Just thinking is there any good books out there on firewood and wood heating? I'm not talking about only "how to" books but evening actual readers. Maybe this has been talked about somewhere already someone point me there if it has been.
TreeStuff - To Fell a Tree by Jeff Jepson "To Fell a Tree" by Jeff Jepson. It covers a lot more than just felling trees too. This one should be required reading for anyone cutting firewood with a chainsaw.
These are on my bookshelf: The Backyard Lumberjack, by Frank and Stephen Philbrick. Homeowner's Complete Guide to the Chainsaw by Brian J Ruth and Jen W Ruth The Woodland Homestead by Brett McLeod
Reading this one now on a referral from one of you guys. Just getting to the bucking part. Always learning, especially since I'm pretty new to all this.
I searched the forum for a thread on book reading, and this one was the closest fit to what I want. I like to read books of people being cold so I can remember that I don’t have it so bad. Ernest Shackleton’s South is an all-time favorite of mine. I’ve read lots of books about Shackleton, including Alfred Lansing’s Endurance. Most years for a quick read, I’ll revisit Jack London’s To Build A Fire. Last year I read Alvah Simon’s North to the Night. Alvah spent a year in his boat above the artic circle. At one point, a pair of Inuit men came out to check on him. One of them admitted that his dream was to grow a vegetable: “His eyes shone as he talked about wanting to go south, way south where it is warm, and buy a farm. When I asked him where, he replied northern Quebec”
Endurance was one of my favorite books of all time. Read it when I was a teenager and it really left an impression on me of how damm hard life was back then.
I needed a refresher on the history that fire and firewood being put into lore and life. Knowing that many counties and cultures are packed with different kinds of wood and information. The list doesn't really end. Its just what is known from others helps us all learn why the perspectives are too valuable. I just hope to find a book that compiles culture groups and their ways of cooking over a fire to others who use it solely for heat, this isn't exhaustive. Normally when I see a fire being made in a different place, wood is either relevant or insignificant. That being said what we use to burn can depend on what we as people do this for. Fire being the reason why we changed how we ate, how we did things, changed us from meat eaters to omnivores completely. Many things to acknowledge because of fire and too many ways to use it and how fire has been used in a culture sense is extensive. Even have to think about certain uses that may have lost as the process may not have been passed down or different ideas came into play.
I have two that are really good: The first is called Tough Men Tall Trees, but is based on logging in New England from 1600-1965 and is really good, but regional. The other is called "Endless Tracks in the Woods" and is about how logging went from horse, to Skidder. It to ends about 1965.
After reading these posts, I got Endurance from the library. I finished it this morning. Very good. I sometimes complain about my situations, I shouldn't.
I picked up Norwegian Wood a handful of years back. I was curious how close wood cutting in Alaska was to the Old World. This is a must read! I am not a book worm. And have not anything read much,other than manuals more than once. This is a wonderful book that is some tech manual, some folklore, some history and a few historical photos. I found the information about how the Norwegian counties embrace wood burning very interesting. Without giving to much away...put this on your reading list. I have read this one many times. I find that I don’t take that much time in between finishing and starting over. I seem to have a better view point of gathering wood and respect. And learn something new with each new reading. I must have read it more than a dozen times and find it engaging and look forward to what will I understand/ learn this reading. This book has brought me to opening me to read more. I go to Dawson City, Yukon often. And have started reading some of Jack London books. I have had the opportunity to see the Museum for Jack in Dawson. Much respect for our ancestors! Sorry for the rambling.
Foxfire is a series that I would put in the technical series. A teacher in North Georgia did this project with his students back in the 70’s. It started as a preservation of local culture getting lost with modern life and technology. It technical with hand drawings, folklore, how to, and how our ancestors did things. The series covers every form of country life from things brought to the U.S. as the country formed and how things were modifyed for the region. A sample of topics are; animal care, hot to make and play a banjo and dulcimers, hide tanning, butter churns, pottery, building old cabins, blacksmithing, iron making, building flintlocks....
