First impression, "what is somebody this young going to teach me". Well, I'm glad I started watching. By about the first minute I was impressed and at the end I was very much so. Best 11:00 minutes of tips I've ever seen. Thank you.
Great video! I’m an old timer and have been burning wood to heat my home for a very long time. That said, when I saw your vid I thought I’d check it out and see if I’ve missed some new tricks to make things easier. As you went through your presentation, I started checking off your suggestions, yep I do that and yep I know that trick and so on. The BIG difference is that my learning curve was much longer than yours and as a young man I substituted brute strength for wisdom and paid for that in later years. I still fall trees and cut all my fire wood and with my old Geezer buddies we even cut for others in our community that can’t anymore. I hope all the young viewers will take heed to all of your tips as it will make firewood processing much more fun and sustainable over the long run. That’s my two cents for what it’s worth and once again, Great 👍 video!
Siskiyou Woodsman - I was cutting and splitting with a group last year for the first time and it definitely made it way more fun. Especially when we stopped to have a break and lunch. You also know you not the only one sore the following day. LOL
If you only take one saw to the bush, have an extra bar and chain with you that will fit the saw that you are using. That way if you get the saw bar pinched and can't get it out just undo the pinched bar and put on your extra spare bar and chain to cut out the pinched bar.
I use to that then I got 2 saws then 3 saws then 10 saws now I probably have around 50 and a pile of parts . It gets so difficult to try to pick out a couple to use. Then I end with less firewood space. Lol
@@jerrodmasters6199 NICE seeing someone with the Fever... I'm now at 12 saws and I can't help studying, window shopping, pricing and drooling of course... Did you stick with one brand or are you a MultiFever Man?
Great info! I’m a city girl living in the woods. Your tips for things like the welders gloves, carbon monoxide alarms, and moisture meter are great! I “wooda “ never thought of them. Thanks for keeping it concise. I’ve got the attention span of a flea.
City girl living in the woods sounds like every single Hallmark movie ever made. Hope you didn't leave your high paying stressful big city career to be a housewife that sells cupcakes at the farmers market 😳
Really great video! Been cutting 40 years and I think you covered everything. If you make another, I thought of one thing. It helps besides flipping your bar, sanding it with metal sand paper with a palm sander, or wood sandpaper works too but, not for long. You want to take that little rough edge that forms on the very outer edge of your bar track. That can make your saw seem not as sharp because it's not smooth slipping through the cut. And I have to say. The video is really good too, how you did it. The speed is great and your timing and you didn't throw in unnecessary verbage. Excellent!!! ;)
Fun tip; debark your wood with a felling axe or drawknife before stacking, and preferably before splitting. Bark, along with its obvious shielding/protection properties, plays a vital role in nutrient transfer in the tree being their veins & arteries, while the wood itself is more for structure and storage. Getting rid of bark takes a lot of the potential water out, and gives wind direct passage onto the wood itself where it’d have to pass through the thick bark otherwise, making drying easier and faster. Store bark separately, as we all know dry bark makes for great starters, and being so nutrient filled also makes for great compost on its own. Also helps drastically with reducing creosote & smoke levels of the fire. 👍🏼
For fire starter: use old candles, drip some wax in the ash and light the ash, it works very well. Often need nothing else to start a fire, even with largish size pieces.
Eric - The information density in this video is incredible (and I bet the editing effort was too!). I learned a TON from it: door gasket dollar bill test, stovepipe thermometers, climbing vines when felling, and rolling newspaper to name just a few. Thanks!
