Late First year wood collection and storage

[Backwoods Savage]

If you can get in at all during the winter, at least fell the trees. That way if you can't get in until spring, you've got the trees cut before sap is up, meaning less time for seasoning. That is why we cut wood in the winter. Well, also there aren't the bugs and bees and hornets to contend with.

All in all it sounds like you are thinking this through and you will do fine.

 

[afblue]

I am working it out just fine. When the winter wears off a bit in feb, We should be able to get in the 175 acres of woods and drop and pull out the dead stands to the main logging road, then when its too wet to have the tractor in the woods will have plenty of time to cut and split and get ahead. Then for the next years on we will have a nice big supply sit aside and keep ahead on. We also have an Amish lumber mill across the street that just burns the scraps in a huge pile. Will have to ask my dad if its worth cutting them to log length, and have some softwood around since, again its free!!

 

[eernest4]

I find that stacking wood that is not too well seasoned or of high moisture content for from 3 days to 3 weeks within 5 or 6 feet of the stove helps a lot to dry the wood out quick & the wood
seems to burn ok, if not great.

some pallet wood or well seasoned wood will help start a fire going when placed into the stove with not so well seasoned wood. The good wood helps heat up & drive the moisture out of the not well seasoned wood & the fire will get hotter & require you to shut down some on the primary air after 30 min to 1 hr , to prevent overfiring after the wood has dried out in the fire depending on the unseasoned woods moisture content.

in other words,if you burn unseasoned wood with some good wood to start the fire, you have to open up the air to get the unseasoned wood to burn ,but after the unseasoned wood gets well heated & the moisture burnt out of it, the fire will become hotter & need to have the air reduced accordingly. It is a good idea to have a stack thermometer and a stove top thermometer as these give a good indication of what is going on with your fire so that the primary air can be adjusted accordingly. Always keep a eye on the fire for the first hour. After 1 hour the wood has burned down enough so that it is a well settled down fire & does not need as much attention. I never trust a fire until it has burned at least 1 hour so that the fuel is somewhat depleated.

If you don't already have a gas powered log splitter, buy one asap. the huskee 22 ton for $1150.oo or so from tractor supply.com is a good deal as it comes assembled with hydralic fluid & engine oil included. If you already have a tractor, northerntool.com has log splitters that run off of the hydralic pump of the tractor.

 

[firefighterjake]

. . . I will call myself a junior pyro, grew up 27 years in my parents house heating an 1100ft ranch with a 1980s Fisher stove and a Magic Heat. . .

Ah, you would have made Pook proud? No plans for Magic Heat on the new woodstove I assume?

 

[wendell]

But if he puts on the Magic Heat, won't it "Magically" dry his wood? :lol: ;-)

 

[afblue]

I find that stacking wood that is not too well seasoned or of high moisture content for from 3 days to 3 weeks within 5 or 6 feet of the stove helps a lot to dry the wood out quick & the wood
seems to burn ok, if not great.

some pallet wood or well seasoned wood will help start a fire going when placed into the stove with not so well seasoned wood. The good wood helps heat up & drive the moisture out of the not well seasoned wood & the fire will get hotter & require you to shut down some on the primary air after 30 min to 1 hr , to prevent overfiring after the wood has dried out in the fire depending on the unseasoned woods moisture content.

in other words,if you burn unseasoned wood with some good wood to start the fire, you have to open up the air to get the unseasoned wood to burn ,but after the unseasoned wood gets well heated & the moisture burnt out of it, the fire will become hotter & need to have the air reduced accordingly. It is a good idea to have a stack thermometer and a stove top thermometer as these give a good indication of what is going on with your fire so that the primary air can be adjusted accordingly. Always keep a eye on the fire for the first hour. After 1 hour the wood has burned down enough so that it is a well settled down fire & does not need as much attention. I never trust a fire until it has burned at least 1 hour so that the fuel is somewhat depleated.

If you don't already have a gas powered log splitter, buy one asap. the huskee 22 ton for $1150.oo or so from tractor supply.com is a good deal as it comes assembled with hydralic fluid & engine oil included. If you already have a tractor, northerntool.com has log splitters that run off of the hydralic pump of the tractor.

Its good to hear that once the fire is going steady for an hour I can go back to a normal vent setting. The insert going in is a Quadrafire 5100i so it has 2 air controls Primary Air regulator. Starting air regulatorl. So what I can do is leave the Primary control set to my longterm burn setting, and anytime I add new wood I can open the starting control, and as fire grows I can back that off till closed fullly. That way I wont have to keep chasing my primary control, and have the house ride a rollercoaster of heat.

As far as wood splitting, we have a 20 year old American Log Splitter with a fresh B&S;6.5 OHV motor. It still has the Original hydraulic pump and 24T ram. Its older but well taken care of. If I can get the log on beam, it will split it. I have rolled some green 24+ diameter Sugar maple logs on there and sometimes will take a flip or 2 but it will go through it.

. . . I will call myself a junior pyro, grew up 27 years in my parents house heating an 1100ft ranch with a 1980s Fisher stove and a Magic Heat. . .

Ah, you would have made Pook proud? No plans for Magic Heat on the new woodstove I assume?

Its a Wood Insert, so it has a fan but unfortunately no "Magic"