(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

How is your wood supply holding up???

A

Adirondack case guy

Well-known Member
I stack my wood in the woodshed so that I have no "dead zones" in it. I thought I was using a lot of wood this year to heat the house and shop, but I was pleasantly surprised today when I did some measuring. Winter should be half over, and I have burned 6.5 cord in the boiler that has run nonstop since election day. We also have burned about a cord of wood in the fireplace, mostly before lighting the boiler. We have also burned the fireplace on some of those brutal cold days a couple of weeks back.
I figure seasonal usage at 12-14 cord per year, so I'm not bad off. I started the heating season with 30 cord stacked in the woodshed and tractor shed. No worries of running out, and house and shop have been real comfy buy pushing the boiler To my preset limits. It is a Royal Wood/Coal boiler with controlled combustion air. Combustion air is shut off at a high limit of 180F and comes back on when boiler temp drops back to 170F. I have a suspended hot water unit heater in the shop and I retrofitted the house with radiant floor heat back in the early 90s.
When we built the house in 1971 we supplemented the oil furnace with a home built wood furnace and a wood burning kitchen cook stove, which were both removed when the new radiant heat was installed. The central fireplace, that I built in during a 90s remodel, a ("Fireplace Extrordinar") has served us very well when moderate heat or some ambiance is in order.
Loren
a254760.jpg
 
I've probably burnt seven cord and half a tank of fuel oil so far. The pile was going quick in that cold spell. I went to the woods yesterday and cut a load. Still some pretty mealy snow and no frost in the ground.
 
Hello Lorrn,

Seeing as you are a season ahead on your wood supply do you rotate it or just fill up empty space with new wood?

Vito
 
Was burning about a cord a month. Time for the mid season flu pipe cleaning...didn?t see that small patch of ice on the roof and down I went, ladder and all. Good thing I had made it down to the first floor. Gonna have to look into an outdoor boiler.
a254767.jpg
 
Any of these require stitches ? I gouged out a deep and wide trough in the same spot, but on the inside. Climbing down a wall in a barn, 1/2" stall latch bolt end, I guess I had a little too much pressure against it.

Nurses aid just about accused me of lying, thinking I was not wearing safety chaps and the saw chain did it! Told me there's a fellow over in so and so with a saw shop, he sells the chaps. I said, know him well, he's my neighbor. The young lady doctor and I spent some quality time as she tried to sew it up. The local Novocaine she initially applied was not working, I tried to deal with it, but said to her, you'll have to keep poking that needle in there until it numbs up if you want to sew this one up. Just about unbearable,and I've dealt with worse, sure did smart ! Not an easy incision or slice, rough and gnarly, made it hard to numb and sew. We both earned our paychecks that afternoon!
 
That ally way was all wood cut the summer before this past one. When it is gone, I will start burning wood from the far end of the stack to the left of pic. cut first this past summer. and work back. When season is over The left cavity at far end will be filled first. There are doors in that wall, that I can back up to with wood hauler. Once that section is refilled, I will stack the area to right you see emptied full again. That will be wood for 2020-1 season. What you see on the LH side will go through the 2020 season. I just rotate the pattern that I remove and replace wood. Stacks need to be solid and free standing. What you don't see is the 10 cord of wood stacked behind where I took the pic from. That works in the rotation also for 2019 season. I won't even touch that this year.
Loren
 
Surprisingly well. About 2.5 cords so far, not a primary source of heat, but one heck of a way to bolster the oil heat, house is larger than most, but it sure makes a difference. The last harsh winter we had, I burned 6 cord, most I've ever used in a season through this stove.

Past 2 weekends I was able to split some well seasoned blocks that were under cover and keep my supply ahead of demand. Sure do enjoy it too. My office at work, darned feet get cold all day during the winter. First thing I want to do is stoke that fire and enjoy that heat downstairs when I get home. The bitter cold snap we had was something, I kept a fire going non stop, minus a clean out. Stoke at 6 AM and load it up, 12:30 or so again when home for lunch, then 5:30, and before turning in. I save my oak, locust and better hardwoods for times when I need coals the most to make re-firing easy. Often times I'll use un-split logs, round gnarly black cherry will burn a very long time, get you through until you can reload.
 
No stitches...did have nurse Cratchet with a Brillo pad to clean it up. Went to ER because I landed on shoulder and the side of my head. Funny thing,head stopped hurting when she started scrubbing.
 
