What got you started with burning wood?

[Soundchasm]

My grandparents on my Mom's side heated an old KY farmhouse with coal. As a kid, I LOVED it! Go get the coal in the buckets, and then manage to get these incredible rocks to burn!! I thought it was the best system on earth. Lots of rooms and lots of fireplaces. In truth, the house was purchased from the Sears catalog, and additions continued over the years.

Burning in my basement came about as a sheer necessity because forced air was not going to cut it, and the basement happened to have an old stove in it.

 

[CheapBassTurd]

I'm Cheap and/ or broke most of the time. lol

THEN, looking back it's actually been a lifelong thing. As a kid I had a 6in "secret firepit"
next to the house and used it for literally years. Wasn't much of a secret, as mom told me
one day she had gone out to check it out and was pleased that I had a circle of large (relatively)
rocks encircling it, and it was centered in a concrete nook quite safely. I only burned popsicle sticks,
toothpicks, a few leaves or baby twigs in it anyway.

This led to dozens of stories as of late from her. Mom was one of 8 girls and her chore was keeping
the family warm. After buying the stove in November the information and stories began spilling out.
Me n' ma have only talked once or twice a month so this stove thing really woke up the family love too.
The wife and I going over exhaust designs with her, wood size and species, etc. She's 80, perky as a
fireball, and even explained how to make the easiest splits.

Glad to be a stover now and stick it to the 500-600 USD monthly utility company, and yak with my mom
a lot more lol,

CheeeeeeeeeeeeeeapMark

 

[kennyp2339]

My parents burned wood in there insert for a few years, when I bought my house I nearly went broke trying to heat it with oil heat the first year, I believe oil was 3.25 a gal, bought my first woodstove my second year, burned it like any other newbie, saw this sight, lurked for a while, then joined and became an addict to anything woodstove related.

 

[MaintenanceMan]

When I was working in HVAC and we had those serious cold spells when the phone was ringing off the hook and everyone was just desperate to get their furnace fixed, I was always baffled at the way different folks reacted. Most had a crisis on their hands. The only way they had to heat the house just broke. They had no back-up heater or clue what to do. But occasionally I would go to a house that had a stove in the basement or somewhere. Most of the time just some old smoke dragon. But they were fine. House was comfortable. No tragedy in their house because the furnace was broke... I loved the independence of it. The simplicity and comfort couldn't be beat. I didn't grow up with wood heat. But I always loved walking in from the cold into someone else's house that heated with wood. It was true warmth.

 

[xman23]

We were building a new weekend cabin in north east PA. My wife wanted a fireplace. It took visits to the stove store to convince her it was not the way to go. She said we could only get a stove if it was the enamel forest green Oslo. Pure luck we got the Oslo which is one of the best stoves out there. Perfect size for our place.

 

[Bigsby]

Being a single guy I started burning wood because I thought chicks would dig it but unfortunately they all assumed I was poor. :-(

 

[clemsonfor]

Building on that bigsby...

My buddy lives in the city in Charleston. So does his sister and brother n law. The BIL is a banker and they have fancy stuff etc. They all live in tight subdivisions he said he thinks his neighbor is selling wood or something and is on hard times ," their whole yard is full of wood", he was mad.
My buddy knows I burn and all the wood I have. He finally sent me a picture. The one rack they have is just a bit more than a face cord it looked like There was maybe 2-6 more rounds behind a shed next to their splitting block with an axe/maul there!!

I told my buddy, you realize they only have a full size pickup load of wood maybe more? Why is the brother in law freaking out?? It even was in a decent looking wood rack stacked. The other stuff was not visible from road but was to brother since the backyards all backed to a pond they were both on.

I told him to tell him to stop worrying about other people. Show him my pics of wood!! I said I'm sure their burning in an open fire place and that if they had a fire 4-5 days a week that wood , would all be gone in a matter of weeks!

Probably some guy that grew up with wood or just wants to heat with wood got some free wood and turned it into splits. Its the same thing we all get. What do you have all that for? It will rot or you dont needs that much. They just dont realize how much wood you use. I guess he is the $5 a bundle and throw a fire log in their with it type guy every other weekend? I still would buy wood if I did that.

 

[clemsonfor]

Back in Ohio, circa the mid 70's, my Dad & Grandfather bought a sawmill. With all that access to free slab wood, a wood burner just made sense.

Dad started with a classic cast iron Ben Franklin stove..... neat but not very efficient. I recall once when the back leg fell off, while we had a fire going.... that was exciting.

I also recall a Christmas Day memory of Dad throwing all the wrapping paper from our gifts into the wood stove, which started a chimney fire. We went outside and there were 20 ft flames blowing out the chimney..... and the wood stove sounded like a jet engine roaring. Luckily the triple wall pipe saved the day.

