Winter finally decides to show up when I have a ton of splitting to do

[Rangerbait]

Now that Winter Storm Stella has passed, I'm hoping for some more season-appropriate weather so I can get out and finish the Holz Hausen...the wife has declared a moratorium on further wood gathering expeditions until the current hoard is split and stacked...something about the neighborhood thinking we're a bunch of hillbillies or something. Uh, honey...we live in West Virginia.

 

[HisTreeNut]

I feel your pain...just split a ton of wood and have it piled. Have a bunch more to split at a friend's house. I dropped an obvious hint that the remaining wood I will need a splitter for and the wifey said that maybe i could stack the wood with the kiddos tomorrow as Spring Break/Vacation is almost over. I think she was ignoring me...

 

[Rangerbait]

I feel your pain...just split a ton of wood and have it piled. Have a bunch more to split at a friend's house. I dropped an obvious hint that the remaining wood I will need a splitter for and the wifey said that maybe i could stack the wood with the kiddos tomorrow as Spring Break/Vacation is almost over. I think she was ignoring me...

I've done everything by hand up to this point too, but borrowing a friend's splitter as soon as the snow melts...that Shagbark Hickory is tough to split!

 

[Woody5506]

I'm the new guy in my neighborhood so sometimes I get the paranoid "what are the neighbors thinking" mentality going through my head as I keep bringing more and more wood home. Normally I just keep it next to my garage, fairly out of sight.

That being said, I feel your pain. Way too much snow on the ground to do any efficient splitting.

 

[baseroom]

Hmmm here in Chili......the neighbors walk their dogs.....see me splitting wood on the side of the garage and just stare and shake their heads!

 

[Woody5506]

I guess it kinda goes along with the "why would you be doing that in this day and age" mentality. Why not just have a gas stove or fireplace so you can press a button and be done with It? That's a question I get asked constantly, mostly by my parents and the other older crowd. My Dad is absolutely convinced I will ditch the wood stove in 5 more years and go to gas. I say NO WAY.

 

[Rangerbait]

I guess it kinda goes along with the "why would you be doing that in this day and age" mentality. Why not just have a gas stove or fireplace so you can press a button and be done with It? That's a question I get asked constantly, mostly by my parents and the other older crowd. My Dad is absolutely convinced I will ditch the wood stove in 5 more years and go to gas. I say NO WAY.

Haha...my ultra-liberal neighbor just asked me the same thing a couple of days ago...she said "why are you putting all of this money into installing a wood stove, instead of trying to make your heat pump run more efficiently?"

These are the folks that spent $40k on a geothermal heat pump system, and still ended up with a $500 electric bill in December for a house with two people in it.

 

[baseroom]

BTW...that stack of wood against the sun is, heavenly!

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

Haha...my ultra-liberal neighbor just asked me the same thing a couple of days ago...she said "why are you putting all of this money into installing a wood stove, instead of trying to make your heat pump run more efficiently?"

These are the folks that spent $40k on a geothermal heat pump system, and still ended up with a $500 electric bill in December for a house with two people in it.

Yikes. And let's be honest, 74 degrees in a house 'heated' with a heat pump feels like 55 degrees compared to 74 degrees in a house heated with a wood burning stove.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

My Dad is absolutely convinced I will ditch the wood stove in 5 more years and go to gas.

Not my dad, but others have said the same to me. I tell them the past 25 have went well, so I don't see another 25 being an issue (plus/minus a few more aches and pains, which personally don't bother me.......yet).

Yikes. And let's be honest, 74 degrees in a house 'heated' with a heat pump feels like 55 degrees compared to 74 degrees in a house heated with a wood burning stove.

True. And so many other reasons as to why wood burning is the superior source for heat. Sustainability, control of your own circumstances, $$$$, power outages, the spiritual and physical blessing of manual labor, quality time with kids....etc.

 

[Rangerbait]

BTW...that stack of wood against the sun is, heavenly!

I agree! I can't believe how much I was missing not only the process of hunting for wood, felling standing deads, bucking it up into those purdy 18" rounds, loading them in the truck and watching the truck sag under the weight of captured BTUs, but also just having nice wood stacks in the yard. I'm really digging the Holz Hausen technique, and plan to process the rest of the rounds I have so I can finish them off. I have one that's strictly Poplar, and is holding 3.5 cords (9' diameter x 7' height), one that I call my "miscellaneous seasoned hardwoods" Holz Hausen that consists of Cherry, Black Walnut, Hickory, Mulberry, Hackberry, and soon Ash that will hold a little over 5 cords (11' diameter x 7' height), then one that will be my long-term seasoning Holz Hausen that will also be an 11 footer, and consist mainly of Shagbark Hickory at this point.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

BTW...that stack of wood against the sun is, heavenly!

The place in front of our stacks facing south is one of our favorite places in the yard. We like to take our outside chairs to that spot and bask in the glory throughout the year. Our neighbors look at us and wonder, as they drive from the gym to the couch and back.