Sounds great Scotty! How many cords do you burn in a typical winter? also......... When you install the wood fired oven/stove, how much wood will get used up for that?
Fantastic Scotty. Reading your post brought back memories of several years ago (7 or 8) when I got on a forum. It seemed nobody had thought about drying their wood and being several years ahead. I think at the time we were around 7 years ahead and I took a lot of ribbing about that. But then others got on the band wagon and they started hoarding and aiming to get 3 years ahead. It has been a pleasant thing to watch and gives great pleasure knowing that now there are a lot of families with a 3 year or more supply of wood. I also remember a few years back when our favorite fire chief tried to kill himself on the atv and came way too close to doing just that. Of course he could not cut any more wood and thankfully his son lives next door. But put yourself in that position. What if, tomorrow, and accident happened to you and you were to lay in a hospital for 2 or 3 months? Would there be enough wood on hand to see you through? What about next year after the accident. Can you put up wood yet? Can't? How much wood do you have on hand and is it 3 years in the stack or are you suddenly looking to buy some wood because you can't get it done. This is where the 3 year plan really shines. If Scotty could not put up wood for the next 3 years, he still would have no worries because he has enough on hand and it is prime! Yes, there is much logic with the 3 year plan. Once you try it, you'll never want to go back.
Just to add to my last post, the last 2 years I have put up very little wood. Last year we did put some up but very little and it still is not split and stacked. Why? The accidents that I suffered. Fortunately this winter I was able to put up enough wood for at least a year. But what if I had not been able this year. Of course there are some great guys who wanted to come in to help me because it appeared I could not do it this year. But, what if we had no friend who would do this? We still have about 4 years worth of wood on hand. The peace of mind it gives me is priceless and to know that I did it is extremely satisfying. With our case, I have a badly beat up body and may be facing another surgery soon. I'm what some call at a advanced age, whatever that means. But seeing what happens to some others around my age it is natural for me to think of my wife. I want it so she does not have to worry about wood for a long time. When the wood is gone, either someone will come in to help or most likely she will put in a pellet burner. And by the sounds of it, even if burning pellets, it sounds as if having a 2 year supply of those on hand would be a great idea. Some can't find pellets when they need them. Okay. Babbling is over now.
Backwoods Savage your not advanced age just well seasoned. I give tons of credit to men like you. My neighbor is 84 and still burns wood. He gets it and has a ton on hand. Never a lot of smoke from this man either. I think a lot of my wood burning neighbors get it, except for some of the younger ones. Anyway I applaud you for the things you do, and hope I can do the same when I get to be your age.
Scotty did the Norway have some of those huge canopy's? I think the bark of a Norway looks alot like ash. Of course in these parts the ash bark is falling off .
Advanced age ----hogwash! I've cut wood with you Dennis and if you remember the last time it was freezing cold ( single digits if I recall) and you stayed right at it. Of course we knew the lovely Judy was making a nice lunch for us and we had some incentive to get it done!
I wish I had gotten ten years ahead before the ticks took over the woods....it's no fun being in the woods once the snow is gone. They have taken away much of the pleasure I derived from my property. And have made gathering my firewood a chore, done under pressure of time, rather than a joy done casually throughout the year.
Nice Scotty! 5 years ahead is just awesome! It's fun to think of how old you'll be when the last bit hits the stove - puts it into perspective! I've been burning 4 year old oak for the past month - just awesome! I try to have 4 years of wood always stacked on the property - was a lot of work to get there, but just normal cutting now - that's when it really pays off! Cheers!
Well I have some 5 year old Oak and it does not burn any different then my 2 year Oak, after the wood gets so dry its pretty much done, YRMV due to all the variables.
I haven't seen a lot of different from 3 to 4 year old oak oldspark - pretty similar. Two year oak though is a different story for my area - the extra year seems to make a lot of difference. Cheers!
They no longer sell kiln dried in bulk (they had ran out last year) and the regular pile of wood was over $185.00 a cord when I called this past fall.
No single rows here oldspark - pallet cubes, so I'm sure it takes longer than your single rows for sure. Cheers!
Thanks oldspark - I've thought a bit about single rows, but far enough ahead now that it just doesn't matter how I stack the wood - it'll be dry. Cheers!
Brian, if/when I get that stove, it will be replacing my Napoleon 1900p in the kitchen, so it shouldn't change my wood consumption. Typically I go through 7-8 cord in a winter being we have both stove and fireplace going, but this season we've used far less......just haven't had extended extreme cold and I haven't had to constantly burn both appliances. So I'm guesstimating that we will be in the 5.5-6 cord area this season, barring any extreme cold snap in March (which could very well happen!)
Wishlist, this Norway had a MASSIVE canopy. It was right against a house too. We ended up piecing it down and in the end got almost 3 full cord from that tree. Yes the bark of a mature Norway resembles that of ash but it's a tad darker...