Excellent video. Agree with 49 of your tips, and I figured you hadn't thought of one to add that I think is pretty important.. BTW.. You will end up with as much creosote in your flue (wood stove flue) if you use dry wood and choke the fire down to keep it from getting too hot pre and post hard winter months.. I start off with dry wood and burn smaller fires and choke them down to have heat, but, easy to start/stop when you have days you don't need it.. Coals don't last worth a hoot, so, I am always using the gas burner to start the new wood.. When the damper starts sticking inside the flue and the draft decreases, I know I have the start of a good buildup using the dry wood. I fire up the gas starter, load it with wood, open the doors of the house, fully open all vents on the stove and work inside the house near the stove and let it burn the creosote out.. You can tell when it starts popping and snapping and you can hear it falling back into the stove.. when you move the damper and you can hear scratching verses the sticking before, you know you are clean and ready to go again.. Wet wood burns just fine once you get it going and the coals last 4-5 times longer and it's a wet heat like "Humidity in the Summer", and it throws way more heat than dry wood.. You will have less ash also as long as you keep the stove full of wood and things burn down slowly or fast for that matter.. Think about 90 degrees and no humidity vs 90 degrees and High humidity.. Run your finger over a flame and then run it over a burst of steam the same diameter as the flame and for the same duration.. You won't have to guess which one is worse on the skin.. The only thing I didn't hear you mention that I will mention to you and let you do some thinking, because, you obviously do that very well.. My bet is you are a younger fella and have been home schooled vs dumbed down by our Public schools. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.. But, where does all of that air come from that goes into the stove and up the flue? What temperature is that air generally vs other air that could be used for the same purpose.. There is no vacuum in a house, so, what does feeding the stove with inside air cause to air from the outside? Imagine feeding the stove with air from outside and keeping that warm air inside and reducing the drafts created by taking inside air out through the flue? Not your typical wood stove setup, and not for every wood stove, but, if you are looking for efficiency there is only one more thing to explain if you are thinking that cold air is going to slow down your wood stove reaction. Think about Expansion of Air from cool to hot.. Think about Rocket Stoves and how they work.. A small draft of cool air expands at a much higher rate than warm to hot. It takes much less cool air to be heated in the stove to create the same updraft by the heated air, because the rate at which the air expands from cold to hot vs warm to hot.. It is why you choke down a rocket stove by packing it with wood (preferably smaller split lengths of wood, to get the faster/hotter fire and faster draft.. So, you are actually pulling in less cold air into the stove and not removing warm air from the house, pulling the cold air in somewhere else where it does not quickly expand, therefore more volume of it in the house to begin with.. I built a house once, where you could open the front door, and close it and the dryer damper in the back of the house would pop open and closed when you opened and closed the door.. How do you think my wood stove ran in that house? What was it's problem? Starting to make sense now? What did I do to solve the problem? Just saw a pretty smart guy and wanted to tickle his brain a bit.. Ok,, I just went and looked to see what other types of videos you have.. Smart fella.. Just as I suspected.. I saw a video titled,, "The best way to manage indoor humidity in the cold winter months".. So, you run a wood stove for sure because we all have that problem.. I have not watched the video yet, but, here is another brain teaser.. Well, I will do it on the video related to that, since it might help someone else over there.. So, cheers for now.. BTW.. Might scan my channel from time to time.. When I have time I post some good stuff. Wish I had more time to get the loads of footage on my computer edited and uploaded. Some awesome stuff I will post one day.. Ha.. Cheers.
tip #51 - if you have your own wood lot, try pruning your trees rather than felling the whole tree. it helps to improve the health of the woods, reduces or eliminates the need to split large diameter logs, more efficient use of available wood resources, easier to transport and cut to length. by spending some time in the summer to inspect the wood lot you can identify trees that have limbs that are "dead" and are dry and can be readily cut and burned. extra work put into the beginning of the process makes for an easy time at the end!
Great information. Thank you. I only learnt the following this year - no need to use paper at all to start a fire (I used to use newspaper all the time), just lay a some medium logs on the base of the stove, add a small cube of firelighter in the middle (approx 1" square), put kindling over the top and then some slightly heavier pieces if you want. Light the firelighter, leave the stove door slightly ajar for 5 mins and hey presto, fire to go. Also, I learnt leaving the ashes in place at the bottom of the stove (I used to clean them away every time) acts as insulation and helps wood burn. This all works if you the air flow is coming from the TOP of the stove which is what it should be doing if you're burning wood. Makes preparing a fire super quick. Thanks again for all your tips though, I like the dollar bill one and how you stack your wood. Great stuff.
