You as a young hoarder......When did you find the passion

I'm a late bloomer...was 38-39 YO until I "saw the light". We heated with oil growing up and the only wood heat I was ever around was occasionally at relatives houses.
In 2008 my buddy called me to ask if I would help him put up a new stone hearth...his house came with an old Wondercoal heater that he burnt wood in, and now that he was married they decided to upgrade the stove. We got the hearth built despite neither of us having much masonry experience...it actually turned out pretty darn nice! When we were done I asked what he was gonna do with the old stove, he says "you want it?"
So it turns out free stoves are like free dogs, there is no such thing...cost me $900 to put up a chimney for my "free stove"...then I started cutting wood...burnt all the wet wood I could find that winter...I was determined to not use any oil. My electric bill went sky high from the electric heaters that I was "supplementing" with (heating from the basement didn't work out well for me)
So I said this thing is a POS after it kept filling the house with smoke on every re-load (I eventually figured out the chimney was plugged whenever this happened...which happened every week or two! )
So I found arboristsite and started reading...Mr "CrappieKeith" seemed convinced that the Yukon wood furnaces that they made were the very best...and then a good deal popped up on CL for a "Yukon Big Jack" furnace here locally...so I put that in. It was better, but I still had wet wood. I eventually found "that other site", (you know, the one that kicked a few of you troublemakers off ) where I figured out my wood wasn't dry enough. So I decided to get a year ahead. That helped for sure.
Somewhere along the line I found one of Backwoods Savage posts about being 3 years ahead (I think it was actually on the other site) and thought hmmm...that makes sense. And so it began...
One day I noticed some people were missing on that other site...so I went looking for them...and found 'em here ...the rest is history!
By the way...the old Yukon Big Jack is gone...the Yukon Husky wood/oil furnace that came in its place is still here, but sits un-used, the Drolet Tundra wood furnace that replaced it is in the garage waiting to be sold...the Kuuma VF200 I bought to "try out" last winter is now in the hands of comanche79p , and I am currently enjoying the warmth from a 1 year old (new to us) Kuuma VF100 wood furnace. I believe the Kuuma VF100 is going to be our "forever furnace"...I sure hope so, cuz man I'm tired of switching out furnaces!
Oh, and this list does not even include the 2 different stoves that have been in the living room fireplace (the current Drolet 1400i is gonna stay...at least for now )
BTW, I planned on taking out the Yukon Husky this summer, but ran out of time, so I still need to remove that 900# beast before the Kuuma can go in its permanent spot (its hooked up as an "add on" right now)

 

While we had a wood stove when I was a kid, I came back into it fairly late in life, just five years ago. To be honest, furnace oil wasn't priced that bad when I first moved into my mobile home (ballpark 63-65 cents a liter) but as time went on, fuel prices shot up and stayed up with really no recourse. We had a few very cold years, and it pained me to watch something jump 10-15 cents a liter overnight due to cold weather or market forces BS. Coldest winters in recent memory before the stove I recall $1.18-$1.20 a liter heating oil. Came across a wood stove at a local store, got the green light to buy it, and the rest is history. In a nutshell, 75% savings or 75% less use of heating oil. Plus I get a ton of exercise while sticking my finger up to the gov't and the oilman.

 

Im not sure how old I was when I started lugging wood for the stoves but it seems like I always did so it was sometime in the early 60’s. I’m 60 now and except for our pellet experiment over the past decade I always have burned wood. I’d say we hoarded or processed about half and bought the rest. I always preferred doing it myself but it wasn’t always possible. I can say that it feels really great to have a chainsaw in my hands again. For me it’s not work it’s therapy and it always will be.
I’m thankful that I’ve found such a great bunch of like minded individuals. There are many years of experience here to draw from and I don’t care how long you’ve been around there’s always something new to learn.

 

Yes, I have leaned a TON the last 10 years!
My wife says I'm a "wood heat junkie" (she says this while walking around in shorts and a tank top...while its 20* outside )

 

Welcome to the club, dave_026 !
I think you're gonna like it here!

 

X3! Welcome aboard!

 

First off, some great stories shared.


Great thread Woodsnwoods

Welcome aboard dave_026

You can't go wrong with a sharp chain.

