How did your stash hold up?

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Heaterhunter

Member
Dec 14, 2010
207
Maine
I'm getting a little bit up tight about the wood situation. Put 3 cord up last fall and it's getting slim. Might have a 1/2 cord left. I have a cord of wood outside split buiried in snow, but I need 3 more cord at a minumum for next year. :coolhmm:
 

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I got through the year with a last minute scrounge in my woods for some dead wood. Actually ended up with enough good, dry wood to get me through several more nights but I'm pretty sure we're done for the year. I have probably two cords of water oak split but it was pretty fresh and green when I split it. I have doubts it will be ready next year.
I really wanted to take advantage of a huge cache of oak- more than I can burn in two lifetimes. I wanted to have maybe four cords done by this winter for the next two years but with a broken ankle before the holidays, then cataract surgery I just didn't get it all done. I travel for a living and am unusually home during the winter. I go back on the road in mid march and will be gone much of the time until mid October. It's too darn hot down here to be cutting and splitting wood in the summer anyway.
I have a good cord or more or good dead wood out back that I can process over the next week or so and that will help for next year. Maybe I can get a load or two or that good oak from my buddies place and split a little at a time.
This was the year I really wanted to get way ahead but it didn't happen. As John Lennon said... "Life's what happens when you're making other plans."
 
Kenster said:
I got through the year with a last minute scrounge in my woods for some dead wood. Actually ended up with enough good, dry wood to get me through several more nights but I'm pretty sure we're done for the year. I have probably two cords of water oak split but it was pretty fresh and green when I split it. I have doubts it will be ready next year.
I really wanted to take advantage of a huge cache of oak- more than I can burn in two lifetimes. I wanted to have maybe four cords done by this winter for the next two years but with a broken ankle before the holidays, then cataract surgery I just didn't get it all done. I travel for a living and am unusually home during the winter. I go back on the road in mid march and will be gone much of the time until mid October. It's too darn hot down here to be cutting and splitting wood in the summer anyway.
I have a good cord or more or good dead wood out back that I can process over the next week or so and that will help for next year. Maybe I can get a load or two or that good oak from my buddies place and split a little at a time.
This was the year I really wanted to get way ahead but it didn't happen. As John Lennon said... "Life's what happens when you're making other plans."
Kenster, I was wondering what you were talking about with"done for the year" & then I saw you were in Houston. Us Wisconsinites have a bit of burning to do yet, lol. Hope you heal up good there, Randy
 
had 3 cords, burned one,,,,,,,,,,,have two left...........c'mon down from Maine (I used to live in New Sweden) and get some.......I've got enough to spare.

-Soupy1957
 
Here's my dry wood stack:
http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h407/2bnator/069.jpg


Here's my solution to this dilemma, with one of the fans in the foreground:
http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h407/2bnator/072.jpg

Wife doesn't seem too enthused with the face cord in the living room...
:lol:

It seems to be working on this dead Ash that I foraged; Humidity in here has gone from 38% to about 49%. I hope it works quickly. I've got some Shingle Oak, split in June, that sort of burns...
It's warm here right now, so I'm just burning a partial load each night.
 
Wife doesn't seem too enthused with the face cord in the living room...
:lol:

It seems to be working on this dead Ash that I foraged; Humidity in here has gone from 38% to about 49%. I hope it works quickly. I've got some Shingle Oak, split in June, that sort of burns...
It's warm here right now, so I'm just burning a partial load each night.[/quote]

It will work. I'm burning wood that I cut in July last summer and didn't split till early Sept and didn't bring it in the basement till mid november. Keep the fan on it(learned that on hearth), my wood seems to be dryer than a popcorn fart after 2 months in the basement with a fan on it. Not that I plan on doing this in following years but it will get you out of a bind! %-P
 
Heaterhunter said:
It will work
If the humidity starts dropping back to normal, I'll assume that the wood's getting pretty dry....or that the drying curve has flattened out.
I've been meaning to revisit the Battenkiller thread about drying indoors and glean some more wisdom. But I'm afraid that if I open that thread again, I may not be done reading and digesting it for days... :lol:
 
soupy1957 said:
had 3 cords, burned one,,,,,,,,,,,have two left...........c'mon down from Maine (I used to live in New Sweden) and get some.......I've got enough to spare.

