Do you ever say this is JUST TOO MUCH WORK!

[Simonkenton]

Yes! I already have 3 chain saws that I build log cabin with. I have a pickup because I live in the country.
I own 39 heavily forested acres, I could start burning my own trees next month and never run out of wood.

So to install a wood stove and burn lots of wood, in the long run I do save money I don't mind the work.

 

[Matt93eg]

I enjoy wood processing. A lot of work yes. Stove only gets fired when it’s cold otherwise the heat pump runs. It sure is worth it when it’s 25 outside and I’m sitting in front of the stove.

 

[CeeDee]

Where in Alaska? Would like to hear more about that adventure.
It's a lot of work but when its zero out and I'm sitting in front of the stove warm to my bones it's worth it.

I was in Fairbanks. My rented cabin was just outside town, I think, or on the outskirts. My only transportation was a mountain bike, even during winter. I have a slide somewhere of me on my bike in front of a bank sign that said it was 69 degrees below zero that day.

It was a great experience, but I was also secretly terrified pretty much the entire time, convinced a grizzly was going to crash through the door or I'd fall off my bike and freeze to the ground. The cabin's owner cut a log and wedged it under the cabin's floor and said, "That outta get you through the winter."

May I never live near permafrost again.

 

[Beer Belly]

I don't mind the work, enjoy the warmth, it's the body that is wearing.....Torn Bicep Tendons in one Shoulder, and the other Shoulder is on it's way....and bad Knees.

 

[vwmike]

Grew up in the country where wood was our only heatsource. The house was always plenty warm but it always seemed like a chore helping dad do firewood. Grew up bought my first couple houses, both where close enough to town they had gas furnaces. Felt like winning just turning up the thermostat and having a warm house. 6 years ago moved several hrs away, bought a house with 2 fireplaces, 1 had a PE vista insert in it. Started burning for fun on weekends and evenings, usually got sick of starting fires all the time in a tiny stove by January of every winter. Finally this year got serious built a nice wood shed, demo'd my fireplace and put in a freestanding summit and never been happier! Once you set yourself up for it I don't find it that much work.

 

[firefighterjake]

Started for the money savings when oil prices shot above $4 gallon . . . I continue partly because at $2.86 gallon I can still heat the house cheaper with wood heat (it helps that I already had the truck, chainsaw, ATV and most of the other tools previously)

However, two equally driving forces that continue to motivate me to heat with wood includes the independence of it all . . . knowing that regardless of how many days I may lose the power I will continue to stay warm in the winter . . . and the plain and simple fact that there is nothing quite like the experience of heating with wood with the sights, sounds and permeating heat.

That said . . . I will confess that I do have my oil boiler set to kick on at once the thermostats reach 60 degrees . . . 65 degrees in one of the upstairs bedrooms where a cantankerous black cat lives in self imposed exile from the other cats in the clowder .I don't get too concerned when the boiler kicks on, but honestly it doesn't come on that often . . . or at least it doesn't send much heat to most of the rooms in the house.

I will kick up the heat to move some hot water through the pipes when we get sub zero temps just to keep the pipes warmed up and avoid freeing . . . and if I was honest with myself, by the time April or May rolls around and I know the weather is going to warm up that day I'll be lazy and let the oil boiler do the job.

 

[fespo]

I don't mind the work, enjoy the warmth, it's the body that is wearing.....Torn Bicep Tendons in one Shoulder, and the other Shoulder is on it's way....and bad Knees.

Right there with you!!

 

[Simonkenton]

LIke someone said, one thing I love about wood heat is independence.
Look, the S might hit the F. Neutron bomb. Or a massive solar flare could cause an EMP that would wipe out the electric grid.
Probably won't happen.

I also, though I drive 685 miles a day in the Big Rig, probably won't get in to a wreck. But I still wear my seat belt, and would do even if not required by law. I was a paramedic for 14 years and, believe me, you will never see a paramedic drive 3 blocks to teh Corner Pantry without the seat belt. Seat belts work.

And so, besides the fact that I love wood heat, I want to, as we used to say in Boy Scouts, Be Prepared.
If the electric grid should be wiped out, of course your central heat is Auf Wiedersehen, but also you won't get any more propane deliveries.
But, I have on hand right now enough wood to heat the home for 2 years. And you can cook on the wood stove. And I own 39 acres of heavily forested land. I have chain saws and also, big hand saws.