Our wood burning adventure has been relatively short, and not as inspiring as some here.

Grew up in the city, have lived with forced air Nat gas furnace most all my life.

Purchased our place in 2010, with forced air fuel oil furnace. Furnace developed issues in spring of 2012.

Was quoted $700 for repairs. HHO was running around $4/Gal at the time, so between repairs and 150 Gal minimum delivery, we were looking at $1300 just getting prepared for the following winter.


Told Chazsbetterhalf that we could likely put in a wood stove for about same price.

Purchased a used stove, installed chimney, and made hearth area code-worthy. Cost.. ~$1500.

Burnt ash & maple tops from timbering for 2 years straight, then got a couple of log loads. I eventually repaired the furnace myself so that the house wasn't ~50°F when we got home from work.
(Electric space heaters couldn't keep up)

Overall, if it hasn't become obvious, we love wood heat, and don't intend to stop.

I'm thankful for this site and the helpful members here that share advice and knowledge.

 

I am 64 now. From my earliest memories Dad always had a fire place. Not for heat, but he liked it. I never really concerned myself where the wood was coming from.
As far a cutting goes, I was probably 14 or 15. Dad borrowed an old McCulloch saw from my uncle. I don't remember what model it was, but it was heavy, yellow, had a button to manually pump the bar oil, long bar and hard to start. By the time you lugged it to the woods and got it started it was time for a break. At that time we split everything with a sledge and wedge. Of course that was my job. Dad had convinced me that it was a good workout for football. I got into a load of Elm. That stuff was impossible to split and the football work wasn't going to happen. Dad laughed and said wait until it freezes.
I graduated and moved out. When I came home for a visit, Dad was excited to show me his new saw. It was a little Stihl. Worked good and made a lot of firewood. Later it turned into a POS.
My first house had a fireplace. I wasn't into a fire unless my wife wanted one to lay in front of it.
2nd house did not have a fireplace. I had a chimney built and installed a Ben Franklin in the basement that I picked up used. Dad and several uncles would go to the mill and pick up slab wood. We would cut it to length on my cousin's buzz saw on Saturdays.
When I moved here the house had a dilapidated barrel stove in the basement. It was a house fire looking for a place to happen. The house use to have oil heat but had been converted to baseboard.
I replaced the barrel stove with a wood burning add on and plumbed it into the cold air duct. Didn't work well at all. Someone told me that I should have the chimney swept. The sweep told me not to burn the chimney was in bad shape. So ended my burning.
Around 2006 I got a $600 January electric bill. Something had to be done. The add on may burn again. I contacted a chimney company. I told them that I was told my chimney was unsafe. They did an inspection and recommended a SS liner. I asked them if I could install a wood burner in the living room and abandon the add on in the future. They so happen to have a used stove for sale which I bought. $1800 later I am ready to roll. My electric bill has ran between $120 and $140 year round ever since. You could say that was when I was hooked but got real serious 3 years ago after I retired.
3 stoves, 7 saws, wood splitter, mini skid steer and the goodies later I am still going.

 

I am glad you all have been kicking in on this thread. Lots of McCulloch references! I kinda miss the manual Oiler! Looking forward to hearing more!

 

I spent most weekends with my grandfather who heated with wood his entire life. I know from pictures that I would help him get firewood pretty much from the time I was able to walk. There's a picture of me somewhere on a toy pedal tractor with a trailer on it with a couple of pieces of firewood in it. I suppose I can say all my life with some certainty.

 

I started burning 9 years ago (30 yrs old, chit I'm almost 40! lol) after going through the first winter at my previous house. Poorly insulated brick home built in the late 40s that had an oil forced hot air unit. We were going through a full 150 gallon tank of oil every 5-6 weeks at $4/gal just to keep the house in the upper 60s. That winter sucked. The following spring I found a lightly used Regency I3100 insert on CL for $600 and drove 45 mins to pick it up. I put a new insulated liner down the 1.5 story chimney and that cost me around $900. I had $1500 invested in the insert and chimney. It paid for itself in no time especially since Ive scrounged 95% of my wood supply.

I started my wood supply during the 1st winter and spring at that house since I knew for sure I would be burning the upcoming winter. I cleared out a bunch of downed sassafras trees on my property and grabbed anything I could get my hands on (except pine, my mistake!) I got a little too enthusiastic my 1st winter burning and used up my scrounged wood by late-Jan .

