Gimme Shelter for My Firewood: Slim's Fixer Upper Part 15 

Don't worry about the content. Just you, your plans and a fire side chat is worth watching.

A true man of the people. Information, entertainment and even a little public service announcement at the end. You're a legend Slim!

Audio and video quality is perfect. Nice woodshed that you build.

Everything is really coming together. Great job Slim. You're very talented.

LOL "was it a Shih Tzu" HAHAH! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Thank you Slim! I am glad that you let us hang out with you !!👍

New mic and lens are working great. I've never started a fire that way so agree with going 'traditional'. Good video. Thanks.

I totally loved it Slim, it was NOT boring in the least! I like how your repurpose your building materials, that's the way to go especially in these high price times that we are into today! Thanks Slim and I can't wait for your next video.

Everything looks and sounds great Slim. Your presentation is always wonderfully entertaining.

Don't Fret So Much About Not Having Enough Content. Not Every Video Has to be Loaded With Constant Projects. Sometimes Just Sitting Around Chatting About This and That is Enough. Your Video's are Always Ineresting and Some are Relaxing. Staying Inside on a Rainy and Stormy Day, just Visiting With Us is Like Spending Time With a Good Friend. Love The Firestove!! Your Cabin is Coming Along Great!! Already Looks Cozy and Inviting. Stay Safe Slim!! Thanks For Sharing So Much With Us.

I'm not supposed to digest potatoes because it is a night shade veggie and bad for my psoriasis. However, I always make an exception of digesting your videos Mr. Slim Potatohead. You are an exceptional videographer. Thank you for my weekly or monthly dose of your expertise.

I love your "on the fly engineering" when it comes to building things. It's my favorite style when I have extras around, and even when it comes to planned builds, I ALWAYS build on the fly even when I have everything I needed. Love it Slim.

Many ways to build a fire in a stove. I like to put two large pieces lengthwise down each side leaving a good opening between them. I put another large piece crosswise at the rear. Then I build a small conventional fire in the middle and can lay slightly larger pieces crosswise over the two side pieces. The fire burns up and out. Now with a good start you can do things anyway that pleases. I taught this to my wife for sure starts and no tears. Good luck getting and keeping warm as you work. I always enjoy your videos, especially when I can snag an idea from you. My next woodshed is forming in my mind.

The sledge hammer and chisel brought back memories over 70 years old when I helped Dad to prepare many cords of hardwood for our very large furnace where coal was used also . Heating such a large house during winter along with a wood burning stove for cooking in the kitchen, was a very labour intensive job for many until they switched to oil after Dad retired in the seventies.l

Slim I'm 74 and instead of beating myself up splitting logs with a wedge and sledge, I bought a Sun Joe 10 ton manual hydraulic log splitter from Amazon. Doesn't need gas or electric. You can buy similar, cheaper designs but they have bad reviews. Sun Joe is the best. I've split a few hundred oak logs so far over the years and this splitter was worth every penny. It really saves your back and shoulders from using a sledge. I can even send you a video via Google Drive of me using it if you want to see it in action, but I would need a gmail address to send it to. Wife and I love your videos, Arthur

Never saw anyone load a wood burning stove like that, only traditional loading. Different strokes for different folks. Pit toilet story was hysterical LOL

That awesome wood stove should of been in the movie Zarthura~ I just love his face!

Fresh coffee on a Saturday morning watching Slim mess with a fire....so chill

Slim's a lumberjack & he's ok, sleeps all night and he films all day

Slim, before your brush piles are covered with snow, collect as much of the small wood and twigs as possible to have small kindling. Also, split up some of the old short pieces of two by fours into half inch or inch inch diameter pieces to throw in to get the fire started better. Keep all of this small wood in boxes in the house to help it dry out well. The kindling you put in your stove looked too big to get the fire going.

