Looking at my shed I figure about 6 or 7 weeks of dry wood left.I have two sheds and have been managing to keep two years ahead.When my dry wood runs out sometime in March I'll just have to run the furnace.Not going to use any of next years wood.In my stove green wood is not worth the aggravation.Would like to be cutting now to replace what I burn this winter but can't make myself wade the snow and mud to do it .Hoping for a freeze without snow.
I have 4 bays in my woodshed and usually burn just a bit more than 3 bays. Haven't even finished the first bay so far this winter. It's been very easy on the wood supply, and not for a lack of being warm inside.
I usually burn 5-6 cord a year. I started the burning season with about 8 and have about 5 left.
I've either gone through more wood than I thought I would, OR, did more customer wood than ME wood!
1 cord in the basement, 2.5 cord stacked and covered, 1.5 cord stacked and uncovered.
2 new sheds hold at least 5 cord ea, I've got 5 cord stacked and drying, so halfway there
I hope enough!!!
My Father would tell me every year on Feb 2, half your feed and half your wood should be gone on that day.
I normally burn 10-15 cord a year of hardwood now days mostly hedge. {Osage Orange} I burn year around heating domestic water. It had been a pretty mild winter here until the two weeks we just came out of in Jan. I have burned about four cords since fall and have another twelve cords on trailers in sheds so I have plenty. Hope everyone is having a good winter season.�
Weather has warmed up some here and wood use has slowed down a little.Should be good for awhile.March here has been fairly warm for the past few years but you never know.
I am about half way through what I wheel barrowed up before Winter so I should be OK. The hollow stick to the right of center is still there but all of the small limb wood on the far left is gone.
I've got 7 seasoned cords left. Been burning wood for 5 months in varying amounts, have chewed through 4 cords, 4 months to go. That'll probably chew up about 3 more cords. ;D Another 8 cords ready to fill the hole back up this spring. :) Was 4F this morning, 26F here now and sun.
Old local adage says - Feb 1st; better have half your wood and half your hay remaining.
Right now this years side of the wood shed is half full and there is a couple or three days supply in the basement near the stove. Just as if I planned it that way :)
We have a smallish and well insulated place and heat 100% with wood. Burn about 4 cord a year.
EDIT: I see Ray already said that - DUH
gg
Are y'all referring to full cords (128 cu-ft) or face cords? If full cords, that's a lot of wood!
Full cords. It's cold here nine months, even 60 degrees in early June is cold in the house. :D That's why southerners barely can stand one winter before they high tale it. :D
My dad always told me the same thing that g_man and thecfarm said about having 1/2 your wood by Feb 1. I'm right on track with that. I have a 2 section wood shed and each section is about 4 cord and that's about what I burn in one season. I have a bit more than 1/2 remaining on the side I am working from and next years 4 cord is ready on the other side. I also have another 4 cord cut, split and stacked on pallets - should have made the wood shed bigger.
I am talking full cords. Here in the northeast, every one I know means full cord when they use the term cord of firewood.
Quote from: Ljohnsaw on January 31, 2024, 09:22:06 PMAre y'all referring to full cords (128 cu-ft) or face cords? If full cords, that's a lot of wood!
When I say I burning 10-15 cord at year. I am referring to full {128 cu-FT} cords. When I sold wood I sold it a lot of different ways as customs wanted different amounts. Some had rack they want filled. Some wanted a half of a cord and I had some folks that heated with wood full time and bought full cords of wood.�
I modified the shed behind my barn last year so I could dead stack my wood.Before that I always crib stacked it.Now I have exactly four full cords of white oak in it.I will be burning from that shed next winter. I know there is more wood in it than with crib stacking but do not know how much more.I think it is enough for one winter but I guess I will find out.Found out four cords is a lot of wood!
We usually use 5 to 6 cords a winter but this has been our mildest winter ever. Only used about 2 cords so far and none of the below zero weather we usually see in Feb in the prediction. Loving this global warming.
