This is turning into the warmer part of what we know about our winters isn’t it? Nice to have that cold spell for a bit. How’s your wood supply doing??
It's going very well. Mainly I haven't been using any after we found out our stove and mantle aren't up to fire code. I'm supposed to have another 12 inches from the top of the stove to the bottom of the mantle. It gets really hot after bigger, prolonged fires. We had one last night where I burned 2 Bear Mountain bricks, 2 Idaho logs, and 2 of my farm cut Western Hemlock. Otherwise, it's been all pellets since a week before Christmas. You?
Fat Boy...he makes his real money in other parts of his business...so if he is going to do fire wood then it has to be worth his while...I will say this, I know a number of people who have bought from him and he has never shorted them on a delivery he does go over and gives good measure.
There is a saying in Maine. "Come winter, you had better have a big pile of firewood, or have a big pile of cash, but don't get caught without one or the other." It is true, except of course a person could switch the word oil for propane, pellets, coal, etc...any kind of heat someone has to pay for.
Having said that, my like...scratch that...love for burning wood is perpetuated by the basics. And only further exacerbates the problem of my content of it. Despite a slightly expensive install, I don’t put a price on it anymore. It’s too much of a good thing to back up and wonder if that was a good idea or not. Just some preparations overly outweigh costs due to experiences that were a hindrance.
Bummer about the fire code, hopefully you can get that eased up soon... Maybe you can show what’s wrong with it if you’re needing assistance with what you can do. Carpenters and builders here galore....at least the pellet burner will serve a function for ya. I mostly have a fire every night however its only about as many nights I can count on one hand that I haven’t had a fire. Reasons simply being its not necessary at the time if I don’t but again its rare because I like the heat so much. Mostly if I’m trying to keep my house warm its also keeping it dry. When it is so humid outside, the only fight I can do to bring that down is burn a bit. It seems like I have invested a lot of time collecting hardwoods. In the case, it’s not a bad thing but load up the stove on that stuff and I’m reaching for the door even though it was only below freezing. We only had a few of those days. Honestly I hope we have a couple good cold snaps out of this. The firewood hoarding plus stove being put in was an investment not a joke. While others aim to burn less wood while they burn 3-8 cords or more, it’s knowing that if I burn more now, I know what is the most I could use vs the least. Even by that count, I’ll never know an exact number of what I burned.
No doubting that, It’s gotta be worth his while absolutely. I think that if you’re buying wood at this time, you’re admitting to yourself that either some things need to change or its the same story that people here talk about those who don’t prepare. If he is good an honest for it, then his “ wood”is bond and serves him well since he told them it wasn’t ready. People will burn it. However in many ways they’re gonna pay for it...
Oh, I've got to add another foot+ of tile before the mantle. The good thing is my wife's brother is a professional tiler. We have small fires -- and that's ok -- just as long as the mantle doesn't get too hot. You still got that black locust?
Almost two cords of it plus some really pretty paper birch for next year. It would be best ready by this fall after 2 summers. I cut most of the BL pretty short anywhere from 12” to not much more than 17”. I burned some this year but different batch. Still have a bunch of logs to cut and split I left at my parents. Trailer and my car are on the fritz(signal light is out). Anyways with the black locust being small it’s easier loading north south for my stove.
No. Because the brother doesn't specialize in stone. But the real killer is -- my wife would never have it. Everything discussed about stone mantle's after this point is a waste of keystrokes. Good idea though.
Definitely cheaper to redo the mantle than replace the wife. I would suggest sticking with wood but moving it higher.
My friend and I just bought a half cord of Apple and half cord of dry Cherry for $150. We split it plus the $30 in gas.
I never tried it before and even though it has been drying some 4 years, it was left out in the snow so it's wet on the surface and needs to dry out some. Since I am going to stack it in the rain, it will have to wait until probably Fall.
The guy who sold it to me said if you don't cut up apple almost as soon as you drop it, it will get so hard and tough that it'll chew up your chain in a day's use.
I sell a little firewood here in So Wisconsin. I do NOT deliver and only sell to friends or friends of friends. I sell it unseasoned which to me means green. My customers know it is green so they buy it a year in advance of burning it. Most of what I cut is red and white oak. Some cherry some elm and locust that my Bro in law wants cut out of his fence lines because they scratch and bang up his farm equipment. I get $80 per face cord. My face cord is a row of wood 8 foot long 4 foot high. I cut all my wood 16". But here's my deal: If they buy 3 face cords the next face cord is free. My customers love the free row but I have it figured in.
They do realize that a face cord is like 1/3 a true cord? So they're forking out $240 for a cord of green wood and you throw in there another 1/3 of a cord. And I can pick up a true cord of seasoned Cherry for $150. So unless my arithmetic is wrong, they're getting 1 1/3 wet cord for $240 that they'll have to wait at least a year to burn while I'm getting 1 dry cord for $150 that I can burn right now. You've got a good little business going there ole.