-Soupy1957

Too kind soupy. I hope what I've got gets me through or else I might have to hook the trailer on and hit 95 Southbound! LOL I'm just trying to figure out why you ever left New Sweden, Maine. Still pretty wild in those parts :coolsmirk:
 
I've done the fan trick, works surprisingly well...I had a pile of sopping wet green wood in the basement, put a fan on it for about a week. Had to pull from it the entire time as it was all I had and it was a daily challenge to get any heat out of it (fortunately it was during the early thaw) and then suddenly on like the 5th day after I started using the fan, the heat output of the stove just doubled and the wood hissing was vastly reduced. I thought I hit a dry patch, but it just kept getting better and better the longer the fan was on.

I'm getting down there in my supply too...I'd say I've gone through a good 4 cords+ so far and we've got a solid 6 weeks of 24x7 burning and then 3-6 weeks of part time burning left to the season. I've got about a cord and a half left I'd say and I'm still splitting some 2-3 year old cut rounds so I'll probably make it, but only just barely.
 
Last year the Mrs. kept saying...."don't you think we have enough now!?". Well, as Kenster so rightly pointed out, life does happen. I have been sidelined in the past for a few weeks or longer at a time so I take no chances now. My usual response to my wife is 2 part...."You never have too much wood" followed by "You have to make hay while the sun shines". She can relate to the hay analogy since we have horses :)

For this year I had about 5 cords set aside...just about to finish off cord#3 so I think we'll be fine. Spring like temps here yesterday and today(around 60) and overnight low around 40 really helps to conserve the firewood. I have a good start on next years wood and am looking forward to getting the saw fired up soon.
 
I'm a little over halfway through this year's stash of wood . . . and next year's stash is under cover in the woodshed in case of a long winter . . . or if Hell freezes over . . . then I'll at least be warm for another year or so.
 
I thought we'd use about four cords this year, but starting in mid-December means we will probably burn only about three. We are finishing the second cord now, so the four cords I earmarked for this year are holding up pretty well. I am several years ahead, but feeling like I need to get cutting to stay that way. when the snow melts I'll try to scrounge up some new firewood.
 
Heaterhunter said:
I'm getting a little bit up tight about the wood situation. Put 3 cord up last fall and it's getting slim. Might have a 1/2 cord left. I have a cord of wood outside split buiried in snow, but I need 3 more cord at a minumum for next year. :coolhmm:





The cherry we planned on burning this year (3 cord) is down just under 1 cord but we have plenty of other seasoned cherry we can use.





Zap
 
Mines hollding up pretty good, I'm sick of cold starts!
 
Not too bad, still have a cord of mixed hardwoods I am trying to save for next year. Burned through 4 cords of ash, oak and soft maple so far. I am hoping the miscellaneous chunks and 1/4 cord of ash and soft maple I have on the porch will get me through the rest of the season but I have that cord in reserve if needed.

Now I need to start splitting for next season!
 
I'm still in great shape. I started out with 9 cords and I figure I've got 4 left. In my garage I've got two rows chest high and the entire length + another 1.5 cords outside that I hope to carry over into next year.
 
Woody Stover said:
Here's my solution to this dilemma, with one of the fans in the foreground:
http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h407/2bnator/072.jpg

Wife doesn't seem too enthused with the face cord in the living room...
:lol:

It seems to be working on this dead Ash that I foraged; Humidity in here has gone from 38% to about 49%. I hope it works quickly. I've got some Shingle Oak, split in June, that sort of burns...
It's warm here right now, so I'm just burning a partial load each night.

A face cord in the living room with a fan on it. Yea, my wife would probably be living somewhere else but hey, a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do. Right?
 
soupy1957 said:
had 3 cords, burned one,,,,,,,,,,,have two left...........c'mon down from Maine (I used to live in New Sweden) and get some.......I've got enough to spare.

-Soupy1957

I lived in New Sweden for a couple years as a kid. My parents are now in Ft. Kent.
 
I started with 3.5 cords and am closing in on 1 cord remaining. Its hard to tell mom nature is sure which season she is going to leave it as in StL. But one rack is already refilled and another should be in the next couple days for next years burnin'. Locust, Mulberry, pine.
 
Started with 5 cord have 1.14 left , was hoping to have some left looks like another shattered dream
 
I had 3 cord of regular firewood + another cord of shorts etc for shoulder season burning. Right now I have .5 cord remaining which will go for apx 3 weeks and we'll finish with the remainder of odds and ends. Next years wood is all here and ready to go IF the weather is such that I need to encroach in it.
For the garage I had planned 2 cord and have used 1.5 so things should end well. Next years garage wood is here as well.
There's wood piled in the bush waiting to come home and replenish the shelters.
 
I'm a few years ahead but still not all that happy about going through 7-8 cord so far. I also went through a lot more of my primo stash than I would have liked this year when it was cold and blowing.
 
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