we burn wood from late October/early november until the middle of April.
i live on a farm and cut fallen trees or those struck by lightening, or when a neighbor or friend calls and asks me to cut wood like yesterday
we have a Buck fireplace insert....we live in an old, poorly insulated ranch house, and we use fans to circulate the heat out of the living room and down the hall into the bedrooms The old house is equipped to be heated with diesel fuel and I did that the prior year and spent about $1,200 to $1,500. I figure I saved $2,000+ this past year. I spoke with one guy that spent $3,000 on heating this past year.
i am cutting now on cool evenings and mornings so we will have dry wood this fall. i burn at least 5 chords a year.
i use a Stihl 041 with a 20 inch bar. it is a wood cutting monster when it has a good, sharp chain. But it burns the fuel and it is heavy. And, of course, it has no chain brake so I have this somewhat irrational fear that I'm going to end up limbless someday from kickback. But it eats trees, it always starts and it has very strong compression so I can not rationalize spending $450 for a new Stihl that might end up not being as good. I use a Echo 4400 with a 18 inch bar and that small chain (a .325) to cut up the limbs. It will run at least 30 to 45 minutes, maybe longer, on a tank of gas and is much lighter...it seems to run forever compared to the Stihl. But it is slow on anything more than 6+ inch in diameter. For 7-12 inch cuts I put the 16" 3/8 chain and bar on the Stihl and take it through that stuff like a hot knife through butter.
I really enjoy cutting wood and the exercise and thought required to not get yourself in a tough spot with fallen trees.
My wife enjoys spiltting wood and does most of the splitting. She looks like a model, and has the figure of one too, and that's a pretty cool combination. My kids have to bring it in every evening and that's a good chore for them. The kids also take out the ashes once per week.
I am an attorney and the wife is a stay at home mom that home schools. I cut up fallen trees for people that can't afford a tree service, and firewood for people that need it but are a little short on cash.
Life is good here in Kentucky. We never needed to heat our place with wood when we lived in Atlanta, but in Atlanta I never had a good context for telling my kids about the grasshopper and the ant and how our family is like the grasshopper by cutting wood in the spring in preparation for the winter that is sure to come.
opcorn:
Heat with a Avalon Rainer. Go through about 10 face(16" logs.) I had it delivered for the past 3 years but went to log loads this year, much nicer to cut myself. Millman
