Hello! I am so happy to find this site and have been reading and researching.... A little background first - the only exposure I had to wood stoves was during my first marriage in the early 80's. Loved the heat! At that time, he and his family would cut wood and burn it the same winter. I don't remember them ever letting it dry out or anything like that. Fast forward and I married again in 2003 and wanted to get a wood stove, but hubby wasn't for it as he had never had one. Well, with the economy and energy situation like it is, he finally came to me last winter and told me to research and get a woodstove. We had a Lopi Endeavor installed late March of this year. It was warming up here in SW Missouri by then, so I think I only got to use it two or three times. FYI, The woodstove is not our only source of heat. Anyway, I started cutting wood in January to stockpile for this winter. We live on 5 acres of woods, mainly oak, hickory, some cedar, hedge and locust among other various species. I also have access to 10 acres belonging to my folks where I grew up, that I always said grew rocks and anything with thorns and not much else. I have enough black locust and hedge (osage orange) on that place to last me the rest of my life! So I started out, knowing I needed dry wood, by cutting up some downed cedar trees in our woods. The trees were mainly smaller ones that had come down in the ice storm of 2007. Because of the branches, the trunks were all up off the ground so they were dry and not rotted. I also had several hedge and locust trees at my folks that were dead and up off the ground that I cut up. When I used the wood stove shortly after it was installed, I used wood from these, using a moisture meter to make sure they were under 20%. Here is my question - I have had a lot of people around here, who have been burning wood for a long time, tell me that I should NOT use the cedar or the osage orange or the locust, that they burn too hot and may cause a chimney fire or that they cause too much creosote in the chimney. My thought is if it is dry enough and I don't fill the stove with so much as to cause the stove to overheat I should be good to go. Is my thinking correct? I have read a lot of threads on here, and I think it is quite humorous that a some folks have actually tried to plant osage orange or locust. Holy cow! They grow like weeds here and I have battled both of those my whole life trying to eradicate them from my folks place...I think there are even more now than there were when I was a kid! If anyone wants seeds, I can provide them! Thanks for any help you all can give me!
Welcome! Awesome wood you have access to. Your on the right track with wanting it dry, as creosote is from wet wood. Just start out with small loads until you learn your particular stove and you will be fine.
Welcome to the club! I usually work locust in with lessor btu wood like red maple. I don't load the stove with all locust. Same as with the cedar. Mix it in with other woods, so long as it's fully seasoned. Get used to your stove regarding how it burns and how much heat it throws. Keep asking and we'll keep helping.
Thank you, Mike and Screwloose! Appreciate the help. Thinking on it, most folks that I know around here that burn wood don't have any stacks and stacks of wood drying - meaning I think most folks (that I know anyway) did it the way my ex and his family did - cut it down, haul it in, and start burning it. That process would make a huge difference in how the wood burned and how much creosote it put out.
Letting wood season properly, requires a fairly large area to stack wood for a few years. Some people don't have the area, ability, or patience to dry wood 2-3 years.
Welcome ! You are definitely on the right track and in the right place. I started cutting and burning as a direct result of that 2007 ice storm ! Didn’t have a choice, 4 children nad a wife and no power for 16 days. I did the same thing , cut it , split it and burned it same day often times. The difference in properly seasoned wood and green is night and day. We have true fireplaces so quite different on the efficiency of a burn but like they said, keep paying attention and learn your stove and adjust accordingly. You definitely have some good wood to access it sounds like.
Coal Trees. That's what osage should be called. Pound for pound same energy contained. The reason people are skittish about it is from lack of experience. I don't get a lot of hedge apple, but when I burn it, I save it for the cold nights and usually mix in with a little other wood. Screw gave good advice...just ease into it a little at a time.
