Anyone else sick of burning wood?

[farmermike]

I think maybe I'm getting burned out. It's not so much the burning wood, I love the heat it gives off, as it is all the work involved. I've been heating my house for 17 years with wood. Before that is was the folks house. I'm not getting any younger and its alot more work than it used to be. My time is limited and it seems every spare moment is spent cutting wood in the fall. I'm thinking of having an lp furnace installed for next year. The gov't rebate thing has helped to make up my mind. I'm not going to completely quit burning wood but it would be nice to burn it when I want not the other way around. I can afford the lp, thats not the issue. I've been cutting wood for so long it would seem weird to not have to depend on it. I would still heat my shop with wood and house during jan and feb, and imagine in no time I would have a five year supply for that. To only have to cut four or five cord a year would make it seem fun. I've got plenty of easy cutting so thats not the problem. Anybody else go through this. I have thought of just buying the wood but that isn't done much around hear. Would like to hear what you guys think. Thanks

 

[dingeryote]

Nah.
I like the routine, and the cutting. The constantly new puzzle of felling every tree and playing with the saws.

What I could live without is stacking and hauling the splits.

Split and stack, load into the truck and restack in the ready rack, and then transfer to the deck rack.

I need a 360' conveyor from the woodpile.

The heat is worth it to me though, and I hate paying for Propane.

Buying split wood is a waste of money IMO, and leaves ya with time to spend $$$ doing something less constructive, so call it a waste of entertainment value.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[ziggo_2]

It cost me between 350 and 500 dollars a month to heat with lp, and thats only heating half of the 2500 sq ft house...Are you sure you want to switch to the darkside...lp for backup is ok, but I avoid it by all means.

 

[qweesdraw]

I put in a new furnace 2 years ago basically for the AC for the summertime.It's kind of nice to have a new shiny furnace down in the basement!
I think it works good?(i hear it kick on if it gets real cold or if i didn't put in enough wood in prior to going to bed)
It has kicked on 6X i think? (maybe i should clean the filter)
The new furnaces are very efficient and i haven't had any problems so far.
The only problem i see is you are going to be the subject of a new energy crisis!
Especially with propane.
BP was fined a few million for fixing propane prices a few years ago.(propane never dropped in price and it just went up?)
All though not having to be a slave to the wood stove is kind of nice and a luxury a new FAKE energy crisis will be coming up soon.
As i recall a few years back we were going to run out of oil and gas was $4.50 a gallon.(suddenly they found some?)
I would keep a backup of wood at least for a year.
Enjoy energy prices while they are low.
Mark
P.S. since i assume you Farm
Why not put in a stove that burns corn?

 

[fubar2]

Cutting wood is a pretty good source of exercise. I'm getting old too but if I don't get out and cut wood every so often it seems like something is missing. My wish for Christmas is to get some sort of bungee cord set up that I could reel the stove in to my easy chair, fill it, then let it snap back into place. Trotting up and down basement stairs every few hours is for the birds. The form of heat that it is and the bucks saved keeps me goin and I gotta admit chainsaws and risking a tree crushing me is kinda kinky and fun at the same time.

 

[Uncle John]

The longer you keep active, the longer you live.

 

[gwiley]

No

Although I save $5,000/year on LP that I don't burn, I don't heat with wood for the economics as much as the way it helps keep me in exercise and spending time outdoors.

After 40 I noticed that it is much nicer to sit till and not move the parts that hurt - and once I passed 250lbs I decided that was a bad idea. My 64 year old Dad is fit as a fiddle and can outsaw me any day of the week. Now, its not that logging is a measure of manliness, its that I want to be on my feet and healthy at his age and that just won't happen if I don't keep moving.

I can't cope with the boredom of exercise at a gym - I'd rather die, so logging is THE answer for long term fitness for me. I am paranoid about safety and wear every and wear every piece of PPE I can find so my gamble is that the work out will beat the risk of serious injury.

 

[abohac]

It gets old

I think maybe I'm getting burned out. It's not so much the burning wood, I love the heat it gives off, as it is all the work involved. I've been heating my house for 17 years with wood. Before that is was the folks house. I'm not getting any younger and its alot more work than it used to be. My time is limited and it seems every spare moment is spent cutting wood in the fall. I'm thinking of having an lp furnace installed for next year. The gov't rebate thing has helped to make up my mind. I'm not going to completely quit burning wood but it would be nice to burn it when I want not the other way around. I can afford the lp, thats not the issue. I've been cutting wood for so long it would seem weird to not have to depend on it. I would still heat my shop with wood and house during jan and feb, and imagine in no time I would have a five year supply for that. To only have to cut four or five cord a year would make it seem fun. I've got plenty of easy cutting so thats not the problem. Anybody else go through this. I have thought of just buying the wood but that isn't done much around hear. Would like to hear what you guys think. Thanks

I'm pretty well set up to make a lot of wood fast (I have to cut for myself, my dads house and his shop). I like cutting wood but don't want to spend every moment doing it, so when we go to the woods, I take our backhoe, splitter, grain truck and cut enough in a couple days for each stove. Get it over with.

