ignorance is bliss (massive wood score)

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Free wood = me wood ;) j7art2 don't be telling too many people about pine. The more reformers there are the less pine for us! Haha
 
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The wood in my boiler bridged today and the house was 60*. I needed some quick heat beofre the wife got home. A bunch of 1x4" pine from pallets got me one haeck of a hot fire quick. I use popple for early and late season for this reason.
 
10 cords of what type of wood ?

Primarily oak unfortunately. I've discovered though now that I'm getting into the hardwood amish slab that I picked up, that I'm getting a TON more heat from these slabs than I ever anticipated. Throwing in 8 pieces of slab vs 3 large logs is doubling my heat. Lesson learned this year, I need to cut my wood smaller I guess. It wouldn't be uncommon for me to throw in a piece or two 12" in diameter.
 
+1
 
I'll nab some pictures when I get home. I may have some on my phone, I'd have to check. :) So far, i've gotten 3 truckloads home, getting a 4th today.
 
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That's 4 overloaded truckloads.
 
Oak is good stuff, don't get me wrong! I love it. I'm just shocked I went through so much. I figured out why though and have fixed the problem the best I can with a 40 year old wood eating monster with a massive firebox, but I'm hoping not to use nearly as much wood next year. Using 10 cords of oak in a year is unheard of, even in -30dF nights.
 
nice score, good splitting size
 
Any tips on how to get the sap off your hands and clothes? I assumed (obviously wrongly) that the thick stuff would freeze in the winter, or get close. Not a chance. I smell like a Gin factory in Bombay whenever I'm done with a load.
 
we used to get it off with gas, or paint thinner. alot of times i perferred the rosin to the gas smell.:)
 
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I'm not that desperate! Ha.
 
we used to get it off with gas, or paint thinner. alot of times i perferred the rosin to the gas smell.:)

Mayonaise . . . followed by Lava soap or any soap with pumice in it.
 
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butter will get pitch off easily, then soap to get the butter. (seriously ;lol, though never tried Margarine)

Awesome score! I'd get as much of that as I could.

I think I went into winter with roughly 15 cords for next year(s). At this rate, I'll be good for 6-7 more years (ya know, since we missed the cold this year <>)
 
The old wive's tale has a grain of truth to it of course, stemming from years ago, but years ago, they didn't season firewood like they do now, and cutting and burning was a regular practice. Obviously pine would be the worst of the worst options for this.
Actually you are only partly correct about the how the pine wive's tale started.
It's true that many people never seasoned their wood (in fact it's still true), consequently many people had pretty gummed up chimneys, and because their wood was so wet they rarely got their stoves and fireplaces hot enough to ignite a chimney fire, even with their air drafts fully open. But because pine seasons so quickly it is the first firewood to most likely burn good and hot, and because they were so use to leaving their air drafts fully open all the time, trying to keep their wet hardwood burning, when they threw in a load of nice dry pine they wouldn't think to close the draft at all to control the fire, and their stoves would get hotter then they ever could trying to burn that wet hardwood. So now they have a super hot fire in their stoves and a creosote gummed up chimney, the next thing you know they have a chimney fire on their hands.
Of course they would end up blaming the pine for how it burned, totally ignoring the fact that they had been gumming up their chimneys for years with all that green hardwood.
 
Whatever the reason, I'll take what I can get. Free wood is good wood. I'll gladly take every last free bit of wood willing to be given to me. The less time I have to be cutting the better, even if I do have a brand new 562xp. :)
 
Pine... C/S/S. 2 rows deep. Inside the shed is the 'non-pine' I gathered.
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Actually you are only partly correct about the how the pine wive's tale started.
It's true that many people never seasoned their wood (in fact it's still true), consequently many people had pretty gummed up chimneys, and because their wood was so wet they rarely got their stoves and fireplaces hot enough to ignite a chimney fire, even with their air drafts fully open. But because pine seasons so quickly it is the first firewood to most likely burn good and hot, and because they were so use to leaving their air drafts fully open all the time, trying to keep their wet hardwood burning, when they threw in a load of nice dry pine they wouldn't think to close the draft at all to control the fire, and their stoves would get hotter then they ever could trying to burn that wet hardwood. So now they have a super hot fire in their stoves and a creosote gummed up chimney, the next thing you know they have a chimney fire on their hands.
Of course they would end up blaming the pine for how it burned, totally ignoring the fact that they had been gumming up their chimneys for years with all that green hardwood.

This is the best explanation I have ever seen. Thanks for posting it again.
 
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