Great Article! In Praise of Woodstoves

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BobNorman

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Hearth Supporter
Oct 8, 2008
17
NE Canada
This guy loves his wood! I had to share this, He talks about it like fine wine, and he is absolutely right on the mark.

"There’s nothing nicer than a piece of cherry in the wood stove. It’s perfume. Seriously. A light intoxicating fragrance, a high note that floats over a base of black spruce. I tend to save it for special occasions with light snow and a westerly wind."


http://theindependent.ca/2011/04/20/in-praise-of-wood-stoves/

Bob
 
I will admit to having some of the same thoughts about the wood I burn. I can remember usually when I cut it, the customer, and other details. I like to see the different ways the wood burns when it is in the stove, the flame color, the heat output.
 
Am I the only one that doesn't get wood smoke into the house. I could burn anything from corn cobs to garlic and you would never smell it in the house.
 
Jags said:
Am I the only one that doesn't get wood smoke into the house. I could burn anything from corn cobs to garlic and you would never smell it in the house.
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Nope . . . very rare event for me . . . only time I typically see it is early Fall and this time of year when the temp difference outside and inside are often very close and my draft isn't very strong as a result.

I do smell smoke outside though when the winds are right . . . and you can sometimes get a rough idea of what is burning in the stove based on the smell.
 
firefighterjake said:
Nope . . . very rare event for me . . .
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I just kinda wondered. I know many people like to burn cherry or whatever and says it smells good, blah, blah blah. If I smell smoke, I am running around wondering what the heck is going on. Just say'in.
 
Jags said:
firefighterjake said:
Nope . . . very rare event for me . . .
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I just kinda wondered. I know many people like to burn cherry or whatever and says it smells good, blah, blah blah. If I smell smoke, I am running around wondering what the heck is going on. Just say'in.
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Hehheh . . . I'm usually asking my wife if she smells smoke or if it's just me . . . like you . . . I have no idea of what cherry smells like when burned . . . I do know I like the smell of a fresh split though . . . I can tell if I'm burning softwood when I'm outside if the wind is heading towards me . . .
 
Rare here also to get smoke in the house but we have had some times, like before a storm when smoke does odd things and some would come in some drafty spots but that is about the only time we smell smoke in the house.
 
If I smell smoke in the house it is usually because the wind is swirling and the yard smells a little smoky, which means when we open the door we can smell it, or occasionally I get a puff out of the stove when I am loading, but I consider these to be problems with my setup/operator errors, not normal operation of a properly working stove.
 
Jags said:
Am I the only one that doesn't get wood smoke into the house. I could burn anything from corn cobs to garlic and you would never smell it in the house.
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I get a puff of smoke in the house every single time I open the door. I find I have to dust the house 2-3x a week in the winter versus once every week to 10 days in the summer...it builds up very fast. I have never been able to identify the problem...chimney is inside the house for the first 20 feet or so, straight vertical shot, double wall inside the house, triple for the last 15 feet as it goes through the roof and outside...cap is a couple feet higher than my ridge vent. Opening a window when I feed the stove doesn't seem to make any difference. Best I've got is somehow the ambient air pressure up high where the cap is, is the same or higher than inside the living room.
 
mayhem said:
Best I've got is somehow the ambient air pressure up high where the cap is, is the same or higher than inside the living room.
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That could be. Everything from roof angle, wind direction and surrounding trees, buildings, etc. can have impact on draft.

But I digress. I didn't mean to steal any thunder from the OP and a very nice article.
 
BobNorman said:
This guy loves his wood! I had to share this, He talks about it like fine wine, and he is absolutely right on the mark.

"There’s nothing nicer than a piece of cherry in the wood stove. It’s perfume. Seriously. A light intoxicating fragrance, a high note that floats over a base of black spruce. I tend to save it for special occasions with light snow and a westerly wind."


http://theindependent.ca/2011/04/20/in-praise-of-wood-stoves/

Bob
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This guy loves softwoods, imagine if he had hard?
 
Really reminds me to sit back and enjoy the experience. I've split about a cord of elm with 2 axes this year, and the experience has made me angrier than most times. There is little satisfaction in it, even cutting rounds that are only 8-10" deep. And elm don't smell good.

I like cutting pine - even though mine is sappy and weirdly hard to split (knotty), the sap is an experience, it has a distinct and somewhat pleasant odor, and i like how fast it seasons. I had a chunk that's on top of one of my piles cut about 4-6 weeks ago. Not a huge chunk, but probably weighed 6-8 pounds. It's down to 3-4 pounds now easily....everytime I've walked by it I've picked up the piece to feel it's weight. Today is was substantially lighter, as I've noticed the morning sun beating down on the wood piles and a nice breeze whistling through them (stacked on pallets, so hopefully the inner wood is getting it too).

Good article - makes me want to keep an eye out for a cherry supply; I've never burned it.
 
Our smoke detector goes off before we smell smoke.

If that happened, I would not be sitting back extolling the virtues of cherry over spruce....... ;-)
 
I don't get a lot of smoke smell, either indoors or out. When loading the stove (in my living room) I always linger a little to get that spruce or birch smell. I think that's what this guy might be talking about, not enough to set off your detector, or to make you think you have a "problem", but just a little cozy flavour to remind you that you are burning wood. I for one would be disappointed if I didn't get that from time to time.
 
When I load Cherry, I intentionally let smoke in. Just enough to freshen the place up a bit. It is sweet!
 
Jags said:
Am I the only one that doesn't get wood smoke into the house. I could burn anything from corn cobs to garlic and you would never smell it in the house.
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That was my thought too when I started reading that article. About the only time I get more than an occasional wiff of smoke is from my stove is from my old smoke dragon stove in the shop, because it has a shorter chimney and produces significantly more smoke that the wood stove in the house. Still, I usually have to be outside to smell that.
I do remember being in places though where the woodstove smell permeated the house, seems like that's not very common anymore with modern design stoves and flues.
 
I smell it outside. and on a reloads a bit.
 
Jags said:
Am I the only one that doesn't get wood smoke into the house. I could burn anything from corn cobs to garlic and you would never smell it in the house.
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+1

I do on occasion smell it outside but more often than not it is coming from a neighbors house while I am outside, never inside.
 
Nice article. The writer does mention that he smells the smoke when he steps outside. I don't normally
step outside until the fire settles down. By that time, there isn't any smoke to smell outside either unless
it's wafting uphill from my neighbor's outdoor wood burner. I'm about ready to start my fire pit season, and
then the smoke chases me around the fire pit no matter where I sit.

He also keeps mentioning "wood junks". I've never heard that term before. Canadian for splits?
 
Nice article. I also think the author is just talking about getting a little whiff when he reloads and the smell outside from the chimney, not that he has smoke in his house, but who knows. I can smell the fire outside when there isn't a trace of smoke and I love the smell as well.
Great dictionary Bob. Never heard the term "Junk" in Ontario, & "Cleave" means something else in my dictionary.
;-)
 
midwestcoast said:
"Cleave" means something else in my dictionary. ;-)
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Cleaving here often means to split sides of beef, but it's often used as a term in the wood industry here when splitting tree trunks down the middle :)
 
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