What kind of wood do YOU like to burn in the winter?

[Glenn NY4NC]

Thanks John, I'll check it out.....

Glenn,
These are 110/125v Ac powered electric/hydraulic splitters, think they are about 100 lbs.Found others that were similar and a bit less but the DR has service support,came with 3 yr warranty.think if you use good extension cord(10 ga) you could use up to 25 feet away without killing it.More info on there website.
                                          John

[VE7 Kilohertz]

For those of you that are paying for your firewood, try talking tree trimmers into dumping a load of wood on your property. A lot of times they have to pay to dump it and they will gladly give you a load for nothing. Its easier in the summer when the demand for firewood is less.

I did exactly this about 4 years ago, only I wasn't looking for firewood, I was looking for BBQ wood. Called tree toppers in the yellow pages and I ended up with about a cord of Oak, 1/2 cord of Cherry and 1/4 truck load of Apple. Mmmm Mmmmm good. That wood now has more than 500 miles on it as I wasn't going to leave it at the old QTH. It was too good a score. That's rare wood out here.

I wonder if anyone here has ever had any serious fire problems with their flue?  I clean mine about every three weeks of burning just to be safe.  The hickory does build up some creosote.  I also have a three walled top section that goes through the ceiling and roof.  The section below the ceiling is a single walled pipe with the damper about 4 feet above the "Kozi" stove.  I've run this configuration for about 3 1/2 years with no problems.

Hi Brian,

Wow! Every 3 weeks?  I check mine once or twice per season then run a set of old tire chains up and down the flue once a year to knock the loose stuff off. I haven't had to really give it a cleaning ever and I burn Pine which is supposed to deposit lots of creosote. It's possible our chimney design, being a flue inside of a cinder block housing, running entirely inside the house (i.e. not exposed to the cooling effects of outside air) until it exits, then it is only about 5' above the roof, keeps the creosote to a minimum. I also try to keep the fire hot so it doesn't smolder.

 Cheers

Paul
VE7KHz

[VE7 Kilohertz]

Forgot to mention that I burn a lot of wood pallets that
would be going to the landfill. I pick them
up every few days from the loading dock of a nearby retail business.
Throw them in the back of the truck on the way home.
Many are made from hardwoods and hardwood scrap.
The stouter ones must have 80 pounds of wood in them.

Hi Bill,

Yes, I too collect pallets for the hardwood. Some of the ones I find are exotic woods from overseas. I use them for wood projects, benches etc. I have even found some Mahogany!! I tried burning them once then realized that since we put our wood stove ashes on the garden, it will be full of nails and they aren't too good for the tractor tires. 

Paul
VE7KHz

[W1RKW]

Anyone have experience with multifuel furnaces?  I've contemplated replacing the existing oil burner with something that can do wood, oil and coal and run it in the existing heating system.

[John Holotko]

Here in new York City we burn paper, cardboard, garbage, old clothes, old matresses, automobiles...etc.

[W1RKW]

It's been a while since I was down in NYC.  Took the wife to Manhattan to see Rockafellar Center to see the Christmas Decorations and some other sites.  Met up with my cousin and went out to dinner. We had a good time.  I love NYC.  It's fun place.

I was amazed at all the smoke and steam that comes out of the ground down there. Smoke stacks in the middle of the street.  Seems like a waste of useable heat.  We walked around and when my feet got cold I simply stood on a subway grate for a few minutes to warm them up.

And then or course there's the walk through Central Park and it was nice to see Santa Claus relieving himself next to a nice big fir tree.  Would have made a Christmas nice picture.

[John Holotko]

It's been a while since I was down in NYC.  Took the wife to Manhattan to see Rockafellar Center to see the Christmas Decorations and some other sites.  Met up with my cousin and went out to dinner. We had a good time.  I love NYC.  It's fun place.

I was amazed at all the smoke and steam that comes out of the ground down there. Smoke stacks in the middle of the street.  Seems like a waste of useable heat.  We walked around and when my feet got cold I simply stood on a subway grate for a few minutes to warm them up.

