How did you get involved/interested in burning wood?

[Ashful]

God Bless Caleb. That is a wonderful story about an awful turn of events. I'm glad you are able to put a positive note on it. Hearing stories like this help the rest of us keep things in perspective.

 

[geoff1969]

jeez thats a sad story razorface . its not burning weather here for me at present but next fire i light up will be in honour of your little mate , cheers

 

[mikey517]

I bought 40 acres of woods because I like to hunt squirrels and such. I built a new house a few years ago on the property. It has geothermal, which is cheaper then cutting wood. I put a tl300 in for "prepping" purposes, not intending to use it until the end of the world came around.

Then my son, his woman, and my 1yr old grandson Caleb, were in a car wreck. My son now has titanium in both his legs, woman is fine, but my grandson was paralyzed from the neck down. Docs said it was hopeless. He would not do anything but stare at the ceiling.

My little buddy had other ideas. In the next 2 years he started moving his hands, then his arms, then his whole upper body,,then his legs. He never stopped smiling the whole time.

We logged the woods and started selling firewood to get him stem cell treatments since insurance would not pay for it. We wanted him to walk!

I sold $17000 of logs and firewood to finance the stem cell treatments. In the meantime, we had to burn a lot of treetops and junk. We found out Caleb really liked fires, so it was a celebration every time there was a fire around here.

Caleb would set in my kubota for hours watching me cut and split. We would drive around the woods and he would pick the next tree to cut up. It was actually the tops of what was logged, but he called them trees.

I started burning so he could set and watch the fire thru the window.

Caleb left me on 1-1-14, he was almost 4, but I will keep burning fires for him. He taught me a lot in his short time with us. I miss him terribly.

I could hardly see my computer screen to finish reading your story.

Prayers & good thoughts for you and your family...

 

[Doug MacIVER]

the 1970's oil crisis till 1986, again with different house in the 2000's.

 

[UncleJoe]

God Bless Caleb. That is a wonderful story about an awful turn of events. I'm glad you are able to put a positive note on it. Hearing stories like this help the rest of us keep things in perspective.

+ 1,000,000



Our dinosaur of an oil furnace in the old farmhouse gave up in late Feb. of '04. We finished the winter with space heaters and a kerosene heater. Got an estimate for $6500 to replace the furnace. "Yeah, we'll get back to you on that"

Had a friend that was moving and wanted to sell her Hotblast 1400 because she couldn't use it in her new house. Well, she ended up just giving it to us and I installed it. Haven't heated with anything but wood since then.

 

[Macpolski]

My parents came to this wonderful Country in 1951. They worked long hours, saved their earnings and bought only the necessities; keeping their family clothed, warm and well-fed. In 1959, they purchased their home which was built on 1-1/2 acres of an oak lot. In the traditional European way, at least from what I observed, an old porcelain, cast iron cookstove was put in the semi-finished basement to keep the upstairs kitchen in great condition. This was essentially my first exposure to wood burning. The home had a forced air oil furnace and filling the tank several times during the winter was definitely something that had to be dealt with. The cookstove helped.



During the seventies, when the oil "crisis" hit, my parents decided to put in a fireplace. They remodeled the dining room which was quite small and had a brick fireplace/chimney built. They burned it for a year and went through a lot of oak. Realizing that most of the heat was sucked out of the house, it was time for plan B. Dad started looking for an insert and settled on a Glacier Bay. Boy that baby would cook! Of course after buying a chain saw, I was in charge of cutting the firewood. I loved running that thing.



Dad used to operate a forklift in a cold-storage freezer warehouse attached to a vegetable processing plant in Seabrook, NJ. Of course pallets were used and of course there would be damaged pallets which would be discarded. These were all oak pallets not like some of the "hardwood" pallets one sees today. He would load his F-250 to the brim with the oak pallets and I would cut them up with my Mac 10-10; talk about seasoned oak! Dad has since passed, but Mom is 88 and will still burn it occasionally. She is a true Eastern European from the country, not the city; she would split and stack with the best of them.



