 22x23x29 inches ( 8.5 cu ft ). I'm just spit balling here, could be a little more, a little less. Bottom of the firebox was covered one split high, plus a little bit thrown in on top. I've been stacking my wood together as tight as possible to help with off gassing. Seems to be helping some with consumption. First year running a gasser. Wood is roughly 20% moisture, stored in totes outside that are top covered.
> 
> (20*21*4)/1728 = .97 cubic feet of wood, let calls it 1 cubic foot of wood.


wow that's crazy efficient


----------



## thewoodlands

It was still 31.8 this morning with the temps up here between 69 and 70. The coffee just finished when the power went out for 1:30 this morning but after talking, coffee and doing a few other things it came back on.

It's hard to tell how much snow we received because it's very wet but I'm thinking 6-7. I plowed three driveways and a few trails in the woods for walking and then called it a day.

The scanner has been busy since this morning, trees coming down across roadways with the powerlines.


----------



## KMW

Really enjoy reading this thread...first time posting in it. 

Loaded my BK Princess insert this morning at 5am with a full load of ash. Temps were forecast upper 30's all day and overcast. Set t-stat to #2 and blower on low. At 7pm,  raked coals to front and added one 3-4" cherry split and three 1-2" cherry splits and ran with t-stat wide open, blower at 50%. Currently 33F outside with stove room at 77F, main living area at 73F and bedrooms at 68F. Going down to mid 20's tonight. Will reload at 10pm with another full load of ash.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Some Red Oak and Mulberry in the Intrepid.


----------



## PAbeech

Beech wood loaded up. going to be around 20 degrees tonight


----------



## zmender

Cleaned out the firebox late afternoon - must've gotten out about 2in at least ash+ coal combined, and I have at least 2, 3in coals remained. I use a pair of welding gloves when operating stove, and the radiant heat from the coals were so strong that I had to take off the gloves because the leather was getting too hot.

Partial reload with oak and locust around 5pm, and stuffed couple more 4, 5in-ish logs of assorted oaks and locust just now. Outside temperature 39F, inside living room a toasty 70F.


----------



## Caw

Hate burning some oak. It's only 35 degrees and I just want to go to bed I'm exhausted from work but I'm not paying $0.42/kWh. National Grid can pound sand.


----------



## 1kzwoman

Pine again. 4degrees headed toward 0 at sunrise with 19 as predicted high of day. Coffees hot now, dogs happy with fire, me too! 66 inside house headed up.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Outside 25 with high winds overnight. Stovroom was at 49. Back of the house cold enough to see breath inside. Lots of ash for stoves diet today.


----------



## Dieselhead

I loaded the stove yesterday at 6am with shagbark hickory and let the load go overnight into this am. the house was 63 at 8am and a few coals remained. I cleaned out the 3” of ash and loaded the stove east/west with some long pine I had to get rid of. House is up to 65 and climbing. Will be at 70 by evening reload time about 8pm.


----------



## zmender

Thick bed of coal around 9am for a reload of oak and locust. I'll try look for more poplar or birch in my wood pile this afternoon to bun down coals.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 31.8 again this morning, more ash and pine went in the Liberty. Our day time temps up here have been 70 & 71 and in the morning 68 & 69.


----------



## Tar12

White Oak and Locust is the flavor of the day and for the days to come with this polar air moving in..


----------



## 1kzwoman

Alas pine! 2 degrees outside, high was12 today, so more Pine. Was a typical Wyoming clear blue sky with bright sunshine day so that makes it great winter weather.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Lows at 19 tonight. Stove room at 59. Ash for the overnight


----------



## abner480

Silver maple, and a rogue chunk of elm


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 26.4 tonight with NOAA calling for a low of 21, up here is 70 and the sleeper is 69. The overnight load is two splits of pine with the rest ash, the stove room should be 79 headed north.


----------



## spuldup

Fire just about ran out about 5 this morning (more wind than expected, 20F outside, 63F inside).  I woke up to footsteps and some banging around.  Found my wife (not a morning person) in the furnace room restarting the fire.  Gave her a kiss and asked if she wanted to go back to bed while I started the fire.  Kindling was kiln dried 20 year old pine from the woodshop, then barkless white oak slabwood from the veneer plant.  Cherry splits for the majority of the day.


----------



## Marconis

Red oak.


----------



## JamesGuido

18° F now. 
Single digit windchill.
Oak all night and gonna be oak all day.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 20.1 this morning with the temps up here between 67 and 68 with the basement temp still 73. I loaded up the wood stove with ash and then spent the day outside moving snow, with the possibility of rain, snow and wind with the next storm, I'll be moving more snow from just off the driveway.


----------



## Garbanzo62

Burning 90% Ash and 10% Slabwood. (Pretty sure it is oak)


----------



## JamesGuido

Most likely the only thing I love about this time of year….


----------



## weee123

Finally into my oak now. Some white oak and the last of the walnut, loded on a red hot bed of coals.


----------



## mpaul

Mild weather today in the upper 30s and sunny all day. House has a lot of south facing windows which kept the house at 74. Spent the day cleaning all the ash and glass. 

Supposed to get down to 10 later this week.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Lows to 14 tonight stove room at 55 ash maple and cherry for overnight


----------



## NickW

Burning down the coals. Ash, cherry and one big old chunk of beech going in shortly. Going below zero tonight in the Northwoods, single digits now.


----------



## Rusty18

Had the first fire of the season yesterday, couple piles of kindling over the course of two hours then a slow climb into cat operating territory.  Wanted to give the chimney plenty of time to dry out from any summer time moisture it may have soaked up.  Stove ran perfectly...which is good considering the heat pump puked a few weeks ago.


----------



## spuldup

Rusty18 said:


> Had the first fire of the season yesterday, couple piles of kindling over the course of two hours then a slow climb into cat operating territory.  Wanted to give the chimney plenty of time to dry out from any summer time moisture it may have soaked up.  Stove ran perfectly...which is good considering the heat pump puked a few weeks ago.


We're 200 miles to the north of you and have been burning for 2 months!  We also abondoned the heat pump after a $400 electric bill in September.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 25.8 out tonight, the basement temp is 75 getting warmer, the sleeper is 68 and the rooms up here are 70 to 71.

The overnight load is all ash, usually with these temps I would go with half a load of pine with the ash but the wife likes burning pine when I'm outside and the pine rack inside is getting low.

We'll start getting more hardwood in tomorrow and maybe pine the next day since we could get some good rain and wind (maybe heavy snow) from this next storm.


----------



## PAbeech

Firebox filled with beech. Air control all the way closed. "Real feel" 2 degrees tonight, 76 inside very comfy


----------



## JamesGuido

NickW said:


> Burning down the coals. Ash, cherry and one big old chunk of beech going in shortly. Going below zero tonight in the Northwoods, single digits now.


How far ‘up nort’ are you?


----------



## 1kzwoman

Cold dead ash ahead of combustion afterburner, it’s probably still got some heat to it.
Sweeping the system tomorrow ahead of forecast low of-28 with a high of -12 on Thursday. Few days of extreme cold but limited wind so far in the forecast. Will reload with Pine.


----------



## Rusty18

1kzwoman said:


> Cold dead ash ahead of combustion afterburner, it’s probably still got some heat to it.
> Sweeping the system tomorrow ahead of forecast low of-28 with a high of -12 on Thursday. Few days of extreme cold but limited wind so far in the forecast. Will reload with Pine.


Low of -28 high of -12...
Two of the guys at work start with long Johns at 50F or lower.  It’s 20F here this morning and I’ve got half of mine on.  We’ve got a bunch of construction going on at work with most of the guys being from south Texas, Georgia, or Florida.  They’ve been wearing long Johns, insulated carharts, and full head gear since it dropped below 60...supposed to be 9F later this week.


----------



## 1kzwoman

Rusty18 said:


> Low of -28 high of -12...
> Two of the guys at work start with long Johns at 50F or lower.  It’s 20F here this morning and I’ve got half of mine on.  We’ve got a bunch of construction going on at work with most of the guys being from south Texas, Georgia, or Florida.  They’ve been wearing long Johns, insulated carharts, and full head gear since it dropped below 60...supposed to be 9F later this week.


It’s about time for a vacation day for the crew then haha. Our schools remain open so do our business people.  When it warms up to 0 degrees after it’s been that cold it feels like spring!


----------



## NickW

JamesGuido said:


> How far ‘up nort’ are you?


Rural Rhinelander


----------



## weee123

30 outside and 69 in stove room. Some dry stringy white oak in the stove. Now it’s time to pump out the btus


----------



## Stove Cricket

Burning some hickory that was CSS April 2021, two summers and 18 months in the wood shed. The April cut attracted more hickory beetles than I have ever seen. Made a lot of very fine saw dust, some tunnels and beetle larvae shells embedded in the wood - but this stuff is an excellent burn.


----------



## dafattkidd

Two large pieces of pine atop a decent coal bed and two bums mooching off my hard work.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 19.5 this morning with the basement temp at 73 and up here between 68-69 before our morning fire.

I loaded up with ash this morning and did some cooking so up here is between 71 and 73 with the sleeper at 69.

We're cooking a few meals before this next storm moves in, sausage with peppers and some stuffed shells with some sauce, if the power goes out all we'll need to do is warm things up.


----------



## mpaul

Heading down to 24 tonight filled it up for the overnight burn with load of ash. Cat temp sitting at 965. 
Tomorrow night is when the cold is expected to start moving in. 
Buckle up the Arctic blast is coming.


----------



## Sawset

Stove Cricket said:


> Burning some hickory that was CSS April 2021, two summers and 18 months in the wood shed. The April cut attracted more hickory beetles than I have ever seen. Made a lot of very fine saw dust, some tunnels and beetle larvae shells embedded in the wood - but this stuff is an excellent burn.
> 
> View attachment 305604


A week ago I realized we have a pilliated woodpecker wintering in our woodlot. This would be the first time. Now I know more of what they are after. I know where they've been by the giant wood scraps thrown on the ground,  going after those grubs.


----------



## NickW

Sawset said:


> A week ago I realized we have a pilliated woodpecker wintering in our woodlot. This would be the first time. Now I know more of what they are after. I know where they've been by the giant wood scraps thrown on the ground,  going after those grubs.


They're around year round here in WI and seem to be becoming more common. Awesome birds, love to watch one have at a tree. They will come in to suet if there is enough cover around. They don't leave wood chips, they leave wood chunks!


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 25 out tonight with five splits of ash going in the wood stove. The basement is 77 getting warmer and the temps up here are between 70 and 72.


----------



## zmender

31F now, getting down to 26F overnight. Living room nice and cozy 66-67F whole day. Reloaded with oak, locust, and bio bricks.