And then or course there's the walk through Central Park and it was nice to see Santa Claus relieving himself next to a nice big fir tree.  Would have made a Christmas nice picture.

Glad you had a nice  time. Yeah, that steam is mostly part of Con Edison's "steam ops.". In addition to suppying electricity and gas in Manhattan they also supply steam. When they vent that steam onto the street on a nice bitter cold day it produces an awesome steam plume. As a kid I was always amazed by that.

[W1QWT]

Well since we are speaking of burning wood it looks like I am going to have to use the wood stove more this year.
I just received an electric bill for $560! Unfortunately I have electric heat, electric water heater, electric clothes dryer, and electric radios.
I didn't use any more KWH than last year at this time but the cost per KWH went up 36% in that time period with the largest increase (31%) just happening on November 1st this year.
I project January and February bills of $700 at this rate.
I feel bad for people on fixed income in my area.

Q

[NE4AM]

Living in the country, and heating my house with wood, I had to cut a lot each year so this is what I did:  I burned a lot of elm.  Most of the elm in the midwest only grows about the diameter of your arm before Dutch Elm kills it, so after it has stood dead a couple years, I could fell it, and it would be a good diameter and not need splitting.  (The old English boyers used to make longbows out of elm, because the stuff _wouldn't_ split.)  Standing dead, it is already very dry, so it is ready to burn right away. 

I also burned a lot of locust, which is very dense, quick growing, hot burning.  It is kind of a 'weed' tree, taking over on hillsides or places where the ground has been disturbed.

Every fall I would also survey the woods, and fell any dead oaks.  Oak is just the best - burns well, and easy to split.  I found that if you split your wood after the temperature has fallen into the 20s, the moisture in the wood has frozen, and the logs split MUCH easier.

On the coldest days of winter, I'd throw a couple chunks of Osage Orange onto the fire.  That stuff will burn as hot as coal - get your Franklin stove red hot if you aren't careful.  Osage Orange is incredibly dense, hard stuff - impossible to spit, and will dull your chainsaw pretty quickly.

73 - Dave

[VE7 Kilohertz]

Living in the country, and heating my house with wood, I had to cut a lot each year so this is what I did:  I burned a lot of elm.  Most of the elm in the midwest only grows about the diameter of your arm before Dutch Elm kills it, so after it has stood dead a couple years, I could fell it, and it would be a good diameter and not need splitting.  (The old English boyers used to make longbows out of elm, because the stuff _wouldn't_ split.)  Standing dead, it is already very dry, so it is ready to burn right away. 

I also burned a lot of locust, which is very dense, quick growing, hot burning.  It is kind of a 'weed' tree, taking over on hillsides or places where the ground has been disturbed.

Every fall I would also survey the woods, and fell any dead oaks.  Oak is just the best - burns well, and easy to split.  I found that if you split your wood after the temperature has fallen into the 20s, the moisture in the wood has frozen, and the logs split MUCH easier.

On the coldest days of winter, I'd throw a couple chunks of Osage Orange onto the fire.  That stuff will burn as hot as coal - get your Franklin stove red hot if you aren't careful.  Osage Orange is incredibly dense, hard stuff - impossible to spit, and will dull your chainsaw pretty quickly.

73 - Dave

Hi Dave,

That's an intersting mix of wood you burn. I have heard Elm is a bear to deal with but like everything, the harder and heavier it is, the more BTUs you can extract. I would love to find Oak locally but it is only available on the coast. None inland where we are. Our densist wood here is probably Apple but that is hard to find as well, even though we have lots of local orchards.

The Fir from our property seems to be burning well so far. I found a half dozen dead standing and dropped them this spring. I have some 3 year old Birch as well and that burns nicely thru the night but leaves LOTS of ash.