We bought our home in '85 and it came with a large wood stove/boiler in the basement which was tied-in to the oil-fired hot air furnace. Talk about a smoke dragon. Of course most of that was due to unseasoned oak. It would heat the house but it ate a lot of wood doing it. We have a fireplace upstairs that we would use a couple times a year for ambience knowing full well it was a heat vacuum. In 2002 or '03 we purchased an Englander 13-nc and I slammed it into the fireplace, not knowing any better. We burned a lot of oak through it and it kept the house warm. Deciding it was time for a wood stove change, I started researching my options and came across this site. What a find! Finally the wife and I decided on the Woodstock Fireview. No slammer install this time. I installed with insulated flexible SS liner. This is the first season and I'm loving it.



Thank you Hearth.com for the knowledge and wisdom contained within.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Thank you all for these really great stories, fellas......each one is unique in their own way. Please keep them coming if you haven't chimed in yet!

Thanks again....

 

[Hills Hoard]

like many, I grew up around an open fire place, and also went camping a lot.

When it came time to buy a house with my wife, a fire place or an insert was on my list of non-negotiables. no fire place, no sale. I spent the first winter in our house burning mainly when friends were over, before I decided to ramp it up which is when I found this site.....since finding this site wood processing/burning has gone from a novelty to a fully blown passion and a genuine hobby.......

 

[Beer Belly]

I bought 40 acres of woods because I like to hunt squirrels and such. I built a new house a few years ago on the property. It has geothermal, which is cheaper then cutting wood. I put a tl300 in for "prepping" purposes, not intending to use it until the end of the world came around.

Then my son, his woman, and my 1yr old grandson Caleb, were in a car wreck. My son now has titanium in both his legs, woman is fine, but my grandson was paralyzed from the neck down. Docs said it was hopeless. He would not do anything but stare at the ceiling.

My little buddy had other ideas. In the next 2 years he started moving his hands, then his arms, then his whole upper body,,then his legs. He never stopped smiling the whole time.

We logged the woods and started selling firewood to get him stem cell treatments since insurance would not pay for it. We wanted him to walk!

I sold $17000 of logs and firewood to finance the stem cell treatments. In the meantime, we had to burn a lot of treetops and junk. We found out Caleb really liked fires, so it was a celebration every time there was a fire around here.

Caleb would set in my kubota for hours watching me cut and split. We would drive around the woods and he would pick the next tree to cut up. It was actually the tops of what was logged, but he called them trees.

I started burning so he could set and watch the fire thru the window.

Caleb left me on 1-1-14, he was almost 4, but I will keep burning fires for him. He taught me a lot in his short time with us. I miss him terribly.

We are looking at another Artic Blast this week.....so this entire week of fires will be in honor of Caleb, he and your family will be in our thoughts and prayers

 

[Fred Wright]

We lived in a rural area when I was growing up. Several of the neighbors were old-school, they had wood burning stoves. Our house was newer, had an oil furnace so we didn't get into wood heat.

When I was married, her brothers ran a tree company and burned wood. Their homes were always so comfy and warm inside, no matter how cold it got outside.

We finally bought a house. Dad suggested a wood burner so we got one. Best decision ever.

That was many years ago. The wife is gone, the house is gone but wood burning is still my choice for heat. This is something that, once you get used to it no other type of heating will do.

 

[firefighterjake]

Grew up with wood heat . . . wood furnace in our house, woodstove in my grandparent's house and Uncle's house.

Out of college I was living in a camp with a Miller oil furnace and not a whole lot of insulation. It was cold. Put in a free Ashley and then a free Shenandoah woodstove that was way too big . . . but it kept the place warm and was cheap to heat.

Bought a house a few years after that. No woodstove or hook-up, but it had hot water baseboard heat which quite honestly works quite nicely . . . when there is power . . . went through 14 days of no power in the Ice Storm of 1997. Thought some more about getting a woodstove then, but in time those frozen memories were soon forgotten.

Oil prices went through the roof in 2007 or so . . . decided to get a woodstove to save money. Side benefits of having heat when there is no power, being a bit more independent in terms of energy usage and the view have just been nice perks.

