Did something dumb today.

[Big_eddy]

Not sure being up twice in one week is a good thing.

Was cutting blocks (again) and one log had a short stub branch sticking up. It was ~3" diameter and maybe 3" long. I know my splitter operator (aka wife) doesn't like stubs on blocks so I flipped the saw horizontal and buzzed it off flush with the log, using the top of the bar.

Well I'll be darned if the DanG thing didn't momentarily balance on the flat of the bar, then slide slowly across the bar to the underside, where the chain grabbed it and zinged it straight into my knee cap. Ouch!

[firefighter ontheside]

I haven't been around in a few months.  Don't take that to mean I haven't done anything dumb.  That's daily.  Thanks all for keeping up my thread.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Trust me - it is a self supporting thread.

[firefighter ontheside]

I know you've done your part in supporting it Howard.

[SawyerTed]

This thread is like an iceberg, at least 2/3 of the "dumb" stuff we do is never mentioned.

[Magicman]

Well whatdoyouthinkweare, dumb?? 

[TimW]

The dumb stuff I do usually isn't worthy, after reading some of the posts here.

[Magicman]

So does that make you dumber or just more dumb?? 

[TimW]

Well whatdoyouthinkweare, dumb?? 

[TimW]

So does that make you dumber or just more dumb?? 

[SawyerTed]

Well whatdoyouthinkweare, dumb?? 

I am dumb sometimes but I'm not dumb enough to answer that question!    

[thecfarm]

If posted all the dumb things I do, I would not have time to do something dumb. 

Ok. Here we go.
I forgot to put wood into the OWB.
Any other day I am up in the morning going to work and I check the OWB before 5:30. If it's in the single numbers and below I check it before 5.
Today is Sat and the wind is blowing so I did not want to go outside and work. I do that a lot in the spring time, warmer days are coming.
In Dec I might of gone out.
I went out about 10:30 and I heard the blower on, no big deal and the water was at 180° and all is good. 
Untiled I opened up the door to the OWB!!!
There is one piece of EWP about 6 inches square that is glowing red. No coals because of softwood.
I dragged that small piece to the front and went and got some of my dried hardwood. Put a good charge of that wood in and filled the rest up with pine and headed for the house.
Then the power went out at a little past 11, which was planned and came back on a little after 2.
All is good now.

[firefighter ontheside]

Well whatdoyouthinkweare, dumb?? 

That made me laugh, Lynn.

[rusticretreater]

I "forget" to put wood in the OWB all the time!

[SwampDonkey]

Me to, I put most of it in the indoor one.    Nicer not to deal with cold and snow and stay dry and warm. My outdoor one is the brush pile I add to all year and light in the spring time. 

[thecfarm]

Nice to be able to burn cedar and pine in a controlled burn too.     
Even when it's dead and bone dry.
I have burned cedar that has laid up against another tree so long, the limbs had all fell off.
Even used a OWB? Kinda hard to say you don't like it when you never done it. 
I have burned wood inside this house.
I hope I don't have to again. 

[SwampDonkey]

My three neighbors on either side of me all had OWB and abandoned the idea all together for indoor stoves. All are farmers with woods ground. That's enough experience right there. ;) One of my neighbors put a heater stove in the basement and his stove pipe comes out from the basement some how and up from the ground. Never saw anyone do that before. :D He has two wood stoves on the main floor. One of them is the heater stove and I think the other is a cook stove. His brother who had an OWB has a pellet stove and a regular wood stove inside.

[thecfarm]

Yes, but you never had one still.
I never told my FIL I was getting one. He came up and saw it and started to tell me I won't like it and I should of asked him about it. They smoke all the time and on and on.
I asked him what kind did they have and what kind of wood was they burning. He had no idea. 
I do know what one kind of OWB had trouble. I know of one not in use. When I was looking at them I would stop at people homes if I saw them out by it. One place I don't see it anymore. Glad I bought the kind I did.
My FIL saw my wood at the OWB and told me, You can't burn that. It was cold out and I told him, let's go inside where it's warm and talk about it.
As I said, I've burned wood at 2 houses and my parents house. I know what it's like to burn wood in a wood stove and an OWB.
 

