How involved is your other?

[CountryGal]

I picked out the stove, designed the hearth makeover, supervised the install (brought home the bacon, fried it up in the pan...heh!) but I don't split wood and don't want DH doing it either. We buy ours already split and I am going to get him the Ryobi splitter for Christmas if I can get my pickup back my SIL borrowed. That way he can make kindling from some logs that are a big too large for our new firebox.

I had to take him to the ER 2 weeks ago when he sliced his finger using a mandolin to slice onions. 5 stitches and they didn't attempt to sew it (I brought the missing part with me in a baggie filled with ice), so I don't want him anywhere near a sharp instrument for awhile.

 

[colsmith]

We share the woodstove experience pretty equally. We both researched and looked for the stove, I'm not sure whose idea it was in the first place. Hubby mostly built the hearth while I was his assistant, his brother helped one day. I arranged all the tiles (we bought them in Turkey and Mexico mostly, gorgeous) and we laid them together. Stove was professionally installed on top of our raised hearth. I bought the chainsaw years ago, but he does the most chainsawing because it is really hard on my hands (carpal tunnel and ulnar nerve problems.) I find lots of the free wood online, we scrounge together, load and unload, stack, split, etc. I prefer the 8 lb. maul and hubby the 12 lb. He splits the biggest, hardest pieces but I do a lot of the splitting, too. We are currently onto a great free wood source, we mostly go together to get the wood, 3 cords in 10 days. Last week one day he was busy so I loaded one truck full by myself. This week my left wrist is really sore (carrying too much heavy wood!) so he has been loading by himself. I still help with the right hand, holding long wood while he cuts, and carrying and stacking one-handed.

In general, we BOTH stack and carry in wood, make fires, and clean out the ash. I like to start fires because I am a pyromaniac. I disperse the wood ashes in the garden and yard. What a woman, huh? I told hubby that if he gets run over by a truck, I should be able to find a new husband on hearthnet easily.

 

[elkimmeg]

There are about 20 women reading this post and thinking "SOLD" got to get me one of them stoves.

hahahaha , I need to come up with a Pacific Energy Summit story like that.
Just rib-n ya buddy, Good post ole' ELKer. ;-)

Roo what If i told them that 40% of the work force manufacturing these stoves were woman. From Enamaling to driving the folk lift trucks essemblers to running one of the forges
All very skilled workers. There is some truth to this Vc know their stoves attract woman appeal

 

[johnsopi]

My wife is for wood heat, not against it. That is a help.

 

[KarynAnne]

It's nice to see the other women on the board weigh in. I'm with them: researched/picked the stove, arranged delivery, etc. Wonderful husband did a great job on the install - which was rather complicated. I found where to buy the wood - had it delivered - helped Mark throw it through the trap-door that he made and into the cave that's underneath of the garage. Went to the cave with him to stack what we had thrown down the hole....repeate steps A and B a LOT of times. He's away most of the time. I had a LOT to learn - thank goodness for this forum. I start great fires and keep them going. I've gotten better at the elusive overnight burn. My biggest problem - I don't HAVE to get up in the am for any particular reason and I'm such a night owl that I end up sleeping past when I should have reloaded the wood. For instance - I was painting our bedroom into the wee hours last night so I didn't get up until late morning. The stove is in the basement, I'm 2 floors up and my bed is too cozy to haul my arse down the stairs. I'm working on that part. I think that might be the hardest part of the whole stove deal at this point! Haha. All things considered, I'm a trooper and my husband thinks so too. (I don't split yet though - I am a weenie about that - I'll get there.)

 

[wahoowad]

Holy crap, again. The girlfriend stayed home today as she was sick (her birthday too no less). I check in on her and she says she started a fire! I'm so proud. She said she got the order of stuff confused (I've shown her the top down method I use a few times) but it appears to be going. I need to get more info on how she did it as I had nothing but crap wood and no kindling inside today. Although I did have a bunch of fatwood sticks and a supercedar thing. Now I wish I had one of those digital temp dataloggers to make sure she didn't overfire the thing!

 

[suematteva]

Maybe you want to increase your Christmas list from Labonville to include a few other items besides the chaps!!

 

[KarynAnne]

...helped Mark throw it through the trap-door that he made and into the cave that's underneath of the garage.

UNDERNEATH the garage?? Sounds like expensive design and construction work.

Where in the Valley?? In-law's have a SUMMER place on Eastman Pond in Grantham....and a brandy-new, ununsed enammeled Intrepid.....it'll prolly remain unused. I noticed a number of stoves on Ebay (in the last six months) that were located at Eastman.