About 9 totes left. � So roughly 3 cord.�
Been no record warm here since 1981, 2006 wasn't bad, but the locust trees leaved out in February 1981. Never seen that ever since. :D
It's certainly no -30F weather, but it's been hovering around 0F a few mornings and only in the teens for highs lots of days. The normal low for Jan is 0F around here according to NOAA. To add to that, our springs have become colder here and falls warmer. The seasons have essentially shifted dates. :D We see white frost here first week of June about every year now. Poor pollination in apples, plums and currants, too cold for bees. Currants especially need bees, bell flowers. Been white with blossoms here every spring for 3 years now and not a darn berry off them. I've had wild honey bees here for 12 years, 200 feet away from the bushes. They don't fly in cold.
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Still working on my posts.Getting a little better.Wood I have left for the rest of the winter.Nice weather now,wood use has slowed down a lot.
Bill, you can type your words in the same post as the pic. ;) ;)
I'll try that next time, thanks
Don't think I have burnt 1/2 of this years wood yet.....things may change but not a lot of really cold in the forecast for now.
With 70mph gusts yesterday, a series of telephone poles (NOT power poles, MM), with two of the massive phone cables (500 pair?) blew over. Forty eight (48) poles landing on a two lane road. People had to drive on the one open shoulder to get by.
Wlmedley, Wow! That is some fancy stacking, clean and very organized woodshed.
Quote from: Ljohnsaw on February 05, 2024, 08:42:16 PMForty eight (48) poles landing on a two lane road.
That sounds like a chain reaction mess !! :-\ No 500 but it could be 400. That's big and heavy cable plus the strand and poles.
Those old phone poles sure ain't much. We're about out of stacked dry wood. A healthy pile of next years. We've been around home more than usual this winter and I haven't been bringing scrap home from a house job. I'll grab some standing dead locust for the duration. I've about decided they have made the decision easier. It would cost about the same to refill the monitor tank as to DIY a mini split and we would get summertime AC with it. When I first put the monitor in K1 was cheap enough I said "I'll never cut another stick of firewood". K1 has gone up over 4x since then and a few trees fall on the drive every year.
Looks like my firewood is preserving itself. I built a flicker (40º) this morning with 3 logs and I'll just let it die down and go out. The highs look like will be in the 60º's for the rest of the week so no more wood will be burned.
Not even a morning smudge? 60° is kinda cool when it's damp. ;D
I have an opposite outlook on wood versus other sources. I'll be a lot older than I am now before I rely on anyone or anything else for my heat source. AC last summer only ran 3 weeks and only 12 hr days even then. :D On this road most of us heat with wood or pellets. One old guy has a heat pump up the road a step, and when it's cold, he's burn'n wood I can guarantee that. You just ask him what he thinks of heat pumps. :D
All new construction has been required to have some automatic method of heating here for some decades. Although I didn't until her Mom moved in with us. Use of that depends on how much we're home, there's about 8" left in the tank which should get us to spring, empty and pig cooker bound. We were talking yesterday, I do prefer the heat coming off a flame vs a slightly warm coil of wire. For sedentary folk they are in the warm all day. We come in cold to the bone and need to bask in the glow for awhile. Primary will probably always be wood heat and we use around 3 cords/yr but that has been going down pretty much at the same rate summers have called for some ac, we're in the fungal zone now. This is the third winter on that 200 gallons of K1.
Yes, always a need for back up if you're away from home for a day or more. That's actually required by insurance more than anything. However, with no power, nothing else heats except a big window and sunshine on it, so not much of a back up plan if you have a heat pump. A gas fire place needs a fan to be much use outside a living room. Even without a generator I can still be warm on a forced air furnace. Convection and radiant. I can feel heat from the ducts with no fan on, clean up on the second floor. Duct and floor up there is insulated. I can remember heating an old house with no duct to second floor at all, never froze. Not 80° up there but high 60's in outages. The ice storm of 1998 was the worst ever in Canada, swept through from the Atlantic coast, westward into southern Ontario in February. Destroyed a lot of sugar bush. All we had was forced air furnace. In fact the original furnaces here were ductless, big steel grate over it, in the centre of the house. Convection and radiant off it. Plus a kitchen wood cook stove. I remember that clearly. Big woodsheds in those days, most people made them into car garages in later years. :D Dad was always cutting firewood ahead for several buildings. Days you didn't process potatoes you was on the end of a saw or an axe. :D Better construction and especially insulation cut back on the wood. :D I cut 3 more cord of wood than I really need because I can let the fire out all together and be warm for hrs during daylight. I don't even have a fire all night, who can sleep with 80+ heat? not me. :D I have a grow tent, so I burn some wood to keep that warmer than the basement around it. I have a duct into the tent off the main furnace. My wood is free except time and a gallon of mixed gas a year. A lot cheaper than $5000 of stove oil, what ever you pay down there x by 2.5 for our cost.
