As my second burning season comes to an end I was peering out the kitchen window at the wood pile and thinking where I was, comparing my situation to last year and thinking where I want to be and what I need to do to achieve it. I thought I'd note it down in a 'State of the woodpile' address. I'll break it into sections, seems logical.
The Stove
In 2 years I've gone from no stove and using gas for my heating, to one stove and then on to two. Both stoves are small by most of you gents standard, at 5kW nominal, about 18500 btu/hour I think. I am limited by the fireplace and chimney size (no way would my fiancee allow a stove stood out in front of the fireplace, or anywhere else!). Small stoves mean frequent reloading, 2 small stoves mean VERY frequent reloading but it is what it is and works quite well. It's enough stove to heat the house even on the coldest days this winter (snow on the ground, 5 days just below 0C the whole time) with the open plan downstairs, where the stoves are, at 22-24C, bedrooms upstairs at 18-19.5C, all rather comfy. Over night burns and such are never going to happen so the timer controlled gas boiler warms the house in the morning and if I'm out. I'm in enough though to get through about 2.5 cord and save a big big chunk off the gas bill. Short of getting my fiancee to load the stoves if I'm not around (unlikely!) I can't really increase capacity, but don't really need to either. Going forward, maybe try and train my fiancee.
The pile
supplies sit at about 15m3 (just over 4 cord) css, another 3 ish M3 (almost a cord) scrounged and on the premises. With supplying wood to my parents for their small stove as well as my own needs I consume about 10 m³ each winter. I'm pleased with that position, especially as the Oak content is quite good, but I'd like to be slightly better in a year's time. Going forward I'd like to scrounge CSS 12 or 15 m³ over the next year. I don't have space for much more!
The shed
I'm filling an old 8'6" x6'6" garden shed, the rest is stacked on pallets along my fence, or against the south facing front wall of the house, getting top cover from tarps over the winter. Given my limited space in a suburban garden I can't do much more....I get a lot of raised eyebrows from the fiancee as new stacks appear! While more shed space would be ideal, the current system works well and was low cost. If I thought a house move in the next decade unlikely then I might build more shed, but we might move.... So going forward it's not a priority. I do intend to stack a little beside the patio though, so I've no need to cross the lawn when it's really really wet.
The tools
For 1.5 years it was my car, an ms180 and an axe. The cheap maul was soon replaced with an X27. Things have grown steadily. Splitting is still manual but the armoury is stihl pro maul, X27, x17, hatchet, 4 wedges and a sledge and 2 pickaroons. I've looked at electric splitters in passing.... Not yet. The bucking tools have grown through addition of an 038avs and most recently an ms660 ( in bits, needs rebuilding). The 660 is more a project to increase my knowledge, but I'm good for saws... Over sawed even. Going forward, get the 660 running, decide what to do with the 038 super, might sell on.
The scrounge vehicle is the car. I've considered a trailer but since my supply trips are short it is as easy to make two trips as pull a trailer from its parking and hook it up, not that I have a good parking spot for one either. Going forward I'm going to need some new dust sheets for the boot (trunk).
The supply
I've been lucky. I found a local tree guy early on and get all my wood from him. He is great, even texts me when he has oak, locust and such like. I'm always slightly nervous something will happen that could kill this but I ensure I'm polite and tidy so I don't kill it. Going forward, make hay while the sun shines, and get 12-15....no 18m3 over the next 12 months.
So in summary, things are going well, plenty of wood, good supply, tools in a good position. How's everyone else doing?
The Stove
In 2 years I've gone from no stove and using gas for my heating, to one stove and then on to two. Both stoves are small by most of you gents standard, at 5kW nominal, about 18500 btu/hour I think. I am limited by the fireplace and chimney size (no way would my fiancee allow a stove stood out in front of the fireplace, or anywhere else!). Small stoves mean frequent reloading, 2 small stoves mean VERY frequent reloading but it is what it is and works quite well. It's enough stove to heat the house even on the coldest days this winter (snow on the ground, 5 days just below 0C the whole time) with the open plan downstairs, where the stoves are, at 22-24C, bedrooms upstairs at 18-19.5C, all rather comfy. Over night burns and such are never going to happen so the timer controlled gas boiler warms the house in the morning and if I'm out. I'm in enough though to get through about 2.5 cord and save a big big chunk off the gas bill. Short of getting my fiancee to load the stoves if I'm not around (unlikely!) I can't really increase capacity, but don't really need to either. Going forward, maybe try and train my fiancee.
The pile
supplies sit at about 15m3 (just over 4 cord) css, another 3 ish M3 (almost a cord) scrounged and on the premises. With supplying wood to my parents for their small stove as well as my own needs I consume about 10 m³ each winter. I'm pleased with that position, especially as the Oak content is quite good, but I'd like to be slightly better in a year's time. Going forward I'd like to scrounge CSS 12 or 15 m³ over the next year. I don't have space for much more!
The shed
I'm filling an old 8'6" x6'6" garden shed, the rest is stacked on pallets along my fence, or against the south facing front wall of the house, getting top cover from tarps over the winter. Given my limited space in a suburban garden I can't do much more....I get a lot of raised eyebrows from the fiancee as new stacks appear! While more shed space would be ideal, the current system works well and was low cost. If I thought a house move in the next decade unlikely then I might build more shed, but we might move.... So going forward it's not a priority. I do intend to stack a little beside the patio though, so I've no need to cross the lawn when it's really really wet.
The tools
For 1.5 years it was my car, an ms180 and an axe. The cheap maul was soon replaced with an X27. Things have grown steadily. Splitting is still manual but the armoury is stihl pro maul, X27, x17, hatchet, 4 wedges and a sledge and 2 pickaroons. I've looked at electric splitters in passing.... Not yet. The bucking tools have grown through addition of an 038avs and most recently an ms660 ( in bits, needs rebuilding). The 660 is more a project to increase my knowledge, but I'm good for saws... Over sawed even. Going forward, get the 660 running, decide what to do with the 038 super, might sell on.
The scrounge vehicle is the car. I've considered a trailer but since my supply trips are short it is as easy to make two trips as pull a trailer from its parking and hook it up, not that I have a good parking spot for one either. Going forward I'm going to need some new dust sheets for the boot (trunk).
The supply
I've been lucky. I found a local tree guy early on and get all my wood from him. He is great, even texts me when he has oak, locust and such like. I'm always slightly nervous something will happen that could kill this but I ensure I'm polite and tidy so I don't kill it. Going forward, make hay while the sun shines, and get 12-15....no 18m3 over the next 12 months.
So in summary, things are going well, plenty of wood, good supply, tools in a good position. How's everyone else doing?