You are good! I'm an old guy gone from the city for 7 years and living in a tiny cabin. I'm a rookie. A local contractor brought two dump truck loads of trees for me. I had to get a better chainsaw, Husqvarna 455 Rancher. Some of these trees had 20" or more diameter. I figured if I did all my top cuts over halfway through I could then roll it over and finish. That wasn't happening. I couldn't move it. All I had was a pickax under it. I got 11-16" rounds out of it. I was able to engineer a way using the pickax and a wedge on each side to life the tree a couple of inches off the ground, the wedges holding it in place and I had to move the wedges for each cut. What a work out. I'd really like that device you have if this is going to become a habit. When we moved here I had the local fire chief from a small town come in and inspect the installation to certify it safe. For more than one reason I'm not able to take my little electric splitter way over there to where all thi cut wood is. I have to transport it a long distance to the splitter. Manually. No tractor and trailer! Today I moved 18 medium-sized rounds (3 on my hand truck per trip) which was easy. I split and stacked it. That took two hours and in most cases got 4 pieces per split log. What a work out. I really like your videos. Now I have to make my first attempt (soon) to sharpen the chain. I do have a second chain. I got a file gage made my STIHL which one customer in the store said works really well. I got a stump vice and extra files. All dressed up and nowhere to go.
I hate to admit that I was not planning on being impressed. I was eating supper and thought I'll watch this video. I'll skip to another soon. I didn't. I watched it from start to finish. I found it very informative and I learned alot. Thank you.
With my old drafty 1820s farmhouse, the Magic Heat heat reclaimer has been a huge help. Would love to see more people using these as they pay for themselves within the first few months of use. Using a heat gun I tested 450 F below heat reclaimer and 240 F above it. When people coming in from the cold, the only thing better than standing in front of a woodstove, is standing in front of a woodstove with a heat reclaimer blowing cold air right at your upperbody. Also, I think mentioning a damper above the stove pipe is a good idea. A lot of folks don't know about them and burn through their woodpile too quickly as a result.
When splitting your wood, split some rectangles instead of all triangles. This makes cross piling your pile ends easier, and makes filling the top of the wood stove easy on cold nights when you want to really load it up.edit I use a wood splitter which makes this easy to do.
What a great video, nice work! I like to keep a couple of gallon jugs of ashes in a vehicle for the winter. When someone gets stuck because their tires don’t have quite enough traction, pour ashes on the top of the tires, particularly the driven wheels, and pour ashes on the ground in front of the tires, drawing the path you expect the wheels to make. This works surprisingly well. Jugs of ash weigh very little, and their caps keep the vehicle clean.
Eric, I never get tired of watching your videos. It’s so funny of how many times you come to my mind. I have used many of your tips/lessons. You are so right about checking with your home owners insurance company first before going with a wood burning stove. My wife works for an insurance company here in Indiana and she has shared some things on insurance policies. I also bought some wood from a guy this year that told me his insurance company told him as long as it’s professionally installed by a company that does it there is no problem whatsoever, his rates never even increased for having a wood burning stove because he had it installed by a company. That might be useful to some of your followers who wants a wood burning stove. Glad to see you bring up the LogOx Sling again, LOL I had just signed up for it again this morning. I was thinking of that sling about an hour ago while I was killing my back bringing in more firewood LOL. Can’t wait to get one of those. Anyway, peace to you and your family, nice to see another video and thanks again, God Bless!
I signed up the first time, too. Does this mean that the first time is a charitable contribution? Your comment that you signed up again makes me wonder. Thanks in advance if you can answer this!
Remember...an insurance agent has two jobs...1) sell you more insurance, and 2) explain to you why you're not covered when you attempt to file a claim😉
One other tip I got from another YT channel said to try to dry your wood for 3-4 years (if possible) because you end of needing 1/3 less wood per season when it's that dry. So go crazy next season , collecting more trees than you need and hopefully you can coast for the following years to come! I'm glad to see you were also planting trees as well.
Some methods I use in Northwest Washington are to burn Cottonwood. Winter storms always bring down tall straight trees. Stay away from the butt and cut blocks where the bark is 1/2" thick. It splits easy, burns clean, makes good kindling,etc. I use a dog chain with a trampoline spring to wrap the block. Put about a half turn so my partner can stand back and rotate the block as I split with an axe from the same spot. Drag the split round over to the trailer, unhook the chain and throw it in. I use pickaroon and a pike pole made out of a rake handle with a 6 inch lag bolt that has the head cut off and ground to a triangle point. No bending over and can throw chunks into the dump trailer. I break down the blocks too big to burn and stack loose. When it comes time to burn I split them down using a rubber tire mounted to a 32" block and throw them into a wheelbarrow. I've learned that if you gather up and rough process your wood in the winter and finish sizing it up the next winter you can spread out the work in the cooler months and enjoy working with it a little at a time.
