Just starting out with firewood. Have some questions....

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New to burning wood

Thanks to everyone for you advice. I am starting to learn a thing or two. First, I have another question about how much I need. I have been told that I only need 2 cords. I burned 360 gallons of kerosene last year and was told that 1 cord=215 gallons of kerosene. ? Is this true? My house is a doublewide brand new and is extremely well insulated. Once it gets warm it stays that way for a good long time. Of course I will still have the kerosene as a backup and I will be able to get dry wood in the middle of the winter if I need it.

I had 2 cords of green delivered yesterday and all of it wasn't split into 4's so now I have to split it. Also, some pieces are longer than will fit in my stove. I told the people I could not handle anything longer than 18". I got the 2 cords for $300 which was a good price. They raised their price to $175 a cord after they delivered to me !

I am trying to find 2 cords of seasoned but it is hard to find "real" seasoned. I talked to a guy today who wants $180 for semi-seasoned and then he told me that it is cut and split and has been laying out in the woods for 4 months. So, it is not covered and to me that means it is not dry. What do you guys think about that? Does seasoned mean dry from the elements as well as the wood being dry on the inside? He also has green for $140 a cord.

Then I spoke to someone else who has green for $180 and kiln dried for $250. I thought the $250 price was very good for kiln dried.

I am not sure what I will do but know that I can get the kiln dried anytime I want if in a pinch. It will probably cost me $200 a cord for seasoned so I am thinking I should buy 2 cords of Kiln dried this year so that I am sure it is dry??? Especially since I new to all of this. I surely don't want to struggle with wood burning my first year. I have never run a wood stove before and am a little nervous.

My friend has a wood-splitter so I will be splitting up the 2 cords that I have received and stack it in the sun on pallets.
What does everyone do for kindling??

I find this all so interesting and it is addictive. I can absolutely see myself running around finding free wood. Just like going to garage sales. The problem is, I don't have a truck. Will have to pile it into the back of my Honda. :)
Thanks for your help !!
Suzanne
PS- I don't have alot money to buy many cords of wood and am trying to keep it down to 4.
 
It also depends on your stove; some are more efficient than others.
But 2 cords will not be enough if your stove is your main heat source. Last season I burn two loads per night and I went through a little over 3 cords.
As for seasoned wood, for me at least. I get my green wood fully stacked this month and it will be good to burn late fall.
But I also sweep my own chimney a couple times a year.
 
I have never used kerosene heat before so I did a quick google on the BTU of kerosene. I found 135000 BTU per gallon so with a little quick math that comes to 29 million BTU for 215 gallons. So what you were told is accurate if compared to the best firewood out there (Osage Orange) if it is properly seasoned. Looking at a few firewood BTU charts I find that most of the wood I burn (White Oak, Hickory, Red Oak, Beech, Locust) fall in the 22-25 million BTU per cord range. Again these numbers are based on seasoned wood. If you look a little farther down the charts you find that woods like Cottonwood, Cedar, White Pine fall in the 10-13 million BTU range. But if you are burning wood that isn't properly seasoned (below 20% moisture content) you lose some of the heat producing ability of the wood because it first has to boil off the excess water in the wood. This makes you fire burn cooler, produce more smoke and can cause rapid creosote buildup. One of my favorite firewood, White Oak, is often disliked because it takes so long to season. Most of the uninformed wood burners out there will throw a less than year old white oak log on the fire only to have it smolder and not burn and leave them a big chunk of log unburned in a cold firebox in the morning. Due to the structure of white oak it holds it moisture longer and takes a long time to dry. Other woods like ash have a lower moisture content when cut and will dry quickly. Basically what I am saying is 2 cords of wood will only produce the same amount of heat that you had last year under ideal conditions.

Me personally I wouldn't mess with kiln dried wood. It will add a lot of cost to you heating bill and unless you can verify the moisture content (moisture meter on a fresh split surface) you may not be getting truly dry wood. That said I have never been faced with buying firewood and have always been at least a year ahead on cutting my own. So if you have to buy kiln dried wood to get a proper seasoned wood for your first year burning that would be much better than burning some "semi-seasoned" or green wood that will leave you cold, creosote filled chimney, smoke filled neighborhood, and with a bad first experience with wood heat.

As for kindling if you keep a fire going all winter long you wont need much kindling. But if you only burn at night and let it go out in the morning you will need a lot of kindling, newspaper, cardboard, fire starters, etc... For my kindling I just take an ax, hatchet, maul to some of my firewood to make some small pieces to get the fire going with. Others have suggested going by small construction sites and picking up scraps, but only do this if you have the owner/ builder permission. Another option may be scrap pallets, but you may have to deal with some nails.

