What Is In Your Stove Right Now?

[ctreitzell]

OK, so what is Hazel?

So, which hazel is it? OK, I'll shut up!

Hazel, is essentially a weed here. I have hazel, oak, siberian elm, chestnut, Poplar, holly, cherry, maple, blackthorn and Hawthorn and some ivy species tree (I don’t recognise nor burn) growing in the borders of my properties here. It is not witchazel.

Here’s a photo:
(Obviously not mine)

When I first got here, I bought some firewood and the supplier (a farmer) delivered a lot of white oak and there was some hazel, too. I complained that hazel is not good firewood. He disagreed and informed me hazel is hardwood…Ok…

Then I did some research. One article essentially said that it is a shame to burn hazel. The reason is hazel grows very straight and is easy to split accurately and therefore has so many better uses than firewood. I use it for stakes, posts, levers. Many people here use hazel for handles in sledgehammers. In older barns, the upstairs floor is split hazel spanning joists as a kind of sheeting and then about 6” of clay on top and that is a very sturdy floor!

Needless to say, I have a lot of junk hazel. Plenty that just dies. Plus, it grows very fast; so I always have to keep it under control. Hazel is great kindling and it flames up well so when we need a kick of heat, a few sticks of hazel on a bed of coals gives a nice boost.

Here is some of the hazel on my property :

The larger stand of 3 on the right is chestnut. The two stands of sticks in the middle are hazel. I coppiced them last February and the larger branches are on the ground. Before the coppicing these were just unapproachable, ivy infested, messes.

This is the same area after cleaning up the coppicing. That pile next to the SUV is 90% hazel; some pieces 16-18 feet long. And 2-8 inch rounds; it’s good firewood. Also the branches hanging over the car are hazel.

When I first got here, I used to look down my nose at folks wasting their time handling and stowing branches and not splits. I have adapted. Is it choice firewood? Nah, not like the oak and elm…but it serves an excellent purpose for kindling; and makes a nice supplement to my firewood mix

 

[ctreitzell]

Today’s fire to accompany us through the playoffs tonight

1 chestnut/ 1 Wht oak
Elm/ Oak/ Holly/ Hazel

 

[thewoodlands]

We've been burning ash and with the warmer temps, I haven't been paying attention to them.

 

[ctreitzell]

Hazel on fire

 

[stoveliker]

The stove has been lit again.
Two pine shorties, a sassafras ugly, and some oak scraps to warm up the basement.

 

[MRD1985]

never got a picture but lit the stove around 130 yesterday afternoon, and that kept the house to 69 as of 6 am this morning. I loaded up with some more ash along with 1 piece of oak before I left for work, and that had held the house above 72 all day. Down to mid to low 20s tonight so I’ll reload when I get home tomorrow morning.

I was very impressed. I was able to get the fire going this morning with just blowing on the coals a little and it took right off. About 16 hours!

 

[MangoMcMango]

Two splits of black locust and one cherry.

 

[stoveliker]

34 outside, windy, going down to 28. Upstairs 70.

A reload of oak shorties, three splits of pine, and a stick I found in the stacks.

@MangoMcMango
I had just cleaned out the ashes, so here I spread out the coals rather than raking them forward.
Generally I use the shorter pieces I have in the rack for the bottom layer, so there's space for the coals, and then add 18" splits on top of that.

 

[NickW]

Just got home from another weekend gone. 20 outside, just cleaned the glass and pulled ash out. Small load of some small aspen and cherry warming things up and establishing coals.

 

[NickW]

Nice full load of mostly cherry and white ash with one each of hickory and beech. Nice blue secondaries going.

 

[Pinesmoke]

It seems that winter, the version down here, it's back. Been running pine yesterday until the load last night of oak and beech. Big coals this morning to light up more oak. It's mid teens.

We were headed north this week for work but the wife is sick and I can tell it's coming on me so it's time to just keep up the fire.

