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

Maybe I should try talking Miss July into a new truck...

 

Maybe you oughta make sure how the couch makes your back feel in the morning first.

 

thats some funny chit right there , brother!


We will probably wait till the Rock and Roll tour bus is paid off before we get a truck.

 

In 1970 I was 5 and my family moved into a shell of a house. No insulation. No sheetrock. No carpet. Just clapboards, sheathing and studs. New england winters get cold in those conditions. We burned whatever would burn in the fireplace just to survive and to avoid the cost of the electric baseboard heat.
Eventually things improved for us and we ended up installing a wood stove. We would cut wood in November for that winter. I imagine it was a little steamy in that stove.
My dad's hand was crushed by a granite slab when I was 13, so I had to take over the wood gathering for him. I can remember carrying a 4" diameter pole out of the woods thinking I was actually hauling a real load of wood. After cutting it up with a bow saw I realized how little I accomplished.
I never realized you could actually gather and store wood ahead of the season until one spring I saw our 80 year old neighbor clear a couple of acres by hand. He had a 13 acre garden he tended by hand. I wish I had appreciated some of his old time knowledge before he died.
Ever since I make an effort to hoard all the wood I can.

 

The bug bit me a few years back, and has steadily grown since.

When I was young my parents had a fireplace and had fires now and then for ambiance as it really didn't provide any heat. I quite enjoyed splitting wood even then. Sure didn't have my fiskars splitter then though.

When the family property fell into my dad's hands I started spending a whole lot more time out there. The old man on the next property over used to run beagles all the time chasing rabbits around, one day the dogs were out by themselves so I caught them and took them back and the old man and I became fast friends. After spending some time with him cutting wood for his boiler I gained alot more interest in cutting wood and started cutting on my own to help him out. Spent a few years giving him everything I cut until he passed just a couple years ago. I had no idea about moisture content I just cut split and delivered. Didnt know anything about different species of trees either, I knew walnut trees because of the walnuts but everything else was just trees.

I've learned most everything I know now about wood hoarding from this site in just a couple years of browsing and reading. I think it was from searching axe sharpening a couple years back that I first found a link to this site. Now I spend alot more time cutting, getting better wood instead of just any wood, and I don't give it away right away. I still give it all away but now I'm ahead of it by at least a year at this point. At some point I plan to get a stove of my own and figure out what you all are talking about with this wood heat stuff, but until then the love of cutting wood and helping people is what has fueled my passion for this.

 

Son. We need to talk.

 

I was born in the city, when I was 3 my parents decided that the 3rd floor apartment in the tripple decker wasn’t going to be a good place raise their children.
They found a wooded lot they could afford and got to work. Dad and grandpa cleared the trees, uncles built the house while living in a camper on the lot. We still lived in the apartment and would go out to the property on weekends till the house was inhabitable. He installed a wood/coal/oil furnace in the basement and a Ashley barrel stove on the main floor. I have very faint memories of living in the city,Seems burning wood has been a way of life forever.
I now own that house, The inefficient boiler is gone and the Ashley stove is now at my camp in Maine. I’m using a steel box to heat from the basement but saving cash and building my wood stash to put a better stove back on the main floor.
Living in New England grand parents had a wood stove in there house and in there vacation “farm” in Maine. Aunts and uncles all burned wood. Seem every family gathering in fall we would all be stacking wood together helping eachother get it done.
As I said to me it’s just the way things are done, I have visited s few non wood burner friends houses in the winter, now I just visit when it’s warm because it’s so cold in their homes. Have suggested burning wood but they say it’s too much work and too messy. I shrug and say ok.
To me the heat that the wood stove puts out is irreplaceable.

 

And there was no such thing as "anti-vibration" dampening. I think my hands are still buzzing from that old blue mac.

 

My first saw back in the early 80's was a Homelite Super XL with a 16 inch bar. It had an auto oiler and manual oiler with no chain brake.

 

Yep, this saw. It was grandpa's. Thought it was cool that I was finally big enough to run the chainsaw. Promptly put the chain in the dirt though. That was 1978 ish. Got a chance to work on one of those a while back for a buddy. Got her fired up & tuned, nice fresh chain & off to make some test cuts. Didn't remember the saw being that slow, heavy, or loud. My thumb hurt from pumping the oiler & my hands & shoulders were half numb from the vibration.
I gave gramps a thumbs up for making firewood with that saw all those years, gave the saw back to it's owner & decided that all technology isn't necessarily bad.

