Reasons for wood burning.

[tutu_sue]

It cuts my gas bill in half, provides back-up heat and watching the fia is better than anything I can find on TV.

 

[Bill]

It gives me great pleasure to have the house up to 80 degrees when it's zero and below outside. Nothing finer than watching a rip roaring fire.

 

[burntime]

Because I am more of a traditionalist. Love hunting, fishing, and I like equiptment. With wood comes a new insert, a pickup, a chainsaw, a logsplitter, a tractor, a trailer...remind me again how much I am saving? Someone hit it on the head earlier. A fire is home. And NO ONE complains when its 75 in the house and 20 below outside!

 

[builderbob]

Wood is renewable. Natural gas/propane/oil are depleting resources. Making pellets uses more processing energy on margin than just using real, handsplit wood.

Seems to me like a real, primal, ages old type fire is a wood fire. Nothing else satisfies as much.

builderbob

 

[nshif]

Well I live in the middle of about a half million acre forest and using anything else for heat just seams stupid. Anything I cut for firewood just helps to thin the forest ( or my property ) to help prevent fire spread. (fortunately I dont live close enough to Tahoe to have to abide by those stupid regs. ) Any other type of heat would cost me 10X what I " pay for wood " ( chainsaw gas oil chains etc ). It just makes sense.

 

[loneeagle15]

It's the Scotch in me and not just the drinking time heating costs keep going up

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Was raised with wood heat. Tried oil heat when we got married and almost froze. So, wood heat R us.

I too love it when the house is 80 degrees and it is zero or below outdoors with a 45 mph wind. I keep it very toasty inside which also keeps some of the clothing off the ladies! And that heat feels great after working out in the cold.

As for the work, we love it. I have always loved working in the woods which has included logging and sawmill work. Guess it's in my blood because we always look forward to November and December when our wood cutting gets going big time. Right now we have about 5 years wood cut, split and stacked. Add that up comparing what it would cost to heat with oil or gas and we have a very nice nest egg there.

 

[builderbob]

I have always loved working in the woods which has included logging and sawmill work. Guess it's in my blood because we always look forward to November and December when our wood cutting gets going big time.

Something about the smell of being in the woods, not to mention the smell of fresh cut wood.
Invigorating and refreshing.

BTB

 

[BrotherBart]

I have always loved working in the woods which has included logging and sawmill work. Guess it's in my blood because we always look forward to November and December when our wood cutting gets going big time.

Something about the smell of being in the woods, not to mention the smell of fresh cut wood.
Invigorating and refreshing.

BTB

Mostly in the woods I smell sweat and chainsaw exhaust.

Oh, there is that walk completely in the woods when I go down to get the mail. Heaven on earth. But the whole time I am looking up for dead and dying trees.

 

[GeeWizMan]

My wife and I burn wood for many reasons, many of which have been stated here: Like being extra warm during the cold winter, getting the opportunity to work in the woods a great deal, and we used to say saving money. A couple years ago after we added up all we got into this wood heat thing we realized it is not about the money savings, it is all about the quality of life.

George

 

[BrotherBart]

My wife and I burn wood for many reasons, many of which have been stated here: Like being extra warm during the cold winter, getting the opportunity to work in the woods a great deal, and we used to say saving money. A couple years ago after we added up all we got into this wood heat thing we realized it is not about the money savings, it is all about the quality of life.

George

Word.

 

[johnsopi]

My 3 reason are.
1) save money on heating
2) I collect things anyway so hording firewood is saving money. Get wood not toys.
3)Gives me something to look forward to during the winter, plus I like the house over 72 degs.

 

[colsmith]

Ditto to most of the above. We do an awful lot of things the slow, old-fashioned way. We grow a lot of fruits and vegetables, preserve 200+ jars a year of fruit, salsa, jam, peppers, asparagus, etc., cook and bake all the time, hang all of our clothes up to dry, and so on. We scrounge our wood and cut and split it ourselves, it fits right in with the rest of our lives. We retired VERY early (me at 38, and hubby a couple years later at 41) and are frugal so that we won't need jobs. We find that time and money are almost interchangeable, and finding and preparing our own home heat seems fabulous to me. Plus, having been cold for days at a time when the electricity was out, I love staying warm even when there is no power. I feel so much more in control of my life than when I had a corporate job. Plus, must admit, have always been a pyromaniac. Also, I find that I read more now that we have a wood stove. The couch by the stove is an excellent place to read a book.

 

[builderbob]

Also, I find that I read more now that we have a wood stove. The couch by the stove is an excellent place to read a book.

I find that a nice cozy warm spot where I can curl up with a good book, promotes not reading the book, but instead ends up promoting nice naps!

