Heating with wood, 40 + years now. This is how I deal with it.

[tcreeley]

I don't burn much a winter. Just 4 cords, sometimes less. But it is the primary heat and we use a large Shenandoah that looks more like a box furnace. Ugly as all get out, but it holds the fire all night. Fire brick lined - I'm on my second set of bricks- replaced them last year.

I buy 4 cords every fall and burn them the following year. In my area- seasoned cordwood can be anything that was cut last spring- or green wood thrown in a home kiln for a week- and still on the heavy side for being called dry wood. -So I season it myself another year by buying a year ahead.

I used to buy tree length, switched to 4', and finally to small stuff - split or not. - The tractor is great to move it around.
First pic is 2 cords stacked, 2 in the pile. Rows are 16' long on 2x4's. Then there is last year's wood ready for this winter. I throw it in the bucket and drive it close to the door. 4-5 days per bucket.
I'll throw a tarp over the pile I am burning, peeling it back to get at it. Keeps the snow off.

View attachment 2a cords stacked.JPG

 

[tcreeley]

I am pretty stiff and I use canes to get around when I am not on the tractor! You can see them lying against the old pile. I use a pulp hook to pick up the wood, move it, and so on. The tip is barbed slightly and keeps the wood from slipping off without a twist. Every few years I'll clean it up , heat it in the forge and give it a light tap with a hammer on the tip to spread it slightly, giving the barb.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Looks like you have it down to a science, and it works well for you. I live not far from where your stove was built and do a little smithing as well. Burnt wood for nearly 40 years to but have gas heat now. thanks for sharing. Ed

 

[murphy1244]

Nicely stacked wood piles gives you a sense of balance. I use the 3 year program so I have 15 cords on hand. I use a Old Timer wood burner.

 

[Creamer]

Wow! those stacks take a lot of work! you also aren't handling small pieces which adds up to real work. thanks for sharing!

i am not that disciplined and haul in logs which were either standing dead or down. I let them sit for a year and cover them in mid to late September then cut as I need it. I have more time in the winter plus it is too hot to run a chainsaw if it isn't at least October!

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

In my area- seasoned cordwood can be anything that was cut last spring- or green wood thrown in a home kiln for a week- and still on the heavy side for being called dry wood.

Same around here. I have 4 bins for wood, each holds about 2 1/2 cords, so 10 cords on the property. I burn about half of that each winter. That keeps me a year ahead.


I get my wood for free by scrounging. There's so much free wood available I could bury my whole house in wood if I had time to gather it all.

 

[jack707]

I heat with wood also but I don't stack just throw it in the lean to.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I don't burn much a winter. Just 4 cords, sometimes less. But it is the primary heat and we use a large Shenandoah that looks more like a box furnace. Ugly as all get out, but it holds the fire all night. Fire brick lined - I'm on my second set of bricks- replaced them last year.

I buy 4 cords every fall and burn them the following year. In my area- seasoned cordwood can be anything that was cut last spring- or green wood thrown in a home kiln for a week- and still on the heavy side for being called dry wood. -So I season it myself another year by buying a year ahead.

I used to buy tree length, switched to 4', and finally to small stuff - split or not. - The tractor is great to move it around.
First pic is 2 cords stacked, 2 in the pile. Rows are 16' long on 2x4's. Then there is last year's wood ready for this winter. I throw it in the bucket and drive it close to the door. 4-5 days per bucket.
I'll throw a tarp over the pile I am burning, peeling it back to get at it. Keeps the snow off.

View attachment 483876View attachment 483878View attachment 483879

The climate here is different. It's dryer than a popcorn fart all summer, so firewood will cure if it is ricked up where the air can get to it. Then it has to go into the wood shed, because it rains all winter. The picture is all madrone, which is the premier firewood around here, lights easy, burns hot, holds a good coal and pretty much splits itself. The fireplace insert is a Fisher about 45 years old. It's a great old stove, and we cook on it during power outages. The state will make me tear it out and destroy it when I sell the place, but until then it will keep us warm.

 

[Eric Salop]

Like many, I also quite enjoy stacking wood, but only those larger pieces. Since I got a loader with pallet forks, the small pieces of kindling that get the wood burner going quickly go straight into large bags, then kept under cover and used the following year.

 

[2ndhalf]

Some of you old timers truly amaze me.. Dad is 75 and still burning wood; cuts and splits it himself with a little help from myself, grandsons but he does most of it himself. Hobbles around with replaced knees, pacemaker and doesn't complain... He uses the tractor for large stuff and that is what we help him with mostly.. getting the big stuff on the splitter.

Amazing. I'm not nearly that tough.