We heat almost exclusively with wood here in rural Vermont, winters go down quite easily to -40 degrees. I thought I knew a lot when I started to watch this video, I quickly realized that I was learning quite a bit. Thank you for this wonderful and informative video!!
Alex Pissalidis I Live in Edmonton Alberta CANADA. Which is about 770 miles north of Vermont . And our temps go on occasionally down to - 35 . I highly doubt Vermont has ever gone to -40F EVER . You are either a DELUSIONAL MORON or you DRINK way to much . Who knows maybe it’s even BOTH !
Wow!! What else does one need to know about firewood, if he did not cover it, you don't need to know it. Well done, your 60 years worth of knowledge in a 25 year old body is most impressive. Any father would be so honored and proud to have a son like you. Thank you.
Great comments on use of the moisture meter. Your remark about having one when buying wood was spot on. Seasoned wood means different things to those who sell wood. Thanks again. Great vid.
Because of your video last night I called my insurance company and I found out that I can install a wood furnace in my home without the policy being canceled. The customer service representative was very pleased that I also called to research the information prior to following through with the installation of the wood furnace. So thank you Eric for your information which motivated me to make sure I was within the guidelines and the limits of my insurance policy! 👍🏻🔥
This was a superb video about the work involved and how to make the process of home heating with firewood an efficient process from start to finish. Where this _Life in Farmland_ has the benefit of frozen Winters to make for dry work outdoors, the same can't be said along the west coast of the US; as that is the predominantly rainy season; so the gathering and stockpiling of firewood has got to be done in the late Spring through the early Fall; as what I did for eight years. Those wet California Winters also necessitates the use of sheltering the firewood from the rain, which creates problems with rodents nesting in the crevices of the wood pile. The urine and fecal residue on the firewood can create health issues. I suggest placing a quantity of rodent _bait blocks_ in the interior of the wood pile when stacking, as it can minimize the rodent problems. I did that for the last four years of stockpiling firewood, resulting with hardly a trace of rodent occupancy in the wood pile.
Nice video, first class. Just one thing I would suggest. I agree you will release more smoke (un burnt fuel) into the atmosphere with wet wood as opposed to dry wood however wet would wood will not create more smoke. Smoke is gasified wood, the heat generated by the fire has changed the physical properties of the solid wood fibers which allows it to mix with with an oxidizer allowing combustion which is the chemical change we know as fire. The cycle is repeated until all the solid fuel (wood) is consumed in the process. So wet wood does not create more smoke (if it did then you would always want wet wood because smoke is gasified wood fuel able to mix with an oxidizer) however energy cannot be created or destroyed so the same wood, wet or dry will release the same amount of smoke every time. Wet wood will (like you stated) will consume energy to heat the moisture in the wood which will actually help heat your stove more because thermal transfer is greater with humidity (visit the south). This fact is nullified however because of the fact that water changes its physical property from a liquid to a gas at 212*F and wood smoke starts its combustion at 451*F. So the “more smoke” wet wood produces you are seeing is really water vapor and un burnt gasified wood fuel that never reached ignition temperature, wasted fuel. Dry wood will allow a hotter combustion chamber so more of the gasified wood fuel will chemically change and release the stored energy. So dry wood and either recirculation of the hot flue gasses, while introducing more oxygen and maintaining the heat component allowing the wood gas to ignite would be most efficient way to release maximum amount of energy. Humidify the hot completely combusted gas would maximize the heat output for convection heating of a space. This is why you used to see every wood stove had a cast iron pot of water on it. Humidify the air directly outside of the steel wood stove to “hold” as much of the thermal energy as possible. Remember the best insulator for thermal energy (besides a vacuum) is air. Something to think about. Your information is great though and I in no way want to take away from it. Thanks.
I’m really glad you didn’t expound so much here. You crammed a lot of information into a short video in credibly insightful. Especially the part about how you position the wood so air can flow down the wood.. thank you!
a couple of chain saw tips: for those who haven't already been told, there is nearly always a part of your chain saw you can use for a measuring tool for example, my stove takes wood the length of the distance between the front of the motor and half the length of the rear handle. or, if I'm cutting small diameter stuff, a chunk the entire length of the saw can be cut in three equal pieces. and yes, to answer the question that brings up, I've got an extremely long bar on my saw. to be precise, the bar is so long that when I'm cutting smaller stuff, I can cut wood lying on the ground without bending over. I rest the heel of the saw on my thigh, and the end of the bar reaches the wood.