Firebox is getting thick with ash again, I can barely get 4-6 splits in whereas I can get 8-9 splits in normally. I will have a brief window of ~60F outside temp on Fri, hope I can last till then….


----------



## zmender

I'm going through cord wood too fast, and biobricks not fast enough. Since start of season, I've gone through about 1/3 of locust and another 1/3 cord of oak. 

I started the winter with a full pallet of biobricks (50ct) and I'm barely 1/4 way through. Assuming end of burn season is early May... I  need to average out ~2 packages per week.


----------



## 1kzwoman

thewoodlands said:


> We had 19.5 this morning with the basement temp at 73 and up here between 68-69 before our morning fire.
> 
> I loaded up with ash this morning and did some cooking so up here is between 71 and 73 with the sleeper at 69.
> 
> We're cooking a few meals before this next storm moves in, sausage with peppers and some stuffed shells with some sauce, if the power goes out all we'll need to do is warm things up.


Yummm!


----------



## spuldup

20F this morning, loaded oak slabwood followed by walnut blocking.  Filling up the wood rack and buckets tonight, gonna be quite the cold snap coming to NWPA over Christmas!


----------



## Tonty

87 pounds (I weigh every load) of hedge wood in the Switzer. This will be a 2.5 hour automated burn, heating my water storage to 200-210 degrees. Boiler will then kick off, and the heat in the water should last until tomorrow morning, heating 3,900 sq ft house (including garage) and also domestic hot water.  16 degrees outside now, 73 in house, 65 in garage.


----------



## incinerator

4F...-7F overnite.  I'm burning it all.  Just keep feeding it.   At the rate i'm burning firewood this fall/winter so far, i'm going to be heating with greasy cardboard dominos boxes by March.


----------



## zmender

Another full load went in... with 4 large splits and 2 pieces of bricks. Can't wait until Friday when weather is warm to clean out ashbox....


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Gets down to 21 tonight. 13 hrs since last reload. Stoveroom at 54. Ash for overnight


----------



## thewoodlands

1kzwoman said:


> Yummm!


I'll start cooking tomorrow afternoon, the wife has been baking and tomorrow she'll make some chocolate chip cookies.

We had planned on a different menu for Christmas and the week before but we're thinking with these high winds coming in, my time might be spent clearing downed trees....hope not.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 19 this morning, the basement started out at 72 and up here was 68-69. I loaded up the wood stove this morning with ash.

The last I looked it was around 20, more ash went in the wood stove tonight. The temps up here are between 68 - 70 with the basement at 72 before the overnight fire.


----------



## thewoodlands

1kzwoman said:


> Yummm!


Just some of the meals we made in the past years. The first picture is chicken and potatoes in a broth,  the 2nd picture is a gnocchi dish and the last three are the stuffed shells.


----------



## Jay106n

Full load of black cherry. My bbq smoker is gonna be pisssssed


----------



## NickW

thewoodlands said:


> Just some of the meals we made in the past years. The first picture is chicken and potatoes in a broth,  the 2nd picture is a gnocchi dish and the last three are the stuffed shells.
> 
> View attachment 305718
> View attachment 305719
> View attachment 305720
> View attachment 305721
> View attachment 305722


I love stuffed shells. I do a chicken broccoli Alfredo one and Mexican. The Mexican is one of my absolute favorite recipes...


----------



## Woody Stover

NickW said:


> Rural Rhinelander


Watch it, the Hodag might try to get in to warm up, with the temps you're facing! 👹🥶😏


Tonty said:


> View attachment 305666
> 
> 
> 87 pounds (I weigh every load) of hedge wood in the Switzer.


NOW we're talkin'! 
The bottom drops out for us tomorrow afternoon, with temp going from 44 in the afternoon to -2 overnight.
Heavy-hitting center fielder Bo Dark has made his way to the on-deck circle...😏


----------



## JamesGuido

NickW said:
Rural Rhinelander

hung around Rhinelander a lot in the mid-late 70's... then drove thru again about 30 years later and swore i was in a different state. 
absolutely nothing looked familiar.
Stay warm @NickW


----------



## Gearhead660

Got frigid air coming our way.  Fired up the furnace for extra BTUs.  Oak and elm.


----------



## KMW

We had 16F here this morning. House was anywhere from 67-72F from last night's full load of ash. At 5am, I reloaded will full load of half ash/half cherry. Should last me until 8pm tonight.


----------



## NickW

Back in SE WI. Box elder burning down coals right now. Filled the wood rack today with a little box elder for burning down coals, quite a bit of ash and some sugar maple for something a little higher BTU. We'll see how much snow we actually get, but it's been cold and going to get colder. Friday's high is supposed to be -2, which is colder than the forecast for the Northwoods...


----------



## thewoodlands

It was around 25 this morning, the basement was 70 and the rooms up here were between 66 to 68. I loaded up the wood stove with more ash before we put in another two loads of ash.


----------



## MMH

Temps last few days were frigid, had night temps around -15F and highs in the single digits for a few days, but it seems I’ve traded most of you we’ve got highs of 30-40 with lows of teens out. Feels like summer again. Took the opportunity to clean the stove and sweep the pipe. Back to the races again with pine, then another full load of pine for tonight. Y’all bundle up.


----------



## 1kzwoman

Fresh load of dry Pine. -28 degrees windchill of -40 gonna warm up however -17 degrees forecast.  Snow as well so closed roads or at least no unnecessary travel.
Brace yourselves people. Stay safe and warm


----------



## mpaul

Overnight down to the low 20s. Woke up with a nice bed of coals with room at 72. 
Cold blast hitting us tomorrow. Mostly rain event but temps dropping down to 7.  I’ve got my indoor wood pile loaded and ready to go!


----------



## Tonty

Temps and windchill headed on down here. Loaded the Switzer with 103 pounds of hedge this morning. Not sure if that will last until this eve or not, with the garage heat kicked on.


----------



## MMH

Was 15 this morning house was 72. I threw in an odd piece of elm mahogany and pine to carry us through the day.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

35 right now snow comes soon stove room at 67 good secondaries on a load of ash and maple


----------



## jblnut

Right now house is set at 72F (Mama Bear runs that thermostat ..... makes me sweaty) and the shop is set at 58F.  Stove is chewing through poorly seasoned boxelder and elm turning it into hot water, smoke and creosote.  I'll be really happy when it warms up enough next week that I can clean it completely out and get all the crap out of the stove.  Next year should be much better with dryer wood.


----------



## NickW

Ash and 1 piece each of maple and birch. Spent the entire morning burning down coals to clean out the ash. While I was gone that was a pretty neglected job. Probably got 3 gallons of ash out of there. Finally got the first fire for the day going about 1:15 just after the temperature started to quickly drop. 5 degrees out and windy with a bit of snow.


----------



## zmender

Supposedly we will be >40F all night with a high of 55F tomorrow. 

I just threw in about 15 pieces of biobricks with no cord wood into the stove. Probably going to heat the bejesus out of living room tonight. Tomorrow morning I'll open primary air to max to burn off all coals, and by late morning / early afternoon, clean out the ash box and soot eater the flue.


----------



## thewoodlands

Since I didn't have an overnight fire last night  this morning the house was between 62 to 65, lets just say the wife wasn't impressed.

Before I went outside the pellet stove was turned on, when I came back in the house was only 67 so I turned it up. Between the cooking and the pellet stove we have temps up here between 72 to 74.

I shut the pellet stove off and started a fire in the wood stove, pine with two splits of ash, before I call it a night the wood stove will see a few more splits of pine.

I'm not sure how high the winds will get but tomorrow will be a pellet stove day, that way if the winds get real bad I can just shut it off.


----------



## zmender

This fire is getting hot. Throttle is completely closed, how secondary is getting intense. This is addictive.


----------



## ABMax24

Burning down more coals so I can reload for night. On day 5 of -40, I'm ready for a warm up, -30 would even be nice about now.


----------



## NickW

Ash & sugar maple. -5 with real feel/wind-chill of -26. Morning is supposed to be -10 with wind-chill of -50. Will be out snowblowing. Did pick up a Toro 828 in decent shape for $200 that will go up to the Northwoods with me next time to replace the 1033 I blew up...


----------



## Woody Stover

With wind chill tonight pushing -30, we're back to the top of the batting order. The chunky lead-off man to your left is Bo Dark, a heavy hitter who can deliver when the game is on the line. Moving through the line-up, we get to the guys on the right, who are no slouches either; Mel Berry, Whitey Oak, Red Schoen...er, Elm, and that Black, Cheery fella. I have a good feeling about the outcome of this one. 😏


----------



## MMH

lows headed for the 20s tonight another load of pine for that.


----------



## Isaac Carlson

Red oak.  Raked the coal over and put 5 half-rounds in.  They're talking 40-50 mph winds in a few hours and deep sub zero wind chills.  I'll have to bring in more wood in the morning.


----------



## Isaac Carlson

Instant update:  the wind just got here.


----------



## ClintonH

-2 air temp, wind is howling.  Just reloaded with 9 (yes, 9)-year seasoned beech, red oak, and hard maple.  Filled in with a few 4-year seasoned hickory from the row behind that.  We ended up getting to our best firewood, just in time for this cold snap!


----------



## c604

-9 outside and ash and honey locust have the house at 73.


----------



## mpaul

Still bracing for the impact here. 53 outside this morning and 77 in stove room. Dropping to 7 tonight. Have ~three days supply of wood inside and ready to go.
Letting stove die down from last nights overnight burn and balance the timing of when to start it back up. Don’t want to cook everyone out of the house  while still staying ahead of what’s heading our way.


----------



## NickW

Extra cold plus extra windy plus cramming the box full equaled a real nice burn going last night  until it went north of controlled.... Had to open the door, but kept the flue under 1000...🥴😱


----------



## 1kzwoman

NickW said:


> Extra cold plus extra windy plus cramming the box full equaled a real nice burn going last night  until it went north of controlled.... Had to open the door, but kept the flue under 1000...🥴😱


Glad it worked out for the best.


----------



## thewoodlands

We have 36.3 this morning, the temps up here are between 70 and 72. We're back on pellet power but the winds are picking up so we'll see how long we'll have power.


----------



## Gearhead660

Cruising along with 2 burners going.  Elm in one, oak in the other.  Sub zero and windy outside, cozy inside.
Stay warm my friends.


----------



## boomfire

40 Out, 74 Inside.

Getting ready for some really cold days in the next few days.

Brought firewood under porch [Enough for next 7 days].
Raining now, 3 Inches of snow in the forecast for afternoon with temps dropping down. Not looking forward to shoveling that snow in frigid temperatures today evening.

On the bright side, I am escaping this cold weather right after Christmas to New mexico for a few a days.


----------



## sweedish

I have my dampener closed way down with the wind. Currently burning quaking aspen and boxelder again since I’ll be home all day for the shorter reloads. For the overnight the usual cherry mixed with some ash.