 

[Ashful]

Grew up in a house with four fireplaces, and almost always had one or two of them going. Open wood-burning fireplaces were high on my priority list in shopping for a new house, and since we were shopping mostly 18th century houses, finding ones that could be made functional.

Bought this place with two small cooking fireplaces, one blocked off and fitted with a gas insert, and the other with a Jotul Firelight stove. Figured I'd remove both, and have two open fireplaces, but the previous owner warned me they had trouble getting permit approval on their addition without agreeing to convert one of those from open to the Jotul Firelight. In any case... while debating the issue, my wife convinced me to, "just give the wood stove a try." She had heard too many stories of the dust and dirt open fireplaces create in the house, to want to deal with that.

Well, I gave the Jotul a try one night. Then another. Then a few more times. Then a squirrel got into the stove thru the chimney (previous owner had opted for a top-mount damper instead of a squirrel screen), and totaled my refractory chamber. Searching for info on how to repair/rebuild the stove brought me here, and I guess the rest is history. Rather than ripping that Jotul out of the fireplace, as originally planned, I tore the gas burner out of the second fireplace and installed another Jotul wood stove over there. We still have one open fireplace out on the patio, but it never gets used.

 

[Bad Wolf]

Always loved having fires in the fireplace prior to 2008. Then oil prices hit near $5.00/gallon and it was a no brainer. I enjoy the burn of wood vs pellets so it was a no brainer.

Same thing, in the summer of 2008 oil hit $4.38/gallon and I decided I'd had enough!! Did some research, found the Hearth, read lots and lots of threads and installed my Tarm and storage in the fall. Bought C/S/D the first few years until I got rolling on scrounging and cutting my own.

 

[toddnic]

I grew up in central Florida back in the day before things got crazy with Disney and a few million people. We had a fireplace in the family home but rarely used it. In 1990 I relocated to the mountains of North Carolina via Chicago. The house that I rented for a few years had a woodstove. In 1993 we had a blizzard with 39 inches of snow in a couple of days. Our entire area lost power for one to two weeks. I was very warm .

It is now almost 20 years later. I am still living in the same area of NC and my wife and I decided to install a woodstove this past summer. I did a lot of research and we decided on the Progress Hybrid. We have not used the propane furnace this year and the house is warmer than ever. Sure wish I had done this year ago! And, did I mention how much $$$$$ I am going to save.

 

[Valhalla]

My grandparents had a great wood, kitchen cook stove on their farm. I learned and loved to tend it.
Guess that it rubbed off on me, soot and all!

 

[fireview2788]

I got a $600 electric bill the first truly winter month in our house. End of story.


fv

 

[tcassavaugh]

my grandmother heated with wood and cooked on a wood stove. growing up on a small farm outside of Albany n.y. my parents had an old Montgomery wards stove much like the vogelzang http://www.lowes.com/pd_545857-850-...&cm_mmc=AFF_CJ-_-1319015-_-1189274-_-11259695 and a little top load hooked up to the fireplace flue. I've been burning since 80 using all sorts of contraptions....home made stove from a truck frame, barrel stove and the like until I could afford a real stove. I have oil back up but seldom use it.

 

[lml999]

I like playing with fire.

No, not the dangerous, arsonist way of playing with fire, but with building and tending to a fire that is different every time.

Started as a kid, camping. Inlaws had an A-frame in western Mass heated with electric and a couple of smoke dragons. Then they put in a soapstone stove and I got a taste of how well a wood stove can heat a house.

Our first house had a fireplace (non-negotiable). Our second house, bought 24 years ago, also had a fireplace, also non-negotiable. When oil started its price climb, I started prepping the wife for the insert/stove conversation. We installed the insert about 6 or 7 years ago and haven't looked back.

We've cut our oil consumption by 75% and I get to play with fire every cold day.

Short term, I'd like to add a second insert, or maybe a stove, in our finished basement. But it wouldn't have the payback of the first one. This spring I'm going to tidy up the installation a bit, adding some insulation and a blocking plate. I don't understand why professional installers wouldn't automatically include a blocking plate. Too much custom sheetmetal work, perhaps...

