MyE28.com

I have been gathering wood from fallen trees around town since the Halloween storm. Stuffed it in the Volvo.





That was a load of red oak. Most of it is Maple.



Some pieces 28-30 inches in diameter. Have to split it on location before loading it and bringing it home.

Anyone one know why some of the trunk heartwood is blue/black?



About 3 cords will be ready for next winter! Hoping to collect, split and stack enough for 2 more cords. Hard to not grab it when it's free.

I don't suppose you deliver...

We've got two fireplaces in our house, but we've had exactly one fire in them. The house was built in 1948, and they are standard wide-open fireplaces, and that one time it seemed like the house was colder when the fire was going. Probably was because of all the outside air that was seeping in to compensate for the draft going up the chimney.

We've talked about installing a wood burning stove insert in one of them or maybe a gas insert, but so far the prices have scared us off. The topic came up again this fall, and I think we're going to go for it. Kinda hard to beat the homey feeling you get from sitting in front of a real wood fire though.

We had a Vermont Castings Wood Burning Insert that was the bomb when it came to actually putting out heat.
Fireplaces are known to not be very efficient but the model we had would easily heat our house and the room where the fireplace was had 26' ceilings...

This is the model we had and it had fans to push out the heat,
it will take you about 3 mos to figure it out but after that you will love it...
easy to care for and easy to use too...



http://vermontcastings.com/family/Firep ... Montpelier

This Unit gets a BDK

Our neighborhood is lined with Ash trees, and they've been killed by the Emerald Ash Borer. Anyway, they're cutting them all down now (its on the city) and there's a TON of wood available- but the cutting company removes what isn't taken- which is actually 95% of it. I didn't take any because we a) don't have a wood burning fireplace and b) I totally suck at splitting wood. I can do it if I have one of those gas powered splitters, but I tried doing it with hand tools and I just have no success. I do, however, have a firepit in my backyard but we haven't used it once this year so I don't feel the need to stockpile more wood.

However, Todd, if I did have a wood burning fireplace I would buy a splitter and would be doing what you are doing.

And don't forget to get that chimney cleaned and inspected. As a news photographer I've covered many chimney fires- including one that nearly completely took out a colleague's house. A crack in a chimney can mean a serious house fire.

That is a turbo Volvo isn't it?

...... yes, a round 3ft across every evening from October to May/June, every year since 2006... . We have almost 100 winters worth of wood chopped and stacked, then another 50 or so currently in rounds waiting for chopping.

And I will be doing it here in England too!

mtnman533 wrote:...... yes, a round 3ft across every evening from October to May/June, every year since 2006... . We have almost 100 winters worth of wood chopped and stacked, then another 50 or so currently in rounds waiting for chopping.

And I will be doing it here in England too!

You must know first-hand what the old timers say about wood warming you three times!

Chimney was inspected and cleaned before burning our first fire since the house was built in 1920 and I had no idea the last time a fire was lit.

I split everything by hand with a sledge hammer, axe head, wedge and splitting maul. I have been sore for 10 straight days.

Our fireplace works well once the brick is hot. The chimney is inside the house so it does throw some radiate heat upstairs as well.

Mike W. wrote:That is a turbo Volvo isn't it?

Sadly it's n/a but it is a 5 speed.

I am an oak man myself.

Damn. If you humped those logs up into the volvo by yourself, I'm impressed with just that!

Rodney,

There is a reason they call it Ash. That crap will fill up a wood stove with ash in one night! Also, you weren't trying to split wood with an axe, were you? You need a good maul and some wedges to get it done.

For two years I lived in a house with a wood stove as the only source of heat (since I didn't want to pay to fill the oil tank) and enjoyed it. I definitely did a lot of splitting. I used to sit for hours at a time and watch the fire. Nature's television.

davintosh wrote:

mtnman533 wrote:...... yes, a round 3ft across every evening from October to May/June, every year since 2006... . We have almost 100 winters worth of wood chopped and stacked, then another 50 or so currently in rounds waiting for chopping.

And I will be doing it here in England too!