----------



## Woody Stover

I'm going out to check the stacks for some Blackgum...Black Tupelo, because that's the temp outside right now! 🥶😫


----------



## Rusty18

Went to bed last night 44 and raining, this morning it was 0 with a -26 wind chill.  Gonna be a lot of stuff freeze this weekend that hasn’t froze in a number of years.  On the bright side I don’t have to worry about keeping the stove  going low n slow!  Burning oak that was dead when we moved in 4 years ago, been stacked n split for 3.5 of those years.


----------



## jblnut

Still rocking the boxelder and a few pieces of poplar mixed in.  Loaded the stove with some 14-16" rounds 30"+ long last night along with some smaller stuff and it was still 1/3 full this morning 10hrs later !!  Can't ask for better than that with -15F and a 25-30mph wind !!


----------



## thewoodlands

We're still burning the pellet stove, up here is between 72 & 73 with the sleeper at 70. I'll switch over to the wood stove later.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Plowed all night. Temps -5 windchill is -40 steady 30 t 50mph wind wifes been home runn8ng stove whole time. House at 42. Can't get it hotter. Pipes froze nd 1 fitting busted in-between 1st and second floor on the bathroom I just remodeled. So that's cool. Wind blowing so hard there is snow in the basement. On the plus side 42 feels really hot after shoveling for 2hrs straight last night. Eyes were starting to freeze shut


----------



## NickW

This cold and wind is making things tough to control on reloads. Too many coals not making enough heat so a reload is needed, but it takes off like crazy... 

My flue probe is set to go off at 900 to allow time to react before it gets too concerning. Usually we are able to not have the alarm go off at all. 

After last night's nervous situation I am trying something a little different. Raked the big pile of coals to the front and layed 2 E/W behind it, then went N/S over that. Ash and 1 maple. Choked the air back faster, but it still took off. Air fully shut down before 600 flue temp with secondaries firing. Hit 1000 for a second, but this was a much slower more controlled temperature rise. Ran between 900 & 1000 for probably half an hour. Stt was around 700. I know the pipe is rated to run at 1000, but honestly I just don't like it over 900. Usually I don't start choking the air back until 600 flue temp, but usually I have the coals burned down a lot more.

Is anyone else experiencing the same or does anyone regularly hit 1000 flue temp?


----------



## boomfire

47 today morning. 15 right now and dropping fast 

Dropped 32 degrees in 8 hours.  First time for me seeing such a swing in temperature, in a short span of time.


----------



## Commodorefirst

-8 last night, high of 8 today, 20-25 mph winds, mixture of long rounds, maple, elm, oak, all 7+ years old, dry as a bone.  From the stockpile of rounds. With high winds I prefer fewer splits, and like bigger rounds instead. Love how the big rounds burn and coal up nice for long burns, without taking off on reloads. Plus, I saved labor not splitting them.  

Keeping the IS turned way way down, nearly off with the winds and draft.  Life is good and warm.


----------



## thewoodlands

I just shut the pellet stove off and started a fire in the wood stove with a load of ash with a few splits of yellow birch.

The basement is 77 and the temps up here are between 70 to 73.


----------



## NickW

NickW said:


> This cold and wind is making things tough to control on reloads. Too many coals not making enough heat so a reload is needed, but it takes off like crazy...
> 
> My flue probe is set to go off at 900 to allow time to react before it gets too concerning. Usually we are able to not have the alarm go off at all.
> 
> After last night's nervous situation I am trying something a little different. Raked the big pile of coals to the front and layed 2 E/W behind it, then went N/S over that. Ash and 1 maple. Choked the air back faster, but it still took off. Air fully shut down before 600 flue temp with secondaries firing. Hit 1000 for a second, but this was a much slower more controlled temperature rise. Ran between 900 & 1000 for probably half an hour. Stt was around 700. I know the pipe is rated to run at 1000, but honestly I just don't like it over 900. Usually I don't start choking the air back until 600 flue temp, but usually I have the coals burned down a lot more.
> 
> Is anyone else experiencing the same or does anyone regularly hit 1000 flue temp?


So after finding some other threads about flue temps I'm not as concerned. Surprised someone hasn't suggested a damper yet. I tend to lose draft pretty significantly as it cools due to a horizontal run...


----------



## mpaul

boomfire said:


> 47 today morning. 15 right now and dropping fast
> 
> Dropped 32 degrees in 8 hours.  First time for me seeing such a swing in temperature, in a short span of time.


This system is brutal. I read that Denver airport dropped 37 degrees in one hour and Cheyenne Wyoming dropped 30 degrees in 10 minutes.


----------



## jblnut

Not quite "jump into the vent stack of a Burger King as the temp drops level" from Day After Tomorrow but our temps dropped a lot and quickly when it rolled though as well.


----------



## weee123

16 degrees outside real feel -1 going down to 9 degrees and who knows how low the real feel will get. Red oak burning away and will be stoking the little osburn like a locomotive this weekend


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

-3 40mph sustained wind -29 windchill. Since getting home at 2pm been running the stove as hard as I can and got 3 space heaters going. Managed to unthaw pipes. Had to remove part of kitchen ceiling to do that. Stoveroom at 44 back of house at 35 so up 2 degrees. Wife and kid went to inlaws they were tired of being cold lol


----------



## boomfire

5 outside 74 inside.

Kitties are enjoying the heat, while I am enjoying a nice cold IPA


----------



## weee123

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> -3 40mph sustained wind -29 windchill. Since getting home at 2pm been running the stove as hard as I can and got 3 space heaters going. Managed to unthaw pipes. Had to remove part of kitchen ceiling to do that. Stoveroom at 44 back of house at 35 so up 2 degrees. Wife and kid went to inlaws they were tired of being cold lol
> 
> View attachment 306025


Do you not have any other form of heat besides the wood stove?


----------



## c604

-1 at the moment.  Still running with honey locust with some oak and ash mixed in. Will load up with honey locust and hickory for the overnight and see how long of a burn I get.  My reloads sure are happening much sooner with these cold Temps.


----------



## thewoodlands

The outside temp is 13.7 with a low of 9 forecast. We had the power flicker so I decided it was time that I fill the basement with more heat so the pellet stove is on. The basement temp was 81 before we went back to the P.S., the temps up here are still between 70 and 73.

We do have coals burning down in the wood stove, if the power is still on when I call it a night I'll use the P.S. but if it goes off I'll use the W.S.


----------



## Tonty

Here’s a chart of our weather temps and wind speed at my house from the last couple of days. It didn’t get as cold as they said (-40 windchill), but it was still kind of chilly. 🥶 It’s been worse! I’ve been burning a lot of wood, ALL HEDGE, ALL THE TIME. But that isn’t unusual, because that’s what I usually burn. Kept the house between 72-76 during the day, and 68-72 at night.  Garage has been 60-64.


----------



## Sawset

Some very serious roasting going on. She was outside all day. -4f, 40mph winds, had to coerce her from the outside cat castle home alone barn kitty box. Life by the stove.


----------



## Qvist

Ash and locust mix.  7 degrees out going down to 6. Coldest night in a few decades here supposedly.


----------



## PAbeech

Commodorefirst said:


> -8 last night, high of 8 today, 20-25 mph winds, mixture of long rounds, maple, elm, oak, all 7+ years old, dry as a bone.  From the stockpile of rounds. With high winds I prefer fewer splits, and like bigger rounds instead. Love how the big rounds burn and coal up nice for long burns, without taking off on reloads. Plus, I saved labor not splitting them.
> 
> Keeping the IS turned way way down, nearly off with the winds and draft.  Life is good and warm.
> View attachment 306005


Did The same yesterday I brought in some big rounds for my over night burn for this arctic air coming


----------



## shortys7777

Low of 12 tonight. Left the ash and loaded the oak for the first time this year. I'm sure I'll have to reload if I wake up to pee. Setting the thermostat at 60 tonight. Don't want the little ones getting cold waking up.


----------



## zmender

Going down to 13F tonight.

Cleaned out the stove, didn't get to the flue. Relit a fire around 2pm, about to reload with 100% locust to keep the house warm. High tomorrow will be 21F with gusty winds.... Let's see what the stove is made of.


----------



## PAbeech

-2° right now and snowing with a "real feel" of -30°. Going to be a whopping 8° tommorow but feel like -17°


----------



## MMH

It’s 36 out right now, and with the -15 last week is still feels hot out. Lows headed for 20s another load of pine in for tonight. Another system blowing through sometime next week we’ll see what that brings. Glad yalls are staying warming and surviving keep it up!


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 6.1 out tonight, we'll stay with the pellet stove since the temps up here are between 70 & 73.


----------



## DonTee

Burning ash and beech tonight. With the wind chill it’s -17 out right now. The temp went from 45 earlier in the day, down to 5. Not sure what the night time low will be, but probably not too much colder.


----------



## KMW

42F and raining this morning. Currently -6F with a real feel of -25F. Largest temperature swing I’ve ever experienced. Looking at 3 days of way below normal temps. Just loaded the princess with another full load of ash. Took off before I was done playing Tetris. House is holding 67-72F but I’m running it harder than usual. Will have to bump my normal 2x a day reload schedule to 3x a day but it’s worth it not to hear the oil furnace run.


----------



## Commodorefirst

PAbeech said:


> Did The same yesterday I brought in some big rounds for my over night burn for this arctic air coming


Yep, one of my favorite tricks for evening reloads.  Great minds think alike!


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

weee123 said:


> Do you not have any other form of heat besides the wood stove?


Nope woke up at 2 am. Stove room at 34.5  out to go ultimate redneck and open the oven door with it set at 350. Gonna have to buy a bigger stove the 1.6cubft firebox just don't cut it


----------



## dafattkidd

Outside temp 8° feels like -11°. 
Full load of four year old Osage Orange.


----------



## jblnut

Below 0f all day yesterday with a nasty wind.  Loaded the boiler completely full around 1pm and this was at 11pm.  Almost burnt out already but sure is a nice bex of coals !!  Looks like some remote galaxy in the picture for some reason lol


----------



## mpaul

Woke up with outside temps at 1F. Stove room was 64 and bedroom at 60. Mice bed of coals allowed my load to take off. Cat cruising at 1080 and my home is warming back up.


----------



## DonTee

I’m still cruising on the wood I loaded 12 hours ago. House is 75 and outside is 5. Gonna have to reload soon. 

At least the wind has died down quite a bit. It’s supposed to get warmer all day today. With a high around 14.


