How did your stash hold up?

[Woody Stover]

A face cord in the living room with a fan on it. Yea, my wife would probably be living somewhere else but hey, a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do. Right?

She's probably more tolerant than most women would be of my, uh, uniqueness. :lol: She has more of a problem with the fan noise than she does with the wood, so the rack hasn't had both fans 24/7.
I probably didn't have to do it; I've got about 1/3 cord of some pretty decent Oak which could possibly get me through. But I wanted to do it, just to see what would happen. It's been about a week. I figured that the outside would get dry, but the inside wouldn't improve all that much. I'm surprised to find that some of these splits are actually getting pretty dry all the way through. I just tested one...7% on the outside, 16% on the inside. :gulp:
Unfortunately, I didn't have a scale to weigh some test wood and track it throughout the couple of weeks that it'll be drying.

 

[JustWood]

I started Sept 21. Earliest ever. Burned fairly steady in the fall although not hard. Have smoked 7 cord so far. 1 1/2 left. Only had 7 in the shed so the emergency stash stacked in the mill will get raided soon. This is the most I've burned in easily 10 or 12 year. Haven't seen the propane man in 2 years. hehehe

 

[firefighterjake]

had 3 cords, burned one,,,,,,,,,,,have two left...........c'mon down from Maine (I used to live in New Sweden) and get some.......I've got enough to spare.

-Soupy1957

I lived in New Sweden for a couple years as a kid. My parents are now in Ft. Kent.

Hehheh . . . they're moving in the wrong direction . . . don't most Mainers go south, not north to live as they grow older?

 

[Slow1]

Of the 4 cord I originally allocated for this year I have about 1.5 left. I'm on track to burn 3 cords (or slightly over) so I expect I'll have a cord+ left over to burn next year. I have about 7 additional cords for following years - so I'd be glad if 3 cords/year is my need as that means I'm well ahead of need.

 

[Bad Wolf]

I set aside a cafefully stacked a measured 7.5 cords for this years heating season, started on it Oct 1 and have about a half cord left. I'll make it to March but then I'll have to break into some of the four cords that I had earmarked for 2011/2012.
I had estimated 7 to 8 cords but this has been a groan of a winter.
This is for 3,000 sq ft, DHW and Hot tub (we like it at 103). This is my third year heating with wood, the first two I bought c/s/d and it was hard to gauge just how much I really burned because no one gives you a real cord. I ran out both years around this time.

This year I scrounged/cut all my own wood.

I'm working on next years wood and I have 6 solar panels that I still need to hook up that will hopefully supply my DHW over the summer.

I was starting to gripe about the constant scrounge/cut/split/stack repeat until I saw that oil is $3.50 to 4.19/gal in CT

I used to burn over 1100 gallons/year, this year around 20.

Wood is good.

 

[midwestcoast]

I thought I'd have to either buy some or quit burning by now, but instead I'm happily burning some Red Oak that I split & stacked last spring. It is burning way better than I'd hoped (I split it fairly small). Along with a small emergency stash of 3YO Oak I'm looking good through Mid March. Then maybe the odd fire of chunks for the chilliest spring days & let the furnace do its thing.

Most of my 11/12 wood is stacked, got about 1/2 cord to be split & stacked. My neighbor is talking about getting a couple pretty big trees dropped & offered me the wood. If he goes ahead I'll have a good chunk of 12/13 wood put up before summer. :coolsmile:

 

[Beetle-Kill]

You guys out East got hit a lot harder than we did this winter. If the remainder of the winter stays like this, anything I cut this summer will be for 13/14. Nice to be ahead.

 

[lukem]

This winter's pile was about 3.75 cord. About 2/3 of it was worth a damn. It is gone. I attribute the shortfall to a number of things:

1.) This winter was(is) brutal.
2.) First full year burning this stove in this house...no basis to compare.
3.) This winter was(is) brutal.
4.) I was overly optimistic.
5.) This winter was(is) brutal.
6.) 1/3 of my wood wasn't worth a damn (punky as hell).
7.) This winter was(is) brutal.
8.) My new found hatred of all burning propane.
9.) This winter was(is) brutal.

I have raided next years pile to the tune of .75 cord. I'm hoping to make it the rest of the burning season (mid/end March) on .75 more cord. Should be able to go to burning one medium size load (rather than 2 large loads) per day before too long, I hope.

 

[Constrictor]

stash held up nice. started with 15 cord and have used about 3 so far, probaly use about 3/4 cord more. this was a bad winter, normally only use 3 cord.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We're doing fairly well so far. We're down to about 15 cord though so it would be nice if I could get busy on this task.

 

[Beardog]

I'm out. Had about 3 cord for next year that I gave up on as it's still green and I figure I am just wasting it at this point. It was cut in the fall and I never planned on burning it this year. Got the stove this year and thought I would only burn on the weekends. Unfortunately I got used to being warm and not hearing the oil guzzler come on so I burned a lot more frequently than planned. Lesson learned!

 

[PapaDave]

I'm out. Had about 3 cord for next year that I gave up on as it's still green and I figure I am just wasting it at this point. It was cut in the fall and I never planned on burning it this year. Got the stove this year and thought I would only burn on the weekends. Unfortunately I got used to being warm and not hearing the oil guzzler come on so I burned a lot more frequently than planned. Lesson learned!

On the plus side, you burned in the worst part of the winter. Think of the savings!
Go get some more wood. Do it now.

 

[FLINT]

I put up 3.5 cord for this year. So far we've only burned a little over 1.5 cord. Looks like I'll only burn 2 cord total or maybe a little more. Our new stove is more efficient than our old one, so I overestimated our wood needs for the next two years and now I'm way ahead.

