Homestead mailing list

[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Gene GeRue wrote:
> Benny and I just did a five-mile hike. While out there in the 
> mountains I thought up this ditty just for you:
>
> FIREWOOD If you want steam, then wetter is better; If you want heat,
> then drier is finer.


Cute.  It is just a matter of degree, Gene.
A question for you...
What do you predict the moisture content of an unsplit white oak log 2
feet in diameter after 2 years of being stored under a tin shed(no
sides) VS a piece of split wood stored under the same shed for 2 years.
 Bear in mind that our summers get quite warm, and tonight we should get
down to about 0, but generally we get lows in the teens...lots of
freezing and thawing...lots of wind...lots of sun.



> > Since it is our sweat that goes into cutting loading hauling 
> > splitting stacking and moving wood, I want it to be just right.  I
> >  want it to be good and heavy when I pick in up, not light and
> > airy.
>
> I keep reading that your body is hurting. Do you really prefer to 
> handle heavier wood?

Of course not, but I'd also prefer to stay warm and keep the pipes from
bursting.  I look at it like that's the downside of the choice I made to
have only wood heat.  Most days, it just takes me longer to get wood..

> > The more I have to open the woodstove to put in wood, the more heat
> >  I lose up the flue.  I have an old woodstove, no blowers, no 
> > fans,,,,it just burns wood and heats up the stove/rocks so that
> > heat radiates.
>
> Does your stove have an air-inlet control, a damper?

It has screw type inlets on the front, one screw on each door.  I
control the air flow into the stove by opening those valves.


And maybe a
> second one either at the back of the stove or in the flu pipe?

No, neither.


 The
> woodstove gods made dampers to control the flow of air.

I believe I have a picture of my woodstove somewhere on Myspace.


Low oxygen
> input means a slow-burning fire. Yes, with dry wood. Now, if the
> stove is real leaky, then yes, the wood would burn faster.

It is not leaky.



> Drying depends on humidity and exposure to air flow. The best wood 
> shed has minimal siding; many are open-sided. Fastest firewood drying
>  is single-depth rows with chunk ends to the prevailing wind, covered
>  with roofing tin and rocks to hold the tin on.


I know this, Gene.  I have 3-4 cords split and stacked for this winter
and the beginning of next winter. It is only loosely tarped.  I have 4-5
additional cords-unsplit and left in large logs- stacked under a wood
shed-no sides and and an additional 2-3 cords unsplit under a corner of
the barn (3 sides open)  All wood is on pallets, off the ground.


. But, frankly, I think
> the woodshed packed with wood is more bug-prone than open rows
> exposed to the winds.

All locations are exposed to sun and wind.

ugh not happily.)
> > And go ahead and persist..<g>..
>
> Oh, good. I was nervous about whether you were going to be defensive
>  and all that kind of difficult stuff.
>
> Here's my last thought for now: splitting and stacking wood during 
> cold winter weather is easier on the body than during warmer weather.
<snicker>
This I know, but I have to get the split wood used up before I start
splitting more.  Limited room near the house.


--
"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will
not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius
will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the
world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone
are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve
the problems of the human race"

~ Calvin Coolidge