 

I was just out of the service, going to school full time and working full time. I had two small kids and a wife to feed etc. Sadly, my new home was electric heat. My first heating bill nearly knocked me off my feet. So I bought an all nighter stove, metalbestos chimney. My Dad and I installed it. I bought a chain saw. First a small poulan, then a much larger McCullough with a 20 in. bar. I cut some trees and bough some unsplit wood. Some tree length. We rented a splitter Wife and I, and then the girls would split and stack it all in one weekend. I was self taught and ignorant doing it. Had a lot of close calls, worse was a fall from stepping back and tripping on a round, fell and broke my tailbone. (really was busting my a$$) We saved a ton of money that we didn't have to spend in the first place. I really feel God was looking out for me. That went on for many years. We now have lots of physical limitations so we changed over to pellets. I have no regrets and much to be thankful for. Oh yes, I did graduate and went back to this service, but this time with a commission in the reserves. We had two more kids. Our wood burning and our gardening really helped keep us out of the red.

 

What a great thread! And thanks to all who shared their stories, really interesting to hear a little of people's background.

Am about as green as they get when it comes to burning and processing wood! My hoarding started only about 2yrs ago. Never burned wood as a kid as we grew up in a row home in the city, which had radiator heat, then moved from PA to NJ in a house with forced heat. When my wife and I bought our first home together I was given a fire pit which I burned occasionally and enjoyed burning. When we moved to this home 2yrs ago, it had a traditional FP and it was all new to me. I dove in head first, was very excited to burn wood in it and found this great forum while trying to learn more about burning. After really enjoying burning wood in the FP and processing firewood, we decided to make the leap to a stove/insert as we really enjoy a fire in our home so much.

It can be a lot of work to process firewood, but there is something very special about it that I really enjoy. I enjoy splitting by hand in small amounts, what a great workout and something that connects us to all our roots as human beings. I love my wood racks, adding new ones, my wood shed, moving the wood around when needed. I enjoy cutting and seeing the whole process from start to finish! And now with an efficient wood burning stove, feeling the rewards of such hard work, that warm soft heat that fills the house, the beautiful rolling flames seen through the glass. Much like Boogeyman I've learned just about everything I know about wood, wood processing, and stoves from this website and so many of it fine members.

I've had a very heavy heart since we moved to this house for many other reasons and they say all things happen for a reason. Well there is one glaring and shinning reason that is unmistakable and one that I cannot ignore in that this house with it's fireplace lead me to firewood, which has lead me to this website, which has lead me to learn so much, which has lead me to become friends with so many of you and am sure so many more of you and the years go on!

 

I worked at a Woodstove store in High School, they sold Kerosene Heaters, Wood Stoves, Coal Stoves, Wood and Coal boilers. I helped install and deliver them. Me and another High School guy would actually install some woodstoves on our own for the store. My Dad had a wood/coal addon boiler in the garage so we had to cut a lot of wood with an old Poulan and load on a snowmobile trailer. We had no truck and had to carry everything out to the roadside. Our scrounge places were not very good, had to wear hip boots and cross swamps to get the wood out sometimes. This was started during the gas shortage back in the 1970s. Not very productive compared to my methods today. Mom and Dad don't want to mess with the firewood anymore so I got them a Vermont Castings Propane Stove that looks like a wood burner.

In 2010 I bought a little place in the Woods that had a fireplace. When the weather turned cold my electric bill went through the roof because it had an electric furnace. Picked up an old Suburban Wood Chief Wood Stove on Craigslist and restored it in my shop and installed it. Electric Bill went down to $60/Month, investment $100 for the wood stove and $100 for piping. It's been 7 seasons now and the woodstove still does a great job and I just logged a 14 hour burn in it the other day. Having the wood stove and heating with wood again got me into selling firewood 5 seasons ago. It's been fun. I have a regular 8-4:30 M-F job and the firewood business allowed me to buy all my current equipment, have a little extra money and pay for my heating costs.