[SwampDonkey]

I already know I don't want any because of the very reasons I already said. And I would have to also cut a lot more wood which an additional reason. I see them more practical for folks with a milling business where you ask yourself: what will I do with this huge pile of slabs? Solution: Shove them into an OWB for heat. ;)

Just because your father in law can not see how you can heat your house with an OWB does not mean I do. And besides, if I didn't want to heat with wood at all I would just be hitting a button for an electric furnace. But I would never own a heat pump, owned two, and I see my neighbor running  a space heater and burning wood in the stove to stay warm on frigid mornings in a little 24' trailer. :D My other neighbor just put in a heat pump and he has 5 cords of wood to. :D My cousin, same story, a heat pump and piles of wood to burn. ;)

[taylorsmissbeehaven]

Glad to see you back F.F. ots I was reading this thread this past week and wondered if you were still around. Hope all is well!!

[Machinebuilder]

And here in TN with mild winters and low electricity cost, I love my heat pump.

My house is warm enough in cold weather and is cooled from April to October.

I don't want to burn wood for heat

[thecfarm]

Those heat pumps were not designed to heat a house in Maine.
They just brought the temp up in your house and then you needed another heat source to bring the temp up the rest of the way.

[SwampDonkey]

Neighbor in a trailer having to use a space heater and sometimes turning the kitchen oven on in the morning for heat. Heat pump can't heat well below 20 degrees. New smart meters were installed around here the last few months. He blames the meter and not his added electricity demand. I tell him mine never changed at all as far as demand and I have a grow tent besides that I have used for 4 years. Rates have gone up about 30% in the last 7 or 8 years to, so that added about $20 more than it was back in the first winter. He likes to compare his cost to mine when I'm heating 6 x the space for around $140/month on wood compared to his $90. I paid $400/month on heat pump supplemented by electric furnace at the other house for 3200 sq feet compared to his 320 sq feet. :D  I guess some people can't do math too good. More space more energy required. I don't argue with him because there is no use. I just nod.    There is no free lunch, and they love to sell those heat pumps as if you get free heat.  I hear it on talk shows on CBC all the time. Yet I see people including myself that needed to supplement the heat with other electrical heat or wood. Talk about mis-information and propaganda peddling. :D I have another neighbor who uses a deep well kind of heat pump. He found out what happens when the water table is low from a long dry spell. Can't keep up with the heat demand. And that place is full of springs, they feed several fish ponds in the back yard. It was cedar forest before it was cleared, black mud. You dig down a ways and run into compacted lime. His place is built up with a lot of fill because cedar ground is wet, but not always standing water wet, but has a lot more water in it. Drainage can be a problem.

[Stephen1]

A friend of mine who is an engineer and loves math and comparing. The government is giving great grants/subsidies for retrofit heat pumps in Canada, As he says the only reason they work is they are subsidized, otherwise they don't pay for themselves in the north here. our tax $$$$$$ hard at work.  

[SawyerTed]

Our heat pumps run hard in cold weather.   They are there for backup heating and primarily for cooling in summer.  

I'm on my second water stove/OWB.  The first one started leaking about 4 or 5 years ago.   I didn't hesitate on replacing it.  

After 35 years and two stoves, my best calculations show an average annual savings of $1,750 over heat pumps.  That includes paying for two stoves, chainsaws, fuel, tools, maintenance and repairs and a percentage of a tractor.  Labor was calculated at $0 since the farm has to be cleaned up after blow downs and dead trees anyway.  

Recent savings are higher due to increasing rates from Duke Energy.   My neighbor was complaining the other day about his January electric bill of almost $600!   His home is all electric with heat pumps.   My January bill was just over $50.