I laugh and tell people my neighbor gets hate mail from our local utility company because he spends so little to heat his house.

Big , big savings.

I find discarded waxed vegetable cardboard boxes at a market and cut up the box in small short strips then box them up to help start fires as needed. Those waxed cardboard fire starters are handy to keep as survival fire starters I keep some in zip lock baggies in my truck all the time when I trap out of state.

My Sons are carpenters and keep throwing white pine scraps in the dumpster! I keep busy dumpster diving.

I like that idea. Almost the same as a Duraflame log as they contain a lot of wax. I will pass that on to my neighbor.

Thanks , Bob

I wouldn't say a disorder, more like therapeutic. I could be part of a support group.

X2

Oak is excellent firewood, but most folks underestimate the length of time it takes to season and dry.

Crit-R-Dun , correct. It takes about 2 years , we get a lot of oak here.

Gary , I see you do the same thing we do , using cast-off pallets to keep the wood off the ground and corralled. Smart and free. We change them out every year or two as they rot. Plenty of free pallets here. Use them , then they are kindling.

Wood is good. As long as it’s piled and not stacked.

This is our supply, left side is from spring before last, right side from this last spring. We don’t get much hardwood here other than alder but fir grows like a weed. Should be two and a half seasons worth. 12 deep, 30 wide, 10+ high at the top of the pile, grade “A” smoke dragon feed right there.





Owl

The Firewood Poem

Beech wood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut's only good they say,
If for logs 'tis laid away.
Make a fire of Elder tree,
Death within your house will be;
But ash new or ash old,
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold

Birch and fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last,
it is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold
But ash green or ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke,
Apple wood will scent your room
Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom
Oaken logs, if dry and old
keep away the winter's cold
But ash wet or ash dry
a king shall warm his slippers by.

Black locust is my favorite. Ash is second.
I have a good friend that burns nothing but elm. And he ain't no dummy. Just his preference.
Two other guys I know burn nothing but cottonwood and love it. One guy's brother pulled a trailer to NE from MO to haul cottonwood home.
To each his own I guess!!

Gary I have some black locust on my farm and that is some really hot burning wood, like to use it in the Kalamazoo kitchen stove.

I have a tree service that drops off blockwood for free in exchange for allowing them to park their vehicles. This saves them a couple hundred roundtrip miles for several large vehicles each day.



I cut it to length, and tote it on a wagon to an area where I stage my woodsplitter alongside a cattle panel arch, where it is stacked



The finished stacks. Note that panels provide the little support necessary, and allow a tarp to go over the pile without restricting drying airflow. Each stack is about 178 cu.ft, or 1 1/3 cord. For estimating purposes, I consider 1 cord per stack.

Another thing to think about , my inner firefighter talking now , clean your chimney regularly!!!!!

I've been to many chimney fires. Happens a LOT. Sounds almost like a jet engine when fully involved. Creosote burns like gasoline. Can spread to the structure quickly with the very high temperatures.

A good thing to have is a Chimfex stick too. A Chimfex stick is an emergency chimney fire suppressant that looks like a road flare.

GREAT POINT

At camp.















Some of it gets hauled home. I converted this old Towmaster into a wood hauler. It holds 2.3 cords when stacked level with the top rails. That maxes it out weight-wise with green maple or most other green hardwoods.








At home



Not sure my youngest understands the concept of a log splitter...



Starting them young, grandaughter earning her keep.

Nice photos guys.
Getting that time of the year.

Zim

That reminds to put my sea fishing gear up for sale and get a log splitter as I have a pile of rounds sitting there that don't want to split themselves, no matter how stern i look at them.