One last thing, nothing wrong with scrounging wood in the back of a Honda, if it gets the job done. But if you want to keep your car looking nice and not a trunk full of wood chips, it might be a good idea to keep an eye on craigslist for a small trailer. Just a suggestion though, don't go blow all your firewood money on a trailer and hitch setup for your car. For what some people spend on their trailer setup you could buy a cheap beater pickup that could do the same job.
 
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Lots of good advice so far Suzanne. If you are going to split down the wood you just bought, get a big Rubbermaid tote to take along with when you split it. You will have a bunch of small pieces that build up under the splitter as you split. Voila - kindling! Besides "splitter trash", I get free scraps from a local place that makes canoe paddles and hockey sticks. Check local cabinet shops, etc. for a source of kindling.

Scavenging is rewarding for sure, and the grocery getter can be put to work, just be reasonable and don't try to overload it. If you get a big score, find a friend with a truck. If you dont have any friends with trucks, make some new friends :D

It's good to be getting ready now. Best of luck with your wood heating.

BTW, an unwritten rule of this site is to post pictures of your stove, firewood scores, any new equipment you get, etc. We :heart: pictures!
 
Like Steve NW WI said, The small scraps, pieces that accumulate from the splitting process is what I use for kindling. One large plastic trash bag full usually gets me through the winter. I use an indoor wood furnace in the basement of an older farm house.
Since we insulated and got new windows and such, the wood demand went down considerably. This last winter took 4 cord from Nov. 1st. till sometime in march. Before, used to take around 7 cord.

Like others have said, Ash is a great firewood that you can burn almost green. But prefer to season a bit at least. Around here, in NW Ohio, The Ash borer has hit hard. So ash is very plentiful in these parts. Don't know if your region has it yet or not. The last couple years I have cut, split, and sold allot of Ash to friends and neighbors for $100 per cord, they pick up..LOL and the love it .

:cheers:
Gregg,
 
wood heater

butterfly7171 said:
Thanks to everyone for you advice. I am starting to learn a thing or two. First, I have another question about how much I need. I have been told that I only need 2 cords. I burned 360 gallons of kerosene last year and was told that 1 cord=215 gallons of kerosene. ? Is this true? My house is a doublewide brand new and is extremely well insulated. Once it gets warm it stays that way for a good long time. Of course I will still have the kerosene as a backup and I will be able to get dry wood in the middle of the winter if I need it.

I had 2 cords of green delivered yesterday and all of it wasn't split into 4's so now I have to split it. Also, some pieces are longer than will fit in my stove. I told the people I could not handle anything longer than 18". I got the 2 cords for $300 which was a good price. They raised their price to $175 a cord after they delivered to me !

I am trying to find 2 cords of seasoned but it is hard to find "real" seasoned. I talked to a guy today who wants $180 for semi-seasoned and then he told me that it is cut and split and has been laying out in the woods for 4 months. So, it is not covered and to me that means it is not dry. What do you guys think about that? Does seasoned mean dry from the elements as well as the wood being dry on the inside? He also has green for $140 a cord.

Then I spoke to someone else who has green for $180 and kiln dried for $250. I thought the $250 price was very good for kiln dried.

I am not sure what I will do but know that I can get the kiln dried anytime I want if in a pinch. It will probably cost me $200 a cord for seasoned so I am thinking I should buy 2 cords of Kiln dried this year so that I am sure it is dry??? Especially since I new to all of this. I surely don't want to struggle with wood burning my first year. I have never run a wood stove before and am a little nervous.

My friend has a wood-splitter so I will be splitting up the 2 cords that I have received and stack it in the sun on pallets.
What does everyone do for kindling??

I find this all so interesting and it is addictive. I can absolutely see myself running around finding free wood. Just like going to garage sales. The problem is, I don't have a truck. Will have to pile it into the back of my Honda. :)
Thanks for your help !!
Suzanne
PS- I don't have alot money to buy many cords of wood and am trying to keep it down to 4.
Click to expand...

if your house is that tight you need the kind of heater rated for it, with an additional outside air source plumbed/piped to the heater. Just a thought....

Scrounging, big fun! heheheheh While you are scrounging, keep an eye out for saws! Even if you don't want one, the dudes here might take any nice specimens off your hands. Might help to pay for the wood! Just keep asking and looking for free or real cheap ones, and it don't matter what they are. I got a free stihl woodboss (needs a lot of work) a few weeks ago just by asking around.

If you can't get real dry seasoned, there's nothing for it other than split smaller and hope it dries. It'll burn up faster in the heater, but it will throw heat then. Semi green wood even if it burns is using a lot of the heat energy just to dry itself out, plus it gunks up your pipe and chimney faster. So, it will help to find as much really dry scrounged wood to add to the pile, branches, chunks whatever.

