It doesn't get much better than burning 1 day old, fresh split, red oak...

A guy I work with bought a house last year with with a nice PE Insert. I started harping at him early in the spring when he bought the house to get wood cut split and stacked NOW! I explained to him why he should do it but did he.......NO! He complained all last year how the PE insert was a piece of junk and he wanted to rip it out and put something that would actually heat his house in. I patiently explained over and over again that you need to get the wood cut split and stacked before it will season but still no dice.......

Fast forward to last week and he decided he needed to get some firewood for this year what did he do went out to his buddy's house and cut a huge trailer load of Red Oak today then stopped by work and was proudly displaying it to me while saying he couldn't wait to go home and get some split so he could fire up the stove tonight . That statement was almost enough to send me into a convulsions.

I am done with trying to explain it to him....... I just said that's a real nice load of wood great job and walked away shaking my head. I am sure that stuff is going to burn great in the stove tonight heck I almost told him to make sure he soaks the wood in water so it doesn't go up to quick....

 

Why is it so hard for some people, it just doe's not make any sense to TRY to burn wet wood , IDK

 

I don't know, both my brother in laws are the same way though. My one brother in law does get it cut split and stacked for one year before burning but my other brother in law will cut it and then burn it a week later. Both of them see my stacks and have got lecture after lecture from me and my dad but neither of them care so I stopped caring what they do. I even told them about the wood website I was on and told them to go read up but all they do is laugh and make fun of my wood stacks and say I am obsessed with fire wood. Yup I guess I am

I probably do come off as over passionate about wood but I just wish people would try it so they can understand how much easier it is to burn seasoned wood. It is so much less hassle its not even funny.

 

I explained the same thing to a guy here locally a while back. After talking with him for a while, and explaining a few things about seasoned wood, I asked him a question. What do you think would burn better and hotter? Wood with more water in it? Or wood with less water in it? He looked at me and said I would guess wood with less water in it. We talked some more about having to basically use BTUs being stolen away with your moisture content being higher and how any wood, not just Pine, can create creosote! He told me he was going to follow a suggestion I made and find some standing dead or find some Ash that had been c/s/s for a while. I almost thought about selling him a little to get him started. Almost.

 

Well, there should be a good insert for sale pretty soon. Summit or Super or Vista?

 

I can attest to that, I had to burn some 22-25% wood last year, PITA , there is quite a difference between that and 16-18% wood

 

Sounds like the only thing you might be able to do is give his wife a working smoke detector so she/family might have a chance to get out when their chimney catches fire.

 

Lol, tell me about it ....... I can't even imagine getting that lit!

 

Don't even get me started on chimney fires........ One of the other guys I work with burns green wood like its going out of style in a choked down smoke dragon all day long. Well one day I was watching him stuff his car full of cardboard and I jokingly said you packing to move....... He then proceeds to tell me no he uses it to clean his chimney every couple of weeks ! He apparently stuffs his hot stove full of cardboard and creates a controlled chimney fire by cracking the door and pulling the flames up the chimney to clean it. I am standing there in disbelief and say you are joking right...... He tells me no he is not and he monitors it closely to make sure the pipe isn't glowing for to long he the. Proceeds to tell me how this is perfectly safe since he used steel oil well casing to make his chimney out of.

I later asked another wood burner at work who he is friends with if that is true and he told me yeah don't even waste your breath trying to explain it to As he has tried for years to tell him wood needs to be cut split and stacked for a minimum of a year before burning and it does no good. He then told me he was out there once when he was doing it and you should have seen the flames and blackish green smoke that was rolling out of the chimney. He also said there is creosote dripping down the chimney and all over the house.

You can't make this stuff up and it leaves me shaking my head every time I run across a situation like this wondering how more people aren't dead from wood stoves......

 

WOW

 

Yes.
Personal experience. Well, not the flamethrower.

 

"wondering how more people aren't dead from wood stoves......"
Um, it's not the woodstove killing people.
It's people killing themselves, and it's a darn shame.

 

Is should have said how more people don't kill themselves with wood stoves. It is pretty crazy around here how many stoves are improperly installed. It is not uncommon at all to see sheet metal in a window with a stovepipe sticking out of. Some of that is just due to living in Appalachia. Quite a bit of poverty around here.

 

I seasoned oak for at least 3 to 4 days last season, burned better than the split and load stuff.

 

Sounds like Dad. I knew it was dangerous giving him a wood stove, but I am in charge of his wood supply and will be cleaning the chimney for him too. He has already told me how well the stove burns over the old ones (dry wood will do that).

I am currently burning wood that is less dry than ideal, but it's only my second year and first one with a truck. As I've said many times, next year I will be sitting pretty.

 

I don't know how anyone who moves things gets along without a truck.
I don't drive many miles with my truck, but I would hate to be without it.

 

It was tough, got about four cords in the car last fall/this spring.