I was given a very quick lesson on the wood/ coal burner I’m loading for a vision impaired person. Then a lot of trial and chill, because if I didn’t find an answer, I kept it at minimum. I’ve scoured internet for the manual, but it is from maybe the 60s as the home was built late 60s. I’m so glad to see my lessons are learned, u covered many things I searched for and then some that I wondered if it were a thing. I’m learning this so I can build a cabin and use primarily wood to heat it. And this job is preparing me for unexpected issues. One thing real useful is the direction of the wood, this holds lengths of 22 inches but the pipe goes out the back not the end of the width, so I WAS wondering if it cut to go front to back, and cut to 12 inch lengths, be more efficient. I’ve been stacking width wise up to 4 pieces for night burns to each roll down itself as the lower one burns, which gives me a good 5 straight hours of sleep. Lol. I’ve always done outside fire, but this is the first time I’ve done a wood/ coal burner and first time inside. Weather has me wanting to sweep chimney again, I’ve been given a creosote product for damp weather/ wood I use every few days. I maintain a temp average about 55, and once a day I get it up to 70. And clean ash every other day whether it needs it or not, then restart the fire, but I was wondering if letting it go out in very damp rainy weather even if a short time would create conditions for creosote? When I restart it I bring it slow to reach 70, not flash heat it. Changing brick inside and doing flu this weekend, so it’ll be out for a day, but I’m wondering how the brick works to increase heat? And why they are breaking to begin with, seems they are breaking often and I change them about every 4 months, never heard of this, maybe a bad batch, as I bought 3x more than needed to have in hand after a few new ones cracked a month later. I probably will think of other questions, we are using this for the moment while a broken pipe is fixed and the well pump plumbing.( it has to be snaked to the well due to a well service not reattaching something after a freeze issue. And the irrigation system being installed and leaking RIGHT OVER THE PRESSURE VALVE to reserve tank for boiler causing it to siege) so we had to check ALL THE PIPES for repairs and replacement. So using this coal wood burner to keep house comfortable is temporary, but we are using the experience to learn how to use it efficiently and not just emergencies. Almost complete with repairs, but she would like to use it more now supplementary on coldest times.
Another AWESOME video Eric!! Years ago I had a neighbor who had burned wood his whole life gave me some advice on how much wood to have on hand. His words of wisdom were “Cut as much as you think you will need, then cut 10 times more and you will be just right!”
I hook my splitter to my woods truck and take it to the logs. Some are 3-4 ft across. The whole mess stays in the woods also that way. No extra bugs at the farm. I like some of your extra little tools. Cool on the video.
Subbed... Great vid, with not a ton of 'fluff'. Much appreciated. Also, I like how you waited til the end of the vid before you said, "If you liked the video, please 'consider' subscribing". Very classy. (Other YTers come right out of the shoot 1/5 of the way into the vid and say "Like, Comment, and Subscribe... immediately, before you've even finished the video!" Very obnoxious)
VERY well done, sir. You are well-spoken, clear and concise. I especially like your point about process improvement; I do the same. It's a lot of work, so every little efficiency adds up! Many thanks for taking the time to make and post the vid. Very useful.
You have the best videos on firewood, stoves and all that applies. Just started burning wood three winters ago. You made the learning curve a lot shorter. THANKS for the help!!
Thank you for the video and commentary. My neighbor runs a sawmill, so every year or two, I buy a load of logs from him. Saves a lot of time and hassle. Our catalytic woodburner is located in the lowest level of the house. We installed a Hetzer coal stove in our pantry/HAM Radio/reloading building. Between the two, I’ll take a coal stove anytime. More heat, less work.
Hey great idea. I'm getting ready to burn wood for first time and saving newspaper, kindling, etc., but will try the torch method. Sounds like a winner. Thanks guy.
Add me to the total approval list. Great stuff, some of which I had to learn the hard way. I'd add one recommendation - never burn trash in your house's main source of heat. I do know people who do. Thanks, Eric!
