My not too bright neighbor is out cutting down the few trees he has left on his lake lot with a dull chain as usual. He has been using his propane boiler this winter from what I could tell but I'm thinking he found out how much it costs to fill it and out came his Homelite XL2 and down come the trees. Good luck to him getting it to burn green! And they bought two nice cat stoves a few years ago but they burnt junk in them so now they are smoking dragons. My neighbors, gotta love em!
Neighbor is cuttin down trees to burn today!
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Paulywalnut
Minister of Fire
My neighbor at least seasons his firewood for a month or so
osagebow
Minister of Fire
My nieghbor has a pile of log in the yard he has been periodically cutting, splitting ,and burning also. House looks like a locomotive in these cold snaps.
The house, the house, the house is on fire, let the mutha f'er burn!
It's hysterical to see some of the things people do. On my way to/from work, there is a small house with short masonry chimney. Dang thing looks like a steel smelter in the colder months, belching huge clouds of smoke. There is a constant turnover of wood and he goes through mind-boggling quantities. You'd think the jackwagon would realize that installing an EPA stove or insert would cut down on wood consumption and the amount of effort he puts in to keep the house warm, but no....year after year, same thing.
The unfortunate reality is that all us weirdo OCD solid fuel heat misers that hang out here to swap lies about safe burning practices, tips and tricks are an overwhelming minority in the wood burning community. I have no real statistics but it has to be in the 10-1 ratio or greater.
Old habits are hard to break so when approaching a heavy smoker it is best to not preach - a better method is allow them to feel it is their idea and allow them to "tell you"
ie. wow, _____ , I had this wood that was sitting for like 3 years out back and I decided I better burn it before it totally rots(try not to smirk) and holy hot fire batman! That stuff started easy, burns hotter and longer that my usual wood and there wasn't even any smoke coming out my chimney?? I was amazed and I am going to try age all my wood that long if I can get that far ahead. Want to start cutting and stock piling with me?? I still have some if you want lets try a load in your stove to see if it was a fluke.
The sneak attack seems to work better than the "ego hammer" when dealing with a long time, I know "all" wood burner with poor habits.
Old habits are hard to break so when approaching a heavy smoker it is best to not preach - a better method is allow them to feel it is their idea and allow them to "tell you"
ie. wow, _____ , I had this wood that was sitting for like 3 years out back and I decided I better burn it before it totally rots(try not to smirk) and holy hot fire batman! That stuff started easy, burns hotter and longer that my usual wood and there wasn't even any smoke coming out my chimney?? I was amazed and I am going to try age all my wood that long if I can get that far ahead. Want to start cutting and stock piling with me?? I still have some if you want lets try a load in your stove to see if it was a fluke.
The sneak attack seems to work better than the "ego hammer" when dealing with a long time, I know "all" wood burner with poor habits.
blacktail
Minister of Fire
I have a friend that cuts trees down in June and July for the burn season that starts a few months later. And he stacks it three rows deep. He's one of those people who thinks that dry wood burns too fast. He lives in the sticks so at least he doesn't have many neighbors to offend.
I've tried.
I've tried.
Christopix
Member
Ha! I've used a very similar tactic with a few neighbors and it was keenly observed. Probably didn't hurt that I gave each of them a wheel barrel full of my wood that I quick dried using a makeshift solar kiln. [While it isn't really a kiln, it did speed up the drying process enough to get consistent 20% or lower readings on a fresh split.]
Ya can't fault everyone with a smoke dragon though.... A lot of people are not even aware that there is such a thing as an EPA stove. ( I was one of those guys until I got "enlightened" here).
A guy down the road brings up a week or two of rounds and stacks by the front door. He then splits as needed. The smoke is always poring out of the stack.
An EPA stove wont do much good with nothing but green wood to burn.
The way I did it for more years than I want to count. This website cost me a lot of money and work. 
Many a March when the wood ran out I was out in the woods cutting up dead and down after I knocked the snow off of it and piled it by the stove as long as I could hold out to try to dry the surface moisture off of it.
Hmmm... I thought I was at Smoke Dragons Anonymous.
Never mind...
Many a March when the wood ran out I was out in the woods cutting up dead and down after I knocked the snow off of it and piled it by the stove as long as I could hold out to try to dry the surface moisture off of it.
Hmmm... I thought I was at Smoke Dragons Anonymous.
Never mind...
Fred Wright
Minister of Fire
Yup... got some locals who do this. Split wood as needed, not before. Seriously, they'll have a pile of rounds laying by the chopping block and split a day's worth at a time. You know who they are when ya see white smoke pouring out of the flue.
