First full season burning...how much do I need?

Thanks so much for the offer Hiram. I would love to get my foot in the door with some services. This being our first full season of burning, I think that I am just in a slight panic mode not knowing just how much we are going to need for the season and although there is wood on the racks, some of it really shouldn't be burned until the 2010/11 season. One service was just in my neighborhood last week and even with my name on their list and the homeowner telling the guys that I wanted the wood, they still gave it to their sub. It was tough not being on site to "claim it" but those are the breaks. Seems like it can be a game to play to get the good wood with some of these guys. I'm gonna keep on doing the CL thing and word of mouth by all means.

I'm starting out with 2 cords but we'll only burn while we are not teaching. I am guessing I'll need more so I'm on the lookout for more free deals. Good Luck!

Famous last words, you will be burning 24/7 and trying to figure out how to get 5 years ahead in no time.

HehHeh . . . I was thinking the same thing . . . I suspect a lot of 24/7 wood burners start out thinking they will only be burning nights and weekends and then once they realize it's safe and cheaper than oil/propane. . . . . well, the rest is history.

Last year was our 1st year burning and we went through about 3 cords. That was burning from November to March about 80% of the time and it was a pretty cold winter. Most of the time it was in the 20's and we never got any of the mid winter "thaws" we usually get aroung here. It was all good, seasoned hardwood - I still have about 1 cord leftover. At the suggestion of many on this site, I got 4 cords and it worked out great.

Last year we burned 24/7 but this year we plan to let the furnace kick in more unless the price of natural gas goes up substantially again.

Heatit,

Did you want some Red Oak?

If you want to bring your chain saw over, I have a little over a face cord you can have. Everything is on the driveway.......

Let me know.

Hiram

I will be one happy wood scrounger/processor if I ever get down to anywhere near 4 cord/year.

The cat is still there, just no way to encourage the gasses through it anymore. And I refuse to put any more money into those bleep to bleep bleep bleep stoves. Even with it working properly, we went through 7-8 although 2/3 of it was softwood as opposed to oak.

My big dilemma now is whether to buy some time with a new big bombproof stove or take the big swing and try to get the boiler/distribution system in place.

are you guys talking face cords

LOL

I wish.

Outside of Michigan when folks talk cords they are referring to a full cord! (3 cords for us Michiganders) %-P

I think I'm gonna have to get more wood

Better to figure that out on Aug 1 instead of mid February. Any wood that you don't burn this year is only going to be that much drier next year.

I have a bunch of ash to pick up that was cut and split last Dec. Plus I have alot of birch for next year if I want it.

what the heck is a "face" cord





a few that need to be stacked



and a few misc stacks

Stevebass, how do the piles dry? I used to stack 3 wide on a pallet and the middle was always damp. Now I do two rows with an air gap and it seems to dry much better/quicker. I am in Wisconsin so not a long summer but it does seem to make a difference to me. Last year I stacked in the open air/sun with the wind going thru it. Seemed to make a big difference from the piles in the shade on the property line. Never dry enough after a season or two...

i hope they will be fine in 10/11 - this has been a very tough summer in New England because it seems to have rained every other day - but when it's not raining they get full sun and wind - plus nothing is bigger than 12 inches (have a small insert)

i guess time will tell

That would be great, but only if you are sure you don't want it. I have been able to do some scrounging and have about 3 cords total in the yard now. Tree services stuff never panned out, but word of mouth did pretty good.

Hiram, that's "most Michiganders." A cord is still a cord. I'm actually amazed that some folks haven't been taken to court over this so-called "cord" of wood they sell around here.

The problem with calculating a face cord is it depends on the bucked length. Based on the length I buck my wood, I'd have to change my sig to say 33 face cord shed. In the last two years I bucked, split, and stacked around 69 face cords.

Ok, what am I missing here; a face cord is a defined measurement as well as a cord, so how is it that it would be anything other than 42.6 cubic feet? Is this because of how one would stack the wood depending upon the size of the splits?

There is no legal definition for a face cord but the commonly held definition is 4 feet by 8 feet by whatever the bucked length. The bucked length being an unknown variable makes it impossible to convert to cubic feet. A full cord has three dimensions so can be translated into 128 cubic feet.