When piling split firewood, pay attention to which direction you stack. Mostly throughout North America, the prevailing winds come from the west, so pile your stack pointing north/south, to better allow wind the blow *through* the pile. Here in Nova Scotia, we get winds from all directions, being stuck out in the Atlantic such as we are. However, the prevailing westerly winds still rule, despite the loopy polar air vortex caused by excessive heat in the Arctic. We are in a climate crisis, sigh! Newspapers can be torn in half along the seam and simply screwed up in a ball for starting. Tear the stack in the fall so as to have the half sheets ready. If your wood stove is at ground level in the house, there are 2-wheeled firewood dollies that can be purchased for around $50.00. Make a firewood closet with all the accoutrements for burning. Some of the new air-tight wood stoves don't like cold fresh air being brought in directly to the firebox chamber [with kits] as that lowers combustion temp. Just bring fresh air into the house through a vent, somewhere, to let the firebox feed off room temperature, if both the house and stove are airtight. After burning for 9 years in a double-walled stainless steel chimney, I've never cleaned the stack, but, do look each year. Burning hot with dry wood creates little or no creosote. Burn with lots of newspaper each start to burn out and residue from the night or day before. I use a #3 Jøtul [Norwegian] to heat 2,800 sq. ft. using only 3/4 cord of maple and other mixed hardwoods/year for a passive solar house. There is a 3 kW electric heater in one of the HRV pipes that maintains the house at a constant temperature when I'm away in the winter. It's not a furnace, so it'll not bring the house ambient temperature up. Great knowledge video lad!
pine trees are abundant in our area. we use opened pine cones to start the fire. they light easily, burns well to catch the kindling and offers a refreshing scent to the inside air.
that fact is true ONLY if you try to burn unseasoned wood. more so with freshly chopped pine because of the sap and i have seen people use creosote soaked railroad ties. however, the scenerio you are referring to is grossly incomplete. are you burning the pine( hopefully seasoned wood ) in a fireplace or in a wood stove. this makes a huge difference in the temperature reached when burning wood. one thing you failed to mention is the color of the flame given off by the type of wood used. pine burned in a wood stove actually gives off a hotter flame and burns more efficiently then hard wood. on the flip side of that thought you will get more b t u's from hard wood. in the wood stove lay's the culprit to house fires because no one wants a fire so hot that they can not be in the same room as the woodstove. they choke down the damper to have a comfortable fire and this causes creosote to build up in the firebox which when heated to a higher temperature at a later time can definately cause it to ignite and sound like a run away train is coming through your house. also, if you have ember's reaching your roof then you are not a prepared home owner. a conscienctious homeowner will have a chimney cap with a screen around the cap to prevent anything from exiting your terracotta flue liner ( brick built fireplace ) or stainless steel flue ( prefab ) and keep their roof clean prior to building the first fire of the season. i only want to help you to understand that all well seasoned wood burns and will give you plenty of heat. many factors can change this perspective and give burning wood a bad rap due to human error.
Chimney sweep here. You don't want to burn in cycles, and definitely don't want to put too much wood in at one time. All wood has moisture, and the first step for combustion is to steam that off. That will drop your flue temp, and increase flue humidity making particles stick. Add one to two logs at a time when you can. Only load your stove when that convenience outweighs the inconvenience of additional chimney cleanings.
Wow excellent info and video. Quick pace and zero filler. Will be moving back to the country soon and wood heat as i semi retire. Been without a wood stove for 20 years and miss it. Thanks for all the tips! Your a blessing.
Wood ash is also an excellent addition to a chicken dust bath. I collect it from my daughter’s fireplace throughout the winter just for that reason. Thanks!!
I lived in the interior of Alaska for 43 years; cut hauled and burned a lot of wood and I give you Two Thumbs Up! I learned things I didn't know; proof you can teach an old dog new tricks. Great video young man. I subscribed and will be back to your website. Thank you.
Pretty thorough. Love my wood heat. When I was young I used to wait til the fall to try and buy wood for the winter. No way I could find any at a reasonable price. Now I've wised up. I buy it wet a year in advance wet and cheap so it has time to dry.