:D For away from home, the furnace has a side unit with 20,000 w electric element. Heats this place no trouble at all. And is not that expensive. In fact electric furnace was always installed with heat pump up here. Those weren't mini splits, they were probably at least twice as big. Used furnace duct and fan to move the heat because the trouble is it's on one end of the house. Where as a proper furnace is in the middle of a house.
How much do I have left? Its becoming painfully clear I don't have enough. Oh I have plenty of wood. Its DRY wood that's going fast.
I'm cutting for my daughters house, its the first year with their new stove and they are burning more than expected. I thought they would use about what i do but they are using more. And I've sold more than ever in my racks (always referred to these days as "wacks" ) this year.
So I'm going to run low. I'm cutting a dead ash or two every day when I'm done logging, splitting it with a maul right there and bringing home a row across the back of the pickup. Its keeping my stoves hot and extending what dry wood I have.
I moved a trailer load of rough cut for one of my customers yesterday (he just doesn't have enough truck to pull or stop the trailer). While hooking on I asked about trading next years firewood toward lumber for another wood shed. He said, YES, he is running low and was going to have to buck up.some firewood that afternoon. Heading out to finish off a cord for him in a bit, got to get my inside chores done first!
Like I've always said, if it ain't summer the wood is burning. Consumption might fluctuate, but still need heat from somewhere. ;D It's only mid thirties here so far today, but I had a window up clean to the top and a smaller fire that is almost done by now. Good airing out, otherwise it would smell like lasagna in here. Guess what's for dinner. :D
We've had mild weather so far in February. Still burning the stove but wood use has slowed down considerably. January was cold. I felt like a engineer on a steam train.
I just opened the door on the shop so it can warm up in there. I saw 65 yesterday. It is a soggy mess out there though, no off roadin.
Quote from: SwampDonkey on February 11, 2024, 10:19:02 AMI had a window up clean to the top and a smaller fire that is almost done by now. Good airing out, otherwise it would smell like lasagna in here. Guess what's for dinner. :D
Swamp D, I'd put the window up and suffer with the smell of lasagna. smiley_smug01
Looks like I'm good to go .Snatched a 60 foot log shag bark out from a 100 foot tree .I figured about 1.5 cords more or less .I might add that little Fergy pulled that thing like it was a feather .Good old tractor . (https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/426387228_3594768587477116_2466387278549418772_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p180x540&_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=3635dc&_nc_ohc=4sHWrKHpPOIAX8-hyHb&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=00_AfBjpja9pfZQcRqsMqywoIhHD1-wC3qHxSO98YZ-p_sBzg&oe=65CECDE9)
How big diameter Al? I got 2 cords from a 36" but diameter maple, 90 feet long.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11009/SD_yard-tree3.jpg) (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=112974)
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30 inch on the butt end with approx 15-16" mid by 60 feet .Grave yard standing dead .Hard as a rock and dry as a bone . The cord and a half is more related to weight and it's only a guess .I've had these hickories just die for reasons I have no idea .I let this one stand too long and the wind took it .However the wind did a better job on the lay than I could have .Dead on .
Definitely be more than a cord. Always figured a 20" dbh maple 80 feet long to get a cord with all the branch wood. Degrees latitude north affects tree height, just as elevation does. Up on Mars Hill I doubt a trees grows taller than 60 feet, but fat as a barrel on the but.
