NOTHING beats wood heat! Cindi, look on Craig's List for free wood listings. Most of the time it's scrap wood from construction sites, or someone has torn down and old cedar fence or some such. But it's almost always good clean
kiln dried wood, and you can't beat free! Even if it involves the pulling of some nails. In the days when we had more time [pre house building era
] we used to grab up all of the old wood being offered for free like the aforementioned. We'd have to pull nails, but once that was done, it was a simple matter of running it through the chop saw to cut it into perfect lengths. And it always stacks a heck of a lot easier than chord wood!
If you have state or national forest areas anywhere within about a 2 hour or less drive from your house, check with your state or federal agency that oversees each area. Often times you can get a permit to cut wood for little or no money. We used to go up to the mountains near Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helen all summer long, cutting windfall trees for firewood. The cost of the permit for the National Forest lands was a ridiculously low at $5 per chord!
Of course, that was also nearly 25 years ago. But I think it's still pretty low. A lot lower than what commercial cutters are asking for a chord of firewood.
If you do go out to harvest state or national land firewood, be sure to look for the trees that fell on their own. If the needles are brown [coniferous trees of course] then it's been dead for awhile and therefore well seasoned. You can burn it right away. DO NOT burn green [unseasoned] wood. Not only is it a big no-no ecologically speaking [lots of particulate emissions] but it also accelerates the creosote buildup in your chimney pipe. This can cause a chimney fire if not kept cleaned. And believe me, that is one scary event if you've never witnessed one before. Not to mention the fact that it can burn down your entire home!
OK, I'm gonna step off of my soap box now.
Congrats on making such a great buy on the wood stove Cindi. I'm keeping you and DH in my thoughts and prayers.
I love my wood stove. The electric heat very seldom comes on here. We do have to buy wood but it is reasonable. The heat it puts off is great and sooooooo warm. I keep an evaperator enamel pot on top with water in it and it helps to humidify the air. I also set a kettle on it part of the time and I can have hot tea when I like. Do you make the chicken back protectors. I would love to have a few of the denim quited ones for my big old orps. Also some buff colored ones for the buffs. I have what I think is another splash roo and if so I will try to keep him but I will sure need the protectors. These fellows get hugh. Gloria Jean
