THE firewood thread

[Beer can]

One tri-axle load of log length is usually enough to feed our outdoor boiler, not this winter, had another one delivered last week, it was super cold this winter. Got lucky, the lumber mill I order through said there was quite a few ahead of us. I was going to cut down a large hard maple that has a split in it, larger side facing our house. I want to use my backhoe to help push it in the right direction. Backhoe needs work, uggh! Down to last wheelbarrow of wood I looked the tree over and decided I could take it down in three sections and house would be safe, wasn't looking forward to it but there isn't any other trees that needed to come down and I didn't want to pay $50-$60 face cord to get us by. Then I got a call and they delivered that afternoon woohoo!

 

[Ole and Lena]

Lucy score this weekend!!!! Was out boiling sap in the yard and a guy that lives a couple miles down the road stopped in for a chat. He was interested in some syrup, and eyeing up my pile of fresh split wood wondered if I was interested in cutting some trees on his lot as he needed to make room for a new pole shed and didn't want to pay his contractor extra to remove them.

A quick drive to his house and I couldn't believe my eyes. A couple small ash trees, one 28" prime red oak and a 18", nearly branch-free BLACK CHERRY tree were to be removed!

All were away from buildings with easy felling paths and few limbs to dispose of. Good thing the cops weren't watching the road as I flew back to get my saw and felling gear. Made quick work of the felling and blocking and I now have about 1 1/2 years worth of prime firewood (counting the muttwood I already had cut), including the SUPER AWESOME CHERRY piled up behind my barn waiting to be split. The wood is so straight grained it splits like butter. A small lightning seam and some carpenter ants along it on both large trees are the only minor defect (the chickens had a smorgasbord when I split open the main nests). I even grabbed a couple small standing dead elms for the syrup boiler. Traded a quart of syrup and an indefinite number of self service eggs from the barn fridge (single hermit so I don't think he'll eat too many) for the wood. I love barter. He was so happy with my work he said he'd mark some more trees for me to cut next winter.

 

[Cold Canadian]

O I envy you ! I cut about fifteen cord a year ,some years twenty , but it's mostly Jack Pine , burns well , hardly any ash , but I also have a band sawmill and when ever I get a good hefty solid straight log , well I get the slabs for firewood and the cant goes on the pile to properly dry and used for lumber .....black cherry ! some beautiful wood there .

 

[Beekissed]

We don't put up near the wood we used to since Dad is no longer able but your wood piles reminded me of how much he used to keep around....said one could never really have too much wood and he never truly felt right unless he had a couple year's worth stacked.

Nowadays it's just my ol' mother and I, so we just cut and store enough for the season and a little extra. We've got a nice splitter that I love to use...I find it soothing, to be honest.

Just something about the rhythm of it all and how the wood cracks, how neat it is to place it just right so that you get the split you want...I love it!

We had the same thing happen to one of our big cherry trees last year....carpenter ants had invaded it and it fell down in the middle of summer on a clear blue sky day...funniest thing you ever saw. I heard a large crack and saw the tree top shaking, then it popped and cracked a couple more times...then a slow descent to a resounding crash. Nice wood and lots of it but it's sort of funny to see that huge tree taken down by a colony of little ants.

We have lots of pine here so we like to mix it in with our other wood to give us a good, hot fire when we need it and use the other wood for banking up at night. Last year we used quite a bit of oak but had not put in any pine and we missed it like crazy. We had some go down in the last big snow and will be thinning out some more, so Ma will get her beloved pine back in the wood pile this year. She talked about her hot pine fires all winter long like missing an old friend.

We found a lovely chain sharpener that helps us ladies keep the chain sharp without too much room for error and it's really cut down on sharpening chores/time. It's manufactured by Timberline and puts a really good edge on those teeth that lasts a long time. We feel it sharpens better than a new chain straight from the package...lasts longer too. We use a Stihl, 16 in. that's an "easy start", which us ladies love...nothing I hate worse than crankin' on a chainsaw. It cuts most of the medium to smaller stuff we have to work on and my brother comes out once a year to cut up the larger trees our saw won't handle.




