Firewood

[Chips N Dust]

So for those of you who burn wood, what type of wood do you like to burn? How much do you use in a season? What do you have for a backup source of heat? Where do you get your wood?

Edited September 12, 2016 by Chips N Dust

[HandyDan]

I always thought it would be easier to work a second job and pay the gas bill than to go through all the work it is to burn wood for heat.  It may be a different story if I lived where natural gas wasn't available.

[Gene Howe]

When we burned wood, Alligator Juniper was our choice. Burns hot and long.

$300 a cord delivered and stacked. This was ten years ago. 

We'd use around three cords a year. That heated a small home and shop.

Since expanding the domicile and play room aka shop, we went with central heat in the house and a propane heater in the shop. Everything is now propane.

We don't miss the hassle, mess and soot at all.

[DaninVan]

D. Fir is my first choice. $250 a cord, split and delivered.

I just had two Hemlocks taken down; I've split and stacked them for next year.

(My neighbour asked me yesterday if I wanted a small load of SPF end cuts for the fireplace. Not my first choice, but it's free. 

[Stick486]

when it was my primary... 15~18 cords a year...

I live in a forest of DF... no tangible outlay of $$$ for the wood it's self...

but it still isn't free...

 

primary heat now is geothermal and the back up to that is propane and back up to that is electric and back up to that is the wood and the back up to that is the dogs...

 

[Gene Howe]

"primary heat now is geothermal and the back up to that is propane and back up to that is electric and back up to that is the wood and the back up to that is the dogs..."

 

We'd need bigger dogs.

[Stick486]

never heard of a three dog night...

would 10, 50~110 pound dogs suffice???

[HandyDan]

1 hour ago, Stick486 said:

never heard of a three dog night...

would 10, 50~110 pound dogs suffice???

I don't know.  How long does one dog burn?

[Stick486]

1 hour ago, HandyDan said:

I don't know.  How long does one dog burn?

DIIK....

Edited September 12, 2016 by Stick486

[Chips N Dust]

Interesting replies.

I have heard of a 3 dog night.

Myself, I do burn wood for my primary heat, about 2 cords per year. I like to burn madrone - lots of heat and not a lot of ash. My backup is electric heat.

 

One thing about burning wood is that you get warmed about times with - Cutting; Splitting; Stacking; Burning. But to me, there is nothing better than a wood fire to warm up the house and to warm you up in the winter.

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

I had a woodstove in my first shop as the primary heat, and I have to say it's almost magical having the cackle of a fire while you're woodworking. But my favorite wood at the time was hickory, maybe because I had so much of it. But I'll tell you, honey locust (those trees with the 4" long black thorns) is really good. I still have that woodstove though it hasn't been used in 8-9 years, I may put it in the current shop....but now I don't have a source of firewood and I'm too old to go about finding it.

[kmealy]

Go on craigslist if you have one in your area.   Look on "Free" category and you will find more ash than you can haul away and store.    A lot of it around here is already cut to stove-wood length, but not split.   Every once in a while some obliviot will post "cut it down and clean up the mess and you can have the firewood."

[Gerald]

Only use in porch fireplace. Wish it was inside. Oak is preferred here. Burns nice and hot. There is a little diddy about wood the gist of which is birch is a kings fire.

[John Morris]

We burn a chord per fall and winter here in So Cal Kelly. And we try to get hard wood if available, but it's expensive, but we'll get orchard wood, orange and lemon trees from our local orchards. It burns hot and long. Sometimes we end up with Mix. Avocado, Euc, Pine, Oak, and it's ok.

One thing I was told when we bought our home 15 years ago, this is the first fireplace we ever had, and folks "in the know" in our area, told us it's bad to burn pine in a fireplace. So we try not too. The reason we were given was pine exhales a lot of pitch and resins when it burns, and it sticks to your chimney walls and builds up pretty quick, and there is a possibility of a chimney fire with pine, how true it is? Well googling it, there seems to be a mixed reaction to burning pine, many folks say as long as it's burning hot, fine, other folks say stay away from it!

So, anyone have any opinions about burning pine in the FP?

[Stick486]

5 minutes ago, John Morris said:

So, anyone have any opinions about burning pine in the FP?

that's all I burn.. pine...

hot keeps the chimney clean and several time a month I burn Aspen and birch w/ the draw vents full open... decades later no issues..

it's the slow burn fire that cause the problems....

and of course, seasonal cleaning and maintenance on any FP is a must.....

Edited September 13, 2016 by Stick486

[Chips N Dust]

I grew up with a fire place and wood stove. We always burnt old growth doug fir in the fire place and never had any problems. Nice hot fires. The stove pipe had 2- 90 degree bends, so we always burnt hardwood there. 

I like to use cedar (western red or port orford) for kindling with a small piece of DF for starting the fire then go to hardwood. The hardwood just gives of more heat.

[Stick486]

lots of pine...

 

 

[John Morris]

@Stick486, is that your view? Absolutely awesome, my gosh.

[Stick486]

2 minutes ago, John Morris said:

@Stick486, is that your view? Absolutely awesome, my gosh.

not here...

these are here...

 

 

[Allen Worsham]

Living in Sunny Southern California most tract homes less than 30 years old have gas only fireplaces which are pretty much only for show to hang stockings on at Christmas time and to prop up a family photo on. Working in my shop which is a 3 car garage, I typically just put a fleece watch cap on my bald head and throw on a flannel shirt. There are times during the winter months that I work on assembly or other type of "Bench Work" with the garage door closed and it gets a bit chilly that I will break out a plug in electric heater. On very rare occasions I have a propane heater that I will use (with adequate ventilation of course).

Of course you must always have proper shoes on when working in the shop, especially in the winter.