Why do we do it?

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We have to do something. Dont need to come home and watch tv. Its actually good to get outdoors, breath fresh air. Keep on the move.
You younger guys will learn as you get older all that thinking that relaxing is what you need , well relaxing never really relaxes you but doing something you enjoy relieves the stress's of the day. Staying active is what it is all about might as well do something you enjoy. Plus its a hobby that pays you back. I think people who do this stuff like cut split and stack their own wood and heating their houses with wood are well respected for doing it. I am 47 and those are some life lessons learned.
 
We have to do something. Dont need to come home and watch tv. Its actually good to get outdoors, breath fresh air. Keep on the move.
You younger guys will learn as you get older all that thinking that relaxing is what you need , well relaxing never really relaxes you but doing something you enjoy relieves the stress's of the day. Staying active is what it is all about might as well do something you enjoy. Plus its a hobby that pays you back. I think people who do this stuff like cut split and stack their own wood and heating their houses with wood are well respected for doing it. I am 47 and those are some life lessons learned.
Danged young whippersnapper know-it-all kid:p;lol
 
A sense of accomplishment. I work in an office. This is something REAL, not just papers and computers and pleather shoes.

I like (CONTAINED) fire. It makes me feel comfortable. My gram and gramp had a wood fireplace and there's nothing like sleeping on an air mattress in front of the fire at Christmas.

I like to be warm.

I like the exercise.

I like the savings.
 
We have to do something. I am 47 and those are some life lessons learned.

That is what it's all about!

I have a maul in my hands too bust up the wood I brought in.
 
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I get your point, but I think maybe you forgot all the work that goes into making the money to pay for the gas. Just sayin'.:cool:
I've liked fires since I was little. Don't know why, just do.
Primordial, Neanderthal-ish.

Good point...physically it's easier.
 
I haven't yet figured out how to cook anything on top of the forced-air propane furnace. The woodstove provides a socially acceptable outlet for the pyro in me. AND everything already said.
 
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1) Save money and not have to depend on hydro so much. Wood is plentiful and close where I'm at. And I am SUPER cheap.
2) As they get older, to teach my young sons that there's nothing wrong with hard work.
3) Great exercise.
4) Added bonus I didn't think of initially, can keep the house warmer than I used to with the electric furnace! Can walk around in shorts and t-shirt upstairs, HAVE to be in shorts downstairs where the stove is!
burnt03 sounds a lot like me. Just substitute the fact that I have natural gas instead of electric.

My number one reason for getting into wood burning was to save money. My electric and gas come on the same bill and in the cold months, we'd keep the NG furnace at 68° (and still be a little chilly) and it was nothing for the bill those months to be $300. I have better things to spend money on that being cold, so we decided to give wood heat a try. Turns out that I love it. A big part of the reason that I enjoy it so much is the fact that I'm stuck behind a desk for 40 hours a week and firewood gives me an avenue to enjoy the outdoors and work with my hands.
 
I think your dead on with the primitive reasons as to why we burn with wood and are obsessed about it. I am a father of 2 Sons. I have a wife and our dog named Flame. Something inside drives me to make SURE that the family will be safe and warm and I feel I owe it to them to make it be as comfortable as it can be. True, I like looking at the fire, the smell of the wood burning and the sensation of the heat. But, when it comes down to it, it is because something inside drives me to make sure that my family survives the harsh winters that Maine gets. No matter how far technology advances civilization, something are just innate.
 
I think your dead on with the primitive reasons as to why we burn with wood and are obsessed about it. I am a father of 2 Sons and have a wife and dog. Something inside drives me to make SURE that the family will be safe and warm and I feel I owe it to them to make it be as comfortable as it can be. True, I like looking at the fire, the smell of the wood burning and the sensation of the heat. But, when it comes down to it, it is because something inside drives me to make sure that my family survives the harsh winters that Maine gets. No matter how far technology advances civilization, something are just innate.

Well said
 
I got into it because it saves me lots of money.

I keep doing it because it gives me a valid excuse to own 3 chainsaws, 4 axes, a large pile of tarps, a truck etc.

Playing with fire is fun too.
 
For me, it's knowing that I can keep my family warm without relying on others. I have a forced-air high-efficency gas furnace too, but it feels good knowing that I could survive without it. I don't like the feeling of having to rely on others.
 