 

[Dieselhead]

I have a full load of spruce in this am. Last reload was saturday around 4pm, dang work got in the way. 😜 Home this am house was 65 and heat was calling. ☕️☕️

 

[MRD1985]

Got home from work, cleaned out a little ash, and loaded up with more ash and a split of oak. Nice things out ash wood is it leaves very little if any coals. Burns basically down to nothing. I’ll be sad when it’s gone. My supply of ash is dwindling

 

[ctreitzell]

I’m either at home…or always at work
…I seldom go too far from home…which is where I “work”

Very wet here today and forecast the next 10 days of very wet

14C is too cold in the salon, so Panadero to the rescue

The usual chestnut/ beech/
elm/ Wht oak hazel on top
poplar/ holly/ apple starters

And for the hazel curious, photo of the typical kind of punk I will use…lots ugly, half rotten…but also plenty of non-rotten material

 

[MangoMcMango]

4 splits of locust and 3 cherry. House was 60 two hours ago when I lit the fire. Currently at 67and climbing.

@stoveliker
I took some inspiration from how many you fit in the firebox. This is my largest fire so far and it's really pumping some serious heat out. I hope that my paint is done off-gassing so I don't trigger my smoke detector today!

 

[stoveliker]

The load of yesterday 8 pm is done after 20.5 hrs.
@MangoMcMango this was not even a well-tetrised load, shorties and too much space between them due to some bends and knots.

Upstairs 70, flue still was 300 (as this morning at 8 am).
Outside was warm tho, 38, and sunny so we got good solar gain.

Two oak uglies and a thin split on the coals raked to near the front.

 

[bigealta]

I’m either at home…or always at work
…I seldom go too far from home…which is where I “work”

Very wet here today and forecast the next 10 days of very wet

14C is too cold in the salon, so Panadero to the rescue

The usual chestnut/ beech/
elm/ Wht oak hazel on top
poplar/ holly/ apple starters
View attachment 345032

And for the hazel curious, photo of the typical kind of punk I will use…lots ugly, half rotten…but also plenty of non-rotten material
View attachment 345033

So how do you like living in France and the region you are in? My mom is French but mostly grew up in the US. My brother keeps saying he and his wife are going to move to the French countryside.

 

[stoveliker]

34 outside, 69 upstairs (yeah I heard about it during dinner...).
A mix of red oak and crooked pitch pine now. The stove will get cold again tomorrow, with the relight likely only Thursday.

 

[Dieselhead]

Not quite a full box of hardwoods tonight, 7 pieces I think. today’s spruce load remnants took care of the ignition process.

 

[MRD1985]

Ash tonight

 

[Todd]

I’ve been fighting with some not dry enough Maple. Takes a little longer to light off and have been burning it a little hotter for longer before turning it down to where I need it. I haven’t taken an accurate moisture reading yet but just the outside of a few splits were 15%. I’m sure the inside is probably a little over 20%. This stuff was in the middle of the stacks near the ground. I may mix some dry Aspen in there til I get through it.

 

[bigealta]

I’ve been fighting with some not dry enough Maple. Takes a little longer to light off and have been burning it a little hotter for longer before turning it down to where I need it. I haven’t taken an accurate moisture reading yet but just the outside of a few splits were 15%. I’m sure the inside is probably a little over 20%. This stuff was in the middle of the stacks near the ground. I may mix some dry Aspen in there til I get through it.

I measured a locust split the other day,
Outside was 16%, inside was 26%.

 

[MRD1985]

Mid to low 20s this morning, so put some more ash in the stove. May let it go cold depending on tonight’s temperature.

 

[Todd]

I measured a locust split the other day,
Outside was 16%, inside was 26%.

I just measured a couple of these Maple splits and got 23% inside. These were bucked up into rounds and stacked for a year then split and stacked in my woodshed for two summers. The Red Oak right next to it that was processed the same is all under 20%.🤷

 

[bigealta]

I just measured a couple of these Maple splits and got 23% inside. These were bucked up into rounds and stacked for a year then split and stacked in my woodshed for two summers. The Red Oak right next to it that was processed the same is all under 20%.🤷

Interesting, i wonder if the oak was cut in winter and the maple in spring, summer or fall?