It all looks great, can’t wait for the next updates 😊

Love your video's Slim. The main reason is because there is NO DRAMA. Just you doing your thing and trying different stuff to get where you you want go. Always entertaining. The new lens and mic seem great. I fed that exact same wood stove from the age of 6 till I was 17 and went into the military. Some of the tricks are to keep the main part of the fire as far to the front as possible, always keep the door closed, except to load firewood and try to use as much hardwood as you can. Adding mass to the stove also helps keep the heat in the house. We had a piece of cast iron sitting in the cavity where your fan is, but anything that will add to heat retention will work.

👍👍 On the mic & camera. No requirement that the video is "exciting" or "step by step". We (hopefully I can represent a part of your viewership) enjoy your thought process, intentional use of materials, and the pleasure of designing & diy. Be well & warm!

I had my fireplace in our cabin going a few days ago. There's nothing more calming than a warm fireplace going in a cabin on a cold night. Your cabin is looking so beautiful! You should decorate for Xmas, maybe a bough wreath, a bowl of pine cones around a candle and a warm fire with a good beer in hand.

We love the simple videos. It just shows the everyday life. We don't expect a big production, just be yourself. Thank you for sharing.

I've never heard of starting a fire that way. I enjoyed watching you build the woodshed and the sound and video quality are both good!

I agree with you about these cell phones nowadays...loving your cabin, good job Slim👍

Oh Slim!! You made me wet my pants laughing! A shitzu!!! Wahaaaa!! Everything is looking so good at your cabin. Great work!! ♥️🙏🏼♥️

Greetings from Florida, Slim!! Wanted to say that I love the new lens and microphone that you have. The color rendering and light enhancing (for a dreary day) are excellent! The mike sound pick-up is also great! I always enjoy your episodes: short, medium, long, scripted or not, trips or stay at home. Thanks for sharing your life with us; it gives a little lift to my life. Stay yourself, stay safe, and stay well. And we will endeavor to do the same!😜😜😜

Low key is nice. If we want excitement, there are lots of places to find it. I enjoy your calm, quiet videos.

I reckon that was a perfectly good story, even without a Shitzu ending!

Sound and video are fine. nice work.

i’m really enjoying your cabin series…probably because it’s my dream to have one, too.

Love you vids for years. Mic is very clear, so is image. The brightness, I would have never guessed gloomy outside with only natural light.

Much love Slim!

That stove really has a classic look. The front reminds me of an old style cartoon robots face.

You ought to think about building a "Rocket Mass Stove" in your cabin Slimbo. Not just a Rocket stove but a barrel with a concrete mass attached to it where the exhaust pipe runs through it and transfers most of the built up heat into the mass. Look it up. They burn about 25% of what a plain stove burns and keeps you warmer longer. Most of the materials can be had very cheaply. 55 gallon drum. Sand, gravel, concrete. A block fire box. They are extremely efficient. Stay warm.

I love wood stoves, the younger generation tried to say you can start a fire on top the way you tried. A very proven point that is older than the hills, heat rises,!

Your videos are always entertaining. Loved the ending story. I've never dropped my cell phone in the toilet, but I did drop it into my dogs water bowl. I was mowing and bent over to move bowl, forgetting the phone in my shirt pocket. And my dog is a Shih-Tzu 🙃

I thought that the video is exciting! It’s nice and relaxing to watch you work on all the small cabin stuff! Thanks!

I love the Git-R-Done videos! No fooling around, just do what you gotta do. I would watch you read the phone book! If you could find one nowadays!!!

That little fan is so handy . We have one on our wood stove . It really moves a lot of air .

