Getting ready for winter

[jltrent]

My mother has other heat sources, but she says nothing feels as good and a good wood fire. The last couple days I hauled in mostly red and white oak with a little cherry and walnut mixed in and split while she stacked. My back feels it this morning. She has it about 80+ degrees in the house.

 

[SBMF 2015]

That sounds about like my great aunt and uncle's house. They had a gas stove, but still used the cool stove in the kitchen to help heat the house so they didn't use so much LP. You'd stop by in the winter, dressed in heavy winter clothes and it would feel like 90 when you walked in the back door.
At uncle Harvey's funeral a neighbor said he had stopped by earlier in the year because he had seen uncle Harvey out with his walker splitting fire wood. He would have been 90 at the time!

 

[sstterry]

I have gas heat, but I much prefer to burn wood in my stove in the basement. It cuts way down on the gas bill and all of my family agree that is a more comfortable heat.

 

[Dave]

We have a forced air propane furnace and we also have a wood stove. The wood stove is in the living room. The thermostat for the furnace is in the laundry room at the other end of the house. We closed all the furnace vents in the living room. We leave the thermostat set at 55. First thing in the morning I turn it up to 70 for about 45 minutes to warm up that end of the house. At the same time the fire is built up in the wood stove. By the time I turn the furnace down the wood stove is rolling and with the help of a fan to circulate the air it keeps the house toasty warm.

 

[TexasRancher]

Love those hand tools and splitting maul-wedges...nice to see tools being used. That's some good wood...all varieties. Got to love Virginia. Keep me in mind for any potential farm/ranch sales there. I might be wrong but I'd say it's the best place in the U.S. for raising cattle...rain, seasons, landscape, trees and temperature.

 

[kenny thomas]

Love those hand tools and splitting maul-wedges...nice to see tools being used. That's some good wood...all varieties. Got to love Virginia. Keep me in mind for any potential farm/ranch sales there. I might be wrong but I'd say it's the best place in the U.S. for raising cattle...rain, seasons, landscape, trees and temperature.

A decent cattle farm will sell at auction here in November. I work for the auction company so if your interest send me a message and I will send you some info.

 

[sstterry]

My mother has other heat sources, but she says nothing feels as good and a good wood fire. The last couple days I hauled in mostly red and white oak with a little cherry and walnut mixed in and split while she stacked. My back feels it this morning. She has it about 80+ degrees in the house.

I realize this is last year's wood. But I have a question about using the post driver. What is it used for?

I used to split all of my wood with a maul and a wedge, but my log splitter has sure saved my back.

 

[jltrent]

I realize this is last year's wood. But I have a question about using the post driver. What is it used for?

I used to split all of my wood with a maul and a wedge, but my log splitter has sure saved my back.

I think I had the post driver driving more post to make another rack to stack the extra wood if I remember correctly. That old splitter has been around for years and when I upgraded from a 5hp engine to an 8hp engine, unless it is extremely knotty will split most wood.

 

[sassafras manor]

Speaking of saving the back...we roll our log splitter tires up on old metal car ramps to bring the working height up to our waists. It sure makes getting older easier.

 

[jltrent]

Well a couple days ago back at it again splitting my mother some wood. She says nothing heats like her wood stove. Here is some seasoned white and red oak. She keeps a very warm house.

 

[Dave]

We use the neighbor's splitter. He loaned it o his cousin...... long story but we didn't get it until about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Then we found out it don't like to start in cold weather. Got it started and split all my back wanted one day. Covered it with a tarp and put a heat lamp and a space heater under the tarp. Still waiting for the warm weather coming in a few days.

 

[SBMF 2015]

Well a couple days ago back at it again splitting my mother some wood. She says nothing heats like her wood stove. Here is some seasoned white and red oak. She keeps a very warm house.

What kind of bar is on that saw to the left? Never seen that before.

 

[jltrent]

What kind of bar is on that saw to the left? Never seen that before.

Bow bar...less bending and actually good to block out wood. You can keep your chain out of the dirt.

 

[CowboyRam]

I don't miss chopping wood. Did plenty of that as kid, teenager. We used to go get pinion west of Craig, Colorado; filled up a two ton truck with the stock racks turned up. One year we filled that truck three times, one for us, once for some friends, and one for the youth group.

 

[SBMF 2015]

Bow bar...less bending and actually good to block out wood. You can keep your chain out of the dirt.

That's cool. I'd never seen anything like that before.

 

[Dave]

What kind of bar is on that saw to the left? Never seen that before.

It is called a bow bar. I think they are (or were) more popular in the south for some reason. I have never seen one here in the PNW.

 

[tex452]

I love my fireplace and my wood burning stove.

 

[Allenw]

I like the heat from wood but with time constraints and other problems have quit burning wood. Seriously kicking the idea of a pellet stove around.

 

[kenny thomas]

I like the heat from wood but with time constraints and other problems have quit burning wood. Seriously kicking the idea of a pellet stove around.

Anyone using pellets and if so how economical is it.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

Anyone using pellets and if so how economical is it.

I have a pellet stove in our little rental house. 40 lb bag of pellets last about 24hrs and cost $5. Typically it's runs 8 hours a day, with our freeze we just had it was 24-7.