Line your honda trunk or seat whatever with a tarp real good up the sides, etc, then you can carefully fold it and drag it out and shake it out and not have all sorts of wood cooties that fall off in your ride.

bwahahahah, I can see it now, after one winter you'll be wanting to trade in that honda and look for a truck!

I've had good luck with my old japanese truck, four cylinder five speed manual, gets as good of mileage as an economy car, but can haul some stuff!
 
New to burning wood

I am already searching for a truck to replace my car, but the tarp idea sounds like a good one. Drove by a lumber yard today and saw lots of free wood outside. There is actually all kinds of wood around if you look for it. It just isn't something I looked at in the past. !
I am going to probably get 2 more cords of green and then try to dry what I have. If it doesn't do well by September, October the I can always buy a cord of kiln dried just for this year.
The load I just got was mostly maple and oak so I will have to figure the BTu's on that. But, I plan on having 3 cords to burn just in case the 2 is not enough.
I want a truck NOW but just don't have the money.... :( But I did buy myself a cool axe in Lowes the other day. Can't wait to try it out. ! Every time I get annoyed at somebody I can go chop wood. :)
I was going to get a pellet stove and am glad I didn't. I have not heard any great stories about them.
Thanks to all !!
 
alternative to truck and PICS

OK, you can't afford a truck, but bet you might be able to afford a real small trailer! Any car will tow a trailer if it is sized correctly..

Anyway, the unofficial rule here is pictures! Even crappy cellphone pics (that's all I ever have). Need pics of the wood stash, your heater, your 'scrounge" wood in your honda hauler, and your new axe! yaaaa!
 
Pics of wood, axes and car !

Ok, here are some pictures for review. Please send any comments except don't insult my car trunk.. :)

The two wood pics are the 2 cords of wood that I received 2 days ago.

Axes, - 1 axe I just bought in Lowes and the other is a friend's. I don't have a clue on how to swing an axe. Can anybody tell me where I can find instructions? I don't want to cut off my leg. It won't burn well in the stove... :)

Also, a picture of my honda trunk where I will loading up with free wood. A trailer is a good idea.. I am looking now...

Suzanne
 
splitting, start small

butterfly7171 said:
Ok, here are some pictures for review. Please send any comments except don't insult my car trunk.. :)

The two wood pics are the 2 cords of wood that I received 2 days ago.

Axes, - 1 axe I just bought in Lowes and the other is a friend's. I don't have a clue on how to swing an axe. Can anybody tell me where I can find instructions? I don't want to cut off my leg. It won't burn well in the stove... :)

Also, a picture of my honda trunk where I will loading up with free wood. A trailer is a good idea.. I am looking now...

Suzanne
Click to expand...

I guess, first you need a chopping block or splitting block. A generic "round" of firewood that you lay nice and flat and stack your chunk to be split on top of it. You have plenty pof smaller ones to practice on. You'll have to scrounge the block though! ha! Doubt you can get one, lift it, into your honda, so unfortunately someone will have to bring you one. Well, maybe, not trying to be sexist here, you just want a heavy and flat sound big chunk. You want it big and stout, but not real tall unless you are pro basketball/amazon tall. (boy, I ain't, I use a short block, a foot or so high is fine for me, I am 5'5")

Next, any old worn out car tire you can lay on top of the splitting block. Stand three or four of your normal chunks you have up inside the tire on top of the block. The tire keeps them from flying off, plus helps with axe "overswing" and makes splitting loads safer.

Hmmmm...can't be there to show...over the head, eye on the chunk right where you want the axe to hit, and let er rip! Straight and focused is better than raw power. Take your time, baby swings, work your way up. That new axe you have has splitting wedges built into it, I can see that, so there ya go, practice and make you some kindling. If you want to start with just half swings, not over your head, go for it. Take your time. Hitting where you aim is the goal, speed and power comes later. Sort of like karate. Technique first, power later. Take some of those already split chunks you have, split them in half again. That's some good practice.

We have a lot of fiskars axe freaks here, so a search on that will get ya pics and some vids, also splitting using a bungee cord instead of a tire (I like the tire better, but you can do multiple big rounds at a time with a bungee cord, tradeoffs...)

Here, mash this link:

http://www.google.com/search?sclien...ng,+fiskars+site:arboristsite.com&btnG=Search

--axes are used both for chopping and splitting. Chopping a tree down or taking the limbs off is a different subject. We can get into that later. Nowadays most guys use a saw for those tasks, but it is still useful.

You can also search on youtube for splitting wood with a maul or axe.
 
Butterfly,

Something all of us failed miserably to mention.

Learn to identify tree species from it's bark, smell, texture, and what it looks like split.

Seperate that Oak from the Maple in the load ya just got.
Stack it seperate from each other.

The Maple will likely be ready to run this winter, the Oak might not be and best saved for next season.

