stretching your firewood supply

[Megunticook]

So it has been consistently quite cold here in Maine this year, similar to last year. Lots of single digit and subzero nights. We heat exclusively with wood so the firewood stack is shrinking fast. I'm getting more focussed now on burning with maximum efficiency, trying to extend the time between reloads and get the most I can out of each load. If I'm not careful I'm going to run out by March (we have a minisplit for backup and I have a bunch of red oak under cover for next year that was harvested last winter, rather not dip into that unless I really need to).

Curious if others have experimented with ways to "stretch" your wood supply as much as possible. Some things I've been playing around with:

• Smaller loads (3 medium splits), then "coast" on the coals as long as possible before reloading
• Minimize running with damper open (mostly just on cold starts and briefly on reloads)
• Stop feeding fire mid-late morning on sunny days (we get lots of solar gain)
• Close off unused rooms (both kids are out of the house now, so their bedrooms)

Love to hear other ideas here on what works to stretch the wood supply.

Anyone else running low? I've never bought wood in my life and I'm not about to start! Need to harvest more this winter for next year, maybe get a year or two ahead on things.

 

[MRD1985]

So it has been consistently quite cold here in Maine this year, similar to last year. Lots of single digit and subzero nights. We heat exclusively with wood so the firewood stack is shrinking fast. I'm getting more focussed now on burning with maximum efficiency, trying to extend the time between reloads and get the most I can out of each load. If I'm not careful I'm going to run out by March (we have a minisplit for backup and I have a bunch of red oak under cover for next year that was harvested last winter, rather not dip into that unless I really need to).

Curious if others have experimented with ways to "stretch" your wood supply as much as possible. Some things I've been playing around with:

• Smaller loads (3 medium splits), then "coast" on the coals as long as possible before reloading
• Minimize running with damper open (mostly just on cold starts and briefly on reloads)
• Let stove go out mid-late morning on sunny days (we get lots of solar gain)
• Close off unused rooms (both kids are out of the house now, so their bedrooms)

Love to hear other ideas here on what works to stretch the wood supply.

Anyone else running low? I've never bought wood in my life and I'm not about to start! Need to harvest more this winter for next year, maybe get a year or two ahead on things.

I try to stay at least 2 years ahead. I burn “junk” during the day (cut offs, uglies, etc) and save the nice splits for nights and mornings

 

[Eman85]

You need to harvest wood this year for 3 years from now. Sounds like you have 2 choices buy wood or turn the furnace on. Any wood you buy now is usually good to burn in a few years unless someone is selling gourmet firewood, cheaper to turn the furnace on.

 

[Megunticook]

You need to harvest wood this year for 3 years from now. Sounds like you have 2 choices buy wood or turn the furnace on. Any wood you buy now is usually good to burn in a few years unless someone is selling gourmet firewood, cheaper to turn the furnace on.

We don't have a furnace, just the minisplit. Works fine in shoulder season but will struggle to keep the house comfortable in colder weather.

I can dip into next year's wood if I need to, just rather let that season another year.

Definitely need to up my firewood production!

 

[bigealta]

Yup it's very simple. More wood CSS. I've got the same issue down here in NJ.
My back yard has numerous stacked splits all over the place.
Everyone thinks i'm a crazy hoarder. In reality i'm 3 cords short of where i should be.

 

[John Lehet]

I’m exactly with you, OP, and also doing all the things you outline. It’s been MUCH colder than recent average winters here in Vermont, though not particularly colder than winters of some decades ago. It’s throwing everyone off their expectations. Lots of local people are much farther through the wood pile than expected. I wasted a bit of wood getting used to the new Progress Hybrid, putting in bigger loads than I really needed to. I’m finding with smaller fires it’s very nearly just as warm in here.
I’m already almost done with my very dry wood and am hitting ash cut, split, and stacked in the shed in the summer. That wood (warmed and split and tested in the middle) seems to be about 20% on the edges of the splits but more like 25% in the middle. It still seems to burn OK. I’ve got some of it stacked indoors.
When I get through the summer cut ash, I guess it’s going to be mini splits, at least a lot more, because the next step is September/October cut ash. I started cutting it longer when I put my deposit down on the Progress Hybrid on 9/9, so if it’s short, it’s at least closer to dry. Still all short stuff in sight. The late summer/early fall was extraordinarily dry and warm, so, better drying weather than usual anyway. I’ve got a few cords of hard maple I cut in November, but that’s probably going to be way too wet. It’s in the sun and wind with a cover, so who knows.

 

[EbS-P]

Long under wear, sweater, hats, fingerless gloves and warm slippers. Skip that evening fire and go to bed. You need to burn wood or spend money to create heat. Don’t burn money😉

 

[John Lehet]

Found another stretch of nice dry wood under some semi-dry ash. Usually strict organization of the wood shed doesn’t matter so much. This year though. In summer I’m going to put up some strapping or something as a divider between the wet/dry halves of the shed. I’m also going to build an addition so I can get farther ahead.

If it does get dire, I’m going to burn in evening and overnight. Will still be warm in the morning, then mini splits for the warmer part of the day, more or less standard practice in milder weather, except the old stove didn’t go overnight. 18 pounds of wood is an overnight fire and a warm house in the morning, so no big deal. And that saves the mini splits from working in the colder and less efficient hours.

 

[Dieselhead]

If worse comes to worst you can buy some manufactured bricks widely available to supplement your logs in each load.

 

[John Lehet]

I have a friend with an Ideal Steel who was cutting ash for his this-year firewood in August/September while I was cutting ash for next year’s. I emailed him to see how it’s gone, but he hasn’t written back. In any case, I won’t get to the stuff I cut as late as he was cutting in any case. He’s usually much more on top of it, but this year it slipped.