I would like to build a passivhaus someday, one that needs no furnace or airconditioning. If we ever do, I will put a stove in anyway, probably run it with the windows open!

 

[blazincajun]

I bought 40 acres of woods because I like to hunt squirrels and such. I built a new house a few years ago on the property. It has geothermal, which is cheaper then cutting wood. I put a tl300 in for "prepping" purposes, not intending to use it until the end of the world came around.

Then my son, his woman, and my 1yr old grandson Caleb, were in a car wreck. My son now has titanium in both his legs, woman is fine, but my grandson was paralyzed from the neck down. Docs said it was hopeless. He would not do anything but stare at the ceiling.

My little buddy had other ideas. In the next 2 years he started moving his hands, then his arms, then his whole upper body,,then his legs. He never stopped smiling the whole time.

We logged the woods and started selling firewood to get him stem cell treatments since insurance would not pay for it. We wanted him to walk!

I sold $17000 of logs and firewood to finance the stem cell treatments. In the meantime, we had to burn a lot of treetops and junk. We found out Caleb really liked fires, so it was a celebration every time there was a fire around here.

Caleb would set in my kubota for hours watching me cut and split. We would drive around the woods and he would pick the next tree to cut up. It was actually the tops of what was logged, but he called them trees.

I started burning so he could set and watch the fire thru the window.

Caleb left me on 1-1-14, he was almost 4, but I will keep burning fires for him. He taught me a lot in his short time with us. I miss him terribly.

What a tragic and wonderful story described by a loving grandpa. Your love for Caleb is obvious.

 

[blazincajun]

Grew up in SW Louisiana and remembered that we heated with electricity. At age 9 Dad built a homemade barrel stove for wood heat and I really loved it. He then installed a small oval Ashley stove in our home when I was 14. He taught us safe wood harvesting and spent time with us loading, splitting, and caring for the tools. Never thought too much about drying wood - lived on 80 acres of mixed-pine hardwood bottomland.
Rented a small house during college and installed a small woodheater.

Moved to Augusta Georgia to begin a family when I was 30. Rented and apartment with a ng floor furnace and reminded me of how much I missed wood heat. Wife and I found a home on 2.3 acres with two fire places and one had an insert. Used the insert but had to stop because our infant daughter was having dry sinus problems.

Last year at age 49, finally bit the bullet and decided to remodel our home with the idea of heating our home with wood. Removed one interior brick fireplace and combined living, dining, laundry, and kitchen into an open design room with a centrally located wood stove. Moved laundry to our old bedroom for a combination pantry/laundry, added three more bedrooms and two baths - their heat would come from the hallway. Removed transome from hallway to allow heat to move into bedrooms. Installed a Drolet Savannah that we found on Craig's List for $400. Didn't have time during the construction to plan for firewood harvesting but found some dry wood locally. Currently, gathering wood for next winter. Plan on drying covered, then moving the wood to a soon to-be-built woodshed at end of September. Youngest daughter (13) watched me tend the stove and has lit several fires - she's Miss Expert now. Gota love those secondary burn genes.

Would like to have a sustainable and renewable firewood source. Bought and adjacent 0.6 acre lot from my neighbor and planning on planting rows of nitrogen-fixing black locust. Will use the pollarding technique for future firewood harvests. Also, will not turn down other free firewood.

 

[HackBerry]

My family owns 320 acres with about half containing Riparian Forrest land dating back to the Oklahoma land run. The predominant trees found here are Hackberry, Walnut, Osage Orange, Cottonwood, and Eastern Red Cedar. I'm still discovering a few more. I consider myself more of a steward of the land and not an owner. Before this area was settled the area was certainly used for camping and hunting by Native Americans and we can still find their arrow heads on the property. I harvest trees for firewood but only take trees that appear to be near the end of their natural life or of poor growth quality. I won't cut a 40ft tall Walnut close to the creek but a leaning craggy one on the tree line is fair game.

