My "new" Lopi and sloppy piles of hardwoods

[rhetoric]

Here is the stove...

 

[rhetoric]

And here's two log loads from a local tree service ($150 per load)... Mostly maple and ash, though there is a bit of cherry, and a few splits of pine and poplar. My stacking isn't as anal as some I've seen, but it's pretty to me! It's about 6 feet tall on this end, but it probably averages 5 feet tall, 5 feet deep, and 20 feet long, cross-stacked. Anybody want to guess how many cord that is?

 

[rhetoric]

And this is the other pile to the left of the door -- it's even uglier stacked, but even more beautiful to me because it's all free. There are a few branches from some trimming up on top, but most of it's the ash. I could have stacked all of it the same for aesthetics, but I wanted the psychological boost of seeing how much of my heat was free heat. Guy from church said he had an ash tree taken down and I could come and get it. Turned out to be four ash trees growing out of the same spot. This is the pile after a few other people took some! It probably averages 4 feet high, four feet wide and 20 feet long -- not cross stacked. I'm hoping this pile gets me through the heart of the winter -- we'll see. See that axe in the picture? Every single split in that pile was split by me with... my neighbor's spliter. If you look close in the other photo you can see a machete and I did use that to wack apart the stringy stubborn pieces.

 

[rhetoric]

Locked and loaded. Waiting for the first sub-45 day. In pretty good shape for a mid-90's stove, eh?

 

[R&D Guy]

Nice - I like how it's tucked away like that. When I burned wood I was proud of piles like that in the back yard! So much free heat I always thought.

 

[WarmGuy]

Don't let your 12-string get too hot!

 

[rhetoric]

It and the 6 string and the mandolins and the octave mandolin and etc. go upstairs into the guest room once burning season starts. I can humidify one room -- I can't humidify this big ole house.