Why the wood haters?? One bad apple...

sportbikerider78 said:

I'm cheap. I'm a 3rd generation German engineer. I never had any decision in the matter. We're all cheap.

When people call me cheap, I just say "you should meet my father".

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You're not "cheap" . . . you're "frugal". And if you're anything like my second generation German-American wife you can tell folks that you are "determined" and not "stubborn" and "methodical" rather than "obsessive." . . . It's all in the way you describe things.

I'm glad that heating with wood is somewhat labor intensive, if not, we'd have many more people doing it all wrong. I hear many say heating with wood is way too much work. I'd rather just flick a button. Good! Less of you the better.

Well said Pauly. I read somewhere years ago, burning wood isn't a hobby it's a lifestyle

It is a lifestyle. Very few want to put forth the effort. Like paulywalnut said just that much more for the rest of us. There is nothing better than the heat from wood especially after freezing you butt off all day at work. Sitting next to that stove has thawed me out after many long days. It's worth it's weight in gold then plus some in my opinion.

I get that attitude at home. A new cant hook arrived on Tuesday and today I opened the package and put the hook onto the straight part. When I had it assembled my SO decided to tell me she had no idea where I would ever use it and couldn't I just roll a log with my hands. When I tried to explain that not everything is small enough to do that she started in with the "lumberjack" ribbing. I got the same ribbing all summer when I went out to drop another tree along the fence line or split the resulting rounds. She really likes that thermostat in the hallway.

D8Chumley said:

Well said Pauly. I read somewhere years ago, burning wood isn't a hobby it's a lifestyle

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Exactly D8. It's a spring summer job also, not just thinking about it in December

I do love it. That said another month or so I'll be ready for nice weather. I usually get the winter blahs by the 1st of March.

While I'm sure that some wood haters are motivated by legitimate concerns about wood smoke, I would bet that a lot of them don't really care how many grams per hour your EPA stove is putting out. They have a notion that you're clear-cutting rain forests to keep your house at 82 degrees all winter. They won't be happy until we're all living in state built eco-boxes living on our ration of algae paste.

nrc said:

living on our ration of algae paste.

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Soylent Green?

I don't know anything about outside wood burners. Are they rated in anyway? Is it just people burning green wood and smoldering it ?

I'm just curious since I know with inside wood stoves the newer EPA stoves do burn cleaner and produce less smoke overall even with the air turned down super low, it's very hard for me to smolder wood inside mine. Very rarely is there much smoke outside my chimney even with the air on the lowest setting. Although my wood is dry.

Also in addition to the wood burner haters what gets me is when people get upset by others cutting down trees ! Personally I like to cut trees that are nearing the end of their life, or are dangerously leaning , in other words more justification to take the tree down, etc. I do like my trees. but either way there is a thing called forestry management for a reason . If everyone got upset about good trees being cut , then there would be no wood to build new houses with ! I just don't understand how some people don't understand that .

Oldman47 said:

I get that attitude at home. A new cant hook arrived on Tuesday and today I opened the package and put the hook onto the straight part. When I had it assembled my SO decided to tell me she had no idea where I would ever use it and couldn't I just roll a log with my hands. When I tried to explain that not everything is small enough to do that she started in with the "lumberjack" ribbing. I got the same ribbing all summer when I went out to drop another tree along the fence line or split the resulting rounds. She really likes that thermostat in the hallway.

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My wife, who grew up without any woodburning in the house, was like this for the first year or two. By year three, she was to the point where I'd catch her extolling the virtues of woodburning to others when she thought I wasn't within earshot, but still give me a attitude about the time investment. Now, fifth season, she's all-in. She'll be the first to ask when I'm going to fire up the stoves on a cold night in autumn.

My wife used to be like that as well. Now she loves burning wood so much for Christmas she bought me the stihl 2 in 1 sharpener for my 660 a new pack of rat tail files for the 660 and the 880, the stihl Orange ear protectors. She even helps stack, only bad thing about it is she loves to burn locust. Which is not a bad thing I just don't like when she throws in large rounds when it's 47 degrees out. Take the good with the bad.

My tension release is, C S S. The wood I scrounge is either already at the side of the road or going to be taken down by someone else who is going to chip it. I burn efficiently. And BTW when the power does go out. It is amazing how many people show up to stay warm and get soup and other food heated on the woodstove. If some want to complain ......it's a free country......On this website We know the truth!

Riff said:

Some folks I can understanding hating wood burners. There is a shop that is along a major road that has an OWB for heat. The smoke coming out of the chimney is thick, white, reeks of whatever potentially burnable material they filled it with. On a good day the smoke travels a couple hundred feet or longer, draping over the road and headed towards the local high school. Sure makes a bad impression on wood burners when you can't drive through the area without choking.

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Sounds like the HS I work at.

osagebow said:

Sounds like the HS I work at.

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Couple of hours down I-81 from Shenandoah.

I guess I fall into the category of your stereotypical wood burner.
I have been called a hillbilly.
I do stay poor: $2,000 stove
$800 for the pipe
Couple thousand in saws
$1,600 splitter

Teaching the kiddos how to do things in this world without having to rely on the govt. or someone else: priceless

I do it because it makes me happy. Burning wood costs me a lot of money, if I figure in the more profitable things I could do with my time. But the whole process of collecting, processing, and burning wood is good for mind, body, and soul.

Kids? Teach them to excel in school, choose a lucrative career, and they'll never burn wood out of necessity.

Blowingsmokeupyourchimney said:

Kids need to get outside and pick up firewood and sticks not just indoors with joy sticks and a mouse.

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True... wasn't suggesting gaming was the favored alternative! No guide to raising 'em, unfortunately, but there are examples to go by. Like you said, self-reliance is the most important lesson... but we may have differing ways of teaching that lesson. Either way, it is interesting to note that those politicians promoting various social programs are never the product of such programs, themselves.

Ashful said:

I do it because it makes me happy. Burning wood costs me a lot of money, if I figure in the more profitable things I could do with my time. But the whole process of collecting, processing, and burning wood is good for mind, body, and soul.

Kids? Teach them to excel in school, choose a lucrative career, and they'll never burn wood out of necessity.

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My 18 year old son, who is a senior in HS, is out shoveling snow at an apartment complex with 2 buddies for some company, $12/hr cash. Some might remember me mentioning how he doesn't feel the need to help me with wood processing, and I've accepted that. To the point, he texted me an hour ago saying how much it sucks in this blizzard. My reply, stay in school and get a good job you won't have to do it any more. He applied to 9 colleges and got 6 academic scholarship offers of 50% or more. I'm thinking he will heed the old mans advice for a change

woodhog73 said:

Also in addition to the wood burner haters what gets me is when people get upset by others cutting down trees ! Personally I like to cut trees that are nearing the end of their life, or are dangerously leaning , in other words more justification to take the tree down, etc. I do like my trees. but either way there is a thing called forestry management for a reason . If everyone got upset about good trees being cut , then there would be no wood to build new houses with ! I just don't understand how some people don't understand that .

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The people that know the least, always seem to make the most noise.

When confronted by the purists ( solar panels, Prius's/Hubris's, heat pump fanatics, geo%$#&%) just sing the following thanks to Monty Python (full lyrics online):

" I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK..................................."

My chimney when burning:



Everyone else's chimney burning wood near where I live:



Ignorant people and bad apples, who burn green wood, spoil it for those that know better, and thus give all wood burners a bad name.

Most of them are extremely short sighted- by that I mean can't under stand that their precious panels , electric cars , and the like still create more problems in their creation than us poor lowly stove guys and gals