There's an old boy down the road a piece who sells it this way. He cuts and piles up green rounds behind his home in spring. Come fall he'll split a bunch of 'em and stack it for sale.
Yup... got some locals who do this. Split wood as needed, not before. .....
....There's an old boy down the road a piece who sells it this way. He cuts and piles up green rounds behind his home in spring. Come fall he'll split a bunch of 'em and stack it for sale.
New marketing technique
>Sign:
FRESH-SPLIT FIREWOOD FOR SALE.
(Split while you wait)
Sinngetreu
Feeling the Heat
Over Christmas my BIL's wanted to talk shop with me and started in about how they burn in their wood stoves. They are the type of people that you don't just tell them what to do. Needless to say, my tongue had a few bite marks after listening to one of my BIL's describe putting a decent size round in his stove and rotating it every twenty minutes so it would keep burning. My tongue was darn near raw after listening to my other BIL talking about how he would split his wood except for the fear of disturbing the neighbors with the sound of him splitting.
I just don't know anymore.........
I just don't know anymore.........
People just don't know. Because it's Sunday... they know not what they do.
I've been around stoves and fireplaces all of my life and didn't know anything about this until I bumped into HDC (hearthdotcom). Even after I read through the Sermon on the Hearth I was pretty skeptical (I'm skeptical by nature and, after all, I'd been around stoves and fireplaces all of my life...). But when I finally got my own EPA stove and put some of these techniques to the test, I was convinced. Beyond convinced. I mean, holy crap, the difference is truly astounding.
I've slowly been able to convert a few of my "it was dead when I cut it, so it must be dry" friends. I like tactics that Bob and Christo have suggested above. Imagine what the impact a gift of a dry load of red oak could make if you'd spent your life trying to burn wet oak.
..... My tongue was darn near raw after listening to my other BIL talking about how he would split his wood except for the fear of disturbing the neighbors with the sound of him splitting.
I just don't know anymore.........
LOL.
So it is OK for his endless plumes of billowing smoke to engulf the whole neighborhood, as long as he doesn't create any noise by splitting the wood???
Sinngetreu
Feeling the Heat
LOL.
So it is OK for his endless plumes of billowing smoke to engulf the whole neighborhood, as long as he doesn't create any noise by splitting the wood???
HaHaHa...
Well, it doesn't bother him, so why should it bother anyone else? LOL
osagebow
Minister of Fire
One of my students cuts, splits and sells truckloads from a giant pile of rounds he has. I gave him my parts Husky 350 to help him fix his 350 a month ago. He just gave it back.
"I sold 12 truckloads in 2 weeks, bought me a new farmboss "
"I sold 12 truckloads in 2 weeks, bought me a new farmboss
"
Sinngetreu
Feeling the Heat
One of my students cuts, splits and sells truckloads from a giant pile of rounds he has. I gave him my parts Husky 350 to help him fix his 350 a month ago. He just gave it back.
"I sold 12 truckloads in 2 weeks, bought me a new farmboss
I wondered if this was coming. Actually, I kind of knew it was.....
MrWhoopee
Minister of Fire
I, too, did not understand how to run my EPA stove until I found this forum. Conversations with other woodburners in my area (and there are many) have revealed that very few, if any, know how their stove is supposed to be run. With all the money spent on improving the equipment, it might be worthwhile training the operators too.
I still laugh because 2 years ago a fellow a few miles from us bought a log load. Then he started burning but this is amazing, he has a chimney that appears to be about a 4" diameter. Not sure how he got that much smoke out that tiny thing. Of course, he cut perhaps 2 or 3 wheelbarrows full of wood at a time as needed. He would just dump the rounds by his garage but would not split until his stove got hungry.
Last summer it appears he may have sold a pickup load off that log pile as someone was out there cutting but didn't take much. Now this winter it shows no more activity. I fear the fellow no doubt found this wood burning isn't what it is bragged up to be! After all, those logs were seasoned when he bought them and now they've laid there for over a year. Certainly this time should dry all that wood....
Last summer it appears he may have sold a pickup load off that log pile as someone was out there cutting but didn't take much. Now this winter it shows no more activity. I fear the fellow no doubt found this wood burning isn't what it is bragged up to be! After all, those logs were seasoned when he bought them and now they've laid there for over a year. Certainly this time should dry all that wood....
You must tread carefully in trying to educate the ignorant and clueless about seasoning and drying wood. People generally dont want to hear that they have put tremendous time and effort(and money) into a project and they are doing it all wrong. And wasting a lot of wood to boot.
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