Bringin' up da Wood

[SwampDonkey]

80° in here and 30% RH, that sun has power. Have not added firewood to the furnace since 7:00 am, it's after 12:00 pm now. Won't need none with that sun shining.

83° in the shop, 34% RH. 

[GRANITEstateMP]

Just brought a Tractor bucket of wood into the basement, got it stacked up and now that is full.  We have anywhere from fluries, to 2-4in, to ice coming tomorrow, just depends on which weather guesser you listen to.

Tom,
I didn't know you were into one of these new fangled gluten free, free range diets?  I've never tried or thought of  boiling down ERC to eat.  I'm guessing it'll taste pretty much like grits

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I wasn't 'cooking' them to eat, just for a nice smell. But since you asked I just gave them a  taste... Not very good but better than most grits.
(3...2...1... )

[Al_Smith]

Many years ago on the farm dad would get sawmill slabs then cut them up with a frame mounted buzz saw on an F-14 Farmall .Burned in a gravity furnace that would burn anything you fed it with . For that matter corn cobs worked very well as these were in a time before picker shellers we have today were even thought of .Some time between 1951-1954 .
My dad bought that 70 acres tillable and ten acres of woods with a house,barn ,chicken coop for $7000 .I can't imagine what that would be worth today . 

[doc henderson]

I make some great wood chip fire starters.  I use planer chips and reclaimed candle wax to pour over and a wax laden length of yarn.  starts nice with about 10-minute burning time for those stubborn logs.  thy make it smell good in the shop, just setting on the shelf.

[Resonator]

You mean that ain't bacon cookin' on the stove to go with Tom's saute'ed mushrooms? 

[GRANITEstateMP]

"Doc's High Fiber Muffins" the way to start your day!

[doc henderson]

Had one girl set one on a mantle and thought it was a candle.  She got it put out in time.  they smell good due to the wax from candles I get with only a quarter inch of left over wax and no wick from a group of friends and relatives.  I get non scented candles from a luminary each year.  I used to buy wax at Hobby Lobby, but it got too expensive.  I buy Christmas/winter themed cupcake papers and use cupcake tins to support them and fill with chips and then pour over wax.  I have specific scents that I buy if the candle wax does not have enough.  If you store them in a cabinet, it smells good to open the cabinet.  If you light the paper on the side, it may go out.  if you get the wick lit, it will start the whole thing and burn with a 10-inch-tall flame for 10 minutes.  I dip 8 feet of yarn in the molten wax and hang it till cooled and then clip into 1-inch wicks.  I used to do it on the wood stove, but you do not want to get distracted and get it too hot.  I would set the jars with wax in the bottom on there.  I have a double boiler I used to set on a hot plate, but I eventually set the pan on the heat and just watch it carefully.  the double boiler was too slow.  I now melt in bulk in my fluid and blanket warmer, under thermostatically controlled conditions.  yes, the wick makes a few think they are candles, and the cupcake paper makes some think they are edible.  I have demoed these twice at Jakes get together.  He is very trusting to let me start fires at his sawmill.  

[GRANITEstateMP]

Al,
One of the first tractors they had on my inlaws farm was an F14.  About 20yrs ago we pulled it out of the woods where it had been doing cordwood 30yrs before that! I ended up getting my first broken bone on that adventure.  Tractor is now up at the farm, still in the same condition as we pulled it out of the woods, life hasn't gotten any less hectic.

Doc,
After hearing your story, I think you could marked them as multi use: Doc's High Fiber Muffins AND Doc's Firestarters!  Same product, just 2 different aisles in the store!

[hedgerow]

Its kind of dried up and warm up around here so yesterday I went over to one of my farms in another county to get the JD 4440 tractor to bring it home and hook the soil mover on it start fixing some wash outs in fields. All the other field work is done. It was a strange feeling to open the shed up and see about 15 cord of hedge firewood loaded on trailers setting there and won't be moving this season. It been a different fall and early winter not feeding the Garn boiler and just burning propane. I still need to get another propane tank so I can have heat back in my shop. We will give wood boilers another look when spring gets here. For now I will just enjoy not hauling and feeding wood. 

[SwampDonkey]

Been between 6 and 10° here the last few days, only low 20's for highs. Another cold one tonight. I just mentioned the other day to someone, this is colder than all last winter. Yep! 

[Hilltop366]

It been a different fall and early winter not feeding the Garn boiler and just burning propane.

I guess another way to slice the pie would be to sell some firewood and burn propane. At least you won't have to go feed the fire all winter or put out the money for a new boiler.

[Al_Smith]

This Ohio weather is constantly changing .For the last week,ten days it's been around 18 degrees in morning until two days ago,in the 40's now .Too warm  to fire up the insert else we'd be sitting around in our undies with the doors open .If this keeps up that 5-6  cords of wood will easily last me all heating season . 

[SwampDonkey]

Was 16° here this morning, but built a fire at 7:00 am and there are coals there now but not hot enough for the fan to kick in. But won't need fire the rest of the day here, sun is out, free radiant heat through windows. Sunny days cut the wood burning down. Problem is, not many of them sunny days here for a month. Going to storm the next 3 days, but milder, possible rain at the end. Then a fast freeze and cold the next day. Ice making weather. 85° in the shop, won't need wood out there until tomorrow morning.