There are also several different species of "Maple" and they are of two classes. Fast burning and low BTU or slow burning and higher BTU. Of course the fast burning stuff grows like weeds and is most common.


Sort your stacks in BTU's and burn rates with the Oak, Hard(Sugar) Maple, Osage orange, and Locust in an area where you can get to it easiest, and shovel snow away from easiest.
Those will be the "dead of coldest winter, snow up to the skivvies, wind howling and need another load" stacks.

A "Ready stack" near the house that holds a couple days worth in reserve, as well as some quick warm up wood and kindling can be a
blessing during those 2-3 day winter blasts.

Good luck with the new Hobby.
It can be a lot more engrossing than many realize, and quite fun at the same time.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote
 
butterfly7171 said:
Ok, here are some pictures for review. Please send any comments except don't insult my car trunk.. :)

The two wood pics are the 2 cords of wood that I received 2 days ago.

Axes, - 1 axe I just bought in Lowes and the other is a friend's. I don't have a clue on how to swing an axe. Can anybody tell me where I can find instructions? I don't want to cut off my leg. It won't burn well in the stove... :)



Suzanne
Click to expand...

Look at the checks (cracks) in the rounds, as well as the knots. The wood will tell you how to split it, reading them comes w/ experience. Also, I find that whether w/ an axe or maul, the speed of the head is more important than the grunt force
"uugghh" of the swing. Kind of like cracking a whip
 
On splitting wood

Some good advice here on how to split wood, but to start at a very basic (don't cut your leg off) level.

Set a piece of wood to be split on a flat, level surface. Old stumps are perfect, another piece of wood is good, flat hard ground will work. Do not use a hard surface like concrete or metal or anything else that you would damage your axe on. Assuming that you are average height you would want something in the range of 10-16 inch tall stump or block of wood to split on, experiment here to find your perfect height splitting block, start with your feet shoulder width apart. Your swing should be straight down the center so if you miss the strike is between you feet where nothing gets chopped off. Then set the sharp edge of your axe down on the piece of wood to be split, right where you want to hit it. Assuming you are right handed hold the axe at the end of the handle with your left hand, and hold the handle near the head of the axe with your right hand. Lift the head a few feet from the splitting block with your right hand and bring it back down slowly to the same spot on the wood. After you have done this a few times to get a feel for the weight of the axe and the angle of impact you are ready to swing. Start with a small piece of wood to split to practice your aim. Now when you swing to split slide your right hand down the handle to meet your left hand. Also you want to drive down thru the wood, not curve back toward your body. Think about it as though you were ignoring the wood your are trying to split and try to drive the axe into the block you are splitting on. When the axe gets stuck use a sharp blow with your hand to the end of the handle to loosen the axe. As you get more comfortable with your swing you can lift the axe higher, swing harder, and bust bigger pieces. Now on bigger pieces don't try to bust down the middle, take smaller chucks off the side first. As you get better and can hit your mark more you can use some of the techniques AKKAMAAN put on Youtube.
 
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You are right about wood everywhere- and don't be afraid to grab it.

None mentioned pallets to you, but I will. Pallets are usually a hard wood, and never treated with anything. if you can get some smaller ones they ship floor tile on, they might fit in the Honda.

Keep the Honda, get a beater truck. Don't be in a hurry to step over a dollar to pick up a dime.

As well, at the lumber store, they might let you have some of their surplus "stickers" or dunnage. These are pieces of dimensional lumber they put on the ground to keep drywall and other bulk goods high enough to pick with forklifts, and can accumulate rapidly.
 
Keep your feet spread apart...don't want the maul coming at your feet if you "miss" a swing.

Ask the folks that you mentioned you would buy more from if they will bring you a chopping block, I bet they'll be glad to.

Best wishes,
Ed
 
You need a firewood mentor

Must be someone here close to you that can come over and actually show you a few things about axes, splitting, saws, wood stacking, etc.

How about it guys, any volunteers?
 
I second the idea that pallets are an excellent stop gap. The nails can present a problem depending on how you dispose of the ashes. Also have you searched for a solar kiln to dry your new green wood quickly? Last idea that works well for me is plastic pickup bed liners over the tops of the wood piles. I have picked up several for free.
 
Can't believe I forgot about pallets...I only use them now to stack on. Growing up I spent a good chunk of time every summer cutting them up to heat the parent's house. Dad brought home a load after work just about every day. We used an old speaker magnet in the ash bucket to pull the nails out and then they went into the recycling bin.
 
we burn about one semi load of pallets a year in our stove... i have a friend ( retired) who gathers them and refurbishes them for resale.
he brings me more then i care for a year but its free wood..cut them pile them and they are ready to burn..its hard on a chainsaw, but its the fastest way to cut them up.. you wouldn't believe how many get taken to the landfill.. its a good green way to heat your home..:msp_thumbup:
 

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