----------



## weee123

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> Nope woke up at 2 am. Stove room at 34.5  out to go ultimate redneck and open the oven door with it set at 350. Gonna have to buy a bigger stove the 1.6cubft firebox just don't cut it
> 
> View attachment 306054


My little 1.85 can't cut it at all in this cold which is why I went to an 32NC englander should be here in a couple weeks. Thankfully I have natural gas furnace to pick up the slack


----------



## zmender

When I went to bathroom around 4AM, fire had burnt down to about 1/3 coal... too sleepy to bother with reload. I got a smaller electric heater in bedroom anyway.

Woke up around 8:30am with living room at 59F. Full reload with dry locust... but stove isn't recovering fast enough and oil furnace finally kicked in by 10:30am. My next relief will be around 3pm when the holiday roasts go into oven, but for most part gonna have to burn some oil today.

My rooster isn't a fan of the cold either, he's squatting around all day behaving like a hen.


----------



## NickW

My 3.0 NC30 is struggling to keep up with the sub zero and wind... By the time I start getting the temperature up it's got 12" of coals and not throwing enough heat. 4 hours of burning bark to get the coals down and sporadic heat bursts and I can get a 3/4 load in and 4 hours later I've got 12" of coals and not enough heat again. Only during these most bitter cold and windy times does it struggle. Even my "crap wood" this year coals... mostly box elder.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 4.6 for an outside temp this morning, the pellet stove had the rooms up here between 70 & 71. After the first cup of coffee, I shut the the pellet stove off and switched to wood, the basement is 81 and the temp up here is between 69 (the sleeper) and the other rooms are between 70 to 71.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Had to work today no one home to run stove. Windchill up to -7 so getting alot warmer house at 36. Got ash cherry and maple gonna run her hard as late as I can stay up to babysit it. To try to get temps back up. Glad I shut off water before I want to work


----------



## Rusty18

Got my first email from aep asking to conserve power a little bit ago...who am I to argue with the power company asking me to give them less of my money!  Letting the encore convert oak wood into btus and oak ash


----------



## mpaul

Came home from some holiday celebrations to the home at 67 and the bedrooms at 60. Disappointed to see a huge bed of coals that were ashed over. . 
Opened the door to burn down the coals. That warmed the home up by 2 degrees. Just loaded it up with a bunch of ash for the evening and then another load of ash is ready to go for the overnight burn.


----------



## PAbeech

4 degrees out right now and feels like -17 full load of beech and a few bio bricks to fill gaps. First time using these and I think they're a huge help


----------



## Dieselhead

It’s go time with a full load of pine and fir. Even snuck one in the front, left to right.


----------



## thewoodlands

We switched over to the pellet stove after supper, it's 7.9 out with the temps up here between 70 & 73 with the basement at 81.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for high 20s, house is currently 73. Another full load of pine, E/W mainly this time. Merry Christmas stay warm.


----------



## trailrated

PAbeech said:


> 4 degrees out right now and feels like -17 full load of beech and a few bio bricks to fill gaps. First time using these and I think they're a huge help
> 
> View attachment 306148
> View attachment 306149


I burn the bricks every year w/ my wood. But lately the ones at Tractor supply have sucked. Quality went way down.  They're not compacted as tight and don't burn as well. I got a pallet 2 years ago from Tractor supply wrapped in  Red Stone plastic  but "Enviro" was stamped on the side of the brick. They were awesome and I got few packs left. Haven't been to find those good ones from T/S again.


----------



## KMW

6F tonight but the wind died down. Been burning down coals for the last few hours. Stove room at 70F, main living area at 67F and bedrooms at 65F. Full load of ash going in to keep us warm until it’s time to see what Santa brought. Merry Christmas everyone.


----------



## zmender

Sprinkled in a few logs throughout afternoon, didn’t need to burn too hot since oven was busy roasting most of afternoon / early evening.

finally returned to living room by 11:30pm, by now only had a layer of coal left and 63F. Loaded up with a huge knobby piece of oak that I’ve being drying next to stove for a week, along with locust rounds and splits. A few more pieces of biobricks for good measure too.


----------



## zmender

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone. Burning load of locust, oak, and bio bricks. Taking off before door was closed.


----------



## Kevin Weis

Oak in today.  Did get down to 10 last night but not as windy.  Next day above freezing here is Tuesday.  Also got the coal stove going in the kitchen since last night.  Can't beat that coal heat.  Only holds about 15 pounds max but will run 8 hours on that.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 10.1 this morning when I shut the P.S. off, the basement was 77, the sleeper was 69 and the rest of the rooms were between 70 and 71.

We started a fire with ash this morning, up here is still between 70 and 71 with the outside temp just over 18.


----------



## MMH

Threw a couple pine short splits in this morning, house is 74 highs heading for low 40s again today so I’ll end up letting the stove go out like yesterday. Merry Christmas everyone.


----------



## dafattkidd

Full load of Osage Orange again. It seems to burn very similar to Locust.


----------



## NickW

Back to a controllable stove... Not quite as cold out and way less windy. Box elder right now in it. If we can get the temperature up inside enough may try to burn things down enough to remove some ash 

On an unhappy note, froze heater and some plumbing pipes in the rental that we rehabbed over the summer that we are trying to sell. Spent the whole day Christmas Eve there getting things thawed and partially functional. Heading back there now to try to finish it up today.


----------



## mpaul

Woke up early this morning.  House at 67. Raked some coals to burn them down and went back to sleep for a few hours. When I woke back up I was able to scoop quite a bit of the ash out with the house dropping to about 60. . Loaded it back up with a full load of ash. Warming back up now.


----------



## MMH

House is 72 currently 40 out the stove will go out again and I’ll light back up tonight. Looks like an atmospheric river is heading our way we’ll see what that looks like in a day or two.


----------



## MMH

House is 70, and it’s in the 30s out and overcast, I didn’t think the storm was moving in until this evening but was wrong about that. The winter/wind advisories and warnings are starting to come in. Starting back up with some pine and elm.


----------



## Woodsplitter67

oak uglies


----------



## thewoodlands

I never looked at the outside temp this morning but I'm thinking around 19, this morning the house was between 68 and 70 with the basement at 75.

I shut the P.S. off this morning and we're back burning ash in the wood stove, the temps up here are between 70 and 72.


----------



## sweedish

Last night was cherry mixed with a piece of white birch and a piece ash. More cherry this morning before we headed to my families Christmas. Home now and now a load of boxelder and quaking aspen on high before bed. Then another nighttime load of mostly cherry.


----------



## MMH

Lows headed for 30s tonight which isn’t very low for us but the higher temp is the beginning of the series of systems starting tonight. A full load of pine in.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 18.3 out tonight, the basement temp is 79 heading up with the rooms up here between 70 & 72.

The Liberty has a load of ash in it for the overnight load.


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> Lows headed for 30s tonight which isn’t very low for us but the higher temp is the beginning of the series of systems starting tonight. A full load of pine in.
> View attachment 306276


Do you have snow coming in?


----------



## MMH

thewoodlands said:


> Do you have snow coming in?


Yeah we’ve got an atmospheric river moving in, bringing rain and snow from tonight into late next week. Calling for up to another 10”. How are you fairing over there?


----------



## mpaul

House is finally starting to warm up to normal temps and bringing the stove back into the normal burn cycles.  Weather supposed to continue to warm up over next few days with rain coming for the weekend.


----------



## Beer Belly

Just dropped in a bit of Oak


----------



## MMH

Currently 40 out with the feels like at 30, raining, winds are 40 mph with the gusts at 50-60. House is 74 and stove is still cruising. I’ll get a cup of coffee in and let it burn down some more before reloading.


----------



## zmender

28F this morning, living room 60F. A bit lazy and didn't really rebuild the fire with oak and bricks till around 9am. This didn't heat the house fast enough and oil furnace kicked at 9:30 and now oil + stove combined living room is at 64F.


----------



## dafattkidd

Mostly oak with locust and Osage Orange around 12:30 am. Outside temps 24°. 






	

		
			
		

		
	
It’s now 10:15 am and still cooking a decent coal bed. House is really warm so I won’t reload for a while. Current outside temp 30° and pretty still.


----------



## zmender

Must’ve done something right with this reload. 40% air and going off with blue secondaries like a propane fire.


----------



## JamesGuido

Reloading again… however, the zero degree temps are gone… warming up to 50’s tomorrow… 
But, it’s only December-January soon…


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> Yeah we’ve got an atmospheric river moving in, bringing rain and snow from tonight into late next week. Calling for up to another 10”. How are you fairing over there?


We're still getting some snow but nothing like Watertown NY or Buffalo received. I moved a chit load of snow today before the melt and the rain gets here.






						Mahindra 4540
					

All we can do is wait and see what happens.  Load up on firewood and get ready.  We put in some today with more going in tomorrow, those big ole pines around the house were rocking the last storm and also lost some branches....the last place I want to be is under them getting firewood during...




					www.hearth.com


----------



## thewoodlands

We had 19.1 this morning with the temps up here between 67 and 69 with the basement temp at 73. Another load of ash went in the wood stove before our first cup of coffee.


----------



## dafattkidd

JamesGuido said:


> Reloading again… however, the zero degree temps are gone… warming up to 50’s tomorrow…
> But, it’s only December-January soon…
> 
> View attachment 306320


That wood looks perfect- uniform cut, looking super clean.  My splits are all different lengths, covered in dirt, grayed from years of weather, black and brown spots from gross random things that grow on firewood.  They certainly don't look like those beautiful splits you have.


----------



## zmender

Scoped out about a gallon of ashes, and wow the remaining coals instantly turned from half dead to simmering with blue flames. 

Full reload with some punky oak that I’ve dried out next to stove past coupe days and biobricks. Around midnight I’ll top off with splits or bricks, whatever fits. Rest of night will be toasty.


----------



## Wisdomoak159#19

Outside 27 stoveroom 60. Feeding her some 2x4s from a remodel project tonight


----------



## mpaul

30 out and only going down to 20. Bring out the shorts. One load of ash dialed down for that ten hour burn time again.


----------



## MMH

thewoodlands said:


> We're still getting some snow but nothing like Watertown NY or Buffalo received. I moved a chit load of snow today before the melt and the rain gets here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mahindra 4540
> 
> 
> All we can do is wait and see what happens.  Load up on firewood and get ready.  We put in some today with more going in tomorrow, those big ole pines around the house were rocking the last storm and also lost some branches....the last place I want to be is under them getting firewood during...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.hearth.com


Yeah smart move. I’ve been watching the news here and there, 5-6 ft back to back storms for the buffalo area and the temps etc that sounds rough, even for how much I like the snow/winter.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 21.9 tonight with the temps up here between 69 and 71. I'm burning down some coals and then the overnight load will be all ash.


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> Yeah smart move. I’ve been watching the news here and there, 5-6 ft back to back storms for the buffalo area and the temps etc that sounds rough, even for how much I like the snow/winter.


