Western Alaskan seeking stove advice for burning driftwood
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Bart, looking back over my posts to this forum, easily half of them have been restatements of your previous postings. Now that you've outed me, I'm going to have to start formulating actual replies.
thechimneysweep said:
Keep that good advice coming here Tom. The Forum needs your experienced advice. Not my shots in the dark.
Well I have certainly benefited from the shots in the dark to the sage voices of experience - and had some good laughs along the way! I'll let you know, Rick, if I find some R&D;money, but the only way you're going to get that bike to Nome is on a barge or jet. But we do have a glorious 10 miles or so paved road for you to enjoy once you're here! And given our typical weather, you don't even need to start the bike to feel the wind blowin' in your face! I can't thank you all enough for your suggestions. I'll let you know what we finally decide to do! Thanks again
Sue
SueVery best of luck to you, Sue. FWIW, I'm a big fan of steel stoves myself...I like how they look and I like how they heat, but the choice of material is pretty much one of personal taste, there are fine products that'll get the job done made either way, including the soapstones. Welcome to the forum, and by all means keep in touch with us. Rick
Yup Sue, I was wondering where capt. Rick was going to attach the pontoons to that rig. Best of luck.
Coming this winter to the History Channel: "Ice Road Bikers". Follow the hazardous adventures of a bunch of hearth.com regulars as they traverse the Ice Road to deliver a stove to Sue on the Bering Sea. Follow Rick, Hogwildz and Gooserider as they defy death to skid a PE Super 27 and boxes of porcelain pipe behind their motorcycles only to discover upon arrival that Sue is wintering in Florida after she figured out that the savings in oil cost would pay for the trip.
BeGreen said:
"Check with the Nome Home Depot or Lowes". I don't care who you are, that right there is funny!
The closest Lowe's or Home Depot to us is a $600 jet ride at an hour and a half away. I would go by truck, but no road exists. Snowmobile? A week. Boat? Two weeks. Walk? Six weeks.
Welcome Frostbit! Glad you got a chuckle out of it. Never been to Nome. Sounds like I should have said Igloo Depot and Below Zero Hardware, Sled, and Dog Trading Post.
What are you burning to stay warm?
What are you burning to stay warm?
Hi all, Sue graciously sent me the link to this site, and what a great find. My name is Nate, and I reside here in Nome along with Sue. No, we don't co-habitate. I've been here 50 plus years, and I think she's close to half that time here as well. I don't mean to rain on Sue's parade...what she is asking in advice I have an interest in, as well. I, too, am contemplating a wood burning stove in my home to help alleviate having to create yet another Exxon record profit quarter. Her, and my, inquest into an alternative method to supplement home heat is well founded: Virtually everyone in our fine community (and it IS a fine community) heats with fuel oil, simply because we have no natural gas or coal within reasonable distance. Electric heat is out as electricity is currently pushing .40 per KWH. Propane is used exclusively for those wannabe Emeril Lagase' types. I do cook with propane at my cabin, because I do not have 240v service there....the 3000 watt Yamaha just can't do it. I bought a #100 pound propane bottle last week: $170
To the point at hand: I do heat with wood at my camp, which I go to every available weekend during the summer and many more during the winter. I have an early (1990) Blaze King Princess non-cat stove that consumes black spruce exclusively. As Sue mentioned about the 70 miles away that trees actually grow, my cabin sits smack dab in the middle of 'em all. I harvest half dead spruce in March or April of each year, and put up enough to last me at least a year. I keep a years supply seasoned ahead.
Since we live on the Bering Sea coast, not just folks here in Nome but there are many villages in the same predicament, driftwood is plentiful. The mighty Yukon river, when swollen and pushing ice out in the spring, bountifully deposits a huge amount of trees out its mouth into the Bering Sea, where the currents carry them to points far and wide. If we get lucky with a good Sou'eastern, much is placed on our doorsteps. Sometimes, quite literally! Spruce, Birch and Cottonwood are the norm. Many, many folks in the region harvest wood for home use, those of us with a tad of insight of course grab the solid spruce. I see many newbies with stacks of punk water-soaked cottonwood in their yards, and most of it is still there once they find out scrap steel pipe burns better in their stoves. I have been to many of these villages, and they have and still use heavy plate steel stoves of the firebrick lined variety. Get the best wood you can find, dry it, use it. Use what you can with what you got.
Sue emailed me for some information about stoves, mainly because I build light-gauge units primarily for occasional use beach camps and saunas. My stoves are made of thin gauged rolled steel, then I add asthetic details to the customers wishes.
My stoves are not for use as a heat source in any home.
After reading all the responses to her question, what great information! I too will glean much from what you all have to say. Thanks a bunch!
To the point at hand: I do heat with wood at my camp, which I go to every available weekend during the summer and many more during the winter. I have an early (1990) Blaze King Princess non-cat stove that consumes black spruce exclusively. As Sue mentioned about the 70 miles away that trees actually grow, my cabin sits smack dab in the middle of 'em all. I harvest half dead spruce in March or April of each year, and put up enough to last me at least a year. I keep a years supply seasoned ahead.