Love this video man! So many valuable tips that EVERYONE needs to consider!! Oh you mentioned Chip Drop to get wood, another method and my favorite is emailing or calling local arborist/tree service companies and in many cases they will deliver to you. You get the wood and chips, they save time, fuel, money and man-hours! Win-win. Thank you for sharing.
Great tips! Thanks! I have one to add. If cutting limbs or logs into general lengths for the sake of hauling, I like to cut notches in my wood where my finished lengths will be. That way you can leave any odd end pieces on site. Less mess, less effort, and I don't like having a bunch of unstackable shorties to deal with later on.
Thanks for the super helpful tips. On west coast BC (Latitude 50 degrees north) we have frequent rain, high RH, short summers. Doug fir and a little maple our only woods. Hence ,for drying: Single row across best drying wind, bark side up to shed rain, stack loosely for better air flow and have full coverage plastic sheeting ready to use during rain downpours. Wood moisture is 6-12% before stacking into basement
Excellent suggestions. We don't use chainsaws, never learned and too old now, but we pay to have our trees cut, and do the lifting and stacking which you taught me from a previous video. There are just so many things to know I never thought about before. Thank you, this is a very helpful video.
These were some great tips. There were several things I never thought about, such as the positioning of the logs in the stove. All good material, no fluff. Thumbs up!
Great video, thanks. I have two additional firewood use tid-bits for your consideration. 1) I stack my wood so the higher BTU output species are most easily available in my areas coldest months. 2) I let my stove get warm/hot before installing any round wood ... seems to me that most hardwood species having higher bark percentages burn while producing the most smoke/creosote. I use the "simpler the better" use of a longwood stove and it is my only heat source. I live in central Missouri, it can be 60-degree one day then 18 the next. I salute you for mentioning the info about flipping the chainsaw bar over for more even wear, I also use a flat file to remove side burs and clean the chain channel often. Thumbs up for wood ash as an excellent garden fertilizer ... some say that a creosote tea is also a good insecticide as well. PS: your firewood stacking skills are far better than mine but I also use old pallets but place a layer of house wrap or an old tarp under the pallets. This way in the storage months I have a great population of lizards, birds, or other bug eaters out there. Again, great video & thanks.
I keep a steal pail of wood pellets handy to ease the starting process. I also keep a trigger propane torch handy for starting. a cup of pellets and the torch, the fires starts within minutes and heats up the stove for optimal burning. also I keep a old trigger sprayer filled with water to dose any coals that may "jump out at you" when adding more wood. One more... I put some bricks on the top of my wood stove to dissipate the heat and provide a "hand melting barrier" accident by touching the very hot steal.
Great job. This old guy has to get a logox. Where I live we use birch and spruce. I’ll only burn spruce after two years in the woodshed. I have these small woods bags that are closed on the ends so there is no mess as I have to carry it through the kitchen to the living room in our cabin. Our house the stove is just inside the daylight basement door.
Hi great video I'm in my 60's and here in Alaska I buy 50 pound bag's of coal and put a few in at night or during the day when its 15-25 below I pay 5 dollars a bag
If your someone that buys your wood, buy it at least a year in advance of burning, if you can. I've rescued a few newbies that purchased wood for the first time and were sold wet or unseasoned wood. I usually have 2-3 years worth cut ahead, mostly stored inside.
This was a great help. I have a ton of fallen trees and just a oil burning furnace to heat my house. Cost of heating oil is going up so I feel kind of silly having so much wood at my disposal without a way to burn it. I am going to install a woodstove I purchased recently and need all the advice I can find.
Great stuff! I grew up spreading ashes on the frozen driveway. When the sun hits those ashes it melts right through the ice, even if its freezing outside.
I recently switched to cordless chainsaws. By the time a battery is done, so am I. Less stress on me, less vibration and no pull starting. They keep up with a 30cc gas saw and in many cases are faster. The cordless chainsaw is awesome for carrying in my rigs. No gas to stink up the SUV and no gas to go bad if not used. Over the years I ended up with saws, trimmers and other gas powered things that had different mixes of oil. I have killed more than one saw by using the wrong mix even though I try to mark all devices and cans. For off-grid, a solar charger keeps me working without going to the local village to buy gas.
