I have to say without the great posts from all of you through out the years, I would not be where I am at as a hoarder now. I am now up to 12 cords, almost over my 3 year plan, with amazing dry firewood for this year. I have about 4 cords to be split yet, and am always on the lookout for more. This afternoon I put 2 splits in the stove, with a pretty weak coal bed, and in less than 3 minutes I had good flame. Just an attestation to the importance of truly dried wood. I had a maple split, and red oak. I can now say I mastered the 2 piece fire, which is hard to do with mediocre firewood.
x2 Nothing like putting monster pieces of locust in and they catch almost before you can close the door. So much better than a few years ago when I ran short on quality wood. Even the neighbor that has use of my wood made comments that year.
Burning red oak here, 3.5 years since split. Bark falls off easily. I keep the bark for quick heat ups, if needed. Like you, it is satisfying to see splits easily catch fire. The 3yr plan is the bomb!
One of the biggest benefits to me is how clean my chimney stays. I’ve switched to sweeping every other season and I still only get about a handful of the black stuff.
I love seeing a complete burn when I let it go out completely. No lingering black charred chunks left over, only fine gray ash.