Last winter the snow came and stayed, not much rain at all. This year has been snow then rains so even though I usually move snow during the winter, this year I've put in more hours moving snow compared to the same period last year.

Since we have warmer weather coming in, we'll get more pine in and save the hardwood for the colder days that usually come in January and February.


----------



## NickW

thewoodlands said:


> It's 21.9 tonight with the temps up here between 69 and 71. I'm burning down some coals and then the overnight load will be all ash.


Same here except it'll be a mix of ash and maple...

We have "the plague" going through our house. First one of the boys, then the other, now my wife. She stayed home today and probably will again tomorrow. I can't remember the last time she was home sick. I'll probably be next just in time to miss the next family gathering. I've missed the last two...first when the well went out at Thanksgiving (wife's side), then Christmas when the pipes froze at the one rental (my side). Saturday is my wife's side for Christmas & New Years Eve.


----------



## thewoodlands

MMH said:


> Yeah smart move. I’ve been watching the news here and there, 5-6 ft back to back storms for the buffalo area and the temps etc that sounds rough, even for how much I like the snow/winter.


This guy saved some lives.








						Barbershop becomes blizzard shelter: 'People told me I saved their life'
					

Craig Elston, stranded at his barbershop, welcomed 40 people into his business on Friday night to give them shelter from the blizzard. Nearly 30 remained through Saturday, the blizzard's second night.




					buffalonews.com


----------



## NickW

thewoodlands said:


> This guy saved some lives.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Barbershop becomes blizzard shelter: 'People told me I saved their life'
> 
> 
> Craig Elston, stranded at his barbershop, welcomed 40 people into his business on Friday night to give them shelter from the blizzard. Nearly 30 remained through Saturday, the blizzard's second night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> buffalonews.com


There's been some really good stories of people stepping up and showing true kindness and generosity. I saw the story about the couple who sheltered a busload of tourists. There are good folks everywhere.


----------



## Kevin Weis

26f now going down to maybe 22f.  Mostly Oak tonite with a stray split of Cherry.


----------



## thewoodlands

NickW said:


> There's been some really good stories of people stepping up and showing true kindness and generosity. I saw the story about the couple who sheltered a busload of tourists. There are good folks everywhere.


I saw that on the news, sure are. 👍


----------



## thewoodlands

NickW said:


> Same here except it'll be a mix of ash and maple...
> 
> We have "the plague" going through our house. First one of the boys, then the other, now my wife. She stayed home today and probably will again tomorrow. I can't remember the last time she was home sick. I'll probably be next just in time to miss the next family gathering. I've missed the last two...first when the well went out at Thanksgiving (wife's side), then Christmas when the pipes froze at the one rental (my side). Saturday is my wife's side for Christmas & New Years Eve.


Can't like that, I hope the family is feeling better soon and it skips you.


----------



## zmender

Back of stove loaded with locust rounds and large splits. Front of stove odd sized oak and bricks.


----------



## MMH

Transitioned to snow last night, have a few inches out there. Currently 25 out house is 74. I’ll have a cup of coffee and let last nights load burn down some more before throwing in some pine.


----------



## Stove Cricket

First year burning and out of about a cord this is what is left. Just in time for a little warm up. Have about a cord seasoning well for next year, so will be in the same boat again next year. After that stockpile is looking better.


----------



## mpaul

76 in stove room now and 72 in bedroom.  Overnight low is only 30. Have a small load going for past four hours. Just going to let that burnout overnight and let things cool off a bit. Might be a little cool in the morning but it beats baking us out. Will plan on cleaning the stove out in the morning and touching up the glass.


----------



## thewoodlands

It was 24.9 this morning with the basement temp at 73 and the temps up here between 68 to 69. The stove saw another load of ash this morning.


----------



## heavy hammer

I have been burning hickory and locust with these cold temps, but back to small splits of ash some tulip, and maple.


----------



## thewoodlands

heavy hammer said:


> I have been burning hickory and locust with these cold temps, but back to small splits of ash some tulip, and maple.


With the warmer temps coming in, we'll be putting in more pine tomorrow and after that I'll be scraping down the driveway again in the hopes mother nature will get it down to the gravel.


----------



## MMH

First system made its way through, got another 4-5” plowed again today. Temps dropping to around 10 tonight so it’ll be elm and pine for that.


----------



## zmender

Locust and bricks. Outside is 36 with low of 30 - this is first time I feel I need to open windows to vent since start of cold snap last week. For reference living room is at 68F.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 28 out tonight with the basement temp starting out at 75, the sleeper is at 69 and the rest of the house is between 70 to 71.

The stove received another load of ash tonight.


----------



## NickW

Got enough burned down last night for a decent sized load for overnight, then spent almost the entire day burning coals down today to give it a good cleaning. Stir it up, bark, stir it up, bark, etc, etc. Back up and running on ash and maple again.

Interesting thing I noticed today... After getting the coals pretty well burned down I used my coal sifter to separate the ash from the coals to "try" to keep the coals burning down and let the ash cool. The ash was literally glowing orange. As it cooled I'd stir it up to get the hotter ash to the top so it could cool. As it cooled it started forming clinkers. I always thought it was the heat that fused the particles together, but it sure seemed like it was the cooling that fused it all together...


----------



## Stove Cricket

NickW said:


> Got enough burned down last night for a decent sized load for overnight, then spent almost the entire day burning coals down today to give it a good cleaning. Stir it up, bark, stir it up, bark, etc, etc. Back up and running on ash and maple again.
> 
> Interesting thing I noticed today... After getting the coals pretty well burned down I used my coal sifter to separate the ash from the coals to "try" to keep the coals burning down and let the ash cool. The ash was literally glowing orange. As it cooled I'd stir it up to get the hotter ash to the top so it could cool. As it cooled it started forming clinkers. I always thought it was the heat that fused the particles together, but it sure seemed like it was the cooling that fused it all together...


About 35 years ago I knew a handful of old time operators running chain and grate coal feeders at institutions - and that’s probably as many clinker theories I would get if I could ask them today - but it would be entertaining!


----------



## JamesGuido

dafattkidd said:


> That wood looks perfect- uniform cut, looking super clean.  My splits are all different lengths, covered in dirt, grayed from years of weather, black and brown spots from gross random things that grow on firewood.  They certainly don't look like those beautiful splits you have.


  thanks!
i've burnt thru all my old gray-weathered wood... and last season, all i had was dirty'ol large hunks.
now i only have is this _"looks perfect- uniform cut, looking super clean"_ stuff.


----------



## MMH

Currently in the single digits out house is 71. I forgot to close my air down one more time last night before bed so when I got up this morning I needed a pronto reload. More pine and back to the races.


----------



## zmender

This morning is more of a typical Dec / Jan morning - low around 30, high 38. The stove has no problem in this milder weather - wake up to 64F living room and a full reload of splits, uglies, and bricks bringing living back to 66F.


----------



## heavy hammer

I have let the basement stove go cold since we have temps in the mid 40's.  I'm going to give it and the chimney a quick clean, before temps get back to normal.  I have some small pieces of locust and ash in the first flood summit keeping temps in the low 70's.


----------



## thewoodlands

We had an outside temp in the mid - twenties this morning, the basement temp was 71 with the temps up here between 67 and 68.

We went back to burning pine this morning and put another two loads in today. I think we'll put in another two loads of pine in tomorrow, that should give us plenty of shoulder season wood for the warmer temps.


----------



## Kevin Weis

30f out this evening.  Oak and maybe a stray piece of cherry this evening.


----------



## PAbeech

Gonna be warm tonight in the mid 30s. Half a load of beech maybe 4 pieces for over night will produce more then enough heat for tommorow morning


----------



## MMH

Currently in the 20s with the feels like in the teens, house is 73. Next system is moving through starting tonight/tomorrow morning, they’re calling for up to a foot or more potentially in the valleys with several feet in the mountains; I doubt I’ll see that in the valley but I moved some wood this evening and will grab some groceries and diesel for the tractor in the morning just in case. Tonight will be another load of pine.


----------



## zmender

Tomorrow will be in the 50s. Reloaded with locust uglies and dried punky oak tonight, will build a small fire early morning to bring house to mid 60s, and will let it die out in afternoon for some cleaning.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 41.5 tonight, I usually would go all pine but we'll give the pine we brought in today a night and full day inside before we burn it. The m/c is reading 18 to 20, the last stuff we brought in was 10 to 15.

Our overnight fire is ash with some pine we've had inside for about four weeks, the temp in the basement is 77 with the temps up here between 69 to 70.


----------



## mpaul

Had a small fire last night that I just let burn down around midnight. Overnight low was 31 and today is going to be 50. Small fire this morning to take the edge out of the house. 
7 degrees last week, 50 this week, projecting 60 next week. Crazy weather patterns


----------



## PAbeech

mpaul said:


> Had a small fire last night that I just let burn down around midnight. Overnight low was 31 and today is going to be 50. Small fire this morning to take the edge out of the house.
> 7 degrees last week, 50 this week, projecting 60 next week. Crazy weather patterns


Yah it's so strange how it's getting warmer as we go into the real winter months.. quite confusing actually


----------



## ArtBaldoni

Giving my outdoor boiler a menu change from the cherry, locust, and elm of late. She got 3 spoonfuls of bit coal this morning. not her favorite, but I need to use it up.


----------



## MMH

Currently snowing and 30 out with the feels like at 17, winds in the 20s gusting in 40s, house is 73 stove is still cruising.  Starting in on the cup of coffee then I’ll be adding some pine and elm for Dorothy’s breakfast.


----------



## zmender

This is about a 60% reload with oak shorts. That’s are all deeply cracked with about 10-15MC. This load will burn out by mid/late afternoon, and time for cleaning


----------



## PAbeech

To warm for a fire today. 50 degrees.. I'll take the opportunity to save some firewood during this strange warmup


----------



## heavy hammer

We are at 60 now both stoves are cold to warm for a fire.  I have one basement window cracked to let in some fresh air right now.  A big temp change from less than a week ago.  Temps are going to be warmer here for the next few days.  The garage is loaded back up with oak, ash and some locust.  Along with the kindling barrel full.  Mother nature will change her mond soon and bring the cold back.


----------



## thewoodlands

We has 39.5 for an outside temp this morning, the basement was 70 and the temps up here were between 68-69.

The fire this morning was pine with one split of ash, I think the wife had a second fire after we put in another two loads of pine. The temps up here are between 72 and 74 with an outside temp just below 50.


----------



## zmender

I missed opportunity...

Still an inch of coal bed around 4pm, but now we have company over and wife demands I build the fire backup. I'm too cheap to waste cord wood, so found an armful of thicker blown down branches that's everywhere in the yard. Yeah I know it's moist, but I have door fully open and using the stove as a fireplace now.