Dad eventually upgraded to a better model, a welded steel unit with screw type air controls. A step up, but still dark ages technology compared to today's models.

The mill is long gone, as are Dad & Grandpa, but the comfort and enjoyment of a wood stove is something I grew accustomed to. Now that we have moved and live in a pine forest... it is once again a logical heat source for us too.

You can't burn pine you know ;-)

Well you can if you dont mind burning down your house or not getting any heat!! ;-)

 

[tarzan]

Building on that bigsby...

My buddy lives in the city in Charleston. So does his sister and brother n law. The BIL is a banker and they have fancy stuff etc. They all live in tight subdivisions he said he thinks his neighbor is selling wood or something and is on hard times ," their whole yard is full of wood", he was mad.
My buddy knows I burn and all the wood I have. He finally sent me a picture. The one rack they have is just a bit more than a face cord it looked like There was maybe 2-6 more rounds behind a shed next to their splitting block with an axe/maul there!!

I told my buddy, you realize they only have a full size pickup load of wood maybe more? Why is the brother in law freaking out?? It even was in a decent looking wood rack stacked. The other stuff was not visible from road but was to brother since the backyards all backed to a pond they were both on.

I told him to tell him to stop worrying about other people. Show him my pics of wood!! I said I'm sure their burning in an open fire place and that if they had a fire 4-5 days a week that wood , would all be gone in a matter of weeks!

Probably some guy that grew up with wood or just wants to heat with wood got some free wood and turned it into splits. Its the same thing we all get. What do you have all that for? It will rot or you dont needs that much. They just dont realize how much wood you use. I guess he is the $5 a bundle and throw a fire log in their with it type guy every other weekend? I still would buy wood if I did that.

The sight of a stack of fire wood does seem to get the wheels turning in people's heads. Hardly a person can come and go without inquiring about it. Every spring through summer I have people stopping to ask me what I'm going to do with all the firewood I have left over. Most think they would be doing me a favor if they just took it to the river to be burnt in a campfire, otherwise it surely rot.

 

[kennyp2339]

You can't burn pine you know ;-)

Well you can if you dont mind burning down your house or not getting any heat!! ;-)

Lol - it wont burn your place down, the draw backs to burning any pine is the smoke will cause you to grow hair on your back..I thought everyone knew that.

 

[clemsonfor]

Lol - it wont burn your place down, the draw backs to burning any pine is the smoke will cause you to grow hair on your back..I thought everyone knew that.

I thought it was palms?

 

[clemsonfor]

I say all that as I threw in two huge splits of pine into the stove this mourning!!

 

[bwise.157]

Started burning wood three years ago so I wouldn't have to hear my wife and kids complain the house was cold! They don't seem to like 65 degrees inside the house. They want the 75 degree warmth (and sometimes more)! I am okay with the colder temps, but they aren't. Happy wife = happy life!

 

[edyit]

i live in new york, we tax everything but the air you breath, they're working on that, i grew up with wood heat, grandparents had wood heat. moved out on my own into a few apartments with either electric / or oil heat and learned to like it cooler (64ish) got married, bought a house and was repeatedly reminded the wife does not enjoy 64. fuel oil hit over 4$ a gallon and in went the wood stove. now its 78 in here as i type this and next years and the year afters heat is already outside seasoning

 

[DUMF]

I say all that as I threw in two huge splits of pine into the stove this mourning!!

Sorry about your loss.

 

[FionaD]

I'm #4 and #5

I just love fire... I love the sight the sound and the smell of it. Always have. In the years B.S. (Before Stove) I always had a fireplace. I have in the past decided whether or not to live in certain houses based on whether or not they had a fireplace.

It's a connection to nature, to our ancestors and to some enduring primeval part deep inside.

I mostly dislike the tamed, caged ease of waking to centrally-heated dullness. I like being (just a little) chilly in the morning and letting my work of kindling a fire warm me till the fire does. I like going out into the cold and carrying a heavy weight of wood into the cottage, so that I have earned my keep of warmth for the night. I like being reminded just in these little ways, that I am a part of Nature... I also like to do just my wee bit, here and there, to preserve our good, green Earth.

I also like the way wood heat feels; the heat of real fire feels so much better to us than 'artificially produced heat' because it contains infra red radiation, like sunlight, whereas electric heaters etc, do not. A hot fire really does penetrate into us, it feels more like sitting in the sun - it IS sitting in the sun, just sunlight in a different form.

"The scent of fresh wood
is among the last things you will forget
when the veil falls.
The scent of fresh white wood
in the spring sap time
as though life itself walked by you,
with dew in its hair."
- Hans Børli

 

[Pellet_Pete]

I just love fire... I love the sight the sound and the smell of it. Always have. In the years B.S. (Before Stove) I always had a fireplace. I have in the past decided whether or not to live in certain houses based on whether or not they had a fireplace.

