Anyone else still burning wood this season?

[John Kuhn]

Correct me if I'm wrong, best I can describe is it's fall or spring when it's not cold enough to have a fire for very long, so if you decide to build a fire at all you let it go out without reloading. You don't get a big buildup of coals, draft is less because it's warmer, so things are different.

 

[Cast Iron]

Never stop....temps at 0515 H in the 30's in VT valleys.
While not shoulder season burns, the fast morning fires warm the cockles with the dreaded softwoods well dry and seasoned.

 

[kennyp2339]

Being Im new here and all....can I ask what the heck is "shoulder season"?

Shoulder season is the season where you don't need a full 24/7 fire to maintain comfort, The members here coined the phrase, many members also use lesser quality wood (lower btu) while doing these batch burns. I myself do some shoulder season burns and lean towards a stock pile of pine and cotton wood, and keep the good stuff like my ash, maple, oak & locust for when the real could sets in.

 

[Cast Iron]

"Shoulder season" for fall-spring quick burns ,often using softwoods or junk wood, has been used well before hearthnet OR the internet.
Apply Now
Commonly used by northern New England wood burners wayyyyyyyyyyy back before as us using firewood from the 70's....and certainly long before. Long before.
Internet hubris.
Fact check.

 

[bholler]

"Shoulder season" for fall-spring quick burns ,often using softwoods or junk wood, has been used well before hearthnet OR the internet.
Fact check.

I think it is a regional thing. I grew up in this industry and i had never heard the term before coming on hearth.com. much like face cords and ricks some areas use those terms while no one here would know what you were talking about.

 

[begreen]

I first heard of shoulder season here on Hearth.com, over a decade ago. It's a term stolen from the travel industry where they use it to define the season in between peak and low travel. As usage here became more common I started seeing the term used on other websites like the arboristsite.com. Eventually it even started showing up in some stove manuals.

 

[Cast Iron]

"Does anyone know the difference between Knowledge and Wisdom, and can they give an example?" After a bit one kid says "Knowledge is knowing that a Tomato is really a fruit and not a vegetable. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."

"Shoulder season" commonly used in New England for many many decades before WWW....before PC's....probably before us.

 

[begreen]

According to most definitions it originated in the 60s by the travel industry.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/shoulder-season
There are lots of theories on the origin.
https://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/where-does-the-term-shoulder-season-come-from.255039/

 

[Ludlow]

I must have been living under a rock. I never heard of it until now.

 

[Cast Iron]

I must have been living under a rock. I never heard of it until now.

Rock in PA., not here in New England. Rocks here are stone walls lost in the woods.
The travel people stole the saying from us .

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Heat wave will hit the northeast next week ,4 days of 90 or so. So far seems a little cooler than average. Must be all the volcanoes spouting off.

 

[T-roy_]

Only outside...

 

[Cast Iron]

View attachment 227438
Only outside...

Strange stove .

 

[bholler]

Rock in PA., not here in New England. Rocks here are stone walls lost in the woods.
The travel people stole the saying from us .

You do realize much of pa is not very different at all from Vermont right. I have spent lots of time in both and vermont and northern and central pa are pretty similar

 

[Ashful]

We could get 24 h low low burn on the olde Oslo in this shoulder season also. Nothin' exceptional even for an abused non cat with the right wood.
Just saying.

You must have one magic Oslo. I don’t think anyone else on this forum has ever managed to maintain active secondaries for even one third that amount of time. When BK folks say 24 hour burn times, we mean active secondary combustion for 24 hours.

 

[begreen]

I think for most people burn time means the period of meaningful heat between reloads. If it's mild outside then even a 250º stove could be adequate to keep the house warm. Non-cats with a decent firebox size are still putting out substantial heat after the volatiles have burned off and in the charcoal stage.

 

[maple1]

I made a small one on at the cottage Sunday morning. Has been a very cold spring here this year - even had flurries in some areas last night.

 

[Ashful]

I made a small one on at the cottage Sunday morning. Has been a very cold spring here this year - even had flurries in some areas last night.

You don’t know cold. Ask Cast Iron. You need to be from Vermont to know cold.

 

[Cast Iron]

BTW, N.S. climate is warmed by a bend in the Gulf Stream. Average winters are much more temperate than all of northern New England icvluding the Gulf of Maine and N.E. mountains. Check it out Ash.

 

[begreen]

I made a small one on at the cottage Sunday morning. Has been a very cold spring here this year - even had flurries in some areas last night.

It's cold up there now. They're reporting several inches of snow in Newfoundland. Throw another log on the fire hon.

 

[maple1]

BTW, N.S. climate is warmed by a bend in the Gulf Stream. Average winters are much more temperate than all of northern New England icvluding the Gulf of Maine and N.E. mountains. Check it out Ash.

Yes, we have quite a moderate climate.

But it still gets cold at times.

When did it snow last there?

Is this a contest?

 

[Cast Iron]

It is a contest.
Newfies ain't got a Gulf Stream....they do have iceburgs. If a male, do not swim in Newfoundland.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

i guess the cold wave is over

 

[Manly]

"Does anyone know the difference between Knowledge and Wisdom, and can they give an example?" After a bit one kid says "Knowledge is knowing that a Tomato is really a fruit and not a vegetable. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."

"Shoulder season" commonly used in New England for many many decades before WWW....before PC's....probably before us.

The term shoulder season was coined by Jebdiah Shanks, circa 1807, in Hartford CT. He used the term to describe the fall and spring seasons when a full wagon of firewood would not have to be drawn from behind the barn up to the house for burning. One was able to sling a couple of splits over their shoulder and have enough wood to take the chill off the cabin. No need to hitch the mule up to the wagon during shoulder season. The descriptive term “shoulder season” slowly caught on in Southern New England, then rapidly spread northerly, eventually making its way into Vermont and other uncivilized regions. The Shanks family applied for a trademark liscence on the term back in the early 1940’s but were denied by a Federal Magistrate for lack of evidence supporting their claim. Jebdiah’s great granddaughter Svetlana Shanks Dirge set herself on fire in front of the US patent office in protest. It was a terrible tradgedy and she smoldered for days. All this and more can be found on the internet. I guess it’s true.

 

[Cast Iron]

Yeah, Jedidiah Shanks ( real name: "Truman Goldberg" ).
The name was changed because of shoulder season "shanking" wood at the time. It sounded more Connecticut like.
Svetlana S. actually invented the chainsaw and protective chaps that were cooler than common wool in New Haven while doing her degree at Yale. Truth.