For me, it's knowing that I can keep my family warm without relying on others. I have a forced-air high-efficency gas furnace too, but it feels good knowing that I could survive without it. I don't like the feeling of having to rely on others.

Survival of the species!
 
Many, many moons ago, when I was a young lad, wood heat was all we had. In addition, my mother cooked on a wood stove and that also is how we heated our water (in the cook stove). I did not know of other ways except for my grandfather who heated with coal. As I grew I naturally went into other homes and even as a little boy I wondered why it was not warm in their homes during winter months and the fact that I did not see a wood stove or even a wood pile. Then I figured it must have something to do with the cooler house.

As I continued to grow, I finally realized there were some other differences between boys and girls so got interested in them. I became so interested that I married one. That was over 50 years ago. One nice part is that both of us grew up on dairy farms and our folks heated with wood.

Before we married we bought a house. It had 2 stoves in the house but both ran on fuel oil. At the time that cost $.12 per gallon and we did not enjoy that drain on the purse but worse yet, we about froze! Oh how we wished for some good wood heat. Through the years we moved a few times so owned a few different homes and different stoves. Some good and some questionable. But we got through the winter months somehow. We did not like the fact that we always had to close off some rooms in winter to keep the house a bit warmer. We went back to wood heat. We also took a big step about 33 years ago when I removed the furnace from the house and sold it. We've never been sorry.

But what about the wood. Fortunately we have our own wood and in fact live in the woods. Oh how we love it too. I can cut wood any time I wish and it is something I have always enjoyed. It definitely does save us many dollars and I have often wondered just how much money we've saved by burning wood.

I have a bit of a physical problem so we keep our house a lot warmer than many others. I sometimes roast my wife out. lol But she tolerates it nicely. And there is just something about coming inside the house on a cold day and the minute you walk in the door it feels great. I do not know how much longer I have to put up wood and handle the stove but hopefully the Lord will allow me to enjoy my last years with the comfort of wood heat. Hopefully I'll also be blessed by being able to do all the wood handling too. If not, we are blessed with many friends who are more than willing to help.
 
I think your dead on with the primitive reasons as to why we burn with wood and are obsessed about it. I am a father of 2 Sons and have a wife and dog. Something inside drives me to make SURE that the family will be safe and warm and I feel I owe it to them to make it be as comfortable as it can be. True, I like looking at the fire, the smell of the wood burning and the sensation of the heat. But, when it comes down to it, it is because something inside drives me to make sure that my family survives the harsh winters that Maine gets. No matter how far technology advances civilization, something are just innate.
"and have a wife and a dog" not sure you meant it exactly as it came out. caused me to chuckle. I too like the feeling that no matter the weather, we will always be warm and will be able to heat water and cook food.
 
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My dad grew up with a wood stove, I grew up with an oil furnace until age 25 and bought my own home and installed a wood stove. Fast forward 30 years, my kids that grew up with wood stoves now live in apartments with thermostats....guess what, they are saving to buy homes so they can install wood stoves.
 
Its a great way to stay in shape. Its gets you in the woods, outside and active. I love the feeling that the only thing between me and a warm house is a few gallons of gas, not hundreds, and some hard work. The type A in me as well just loves to organize things, nothing better than seeing a fully stacked woodshed or that kindling pile.
 
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Because we've been doing it since we were cavemen (hope I don't offend anyone here:)). It's a primitive instinct. And we're still primitives in spite of what we like to think...
 
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This thread comes up from time to time. Here are a couple of posts from me in the past, I'll just copy and paste because I'm feeling lazy. The bottom line is that i think it's very important to model a good work ethic to our children. For many people these days it's all about secretly running off to work and coming home. When you operate like that, home is your de-stressing territory and many people fall into the mode of playing games with kids, and watching tv with kids, and taking kids to dinner at the restaurant, etc. All of those things are great and necessary to have healthy relationships, but what if that's all your kids see every night when you wander in from work?