You must know first-hand what the old timers say about wood warming you three times!

I certainly do!

Sadly, the only reason we burnt through wood at a 3ft round per evening rate (rounds 18 inches tall), is because the fireplace at our house is rubbish (like the rest of the house).

Oh well, my brother has taken over fire duties now he's at home and I'm not .

booker wrote:Damn. If you humped those logs up into the volvo by yourself, I'm impressed with just that!

It's good exercise for sure!

Serious props for doing all that yourself!

Todd this the regimen I follow when cutting wood. I only cut until I run out of gas in the saw. Then I split and stack the wood. Most wood splits easier green. And wood dries better if split. I split by hand. It is an acquired skill. I have access to a splitter, but find it too much trouble to mess with, due to my slow and easy approach. All of you guys, should learn not to over work un-used muscles. The land behind me slowly returning to its origins. White pines and mixed oaks,. Right now, it is weed trees, cherry, locust, elm, When stuff blows over, I take it . Locust is useful because it is as tough as oak, and it doesnt rot . Cherry smells like a chocolate maraschino when you split it in the winter. A splitter putting away in the background would be oldfactorilly akin to lighting a Montecristo with a Zippo. In these 'ere parts , red oak is known as piss oak .

a wrote:Todd this the regimen I follow when cutting wood. I only cut until I run out of gas in the saw. Then I split and stack the wood. Most wood splits easier green. And wood dries better if split. I split by hand. It is an acquired skill. I have access to a splitter, but find it too much trouble to mess with, due to my slow and easy approach. All of you guys, should learn not to over work un-used muscles. The land behind me slowly returning to its origins. White pines and mixed oaks,. Right now, it is weed trees, cherry, locust, elm, When stuff blows over, I take it . Locust is useful because it is as tough as oak, and it doesnt rot . Cherry smells like a chocolate maraschino when you split it in the winter. A splitter putting away in the background would be oldfactorilly akin to lighting a Montecristo with a Zippo. In these 'ere parts , red oak is known as piss oak .

My father taught me how to split wood when I was a kid and we split a lot. I really enjoy it. Most of the wood has been a joy to split. If the grain is straight is splits like butter. If it's twisted it requires the wedge. The red oak smells amazing when split but the maple smells like vinegar. Do you know why some of the maple is blue?

They make hydraulic/electric splitters. They're not so noisy, nor do they ruin the smell.

Nothing beats splitting the skulls of your enemies (or wood) with a well placed karate chop.

I buy already split oak from Craigslist for ambiance more than the heat. Moving and stacking it from where it's dumped in the driveway is enough exercise.

Mine is gas. I've never used it. I don't use the heater, either, but I learned last January that I have to.

tsmall07 wrote:Rodney,

There is a reason they call it Ash. That crap will fill up a wood stove with ash in one night! Also, you weren't trying to split wood with an axe, were you? You need a good maul and some wedges to get it done.

For two years I lived in a house with a wood stove as the only source of heat (since I didn't want to pay to fill the oil tank) and enjoyed it. I definitely did a lot of splitting. I used to sit for hours at a time and watch the fire. Nature's television.

Ah knew I liked yew. . .

a wrote:Todd this the regimen I follow when cutting wood. I only cut until I run out of gas in the saw. Then I split and stack the wood. Most wood splits easier green. And wood dries better if split. I split by hand. It is an acquired skill. I have access to a splitter, but find it too much trouble to mess with, due to my slow and easy approach. All of you guys, should learn not to over work un-used muscles. The land behind me slowly returning to its origins. White pines and mixed oaks,. Right now, it is weed trees, cherry, locust, elm, When stuff blows over, I take it . Locust is useful because it is as tough as oak, and it doesnt rot . Cherry smells like a chocolate maraschino when you split it in the winter. A splitter putting away in the background would be oldfactorilly akin to lighting a Montecristo with a Zippo. In these 'ere parts , red oak is known as piss oak .

I cheated with mine,
I used a chainsaw to fall the trees and rented a hydrolic splitter....