Cheers

Paul

[W5AMI]

Wow! Every 3 weeks?  I check mine once or twice per season then run a set of old tire chains up and down the flue once a year to knock the loose stuff off. I haven't had to really give it a cleaning ever and I burn Pine which is supposed to deposit lots of creosote. It's possible our chimney design, being a flue inside of a cinder block housing, running entirely inside the house (i.e. not exposed to the cooling effects of outside air) until it exits, then it is only about 5' above the roof, keeps the creosote to a minimum. I also try to keep the fire hot so it doesn't smolder.

 Cheers Paul VE7KHz

Yeah, I admit once every three weeks is probably way overkill but it's a good chore for my 15 yo son who likes to get on the roof anyway.  Fortunately, the roof is not steep and it only takes about 5 minutes to run the sweeper up and down the pipe a couple of times.  We used to do it only once a year until the flue caught fire one year.  The roar was incredible, and we thought the house was coming down.

Brian

[Paul, K2ORC]

Yeah, I admit once every three weeks is probably way overkill but it's a good chore for my 15 yo son who likes to get on the roof anyway. Fortunately, the roof is not steep and it only takes about 5 minutes to run the sweeper up and down the pipe a couple of times. We used to do it only once a year until the flue caught fire one year. The roar was incredible, and we thought the house was coming down.

Brian

We used to burn wood in a big Ashley airtight stove and did the once a year chimney cleaning.  Then we had a chimney fire.   Brian, you're right about the roar.  It sounded like a jet engine going full blast and it scared the hell out of us.  We expected any moment that the fire would breach the flue tiles and ignite the house. 

I called the fire department.  A couple of them went on the roof, dropped a small package of powder down the chimney and slapped a tarp over the flue.  The fire went out instantly.  I think I then took the first breath I'd taken since the fire started.  We'd built the chimney well and thankfully there was no damage.   It was the end of winter and I'd been stretching our wood supply by mixing in a bit of green wood and some old juniper and pine.   Stupid of me.  We burned oak which is prolific here, taking some from our woods and augmenting it with a few face cords from a nearby farmer on whose land I used to hunt. 

There was an article in the local paper recently saying that people with  wood pellet stoves are in a real bind.  Pellets are in scarce supply -- evidently the manufacturers hadn't anticipated the demand when they started the run for this year -- and when pellets are available, the price has gone sky high. 

All of this really reminds me of what was going on during late 1970s when we had the last oil crisis.

[W5AMI]

That was the first flue fire I ever witnessed Paul, and it scared me something terrible.  It was about 3:00 AM and my wife woke me from a sound sleep, which made it even more horrible.  First thing I did was get into the attic to see if anything was getting breached, but I saw nothing.  It went out on it's own within minutes, thank God. 

Yeah, this reminds me a lot of the 70's fuel crisis.  I've got electric central heat, and only used it a few times last year.  This year, I plugged up all the floor vents and plan to heat with wood only.  So far we've gotten by fine, but it doesn't get real cold down here.  We see some single digits two or three times during an average Winter.

[WA1GFZ]

Well my oil Co. raised the price 10 cents since yesterday if we pay cash. Send a bill and pay in two weeks and it is 20 cents higher. Wook is going for $200 a cord last i heard. Pellits, you can't buy them. none around. Makse me want to add more wall insulation in the new place. HMMM maybe R40 in the walls?

Electric heat is looking better every day. At least there is some price control

[N5RLR]

Although one can buy commercially-made firelogs [Duraflame, et. al.]...I wonder how a "homebrew" one, made from sawdust and diluted Elmer's Glue, would burn?  Does Elmer's go toxic under combustion? 

[KC4ALF]

When Iburn wood its usually Locust or Hickory,it is plentiful here on the mountain and there are many deadfalls just waiting to be cut up. The trade off is running through chain saw blades abt twice as fast as especially with locust you will see the sparks fly. Not for nothing called "Iron Wood".
In the past few years I have gone back to coal. A ton of Pa. Anthracite has more heat than two or so cords of seasoned oak and I also get the benifit of Cinders for the road.
I use wood mainly for backup now or for the fire pit and outdoor oven.

