I am curious about that also, I am not sure if Eric Wanderweg stove is a cat or not. How many years c/s is the stuff you have?
I don't specifically set anything aside for the extreme cold. Like James Miller said, it's almost all premium around here. All I do have is red and chestnut oak, a bit of mulberry and now I have some BL.
Back in my indoor stove days I always had a healthy supply of hedge and black locust. I would burn it on warm days because I had so much of it. Turns out that stuff doesn't do well in my outdoor boiler unless there is a big heat demand (the fire will go out). During mild weather I'll burn soft maple, cherry, and tulip poplar. When it gets cold I'll mix in some oak, hickory, or whatever of the good stuff I have. I have enough boiler capacity I could do 24 hour burns on pine pretty easily.
I try to have one row of my 4, which is dedicated to big chunks of hickory, locust, beech and sugar maple. Almost all are night pieces/subzero. It makes it easy as I fill the house up each week, I plan ahead based on the forecast. I did just find out I have a ten wheeler load if black locust down the road!!!!
Make sure you don't put in too much Hedge by itself. It WILL get so hot your stove will dance across the floor! With it being your first time burning hedge mix a piece or two in with your normal wood and see how the stove responds. I never fill my stove up full with only Osage. That's asking for problems. Better to be on the safe side especially since it's your first time.
I don't set premium wood aside, but the way I have each season's wood arranged is in single stacks. The beginning of the stacks being shoulder season wood like silver maple or maybe siberian elm, then maybe ash, then premium stuff toward the middle of the stack assuming that's dead of winter time and temps are low. Then maybe more ash, and back to shoulder season woods at the other end of the stack. I've been told I have "problems" but to me this arrangement makes perfect sense.
Most of the wood I have here is all hardwood. I usually only use bl for overnight cold nights and usually when I leave for work. When im home I’ll throw in ash, maple, bw and some of this dried out pine I picked up last week
Me as well. Keep us posted on how the Hedge does in CAT stove. I’ve not yet burned it in my 2 month old Buckstove 91 CAT. Only in my non CAT stoves at the cabin.
Right now my premium wood is whatever is dry but I’m building up my stash of BL. Will be a while before I can tap into the Strategic Wood Supply
Premium wood hoarding for firewood hoarders? Absolutely! I have a system I'm super happy with. Take a look - the back stack in the shed (of my best hardwoods) is slowly revealed through the burning season as I use up rows of my "regular wood". So if and when we hit a cold snap I can grab some of the "stash" for better BTU's. Works really well for me anyways. Edit: If you are in PA or the NE and all you have is fabulous hardwood... well, you suck! Then it all comes into the woodbox. And of course into the woodstove.
I have mixed oak and hickory for regular wood. I have 1/3 cord if 40-60 year old hedge and 2/3 cord of 2-3 year black locust cut and stacked for very cold days. About 2/3 cord if black locust cut and stacked as fence posts with 2 cords of hedge posts...if the need arises. Somewhere I have a picture of the wood stove glowing red because a kid or wife loaded it full of hedge.....once. That reminds me that I need to talk to the kids again about which row of wood is only for single digit days.
Got cherry wood I think a year or two ago, and found how well it coals. I built a rack and have a face cord in full sun that I was thinking of using only in the winter - [ dont crucify me for the term thinking I'm getting political ] as conservative as I am with just a face cord I wound up only bringing myself to use it at night but it's a great peace of mind to know I'll have a ton of coals in the morning and can easily get the stove up and cranking at full speed before I leave for work in the morning. I'm out the door at 6:15 each morning. The alarm is set for 5, but its a little too easy to hit snooze and stay in for another 15 min- then I'm all sweat across the brow worrying it wont get up to speed. Premium wood = cherry on the rack in full sun.
I have never had mine glowing when loaded with Osage, not that I want it glowing. Your the second fella that has mentioned that, maybe a larger firebox would account for that.
