How did you get into Burning and How Long Ago

[heatwise]

Grew up with wood stoves,dad had them and still does,mom had one that I tended to as young teenager, and now I'm enjoying the warmth that totals 50 years in all.

 

[billb3]

Roasted chestnuts on an open fireplace fire as a kid.
Popped popcorn, too.
Kept that fire going in the Winter and then the wood stove when that replaced an electric incinerator.
That old upright stove is still around.
Will post a WTF is this pic some day.

 

[Flatbedford]

We had no woodburner when I was a kid, but I helped/watched my neighbors process firewood. Some of my friends had fireplaces and I always loved them. Fire was one of my favorite toys as a kid too. My parents put an addition on the house with a prefab fireplace when I was finishing up high school. I started cutting and splitting immediately. Dad bought a Homelite at Sears in 1989 or so and I upped my production from handsaw. I probably c/s/s about a cord or so per year that was probably burned greenish the following winter. When I was 22 I moved into a small rented house with a friend and we scrounged out of the 400 acre woods and burned in the little fireplace. I was only there one year and was back to no wood burner until my wife and I bought the house ten years ago. The house came with a Franklin stove that I now know was installed with little regard for clearance to combustibles, but with good double wall pipe. We started burning bought wood the first winter when the furnace crapped out the week before Christmas. We burned 3 or 4 cords a year and plenty of propane too! I was buying 2 or 3 cords and scrounging the rest. In the winter of 2009 I read a thread on Arbohrist Site about about a sale on these fancy Woodstock Soapstone stoves. I called them and Jamie suggested I check out Hearth.com. That spring we bought the Fireveiw and I got serious about scrounging. The first winter we burned about 4 cords of scrounged Cherry and Black Locust and burned about $2000 less propane. We haven't turned back since. I now keep about 13 cords, or 3 years worth on my 1/4 acre and burn 24/7 all winter. I don't think I could ever live without a wood stove in my house. I love the warmth, the independence, the saved money, and the lifestyle of burning wood. Its the only hobby I know of that actually saves money and provides for the family.

 

[katwillny]

These are some great stories everyone. Its amazing how it all goes back to family or neighbors or someone we knew growing up. This is a very unique hobby in so many ways and folks who dont live this kind of life dont really understand. I for one think that it goes much further than the monetary savings, to me its a way of life. Cant really say that I have saved that much being that we have natural gas, however the comfort that we enjoy from the warmth the stove puts out is much more enjoyable than any monetary savings can provide. The time I spend showing my boy how to mess with wood and how to respect fire is something that he will hopefully fondly remember as an adult and you cant put a price on that.

 

[ddahlgren]

Started 1985 lack of money recently divorced and custody of 2 very little kids 3 and 5 soday care was a major blow as was lack of second income. Ran on pallets for 3 years and money got better and kids needed less day care. Stopped around 4 years in. started again last fall as got some good buys on a used stove sale price on chimney parts along with some free seasoned wood and careful shopping for more. I need to get a bunch of pallets almost thinking about renting a truck to get a bunch as there are alot of places close by to get pick-up truck loads. The best fires i have ever had have been with pallets as kindling getting stove good and hot fast and the switching to 2 1/2 year oak.