[VE7 Kilohertz]

When Iburn wood its usually Locust or Hickory,it is plentiful here on the mountain and there are many deadfalls just waiting to be cut up. The trade off is running through chain saw blades abt twice as fast as especially with locust you will see the sparks fly. Not for nothing called "Iron Wood".
In the past few years I have gone back to coal. A ton of Pa. Anthracite has more heat than two or so cords of seasoned oak and I also get the benifit of Cinders for the road.
I use wood mainly for backup now or for the fire pit and outdoor oven.

Interesting. I was just thinking today of asking who here burns coal in their wood stove or furnace. I have been contemplating it but am hesitant due to the potential heat output. Somewhat more than wood.

Hickory, nice fire wood. i bet you could stand outside your house all day and smell that wonderful BBQ aroma.

Has anyone else burned coal in your wood stove and how does it work mixed with wood?

Cheers

Paul

[KL7OF]

Coal burns a LOT hotter than wood ....coal burners are made from cast iron...You can melt down a steel plate wood stove using coal..

[N2udf]

I would burn all the yellow birch I could get.I get mostly maple,beech.Years ago an elderly gent from a family of 12 told me his father brought home railroad ties.It was the kids job to saw them up and burn them in a barrel stove in the living room.Now there is a hot fire!...Lee

[KC4ALF]

Hello VE7KHZ.
I must agree that Cast Iron is the choice for coal burners. There are sheet metal and plate steel stoves for coal, but they must be lined with Fire brick. Completly!
To burn coal in a wood stove you will almost always need to add a cast Iron Grate of some kind, and only bituminus (soft) coal can be used. Anthracite (hard) coal requiresw tremendous amounts of air to burn an can get hot enough to melt through an improperly tuned stove.
Here in This part of Va. wich is close to W.Va and Pa. finding good clean, used coal stoves at bargin prices are never a problem. Our parlour stove was picked up at a flea market for $15.00 becauae the gent said it burned wood to fast, coal stoves will do that .
Our main heater is a Wondercoal made by US Stove company. We bought it new 3yrs ago and is a sheet metal stove lined with Firebrick and will hold up to 50lbs of coal and burn all day.
New they sell for around $600.00 but are worth it.
There are several companies making new Coal Stoves, heaters and Cooking Ranges.
Check out Lehman's Hardware on the internet, they supply the Amish and Mennonites and carry a varity of stoves.

[W1QWT]

Question about creosote.
Does anyone know if those Chimney Sweeping Logs work?

I bought one and burnt it cause it says it has chemicals in it that help remove creosote.
Regards
Q W1QWT

[Bill, KD0HG]

Hickory, nice fire wood. i bet you could stand outside your house all day and smell that wonderful BBQ aroma.

Has anyone else burned coal in your wood stove and how does it work mixed with wood?

Cheers

Paul

Paul, I've tossed a few chunks of coal in my woodstove in the past, but I gotta tell you, it smells awful. on a calm night the stink coming out the chimney will singe your eyebrows.

[W2JBL]

   at my Adirondack shack upstate i burn mostly maple, as 90% of the trees on my property are maple, and dying off due to a blight. i don't have to worry about angering the Adirondack Park Commission (you can go to jail for cutting down trees there) because they just uproot and fall over. i prefer birch but it's not very prolific on my side of the mountain. once things are burning real hot i dump some hard coal in there and it gives nice heat until morning. the Adirondack summer is very short and i burn a lot of wood even in May and late August. say Terry- do you still burn your furniture on a really cold night?

[WD8BIL]

Like Chris, at the cabin we burn all deadfall.
Mostly Oak and hickory. Some maple, apple and an occasional cherry tree.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Mahogany, ebony, rosewood and spruce mostly. I have a bunch of old, priceless guitars I needed to get rid of.