I guess I'll reload this evening for a small overnight fire and hope it all burns down tomorrow morning...


----------



## PAbeech

zmender said:


> I missed opportunity...
> 
> Still an inch of coal bed around 4pm, but now we have company over and wife demands I build the fire backup. I'm too cheap to waste cord wood, so found an armful of thicker blown down branches that's everywhere in the yard. Yeah I know it's moist, but I have door fully open and using the stove as a fireplace now.
> 
> I guess I'll reload this evening for a small overnight fire and hope it all burns down tomorrow morning...


Maybe for the over night burn close the air just to 50 or 60 percent. That might help burn it down vs closing the air all the way down


----------



## zmender

@PAbeech yup def agreed that a different burn strategy is needed tonight.

Since I'm burning junk wet wood tonight (forgive me for I have sinned), door will either be cracked open or air fully open. No "reloads" per se - it's just tossing a log in now and then as fire gets low. The stove will be downgraded to a fireplace tonight.

Edit: My goal tonight is not BTU production... it's to have a lively fire and keep the flue temp high.


----------



## mpaul

After small ash fire this morning, house got up to 78. Still cooling off with overnight lows in the 40s. Just keeping to that one fire this morning and will let the stove stay cold overnight. Will likely need a small fire in the morning to get any chill out. Supposed to rain all day tomorrow with temps in the 50s. 

I really enjoyed last weeks challenge of keeping the house warm with the single digit temps as opposed to this warm up.


----------



## NickW

mpaul said:


> After small ash fire this morning, house got up to 78. Still cooling off with overnight lows in the 40s. Just keeping to that one fire this morning and will let the stove stay cold overnight. Will likely need a small fire in the morning to get any chill out. Supposed to rain all day tomorrow with temps in the 50s.
> 
> I really enjoyed last weeks challenge of keeping the house warm with the single digit temps as opposed to this warm up.


I'm the opposite. Couldn't hardly keep up with the cold and had to keep reloading on too many coals, so I couldn't ever get any ash out. Spent almost the whole day Wednesday burning the coals down to ash with bark. Didn't help that while I was gone for 3 weeks I don't think ash ever got cleaned out... 

This is nice now. Clean out some ash in the morning, fire it up with some crap wood, clean a little more ash in the afternoon, small crap wood fire to heat it up, load for overnight.


----------



## mpaul

NickW said:


> I'm the opposite. Couldn't hardly keep up with the cold and had to keep reloading on too many coals, so I couldn't ever get any ash out. Spent almost the whole day Wednesday burning the coals down to ash with bark. Didn't help that while I was gone for 3 weeks I don't think ash ever got cleaned out...
> 
> This is nice now. Clean out some ash in the morning, fire it up with some crap wood, clean a little more ash in the afternoon, small crap wood fire to heat it up, load for overnight.


My stove struggles to keep up when there are sustained low single digit temps. I had similar issues with reloads on large bed of coals.  
My heat kicks on if temps in the house drop below 60. Heat kicked on a few times during that cold snap. 
Knowing I have the heat as a backup, i enjoy the challenge of how hard can I push the stove to keep up and avoid paying for propane heat.


----------



## NickW

mpaul said:


> My stove struggles to keep up when there are sustained low single digit temps. I had similar issues with reloads on large bed of coals.
> My heat kicks on if temps in the house drop below 60. Heat kicked on a few times during that cold snap.
> Knowing I have the heat as a backup, i enjoy the challenge of how hard can I push the stove to keep up and avoid paying for propane heat.


I hate the crinkle of our electric baseboard heaters kicking in. Just see dollars flying out the windows...


----------



## thewoodlands

It's still 72 up here so the wife said she didn't want a fire, last year at this time, I think the cold air started to come down and last the whole month of January. The outside temp is 40.5.

With all the pine we have burned this year, we still haven't burned two face cord of hardwood. Hopefully January and February won't eat away at the the hardwood stacks....but those months usually do.


----------



## MMH

Well I think the weather was off just a smidge, it snowed briefly this morning but warmed up and changed to rain. It’s been raining all day and still going, now they’re calling for the snow tomorrow into Sunday. We’ll see. Currently 35 out feels like in the 20s, winds the same and house is 71. Another load of pine for tonight.


----------



## Wildflush

Giving the stove a rest 58 today. Good time to clean up stove area, clean glass, and dump ash.


----------



## NickW

Down to 22 tonight, high of 32 tomorrow. Load of mostly ash with 1 chunk each of elm and maple. Will have good coals in the morning, probably too many...


----------



## mpaul

Woke up to a comfortable 62 degree house. Mild outside so it actually did feel good. Burning a small fire now to  get the chill out of the house.  Hope to still have a small fire tonight while we bring in the new year.


----------



## zmender

This morning still had a bed of coal left, despite I didn’t reload lasnight and left air open. I’m starting to admire the fighting spirit of this fire and decided to keep a couple pieces of coal behind to relight. 

Cleaned out about a gallon or two of ashes, used a couple of used bamboo skewers to reignite the flame from coals. Flame caught on almost immediately although lack of draft spewed a bit of smoke back into the house. A few pieces of small splits on bottom and back to burning oak shorts.


----------



## MMH

Currently low 30s our house is 71, more pine in with the coffee.


----------



## mpaul

MMH said:


> Currently low 30s our house is 71, more pine in with the coffee.


you use a lot of pine with cooler (not cold) temps. Just curious how many times a day do you load your stove?


----------



## MMH

mpaul said:


> you use a lot of pine with cooler (not cold) temps. Just curious how many times a day do you load your stove?


Im in northern Nevada softwoods are generally all I have so pine goes in for everything, when I do have hard woods (1 local natural species, or something from a tree job) I tend to hoard it for temps around 10 or below. 

To answer your question it just depends; I can fill it up and be on 12 hour cycles, or I can baby it and throw a few pieces in here and there.


----------



## kennyp2339

This time last week it was 8 deg with a biting wind, today its 55 deg, stove is out and ashes will be removed, very happy with my setup's overall performance, including the loading schedule, while I like the winter, the weather and colder temps. I did not like last week, and I dont think many people liked the cold last week either.


----------



## thewoodlands

After the wife said she didn't want a fire last night, she changed her mind, we had a pine fire with the temps up here this morning at 67 to 68, the outside temp was 38.5 this morning.

Another load of pine went in the Liberty this morning.


----------



## Kevin Weis

50f and some rain so kinda raw out.  Small fire of mostly soft Maple.  Upper 50's tomorrow so planning to just letting it go cold if the wife permits.  Maybe small "fireplace" fire as mentioned obove to keep an active draft going.


----------



## Oakey

55 raining here got some small splits of red oak and black locust sailing along nicely .


----------



## mpaul

40s and rain. I let the house cool off during the day so we could enjoy a small fire this evening. Small load of ash in the stove now that is keeping us comfortable for our late night.


----------



## sweedish

Currently 38 out. A load of shorts and uglies. Cherry and ash. Started burning out of a new bay, the goofies that don’t stack well get thrown on top.


----------



## thewoodlands

It's 43 tonight with the temps up here at 70, the sleeper at 69 and the basement at 74 heading up. The last fire of 2022 is all white pine.


----------



## MMH

We had snow transition earlier today, there’s about 5” so far calling for around a foot by tomorrow afternoon. I’ll be plowing tomorrow morning before going back to work. Temp is 30 out house is 71. Last load this year will be pine followed by an elm/pine breakfast to start the year. Happy new year everyone.


----------



## orlkc

Happy new year all.

Just a couple pine 1x packing scraps in the stove now.  It's too warm here to need a fire (50F), but the stove has been empty for the past two weeks while we were visiting family.  Seems like a new break-in fire is in order given all the warm and wet weather while we were gone.  That's my excuse anyway.


----------



## JamesGuido

Happy New Years everybody!
A balmy 37° in semi fashionable Raymond Wisconsin… 
Got oak burning inside the Jøtul and a Virgin Mary near my hands…
Grilled a coupla nice ribeyes over FOGO and bourbon-barrel oak staves last night and still thinking about how wonderful they were. 
Enjoy your day, folks!
Go Packers!


----------



## heavy hammer

I have been gone since Friday afternoon, but temps have been in the 50's, and 60's here.  I just lit both stoves back up to take the chill out of the house temps are in the low 40's now so a few small fires.  To think a week ago we had zero and high wind.


----------



## Woodsplitter67

Nothing.. its been warm the past couple of days..sucks.. had a little fire here and there.. It will be this way for almost a week


----------



## zmender

A few splits here and there… keeping a coal base going. This morning cut about an armful of cord wood into 1-2in splits. Must say these past few days I’m reminiscing younger days where I’m trying to light up wood purchased from a gas station, in a tiny apartment fireplace.


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## Kevin Weis

38f here now and just a small fire with Cherry splits to knock the chill off.  Back up to around 60 tomorrow.  Supposed to be like this till Thursday night.


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## Wildflush

Got the stove area cleaned up well. Had rain and 50’s the last few days. It is 39 now dropping to 32. Got a small fire going in the Vista mix of smaller hardwood splits. Stove temp around 500-525. Nice and comfortable. Wife warned me not to smoke us out if the house tonight 😂 

Had some cool air coming down the flue. Kept door open for a bit to warm the firebox but still had a little smoke when lighting my top down startup. I use a mix of small kindling, kiln dried kindling, and two pieces of fatwood. Cracked the window and draft took hold with smoke going up the flue. Probably should have waited with door open longer before firing it up.


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## thewoodlands

It's 35.2 tonight, we didn't burn much today so the Lopi Liberty has a load of pine and ash, four splits each for the overnight load.

The basement was 68 but it's up to 75, up here is between 68 and 69.


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## Wildflush

thewoodlands said:


> It's 35.2 tonight, we didn't burn much today so the Lopi Liberty has a load of pine and ash, four splits each for the overnight load.
> 
> The basement was 68 but it's up to 75, up here is between 68 and 69.


75 on my main floor now added two bigger cherry splits and got nice secondaries going. That’s it for the night or I will be sleeping outside!


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## zmender

50F this morning but it's gonna be overcast and raining all day, so built up a 60% load fire.

Only some very small amount, maybe a handful, of embers left this morning so I decided to start a new fire top-down.... before my kindling had a chance to even fully catch, interestingly my large locust splits on the bottom already caught fire. This makes my stove to have continuously burnt the "same" fire for a month now.


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## thewoodlands

We had 32.3 this morning with the temps up here between 67 and 68 with the basement at 70. The wood stove received another load of pine this morning.


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## zmender

64F in living room and dropping. I went for a full reload of stove to get some thermal mass into the living room.


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## Wisdomoak159#19

First fire in our new stove. The 3200 sqft vogelzang. Ash maple and a little pine in there


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## sweedish

Black cherry, pin cherry, ash, white birch, apple and a mystery wood.


