My Woodstock Progress Hybrid is being delivered today! :)

Really? This would be a very difficult conundrum for me to deal with if the choice was one or the other.
I think you did the right thing by sampling the cookies while talking about the PH.
Good man.
Quick thinking.

We're in the same boat, not enough seasoned wood and the stove was installed yesterday. Looks like I'll be paying a lot for wood this year and then working on finding some scores throughout the year...
Here's what ours looks like:


Not sure how to make the pictures smaller...

If you are buying wood, you need to do this right now. And I mean now. If you are buying wood you need to do it in as far as advance as possible or the wood will be unusable or a massive pain in the ass to burn.

3 cords being delivered tomorrow, 2 more ordered to be delivered in two weeks...

BMB, your stove and hearth pad look FANTASTIC!

Good for you for getting wood now. My suggestion is to stack this wood in the windest spot you have. Sun is nice but wind is better. Do not try to stack it really neat; that is, tight. You want to stack it loose to allow for air to go through. Make sure you stack it up off the ground too and don't try to stack it high because of the loose stacking. No sense in stacking it twice. lol Get the wood dry and you'll love that stove. I also like your setup. It is beautiful. You did nice work.

BMB: You're doing good getting wood now, BUT don't get too discouraged if it does not burn quite as well as you might like. It takes most wood at least a full year to properly season, and my guess is your wood was just split days or weeks ago.You want to be thinking 2-3 years out if possible. That means start getting wood now for the Winter of 2013-2014! Most full time burners need 4+ cord per year.

I was in about the same position last year as you are in this year. I found 2 cord of wood advertised that was css a year before, and, although I paid a premium for it, I snapped it up and am glad I did. The rest of my wood for this past year burning was css in late May and early June, so less than a full year seasoned. I also got wood in the fall for the following year. My Progress was installed on Dec 8, 2011. Due to the mild winter, I only burned around 3 1/2 cord. The seasoned wood was a dream and I'm glad I had that to begin with on the new stove. When I switched to the less seasoned stuff, there was a noticeable difference, but the Progress handled it well. Still, I'm happy that from now on, I'll be burning well seasoned wood. So, don't despair, the Progress will handle less than ideal wood, but do strive to get ahead, it's worth it. Check Craigslist and the local papers, sometimes seasoned wood does pop up. Congrats to both of you on getting a great stove, you're going to love it, it's more than just a pretty appliance!

Thank you, HollowHill. I'm really looking forward to using it.

Thanks to a high of 52 degrees in Bath Maine today I lit my first fire in my Progress Hybrid!
I had 1/2 cord of well seasoned wood that I stacked in March, it burned like a dream.
The house is toasty warm!

Looks good......nice job.

Beautiful stove & nice install.
Sorry you're having "Alaska weather" : But glad you were able to fire that beauty up.
10 times better picture with the fire blazing
Get the kinks out now & enjoy the heat all winter.

+1 on the wood , now & get it drying,
the new stoves excel with dry wood & are a royal PIA with wet wood.

Too bad the three cords delivered Friday are currently being thoroughly saturated in a big pile on my driveway. Oh well, I'll get it stacked this week and it will dry. I am quickly learning which pieces from the "seasoned" pile will burn, and you guys are never wrong but this time you're right, 18 month seasoned Oak does not want to burn...
At least I'm figuring this out now before I stack, I'll be sure to sort to what extent I can while stacking...

BMB, I recall you posting about the wood. Just to let you know, we just received almost 2" of rain and I have not yet finished stacking all the wood. However, I was just back there and all the wood, stacked and heaped, is really dry already. No doubt that wood that is touching the ground will be somewhat wet yet but it will do no harm because I will get that wood stacked (somehow and sometime...). I'll not cover it until late fall or early winter.

We got over 5" of rain, there was really nothing I could do, I'll stack it all this week and let it dry for the next 4 months or so...