 

[Marc]

Ok, aside from still being in love with wood harvesting, despite having been actively involved in all facets of it since I was old enough to walk (ok, my old man waited until I was about 13 before I ran the saw, but you get the idea), I wouldn't give up on wood burning simply because I have a very strong frugal Yankee mentality ingrained in my psyche. It's part of me now.

That means I'll never turn the heat up above 60. Mostly it stays at 55. If I didn't burn wood, that wouldn't change, because I hate paying for oil. So I'd be cold and miserable all winter long.



It's a simple choice for me: burn wood or suffer.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

The longer you keep active, the longer you live.

Yep. My grandma quit tilling her garden at 95, and was dead 4 years later.

 

[MS460WOODCHUCK]

Yep, it's a part of life to me and I love it. Not to mention how nice it is to watch the fire glow and heat my home for FREE basically.

 

[KD57]

Nope, I love cutting and burning wood, always have, and always will.

 

[chucker]

i shudder at the thought! TOOK A VACATION FROM HEATING THE HOME WITH WOOD FOR 15 YEARS ? WHAT A STUPID THOUGHT THAT WAS!!! with the price of propane on the up swing and no stoping in site........ "SHUDDER AGAIN"........the new start up was to either repair the old chimmney or replace it. so after a new block setup good to go 500.00 well spent. still have the old home made stove from 83, i think i remember ?? makeing it then??? so far a little over 2 cords and proud to be back without ever turning my neck again !!!!!!!! " MERRY CHRISTMAS " everyone.........................

 

[chugbug]

I know a guy that built a brand new house maybe 4 years ago , he installed a OWB and know back up heat that I know of . He doesn't have very much of his own wood to cut and relies on a tri-axle load every year . He says a good load will heat his house for the year, about 7 cords . Right now a tri-axle load in my area is going for about 500.00 , not to bad to heat your house for the year and a whole lot easier than felling and hauling . Bucking up a load of logs goes pretty fast and would take alot of the work out of it for you , They unload the logs with a cherry picker so there able to place three logs down first then stack the rest of the logs across the three on the ground so the whole load is up off the ground and easier to cut .

 

[Butch(OH)]

When I was young I hated it. Dad's saw weighed 193 lbs. Everything that you might be able to get a 2x4 out of was taken to the mill and either sawed for lumber or sold. All that was left was knots, twigs and spiral wood and we split that with a double bit axe and a sledge and wedges, never even had a maul. I did learn a lesson though, when my boys got old enough to help I tried to make it a pleasurable experiance. Broke them in on a saw early and I split while they cut. Bought them their own saws so they could boast to thier buddies. Took them to town to eat every time we cut. Now 18 and 20 they look forwards to helping with the wood supply. I do have equipment to help inluding a barn full of tractors, a skid steer and our home built processor/splitter. We try to cut in pleasent weather meaning starting in September and being done by December 1. We save a lot of money if you do not include the saw hobby we have picked up but quite honestly if I didnt enjoy it I would quit, sell the equipmnet and take on a part time job to earn the 3-4K it would take to heat the place with gas.

 

[AIM]

I think maybe I'm getting burned out. It's not so much the burning wood, I love the heat it gives off, as it is all the work involved. I've been heating my house for 17 years with wood. Before that is was the folks house.

After all those years cutting I wouldn't feel to bad about relying on propane more. Get a good high efficiency furnace installed and just burn when ya feel like it. It might surprise you how much a $1000 worth of propane will cut down on your wood harvesting.

I have a friend in the same shoes as you. He's been burning for so many years that he's just sick of it. Bitcces and complains every time he has to go cut. His wood furnace is in dire need of replacement but I'm betting it just gets tossed and a small woodstove installed so he can just burn when he wants to.

 

[Longshot]

Just stop for a while.
Relax, sit back; listen to the furnace grind on....and on, and picture those jihadists grinning as they spend your oil money on land-to-air missiles and such.
....think too, of the platelets starting to congeal in your arteries,
....and the lost sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that follows a days work in the woods.
Where's my saw........?

 

[Zodiac45]

There are times when I might rather be doing something else but I'll always be a wood burner. It's a challenge to me every year to see how low I can get the oil usage. The pay off is at times like these (tonight) when my family will be over for Christmas Eve Lobsters and everyones hanging out in the kitchen round the old Glenwood cookstove. Priceless!

 

[gwiley]

Just stop for a while.
Relax, sit back; listen to the furnace grind on....and on, and picture those jihadists grinning as they spend your oil money on land-to-air missiles and such.
....think too, of the platelets starting to congeal in your arteries,
....and the lost sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that follows a days work in the woods.
Where's my saw........?

Well said!!!

 

[MotorSeven]

Mike, 17 years might take the grin off my face too. Have you thought about up grading your old wood burners to new effecient stoves? The new stuff burns about half as much wood as 20 years ago. I think you have "earned" the right to step up, and besides, the $1500 tax credit ain't bad either.

Propane back up is not a bad idea, but I'd hate to be tied solely to either gas or elec. I'm not so sure those things are always going to be at or finger tips.

RD