'11 / '12 Nears the half-way point, wood consumption

[lukem]

This year, as has been thoroughly discussed, has been exceptionally mild. As we approach the half-way point of I'm wondering how that is playing into everyone's wood consumption.

For me personally, I've burned about 3 cord so far. That sounds high, but the first 1.5 cord was some pretty junky slab-wood of marginal species. I blew thru that before the end of November. For December and January I've been burning mostly cherry and it has slowed down the usage quite a bit.

 

[LLigetfa]

Not sure when the half-way point is, but if we are near it, then I did real good with my supply. There is an old saying "February second, Candlemas day: half your wood, and half your hay. Half the winter has passed away, we'll eat our supper by the light of day!"

 

[steeltowninwv]

approximately 2 to 2 1/2 cord for me so far....

 

[blujacket]

2/3 of a cord

 

[smokinj]

3 so far and thats way off from last year. I was over 5 cords by now! Sissy year!

 

[Jack768]

Notice that the "Dang, it's cold" dialog bubble is missing from the graphic at the top of this page . . .

 

[JustWood]

I have burned about 2 full cord in the 18 up to Jan 4.
Have burned about 1/2 of a 22" facecord in the 526 since Jan 4.
Usually by now we are buried in snow but we've been lucky to have no more than 6" on the ground at any time so far. If this keeps up I won't touch the wood in my shed. The stacked/tarped wood is easy to get to with no snow . I'll use that up before the wood in my house attached shed, as long as there is no snow.

 

[Jack768]

I've burned probably not more than half a cord. By this time last year I had run through 1 1/2 cord and had to do a mid-winter re-order (managed to get decently seasoned wood, happily). Just haven't had occasion for running both stoves hard from Friday afternoon to Monday morning and it's often been too warm for a fire to be necessary when I get home during the week. On the bright side, I should at this rate end the season with a cord of my 11/12 wood left, and I haven't seen a single bill from the snowplow guy who charges $200 every time our steep, long driveway needs plowing.

 

[lukem]

...bill from the snowplow guy who charges $200 every time our steep, long driveway needs plowing.

Holy crap! Time to invest in some snow moving equipment...you could pay that off pretty quick with that bill.

 

[Stax]

1.5 Cord.

 

[Pagey]

So far we've used about 2 face cords of pine and a face cord of oak...so about 1 "true" cord thus far. Definitely milder...and wet. Holy cow. Discovery contacted me the other day about the possibility of filming a new season of Swamp Loggers in my side yard!

 

[mecreature]

I dont have any other years to compare to.

I might have used 2 cord. but a ton of that was playing around and a mix of cotton wood.

I will be happy to save a cord of this years wood for next.

 

[muncybob]

Not sure when the half-way point is, but if we are near it, then I did real good with my supply. There is an old saying "February second, Candlemas day: half your wood, and half your hay. Half the winter has passed away, we'll eat our supper by the light of day!"

We are good on wood and hay supply. Low wood usage due to mild temps(almost 2 cords) and low hay usage due to 1 horse spending the winter elsewhere. Won't stop me from scrounging whenever I can though and you can bet we'll fill the barn with hay in September-October again!

 

[laynes69]

We are around 2.25 cords burned so far. We have been burning since the beginning of October. Looks like we will finally see snow soon along with some cold weather again.

 

[stejus]

1 cord used through Jan 8th. It's been unseasonably warm here in the Northeast. During the day, small splits just to keep it going... Some nights a small load because it's too warm out. I think there have been about 20 nights where I burned a full load so I had coals in the AM. Surely not like last year where I was near 2 cords use by this time.

 

[ColdNH]

used about one 250 gallons of oil so far. no stove yet. not bad considering were heating 2100 sq feet to 70 degrees. mild winter tho.

 

[WellSeasoned]

Ive used about a 1/2 cord, I guess... but no oil whatsoever!!