 

[fao1989]

I try to stay at least 2 years ahead. I burn “junk” during the day (cut offs, uglies, etc) and save the nice splits for nights and mornings

Same here

 

[John Lehet]

In November I was 2 years ahead, not counting this year’s dry wood. But I’m starting to nibble at the beginning of that year 2. No crisis yet, but spring isn’t here.

 

[Pinesmoke]

Guys I feel for ya. Up where I used to live in ohio it's been brutal, still is. It would have been a 5 cord year if I was still there.

 

[Max W]

Just set the alarm on my kitchen range for 30 minutes. Trying to get the most from the coals as they burn down but wanting to catch them before they get too low.

 

[EbS-P]

I feel for you all up north. Last Friday I moved 40 Cu ft from my pile to my porch. I had one load left after 7 days of burning (was warm enough to run the heatpump one afternoon. I don’t recall burning that much ever before. But the basement has been much warmer too.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Pallets are free and dry.

 

[John Lehet]

I talked to my neighbor the other day and asked how their wood is holding up. She said she has some old planks she had been saving but figures she’s never going to use. They are cutting those for the stove.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I have a friend with an Ideal Steel who was cutting ash for his this-year firewood in August/September while I was cutting ash for next year’s. I emailed him to see how it’s gone, but he hasn’t written back. In any case, I won’t get to the stuff I cut as late as he was cutting in any case. He’s usually much more on top of it, but this year it slipped.

Chances are, he’s frozen now

 

[Megunticook]

I talked to my neighbor the other day and asked how their wood is holding up. She said she has some old planks she had been saving but figures she’s never going to use. They are cutting those for the stove.

As long as she doesn't start busting up the furniture!

I just remembered I used to grab hardwood scraps from a nearby flooring mill years ago. Have to be real careful with stuff like that though, a firebox filled with kiln dried hardwood can get awfully hot. But can mix some in here and there to extend the firewood supply.

9 degrees here this morning and supposed to get colder tomorrow. Been pretty unrelenting. Apparently warming drastically up at the pole and arctic air getting pushed south.

We are in for a wild ride I'm afraid as the "global weirding" accelerates.

 

[John Lehet]

I heard back from my friend with the late summer/early fall cut green ash in his Ideal Steel stove. He said it worked out just fine. Like all of us in Vermont, he is already perilously close to the end of the one-year-worth supply of wood, but that's OK because he just moved out of his house.

Definitely a good year to be ahead and have more wood than you usually need.

 

[Dieselhead]

I heard back from my friend with the late summer/early fall cut green ash in his Ideal Steel stove. He said it worked out just fine. Like all of us in Vermont, he is already perilously close to the end of the one-year-worth supply of wood, but that's OK because he just moved out of his house.

Definitely a good year to be ahead and have more wood than you usually need.

It’s somewhat past time to plan ahead for next winter. Get some already split wood or some quick drying logs like spruce to supplement what’s already on hand for ‘26-‘27. Last winter and this winter put the northeast to the test, be prepared for the next..

 

[Megunticook]

It’s somewhat past time to plan ahead for next winter. Get some already split wood or some quick drying logs like spruce to supplement what’s already on hand for ‘26-‘27.

In my experience there's still time to season firewood for next winter if you cut, split, and stack now. Been doing this for decades and my firewood processing always runs through February, sometimes into March too. Exception being Red Oak--any I cut this year won't get burned until fall of '27.

But the lesson these past couple years is definitely to get ahead of the game and have plenty of extra wood on hand.

 

[begreen]

I talked to my neighbor the other day and asked how their wood is holding up. She said she has some old planks she had been saving but figures she’s never going to use. They are cutting those for the stove.

It's been brutal back east. More like the winters I grew up in. See if they can buy some compressed sawdust bricks or log fuel. Avoid the cheapies. BioBrick, RedStone, ECO bricks are good. So are HomeFire's Prest-Logs.

 

[Dieselhead]

In my experience there's still time to season firewood for next winter if you cut, split, and stack now. Been doing this for decades and my firewood processing always runs through February, sometimes into March too. Exception being Red Oak--any I cut this year won't get burned until fall of '27.

But the lesson these past couple years is definitely to get ahead of the game and have plenty of extra wood on hand.

Yes that’s true based on species and split size. I tend to split in the 8”x8” size those take a couple-3 years to dry out the more dense wood varieties.

 

[all night moe]

I've been stretching my supplies in all the ways mentioned. I'm also rationing what's left of my GTG premiums.
I still have the 3 wheelbarrow loads of R oak petrified limb wood. Some was large enough to split in half. I only burned like 3 pieces. They lit off nicely and shed pleasant heat. I'm savoring this along with other oak I have from earlier. Not a lot but, it's there if I need it.

I'm basically "out" of wood now. I have some piles that I've been picking through to process. All been sitting for 2 yrs or more. Cut and/or split it and let it sit for a couple days. Luckily my woodyard is in an open windy area.

Worst comes to worst, I'm thinking of buying some anthracite coal. My furnace says its good for it with the purchase of the grate assembly. Unfortunately, the company discontinued this since it was never popular. I'm pretty positive i could make one from a couple boxes of clay fire brick and rebar. I would have to channel the air under the rebar from the entry at the bottom of the door. Worst comes to worst, I'll give it a try.

I'm hoping to score more dead limb woods. R & B oak, sugar maple, and ash of course seem to be the best. Have some tree work coming up. 🤞