Slim, you are quite the man I must say. If you were mine, I would never worry about anything.!😊

Great video! Reminds me of all the work we did on our A frame cabin when I was a kid in the 70’s. I learned a lot that I carried into my adult but nothing like what you can do. I’m amazed at all the things you just figure out when trying to rig or fix something. I kinda have that quality as well but more for fixing things in the house. I believe it has a lot to do with being left handed or having grown up around a mother that always figured something out. I really enjoy the videos as it helps me figure out some of my problems I’m having redoing a mobile home. Keep,the videos coming please 😀

When I was a kid we heated our house with a wood stove. When we had hot coals that we added fresh wood to and we're trying to help it light(like in the morning). When we wanted to blow more air on the coals we used about a 2 ft piece of copper pipe left over from a plumbing project my dad did. I remember it working very well

I think I mentioned that if you heat the stove pipe right you won't get smoke coming out the door. Roll up newspaper hold it by the pipe so the fire is drawn up into the pipe. This is recommended by bricklayers when starting a natural fireplace. Remember creosote build up is danger. When you load the stove listen for cracking in the stove pipe as the heat builds. If you hear it run a chimney brush through it, you are getting buildup. The new lens and mic 👍👍👍👍👍 I had to edit because, your splitting stump can be cured with 4 pieces of that rebar you have. Pound rebar alongside the stump wire it tight. Nothing worse if you have to ajust after every split, much easier on the back.

Glad to see you have a heat resistant plate under the stove… the video and sound was excellent 😊 thanks for the update and enjoy the cabin life 😊

I have watched you for years now and I am finding the cabin build great watching.

Gimme Shelter or I'm gonna Fade Away! 🎵 🎸 Great job on the firewood shelter. Stay safe out there SP. 🕊

You're the Canadian version of Jacques Cousteau. Always interesting narrative and stellar technical filmography. A bit obsessed with toilets however.

Hi Slim! The new lens is a winner; bright colors, very crisp definition, just excellent. I like the new wood shed, and perfect timing for that project too. Wondered about that suggestion you received for the wood stove as well because any fire I’ve built has started with small pieces of wood & paper, then work up to big. It’s not you; it’s the stove, Slim. :) The poop story was the pits lol (get it?) I can remember when my family primitive camped long ago and there were pit toilets. Yes, I had a super tremendous fear of falling into that sucker but my behind was a lot smaller then, kid size, so the fear was very real. One thing I know for sure, if I dropped something into that mess today - it stays there. Take care, stay warm and be well. Enjoyed your video very much.

One more thing to concider. Not sure if you need it. Just a thought. Building a little shelf for wood indoors aswell. My moms boyfriend did it with 2 vertical shelves and a metal bar going through in the bottom so the wood rests on these two metal bars and have airflow all around. 2 shelves so he has 2 sections: more wet and more dry ones. He fills up one but uses the other section that has been indoors for a week or so and when that empty fills it up and uses the other one :) simple and smartway to store and dry some of it indoors.

Can always rely on a laugh with you Slim! You never disappoint. Take care.

Hi, Slim! Hope you’re in good health, thanks for posting your videos.✌️🇺🇸🇨🇦✌️👏👏👏

Slim, enjoyed this one. Really good job and informative. Suggestion: when you stack your wood, put the bark side up. Helps keep the wood drier by not trapping moisture like a bowl. We had a wood stove. Chopped and split a bunch of wood.

Just enjoy watching you hang out in your 'new' cabin. Keep those " cell phone" stories coming! LOL.

Hope you have your firewood shelter filled for the upcoming winter. Stay warm!!

The lighting was very good in this video as was the audio. Equipment upgrade well worth it. Nice work on the woodshed. So satisfying to get a job done that adds ease and supports the practical aspects of completing your day to day chores. Another enjoyable half hour watching your well crafted video. Thanks for making them, Slim.

The top down fire build is a good and easier way. You start with 2 or 3 large logs on bottom. Add fine split logs (1-2" diameter) between the large and for 2nd layer. Third layer is 1/2" diameter and smaller. Then straw size or smaller on top of that for 4th level. You light between the 3rd and 4th level. Embers drop down and start the 2nd and 1st layer. I didn't believe it either when I first tried it but it was a routing success! Love you videos Slim!

We did have an old pit toilet collapse at our farm, pre cellphone days. Fortunately no one was using it at the time. The concrete that made the floor over the pit had been cracking for a while and finally gave way. When we arrived home, said toilet building had sunk down into the earth. Final tip, keep your kindling indoors. Always easier to start a fire, with bone dry kindling!