 

[nate379]

Been snowy here, Anchorage is sitting at 2x normal levels and broke records for snowfall this year.

Temps around normal.

As far as wood, I haven't kept track too much, I'd have to go out back and look, but I'd say somewhere around 1.75-2 cords burned so far. I burned around 3 last year. Started burning late Sept and probably will be end of March or so when I shut it down.

Oh, how come some of you guys say "cord" in plural? Isn't it 1 cord, 2 cords, 3 cords? My English isn't the best, I knew French before so I mix it up a bit sometimes... so what is correct?

 

[midwestcoast]

Wood consumption is down for me as it is for most, (I might have burned 3/4 cord?) but the bigger impact is the reduced nat gas consumption.
My insert can't do it all in the cold weather. Mid-winter the furnace normally runs for 1 quick heat-up in the morning, then to maintain 60 after the morning fire gives-up, another quick heat-up after work & to maintain 60 after the night fire dies.
This year it'll come on here & there, but the insert can basically handle the whole house if I'm home to feed it.

 

[Ken45]

We are good on wood and hay supply. Low wood usage due to mild temps(almost 2 cords) and low hay usage due to 1 horse spending the winter elsewhere. Won't stop me from scrounging whenever I can though and you can bet we'll fill the barn with hay in September-October again!

Half cord of wood and only one bale of hay so far! Going to put out another bale this evening. (8 horses but the pasture is still in good shape.)

I bought three tons of pellets since I was short on wood at the beginning of the season but we have only used about half a ton of the pellets. We use pellets when it's too warm for the wood stove. As of now it looks like we will have wood, pellets and hay left over, which is good.

Ken

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Been snowy here, Anchorage is sitting at 2x normal levels and broke records for snowfall this year.

Temps around normal.

As far as wood, I haven't kept track too much, I'd have to go out back and look, but I'd say somewhere around 1.75-2 cords burned so far. I burned around 3 last year. Started burning late Sept and probably will be end of March or so when I shut it down.

Oh, how come some of you guys say "cord" in plural? Isn't it 1 cord, 2 cords, 3 cords? My English isn't the best, I knew French before so I mix it up a bit sometimes... so what is correct?

Nate, some use cord as both singular and plural while others use cord and cords. I've mostly used cord rather than cords and consider both proper.


The saying that LLigetfa used was one of those that farmers used to go by a lot. I grew up using the same and although Feb 2 is a bit past the mid winter stage, it is still a good one to use. After all, it is always better to have some hay and/or wood left over at the end of the season.

So far this year we have not used a cord of wood yet but are very close. Compared to our last 4 winters that is way low as we usually burn about 3 cord (or cords). One of those years were under 3 and one was over 3 but 3 is the average.

 

[CTYank]

Been snowy here, Anchorage is sitting at 2x normal levels and broke records for snowfall this year.

Temps around normal.

As far as wood, I haven't kept track too much, I'd have to go out back and look, but I'd say somewhere around 1.75-2 cords burned so far. I burned around 3 last year. Started burning late Sept and probably will be end of March or so when I shut it down.

Oh, how come some of you guys say "cord" in plural? Isn't it 1 cord, 2 cords, 3 cords? My English isn't the best, I knew French before so I mix it up a bit sometimes... so what is correct?

Dead on, Nate. And ... a "chord" you might play on a guitar. No such thing as a "face" cord, either.

Wood consumption so far: about 2/3 cord, mostly pine, punky, junky.

 

[bluedogz]

Not even 1 full cord here.

 

[steeltowninwv]

so i guess the guys that havent burned a cord..or right at a cord...uve got run a furnace..or something else...not that have the best house..or best stove.....but ive burned at least 2 cord...only heating source i use....so even on those nights when its 55 outside im burning some wood.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I have burned maybe 1/6 of a cord of the good stuff in the shed. Somewhere between 3 and 4 cord of punk, junk, short, long, lessers and uglies.