Other than learning it's more better to burn dry well seasoned wood what motivated everyone to get ahead on wood? Mine is probably the fact I came close to running out last year. Now that I'm ahead I also don't seem to have to devote as much time at staying ahead. Still c/s/s regularly but not as stressed if I get sidetracked with the kids.
What got me motivated was the oil prices around here as well as spending as much time on other chores. It's tough sometimes especially during the spring and summer. The kids start their sports starting spring and that usually takes up most of my weekends. What's good about the spring is the days get longer so I can usually split and stack a few hours after work..
Readers Digest condensed version: I had 2 years supply and it was time to start scrounging Back blew out, herniated disc, sciatic nerve damage, shots in the spine, no help. Finally surgery. No wood got cut for a year +. Had some wood for winter Not well seasoned wood , burnt what I had, some punky stuff Cut & scrounged ! Some with a few weeks of seasoning. Made do & paid higher heating costs. Before the end of winter, no wood. Made huge effort to get ahead, built a woodshed, got a splitter Started cutting in the sate firewood area, scrounges from anywhere, spruce & birch 3 years later, had 3 years of wood Now have 4 years worth, 3 in the shed, & a years worth out back seasoning in the open Now I have a couple year buffer.
Amen brother! Second is saving at least $1200 in propane bills every year and not freezing while saving.
Getting tired of worrying if I was going to run out of wood during the winter. Actually ran out my second winter of burning. Now, with over 20 cords on hand, that will not happen again!
When I started, I found a legend on this website by the name of Backwoods Savage, along with a few more that are here Scotty Overkill being another one. After the first 4 months of burning so-so wood. I kicked it into overdrive and founded a friendship with a tree service. Each and every year my fire experience has gotten better. At my 3rd year of burning I was actually starting to burn fully seasoned wood. Now I'm glad to be about 4-5 years ahead, and I've more control of my future in one aspect of my life...
Not a ton of savings since we're on NG, but it helps myself and a neighbor plus it's something to do. A couple years ago was maginal wood and I said not again (time will tell). Should be about 3 years up and the little stove is running much hotter longer.
Really enjoy the winter experience, dropping trees, sliding the logs out on snow. When we were looking for a new home, the only thing I was looking for was enough land to harvest all of my firewood without hauling it a hundred miles... which we have done a lot, it seems. Getting 3 years ahead now has happened because I found this forum. I never was much more than a year ahead... ever. The buds I've met on here have inspired me to get into the firewood effort much more than I have in the past. Zero stress now to get firewood CS&S, once I was getting ahead. It's a great activity and the feeling of knowing our home is gonna be warm... no matter what... priceless. Now that I'm hopelessly addicted... I'm looking forward to getting even further ahead.
I would say this forum and the great guys on here has been the most motitivating experience for me. This year alone the changes include, cutting double the wood I normally would have cut, purchased a splitter and seasoning my oak much longer. Next year, I will cut extra again and that should bring me up to 4 years supply. I stumbled across this forum, when I was googling info on a small company I was looking at for a new stove (Woodstock), found this forum and been hanging around ever since. I have been a wood junkie my whole life, had 3 stoves and a couple of fireplaces, got most of my wood by scrounging, but then found my own piece of heaven that has trees... Hopelessly addicted...
There were several reasons for me. The biggest 2 are the 60+ lbs I lost in the process, and all the compliments I'm getting from that, and all my new friends here! A lot of it was opportunity. The 12+ cords I've put up so far this year all came from down/dead trees that were less than 1000 ft from my stove.
yeha, and no matter what it "costs" you to process "free" firewood, its still cheaper than gym membership!
Remembering that one awful March Saturday Dad & I had when cutting dead stuff on neighbor's 60 acres during a major ice storm in the mid 80's because we were almost out of dry wood - Strong wind gusts,horizontal rain hitting you in the face,1/4" ice coating everything,walking/falling down while carrying wood to the truck,trying to keep warm while getting soaked..... I finally said "the Hell with this!! & we quit for the day & went back to the house at noon.. Never.Again.
We ran out of wood some years back. The following spring, <<< This is what I did to make sure it wouldn't happen again. There's about 8 cord in that pile.
