It finally went out..

[jpl1nh]

April 18th, 2008, officially the day the fire in my Kestone went out. After approx 5 months of the same fire from one match lit sometime either the end of last October or sometime in November, this prolonged period of 60+ daytime temps ended the fire. The real kicker was yesterday morning when my wife got up unusually early and turned the furnace on for heat "right now" Normally I get up about 45 mins to an hour before her and the stove is cranking heat when she gets up. I had been loading one mediocre load stacked tight morn and eve on really deep ash which gave us a heat boost in the AM and generally left enough coals 12 hours later to start it again. I had just put a few small sticks in which had caught when she insisted on the furnace. I tried to fudge a really small blaze that wouldn't overwhelm the house with the predicted mid 70 temps yesterday and made a mess of it. Turned out it was neot enough wood, couldn't get the stove hot enough for the combustor to keep going. Left for work with smoke coming out the chimney and came home to black glass. AARgh! No matter, the house was still upper 70's last night and no need for an evening blaze so the fire was out anyway. It'll be fired a few more times this season no doubt but the end is in sight.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Our fire also went out 4 days ago when we hit 71 degrees. It's cool in the mornings but very tolerable. Seems so odd to go to bed at night without stocking up the stove.

 

[Todd]

My stove went out the begining of April and now it's just hit and miss as the weather goes. I'm pretty much sick of building fires and want some warmer weather.

 

[Redox]

While cutting the grass yesterday (for the 2nd time this year), I notice one of my neighbors had his central A/C on...

It did hit 85 at the airport yesterday, now that I look. I let the stove go out last month mainly because I was out of well seasoned wood and have been running the heat pump. Not nearly as satisfying as the stove, but it does shut off in the afternoon.

Chris

 

[Carl]

Now go cut some wood.

We burn ours when it is needed but may not be much more this year. I use firestarters to give it a kick when needed for lighting. Sometimes I get lazy and there isn't enough coals to start it again with them alone. Before the firestarters I would have to spend more time chopping kindling which I don't have to do anymore. Three splits, part of a firestarter, and our long handled Scripto Lighter does the trick for me. Matches are a thing of the past. :red:

 

[BotetourtSteve]

The Big 6 got its last meal Thursday morning around 4 am. With a 10 day forecast of nighttime temps no lower than high 40s/low 50s, the deal is sealed for this year.

 

[savageactor7]

Our fire went out 2 days ago...and I hope it stays that way till after Thanksgiving.

 

[mtarbert]

My morning routine involves getting our 7 year old ready for school. He usually dresses in the den with the wood stove pumping. Part of the chore is for me to warm his socks in front of the stove . When he puts them on he always says Toasty Warm....my kind of socks. Now, when he puts his underwear on that has been warmed ...He says.....Now this is Living.......I know...I know....another kid story that is only funny to the Parents but, It is a riot.......when the summer comes.....no more Toasty Warm......and soon ...he will be warming his own skivies......wood heat season is over for 7 months.
Mike

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Now go cut some wood.

We burn ours when it is needed but may not be much more this year. I use firestarters to give it a kick when needed for lighting. Sometimes I get lazy and there isn't enough coals to start it again with them alone. Before the firestarters I would have to spend more time chopping kindling which I don't have to do anymore. Three splits, part of a firestarter, and our long handled Scripto Lighter does the trick for me. Matches are a thing of the past. :red:

Carl, we burn quite a bit of soft maple and that makes for some very good kindling which is made very easily. You can do it with an axe or like we do, with the log splitter. When splitting and I come across a nice soft maple log with no knots, it is very short work with the splitter to split a few slabs off the sides then just hack away getting the rest into small sticks. One can make a bunch of kindling in short time this way. Right now I have enough on hand for about 6 or 8 years! Makes for some very dry stuff and the fires light pretty easy. I just use about 4 or 5 sheets of newspaper, put some kindling on top of that followed by a couple of small splits and we have heat in very short order.

 

[Carl]

Now go cut some wood.

We burn ours when it is needed but may not be much more this year. I use firestarters to give it a kick when needed for lighting. Sometimes I get lazy and there isn't enough coals to start it again with them alone. Before the firestarters I would have to spend more time chopping kindling which I don't have to do anymore. Three splits, part of a firestarter, and our long handled Scripto Lighter does the trick for me. Matches are a thing of the past. :red:

Carl, we burn quite a bit of soft maple and that makes for some very good kindling which is made very easily. You can do it with an axe or like we do, with the log splitter. When splitting and I come across a nice soft maple log with no knots, it is very short work with the splitter to split a few slabs off the sides then just hack away getting the rest into small sticks. One can make a bunch of kindling in short time this way. Right now I have enough on hand for about 6 or 8 years! Makes for some very dry stuff and the fires light pretty easy. I just use about 4 or 5 sheets of newspaper, put some kindling on top of that followed by a couple of small splits and we have heat in very short order.

Hi Dennis
That is a very good idea of using the log splitter to obtain kindling.

Usually the small stuff we have left on the ground from splitting I rake up and burn in our firepit while we enjoy the evening fires. I have a lot of white cedar scraps which work for kindling when I need something to do. I have split lots of kindling but just get lazy when a $11.00 box of firestarters will last us a year with a few left over.