I'm using a rocket stove I built. It took a while to learn how to light since it needs to be started slowly. As the stove warms it draws more and more, until it... well... sounds like a rocket at launch. It has no problem going through 35 feet of flue, of which 18 feet of it goes through a ton of crushed stone as a heat mass. A fire starter I depend on is white pine pine cones. A dozen and a fist-full of chopped up scrap from my wood shop gets this slow starting stove rolling almost as quick as a conventional stove. It took me a couple years to figure this out. Duh... I depend on fans for heat distribution. My stove is in my basement, as is my metal and wood shops. Living area is above, and since heat rises, it heats the house above through the floor and through a couple vents, plus the stairwell. Making wood storage, sheltered from precipitation, was my best move. Rockets do not work well with moist wood, and perform amazingly with dry. I've a brief, non-narrated video of my stove in action on my channel. I have since made the burn chamber larger so I can burn standard sized cordwood. This is my first build. It is primitive by my standards, but sophisticated by others I've see here on YT. Check it out. BTW, the downside of a rocket is that an 8 hour burn is not possible... therefore, the use of thermal mass over the exhaust. Some rocket YT'ers only need to burn every other day. The main advantage of a rocket is its efficiency. It uses much less wood per BTU, and the exhaust is very clean. Creosote buildup is non-existent. The chimney only smokes on startup. Once running, the exhaust is CO2 and water vapor. Creosote is burned up as fuel before it leaves the stove. I can burn conifer wood in a rocket, but prefer not to, it burns up too fast, and it doesn't split well, making pieces that are irregular. This wood is best for camp fires, outdoors. Great video... this should be a prerequisite for anyone considering buying a wood stove for the first time. Every stove store should have this vid on a loop.
Oh man! The pickaroon is the best! My back is kinda blown out, but you can move logs, and pick up the cut " bucked" ones, then, when I'm throwing them I stab the 16" log in the center, lift up toward the trailed or truck, then spin the log like a helicopter blade. Flys off perfect. Great vid. I'm going to try the temp compare on the stove pipe. Trick. Thanks!
This is the most informative, easy and reliable information I have ever seen on RU-vid. You should do a podcast or something to get more information out to the public. Awesome awesome video... Keep em coming.. I tell friends and family of your channel..
I have 2 thermometers on my stove. One has a 4" probe and the other is magnetic. Placed side by side on the stack there can be a 50° difference in the reading.
This is the best tip list I've seen! I do a LOT of firewood every year and have for a long time. I think you covered pretty much everything! Excellent!
We have more snow then you do I imagine but I use a sled like your nice black sled to bring firewood out to the road. I do cut them to length right at the tree too because those long bolts are a lot heavier then firewood lenght pieces. I used to do it your way but with a good sled I can bring about 5 times what I can carry and with more ease! So my trips are minimized and the weight of each piece is much more manageable too. You are quite right that minimizing handling is the key! A longer stove box can help with that so you can feed in longer pieces of wood.
Holy cow - This is the most thorough video, even down to “keep all your gear in one place, I keep mine in a milk crate”. Common sense but I didn’t think of almost any of these things!!! Keep it up! Loved this.
I don't even have a wood stove but now I want to get one after watching this video. This was one of the most informative videos I have ever watched. Impressive information related in an easy going format and obviously drawn on lots of experience. You are a born teacher! Again... Great Job! Also, I just downloaded this video to store on an external hard-drive for later viewing!
Fire starter: best is birch bark. If you're making birch firewood, might as well rip off the bark and store it in whatever plastic bags you have. 3 bits each about the size of half the palm of your hand are plenty to start a fire if the wood is dry. Easiest to dry the wood is to keep it indoors. I have 2 wood racks, one is drying while I use the other. Made them from 2,5 cm / 1 inch boards attaching with 2-3 45 mm screws each connection point (to make it stiff and strong). 2 long, about 15 cm / 6 inch wide boards for sides, tops and bottoms joined with 10 cm / 4 inch boards from the side, about 30 cm / 12 inch long, 2 each side top, 2 bottom. Stack wood between the sideboards while the rack is vertical and it'll stay in this rack, even if you tilt the rack. Firewood tends to be gnarly enough to not drop out, almost no rubble drops from the wood as the logs don't chafe. Stacking with a little force makes it like a brick wall. If you're only lifting them onto a wheelbarrow or something it's especially easy. You can use long boards for sides and lift a lot of wood at once. Saves a lot of time moving wood to your stove.
