Halfway there. How's your wood pile?

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Yesterday I was thinking to myself "when is someone gonna make that thread"...
Groundhog Day (you know the saying, "half your wood and half your hay...") is traditionally when these threads would start but like everything else, people try to get a jump on it.

I need to re-mediate my woodshed so I didn't fill it, choosing instead to leave most of my wood outside. What I have left in the shed is less than half of what I started this heating season with, so "half your wood" does not apply here. I don't plan to pull from my outdoor stacks so if I run short, the gas furnace will take up the slack.

Woke up to -34°C this morning and we're in for a few more days of cold. The weather prognosticators are calling for variable cloudiness tomorrow so the Groundhog may not see its shadow.
 
LLigetfa, I started it when I did because that is much closer to the middle of winter; at least it is around these parts.
 
LLigetfa, I started it when I did because that is much closer to the middle of winter; at least it is around these parts.
Well... who's to say where (when) the middle is? Groundhog Day is a time to reflect on what has passed and what is yet to come. I personally think it is past the half-way mark but the day does offer a bit of safety margin.

It was sunny this morning but at -38°C the groundhog might not have emerged. Six more weeks or not, I think I'm on target to have a completely empty shed come Spring.
 
Right on schedule. I had 8 cords split and stacked in the shed - i have a shade over 4 remaining. We are keeping the house way warmer than we need to so hopefully I can reduce consumption a bit from here on out.
 
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That is just one benefit of wood burning. You can keep your house warm!
 
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I think I've used about 2.5 cord - I keep about 5 cord in the barn for the winter - so, should be right on target. Cheers!
 
We had about 6 face cords in this year's row. Have about 3 left, so I'm pretty much on track.
 
Well Sav we had started on a stack of sugar maple right before our last big snow fall then went back to cherry when it warmed up some,we'll start pushing some in this weekend or before, once we burn all the sugar maple we will move more beech or sugar maple in that area from our planned area where the utility / wood shed will go.

When we hit that cold stretch we burned beech, you were correct that it SAVed us some wood (cherry) looks like we won't burn more than we had planned.

It looks like four cord, that's not including the shoulder season, I'll have the numbers on that this weekend, I'm thinking just over a cord.

That's what I like about having the woodlot, if it's down (not rotten) burn it. The oil man last drove up the driveway December 2008. ==c
 
about 1.75 cord down. I went through a lot when the wife was home for December because she turns the heat up. It was funny listen to her say her back hurt from loading the wood boiler. I told her if you turn down the heat you don't have to burn so much wood. :)
 
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I'm about 1 1/2 cord into now. Not bad for me. During a cold winter I'll burn around 4 or more cord. Last year I think I went through 2 plus a little. Talking about wearing long johns, since I've started heating with wood there is one thing I miss. I never wear a long sleeve shirt anymore. My wife complains I don't dress nice enough cause I'm always in T-shirts but it's so warm in here I sweat if I wear anything more. Someday Dennis I'll have a place and get one of those Woodstock stoves.
 
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That's how I dress too Andy. And when you get your Woodstock stove, you won't be sorry.
 
We should be about half way through the burning season so how is everyone's wood pile holding out?

We had been putting 3 cord of wood in the barn for the winter burning but never have burned that much since we started doing this. So this year we put in less than 3 cord. Right now I figure we've burned about a cord. Man, that insulation really helps a lot.
I'm at about 2 cords pizzes me off at this rate I'll be outa wood in 15 years:mad: .
 
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Another mild winter has helped conserve wood but I think I'm getting much better at driving the 4yo EPA stove which has helped a lot.

30 yrs with a smoke dragon left me with a lot of obsolete habits and perceptions that I'm getting behind me.
 
Another mild winter has helped conserve wood but I think I'm getting much better at driving the 4yo EPA stove which has helped a lot.

30 yrs with a smoke dragon left me with a lot of obsolete habits and perceptions that I'm getting behind me.
;lol;lol I have both, so I have to employ multiple operations,techniques, and strategies ;lol;lol
 
I'm starting from scratch, so this is the ragged (stuff to do) end of a small pile of mostly hardwood. (The MM is reading 17% on some of the red oak and maple — hard to believe since it's only been split 4 months. Guess that's just the surface--probably more damp inside.

Wife does not want it to grow, but, well you know how hard it is to pass up a good scrounge.
Added some scrounged, very wet pine today for some variety.
TodaysFun_145612.jpg


That one split easy enough...
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So even though I have enough wood, I've found myself looking at the stacks thinking "If I only burn this much more, I'll have enough for the next two winters." That's much nicer than when I used to worry about whether I'd run out or not!


Me too.. I have a break in my groups of pallets.. I keep looking at it.. saying.. If I only get this far... I've got 36 pallets that will be near 2 years old when I burn them next year... and If i do that next year.. then that puts me into my 16 pallets of oak after that that are year three. I wonder if my wife knows I'm always counting when we walk the dogs past the stacks? :)

JP
 
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I would say about 4 cords.
 
Dang, OLK, has that saw ever sawed anything? That thing looks like it just came out of the box.

Nope ... never been used ;) It's like new

(I'm always obsessively cleaning it ... I was traumatized early in life by a jammed up nose sprocket and I've never been able to stop cleaning it since ;))
MufflerOilBlk_160301.jpg

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I have enough to get me into the first week of March...2017.
 
crazy that in CA I go through more than most of you...probably cause I burn pine...3 cord so far...2.5 left...hope to have 1.5 left
 
Haha, I'm working on that as well. I have enough racks built to hold about 20 cords, or roughly 6-7 years.

This year I might work on cutting wood for myself more and not for everyone else. Cut and split about 30 cords, only kept about 4 for me.

I have enough to get me into the first week of March...2017.


I burn about 3-3.5 cords a year. This year I burned quite a bit of cottonwood and honestly I almost like it better than birch. I passed up several HUNDRED cords of the stuff this summer, kicking myself for it now.
 
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