Oct 8, 2009 (way too early for SE PA lol) My comment on this pic was that my living room was in the upper 80s



Luckily I found a guy who was moving and had 2 cords of dry enough wood for sale. It was a 30 min trip one way and I only had a 5x8 utility trailer and realized that was going to work after the first 4 trips so I ended up renting a small 10' moving van and packed it with the remainder of the 2 cords I had bought lol.



When we moved 2 years ago I found another $600 stove on CL (Woodstock Fireview) and paid about $800 for a new chimney liner.

I like the free standing stove better than the insert.

 

Grew up deep in the sticks. Parents had an All Nighter wood stove and a Longwood wood furnace. Took a wood heat break during college and at my first house for 5 years. Bought this shack and couldn't afford to heat it with propane so I used the old Blaze King that came with the house. Used it for 8 or 9 years and just put in a OWB.

Weird thing is I could totally afford to heat this place on propane now...but I don't wanna. Rather spend umpteen thousand bucks on a new burner. Something is wrong with me.

 

Sounds perfectly fine to me...

 

In the early to mid 80's my dad put in a wood boiler at home and tied it into the gas boiler.
The first couple of years we went out to one of dad's coworker's farms that had been logged and cut firewood. The saturdays in the fall were reserved for wood cutting. Later, dad had log loads delivered in the late summer/fall and we cut and split and hauled it to the basement to be burned through the winter. No wonder dad had a couple flue fires...

The first winter the gas company came to the door and told mom they had to see why we weren't using any gas. Mom told them we put in a wood boiler. They insisted they had to come in and see it. Mom told them they could look through the basement window. That's all they were going to see. They eventually came back and changed out the gas meter...

We burned for 7 years and dad shut the gas off to the boiler. After my brothers moved out the wood burning ceased.

Fast forward to today, well... 2013 actually.
I wanted to do a little work in the basement. My Air conditioner had quit and the oil furnace was in too bad of condition to put a new A/C unit on, so I demo'ed the old system and replaced it with a new oil furnace and heat pump but I moved it all to the back of the basement to give me more room as it was in the main area. The new furnace has a direct vent thru the wall and I was considering just removing the old chimney when I started planning to put a new roof on the house.
About that time BrianK was getting a new Ideal Steel from Woodstock Soapstone to beta test. He mentioned I should buy his Fireview and put it in and use the chimney. I liked the idea of having a back-up heat source for emergencies or TEOTWAWKI.

Well, I was laid off at the time, but I had enough mad money in the safe to buy the Fireview, have a SS liner installed, (and eventually), buy enough seasoned wood (about 8 cords) to get me through 2+ winters. I spent about $2600 total.
The day the liner was installed (Dec. 13th, 2013), the guy asked if I wanted them to set the stove and make the connections. He gave me the go-ahead to fire it up that afternoon as they were leaving...
I couldn't wait!... It was fire time!
(I remember it just like it was 5 years ago).

I lit it up and soon figured out that my furnace had not kicked on in 10 days. Then when I did hear it running I wanted to reload the firebox even more so I didn't have to hear it run.
Well, this turned into an obsession. HHO was almost $4 /gallon that winter.

Of course, I didn't have any wood at first, so I was starting to scrounge and look for firewood ads. Craigslist and Pennswoods had plenty of good ads. One was just up the road from me and I got 2+ cords of CSS red oak. Things were coming together and I was gathering wood like there was no tomorrow. I got through the first winter and had only burned less than one tank of oil. I figured I had saved about $2600 in HHO in just the first year
I had broke even
...And I had enough wood left to get through the next heating season...

Needless to say...I'm hooked...
Not only that, but my new found hobby has saved us about $10,000 in the last 5 years.
well...except for the three new saws...and the log arch...oh, and a splitter...and...

 

Hahaha! Yep, you got that right TurboDiesel . I've probably "saved" 15 or 20K in propane heating with wood. Problem is that's how I justify owning all my stuff that I "need" to make firewood. You know, Dump trailer, tractor, big splitter, 12 saws, 2 3/4 & 1 one ton truck. You know, all that stuff ya gotta have to make firewood.