Welcome to the club!! Yes, your thinking is correct. Round these parts, people say that any 'pine" causes creosote. They just aren't well educated on the subject, that's all. Any wood properly dried will not cause issue. Some of us use moisture meters to measure how dry it actually is. It's a small handheld device with probes that will tell you a %. 20% and under is considered good to go. And your stove has air intake adjustability, so you can control how hot/quick it burns. We all highly regard those species you say grow like weeds. We'll definitely need some pics when you can! Buzzsaw Brad will go nuts if you show a forest of black locust. I grew up with wood heat. My parents had a wood/oil combo furnace in the basement. One time dad got some shagbark hickory and burned it just like he would have any other species. Well, it burned hot enough to warp the shaker grates in the fire box! So that's kind why people say to watch certain kinds of wood. As long as you constantly are aware of your stove or flue temps, everything will be just fine. One of the things this group of great people taught me was the 3 year plan. Cut/split/stack (CSS) enough for 3 years and by the time you need it, it's dry. After getting into this, I now sweep my flue every other or every 3rd season. Very little build-up in there because the wood was properly dried.
Welcome aboard RideNSlide You definitely found the right place. Sounds like you are off to a great start, obviously research pays off. I think you're gonna have many drooling over your wood options.
Yes... definitely the 3-Year Plan. We burn between 3.5 and 4 cords a year, so I like to have 12 cords on hand at the beginning of the heating season. This year, we'll have something like 14 CSSed by this Fall, so we'll be good. The 3-Year Plan is particularly needed if you plan on using wood, like oak, that takes a long time to season. With 3 years of supply, you're all but guaranteed that you'll have properly seasoned wood ready to go, even if you are using wood that is notoriously slow to dry / season. As for space, I guess it all depends on priorities. We only have 1/2 acre, but we devote about a third of the back yard to our wood storage, as wood is out primary heat source. We also have an oil furnace, but we only like to use that when the stove can't keep up. We only fill our tank about once every four years.
Welcome, there are several folks from SW MO on here & the OPE Forum. I sent some Hedge balls ( Osage ) to Eric Wanderweg a year or so ago. Sawdust Man is in Southern Mo, Hinerman is over in OK, some of the others don’t check in very often. I burn a lot of Osage & haven’t had any issues. It burns hot but if your stove is sealed up you won’t have issues with it. I also burn some Eastern Red Cedar if it’s dry it makes a nice quick hot fire for spring/fall just to take the chill out. As long as your wood is dry & you clean your chimney yearly you shouldn’t have any issues.
Welcome RideNSlide ! You've come to the right place. I'm pretty new to wood burning myself. I bought my house about 2.5 yrs ago and it came with a wood burning stove. I've been getting my firewood education here since then. I'm on the 3 year plan now. Good luck. And post some pics of your setup.
Welcome RideNSlide . This is a wonderful place to learn about everything firewood related. Check out the top of the page to find a tab labeled 'Resources'. Great info in there.
Welcome and good to have you here. I would definitely agree you're on the right track with ensuring you have dry wood, as standard operating procedure for safe burning. I'm one of those humorous folks that actually went out of my way to plant Osage orange and black locust Black locust is plentiful here in Connecticut, but I wanted some fast growing trees for privacy along my property line that won't shade out my yard completely, so BL is perfect for that. I do have one planted Osage orange growing as a specimen tree on the other side of my yard, with plans to add a couple more. And eventually some thorny honey locust, plus a few others... Anyway, it sounds like you have an awesome selection to choose from and I look forward to you bringing us along (with pictures) on a few hoarding adventures.
Welcome! This is a great crew with tons of knowledge, advice and helpfulness. You are definitely headed in the right direction! Dry wood is key! I’d rather burn well seasoned low BTU wood vs. wet high BTU wood. Keep us posted on your journey!
Welcome to the FHC RideNSlide Learn your stove use dry wood; ask questions you will be fine! This isn’t a new technology
Welcome aboard. Good info given so far. Funny how some people that as you say have burnt wood for a long time tell you that some of the best hardwood there is you shouldn't burn. One of the members on here has a good quote about no sense in confusing some with the facts as their mind is already made up.
Welcome to the FHC RideNSlide Great to have you. Sounds like you are way ahead of the game and are well on your way to happy hoarding and burning. I wouldnt worry about burning any of that. As long as the MC is below 20%. With time and trial and error you will learn to use the stove. Be sure to post lots of pics.
You are correct. Common practice among "experienced" burners. We encourage a three year plan which in a nut shell is a three year supply of dry wood on hand so the oldest dryest wood gets burned first. Keep it off the ground and top covered and it will last many years if need be.
