Seasoned Firewood & New England Weather

[Burnin Since 1989]

First, some background

I'm a hesitant New Englander. Northeast Massachusetts to be more specific. I was born and raised in the much warmer SW corner of Ohio, USA. I was also a Boy Scout and in the military for 21 years. I can't help myself but to be prepared!

The weather here in Massachusetts can vary a lot from hour to hour and day to day. We loose power occasionally especially during ice storms and when it's very wet and we get high winds like hurricanes and even tornadoes, though they are rare. The utility companies around here have greatly improved their tree trimming to try and prevent trees from taking down power lines, phone lines and cable wires etc. For me, the only way to be prepared is with a generator and a Natural Gas, Heating Oil, Propane, Wood or Pellet Stove, etc. (think I listed them all)

I have a generator, a woodstove and several propane grills if I need to cook outside. My house was built in 1978, on a slab, no basement due to granite and the high water table. The house has electric baseboard heat that we use only minimally as it is usually the most expensive means of heating a home in the Northeast USA.

We have a gas water heater that requires no electricity. We have cell phones and cable tv. We have numerous rechargeable and portable led lights in the house for the darkness. Our generator usage is limited to the fridge and the tv, cable tv/ internet and charging lights, phones etc.

I grew up in a somewhat warmer climate and after living here for nearly 40 years I can tell you that I don't like the cold. I worked outdoors for many years and managed my way through it, but I never truly liked it.

We have been heating a long time with our woodstove. Continuously the same stove since 1991. I have burned a LOT of firewood. At a minimum somewhere in the area of 90 to 100 cords of firewood. We use 2-4 cords per year, depending on the weather.

More about alleged seasoned wood...

Some is and some isn't and most is no where near as seasoned as advertised. The Moisture Checker is an invaluable tool. It led me to fire several wood sellers. I have found many sellers of wood to be honest, hard working people who earn every penny they make! I no longer ask for seasoned wood. I ask them when they cut it and split it and then I go from there.

I keep about a half cord of wood right outside my back door, stacked and top tarped. I keep another 2-3 cords out along my driveway. I don't have room here to store more than 3 cords of wood at any one time.

When it comes to firewood, I have found this method to be very effective. I have a firewood rack about 2 feet away from my woodstove. My stove requires 18" of side clearance. The rack holds 2-3 days worth of wood, depending on the weather.

I try and stay 2 days ahead of my stove. I keep that little firewood rack as full as I can rotating the bottom to the top after the top has been used. In this way my wood has 48 hours plus in a warm, dry environment and I have found the moisture content drops significantly with this method.

I'm not looking for recommendations for changing my electric baseboard heating or anything else. Because we are on a slab and have no masonry chimney we are limited as to what we can do and for the time being, it will work. We have other priorities that require our attention for the foreseeable future so that isn't even on our radar.

I'm interested in hearing what others are doing. I'm not a prepper per se, though I have other implements such as dry food and water for a month and also the abilities to hunt, fish and protect ourselves. We also have a dog. An 85 pound Lab mix. He's not much of a guard dog, unless your a rabbit or squirrel.

Maybe we should start a thread for show us your dog? haha Have a great day and stay warm!

 

[kborndale]

Maybe we should start a thread for show us your dog? haha Have a great day and stay warm!

W

Thread 'Your stove and your dog(s)'

Nov 8, 2020

My wife sent me this pic this AM as I was on my way to get a truckload of wood. I love dogs. This is Libby. No idea what kind of dog she is as she was a rescue but she loves the stove.

I searched to see if there was a thread for your stove and your dog but couldn't find one. I will post more pics when the other two in the house are enjoying the heat.

Let's see your dogs with your stove.

Mods if this is a duplicate thread sorry.

• Whimpers Baggins
• Replies: 132
• Forum: The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces

• 
• 

 

[MRD1985]

You’ve probably seen my rack I keep on my porch. I can hold 7-10 days worth of wood there for January use.

 

[Burnin Since 1989]

W

Thread 'Your stove and your dog(s)'

Nov 8, 2020

My wife sent me this pic this AM as I was on my way to get a truckload of wood. I love dogs. This is Libby. No idea what kind of dog she is as she was a rescue but she loves the stove.

I searched to see if there was a thread for your stove and your dog but couldn't find one. I will post more pics when the other two in the house are enjoying the heat.

Let's see your dogs with your stove.

Mods if this is a duplicate thread sorry.

• Whimpers Baggins
• Replies: 132
• Forum: The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces

• 
• 

Now if I can get his sorry butt off his bed and in front of the woodstove... His bed is only 6 feet from the stove and he stays warm. Thanks for showing me that thread, I'm going to look at it now!

 

[Burnin Since 1989]

You’ve probably seen my rack I keep on my porch. I can hold 7-10 days worth of wood there for January use.

I have! I gave it a Like when you posted it! That is a loaded rack! I don't have a covered porch but my half cord is only 3 steps from my back door. Where the grill is next to the wood is the place holder for my snow blower. She'll be moving back to her winter place soon. Too soon!

It only take a foot of snow or so until you learn how to keep it simple so you don't have to work as hard to keep everyone warm. I think of my firewood as being as important as our food.

 

[Burnin Since 1989]

@MRD1985 Which reminds me. I think it was in the same post. Pine Cones... Who knew they were so flammable? When I read you post, I decided to give them a try. I gathered some up when I took my dog out for his daily walks. I find a lot of real nice ones with no effort. Haha, they're better than anything else I've ever used!