I'm still burning in an open hearth fireplace but plan to upgrade to an insert stove in the near future. I cut and split wood for the pure enjoyment, a nice fire in the winter, and for the land management. I also enjoy learning how to survive like our ancestors without modern conveniences. The procurement and processing of firewood directly from the woods definitely connects me with one of the most ancient modes of survival. When I'm working in the woods I feel connected to both my ancestors and the Natives who were stewards of this resource for centuries before the Europeans. When I have a nice fire going in fireplace I find it's a nice time to reflect on my own work and consider all the camp fires built from the same woods by many different people throughout history.

 

[Stax]

I bought 40 acres of woods because I like to hunt squirrels and such. I built a new house a few years ago on the property. It has geothermal, which is cheaper then cutting wood. I put a tl300 in for "prepping" purposes, not intending to use it until the end of the world came around.

Then my son, his woman, and my 1yr old grandson Caleb, were in a car wreck. My son now has titanium in both his legs, woman is fine, but my grandson was paralyzed from the neck down. Docs said it was hopeless. He would not do anything but stare at the ceiling.

My little buddy had other ideas. In the next 2 years he started moving his hands, then his arms, then his whole upper body,,then his legs. He never stopped smiling the whole time.

We logged the woods and started selling firewood to get him stem cell treatments since insurance would not pay for it. We wanted him to walk!

I sold $17000 of logs and firewood to finance the stem cell treatments. In the meantime, we had to burn a lot of treetops and junk. We found out Caleb really liked fires, so it was a celebration every time there was a fire around here.

Caleb would set in my kubota for hours watching me cut and split. We would drive around the woods and he would pick the next tree to cut up. It was actually the tops of what was logged, but he called them trees.

I started burning so he could set and watch the fire thru the window.

Caleb left me on 1-1-14, he was almost 4, but I will keep burning fires for him. He taught me a lot in his short time with us. I miss him terribly.

Wow, was gonna share my story but after reading this I'm gonna close my laptop. So sorry man, so sorry.

 

[Bostontom]

My parents had a stove all through middle and high school I loved going out to cut and split with my dad it was like therapy for us. Moved out after high school got married bought a house. Soon after bought the stove a vermont casting dutchwest 2460 but it sat until winter. Our house is a small 1200 sq ft summer home on south shore coast about 70 yds from the water. The people who owned it had electric baseboard heat. After Decembers electric bill being $650 and a now pregnant wife the stove got hooked up the next week I cut and split about 7 cords last winter and we've enjoyed it ever since. Keeps her smiling now holding our son, watchin the fire, and me outside away from her cutting and splitting lol.

I bought 40 acres of woods because I like to hunt squirrels and such. I built a new house a few years ago on the property. It has geothermal, which is cheaper then cutting wood. I put a tl300 in for "prepping" purposes, not intending to use it until the end of the world came around.

Then my son, his woman, and my 1yr old grandson Caleb, were in a car wreck. My son now has titanium in both his legs, woman is fine, but my grandson was paralyzed from the neck down. Docs said it was hopeless. He would not do anything but stare at the ceiling.

My little buddy had other ideas. In the next 2 years he started moving his hands, then his arms, then his whole upper body,,then his legs. He never stopped smiling the whole time.

We logged the woods and started selling firewood to get him stem cell treatments since insurance would not pay for it. We wanted him to walk!

I sold $17000 of logs and firewood to finance the stem cell treatments. In the meantime, we had to burn a lot of treetops and junk. We found out Caleb really liked fires, so it was a celebration every time there was a fire around here.

Caleb would set in my kubota for hours watching me cut and split. We would drive around the woods and he would pick the next tree to cut up. It was actually the tops of what was logged, but he called them trees.

I started burning so he could set and watch the fire thru the window.

Caleb left me on 1-1-14, he was almost 4, but I will keep burning fires for him. He taught me a lot in his short time with us. I miss him terribly.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[WiscWoody]

For myself it was all about economics. I was forced into retirement during the great recession at a place and age where it would be hard to recover so I bought a wood stove and started cutting wood. I quickly learned the ins and outs of it all and have never looked back!