We're in Claremont - right next to Vermont but on the NH side of the Connecticut River. I should describe the trap door/cave deal. We have a Cape Cod w/ a very short driveway. The house has a one car garage on the street side and a walk out basement on the back yard side. Underneath the wooden floored garage is a room of the basement that is made out of poured concrete and exactly as big as the garage. We always called it the "cave" because that's about what it looks like and all it's good for. Until - my ingeneous husband got the idea that we wouldn't have to walk firewood around the house if we cut a trap door from the garage to the cave. The stove is in the basement, so it makes great sense. We were able to get a cord delivered (dumped) in the short driveway and tossed down the trap door. Voila - it's in the basement. Then we stack around the walls of the cave and never have to go out into the weather to retrieve wood. I wouldn't put unseasoned wood in there for obvious reasons. We have a dehumidifier in the basement that did not go on with the arrival of the wood. But, the wood was not covered and had a bit of rain moisture when it arrived in the cave. We had an oscilating fan blowing on it for a few days and it's all good. Necessity is the mother of invention.

 

[KarynAnne]

Reference above post -

DUH It's spelled "engenius"...hit the post button too fast after an auto spell check.

LOL

 

[CountryGal]

It's nice to see the other women on the board weigh in. I'm with them: researched/picked the stove, arranged delivery, etc. Wonderful husband did a great job on the install - which was rather complicated. I found where to buy the wood - had it delivered - helped Mark throw it through the trap-door that he made and into the cave that's underneath of the garage. Went to the cave with him to stack what we had thrown down the hole....repeate steps A and B a LOT of times. He's away most of the time. I had a LOT to learn - thank goodness for this forum. I start great fires and keep them going. I've gotten better at the elusive overnight burn. My biggest problem - I don't HAVE to get up in the am for any particular reason and I'm such a night owl that I end up sleeping past when I should have reloaded the wood. For instance - I was painting our bedroom into the wee hours last night so I didn't get up until late morning. The stove is in the basement, I'm 2 floors up and my bed is too cozy to haul my arse down the stairs. I'm working on that part. I think that might be the hardest part of the whole stove deal at this point! Haha. All things considered, I'm a trooper and my husband thinks so too. (I don't split yet though - I am a weenie about that - I'll get there.)

Get him a Ryobi splitter for Christmas. I'm getting DH one but I want to use it too. It looks like fun. I work from home so I have to keep the fire going when it's cold. Right now we're going through a warm spell out here so I'm just using the small space heater in the living room to keep the pug warm enough.

 

[elkimmeg]

Webwidow and other fairer sex members have fun with this post laugh smile

What is it a full moon or dissapointing christmas, something in the water, but the last week there are more and more post I will not comment on

Well Country gal how is the splitter working out? Great tip spray pam or spray silicone on the cutting wedge you will notice the difference

 

[DavidV]

I often come home to find a blazing fire in the stove with the Cat engaged and temp at about 500. My teenage cheerleader daughter splits and stacks wood( she likes the definition it gives her) The boys stack wood and they fill the wood bins every day. So I can say the whole crew is involved. Of course the fact that I turned off the Thermostat a couple weeks ago helps that a bit, but they were doing all this before then.

 

[restorer]

Reference above post -

DUH It's spelled "engenius"...hit the post button too fast after an auto spell check.

LOL

What's a spell checker? I might have woodworker fingers, but I can hit the keyes. Grew up in the era of Prof Reading.

 

[CountryGal]

Webwidow and other fairer sex members have fun with this post laugh smile

What is it a full moon or dissapointing christmas, something in the water, but the last week there are more and more post I will not comment on

Well Country gal how is the splitter working out? Great tip spray pam or spray silicone on the cutting wedge you will notice the difference

Elk, it is still on the back deck waiting for his elbow to stop hurting. Arthritis hit. He did buy new safety glasses and the silicone spray today. Hopefully we can use it soon. I need some kinding!

 

[GeeWizMan]

I would have to say that it is a whole family affair. My wife and I work together on every aspect of heating our home from going out into our woods and getting wood to splitting, hauling, stacking, and tending to the fire that we burn 24/7. My 9 year old son is involved in that he also goes into the woods with us and helps however, we don't let him mess around with the stove part of it. We also all enjoy sitting around the fire with a good book. :coolsmile:

gwm

 

[Gunner]

My GF loves to operate the stove, and can start a mean top down fire. Yesterday we went cutting, I ran the saw, she loaded the smaller stuff and took care of the brush, I was impressed.

 

[elkimmeg]

Webwidow and other fairer sex members have fun with this post laugh smile

What is it a full moon or dissapointing christmas, something in the water, but the last week there are more and more post I will not comment on

Well Country gal how is the splitter working out? Great tip spray pam or spray silicone on the cutting wedge you will notice the difference

Elk, it is still on the back deck waiting for his elbow to stop hurting. Arthritis hit. He did buy new safety glasses and the silicone spray today. Hopefully we can use it soon. I need some kinding!

Well we all want to know all the fun you had with that new splitter. I think we will have another Ryobi sucess story to tell. It will be so much fun watch out that you don't over do it the frist day

 

[budman]

I know this may be mean but i pulled the relay on furnace and she dosent have a choice.

 

[sstanis]

Got love women's liberation. Up until 100yrs ago, if a women wanted heat, to be able to cook, and the like, while the man was tending the field, slopping the pigs, milking the cows, etc.; she helped chop the wood, stack the wood, tend the fire, and clean the ash.

 

[webbie]

Yeah, and guys actually worked instead of slinging numbers and watching big screen TVs.

