Anyone else keep a wood burning "diary"

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babalu87

babalu87

New Member
Nov 23, 2005
1,440
middleborough, ma.
Started this year, should make for some interesting fodder come May.

I am logging the overnight temps, inside temps in two rooms, the outside temps according to my thermometer and what the WX channel tells me for Middleborough. Also logging the days Hi and lo temperatures, wind if it is noteworthy, sunny or cloudy/rainy and snow falls.

Oh, if I cooked on or in the stove I have been noting that as well.
 
Seriously, if you have nothing better to do with your time, come on up to Whitman. I have about 30 projects going on at the house right now :)
 
I don't keep a journal as it would be really redundant: "load wood, load wood, load wood, go to bed, get up from bed and load wood". As I recall though, there is a member here that has the worst case of wood stack OCD i've ever heard of...I guarantee that person keeps a journal with a time line and a wood budget :)
 
Maybe I should,"the mental one I am keeping seems to be failing" :cheese:
 
He, He, he. Babs, I think you need a new hobby. :lol:

On a more serious note: Are you doing this for evaluation of wood consumption or some other such reason? I am no where near that analytical and never have 2 days the same, so for me it wouldn't mean a whole lot. I just check the wood shed next to the house (an old wash house from 1919 at about 20 x 18) to make sure I don't have to consider reloading it before the end of the heating season (usually start the season with somewhere around 6 cords and have some left over at the end of the season).
 
Too much work. Tried beer making diary, gardening diary, ponding diary, too much work. Just write down the important stuff you really want to remember in a notebook. Are you really going to read it later?
 
It would be kind of neat to look back on in a few years as to when the first and last fires were of the seasons.
 
Part of it is to see how much wood I am burning per season but also I note the oil prices at the top of the pages. Should be fun to look back on it in 5 yearrs when oil is at $4/gallon or more.

New hobby?
It takes all of about three minutes of my time per day including looking up the overnight weather and current weather conditions.

Here is an average daily report: Temps are in the living room/den, outdoor is with my thermometer/wx channel report for 02346

1/4/08 74/66 @ 5 AM will run floor fan all day every day from now on. 11/6 degrees big coal bed/big split and med round.
One split all day Hi 33 fair 72 @ 5PM small fire
79/75 @ 10PM 3/4 load in secondary 28 degrees
1 AM 29 3AM 31 5AM 31
 

Dear Diary,
I think my wood is angry with me today. It's doing a real slow burn. Maybe it's time we split? I dunno, my wood is so green with envy........." :coolsmile:
 
I think it would be cool to use a datalogging device with as many as 4 temp sensor inputs that you could trend over time. you could note changes like adding insulation or even cary the type of wood you burn and note the corresponding changes. I could possible do this one day since I have access to this type of equipment. food for thought
 
I hope it's a diary with a lock on it. ;-P
 
You should do this all in Excel, so you can create Pivot Tables, Charts/Graphs, etc.

If you have a sickness, you should strive for excellence at it
 
my burn diary
oak is good
shaggy bark hickory is good might be better than oak
walnut is good if it is not to cold outside also seems to las a long time in the wood stove
cedar sucks but is better than nothing and what else am I going to with the tops when I cut fence posts
wonder how sycamore burns as I will be burning some next year
wish the trove would fill itself and carry in its own wood and while I'm at it it would do it some good to cut it as well
 
myzamboni said:
You should do this all in Excel, so you can that create Pivot Tables, Charts/Graphs, etc.

If you have a sickness, you should strive for excellence at it
Click to expand...

You have issues dude ;)

I'm a self-proclaimed weather geek anyway so I just took it a step further.
 
Cearbhaill said:
My burn diary:

October 30th- lit fire :cheese:

April 15th- let fire go out :down:
Click to expand...

Wish this was the case....Been way too warm up here in Ohio. I'm lucky to get 5 days in a row as it has been getting up in the 50's here. Right now I lit the fire on Thursday the 10th and have kept is going. BUT, I am sure it will be back up in the 50's before too long. Right now its down in the teens.

I agree, no diary here.
 
Thomas Jefferson was also a daily recording weather geek, so you're in very good company Babalu. :)
 
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