New England Firewood and Wood-Burning Thread

[PhineasC]

3 hours ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

 

Taken with a Nokia phone from 2002?

[mreaves]

1 hour ago, PhineasC said:

Taken with a Nokia phone from 2002?

The subforum like you refer to that as the “Ginx” phone even thought photos have gotten better over the years. 

[Spanks45]

Had this delivered the other day and just finished stacking. Facing southwest and will get 6+ hours of full sun per day. Any recommendations on covering? Fully tarp or just tarp the top?

[DavisStraight]

7 hours ago, Spanks45 said:

Had this delivered the other day and just finished stacking. Facing southwest and will get 6+ hours of full sun per day. Any recommendations on covering? Fully tarp or just tarp the top?

Always just the top

[PowderBeard]

Here is a mystery one for me. Picked it up about a year ago as a new homeowner was clearing some trees. No scent and the bark is really throwing me off. It was brutal to split, not because it was stringy just like putting the maul into a rock. Also it is at 14% MC and probably some of the heaviest seasoned wood I've come across. All I can think of is Sugar Maple?

[tamarack]

On 10/11/2020 at 8:16 AM, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

I just cut up a big tree that fell during the TS back in Aug. I didn’t get it all though as my rented saw became dull. Not sure of what kind of tree it is but tree guy who wanted $1200 told me it wasn’t firewood material. So, what should I do with the logs and branches...Get/rent a wood chipper or have someone hawl it away?

Judging "firewood material" can hinge on how far the tree is from one's woodstove.  Trying to burn balsam poplar when green is akin to burning wet sponges, but the ones I cut down in the yard of our 1st house in Ft. Kent went thru the stove once dried - crummy heat value even when seasoned but handy to the stove door. 

[PowderBeard]

Mid 40s, rainy, raw, house has a little chill. Perfect day for burning small chunks of elm. Won't burn you out of the room like better hardwoods and can go for hours at a low heat (stove top ~400).  

[PhineasC]

1 hour ago, PowderBeard said:

Here is a mystery one for me. Picked it up about a year ago as a new homeowner was clearing some trees. No scent and the bark is really throwing me off. It was brutal to split, not because it was stringy just like putting the maul into a rock. Also it is at 14% MC and probably some of the heaviest seasoned wood I've come across. All I can think of is Sugar Maple?

Looks like sugar maple to me.

[PowderBeard]

2 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

Looks like sugar maple to me.

Three years of hoarding and scrounging and it's the first time I have gotten it. Tough to find.

[PhineasC]

2 minutes ago, PowderBeard said:

Three years of hoarding and scrounging and it's the first time I have gotten it. Tough to find.

I have some of it around here, looks just like that.

[DavisStraight]

58 minutes ago, PowderBeard said:

Mid 40s, rainy, raw, house has a little chill. Perfect day for burning small chunks of elm. Won't burn you out of the room like better hardwoods and can go for hours at a low heat (stove top ~400).  

What do you have for a stove? I used to have a Blaze King Princess and switched to a Woodstock Progress Hybrid Soapstone. Both are great stoves.

[DavisStraight]

47 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

I have some of it around here, looks just like that.

Sugar maple is great firewood. I got two cords one year.

[Whineminster]

Built the shed almost entirely out of free scraps and pallets.  Only had to buy roof rafters and shingles. Holds about 8 cords, right now filled with mixed white pine (my favourite), oak and maple.  

[PowderBeard]

On 10/12/2020 at 11:58 AM, DavisStraight said:

What do you have for a stove? I used to have a Blaze King Princess and switched to a Woodstock Progress Hybrid Soapstone. Both are great stoves.

Jotul F400.  Looking forward to doing full loads of wood once it gets colder,  with these smaller fires I have little secondary burn with only a couple of small splits.  I always try to run it between 400-600*, longest secondary burn I can get is when I shut the air down to almost nothing once the middle of the stove hits about 500*. Will cruise there for hours.

Our friends who gave it to us replaced it with the Woodstock Hybrid. Beautiful stove. Does the stone reduce clearances to combustibles?  I imagine with cats and secondaries you get some long burns. My only complaint about the Jotul is I will stuff ours with as much oak or black birch as I can and really only get 5/6 hours of good heat. 

