Wood burning as a family project

[gibson]

How well have you all done indoctrinating your family into the woodburning lifestyle? As adults, we made the decision to install the stove, but how our families adjust is another story. I have been fairly diligent at making my kids (9 and 7) help in some way. It is usually helping me haul and stack wood, no more than 30-45 min, because that is enough for that age. I usually do it when they are sitting around watching cartoons on a nice day and I am working on the wood pile or when they are screwing around and need a little "wake up". The good thing is they always relent and do it, and it makes me feel good, like I am teaching them a good "life lesson". What are your experiences? The wife is another story, she just loves the hot fire and a glass of wine. No problem with that.

 

[Pagey]

It's funny...when I was a kid, it seemed like it literally took hours to load a face cord into a small truck. Now I can hammer at the pile all day and it doesn't bother me a bit. I haven't put my kids (well, step daughters aged 8 and 12) to work in the wood yet. I work as a network admin/information security specialist for a small community bank, and after riding a desk 45 hours a week, physical labor is my refuge. It's funny how our views change over time. I may eventually put the kids to work on the pile (just to remind them where their heat comes from), but I also enjoy immersing myself in the work in a sadistic, selfish way. If that makes any sense.

 

[fbelec]

i'm starting my kids young. when it's time to move some wood into the garage from the racks, my 4 year old son helps and can handle the splits. he takes them off the wheel borrow and hands them to me. my 4 year old daughter helps sometimes. but the boy wants at it. i even had him helping when i had a cord of red oak i scored from a scrounge as i split them on the splitter he put them in a pile. now my work is keeping that attitude when they get in their teens.

 

[North of 60]

They= the boys have been involved since day one. Some of these pics I've posted before, but shows their involvement and the fun WE are having.
Cheers

 

[Riegel]

This is the fifth year of full-time burning for us and I finally got it down to a science. Scrounged wood goes in the back. Then I cut, split and stack it behind the garage for seasoning, but not before I move the four plus cord from the previous year to the wood shed in the driveway for easy access during the season. My 5 year old daughter has been helping me stack and move wood since she was three. My 8 year old son tries to avoid it. This was the first year that I got help from the whole family. The wife and the kids helped over the labor day weekend and we almost finished stacking 4.5 cords. I left two face cords dumped in front of the wood pile to stack the next day and when I got home the wife had already stacked it! That has a huge surprise... I'm used to doing it myself and it's my time to unwind but it was nice to finish early this year and have the whole family contribute some time to the project.

 

[KevinM]

This will be our second season with the insert.

My son, who just turned 3, loves to help with the wood. He is a bit upset that I don't have any wood to cut or split right now. My daughter, aged 5, likes to watch for a short while then gets bored. I even bought gloves for them to prevent splinters. Couldn't find any leather gloves small enough for him so had to settle for fabric gardening gloves with grip dots on the fingers and palm. They also take turns passing me wood to feed the fire.

My wife enjoys the fire and will tend the fire while I am at work. She has the record for making the living room the hottest! She needs a bit more practice starting fires but gets it done eventually. I move the wood in from outside to the basement on the weekend with the kids. Last year I brought the wood upstairs as well since she was pregnant but she would get more if she ran out rather than let the fire go out.

Will need to see how the latest addition, 2 months old, takes to it with earlier exposure.


Kevin.

 

[DavidV]

My college age daughter used to like to stack. it was good exercise, mindless, unwinding activity. My boys, 10, and 13 help me move and stack wood and they seem to hate it. the 13 year old makes a scene. During the winter it is their job to keep the two large wood bins on the back screened porch full. If I come home from work and those bins are not full they are gong out....could be middle of the night, could be raining or sleet, they are going out. They are not asked to do very much that contributes to their existence. Filling the wood bins is their contribution to keeping the family warm in the winter time.
Last year, my wife went with me to cut and haul a couple of large dead oak's . She then stacked as I split them. We will be burning that wood this year....glad you reminded me of that because I can mention it to her.

 

[Hurricane]

Everyone contributes here, I have three kids and the two younger ones ( 9, 11 ) load wheelbarrows while the oldest ( 15 ) unloads in the garage. I keep about 1/3 cord in the garage at a time. The two younger ones load from different piles and I push the wheelbarrows back and forth. Makes quick work,
Also when bringing wood in from the garage we make an assembly line and are done in 2-3 minutes verses me making 10 trips. I keep about a days worth in the house.
Last winter / spring we all stacked 6-7 cords that I cut split. I had to adjust some of the stacks but am just glad they are involved.
My wife and oldest daughter will tend the fire as needed, and my son ( 9 ) loves to help me start it. He gets his chance tending fires in the outdoor firepit.

 

[legrandice]

Growing up we cut and burned slab wood. My sister and I were expected to help cut and stack the wood, and then to haul it to the house during the winter with my dad for burning. I never minded the wood work and now I burn myself!! My sister HATED it and now lives in NYC. She has said that she will NEVER have a wood stove. My wife helps me when I need to work with big rounds or to scrounge wood. The splitting and stacking work I really enjoy now that I have a splitter.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

In my youth, the wood was one of my main chore. I started taking care of the wood around age 6. That included cleaning out the ashes in both the heating stove and the cooking stove. I also had to keep the reservoir of the cooking stove full of water so we would have hot water for washing. I kept the wood stove going except for the nightly stock up which was left the my father.

Every day I had to bring wood from the wood pile or shed into the enclosed back porch where I always kept enough wood stacked for 3 days (so if I got sick, there would still be wood to burn). I started splitting wood at that young age but, of course, could not do too much of it; that gradually grew into bigger and bigger splits. Making kindling was difficult for me as I remember. I always marveled at my father's ability to handle that axe.

