Hi I thought I should introduce myself. I have recently moved to japan to a country area about 30 mins out of a major city. I bought an abandoned 120 year old Japanese farm house which we recently renovated. Planning to put on a wood stove soon and have started stocking up on wood. Due to the amount of old houses getting demolished I’ve asked the demolishers to dump the old timbers at my house which I plan to use for fuel. I’m shocked at the outrageous prices here for stoves as they aren’t very popular. Anyway I’ll post up some pictures tomorrow of the stuff that’s available here for free. Most of the timber that has been gifted is over 100 years old and hopefully will do the job when I finally get my stove installed.
Welcome to the site! I’m sure everyone would like to see your progress preparing to burn wood in Japan! Stoves with Catalytic combustor’s will need wood that is free of paint, stains, etc., these contaminants can interfere with the combustors performance. We will need lots of pics...
Welcome aboard Japanman Would love to see some pics of the area when ya get a chance. Good call on sourcing wood before the stove.
Welcome for sure! Glad to add yet another country to our membership roster. Can't wait to see pics of your home.
A beautiful century old kominka was being demolished next door. I went over and asked the excavator driver what he was going do with all those beautiful timbers. I actually wanted to buy a couple of beams to make some furniture. He said he was hauling them to the tip so I told him to place them on my land. He did and every demo job he gets he keeps coming back with more because it’s expensive to use the tip here. He thinks I’m a just a crazy foreigner or something because no one wants the stuff. Some of these beams are extraordinary it’s actually a shame to burn them.
I’ll go outside now and take a snap in the dark of some give me a minute or 2. I’ll post the rest in the morning when I have better light.
Always nice to hear stories from those abroad! There is another user either here or a similar website who has already been down your road so to speak in Japan. He ended up manufacturing his own stove due to the stove sourcing challenges you mentioned. Worth researching him perhaps. Best of luck. Keep us updated.
Would definitely be nice wood to repurpose into some woodworking. I take it the "tip" is local for "dump"?
Quick snap from the front door. These beams have been chainsawd in half and some in thirds so I could stack them. One beam was 25 meters long. Also have a big stack of columns which are about half the diameter which used to be the house frames.
konnichiwa Japanman ! Welcome to FHC! So you hail from Aussieland? If so... Two Aussie Blokes an RV and 3317 miles of American roads.
Japanman Maybe the guy that demolishes the houses might find an old still useable stove in one of the houses he is taking down? Just a thought.
99% of the timber has no stain or anything. The black is from smoke over the years as they used to burn indoor fires for warmth and cooking. Also they used to pre char timbers for fire resistance and longevity. The house next door probably had never been lived in for over 20 years.
That’s very sellable here so ain’t gonna happen. Builders and demolishers are much the same over they know where to save and make a buck.