 

[MRD1985]

@MRD1985 Which reminds me. I think it was in the same post. Pine Cones... Who knew they were so flammable? When I read you post, I decided to give them a try. I gathered some up when I took my dog out for his daily walks. I find a lot of real nice ones with no effort. Haha, they're better than anything else I've ever used!

they do work very well! I’d dry them for a year in the garage, but once they are opened up and spread out they dry out quickly. I have enormous supply in my backyard with white pines.

 

[Burnin Since 1989]

I have enormous supply in my backyard with white pines.

The last few days it's been pretty windy and I have been seeing a lot pine cones on the ground. I could probably pick up a hundred in my backyard and in the conservation and town lands there are pines everywhere. Some as small as a golf ball and others as big as an ear of corn. I take a plastic bag along when I'm walking the dog and just toss them in and leave them in the back of my truck until the bag is full. I hadn't thought of drying them.

 

[Burnin Since 1989]

@MRD1985 Which reminds me. I think it was in the same post. Pine Cones... Who knew they were so flammable? When I read you post, I decided to give them a try. I gathered some up when I took my dog out for his daily walks. I find a lot of real nice ones with no effort. Haha, they're better than anything else I've ever used!

Pine Cones... here is the bag in the back of my truck. Tall kitchen bag. It will be filled in a week or so.

 

[Wildflush]

My stove is a corner setup. I have a rack that under my window that gets good sunlight next to my stove. Good for 3 days before reloading. I have just over a 1/3 cord top covered of emergency wood under my deck next to my walkout basement door. Great access during storms etc. I also have a few cords elevated along my driveways retaining wall. Along the woods side of my house I have various single stacks on PT 2x4’s elevated on patio bricks and a few larger stacks cross stacked on pallets about 4’ high. All get excellent sunlight and prevailing winds. I like to keep 4 cords in the rotation which is 3 years out for me. Since I have a lots of red oak in the mix I want 3 years to assure everything is under 20%.

Also collect pinecones on my property that I store in totes when dry. I use one and a piece of fatwood for my topdown starts. This year the deer on my property beat me to the pinecones! Still got some but not the large numbers that was there a few months back. Lots on dead sticks that I also use for kindling.

 

[Wildflush]

they do work very well! I’d dry them for a year in the garage, but once they are opened up and spread out they dry out quickly. I have enormous supply in my backyard with white pines.

They also dry fast near the stove. I have a wood bag near my rack under a sunny window and they open quickly.

 

[Burnin Since 1989]

My stove is a corner setup. I have a rack that under my window that gets good sunlight next to my stove. Good for 3 days before reloading. I have just over a 1/3 cord top covered of emergency wood under my deck next to my walkout basement door. Great access during storms etc. I also have a few cords elevated along my driveways retaining wall. Along the woods side of my house I have various single stacks on PT 2x4’s elevated on patio bricks and a few larger stacks cross stacked on pallets about 4’ high. All get excellent sunlight and prevailing winds. I like to keep 4 cords in the rotation which is 3 years out for me. Since I have a lots of red oak in the mix I want 3 years to assure everything is under 20%.

Also collect pinecones on my property that I store in totes when dry. I use one and a piece of fatwood for my topdown starts. This year the deer on my property beat me to the pinecones! Still got some but not the large numbers that was there a few months back. Lots on dead sticks that I also use for kindling.

I grew up in SW Ohio. Maybe it's a Northern thing. But nothing sucks more than waking up in the morning to a foot of snow, no power and no wood in the house. I have a generator, which I never even considered until living here. I have a snow blower, which I never even knew existed till I moved North, I have a woodstove and I have a propane grill. We keep extra water and enough food to get us a couple weeks or more. My first to burn wood is tarped on pallets, 3 steps out my back door, but even that is too far in a foot of snow. Once it's cleaned up it's a different story.

We had those high winds a few days ago and I must have picked up about 100 pine cones in my yard. The pine tree isn't even in my yard and normally we only get a couple now and then. As part of my daily exercise (docs orders) I take my dog for a walk and lately I bring a bag and grab pine cones here and there.

I buy my wood delivered and split. I try to keep two cords at all times. I don't have a lot of room. My firewood "source" brings me nothing over like 16% and hand loaded so I don't wind up with a mess when he dumps it. Right now I have close to 3 cords so I'm in good shape. I plan to get some unseasoned delivered in the spring and let it sit for a year and see how dry it gets.

 

[gthomas785]

I live not far from you. I agree nothing sucks more than running out of wood or having to trudge out to the wood pile in the middle of a snowstorm. I have built myself a large 3-bay woodshed; each bay holds a year's worth of wood give or take. I purchase split green wood in March-April to fill the bay I just emptied. So at this point my wood has been seasoning 3 summers outdoors under cover.
Inside the house, I built a rack, 4' wide and floor to ceiling, that holds about 1/3 of a cord. That's 1-2 weeks' worth depending how cold it is. I fill that up on the weekend from my woodshed, takes about an hour with the garden cart. So I always have an ample supply of wood indoors, can see how much is left and plan when I need to refill.

 

[Wildflush]

I also buy a cord to replenish towards the end of March $325 delivered here. That way I get a jump on seasoning with the summer. I like stacking and splitting in the early spring when it’s cool.