Mom reconditioned the old barrel stove this year...put a new barrel on and moved the pipe collar back a little and replaced the old collar with a built in damper type. We've been using the same stove kit since the 70s and it's one they no longer make...it's called Sotz. We also put a flat plate back on the stove so we can set a kettle once again for moisture in the air. We really love the barrel stoves and haven't really found any stove we like better so we've been using them for 40 yrs now.



This is a great thread and y'all have done a good job with pics and explanations, very educational. I haven't gotten to read it all yet so posting on it to keep it bookmarked and ready for reading.

 

[Cold Canadian]

I will be looking at getting one of those chain sharpeners ! absolutely need one as I bring in my chains to get sharpened ...$5 per chain ..and it can get costly . Never liked the file only way , bought a electric sharpener that is still in the box ? Nice barrel stove , must really crank out the heat ?
I prefer pine as well , the smell for one , the heat value , a very renewable resource , and just a joy to work with

 

[Beekissed]

The sharpener seems pricy to folks who have used a file all their life but we are finding it's paying for itself in time and in performance. So much less down time because this sharpener is pretty speedy and one just can't mess up the angle of the tooth while using this thing.

That stove can pump out the heat and it also holds a great fire when dampered down for long periods. It holds a good sized log and can hold many if one wants to pack it full and then just let it burn slow. The best part? The barrel cost $15 and we've had the kit for the legs and door for nigh 40 years and they work and look just like they did the day we bought them.

 

[Beer can]

Buddy of mines grandmother uses one of those barrel stove for years. Hers has a rack on it. She keeps a big pot of stew on it during deer season, her place is a favorite spot to organize deer drives.
I got a barrel stove leg and door, damper kit from TSC. I use one for a cold smoker, about fifteen feet of pipe to another barrel to hang meat in.

 

[Beekissed]

That's so funny! The last pot we simmered on that stove a couple of weeks ago was deer stew. There's just something about a big black stove in a log cabin that demands that it have a pot of venison stew on to cook.

It's a great place to simmer soups and stews as the flat heating surface mounted on top has raised lettering on it that keeps the pan from having too much contact with the hot surface, so it doesn't heat up too fast, too soon.

The flat plate we used this time was the door off a stove kit made by Vogelzang and it reads "barrel stove" on it....we ground off the handle and hinge seats and used it as the cook plate. It was the perfect size and shape to fit the top of the stove, so it was pure serendipity!

 

[Cold Canadian]

I'm starting to warm up to the idea of the barrel stove ......question though , just a regular steel barrel ? or is it a heavy steel one , the barrels these days seem to have thinner skin then years ago .

 

[Ole and Lena]

At our old deer camp, we had a big piece of torch cut carbon steel tack welded to the top of the barrel for cooking. I think it came from the box of a mine truck. Also a section of 24" steel steam pipeline with a spigot welded on for a water basin. Door and flue collar were made from old coal boiler parts. Also had an old TV antenna welded on for a clothes dryer. Worked wonderfully to cook venny stew on and always had some hot water for washing. "The old man," a friend of Dad, millwright at the mines, was an old time scrounger and found all the parts along the way. He even wrote his name on the stove with a weld bead. The camp is long gone, land got too overgrown with Balsam and the winter of 95-96 culled the deer herd. Came up blank for the whole camp '97 and '98 and moved on to better deer hunting. After the old man died, his sons never renewed the lease.

A crackling fire of Jack pine or Black spruce simmering some bad coffee and the heat waves wafting Pall Mall smoke around that skid stock and barn tin shack are some of my fondest childhood memories.

Barrel stoves kick off a lot of heat quickly, but tend to use a lot of wood. Not a big problem if you have lots of it readily available. A re-burner stove is much more efficient. That's what I'm forced to use here at the edge of the prairie. I heat a 1500 sq ft old house with about 5 cords per year, mixed quality hardwood and "muttwood" (pallet stock, box elder, aspen, etc). My current deer shack up North has a "Yukon stove." Light, sheet metal, looks like a 30 gal barrel on end with a cast iron cooking surface. Loads big stuff from top and small wood from side when cooking. I've heard they were designed for fly-in bush camps in the 20's and 30's to spare weight and make a compact all-purpose stove. Really cranks the heat, but also uses wood pretty fast.