Hard to believe several things from the following post. 1st, the kids are 4 and 8 (almost 9) now. 2nd, how did I ever get enough wood using that stupid little trailer?
Anyway, I was apologizing to my wife who was sitting in the jeep with the 4month old and the 4 year old while I was outside in the timber loading up my little trailer with firewood that was bucked and waiting to go home for splitting. It was 15F without windchill. I overestimated how much bucked wood was out in the timber, so I only got about half full. I was saying to her that it was worth it anyway, because I LIKE to do it. We are both psychologists, so it lead into a discussion on why I like to do stuff like this. I said it must be some innate caveman urges to burn wood and do *grunt grunt* type of work to provide for my family. She said it could have something to do with growing up on a farm and knowing how to live off of the land. Whatever the reason, one big benefit from all of this "kind" of work that I do is that I hope to one day have a son and daughter who can provide for themselves no matter what happens. Both of my children will have the skills to build a house with their bare hands and heat it. Both will have basic small-engine repair/maintenance skills, both will know how to do basic stuff on their cars. both will know how to cook, do laundry, dishes, and clean a house. Both will know how to use a gun and clean an animal. None of this girl-job or boy-job nonsense. When they are older that may not wish to do any of these things, but darnit they WILL know how.

Best teaching method, proven over and over again, is MODELING. If you don't do it, don't expect your kids to do it. THAT'S WHY I BURN WOOD. It's more than heat, it's about work ethic, it's about avoiding a sedentary lifestyle, it's about doing what it takes to provide for your family.

here's another post:
I'd like to emphasize something about working for the heat. I'm teaching my kids something, here. Too many kids don't know where anything comes from. "How do I pay for the food we buy at the store?" is answered with "a credit card" all too often by children today. Ask my 6 year old. He'll tell you "with money from your job."

Nothing solidifies that concept more than dad out in the yard sweating and grunting over something that the child sees provide warmth. He's old enough now that he gets to help, too. I just made a fire the other night and made sure to comment on how I was burning wood that he helped stack. I made sure to throw in a "thanks for helping make it so warm in here, it sure is cold outside tonight"

I seriously couldn't care if it actually cost me more to burn than to use NG. I'd do it all for that one purpose.

add me to the list of other things people have posted: I get to own/play with more power tools and toys; I get to bust things apart with a maul (exercise and stress release); I love to be outside, and love to be in the Timber more than just about anywhere else; I like to know that the power could go out on the coldest winter day and my family would be safe; I like the ambiance; I like using a renewable fuel source.
 
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I guess I just have a simple reasons, nothing quite as deep as alot of these posts. I never had a woodstove in my childhood, I live in Fl , but I've just always been fascinated with fire. I used to go out to the burn barrel for trash we had as a kid and play out there for hours, as I grew up my love of a flame remained so when we built our house I insisted it have a fireplace as I never had one before and thoroughly enjoyed it until I installed our Fireview. It gives me a sense of independence, a hearth is the center of a home, the heart, to me it's what makes a house a home. For me also it's a step in the direction of being off grid, which is something I want to try after I retire and make my move north!! ;)
 
I guess I just have a simple reasons, nothing quite as deep as alot of these posts. I never had a woodstove in my childhood, I live in Fl , but I've just always been fascinated with fire. I used to go out to the burn barrel for trash we had as a kid and play out there for hours, as I grew up my love of a flame remained so when we built our house I insisted it have a fireplace as I never had one before and thoroughly enjoyed it until I installed our Fireview. It gives me a sense of independence, a hearth is the center of a home, the heart, to me it's what makes a house a home. For me also it's a step in the direction of being off grid, which is something I want to try after I retire and make my move north!! ;)

I think you underestimate the depth of your own reason.I think self sufficiency....independence...off the grid....even saving money comes from the root idea of relying on yourself and not others.
 
I just don't want to freeze to death.
 
When I was probably 5, my dad replaced his "old" Pioneer P26 with a POS Homelite top handle from a lawn and garden center. After asking what I wanted for my birthday over and over, I kept asking for dad's old saw. My grandpa came over and he and my dad drained the oil, gas, and took the chain off of the Pioneer. I carried that damn thing around everywhere after that. It was my favorite toy. So...to answer the question: I burn wood because two of my favorite things (after my wife and kids) are FIRE and CHAINSAWS! That being said, it would probably be cheaper to turn on the natty gas furnace, but where's the fun in that?
 
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So we can hang out on hearth .com.
 
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