BTB

 

[JBinKC]

Ditto to most of the above. We do an awful lot of things the slow, old-fashioned way. We grow a lot of fruits and vegetables, preserve 200+ jars a year of fruit, salsa, jam, peppers, asparagus, etc., cook and bake all the time, hang all of our clothes up to dry, and so on. We scrounge our wood and cut and split it ourselves, it fits right in with the rest of our lives. We retired VERY early (me at 38, and hubby a couple years later at 41) and are frugal so that we won't need jobs. We find that time and money are almost interchangeable, and finding and preparing our own home heat seems fabulous to me. Plus, having been cold for days at a time when the electricity was out, I love staying warm even when there is no power. I feel so much more in control of my life than when I had a corporate job. Plus, must admit, have always been a pyromaniac. Also, I find that I read more now that we have a wood stove. The couch by the stove is an excellent place to read a book.

You couldn't have said it much better. All of the above apply to me also. Its all about the simple life and something to do to keep me busy and prepared in case of losing power or if economic conditions get real bad. I hung it up last year at 43 and oddly enough a transplanted Wisconsinite that used to grow up in your neck of the woods.

 

[drhiii]

So many things already covered. Having my brother walk in to the house and say "your house is always really toasty", priceless. That when three houses down where he lives, he pays $300-$400/mo during the cold season, and it's rising. And my sis and brother in law pay more in season to heat their home. We however pay mebbe $30 for water heater and stove and the occasional forced air that kicks on once in a while. My sweetie loves the bone warming feel. It makes her arthritis and other aches and pains much better. Unlike some others who don't like the work but love the heat... I very much like to go out in any weather, 0 or 100 degrees, and cut cords of wood. I like swinging an axe and making a science out of getting the perfect splits that I recognize a second time when I am about to put them into the stove. In otherwords, I like the entire act of getting wood. I like how heavenly beer or premium whiskey tatstes after a day or two of harversting wood. Food too. I like learning about the different kinds of wood. I like finding those areas where it helps minimize fire hazards to communities. I like the conversations I get in to when running into other people who are harvesting firewood in similar areas. I like having created relationships with local tree companies so that they will drop a cache of wood here and there around the neighborhood, and I know it is for me without having spoken a word. I like being able to create not just heat but essential sustinence when power, phones, TV stations, whatever, fail. I like the art of starting a fire and bringing it up to speed. I like how our cats find it delicious to lay close to when it is -10 outside, and they know it. I like how the whole thing creates a protective feel to the place. I like that I put in my own stove. I like that we are about the only ones in our neighborhood that burn firewood and know others look on us with a tinge of jealousy, especially when there is next to no smoke coming from our stove pipe yet they know it is cranking. I like how, when I burn pinon, it creates a wonderful, pungent smell in the neighborhood that people like, and say so. I pretent to hold aires, that I am virile and attractive to everyone around me, aided by putting on impressive wool shirts in the winter that suggest Jerimiah Johnson or some similar studly outdoorsman and walking around like I know what I am doing with everything to do with firewood and burning even tho inside I'm a techno geek. I like the look that people give me when they learn I heat our home this way, especially when one occasionally tries to weigh the cost in terms of time and I respond with "yes, but you are missing the entire point". I like that a nephew who is becoming an accomplished pianist thinks that coming over and splitting some wood is just plain cool, because it is. I like it because I am creating far less impact on the environment than the equivilent that I would be drawing from the local power plant 4 miles away that spews junk (and thankfully due to the prevailing winds, is almost aways blowing away from us). I like the idea of cast iron and steel brought together in smart, efficient ways, and the overall sense of legacy it provokes. I like looking at the approx 7-8 cords of harvested wood so far this year, with 3-4 more to go before the snow flies. Mostly, I like to heat our 1907 home this way because it makes it feel like, well, home. And my wife likes it because I like it.

This is just for starters.

 

[MichaelS]

The main reason for me was the $$$. It was costing me 350.00 a month and I just cant afford that.

 

[Todd]

Ditto to most of the above. We do an awful lot of things the slow, old-fashioned way. We grow a lot of fruits and vegetables, preserve 200+ jars a year of fruit, salsa, jam, peppers, asparagus, etc., cook and bake all the time, hang all of our clothes up to dry, and so on. We scrounge our wood and cut and split it ourselves, it fits right in with the rest of our lives. We retired VERY early (me at 38, and hubby a couple years later at 41) and are frugal so that we won't need jobs. We find that time and money are almost interchangeable, and finding and preparing our own home heat seems fabulous to me. Plus, having been cold for days at a time when the electricity was out, I love staying warm even when there is no power. I feel so much more in control of my life than when I had a corporate job. Plus, must admit, have always been a pyromaniac. Also, I find that I read more now that we have a wood stove. The couch by the stove is an excellent place to read a book.

You couldn't have said it much better. All of the above apply to me also. Its all about the simple life and something to do to keep me busy and prepared in case of losing power or if economic conditions get real bad. I hung it up last year at 43 and oddly enough a transplanted Wisconsinite that used to grow up in your neck of the woods.

How the heck can you retire so young? You must not have kids.

 

[JBinKC]

Todd-

No kids. Worked in the casino industry and got lucky in the stock market with my retirement assets. I now live on Lake of the Ozarks.

By the way are you on Lake Wissota? From your pictures it looks like your are on a lakefront?