To the original post I have enough wood for about 4 more winters all split and stacked under cover.
My current concern is I resupply so all my firewood storage is full in spring.
I do not venture into the woods with the tractor unless the ground is frozen.
Its been so warm that I think for the most part the ground is too soft on most days.
So I'm going to wait till late fall to refill my stores.
Hopefully next fall will be very cold with little snow until later.
Been trying to straighten up the shed I store my lumber in. All my lumber was stickered and was plenty dry enough to flat stack so I have been trying to get it organized. Found out that quite a bit of it wasn't worth keeping. I hopefully have learned a lot in the last couple years. Had some hickory that most warped so bad I threw it out and boards where I left the pith cracked and bowed. At least now I know what I've got plus I found that boards burn really good in the stove. No bark to fall in the floor and they stack tight in the stove. So I guess all is not lost and I've got a couple weeks worth of wood . Poplar and pine will go in a brush pile and hardwood on the back porch.(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/68995/3B471029-4CB4-4F75-87CC-CDBA9AB0931F.jpeg) (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=352558)
That's probably 50% of what I burn in the shop stove, dimensional firewood. I'm generally standing near it feeding it often.
I've poked a ~3/8" hole in the lid of a gallon paint can. When I'm in the mood I pack it full of cut up dry scraps, put the lid on and put it in the stove. Put a scrap of metal over the hole after the flare goes out. Set it out for a day and then open it up, summer charcoal.
I've always heard that burning firewood warms you twice .Once when cutting it and once when burning it. I'm pretty sure burning lumber has warmed me more than twice. I plan to try making charcoal at some point. Have read about it on here several times. It's on my (things to try list) which only seems to be getting longer.
About 2 winters ahead at this point. Probably 40-50 full cords of oak. Mostly stacked but there is always more to stack. I don't do a very good job of tracking how much wood we burn. In addition to decent wood I burn lots of slabs and debris from tree removal work. The ugly hard to stack, poor quality wood tends to go right into to the boiler. As of late I've been burning a bunch of elm and box elder. Makes me wonder if it was worth the effort of bringing home. Got paid to remove it and figured it was better than burning in a pile although the amount of ash is crazy. Warm winter has really helped, there has only been one stretch when I had to burn good solid wood in order for the boiler to keep up.
I'd definitely use it. Have burned every kind of wood except oak, osage, locust (non around here to burn). Never froze yet and cheap heat since it's my own. Better than paying $3000 or $4000 to someone else for other forms of heat. A jug of mixed gas and a 5 gallon jug for the buggy is way cheaper, throw a chain in and a jug of chain oil. :D
I might have too much left if that is possible ?? I have six rows going cross wise in the wood shed so I can only get to one row at a time. I split to different sizes putting the biggest stuff in in the January and February rows where I expect to just throw more wood onto a continuous fire that lasts thru the night. This year I'm getting tired of starting a new fire every day with big wood.
gg
I can't even consider an all day fire here even in the cold, especially if it is sunny. Way too hot here. Starting a fire isn't an issue with me. Dry wood starts easy with some newsprint or even a piece of wood with some flecks cut into it. It's still easy to burn a wheel barrow of firewood because I most often stuff the furnace full, in the morning or night. I'll probably have 10 cord here left over, counting 8 cords of green all cut and ready to stack.
I quit spitting kindling several years ago and now just use a propane torch. With good dry wood it doesn't take long to get a fire going and one tank will last me all winter. In the cold part of winter I hardly ever let the fire go completely out. Looking in the shed I should have plenty of dry wood for the rest of winter and some left over. Around the end of March I usually clean out stove and use furnace if needed. Like SwampDonkey I don't like the house to hot.
First winter I was in this new house in 2018 I thought I would split some cedar for kindling. I started with 5 rounds and I still have 4. Never cut any since. Like you say dry wood don't need much. I just use a kitchen match here with 2 or 3 leaves of newsprint. A box of matches is about $3 and the newsprint is free, they are the store flyers. Other than that, all you need is free air. :D
March 1st, and 18° this morning. Have all I'll need, but will be into "next year's" side of the woodshed. Being retired from the store means I kept it going much more than in the past. So, naturally, wood consumption is up. Unless I came home for lunch, I'd get home after 5:00 and have to start with paper and kindling and the house in the low 60's which wasn't really that bad. Kindling use is way down. ffsmiley I enjoy cutting, so the extra wood usage is fine with me.
