Well, just thought I would let you guys know about my adventures in wood burning. I bought a Magnolia stove (us stove company). I got my selkirk pro vent chimney installed and their double wall stove pipe. That was quite fun playing around in my dusty hot 1890's built attic full of blown insulation! Then, once it was all installed to specs I decided it was time to find wood. I guess I got my cart ahead of the horses, since mid September really doesn't give wood much time to season. I planned on burning slabs (sawmill ends and pieces). They would be good and dry, but real thin stuff. Then...
We got to talking after church and it turns out my pastor had some trees logged about a year and a half ago. He farms for a living and the wood was basically just taking up pasture. Turns out we got all sorts of oak (burr oak and white oak) tops, some really huge (like 3 ft diameter pieces before the huge limbs). There is a lot of hickory tops also, perfect size with minimal splitting required to fit in the stove. We have started working in one section (about 2 city blocks) and already have 3 trailer loads and 4 truck loads of wood. If I were to guess I would say it is about 3 cords so far but we haven't even put a dent in all the wood that's there. We (my father and I) are both cutting and going to each get half of the wood. He is great at sawing and general logging type stuff. He used to work with a logger friend in colorado in the 80's with all the big equipment and such, also on his own cut hedge posts for fence and sold firewood for probably 20 years. He got out of cutting wood due to health reasons, but he is doing better now and I can tell he is really enjoying cutting and getting out there again.
I found out my new saw takes some getting used to. Its a Husqvarna 359 model. I had a few friends using huskys and I decided to get the big boy. I am slowly working up my arm muscles lol. After about a week they don't hurt much anymore. Dad is using a Poulan 3300 Timbermaster saw.
I had lit about 4 or 5 small fires with dimensional lumber scraps and such. Last night I lit the first regular wood fire and it did great. I was glad, as it was 42 deg f. this morning. I came home from work and the stove was still warm to the touch, dug around a bit in the ashes and found live coals about the size of golf balls. I was glad, I figured I would have to re-light it every morning. Now I know I won't since I had coals that long!
Anyways, I better go, time to stack 1 more pickup load that dad cut today while I was at work today!
This wood stuff is fun
We got to talking after church and it turns out my pastor had some trees logged about a year and a half ago. He farms for a living and the wood was basically just taking up pasture. Turns out we got all sorts of oak (burr oak and white oak) tops, some really huge (like 3 ft diameter pieces before the huge limbs). There is a lot of hickory tops also, perfect size with minimal splitting required to fit in the stove. We have started working in one section (about 2 city blocks) and already have 3 trailer loads and 4 truck loads of wood. If I were to guess I would say it is about 3 cords so far but we haven't even put a dent in all the wood that's there. We (my father and I) are both cutting and going to each get half of the wood. He is great at sawing and general logging type stuff. He used to work with a logger friend in colorado in the 80's with all the big equipment and such, also on his own cut hedge posts for fence and sold firewood for probably 20 years. He got out of cutting wood due to health reasons, but he is doing better now and I can tell he is really enjoying cutting and getting out there again.
I found out my new saw takes some getting used to. Its a Husqvarna 359 model. I had a few friends using huskys and I decided to get the big boy. I am slowly working up my arm muscles lol. After about a week they don't hurt much anymore. Dad is using a Poulan 3300 Timbermaster saw.
I had lit about 4 or 5 small fires with dimensional lumber scraps and such. Last night I lit the first regular wood fire and it did great. I was glad, as it was 42 deg f. this morning. I came home from work and the stove was still warm to the touch, dug around a bit in the ashes and found live coals about the size of golf balls. I was glad, I figured I would have to re-light it every morning. Now I know I won't since I had coals that long!
Anyways, I better go, time to stack 1 more pickup load that dad cut today while I was at work today!
This wood stuff is fun