Thems weres the daze.

 

[rudysmallfry]

I don't have an "other". It's just me, woman, fire starter, hear me roar! If a guy ever does come into the picutre, he can have the chain saw duties, but the splitting and fire making are mine. Splitting wood with a maul has given me the nicest toned arms I could ever ask for. Splitting and stacking gives me the opportunity to be outside which I love anytime of year. Once I've worked until exhausted, it's great to switch gears and plop down onto the couch for a long nap in front of the stove. It's definitely one of those small pleasures that make all the other crap okay. Another Super Bowl for the Pats wouldn't hurt either...

 

[ChrisN]

My wife is happy to have the fire going, but she leaves it pretty much to me and the boys to keep going. For instance the only time my oil furnace heat has been used is the weekend I spent away with the boys at a hockey tourney in early december. The S.O. just couldn't quite maintain things. But she did give it the old college try.

On another topic, Dylan, my family had a camp on Rocky Bound Pond in Croydon N.H, next to Grantham, when I was growing up. Wonderful, wonderful memories.

 

[CountryGal]

Webwidow and other fairer sex members have fun with this post laugh smile

What is it a full moon or dissapointing christmas, something in the water, but the last week there are more and more post I will not comment on

Well Country gal how is the splitter working out? Great tip spray pam or spray silicone on the cutting wedge you will notice the difference

Elk, it is still on the back deck waiting for his elbow to stop hurting. Arthritis hit. He did buy new safety glasses and the silicone spray today. Hopefully we can use it soon. I need some kinding!

Well we all want to know all the fun you had with that new splitter. I think we will have another Ryobi sucess story to tell. It will be so much fun watch out that you don't over do it the frist day

Well, I went to my daughter's (today was her birthday) and babysat the grandkids while they went out to dinner and a movie and Paul called me to say he put the Ryobi together and split some wood for kindling! He loved it! He sprayed the silicone on the wedge first and said it worked great! Life is good! Now we'll have all the kindling we need because some of our logs are a bit too large for the new stove but cut they make perfect kindling. Now I want to try it--I am feeling left out. LOL!

 

[RoseRedHoofbeats]

HA! I love this thread. My husband is SUCH a city boy! Lord only knows how I ended up married to one... I grew up splitting logs and riding horses and shooting shotguns in Texas, and he grew up a doctor's kid in a 3,500 sq ft house with more bathrooms than people in the biggest city in Utah. Whiz with a computer though. He can take apart a laptop, fix it, and put it back together in forty five minutes. I once tried to replace the keyboard in mine and ended up dropping one of the fifty thousand itty bitty stupidly small screws... Anyway.

I revoked his guy card shortly after we got married, on Thanksgiving. We driving to see his folks, and I told him his car probably needed some oil because I could smell some burning, and when was the last time he checked it? He sort of hemmed and hawed and said he was sure it was fine because the "light wasn't on yet". We got to their house and I told him to check the oil real quick while I ran inside with the food. He hadn't come back in for ten minutes, so I went outside wondering what the hell he was doing. And he couldn't find the dipstick. For God's sake, IT'S ORANGE.

And then there was the lovely moment when I had a flat tire, I called him to tell him I'd be late. He picks that moment to tell me he took the tire iron OUT OF MY CAR and didn't put it back. Why? I have no idea. Why didn't HIS car have a tire iron? Because he's an idiot. Needless to say, I made him pick me up and went home in HIS car while he changed the tire.

Anyway, the wood stove was my idea. Our furnace is 30 years old and died last year- honestly it needed to be taken out and shot years ago, and because we live in a mobile home, you have to get a special kind of furnace and a special kind of adapter and a special kind of gas exchange... $$$$$. Plus some other stuff I'm pretty sure the guy made up. (It's like this with EVERYTHING for a mobile home... washer and dryer hookups, gas range hookups, water heater... I nearly broke down and cried when it turned out you had to have a SPECIAL WOOD STOVE too!) I'm a crunchy granola sort of person (I get paid to be a professional hippie to new mamas and babies, very fun job) so of course the idea of heating my house naturally appealed to me. And we could get a wood stove bought and installed for less than it would cost to replace our furnace and update the ducting, plus it's MOUNDS cheaper to run- we spend about $120 a month on heating during the winter with our gas furnace, and I was like... "$1000 wood stove... $3000 furnace... I live next to a forest..." The math was pretty simple! He was NOT happy about it and told me I had to find a wood stove AND install it for less than $3,000. Little did he know I'd find this place! Mwahahaha.

I plan on doing most of the work with the wood pile. He'll just have to do the real heavy lifting- I'm 110 pounds soaking wet, plus I have the little one underfoot most of the time. He thinks I'm a complete nutter to shun modern technology for something nobody's used in 100 years. For a while he thought I was kidding. Then I reminded him that the last time he thought I was kidding, I made him drive to Colorado for a 100 year old sewing machine. (Don't look at me like that! It was just like the one my grandmother had!)

We need a chick's thread. =D

~Rose

 

[Hanko]

Wow, I didnt realize how many girls were on here. I think ILL keep my mouth shut