 

[PapaDave]

When I built the shed last year, there was a little more than 2/3's cord left from the previous year. I pulled 5 more cord from the field, plus a third cord from behind one of the sheds. I also had just under a third cord of spruce.
That means I had about 6 cord to start the season, and for some reason I thought I had put another 2/3 cord in there from somewhere. I've got somewhere around 3 cord left of that 6. If that's right, then I'm doing well despite the cold we've had.
There are still about 8.5 cord in the field too.
Edit: found my post from last year about the shed, and I said that I had it loaded with about 6.5 cord.

 

[weatherguy]

I started the year with 7 cords, I figured Id need three based on last year (I started a little late). Im down to 4 cords so Ive already burned 3 and will probably go through one more. This year was cold and after reading through the thread its seems a lot of burners burned more than usual. Soon as the snow melts Im starting on restocking and Im shooting for at least 8 cords by the end of summer.

 

[Slow1]

Interesting stat - I too thought we'd been colder this winter than last. Then I checked the numbers and am surprised to discover that last year at this time we'd had 4100 HDD, this year I'm at 4000. I would say that this indicates it isn't really a materially different overall heat load and if anything it has been cooler for us.

Of course total HDD doesn't say it all - I know my efficiency is dramatically different when it is very cold and I burn hard/fast and we have had some colder days this year than last.

Still I'm happy that my supply is holding out - as stated before, I expect my total to be about the same as last year if things keep up as they have.

 

[Jotul_Rockland]

I probably burnt around 3 cords and on track to burn another cord.


I currently have 1.5 cords stacked for next season and want to work on 3 more cords this spring.

 

[thewoodlands]

[quote author="Heaterhunter"



If it stays cold enough we might dip into next years Cherry which won't be a big deal for us, just under one cord of cherry left that we had planned to burn.


Zap

 

[wood spliter]

So far I've used 3.5 or so cords. I still have one left in the yard and 1/2 stacked on the porch. I think I'll make it with out using any thing from next year.

 

[snowleopard]

My stash was really stashes--several piles and some standing dead around the property. Got my old Toy pickup back from a friend on a Friday with the plan of gathering it all close to the house over the weekend. Woke up the next morning to the first real snow of the season. So all winter kids and I have been dragging the wood in to the house on a cargo sled, and it's worked out fine. However, we've gone through the two biggest piles and have about 1/2 of the next pile carted uphill, s&s. I figure if I make it through March, we're probably going to be okay with what's left--setting the damp wood aside to burn in April, as the wind and sun should be enough to dry it out, and I think all I'll need then will be short, warm fires.

These are definitely my `smoke 'em if ya got 'em' days; I'm picking the best wood off the pile and pulling it into the house. It's warmed up to a balmy 20F here, and that will help w/fuel consumption. I think I've got a few weeks of firewood on the front porch (green and seasoned together--don't ask). Been eyeing my stash and figuring the days. I have a few standing dead trees that won't be too hard to get to, and if I can get a saw, I'm set.

I know that I'm glad I got the stove in when I did, set up w/wood or no. I never want to play it this close to the wire again, but I don't regret that I went for it, even if I wasn't all buttoned up. My hope is to get a 10-cord truckload of birch logs, and start working them up. After that, i start on brining in at least a winter's supply of the seasoned poplar, maybe two. Ambitious, but I have summers off of work, so I'll have some time available. After that, it would just be a matter of replenishing what was used the prior year. It'll get a little easier from here on.

ETA: just checked the weather forecast. We had about a foot of snow this week--had the driveway plowed Saturday, and again on Tuesday night. Supposed to start snowing after midnight, 1-3 inches by morning, 3-5 tomorrow, and another couple inches after that. Then it's supposed to drop to -15 or -20 after that. I don't think I have any choice about a saw purchase now. That's the only I can see to get through this. At least I know it's coming--will take tomorrow afternoon off of work and do some get-ready-to-get-snowed-in shopping done. Winter's not finished with us yet, boys and girls . . .

EATA: So this got my curiosity up, got out of bed and put on coat and bunny boots and took a flashlight along because there's a little moose that's been hanging out in the woods around here. Went down to the last accessible woodpile, where my son said he thought we had "a lot" of wood left, and pulled out the last five rounds there that I could get without some serious digging, threw them on the cargo sled, brought them uphill and split them to stack. Decided to just carry them inside to my indoor pile. So about four days of wood inside, another week maybe by the downstairs door, and maybe--just maybe--two weeks worth on the upstairs porch. There's more than that there, but about half of it's green. That makes it easy to figure out what to do: we need a chain saw. I've got three standing dead trees down by that woodpile that are a couple of weeks of warm. That would get us through until spring. These are standing dead poplar, no bark left, not too big around, with hardly any limbs on them, so I'm pretty confident that they are going to be burnable right now.

 

[zzr7ky]

Snow-

I have been burning some standing dead because I can get to it, it burns, and my 'good' stacks are difficult to get to. It's working out OK.

I brought in some smaller limbs that I normally would have left in the woods and the dog started parading around the house trying to get someone to play! Spring fever! I guess he thinks splits are for the stove, rounds are his ; )...

ATB,
Mike

 

[ColdNH]

Not bad for my first full year burning! managed to scrounge somewhere between 5-6 cord this past summer, alot of it was already seasoned, some was cut into 4 foot lenghts and laying on the ground for over a year. so luckily i ended up with 4 burnable cords of wood for this winter. so far i would estimate i have used somewhere between 2.5-3 cord and still have about 1+ cord of burnable stuff left if not more. wont have to scroung much this year either.