[Whineminster]

1 hour ago, PowderBeard said:

Jotul F400.  Looking forward to doing full loads of wood once it gets colder,  with these smaller fires I have little secondary burn with only a couple of small splits.  I always try to run it between 400-600*, longest secondary burn I can get is when I shut the air down to almost nothing once the middle of the stove hits about 500*. Will cruise there for hours.

Our friends who gave it to us replaced it with the Woodstock Hybrid. Beautiful stove. Does the stone reduce clearances to combustibles?  I imagine with cats and secondaries you get some long burns. My only complaint about the Jotul is I will stuff ours with as much oak or black birch as I can and really only get 5/6 hours of good heat. 

Same with my Jotul F3.  Old design but still a good stove for my tiny house.  In my garage I made one of those 50 gallon drum conversion kits.  Thing puts out heat like a blast furnace, but say bye bye to your wood stash if you plan on using it more than sparingly lol. 

[Whineminster]

On 10/12/2020 at 10:58 AM, PowderBeard said:

Mid 40s, rainy, raw, house has a little chill. Perfect day for burning small chunks of elm. Won't burn you out of the room like better hardwoods and can go for hours at a low heat (stove top ~400).  

isn't elm like....dead and gone? Surprised you can find enough to have more than a few pieces. 

[PowderBeard]

42 minutes ago, Whineminster said:

isn't elm like....dead and gone? Surprised you can find enough to have more than a few pieces. 

Tons of elm and dead elm around here. Thinking American Chestnut?

 

44 minutes ago, Whineminster said:

Same with my Jotul F3.  Old design but still a good stove for my tiny house.  In my garage I made one of those 50 gallon drum conversion kits.  Thing puts out heat like a blast furnace, but say bye bye to your wood stash if you plan on using it more than sparingly lol. 

Pretty cool convert. Speaking of elm and drum stoves. A buddy of mine has one of these. Only made for a few years (the guy built an amazing stove but the cost of EPA testing is insanely expensive and he was eventually bought out). The bigger model was made to take up to 30" pieces. 

 

[Whineminster]

Wow that's fancy and nice! Yeah the whole EPA cert thing kinda rubs me the wrong way, but whatever.

Doesn't elm have dutch elm disease?

 

[DavisStraight]

2 hours ago, PowderBeard said:

Tons of elm and dead elm around here. Thinking American Chestnut?

 

Pretty cool convert. Speaking of elm and drum stoves. A buddy of mine has one of these. Only made for a few years (the guy built an amazing stove but the cost of EPA testing is insanely expensive and he was eventually bought out). The bigger model was made to take up to 30" pieces. 

 

Those elm stoves throw some heat, the window is a pie plate. My BK burned long but was undersized ffor my house, the PH is the highest BTU stove I could fin d with a 6 inch flue. I get 12+ hour burns in shoulder season but mid winter I do a full load overnight, 1/2-2/3 load at about 11am and the load it full in the afternoon. Burn usually 4 cords, 2015 I burned 5 but that was a brutal (but great) stretch at the end.

[PowderBeard]

On 10/13/2020 at 2:16 PM, Whineminster said:

Same with my Jotul F3.  Old design but still a good stove for my tiny house.  In my garage I made one of those 50 gallon drum conversion kits.  Thing puts out heat like a blast furnace, but say bye bye to your wood stash if you plan on using it more than sparingly lol. 

Random question, any idea on your chimney height?

I'm at the minimum recommended Jotul height, have a double flued chimney about 20' away from the woodstove's, and on a breezy hill with trees towering over the house. I'm considering going up another 4-6' with mine to improve draft and see if I can get better secondary burns. Plus it's tough to get going without smoke backing up when the temp is over 45*. 

[mreaves]

1 hour ago, PowderBeard said:

Random question, any idea on your chimney height?

I'm at the minimum recommended Jotul height, have a double flued chimney about 20' away from the woodstove's, and on a breezy hill with trees towering over the house. I'm considering going up another 4-6' with mine to improve draft and see if I can get better secondary burns. Plus it's tough to get going without smoke backing up when the temp is over 45*. 

If you were a real New Englander, you wouldn't need a fire when the temp is over 45°!

[DavisStraight]

6 hours ago, PowderBeard said:

Random question, any idea on your chimney height?