Loved the view from inside the cabin with the heavy rain outside! It was a free range cell phone, but she should've had it attached to the leash...

That woodshed is functional and rustic. Very good. And since you asked, the video quality, to my uneducated eye is really good.

Hi Slim, Picture quality was great. No shadows on your face and perfect sound. Color was spot on. About that cellphone story. I am paranoid about those Vault toilets. When I go in to use one, I always take my wallet and anything else in my pockets and put them in the corner as far away from that horrible hole as I can. I did drop my old cellphone in my home toilet one time. But it was before I had used it. The toilet that is, not the cellphone. It was in the water for no more than a second or two, but it never worked again. I had to purchase a new phone the next day. Nice job on the firewood shelter. Don

Here to tell Slim "You're doing it wrong," LOL. What you want is a "top down" fire. I had a huge fireplace when I lived in Northern Michigan. Using this method, my fires would burn for hours. For a good example of what to do, search RU-vid for "When it comes to firewood burning, take it from the top" by the Chimney Safety Institute of America. Here's how I did mine. Bottom row - logs about maybe 6-8cm in diameter, about 3 of them, leaving about 1cm between each log. Next level slightly smaller logs, maybe 4-6cm, laid the opposite direction, again with a little room between them. Repeat with gradually smaller logs as high as your stove allows, leaving room for your 3 smallest rows. Don't forget to alternate the direction of the logs on each row. 3rd from the top should be larger kindling, maybe 3cm in diameter. 2nd from the top - take a few sheets of newspaper and twist them into 3-4 somewhat tight "ropes" about 2-3cm in diameter and cross-hatch those (the twisting of the paper makes it burn slower so it doesn't just turn to ash right away, and will catch the kindling better). On the newspaper row, I would also include a single fire starter stick sticking out slightly so you can light it. Finally smallest kindling of sticks. Set the fire starter alight, and watch it go. Remember to leave a little space between the logs on each row for air flow. And alternate the direction of the logs on each row.

Oh Slim!!! This made my day!!! That headline story! Ha ha ha ha!

Hey Slim, great job on using supplies you already had for your firewood shelter. Here’s a tip for helping your firewood to dry faster and get seasoned…. Split it! If you open up the rounds and quarter them, they will dry out from the rain. You can also get a wood dryness tester. As you know, the drier the wood, the less smoke and creosote you’ll have to deal with. Keep up the good work, love your channel. Steve in Austin Texas.

Yes Slim you had the design details covered. Ready for the winters gift of the white "stuff". Tom

The woodshed was sort of interesting but the end was so funny...I watched it twice! Amazing things do happen to us if we tend to ignore good old common sense.

Hey Slim. Thank you for this video, I like the squeak on your front 🚪 door. It sounds like home. 👍

Great video. It felt like I was there helping saw and hammer stuff. And after getting rained on, it was nice to go inside and fire up the stove. And then came the campfire story. I pity the viewer that finds it boring. I’m with you on that phone deal. Buh bye phone!

Evening. Nice tweeking of the stove. Fire bricks are wonderful at extending the warmth. My father use to manufacture wood burners. Just a tip, the rebar spacing to your grate should be 1/2" - 3/4" apart otherwise the coals that help keep your fire going fall to the bottom. Small kindling on the bottom, then medium, then large pieces on top has worked for me for 30 yrs. Keep at it you'll get the hang of it. Funny story. Thanks for the laugh.

Back in the days of phone books, once I had a good bed of coals, I would put in a large phone book. It would blow up and glow red for hours and ended up as a fine powder. I lived in a large metropolitan area, so I had access to large phone books. One of my daughters dropped her cell phone in a regular toilet at the Grand Canyon! She didn't notice until later when the toilet was closed because it was clogged! She didn't ask for it back.

Low key. High key I always enjoy watching your videos. Keep them coming.