I haven't cleaned a chimney in 15 years. Both are Class A SS straight up chimneys. 6" on boiler 12' long and 8" dual wall on fireplace 15' long.
Masonry chimneys are for the birds and bats. HeHe.
I hope your wounds heal quickly.
Loren
 
I usually keep enough wood available , don't know how many cords I use. I have a Heatmore outside boiler. I fill trailers hay wagon and sometimes dump wood from loader bucket by stove door. Basement has radiant floor heat that's great,coil in duck work for upstairs,stove heats endless amounts of domestic hot water and heat above ground pool . We love it
 
Near as I can tell we have burned close to 7 cords so far which is a good bit more than normal. We are running an outdoor boiler full time and a Jotel insert to heat an addition that's hard to heat. Shop is heated with waste oil and I have already equaled last winters usage but I have more waste oil than I can burn up.
 
So far I have used less than half of what I had cut. Worst part is that a lot of what I have is pretty green. I have enough that is dry to mix with it that I'm getting along fine. As long as we don't get a month of what we had a couple of weeks ago I should have some wood left over.
 
I use about 10 cords a year, stacked on pallets, 15 of them in a row, gives me a wood pile 4' wide and 60' long. I try and have 3 years out, or 3 years worth on hand. Right now I'm working on 2 years down the road. I tarp the one I'm going to use with black plastic vapor barrier, 12' wide and the roll is 100' long. I get 3 years out of the plastic. I hold it on with 2 gal jugs, with frozen water suspended about a ft off the ground every 3' or so, tied together with baler twine. System works great. My 2 SCs are the wood workers. Here's a couple of pics taken lately. We always seem to have, here in west central MN a couple of weeks or really serious cold, usually end of Jan thru mid Feb. We've had a couple of weeks already, starting before Christmas. I hope that's it. I'm right on schedule with wood usage.
a254779.jpg

a254780.jpg

a254782.jpg

a254783.jpg

a254784.jpg
 
I am curious about what you do with the smaller branches and limbs. Every picture of your wood gathering I've seen shows nicely split blocks all stacked neat and tidy. I know you skid/drag logs to your staging area. Is everything other than the trunk waste for you??? just curious. Not having a woodlot of my own, I cut firewood on several neighboring farms. Clean up dead and down. I have plenty to cut. Don't seem to have the straight and tall. Lots of limby trees here. I take everything out to about an inch, inch and a half. In gratitude for the opportunity to cut on their lands, I sometimes seem to spend as much time making a nice tidy brush pile as I do cutting/loading. lol gobble
 
Well my wood supply has been pretty constant the last ten years or so. LOL I think there is still almost a cord or two in the old wood shed. I switched to newer corn fire boiler at that time. I loved it and do not have to cut fire wood any longer. Boy is living there now but it still is working well.

I just did not have the time to cut wood anymore. I could be doing a lot of other things that would make me far more than I was saving burning wood. Usually less than a 750 bushels of corn will heat the Farm house, two shops and the old milk house ( water lines and pressure tank in there).
 
I'm a little under half of what I got split. I have another cord and a half or so that never got split. I got about 20% in the propane tank (250gallon) Supposed to get cold again next week. I suppose beginning of February. I used about 3.5 cord of wood last year and about 125 gallons of propane.
 
Look into putting some liquid vitamin E on your leg. Speeds up healing. My leg isn't as bad off as yours but it is constantly getting scraped.
 
Things got busy this Fall & for the first time ever I didn't have a supply. Been running out & cutting 2 days supply, run out, cut, run out, cut, all winter. Started talking to my neighbors & all of them are in the same shape. Nobody has more than 3 days supply. Finally cut a 70 ft dead Sycamore the other day that will supply me for 2 weeks. Splits hard & burns fast but better than paper.
 
That's a neatly stacked pile! The very mild weather mixed in with extreme cold shifts have us right on par for wood use here so far.
 
I'm betting he even stacks it nice and pretty inside his wood stove ! lol.

I don't know where he finds the time or energy ? But he is THE king of firewood.
 
In an attempt to find the back of my pile I didn?t stack any new. Was pleasantly surprised to find good seasoned oak and ash back there. Burned about 3 cords and have about 3 left for February and March. The days are definanetly longer and Burgess sent the seed catalog so spring is lurking on the horizon.
 
Burning way less then usual, I live in sunny warm colorado where we haven?t had winter this year. It?s crazy. I?m about to start beliving in global warming.
 