It's a connection to nature, to our ancestors and to some enduring primeval part deep inside.

I mostly dislike the tamed, caged ease of waking to centrally-heated dullness. I like being (just a little) chilly in the morning and letting my work of kindling a fire warm me till the fire does. I like going out into the cold and carrying a heavy weight of wood into the cottage, so that I have earned my keep of warmth for the night. I like being reminded just in these little ways, that I am a part of Nature... I also like to do just my wee bit, here and there, to preserve our good, green Earth.

I also like the way wood heat feels; the heat of real fire feels so much better to us than 'artificially produced heat' because it contains infra red radiation, like sunlight, whereas electric heaters etc, do not. A hot fire really does penetrate into us, it feels more like sitting in the sun - it IS sitting in the sun, just sunlight in a different form.

Wow! It was 30 degrees and sunny today, and with the greater solar angle, both I and our dog took to basking in the perceptible radiant sunshine. And once the clouds came, we both retreated to the "fire room" to resume our gluttony for radiant heat. I've often heard of burning wood as "energy from the sun", but your comments put it in a new context for me. Thanks, from a fellow F3 burner

 

[Firewood Daddy]

My parents installed an Earth Stove in 1977. Heated there house solely with it. Have cut, stacked and burned ever since. When my father passed away I got this tattoo in his memory.

 

[clemsonfor]

My parents installed an Earth Stove in 1977. Heated there house solely with it. Have cut, stacked and burned ever since. When my father passed away I got this tattoo in his memory.View attachment 173072

Cool tattoo. And I am not even a tattoo guy.

 

[SpAmSoNiTe]

The first year my wife and I paid to heat our swiss-cheese insulated house cost us 2500.00.(2007).. she grew up in the house (we bought it from her father) and he had an old "wondercoal" unit that was put in during the oil crisis a few decades ago on a home-built concrete block/clay lined chimney.
That summer we bought an old beat up F-150 to haul slabwood from the various Amish mills In our area. Paid for itself the first winter, even paying for pre-cut stuff from a guy down the road. Have since upgraded to an nc-30 and stainless chimney never looked back..
Oh, and I am pretty cheap.. still got the truck and purchasing slabwood bundles for 8-10$ and heat my house for less than $100 a season. ☺

 

[clemsonfor]

Does that slab wood put out decent heat? Does your stove want to go nuclear with all that surface area?

 

[heavy hammer]

My grandmother had a large old cast iron wood stove that we as kids have great memories being around when cold. Plus my parents had a fireplace, spent many hours cutting splitting stacking with the old man. Great times, then my first house had old Sears stove that I replaced five years ago. From there I have been into burning wood processing etc non stop. Just a way of life for me the heat from burning wood nothing compares I love it. My to chocolate labs have the greatest life in the winter sleep by the stove all day, while I'm out side working you tell me who is smarter.

 

[SpAmSoNiTe]

Does that slab wood put out decent heat? Does your stove want to go nuclear with all that surface area?

It puts out decent heat depending on the variety. Lots of it is maple and oak in my area.. not as good burn time as Cordwood would do but there's virtually no splitting. With all the surface area it can get away pretty easily so I usually shut the primary air down pretty early and it will easily creep up to 650-700 ish if I don't have the fan on. Only had it go up over 800 (too hot imho) once when I was having a yelling match wi th my wife outside and forgot about it. Came inside to a smoke filled house and pegged thermometer.

 

[yooper08]

Wife and I bought our house recently and it has two fireplaces in it, however, the main level was converted to gas at some point. Last winter we enjoyed going downstairs and having a fire and hanging out. Now, we're looking to turn it into an efficient source of heat with an insert (hopefully ordering this week). I now work at home and with our first kid due any day, the wife will be home all the time as well...all of this means more heat than we needed last winter. Plus, the dad/husband in me wants a backup heat source should the power go out. Maybe some day we'll get a 2nd one dedicated to the main level.

Growing up, both of my grandparents had fireplaces, but the most memories come from my mom's parents. Spent nearly every Christmas there and my grandpa would always have a fire going Christmas Eve. They also had a 2nd farm house with a stone fireplace that we stayed at sometimes...there my parents would let me build the fires and I always enjoyed sitting in the chair next to it.

 

[Wood1Dennis]

My grandparents had a wood fire range. My folks heated with wood too and of course I would help my dad make firewood. I still love making firewood, it is a great way to enjoy the winter woods. Now we are building, and heating with wood is a no brainier for me! I also like the renewable resource angle, and not having to buy as much propane!