I actually have a saw buck but it's much too big for splits. Miter saw would be perfect if I had one. What I did seemed to work ok when they are frozen together but not the loose ones. I thought about cutting a "v" in a large round and using it like a vice but I'm not sure if it'll work- will have to experiment.
If you are going to make a notch in a large log, why not a dovetail cut so the thing you toss into it won't try to climb back out.?
Good idea, I like that. I've got a variety of splits so it'll have to be big - I wonder if I'm going to have an issue with spinning
Okay, lets hear your secret because I can't get an overnight burn. Everything is burned up when I get up, just enough coals to get it going again. How high in the stove do you stack and what position do you have the intake vents at?
I would have to start with having a good deep bed of coals 4 or 5 inches deep. Then filling the stove as much as possible with my heavier, blocky wood. I call them overnighters and save them for just that purpose. I cut back a little on the air intake to slow the burn down some as well as slightly open (mostly closed) on the stove pipe damper. I usually fill the stove at 11:00 and I am up by 6:00 to refill. Usually a lot of coals then. Coldest weather, like 5 or 10 below or lower, I may get up at three to refill. My air intake is usually in the 11:30 to 12:00 position. Good luck, you might need to just get some time in playing with it.
Thanks - I've learned 11 is a good position to maintain temp and stretch out the burn. 12-2 to tamp it up. My dampener seems to be all or nothing - open or closed. I wonder if something isn't right with it
The internal damper in the stove has a habit of popping open on me, the stove then runs away. So for that reason I mostly use the stove pipe damper, especially at night.
Guess it helps to read the manual. Got to thinking I had to be missing something. Found the manual and that dampener has a locking cam that you push it to closes and then a little further and it clicks in. Also didn't realize you could burn wth it closed once up to temp. Figured closed was too closed. Today is 50* so we cleaned it out good and will have to test out the new knowledge later this week
Wow. What a day. Take a couple hours off this morning to cut down some splits with family coming into town this weekend and a potential nor'easter. First pull of the saw, sputters, then nothing. Long story short I couldn't figure out what's wrong with it and took the new saw to dealer. Guess I flooded it. Guy says not to pull more than 3 times with choke on. Figuring it was cold I didn't think anything of it having to pull a couple extra. Oh well. Lesson learned. Came home, fired right up and I had my angry beaver back. Cut my stacks and haul a pallet to the deck. Stack up a couple sled loads and go to light a fire. No idea why but I couldn't get paper to burn today. Finally got it going and it went out. Got it going again and up to temp. Man I don't know what was different about today but it beat me up. Tried closing dampener but temp went down and wasn't putting out heat. Maybe too soon? Let her breathe some more and will try again later with more coals.
get a thick coal bed going before closing the damper 2-3" ish All part of the woodburning life....sometimes your on, sometimes you're not even close!
Had a nice fire going through the day and evening so night came and I loaded her up. Waited a few minutes to make sure the new logs were in the mix and closed the intake down to 11:00 position and shut the dampener and went to bed hoping we'd still be warm in the morning. Went to bed late about 11 and got up about 5:30. Very pleased to wake up to see the room temp at 72 and the stove settled in at 300 (same temp as yesterday when I thought it was tanking when adjusting the dampener). Opened the dampener, waited for smoke to clear and the opened the top to see some nice coals and a small piece of wood left. Repeated above loading process and I think we've got her dialed in folks. This is nice because if I burn with the dampener open, that room gets too warm. Nice to have something run smoothly to start off the day. Also finally got my other smart thermostat installed so now I have both zones with the fancy programming. Hopefully this helps reduce our thirsty furnace's appetite for oil.
Came up with a good way to trim the splits and restack the half fallen part of the wood pile today. Loaded up end to end on a 32" pallet and trimmed the sides so I ended up with 16"s. Used a ratchet strap to keep them from moving around. Worked petty well until I clipped a nail and got to use my file kit which was super slick compared to the old way. Before After