After marriage and having two sons, I had some nice help for quite some time. The boys never seemed to mind the cutting, splitting and stacking jobs but one of them balked when it was his turn to "bring in wood." We used to cut all to buzz lengths and had a nice buzz saw for the front of a Farmall. The three of us could buzz a lot of wood in a day!

So from my youth, wood has been a part of my life. I never recall not liking the work either. In fact, I enjoy it and enjoyed it in my youth too. Naturally I do not think it wrong to raise children and have them have certain chores and work that they must do. It is a part of the learning curve leading to adulthood. We all must learn to work in one way or another. Starting with physical work is natural and it is a shame more kids don't have more to do. Perhaps being raised on a farm I grew up with different standards; we always had work ahead of us every day (every other Sunday off). It was a wonderful way of growing up...and still is.

Today, our sons live hundreds of miles away so it is just my wife and I. Due to some physical problems, my wife no longer helps much in the cutting of the wood nor in the stacking. However, she does tend the stove when necessary and she takes care of cleaning the ashes plus she brings in wood for overnight. One final thing is that she is the one who gets nervous and checks the chimney to see if it needs cleaning. The has cleaned the cat once or twice too. Although I miss having her with me when cutting wood, she is a big help around the house.

 

[Badfish740]

It's funny...when I was a kid, it seemed like it literally took hours to load a face cord into a small truck. Now I can hammer at the pile all day and it doesn't bother me a bit. I haven't put my kids (well, step daughters aged 8 and 12) to work in the wood yet. I work as a network admin/information security specialist for a small community bank, and after riding a desk 45 hours a week, physical labor is my refuge. It's funny how our views change over time. I may eventually put the kids to work on the pile (just to remind them where their heat comes from), but I also enjoy immersing myself in the work in a sadistic, selfish way. If that makes any sense.

Totally understand what you're saying-I would kill to be able to take a job where I was at least outside for part of the day, etc...so when I'm home I'd rather be out in the yard or cutting wood somewhere else.

 

[begreen]

My boys helped out splitting and stacking today. Many hands to make for lighter work. It was fun having them there to help and we got another cord of hardwood ready. And now we can share a beer together at the end of the day. Life is good.

 

[ikessky]

My wife is a huge help when it comes to splitting and stacking. She is also more than willing to tend the fire when I need her to. As far as the kids go, I try to involve them in the cutting, splitting, and stacking operations. My daughter (7) is usually a big help, but my middle son (5) doesn't necessarily care for it. He's content to make guns out of sticks and fiddle around in the woods. They are both a big help in keeping the baby occupied while we are stacking though.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

I have two sons, 12 and 14, they are both a great help with the firewood collecting and processing, and it makes a nice day spent in the bush together when we can get away.
They both have worked with me in construction as well, so they are no strangers to work, but the wood gathering is something that has a more tangible and basic satisfaction. When you are cold you want to get warm so you stoke the stove and warm up, and you’re glad you have all that firewood.
We have become pretty efficient at getting wood, starting with loading the truck with all the tools we need to making sure they have their boots on and gloves to packing lunch and plenty of water. One hot day they didn’t bring enough water and everyone was parched, it was a good lesson for them in being prepared.
Up in the bush the routine usually goes like this, if I have to fall the snag I will usually try and fall it as close to the road as possible so the boys head up and down the road at a safe distance and watch for vehicles and will stop them if so I don’t drop the tree on any passing cars.
Once the tree is down we quickly work together to buck up and clear away the branches off the road so as to not block any traffic that might come by, although only once did a vehicle ever come by while we were clearing off the road and he was a friendly retired gentleman fully decked out on his dirt bike. He stopped and we shot the breeze for nearly an hour. It’s funny how stranger who might pass by on the street without saying so much as hello will stop and talk like old friends if they meet up in the bush.
Once the road is cleared up we get to work bucking up the branches off the tree, me cutting and the boys pulling the branches out of the way. Once enough branches are off, one of the boys will start measuring with a stick and notching the trunk and I’ll go to work bucking it up. Usually as fast as I can cut they have it loaded into the truck and if they fall behind a little they always catch up when I stop to refuel or sharpen the saw.
When we get the wood home they do most of the work unloading the truck into the splitting area and the wood will sit for at least a week before we do much splitting. We only cut standing dead trees that are mostly seasoned already, but letting the rounds sit in the sun for a week allows them to develop cracks in the ends and makes for much easier splitting.
Both the boys have learned to wield a splitting maul quite effectively and take a certain amount of pride in it. Sometimes when their friends come over they’ll split up some wood for fun, it’s when I watch their friends feeble (and sometimes dangerous) attempts to split the wood that I realize just how proficient my boys have really gotten at splitting.

My youngest boy is something of a fire bug, so when it comes to starting a fire in the wood stove he is quite happy to comply when asked. We often have discussions and demonstrations on the best way to arrange the kindling and paper to get the fire going fast. We both agree that a top down fire works, but is not the fastest way to get a fire up to speed.
As for the wife, she does help sometimes with gathering wood, but her best asset to the wood burning system is the fact that she gets up early and stokes the fire. I usually go to bed late and load it up before going to bed, and she’s the one to reload it in the morning. We generally only burn softwood, so this is an important bit of cooperation to keeping the fire going 24/7.

Anyway, that how our family works together with gathering the wood and keeping the house warm and creating some warm memories, it nice to see and hear of others doing the same, sure beats sitting around watching TV.