I had more wood than I could use and gave a bunch away...

Locust is great firewood because it burns super hot,
I used a mix of Apple and Locust in my wood burning pizza oven...

I still have my Grandfather's two wedges.......my Dad and I used them for a good 40 years and I still use them.......along w/ a 10-lb hammer.

I would buy a hydraulic splitter now except nobody makes one to bust 37" lengths. All the roadside wood sellers run when you ask them for 37". They all do 20" w/ a cheap hyd splitter.

So.............I keep at it.........bust what will pile on a pallet and quit for the day. Roll it in w/ the Bobcat and enjoy....

3 twenty lb pieces placed in a triangle will burn 5 hours w/o messing w/ it mostly. Good drinking fire.

If you ever run into a pecan tree get it. Will burn within two weeks of having leaves on it and makes a warm, pretty fire. Don't carry it over a year.........it dries out and is gone.
-Dick

tsmall07 wrote:Rodney,

There is a reason they call it Ash. That crap will fill up a wood stove with ash in one night! Also, you weren't trying to split wood with an axe, were you? You need a good maul and some wedges to get it done.

For two years I lived in a house with a wood stove as the only source of heat (since I didn't want to pay to fill the oil tank) and enjoyed it. I definitely did a lot of splitting. I used to sit for hours at a time and watch the fire. Nature's television.

Amen brother. I've heated my house with found firewood since I bought the place in 2005. I have (2) 275g oil tanks attached to the dormant oil furnace, do the math. I put in an on demand water heater for hot water and hooked up my woodstove to a pre-existing thimble and chimney in the center of the house. I just love a wood fire, and honestly I love all the labor that goes into having a woodstove. To me the whole process is very Zen. Here's last weekend's score, most of which I split tonight at my buddy's house with a hydraulic splitter, however at my house it's all maul.

I have a sweet stove that some of you guys might appreciate. It's a German made ceramic tile wood/coal stove from the 70s, called a Weso. The sides are hollow and it works on the principle of convection, drawing cool air from the floor, heating it and allowing it to escape out the grate on the top, which doubles as a cooking surface. The ceramic sides are not quite hot to the touch at full tilt, and there's an oil filled "thermostat" that regulates an air flap around back to control the burn. Depending on the type of wood, locust especially, I can get 6-8 hours of burn overnight by cutting the thermostat back.

Finally, a shot of Chez ahab, toasty warm thanks to free firewood (and a lot of sweat).

That's a very cool space!

We love a fire at our house.
Last Thursday evening's was the first of the season.
I hand split mine as well.

I've heated almost exclusively with wood for about 7 years. The gas furnace adds some extra comfort when it gets ass cold here in Portland. But that isn't too often.

I moved on from fir to hardwoods such as big leaf maple, Oregon white oak, and my favorite locust. Locust burns forever! I get it from somebody on craigslist and it arrives like this in my driveway.



Then I stack it here.





A nice thing about being a woodworker is kiln dried hardwood scraps. Probably the most expensive firewood around. Madrone, myrtle, walnut, maple, beech, cherry.

Here's the stove as it burns right now. It's a Country.


A friend and I used to cut firewood and mill lumber for some extra pennies. We had a hydraulic splitter that ran on 3 phase from his dad's barn/shop. The mill was a Mobile Dimension that ran on a VW engine. It was a pull start. Here are some big logs we hauled. We got the sweetest clear lumber out of these logs.

THAT is awesome. I love wood.

We have a wood stove as our only heat. Hydraulic splitter for us. It's funny, the house is twice as big (1200 sq feet) as it was last year, but between insulating the exterior walls, shearwalling them, new windows and siding; the house stays warmer than it ever has before (same woodstove).

I have some serious chopping to do over Thanksgiving break! Had a giant ash tree trimmed and there is a ton of wood to split. Frozen wood explodes when you hit it right.

I burn wood for heat in my game room/bar area downstairs. Using fans on the stairwell the heated air is moved to the main level of the house.
Your the man Todd I use a hydraulic splitter and that's work enough.