Photo's of next winters fuel supply..

Alobar

Addicted Member
For the first time, possibly in my life I have actually paid for firewood, but the wood I cut when chearing for the house, septic and driveway has almost been burnt up and I didn't have enough left to get through next winter. So this is 5 cords green delivered for $650. Now I need to buck it up and run it through my splitter, stack it in the wood shed and let it season for a while, hopefully it will be ready by next Jan..

Some photos...
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Well, I'm envious up to a point, until winter sets in. That seems brutal.

My late uncle used to regale me with stories about building the Alaskan Pipeline. This would have been nearly 40 years ago, but I remember those details.

Plus, I grew up reading Jack London novels. I continue to hope that for the most part, Alaska will remain unsullied by the chubby hands of the retired vacationer.
 
Well, I'm envious up to a point, until winter sets in. That seems brutal.

My late uncle used to regale me with stories about building the Alaskan Pipeline. This would have been nearly 40 years ago, but I remember those details.

Plus, I grew up reading Jack London novels. I continue to hope that for the most part, Alaska will remain unsullied by the chubby hands of the retired vacationer.
Winter here isn't too bad due to the close proximity to the big heat sink, the Pacific Ocean. Right now while back east still isn't out of the woods winter wise, we are in the 50's and the song birds (and mosquitoes) are here, and in a few weeks will be greening up.. We're much better off winter wise than Fairbanks, my home town which is probably the coldest city in the US if not N.A.

Yeah, I went to work on the pipeline construction right out of high school, driving trucks. Probably the reason I never went to college but it's all good now that I am retired!

Yeah, Jack London spells it out just how unforgiving the north country is (To Build a Fire)... We get a couple cruise ships a week here, nothing too outrageous like the little town just 15 miles north of here (Skagway AK) that get 4 of the big ships a day, every day, all summer long! It is pretty much a cruise ship company town where ours is more of a logger/fisherman/miner town that is slowly being transformed into a retirement community. 1/3rd of the money that comes here now is retirement money.. I kinda like it!
 
I am down to about a half-cord of seasoned red oak left after this winter. I have about one cord that I cut/split last fall that will be ready by next Fall. It is time to get another 3 or 4 cords cut/split/stacked in my old barn. I am using a splitter, these days. I always used to split everything by splitting axe. Getting old, I guess. My splitter is a "Flywheel" style and is a lot faster than the old Hydraulic splitters. Uses almost no fuel either. A quart of gas will last about two cords worth of splitting. A few more years and I will probably start buying "already-split" and delivered.
 
Last year I paid for firewood...wow $700 for 14 face cord split and ready to burn.....this year a guy kept dropping his logs in my driveway....he said I was doing him a favor. We are set to do it again.
 
Last year I paid for firewood...wow $700 for 14 face cord split and ready to burn.....this year a guy kept dropping his logs in my driveway....he said I was doing him a favor. We are set to do it again.
Let me get this straight, you are paying $50 a cord split, seasoned, ready to burn? Wow is right! A bargain, the only way that could be beat is to be hand delivered by beautiful scantily dressed women!
 
If I would get off my lazy butt I could go down the road to the steel plant (large plant) and get a pass for 4x4x8 foot long hardwood .Depending on whose ships they came off of they would be mahogany,cherrywood,oak and maple.Alobar theres enough there to keep you in wood and you children,grandchilden,great grandchildren,and on and on for your lives .The beauty is for me its free!Just have to cut for stove length.
 
Face cord =1/3 full cord. And 50 is good if you buy one at a time. I shouldn't complain .... I see face cords going for 80.
 
If I would get off my lazy butt I could go down the road to the steel plant (large plant) and get a pass for 4x4x8 foot long hardwood .Depending on whose ships they came off of they would be mahogany,cherrywood,oak and maple.Alobar theres enough there to keep you in wood and you children,grandchilden,great grandchildren,and on and on for your lives .The beauty is for me its free!Just have to cut for stove length.
Yeah, free is the best, but with other projects, coupled by a slight condition of internet addiction I just don't have tome to drive out there 35 miles and cut it down and haul the free stuff out. This was easy, just a phone call and a check..
Hardwood is not something I am too familiar with, the exception is birch which loosely fits the term. I have burned oak pallets, lots of heat but was smelly (as is birch). But if free was close by I would definitely be taking advantage of it!

huge logs..chain saw them then splitter?
Splitter will work on this, just buck it to 20 to 22" lengths.
 
I have gas in the house and its cheap so for me the wood is strictly for the garage when I go out there and fool around but ive been absent from the garage for a few years so I still have more than 3/4 of a cord that's super dry now.Also cut down a very large box elder that I will get a few cords out of also and in a year or 2 that will burn ok.I will burn what ever in the garage so I can also go around town and most business put out softwood pallets for wood burners to take for free too.Everybody wins on that deal.
 
We've heated 100% with wood for 25 years. IMO, a year of seasoning is so-so, but two years or more is heaven. At a certain age, hauling the split wood to the stove does get a bit old. The knees aren't what they used to be.
 
Don't remember the exact poem my grandfather used to recite to me, but it referred to how many times burning wood "warms" you.
  1. cut it down
  2. limb it
  3. buck it
  4. split it
  5. stack it for drying (outside)
  6. haul it inside
  7. stack it inside
  8. burn it
  9. ???
I seem to remember he had 11 verses/times it (wood) warms you, so missing a couple. Growing up I was "warmed" by wood a few times.
 
I've got propane wall heaters (Rennai 85% efficient) but I only use propane for backup, heat water, and sometimes if I sleep in the gas heaters are just keeping the temp around 60 or so till I haul my ass out of bed and build a fire (after coffee of course). I suspect someday I will no longer want to fool around with this nonsense and just burn the propane most of the time, but till then I still enjoy the nice even heat the woodstove provides..
 
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