I had to laugh when I heard about the “toilet story”. 35 years ago my dad used to wear hearing aids. They cost almost $1500 (US). One day he had them in a pocket of his bib overalls and nature called. Yep - when he dropped his overalls they fell out and went into the vault toilet. He just said to heck with it - they’re gone. He just sat down and finished his business. At least he didn’t fall in!

Informative and entertaining. That’s why we tune in to you! I loved the trees blowing in the rainy wind! Thank you.

Nice shelter 👍. If you didn’t have one stacking barkside up helps protect a stack of wood from water.

Picture and sound quality are great! Any video about the cabin and your take on life in general are great and fun to watch!

It’s called a vault toilet because it’s like a tank. They have to be pumped out by the honey wagon. A pit toilet is a hole in the ground.

For natural light that is a great picture

Years ago, my dad dropped his wallet into a pit toilet. So he used my fishing rod to get it out. My mom cleaned all the money and ID when it came out. Never used that fishing rod again! And I liked the wood storage build. Just seeing you in that beautiful cabin by the ocean is inspiring. Won't you get weeds in the porch where there are no boards?

I had a woodstove for years cooked on it and thoroughly enjoyed it

Quality is Picture Perfect.

The episode was just fine nothing to be concerned about everyday life is just fine.

Drop the cell phone down the vault. Love your energy.

Slim, to get a cold stove fired up, place your starter kindling on the bottom. Then take a full sheet of newspaper and roll it from corner to corner to form a long tight tube. Light one end and hold the burning end inside the stove beneath the stove pipe. This will quickly heat the air in the stove pipe and start the draft. When the flame gets close to your hand just drop the paper onto your kindling. When the kindling gets a good start add the bigger firewood and enjoy the heat. I've used this technique for years and it works well.

Having camping trips and cabin restore is a very good format, Slim. Like them both.

The "upside down" fire is a good idea, more complete burning and no need to add wood for a while. I usually build a smaller fire with tinder (paper /bark) small twigs and several 1-2" branches on top after filling the stove/fireplace with the larger logs. Once the small wood gets going, the logs ignite.

I use small tree branches as kindling. I have a tote full all broken to size. You have plenty all over the place. It works for me. Good luck Slim.

New lens looks good and new mic sounds great. Now I always put paper or fire starter sticks then small kindling gradually adding big pieces of wood.

Sound, picture and light is great.

Thanks for a good laugh, Slim!

Slim that’s a good start now my grandparents home firewood crib was much bigger and right next to the house. When you have one of your cold cold Canadian winder you want the shortest path from the house to the crib.

Video and audio is the best it’s been. Nice work on the cabin.

Slim your videos are always perfect and you did an outstanding job on your wood shed where you put your fire wood at bueatiful job

Hahahaha....was it a shih tzu?! You're a hoot, Slim! Love the woodshed!

I like to start a fire bottom up too, but if you add small kindling and paper on top you can get a good strong draft that will catch the bigger logs quicker. Maybe that’s what your commenter meant. I like your wood shelter, very nice. ❤️👍🏼

I quite enjoy the low-key videos there's something really fantastic about your little cabin and the work you're doing little by little. I really enjoy your travel videos but honestly the cabin videos are my favorite

Sound is excellent!

Perfect light and sound.

Low key is OK with me and Hubby! LOL at the Shitzu joke!

New item to look at: MANUAL SLIDE HAMMER LOG SPLITTER. It is a pole with a wedge welded onto the bottom of the pole, that you place on top of the log you want to split, like you do with your regular wedge. There's a weighted slide on the top of the pole that takes the place of your hammer. There's no swinging a heavy hammer or axe, just slide the weighted slide up and down to split the log. This is a good product for people with limited mobility or weakness, and for older folks who need to baby their aching joints. And there is excellent accuracy when using this, for splitting smaller pieces for kindling, without putting fingers in a dangerous position. (I've needed stitches using my super sharp hatchet to split kindling.) This would be a good product to review in a video.