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## thewoodlands

It's 30.6 out tonight with the stove room (basement) at 75, the rooms up here are 70 with the sleeper at 69. Just another load of pine for the overnight load.


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## mpaul

Low 40s for an overnight low. Woke up to house in the mid 60s. Put 4 medium sized splits in to take chill out of house. 
This feels more like shoulder season than January.


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## ArtBaldoni

48f here this morning. Loading every 24 hours now instead of every 12. This morning was a load of splitter turds. Shouldn't need anything until tomorrow morning.


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## thewoodlands

We had 25.4 this morning with the temps up here between 66 to 68 and the basement temp at 70. Another load of pine went in the wood stove this morning.


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## Dieselhead

Been running fir for the last few weeks, got some in the stove I put in around 12p and the load is smoldering along and will probably still be going in the am by the looks of it. It’s warm out, around 45. 73 in the house, I may let it go out tomorrow as a high in the 50s is forecasted.


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## 30WCF

Cold ashes. 
A week ago it was single digits. It was about 70 outside today. Been running the AC during the day for several days.


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## thewoodlands

It's 34 out tonight with the temps up here at 70, the sleeper is 69 and the basement is 74 heading up. The overnight fire is another load of white pine.


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## Wisdomoak159#19

Temps dropping back down to somewhat seasonal today. Think we get down to 32. First full load in the new stove. Ash maple and cherry. There are 10 big splits in there. Old stove would've only fit 4 max


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## Diabel

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> Temps dropping back down to somewhat seasonal today. Think we get down to 32. First full load in the new stove. Ash maple and cherry. There are 10 big splits in there. Old stove would've only fit 4 max
> 
> View attachment 306866


Nice. Is there a piece of door gasket missing? And get that floor protection as mentioned earlier😜


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## Wisdomoak159#19

Diabel said:


> Nice. Is there a piece of door gasket missing? And get that floor protection as mentioned earlier😜


I'm assuming your talking about the black rectangle about mid door closest to the stove? If so it's not missing. I'm assuming it's where the ends meet and there's a extra little patch over them.


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## Diabel

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> I'm assuming your talking about the black rectangle about mid door closest to the stove? If so it's not missing. I'm assuming it's where the ends meet and there's a extra little patch over them.


Oh ok. Then perfect. 
In the picture looks like there is a gap. But it could be a patch too. All good


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## KMW

Temps hit the low 60's today. Let the stove go out yesterday for the first time since Thanksgiving. Probably won't relight until tomorrow night.


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## thewoodlands

We had 33.2 this morning with the basement temp at 70, up here between 66 and 67 with the sleeper at 68. Another load of white pine went in the wood stove this morning.


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## heavy hammer

Temps here have been in the high 50's and low 60's.  The upstairs stove is loaded and teady to go I have been having a small fire in the basement stove here and there just to take the chill out of the house.  It has been raining here for the last couple of days as well very damp.


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## Wisdomoak159#19

Outside 36. Stoveroom 75 back of house 65. Ash maple and little bit of pine for overnight. Loving this bigger stove


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## thewoodlands

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> Outside 36. Stoveroom 75 back of house 65. Ash maple and little bit of pine for overnight. Loving this bigger stove
> 
> View attachment 306935


The family has to be loving it too. 👍


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## thewoodlands

It's 34.2 out tonight with heavy rain, the temps up here are 69 to 70 with the basement at 75.  The Liberty received a load of ash and pine, four splits each.


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## zmender

Going down to 36F outside tonight. By 7pm the living room temp  droppec down to 65F and there’s no more thermal mass left in the granites around the stove. Fully loaded up and relit the stove with oak and locust.


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## NickW

Temps been holding pretty steady low to mid 30's. Couple half loads of box elder and aspen during the day, just loaded a 3/4 load of ash for overnight.


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## thewoodlands

We had 37.4 this morning with the basement temp at 72 and the temps up here between 68 - 69.

Another load of pine went in the wood stove this morning, I left the basement when it hit 79.


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## zmender

Struggling to keep coal bed with the occasional mini splits and twigs - but all in all keeping living room well above 66F.

Split a huge armful of mini pieces about .5-1in thick this afternoon; I’ll be using lots of those to rekindle fire from tired coal bed in days to come….

Edit: forgot to mention ambient temperature is mid-50s in freakin Jan. Hence the struggle. I should be burning 3 full reloads per day but instead I’m burning 25% reloads 3 times per day.


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## 30WCF

zmender said:


> Struggling to keep coal bed with the occasional mini splits and twigs - but all in all keeping living room well above 66F.
> 
> Split a huge armful of mini pieces about .5-1in thick this afternoon; I’ll be using lots of those to rekindle fire from tired coal bed in days to come….
> 
> Edit: forgot to mention ambient temperature is mid-50s in freakin Jan. Hence the struggle. I should be burning 3 full reloads per day but instead I’m burning 25% reloads 3 times per day.


More wood for next year.


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## thewoodlands

zmender said:


> Struggling to keep coal bed with the occasional mini splits and twigs - but all in all keeping living room well above 66F.
> 
> Split a huge armful of mini pieces about .5-1in thick this afternoon; I’ll be using lots of those to rekindle fire from tired coal bed in days to come….
> 
> Edit: forgot to mention ambient temperature is mid-50s in freakin Jan. Hence the struggle. I should be burning 3 full reloads per day but instead I’m burning 25% reloads 3 times per day.


The warmer temps have allowed us to burner 9 face cord of pine this winter ( a record amount for us) and not even two face cord of hardwood yet, another record amount for us.

We have brought home 28 bags of pellets so far this year from what we purchased in the spring but only have burned 17 so far.

We have some single digit temps at night coming up but really nothin cold or what we are use to in January. We're saving on the hardwood so far this year so I won't complain, we usually burn 12 face cord per year.


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## Kevin Weis

44f right now.  Was around 60 for awhile this afternoon.  Just trying to keep a draft going till colder weather gets here in a few days.  Small oak fire this evening.


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## Wisdomoak159#19

Did full reload at 5pm. Just got back home at 945pm and topped it off with some silver maple uglies.  Lows to 31 tonight  stoveroom at 70


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## thewoodlands

It's 33.3 out tonight with the basement at 77 and the temps up here between 68 - 69. The wood stove saw another load of 4 and 4, ash and pine 4 splits each.


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## mpaul

Overnight lows at 40 went to bed with the house at 70. Last fire built was 12 hours earlier. I let the house go cold overnight so I could at least get a decent fire this morning. Woke up to house at 63. Full load of ash. Supposed to start cooling down this weekend.


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## zmender

Let fire die out in the evening yesterday, thermal mass in the granites carried the living room last night. High of 44F today, dipping to low 30s tonight - relit a full load around 7 this morning and will probably reload before family starts to gather in living room late afternoon.


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## thewoodlands

We had 30.5 this morning with the basement temp starting at 72, the temps up here were 67 and 68.  Another load of pine went in the stove this morning.


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## shortys7777

Terrible winter in RI so far. This week has been warm, wet and foggy with no snow in sight. Got some ash in the stove. 37 and raining all day.


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## clancey

Just a question here---can a person burn cardboard boxes in a wood burning stove--just curious since I have a lot of cardboard that I have stacked up and "saved" ..clancey


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## Wisdomoak159#19

clancey said:


> Just a question here---can a person burn cardboard boxes in a wood burning stove--just curious since I have a lot of cardboard that I have stacked up and "saved" ..clancey


I do as kindling anytime I'm doing a cold start


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## Investmentdude

It’s in the 30’s here tonight.  I have sections of old oak fence boards mixed with a few logs. Free free. It does get the temps up quick.  Cheers!!


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## Dieselhead

Investmentdude said:


> It’s in the 30’s here tonight.  I have sections of old oak fence boards mixed with a few logs. Free free. It does get the temps up quick.  Cheers!!


Burn it, It’s all BTU’s in the end.....


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## Oakey

Low 40s here rainy drizzly no wind .  Mixed bag of   Red Oak Black Locust and Spruce


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## AdamWayte

Jay106n said:


> Temps were in the 20's this morning. I woke up and checked the firebox of my All Nighter Moe, which I found still had some coals from last nights overnight burn. I tossed in a few pieces of pine to get it started up again, shortly followed by a link or two of cherry which coal up real nice, and topped off with some ash splits to last a few hours.
> 
> I vary my wood types by time of day, outside/inside temps, and length of burn.  What is in your stove right now?


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## AdamWayte

AdamWayte said:


> View attachment 307079


Canada. It’s all about the fuel you put in it. chit in chit out. I burn wood that I dropped 2 years ago.


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## Wisdomoak159#19

Outside at 28 lows to 23  stove room 73 ash maple and cherry tonight


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## thewoodlands

It's 33.3 outside tonight with the basement temp starting at 75, up here between 69 to 70 with the sleeper at 68.

The wood stove has a load of ash for the overnight load.


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## thewoodlands

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> Outside at 28 lows to 23  stove room 73 ash maple and cherry tonight


The new stove is making a big difference, nice.


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## Kevin Weis

30's tonight.  Mostly Ash and Mulberry.


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## Wisdomoak159#19

thewoodlands said:


> The new stove is making a big difference, nice.


I would say so far between 15 to 25f difference. Should've bought a big one first.


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## mpaul

Let the stove go cold last night with overnight lows outside of 30 house was at 74. Woke up to the house at 61. Finally  put a full load in.


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## zmender

Slept in this morning and only had a small handful of mostly dead coal. The stove definitely needed a pick-me-up. Full load but with a layer of kindling on top of raked coal, and in the spaces between wall and end of wood I filled up with cardboard. Took 45min before I could turn down primary but the stove is cruising now.


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## boomfire

Its been a nice few warm days in the last week. On the bright side, barely had to burn any firewood, It Sucks as all the snow melted and have to travel north for better snowboarding conditions.

35 outside and 73 Inside. Have a good fire going.


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## thewoodlands

We had a low of 22.3 this morning, before our first fire the basement temp was 72, the sleeper was 67 with the dining room, kitchen and the living room at 68.

Another load of ash went in the wood stove this morning.


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## zmender

Full load just went in. Going into 20s tonight, I’d rather be too hot than too cold.


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## thewoodlands

zmender said:


> Full load just went in. Going into 20s tonight, I’d rather be too hot than too cold.


What are you burning? I just put four pine splits on some coals from the ash we're burning.


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## NickW

Burned some bark this morning to get the overnight coals down and then let it go down to mostly ash to clean it out. Just loaded a mixed bag of ash, box elder and aspen to get to tonight. Colder yesterday, today and tomorrow. Highs maybe to 30.


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## zmender

thewoodlands said:


> What are you burning? I just put four pine splits on some coals from the ash we're burning.