I'm at the minimum recommended Jotul height, have a double flued chimney about 20' away from the woodstove's, and on a breezy hill with trees towering over the house. I'm considering going up another 4-6' with mine to improve draft and see if I can get better secondary burns. Plus it's tough to get going without smoke backing up when the temp is over 45*. 

You probably only need another 3 feet, I have seen 3 feet make a world of difference.

[PowderBeard]

21 hours ago, mreaves said:

If you were a real New Englander, you wouldn't need a fire when the temp is over 45°!

Keep the house hot so I can see my wife in as few layers as possible lol

[Whineminster]

21 hours ago, PowderBeard said:

Random question, any idea on your chimney height?

I'm at the minimum recommended Jotul height, have a double flued chimney about 20' away from the woodstove's, and on a breezy hill with trees towering over the house. I'm considering going up another 4-6' with mine to improve draft and see if I can get better secondary burns. Plus it's tough to get going without smoke backing up when the temp is over 45*. 

A few times a year I'll have back drafts when it's damp and warm out.  I have an over-sized flue for the chimney, or so say the chimney guys. I think my chimney is 25 feet tall? it comes out through the middle of my house, which helps keep it warm and keep creosote down, which is nice. 

[BrianW]

My phone has been ringing left and right for weeks from tree companies offering to drop off free wood. I am out of time and room for more wood. I have been on about 6 companies lists for free wood drop off the last 7 years. If anyone in CT is looking for free wood I can give out some tree companies.

[DavisStraight]

3 hours ago, BrianW said:

My phone has been ringing left and right for weeks from tree companies offering to drop off free wood. I am out of time and room for more wood. I have been on about 6 companies lists for free wood drop off the last 7 years. If anyone in CT is looking for free wood I can give out some tree companies.

How many cords you stocked up on?

[wxmanmitch]

On 10/12/2020 at 9:20 AM, PowderBeard said:

Here is a mystery one for me. Picked it up about a year ago as a new homeowner was clearing some trees. No scent and the bark is really throwing me off. It was brutal to split, not because it was stringy just like putting the maul into a rock. Also it is at 14% MC and probably some of the heaviest seasoned wood I've come across. All I can think of is Sugar Maple?

It's likely some type of hickory, perhaps mockernut hickory? That bark definitely doesn't look like sugar maple to me. 

[tamarack]

14 hours ago, wxmanmitch said:

It's likely some type of hickory, perhaps mockernut hickory? That bark definitely doesn't look like sugar maple to me. 

You're right about the bark but perhaps it being a year-plus dead changed it.  However, the wood looks like diffuse-porous (maples, birches) rather than ring-porous (oaks, hickories) though seeing end grain might help.  More than anything the bark looks like butternut, but that tree's wood is rather light and soft, mid-range heat value.

The chimney on our 1st house in Ft. Kent was over 35' tall - full basement, 2 stories, 12/12 roof (though ,20' wide) and we'd get the rare back puff.  It was only when CAA first hit following mild wx in winter, when the Jotul 602 (about 25-27 below the chimney top) had burned low.  The 70' balsam poplars about 25' NW from the chimney would cause downward turbulence in their lee, generally only on the 1st good NW gust. 

[PowderBeard]

Well the extra 39" of double wall has made a big difference so far. Other night I put in a  3-4  2-3" splits of elm and pine and was surprised to see the stove down to big coals with secondary flames and maintaining ~400* for an extra hour or so. It is definitely behaving differently on reloads as well and will heat up to 500/550 from 250/300 much quicker. I now see what many have said in that even with shutting down the air the stove will climb an extra 150-200*. I will do a few trial runs of packing it with high BTU woods during the day before just leaving it overnight and assuming all is well. Last thing I want is a glowing stove when I'm asleep. 

[Cold Miser]

On 9/21/2020 at 9:13 PM, PhineasC said:

Seemed like a relevant topic for this forum. I'm sure there are some very dedicated and legendary firewood hoarders here who have massive stashes organized by age and wood type. LOL

Here is a chance for you to show off your dead wood collection and not be judged and taken for a weirdo prepper.

I am working towards having 4 cords stashed to rotate each winter. I have been taking down old, dead white ash mostly.

 

I just noticed this thread. What is this space in the photo? That ceiling is quite high.

I used to enjoy splitting wood by hand. I know this sounds lame but it's actually relaxing. I don't have much experience taking trees down though.