What Is In Your Stove Right Now?

[ctreitzell]

And all my strays, Jim (closest) braving the vibe of the newbies (Anika and Jupiter) who showed up 2 years ago. Jim’s been here since 2018

 

[MRD1985]

Still playing catch up with indoor temps so put in a 3/4 load of ash.

 

[Dieselhead]

I burned down coals all day unassisted. Just now I dropped a few spruce splits on to add some btu while the coals are still doing their thing. I had a solid 6-8” of coals this am now down to about 2” holy coaly…..

 

[NickW]

Just got home after leaving Saturday morning. Cleaned up the glass and emptied the ash. Load of small stuff heating the flue and firing up the charcoal. Will be cherry, birch and white ash overnight.

 

[all night moe]

?!? Only benefits? You saying hickory and ironwood are better firewood than Madrone and Manzanita? Hmmmmm

I'm saying this winter is historical of winters that were a common occurrence in the NE. Man has used these hardwoods to stay warm for decades. Not only are they good BTU hardwoods, they are also beautiful when milled. Are they better than Madrone and Manzanita? I don't know.....I wasn't comparing them, and I don't care to.

What I am saying is, the hardwoods we have here are of benefit to us. That offsets the brutal winters we sometimes endure here.

 

[all night moe]

Almost 2 hrs ago, I visited the dragon in her lair, the load of coals in her big belly showed she's been eating well again. All the rounds recently processed have been checkering nicely on the ends while developing good ring tones, thanks to the added air circulation in the lair.

With a low of 13 and a real of nine, I placed two 5x5'' W pine splits side by side, center of coal bed. Next entre was 3 overly large splits of W oak. These were processed last spring and didn't split well by hand due to crotches and knots, so I left them large. 2 flanked the pine while one rested on top. On top of all that were 2 more W oak splits from my recently processed rounds. They were also 5x5''.

These were all fed 2hrs ago. In another hour I'll report back on the dragon's digestion.

 

[thewoodlands]

Wow... we had it easy in comparison with something below 0, single digits.

I wish I had an overnight fire last night, the basement temp was 64 this morning.

 

[thewoodlands]

Tonight will be all ironwood in the Liberty. The last I looked it was 7, a frickin heatwave!

 

[MRD1985]

Ash and hickory tonight. Low of 11.

 

[all night moe]

Just came up from the lair. Same sized coal bed remains. The 2 smaller W oak splits were Intact but coaled up. One broke apart after prodding. I like the trick of using some pine splits while adding premiums on top. I cam maintain the big coal bed while not getting overburdened.

I added more splits of mostly red and some white oak. With the large coal bed i decided to burn these splits old school. I left the door open for 5-10 minutes while watching the c=splits off gas. Beautiful blue and white flames held me captive. After closing the door i choked the air down to almost closed, forcing a much slower burn. I'll see how this rides till about 2am.

 

[MRD1985]

More hickory and ash.

 

[all night moe]

I missed my 2am visit with the ole girl. I couldn't sleep and was about till around 1:30. It was pretty cold out but, I never checked the weather. I did a quick visit in the lair as my eyes were drawing heavy. Added 3 medium sized splits of Red oak and 2 black locust on top of coals and glowing split remnants.

I woke up to the dog licking my face, LOL. He wanted to go out so I walked him. Came back inside and everything felt warm so, I ignored the dragon's cries knowing the cold spell was ending. Got up at 8 for coffee, still ignoring the dragon. Went down around 10:30 and shoveled 4 scoops of ash out of the front. After raking the coals, I tossed in some popular splits, ash, and 2 smaller splits of R oak. Gonna keep her fed decently to bring the crawlspace up to temp.

 

[MRD1985]

Hickory and ash with a sliver of oak.

Nice rolling blue flames I had on some oak and mulberry uglies earlier . Pictures never do it justice as usual

 

[MRD1985]

Mostly ash this morning . Going to be a little warmer today after a little snow last night.

 

[Dieselhead]

I loaded up some hardwoods around 6 last night. I have enough to last the day with these temps. Glass is darkening up and back to once a day reloads, for now….. (insert evil laugh) 😈

 

[thewoodlands]

We had 24 degrees this morning, the temps up here was 66 & 67.

 

[ctreitzell]

Interior temps hovering around 15C/ 60F
So, cheaper than elec, I lit up some garbage hardwood

1 little stick of Chestnut and the rest is Wht oak and hazel except the fat short of elm on the hinge side. Wild Animal (Jim) and White Lion (Jupiter)…doing my best to broker these guys getting along. Jupe is the problem animal in the equation.

I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday; Jim is interested at ignition time and he was quick to grab a close position yesterday

 

[NickW]

20 degrees with a light breeze and sunny. 2nd load of aspen is in keeping the missus comfy up in the loft where her work station is. Cleared some more space in the basement to lay down a couple more pallets so I'm able to keep more wood inside to warm up and dry out. Heated, single layer with a fan on it. Pole shed builder let me keep the steel cover sheets from the build. 10 - 37"x8-12' ribbed steel pieces will allow me to start top covering my outside stacks 😁. I might put eye bolts in them and tie them down rather than trying to weight them down...?

 

[ctreitzell]

I'm saying this winter is historical of winters that were a common occurrence in the NE. Man has used these hardwoods to stay warm for decades. Not only are they good BTU hardwoods, they are also beautiful when milled. Are they better than Madrone and Manzanita? I don't know.....I wasn't comparing them, and I don't care to.

What I am saying is, the hardwoods we have here are of benefit to us. That offsets the brutal winters we sometimes endure here.

Ah, ok, thanks for clarifying

Probably enough decades to mount up to centuries or even millennia ;-P

I did sand and finish a house once that was all hickory, beautiful

And I’ve certainly refinished a lot of oak and Doug fir in my day!

I’d love to compare the various species for firewood geek knowledge, not as a competition…It’s pure curiosity…and like I say, I don’t see anyone on this forum talking about Madrone or Manzanita…I can go looking on internet

 

[Dieselhead]

Back to once a day loading burning hardwoods low ‘n slow. Highs mid 30’s lows mid 20’s. Wife will reload tomorrow night. Here’s this evenings:

 

[MRD1985]

Ash and hickory with a sliver of oak again tonight.

Edit. 1 split of beech in there too on the bottom.

 

[NickW]

21 going down to 1. White ash, cherry, birch and hickory just went in.

 

[ctreitzell]

No fire yesterday

Today, the management requested an early cold start

People coming over for meeting in the living room. It isn’t cold, yet continuous rain and no sun sours the mood for some. Fire helps. I know the felines always want fire.

Typical wood junk to deliver free heat
1chestnut/ 1 Wht oak
thick short of elm kindled with hazel/oak/elm

 

[MRD1985]

Never got to post before yesterday before work. A lot of oak and beech, burned hot and long (could tell by thermostat temps remotely).

And this morning. Cleaned out some ash wiped down the glass. More oak, beech and sugar maple.

 

[fvhowler]

After a cold start to February, we've turned mild in central NC. Getting by with 1-2 fires each day. Tonight, I'm burning well-seasoned to partially rotten red oak.