I guess I just took that Boy Scout stuff too seriously.

 

[Ludlow]

SHTF was one of my cabin stove motivations, besides immediate enjoyment. Nearby water, shelter, heat, cooking surface, all independent. Yessah!

 

[weatherguy]

Your wife is happy with it, you bet!
We have only been in the modern age for about 200 years. Because in 1818 your ancestors were heating with wood. Or maybe coal but coal heat only went on for a couple hundred years, the blink of an eye.
And when our ancestors were living in Europe, 30,000 years ago, same thing. Ice Age. Living in a cave heating with wood.
And my ancestors the Neanderthals, Europe 60,000 years ago, living in a cave, Ice Age, making that wood fire.

And a cold day back then was 40 below. Fire was the key to survival. Fire meant life.
So for a Neanderthal girl, my great grandma, 60,000 years ago, or for a Modern Human girl back there in the Ice Age, 30,000 years ago, for her to survive she had to find a man who was good at making a fire. And she wanted a baby.
The only way her baby would survive was if her man built a fire. Kept the family warm.
Plus a good fire in the cave kept out the saber tooth tigers, at night.

The men who could not make a fire, they all died out. The woman who hooked up to a man who could not build a fire, she died and so did her baby.

So it is literally in the DNA of women to want a man who can build a wood fire.
And this went on for over a hundred thousand years. Five generations per century, for many hundreds of generations Fire meant Life.

If there are any swingin' batchelors on here, try it out, bring a gal over on the first date and let her watch you build a wood fire.
Flipping the switch on the gas logs, No Dice. Not the same.

The woman who watches a man build a wood fire will want to be friendly with that man, it is in their DNA.

Why didnt you tell me this when I was 18? I would had a step up on the competition.

 

[Simonkenton]

"Why didnt you tell me this when I was 18? I would had a step up on the competition."

Yes, Grasshopper, you needed me for a Counselor when you were 18.
See, when I was 20, I lived in Atlanta but I found a little old house out in the country to rent, it had an old fireplace.
So I really got in to lighting fires in my fireplace I was a suburban boy in 1970 never had a fireplace before.

And I was going to Ga. State University. As Tom Hanks said in Top Gun, in the bar scene early in the movie, "This is a target-rich environment." And so was Georgia State.

So I was just 20 I had had some experience with the girls but not too much.
But, I noticed, when I brought a college girl out to my country place, and lit that fireplace up for her, she got "real friendly" with me.

I didn't make too much of it but I definitely noticed, not too many houses in Atlanta had any kind of fireplace or wood stove in 1970 most of these college girls had never been in a house with a wood fire burning.

It was only in the past five years, I got my DNA analyzed and learned that I, like everyone of European ancestry, am in part Neanderthal. The Ice Age lasted over 100,000 years. So my Neanderthal ancestors, as well as my Modern Human ancestors, lived for many hundreds of generations in a brutal, cold arctic environment. Fire was Life.

People who loved fire, and who could build a wood fire, lived.
People who could not build a fire, died.

We love wood fire it is in our DNA.

 

[Bushels20]

Its 72 degrees in my house and feels beautiful.. im sitting in my living room in shorts and a tshirt

Same here. 23 degrees outside.

 

[Bushels20]

Do you ever think that all this work with the stove, wood, cleaning the chimney etc.is worth it? I have been way behind with my 3 year plan and I starting thinking about all this work. I don't burn to save money on gas but just enjoy the fire and maybe the time has come to just to turn the heat up. Has anyone else gone through this or stopped? Fespo

If you’re not doing it for the savings, why not just burn for pleasure at your leisure? There are plenty of folks on here who do that.

I have always told my wife the day splitting and stacking becomes work, I am done. As of right now, it’s exercise, time outdoors and provides a sense of fulfillment.

 

[Ludlow]

Tom Hanks was in Top Gun?

 

[coutufr]

Tom Hanks was in Top Gun?

you HAD to spoil it didn’t you?

 

[Seasoned Oak]

You got to do something for exercise your entire life. Does peddling on a stationary bike make any sense. No, but i do that too. At least with the stove you get something for your labor and not just heat! Time is the deciding factor ,dont always have the time.