I've burnt just a tick over 3 cords, that means I am burning on my 4th load. There are 6 loaded wagons
in my back yard that are 5'x 9' & for the most part 4 to 5' stacked on the wagon. In the spring the loaded
wagon will return to wood wagon row for the summer. If & when I get over these darn Shingles I will refill
what should be 4 empty wagon. My Problem is I have more down trees & dead ash than I have room on wagons.
 
Everything down to 1-1/2" is in the piles. I tuck them into the cracks and crannys of the stacks and they don't show up in the pics., but they are there.
In my "book" the tale goes with the hide!!
Loren
 
That is a pretty impressive pile of wood. Your neighbor Jon and I banty back and forth about cutting firewood in the winter. I prefer summer. I guess you guys up there like playing in the winter snow better than I do. HeHe.
Us Case guys know how to cut and stack wood.
Loren
 
39 parts truck, actually 100% rust free. I've 2 other 39s I use on the farm, a swb with a dump truck box and a Marmon Herrington chassis to go underneath (project, you know) and a lwb regular flat bed farm truck
 
Why does everybody seem to have the splitter setting about waist high? If I need to split them I want the wood not to need lifting as it is to heavy to lift. 2plus feet across and 2-3 feet long. Weight about 2-300 pounds. I just stand them up and use the sledge and wedge. If I had a splitter it would fit on the loader so I could split it on the ground without lifting. Also could pile it with the splitter in a trailer or beside where I pile it for the winter. I normally don't split anything that will go in the door. I know I get less heat for the block but will last the night and have lots of wood so no shortage here. Will have wood rot on the ground before I can cut it all. Need to go through the woods and pick up the dead fall stuff now.
 
Loren, I have seen your neat wood pile. The way your pile is located makes it very easy to get the wood without going out into the elements. I still have more than enough wood for this winter and I seem to be burning about the same as any year.
 
In south Kansas I burn 4-6 cords per year, mostly hedge apple (osage orange). That is the hottest burning wood you can get in North America, I believe. I season it at least a year and burn it in a fairly small Yotul stove. Keeps the entire upstairs in the 70's, but the basement stays at about 52F all winter.
9595.jpg
 
Because wives don't like putting patches on the knees of coveralls and jeans. When working with most vertical splitters that tilt down, that is how you have to work!!! on your hands and knees. Not in my program, much easier to physically or mechanically lift the blocks up to a comfortable working height on the bed of a Horizontal splitter with no bending over while splitting.
Loren
 

Sitting outside my shop are 2 axles from a horse trailer I plan on narrowing up
+ a straight axle out of a older chevy 1 ton.. 2 sections of frame 10' long from
a 72 passenger Int. school bus.. ( So I'm right with ya.. LOL )
 





You must have young back. Picking up off the ground, back of a trailer or a bucket is easy, just the knees. But, bending over ea round as you split it............. I couldn't split for half a day bending over
 

I have one that is Low & I can't stand it. If it was higher I'd use it more.
I hate it so bad only use it for the wood I can't split by hand. Kills My Back.
When I do use it I block it up higher.
 
(quoted from post at 21:38:03 01/24/18) Was burning about a cord a month. Time for the mid season flu pipe cleaning...didn?t see that small patch of ice on the roof and down I went, ladder and all. Good thing I had made it down to the first floor. Gonna have to look into an outdoor boiler.
a254767.jpg
Click to expand...

You don't have a clean out at the base of the chimney? If you do, instead of climbing up on the roof, go get some of the fiberglass cleaning rods and a brush. The sections screw together and are flexible enough to go through a door or Tee and up the chimney. I clean my chimney about every 2 weeks, takes about 10 minutes, just to be safe. I rarely get more than a coffee can full of creosote, mostly in warmer weather.
 
My splitter is as close to the ground as I can get it for that very reason. I roll them on and toss the splits into my FEL bucket where I carry them to the covered wood pile.
a254887.jpg
 

Great question this time of year. Here in the Arizona mountains we have had a mild winter with only one snow. We started with only 2 cords this year and it looks like a little over 1/2 left now. It costs about $450 to get 2 cords of shaggy juniper. I can't imagine going through 14 cords!
Stay warm folks!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

showcrop
Wood gasification boiler
Replies
7
Views
352
Geo-TH,In
Geo-TH,In
3
No wood burning
2
Replies
35
Views
2K
Texasmark
T
Majorman
Wednesday Tractor 22/5
Replies
2
Views
337
Cheesehead Fred
C
Geo-TH,In
OT: There are alternatives to burning wood.
2 3
Replies
59
Views
4K
INCase
I
rusty6
Wood Cutting With The AR
Replies
13
Views
890
Buckhammer
B
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top