Bad Experience withe the stove(hurt myself)

Tough it out pal. As I type this I am looking at 2 scars on my arm with a fresh crack to my eye socket. Scares are from not wearing gloves, life long scars. Eye socket us from a frozen garage and a patch of ice while holding a load of wood. Burning wood is load of work and time I don't have. But damned if it don't feel good.

I've met my share of "I used to burn wood" folks out there. There's a lot of em! That said, there are 3 times as many who STILL burn.

For some, it's just too much, or just plain inconvenient. No harm, no foul..........everyone has to find out for themselves what works best in their own lives.

-Soupy1957

If you get a scar wear it like a badge of honor,and be proud of it.When your ready,get back on that horse. Im sure it helps with that other problem. We all have a few nicks from our obsession.
Best Regards

Random thoughts . . .

One of the reason I truly love hanging out here is that I sometimes come here and learn something new . . . sometimes I come here and get a good laugh . . . sometimes I come here and check in with old friends . . . and sometimes I come here and am inspired . . . both from the courage shown by the OP to share a bit of his life story . . . and from those who respond with encouragement . . . this truly feels like a family sometimes.

Taking a break isn't a bad idea . . . with time comes a different sense of perspective . . . and with a different sense of perspective comes a time when you can often look back at what has happened and learn from past mistakes and in some cases realize you have a great story to tell around the lunchroom table.

When life hands you a bunch of tomatoes . . . make tomato sauce . . . and then make one of those fantastically good pizza pies.

I am always encouraged when I hear of folks who have made poor choices in life . . . but who have found their way back . . . and while I have never had to battle alcohol or drug addiction I cannot tell you how impressed I am when I hear of someone who is fighting the good fight each and every day since I know this is an on-going fight and struggle . . . many of us have our own addictions (hearth.com not withstanding) . . . but drugs and alcohol sadly are addictions that really can ruin a life very quickly . . . continue to fight the good fight guys . . .

I'm not sure what I would do with all my free time if I only worked 46hrs a week! Most of my weeks are 70-80hrs.

Whenever I start feeling sorry for myself I try to remember that somewhere else someone has it much worse... that seems to help me.

Just read this and my thought is you have learned what to do to make your wood burning safer. I am thinking you will never try to over fill the stove again. I find its extra hard on the stove also. I mean if one is jamming wood in then whatever type of burn system you have could be damaged. Even the bricks can be ruined by bumping.
Bottom line is your probably going to be one of the safer burners from now on.

njtomatoguy, I could not possibly do any better commenting on this thread than what my wood burning brothers already have! However, your situation and story, and the support you have seen here, compel me to say a few things. First, you hang in there, because most of us who have burned for any time have had those spells when it just didn't seem worth it....broken fingers, to many work hours and stress, close calls, no where to cut wood...........on and on. You have overcome to much to let this get you down, and just maybe, wood burning was part of that success. Secondly, as Firefighter Jake has so eloquently said already, this thread is a large part of the reason I love this place.....and all those who said "it is OK, just take a break" Probably, most of us have done it one time or another for whatever reason. Wood burning holds a special place in me, as it obviously does for others on this forum, and to have a place where you can come, any time of the day or night, where there are folks like yourself to confide in, is just a rare commodity in today's world. So you came to the right place to vent and I think you already know that.

Maybe a gold liner. Post your stove on the site. Sure you will get a decent offer.

Sounds like you're doing well. Glad you didn't let it stop you from using your stove. Great thread.