I have 4 "stashes" of fuel.
1. Locust 2~3 years. Typically 15%~18% MC.
2. Biobricks.
3. Random hardwood I bought from local dealers. Last batch was purchased more than a year ago, typically <20% MC.
4. Oak / beech that I CSS'ed last winter / spring. Typically 20~22%MC. I always have a couple of those splits "toasting" near the stove and burn them after they are deeply cracked after 2~3 days (about 10~15% MC edge).

For this particular load, it's about 50/50 locust and junk hardwood.

Edit: changed from "3. junk hardwood" to "3. random hardwood". It's not always bad wood, I just can't identify half of them.


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## Wisdomoak159#19

Lows to 25 tonight. House at 68. Ash maple and Bradford Pear tonight. Running 12hr reloads in this weather roughly 6am and 6pm


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## thewoodlands

The outside temp is at 17.4, the basement temp started out at 75 with the temps up here 69 to 70.

We still had good coals in the wood stove but since I plan on burning the pellet stove tonight, I loaded up the wood stove with some ash.

When I turn the pellet stove on a bit later, I'll push the air in so the coals burn in the wood stove and take some ashes out tomorrow morning.


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## thewoodlands

zmender said:


> I have 4 "stashes" of fuel.
> 1. Locust 2~3 years. Typically 15%~18% MC.
> 2. Biobricks.
> 3. Random hardwood I bought from local dealers. Last batch was purchased more than a year ago, typically <20% MC.
> 4. Oak / beech that I CSS'ed last winter / spring. Typically 20~22%MC. I always have a couple of those splits "toasting" near the stove and burn them after they are deeply cracked after 2~3 days (about 10~15% MC edge).
> 
> For this particular load, it's about 50/50 locust and junk hardwood.
> 
> Edit: changed from "3. junk hardwood" to "3. random hardwood". It's not always bad wood, I just can't identify half of them.


That's some nice high btu firewood. I keep thinking that we'll start bringing in beech and ironwood for the coldest temps but I'm not seeing any real cold weather through January 20.


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## sweedish

Ran a load of shorts and uglies on high when I got home since I only had a few pieces left of wood this morning, not enough for a long burn. Tonight is probably a mix of ash and cherry.


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## wesmertz

My old man and I are in Southern Utah. I haven’t installed my stove(jotul 118) in my cabin yet, but he’s been using his(jotul 602) for a couple years. Where we are at we have Juniper (closely related to red cedar), and Pinion Pine readily available (we own 40 acres of them). We use pine to start the fire as it’s much less dense and ignites quick. Then we add juniper as it burns longer (also juniper smoke is awful and once the stove and chimney are heated by more mild pine it sucks up the awful smoke from the juniper and doesn’t stink things up in the building). We recently found an old burnt dead Gambel Oak grove with HUGE trunks. We have started cutting that in truck loads and bringing it up. We cut some pieces specifically for the stoves as it burns hotter and WAY longer than the coniferous trees we have around us(great for right before bed). Often we still have oak coals in the morning to easily start a morning fire. We also use a 55 gallon drum to make our own charcoal out of the oak. Excellent for cooking and smoking. This spring I am building a smoke house.


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## zmender

thewoodlands said:


> That's some nice high btu firewood. I keep thinking that we'll start bringing in beech and ironwood for the coldest temps but I'm not seeing any real cold weather through January 20.


Toasting wood… by the looks of it, another reload is needed in about hour or two. 

Those are good btu wood for sure. I think I’m doing well given the stove I have; however I’m certain that I’m leaving a lot of btu on the table as well


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## zmender

Reloaded with some hardwood splits and 8 biobricks. Wowowo these bricks take off fast and furious. I kept the throttle at ~50% and turned down to 25% as soon as I saw the first sign of secondary, and wow they are taking off.


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## thewoodlands

The outside temp this morning was 14, the basement was 77 and the rooms up here were between 68 and 70. We're off the pellet stove and back to burning the wood stove, ash and pine.


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## 1kzwoman

Cold ashes for now! Weather outside will be 24 degrees today, Too hot to burn due to solar gain and company for dinner (oven, and crockpot in use). NG furnace set at 65.


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## thewoodlands

1kzwoman said:


> Cold ashes for now! Weather outside will be 24 degrees today, Too hot to burn due to solar gain and company for dinner (oven, and crockpot in use). NG furnace set at 65.


Give it up, what's for dinner.


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## 1kzwoman

thewoodlands said:


> Give it up, what's for dinner.


Rib Steak, scalloped potatoes, fried shrimp, salad,chocolate cake


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## thewoodlands

1kzwoman said:


> Rib Steak, scalloped potatoes, fried shrimp, salad,chocolate cake


Sounds great, I'll trade you my chocolate cake for a second rib steak!


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## 1kzwoman

thewoodlands said:


> Sounds great, I'll trade you my chocolate cake for a second rib steak!


Come on out! I think the cake will be good as the primary leftover anyway. You’d be welcome at the table.


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## Marconis

Oak. My wood is pretty marginal, but I’ve worked up a pretty sweet system to get it roaring. I’ve bought a couple bags of Simple Simon for the season; I place one large piece right in the middle of the second row of all of the oak. Put my small logs on top, then a quarter super cedar right in the middle. Let it flame for like 5 minutes, throw small kindling wood on top of that and then within 15 minutes this is what it looks like, every time. All of the embers from the kindling drop down right onto the kiln dried piece and it ignites very quickly. Top down is the way. I’ve been spraying the logs with Rutland spray, and then using the powder on the coals every other fire or so. Seems to be keeping things tidy up the flue.


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## thewoodlands

I'm burning down some ash coals with a some pine, the basement temp was 79 before the five splits of pine, up here is between 70 and 73.


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## Prof

This is a hemlock year for me. I burn through my holzhausens in roughly the order in which they are cut/split/stacked. Next year I think I will use hemlock in the shoulder season and have beech stacked on the inner portion of the wood shed. Seems to make some sense--I may or may not follow it.


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## Wisdomoak159#19

Lows to 25 tonight house at 65 before reload.  Biggest peice of wood I've ever put in a stove tonight. Silver maple ash and some unslit pine branch peices. We did family vote on stove name today. She is big bertha


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## thewoodlands

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> Lows to 25 tonight house at 65 before reload.  Biggest peice of wood I've ever put in a stove tonight. Silver maple ash and some unslit pine branch peices. We did family vote on stove name today. She is big bertha
> 
> View attachment 307260
> View attachment 307261


That should burn a while.


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## Wisdomoak159#19

That load just gave us a true overfire. Flue surface temps at 725. And stt of almost 1000. The middle of top plate was glowing red. And it got warped. Pulled 4 or six splits out to get it under control. That was an intense 20 mins. Looks like it's time for a key dampner


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## weee123

Full load of red and white oak for the night


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## thewoodlands

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> That load just gave us a true overfire. Flue surface temps at 725. And stt of almost 1000. The middle of top plate was glowing red. And it got warped. Pulled 4 or six splits out to get it under control. That was an intense 20 mins. Looks like it's time for a key dampner
> 
> View attachment 307265


I had our snap disk for the blower on our wood stove didn't work so the fan never kicked on.  I wasn't sure what I would do because I didn't want an over fire so I remembered an old post from this site that basically said you could open up the bypass and let some heat up the pipe but don't let that get too hot and your stove temp will drop, close the bypass and when your stovetop temp starts getting up there, open the bypass again, kept doing it until I had the stovetop temp in a safe range.

I have the fan wired so when I turn it on, it stays on, no snap disk. The first thing I learned was you can control your wood stove fire by the amount of wood you put in. If we're burning beech or sugar maple, I'll never load it up like I can with some lesser btu wood. Not long ago a member posted how he thought (not their exact words) but going for longer burn times can or was overrated, I agree with that member.

Will a key damper just keep more heat in your wood stove causing higher temps?  We'll burn 10 face cord of pine since we started, the wife liked it because it was very easy to control and the fire started and got up to safe temp quick and settled in nice. Once we started burning hardwood (ash) it took a bit getting use to the longer time it would take compared to pine when we would get the fire settled in.


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## thewoodlands

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> That load just gave us a true overfire. Flue surface temps at 725. And stt of almost 1000. The middle of top plate was glowing red. And it got warped. Pulled 4 or six splits out to get it under control. That was an intense 20 mins. Looks like it's time for a key dampner
> 
> View attachment 307265


From when I started here, I've changed the way I burn. Since we heat from the basement, I find that getting two fires in by or before 1 p.m. heats our rooms up here better, we're home all the time so that isn't a problem.


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## thewoodlands

It's 23 out tonight with the basement temp starting out at 78 and the rooms up here 70 and 71. Five splits of ash went in the stove for the overnight load.


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## 1kzwoman

Wisdomoak159#19 said:


> That load just gave us a true overfire. Flue surface temps at 725. And stt of almost 1000. The middle of top plate was glowing red. And it got warped. Pulled 4 or six splits out to get it under control. That was an intense 20 mins. Looks like it's time for a key dampner
> 
> View attachment 307265


Glad you are safe!


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## Dieselhead

A full load of shagbark hickory is in the stove as of 6am. I won’t be reloading until tomorrow am due to schedule so should have plenty of coals left to get a nice Norway spruce fire lit.


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## thewoodlands

We had 24.3 this morning, the basement temp was 72 and the rooms up here were 67 and 68.

The load that went in the wood stove this morning was ash and pine.


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## JamesGuido

it _was _20something this morning with oak burning... 

it's now 44 with temp inside at 77 with oak still burning sooo... i'll let in some fresh air.


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## Wisdomoak159#19

Stove room at 67. Full load of maple and ash tonight and I think 1 or 2 crabapple splits. Installed 2 key damper after last night overfire. 1 for normal operation and 1 for emergency stove cruising along at 500f stt now nice lazy secondaries


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## NickW

Small combo load this morning of hardwood and softwood, some bark early this afternoon and cleaned out some ash; nice big load of ash, maple & birch now. Really liking the hardwood mixed. All ash loads can really take off. Some maple & birch slows it down some and the sugar maple coals a little longer than the ash plus more BTU's.


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## thewoodlands

It's 30 degrees out tonight, the basement temp (stove room) started out at 77, the temps up here at 70 and the sleeper at 69.

The wood stove has a load of ash in it for the overnight load.


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## zmender

Cooled down stove overnight and cleaned out about 1.5 gallons of ashes. Still have a nice thick layer of coal remaining. Full reload with mostly red & white oak.


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## thewoodlands

We had 17.3 this morning with the stove room at 72 and the rooms up here 67 and 68.  We started the day with a load of ash and some pine.


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## Wisdomoak159#19

Warm here today. Lows to 35 tonight. Cherry ash maple for overnight. Stove room at 70


----------