[Magicman]

71° for us today but there is more firewood burning ahead for Thursday's forecast of 28°. 

[SwampDonkey]

Had to close the curtain on the dormer window (west) and open a north window. 85° up here, heat off the sun, no fire. No wind today either and can barely feel any difference with the window open at all.

[Al_Smith]

It's just one of those things .My house slightly over 2100 sq feet is well insulated ,brick which other than being L shaped is easy to heat .It still has the ceiling plus baseboard electric heat as it was built .I've went through two geothermal units that have failed because of water quality .It's now got a 95 % efficient propane furnace which does very well .
I burn the firewood because I have an abundance  of it ,prime Ohio hard woods .In addition to gtting heat it gives me an idea of rebuilding and restoring and testing older chainsaw plus gives me some exercise from inactivity .Plus an added bonus if the power goes out I've still got heat .As long as the pipes don't freeze and I run out of barley pop I can deal with it .

[Al_Smith]

It was 10 above at o dark thirty this morning so I lit the fire for the first time .No problem using a b-bottle torch ,didn't have that much dry kindling .For some reason I never do .

[SwampDonkey]

No dry cottonwood rounds on hand? I just use bone dry aspen or fir, just as good as dry cedar. 

I had to dry out the entry door mat this morning. Took it out to the shop in front of the stove in a make shift drying rack made with a step ladder. Was dry in 2 hrs with hot stove fan blowing on it and 93° inside the shop and 2 windows up. A mix of aspen and fir will warm up a room mighty quick.

[Al_Smith]

I've got a pile of "sticks" wind blown little limbs I buzz up with a little battery micro saw . I never run out of them ,every time the wind blows i get more of them .
As for cottonwood I do have a rather large one on the ground ,100 plus footer .I just haven't taken the time to slice it up .It does burn but makes better dunnage blocks and cribbing than oak because it's light weight .Oak never gets lighter .Fact the older I get I think it's getting more heavy .

[Al_Smith]

Most of the time unless it gets real warm I only have to build a fire a couple of times a season .From December to around late March .Real cold I burn a face cord a week ,warmer less wood .It's some where between 4 and 5 cords .If I need more the farthest I have to travel is within 500 foot of the house .

[SwampDonkey]

I usually have to build a morning fire and often times evening. Sometimes there are coals there other times just dry ashes. Can't burn wood all day, I can't stand 90's° heat in summer so I won't suffer through it all winter either. Hasn't been any heat here since 10:00 am this morning north window is up, there is a north wind, and it's 80° in here. But it's 35° outside, was 55° outside last night. I've started with 16 cords of wood, 9 dry cords,  I've burned 2 dry cords in 3 months. I've been burning 2 year old cut wood so far, then get into 1 year wood, which is also bone dry, in January. Burned half a cord in the shop since mid September, keeping things dry. New building, plus there was firewood in there that was half dry so that drives up RH% to. Next year dry firewood won't go inside stacked until October. Outside now in woodshed drying. Dries faster outside with a roof over it and wind driving through it. By January, if the new wood for the house is not covered in ice and snow, I can stack 2-1/2 cord in an empty drying rack under the porch. I have another one at the opposite end that will hold 3-1/2 cords. Probably end up with 2 cord I have to put inside the house left over because I won't burn no 9 cords. And there is 2-1/4 cord dry in there now. I'll likely burn that next before the other porch wood. No one will ever say Crawford's were ever short of firewood. There will come a day, that all that I keep stored will be about 2 cords for power outtages and I'll be pushing a button for electric furnace (which I have already). When we had a heat pump at dad's place you needed one anyway, heat pump could never keep you comfy in the dead of winter, no matter what BS they feed you. If you was in SC, no problem, not on the Canadian Tundra though.

[Al_Smith]

Regarding heat pumps it just depends on which type .Air to air works to some degree in warmer condtions like above freezing .However geothermal works in any conditions .I've had two of those units but because of water conditions failed after around 8 years of usage .Now if I'd have used a ground loop most likely they wouldn't have failed but in my location it takes 700 feet of loop per ton rating .So for my 5 ton unit that would have been 3.500 feet of loop .  So much for geothermal and Al . 

[SwampDonkey]

I'd say 99% up here is air to air. Geothermal is an expensive proposition in these parts hard to pencil it out for any savings. Most any one of those gadgets I wouldn't depend on past 10 years for practical purposes. I've seen lots of 'gadgetry' that never stood up over time to save anything. I remember a hot water heater coming off the wood furnace, lasted maybe 5 years until it was all calcified. Going to be big savings. 

[Al_Smith]

I've seen some giant geo systems that worked for a while however with this warming trend did not work out well .One used the water from a spring fed quarry with 30" feed and return lines .It was to cool process water in an automotive engine plant .Problem was it heated the quarry up and required some gigantic refridgeration machinery to aid in  the return water cooling .This was a millon dollar screw up .Looked good on  paper though . However it did work but not as well as they thought it should .It all boiled down to the fact we cannot control the weather .If the prvailing seasons remained as they had been  it would have been the cat's meow .