Since we live on the Bering Sea coast, not just folks here in Nome but there are many villages in the same predicament, driftwood is plentiful. The mighty Yukon river, when swollen and pushing ice out in the spring, bountifully deposits a huge amount of trees out its mouth into the Bering Sea, where the currents carry them to points far and wide. If we get lucky with a good Sou'eastern, much is placed on our doorsteps. Sometimes, quite literally! Spruce, Birch and Cottonwood are the norm. Many, many folks in the region harvest wood for home use, those of us with a tad of insight of course grab the solid spruce. I see many newbies with stacks of punk water-soaked cottonwood in their yards, and most of it is still there once they find out scrap steel pipe burns better in their stoves. I have been to many of these villages, and they have and still use heavy plate steel stoves of the firebrick lined variety. Get the best wood you can find, dry it, use it. Use what you can with what you got.
Sue emailed me for some information about stoves, mainly because I build light-gauge units primarily for occasional use beach camps and saunas. My stoves are made of thin gauged rolled steel, then I add asthetic details to the customers wishes.
My stoves are not for use as a heat source in any home.
After reading all the responses to her question, what great information! I too will glean much from what you all have to say. Thanks a bunch!
Well Nate, we welcome you too!
I've been doing some thinking and believe the answer to part of your problem is to head down to Anchorage, buy your stove then get ahold of one of those fellows in the Iditarod and have them bring the stove up to you. You might even get some to pick up some firewood on the way. That way they can make some dollars on their race from the freight you pay them and they won't have to be in such a hurry to get to Nome and you'll all be smiling! One of them would probably even win the Red Lantern.
On the happy side, we do wish sometime to be in Nome just to watch the finish of the Iditarod. It is a great race. Oh, we loved that web cam they had in Nome a year ago. Added a nice touch.
Good luck to both of you.
I've been doing some thinking and believe the answer to part of your problem is to head down to Anchorage, buy your stove then get ahold of one of those fellows in the Iditarod and have them bring the stove up to you. You might even get some to pick up some firewood on the way. That way they can make some dollars on their race from the freight you pay them and they won't have to be in such a hurry to get to Nome and you'll all be smiling! One of them would probably even win the Red Lantern.
On the happy side, we do wish sometime to be in Nome just to watch the finish of the Iditarod. It is a great race. Oh, we loved that web cam they had in Nome a year ago. Added a nice touch.
Good luck to both of you.
Hey welcome Nate. Ya lets see some pics of the wood burners you make....Heck, you might even find a market for them....Good luck!
Good morning folks, and Thanks for the warm welcome.
I'll see what I can do about getting some photos of some of my stoves. All are in use in various places (mainly saunas), including my own. I should have taken pics before they went away....when they were a nice flat black and the shiny brass was just that!
Anyhow, I'll be lurking here and adding comments when I see fit, if ya'll don't mind.
Nate
"No, ma'm, Alaska is not an overseas country and I don't live in an igloo".
I'll see what I can do about getting some photos of some of my stoves. All are in use in various places (mainly saunas), including my own. I should have taken pics before they went away....when they were a nice flat black and the shiny brass was just that!
Anyhow, I'll be lurking here and adding comments when I see fit, if ya'll don't mind.
Nate
"No, ma'm, Alaska is not an overseas country and I don't live in an igloo".
Would you believe one of the largest coal mines in the country is 600 miles away from here (Healy), but most all the product they produce is railed to the Seward seaport and its loaded on huge ships headed to.......China and Korea.
Kinda goes hand in hand with the Alaskan Prudhoe Bay crude that is pipelined to Valdez and shipped to California and other points. The gasoline and heating fuel I use of my own comes from Venezuela.
Yep, its a great system. Gas at the pump is $5.39 and Diesel is $6.09
I work in the City powerplant. All diesel fired generators. We burn nearly 6 thousand gallons a day, and thats with brand new Wartsila 12V-32's rated at 5.4 MW each producing 15.5 KWH/gallon. 6 thousand gallons a day with one engine on line, that is.
Kinda goes hand in hand with the Alaskan Prudhoe Bay crude that is pipelined to Valdez and shipped to California and other points. The gasoline and heating fuel I use of my own comes from Venezuela.
Yep, its a great system. Gas at the pump is $5.39 and Diesel is $6.09
I work in the City powerplant. All diesel fired generators. We burn nearly 6 thousand gallons a day, and thats with brand new Wartsila 12V-32's rated at 5.4 MW each producing 15.5 KWH/gallon. 6 thousand gallons a day with one engine on line, that is.
At that price, you should consider yourselves lucky to be able to buy electricity at all! Wow! Hope it comes down for all of us. And you are right about the "system." Great.
This came up in the thread on woodfired kilns:
(broken link removed to http://www.bigceramicstore.com/Supplies/ITC.htm)
It's a ceramic coating for metal kiln parts, and it may afford some protection against salts.
(broken link removed to http://www.bigceramicstore.com/Supplies/ITC.htm)
It's a ceramic coating for metal kiln parts, and it may afford some protection against salts.
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