But by this time every year, I'm looking forward to the burning season winding down and some nicer weather. Gradual change as I move from constant burning, to occasional or just evening fires.
Spike, how old is your Quadrafire? I put mine in around 1986. Does a good job heating the house. Plenty of wood left over from this season. Was a warm winter and I consumed less wood than normal.
1994 model 3100. Celebrating it's 30th anniversary this year! 🍾
First of March and maybe 2 weeks worth or basically two trailer loads .With warmer days I don't load the insert up like in colder weather which does conserve on the wood .This year only once did I let the fire die out ..
Been no fire here for most of the day. 48°F currently. 5-1/2 cords of dry stuff left. Long time yet before June.
The forecast looks like I will build a flicker next Sunday and Monday mornings which is as far out as the forecast reaches. :wink_2:
Morning fire in the house, I'll light one again in a minute, none in the shop today, I opened it up to let the warmer air in during the day. The bathroom baboons gave Michelle a cold this week at the elementary but they got greens going. I went and measured and sat and looked and tried to understand a cold building this morning. Hard to get into it when your bones are slowly freezing in a cobweb icebox ffcheesy . I took the loader up the state road and recovered 3 forkfuls of dry locust from my road edge this afternoon and was sweating before it was done. I had removed a fallen ash and opened up the road a week or so ago. DOT never knows and returned the favor by gifting me another tree last week. I love these guys. I'm below the road and they just shove trees over the side where it is pretty much impossible to recover them. I move what I can and have accepted the rest. My smile is fading, I have enough dead ash of my own to deal with.
Got my reward in the mail today. Electric bill of $140. My bill has a chart showing electric usage over the past year. This is the lowest bill I've gotten. I know February is a short month but it is still less usage than last February. Don't know what bill would be just using furnaces and not in any hurry to find out.
My Dec bill for electric was $130.00, January was $146. I've since started the grow tent in February so the bill will climb a little, but the bill has been less than last year for the last 4 months. Started the grow tent earlier last winter.
Danged electric bill is higher than I figured .However the rates have risen to 125 cents a KWH plus some other charges they managed to sneak in .Around $300 a month this winter .2 refridgerators,hot water heater ,aerobic sewer system etc .It all adds up .
The propane however is between 300 and 400 gallons per year.Add to that the radiant electric plus the baseboard heaters are still on the line but set a 65 degrees that do kick on every so often .I'm just glad I don't live in the Mich. UP or North Dakota were it gets cold enough to make the brass monkey miserable.
So far this year us Yoopers have already had 2 months of spring, and spring usually don't start for 2 more months. ffcheesy
Probably 10 -12 cords left.
Getting retired helped keep a couple years ahead of it.
That and some intense woodlot management. splitwood_smiley
I've got the last half of a cord on the trailer and tarped down .The fire is out unless we get a cold snap . If so I have a lot of downed trees and around 40 chainsaws and two splitters .
I got a break in the action for a while but it came to an end yesterday afternoon ..The power went off caused by a number 6 solid copper wire going from one phase of 12,470 volt three phase ( 7200 volts ) to the fuse link on the pole .Probabley been there for 40 plus years blown to and fro by the wind .Just failed from fatigue .The power any more is metered on the house by a newer style meter that sends a signal to the electric company in the event of a failure .Plus they get the usage for billing from the meter .
I took matters in hand and relit the fire because it got down to 18 degrees last night .About the time I got it nice and toastly down the driveway came a red truck from the power company .Supposed to be a cold snap for a while so I'll keep it going a little bit longer .
I've still got 4-1/2 cord of dry seasoned wood. It's still a long ways from June. First day of spring is first day of winter in 2024, just as cold as February and the wind to make it more convincing. ffcheesy ffcheesy ffwave