Good story. Takes me back. We've been cutting since I was a fairly young kid. I bought this house about 8 years ago, and it has a fireplace upstairs, and a place for a stove downstairs. Didn't take too long to figure the difference even running a stove part time would make, so that's what we did, till this year. I got a little more serious about css'ing my deadwood, and so far we've only test fired the furnace. We still do run a propane fireplace downstairs, but are looking to install a pellet hog for next season down there. I'd love to top off the propane tank this summer and never get into it.
I'll do it as long as makes sense or is practical. I enjoy everything about burning wood, and it only takes us (working as a family) about 4 days to get enough wood for a season, so it's really not much trouble. However this winter we spent 2 months in the Philippines, and things may be shaping up to spend more of our winters there, so if that works out putting up firewood for the winter may not be necessary for us any more.
Thanks for sharing Savage. Great history of your beginnings with wood and up through the years. I'd help my dad in the 70's with wood. We never bought wood. As a mason, my dad had access to lots being cleared for new houses on a regular basis. We'd go and get what we needed for that year. As I've mentioned before, we'd collect in the winter/spring for the upcoming season. He never had much if any left over from the previous year. Some years were lean. Others were abundant. One year I can remember us making the news paper cone things full of sawdust from the chainsaw to help get us through the winter. I bought the house from my dad, and we still heat with wood. The difference is that over the past 16 years of owning the house, I've bought the wood c/s. This year was my first year of purchasing log length wood and processing myself. I'd like to get to the point where I am felling my own trees for little to no money. The guy I buy my wood from offered to let me know when a customer wanted to keep the trees they fell on their property. Often they would call and ask him to come back and cutup/remove the tree at a later date. His crews are always flat-out and they don't have the time for this. I'd be able to go cutup the tree myself and haul away for free. Our current house is rather big, and my oldest is two years away from college. Once we get all three off and most likely out of college, we plan to build/move into a smaller home with an open floor plan. One that would allow us to heat with wood only. At that time, we'd only use oil or propane for the hot water. As Backwoods Savage said in his original post. I completely agree that prices might be low now, but I suspect they will climb much higher soon. Being able to heat with wood is crucial to survival in my opinion. Without getting political, I believe that we should be prepared for a big event in the next 5-10 years. Sorry to add the conspiracy comment, but I believe this to be accurate. This site has brought a new level of respect for my elders. It's given me a new view of the diehards we call locally swamp yankees. Not a bad thing in my view.
Great history and nostalgia, thanks. I feel that the wear & tear on my body before turning 50 will prevent me from being that active in the future. Then again, medical supplements and genetic modification may reverse my aging process and I'll be back to my 20's.
I hope to put up wood the rest of my life as long as I am able. I am 48 now and blessed with pretty good health. Being able to c/s/s whenever I want is one of the things I look forward to most in retirement.
Nice history Dennis! I have no plans to stop anytime soon - I suppose if I lost interest, I'd stop unless I couldn't afford not too, but I doubt this will happen. If the body holds up, no end in sight. Cheers!
Well jr, this body also had much wear and tear on it before turning 50. It is still getting wear and tear in my 70's. Just because one has worked hard most of his life and/or had injuries, sickness or whatever does not have to stop him. Remember that I was once a cripple. At age 12 my legs were about as big as my wife's arms are now. But I kept at it and then couldn't stop. After milking cows I went to the woods and sawmill. Drove truck a lot along with several other things. Only toward the end of my working years did I have the more easy times; that is, easy on the body. Also, my wife and I have talked about what we would or could do if we could not handle the wood cutting and such. I believe at that time we'd no doubt go to a pellet stove.