 

[Ludlow]

you HAD to spoil it didn’t you?

I just wanted to prove that I actually read big paragraphs. I know he meant Cruise, or Skerritt....whoever said that. .

 

[Knots]

Tom Hanks was in Top Gun?

Don't interrupt him, he's on a roll...

 

[Simonkenton]

My blood alcohol was approximately .07 when I put Tom Hanks in that movie. No way Hanks could have played that role, it was, of course, Tom Selleck. Tall, handsome, perfect leading man for a fighter pilot and ladies man.

 

[Sawset]

I have a picture of my grandfather. 30inch dia oak, 6ft crosscut saw, an old model T parked along the fenceline. And another picture of the woodshed down by the house and a mountain of cordwood stacked beside it. He grew up in Fredrickstad Norway. Family members had worked in a foundry there. He emmigrated in 1913. Of course the saw is now here hanging up unused, and an 026 used in it's place. And the mountain of a years supply is now much smaller and nicely stacked. The tin lizzy is now a new pickup with electronic ignition. And I don't wear coveralls. The new stove we have here in the living room was made in Fredrickstad. Apples don't fall far from the tree. And no, I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[savageactor7]

Yeah, when you think about all the times you handle that split before it goes in the fire, it is a lot of work.

I mitigate the drudge labor by occasionally taking a few hits of pot so it becomes a more interesting task that mentally, I really want to engage in.

One of the reasons I like the wood furnace is that it provides the uneven heat I thrive best on. The wife likes it hot so I can always retreat to a cooler room, which I do a lot.

I just could not live comfortably in a house that was heated solely with central heating...it would be too hot. So that's a motivating factor that keeps me cutting.

In the last 10 years or so (since we got a propane stove) we let the wood stove go out and the propane kicks on during the night. Often times there's enough hot coals to restart the wood stove the next morning. So omitting the night reloads has eased up the chore a little.

We're not wood burners that are comfortable loading the stove for a slow burn at night or when we're away. The few small splits we put in are always burning WOT over an established coal bed...so yeah that requires more frequent reloading.

We were thinking about getting a pellet stove but I thought it would be foolish with all the "easy" wood we have in the back year.

 

[begreen]

Local ferries used to be steamers. There were a lot of them and they had a serious appetite for wood. The fastest boat burned a cord every 10 miles and went through 25 cords a day! The ferry docks would be loaded from one end to the other with cords of wood, all felled, sawn and split by hand, then delivered to the docks by wagon daily. These were real men. As the pioneers out here cleared the land, they went through a huge amount of wood. Sadly little old growth still remains in many areas now.

Here's a 1901 photo of one of the local ferry docks.

 

[Sawset]

Local ferries used to be steamers. There were a lot of them and they had a serious appetite for wood. The fastest boat burned a cord every 10 miles and went through 25 cords a day! The ferry docks would be loaded from one end to the other with cords of wood, all felled, sawn and split by hand, then delivered to the docks by wagon daily. These were real men. As the pioneers out here cleared the land, they went through a huge amount of wood. Sadly little old growth still remains in many areas now.

Here's a 1901 photo of one of the local ferry docks.
View attachment 236126

And i thought the comstock gold mine consumed a lot of wood.

 

[Ludlow]

Local ferries used to be steamers. There were a lot of them and they had a serious appetite for wood. The fastest boat burned a cord every 10 miles and went through 25 cords a day! The ferry docks would be loaded from one end to the other with cords of wood, all felled, sawn and split by hand, then delivered to the docks by wagon daily. These were real men. As the pioneers out here cleared the land, they went through a huge amount of wood. Sadly little old growth still remains in many areas now.

Here's a 1901 photo of one of the local ferry docks.
View attachment 236126

I laugh when people talk about saving trees. There are more trees now than there have been in 150 years or more.

 

[Sawset]

I laugh when people talk about saving trees. There are more trees now than there have been in 150 years or more.

One nasty bug could have done far worse damage back then too. Most of the oaks around here are history, or soon will be from oak wilt. Elms, butternuts, chestnut, also all gone from disease. 150 yrs ago a lot of the prairie areas around here seeded in with oaks and others, now those are dying back off again. And as far as that goes, most areas here were managed for food and game long before history could record it.