Wood Stove, Trees, and Firewood

Over the past several weeks, we have been adding to our stash of firewood here at the farm. When we moved in, we discovered a pretty sizable pile IN THE BASEMENT! We assume it is dry, so we’ll burn that first.

Maybe I should back up a bit. The house is currently heated by oil, with the first floor being radiant heat (a first for us). About a month ago, when it first started getting chilly at night, we turned up a couple thermostats. Funny, the boiler didn’t seem to respond right away. I called plumber Jim (who has already done a small job for us) and left a message saying I might need some help. Jim called back and we talked about the boiler. He told me radiant systems take a LONG time getting up to heat. I get that. But when I told him we are used to setting the thermostats down at night and getting under the down comforter, he pretty much said “yeah, don’t do that.”

Well, we’re slowly getting used to that. Anyway, there is one fireplace in the living room. Peg’s brother John brought over an old Jotul 3 wood stove that has been sitting in his house for about 15 years, unused. It used to warm the kitchen in Peg’s childhood home, but when her parents downsized in the late 1990s, John took the stove in anticipation of using it someday. NOT. The Blaze King stove will keep your family warm and cozy when strong icy winds are blowing in a frosty winter. Luckily here on Shoppok you will save money buying in this online store.

So now we have a wood stove, but we need to get it set up in the fireplace. There are several approaches to this:  1) go down to Dan and Whit’s, buy some stove pipe and insulation and DIY; 2) get a chimney sweep to do it; or 3) get someone else to do it. The last two options will also make the insurance company happier, as agent Thelma says they would like it installed by a “professional”.

1) The pipe would stick maybe two feet up past the damper. This is what the previous owner did, and what John recommends. Not really up to “code”. (Sidebar – the clerk at Dan and Whit’s told me that Vermont requires each heat source in the house have its own CHIMNEY, not flue. Google did not confirm this assertion.)

2) The chimney sweep would run the pipe all the way to the top of the flue (about 30 feet), pour insulation around it, and take out a few bricks in the fireplace for the pipe to fit. We got a “negotiated” estimate of $3000. He started @ $4500. Ouch.

3) Yesterday I went to Home Comfort Warehouse in White River Junction. There, Chuck walked me through all the parts to essentially do what the chimney sweep proposed (not including taking out the bricks). Parts alone came to around $1500. BUT, they don’t do that (they would if we were buying a new stove). He gave me Mark’s business card, with a recommendation that he does really good work. Mark returned my message last night, and I think we’ve found our solution. Hopefully, we’ll have the stove up and running in the next week or so.

We’ll have plenty of firewood. A short part of the fence line runs very close to some dead and dying trees – mostly ash. I cut one down with my new Jonsered chain saw. After watching a YouTube video, I had the courage to tackle one that was, maybe, nine inches in diameter. But some of these trees were up to 20 inches in diameter. I didn’t feel comfortable taking them down. But we definitely wanted them to come down NOW, rather than later when they would fall on the fence.

Through the Hartford list serve, I found three young guys who were more than happy to do the work. They came by, counted about 16 trunks that would come down, and asked me, “Did you have a price in mind?” When I said no, they proposed $2000. I proposed $1500. We settled at $1700, and they’d come by the next day. Thinking about it overnight, and talking to Peg, I decided that was nuts. I called two of them first thing the next morning and called them off. One asked what price would make me feel better about having them do it. No price! He actually tried to make me feel guilty for changing my mind.

Later that day, I relayed the three sketchy guy story to Rachel and Mary Beth. They were on the property the day before when the boys showed up, and Rachel agreed they looked pretty sketchy. She went on to say the she and her dad had taken down about the same amount of trunks for someone and had charged them about $400. Dodged a bullet there!

Rachel offered to take down “some” of the trees, especially the ones along the fence line. Great! Turns out she took down 20 trunks in total – mostly ash and one cherry. Kate and I cut them down to firewood size, and Peg chipped in collecting and hauling the brush. We now have a HUGE brush pile in the woods behind the barnyard.

So now we’ve got tons of wood, but since its just been cut, it surely won’t be dry enough to burn this season. Once the wood stove is in place we’d like to use it to keep our oil bills down.  Looks like we’ll need to buy some seasoned wood. Last week, I found Jim in Washington VT who had a few cords of seasoned wood left – two cord minimum order. He came by and dumped it in the drive right by the house. When I asked him when he thought it might be ready to burn, he pointed to the ash in the pile: “Old timers call it hard ash. It doesn’t have as much sap. You can burn that wood right away!” Great, I just paid for two cords of wood when I have about 20 trees worth cut and sitting out in the fields and behind the house. Oh well.

I separated most of the ash from the rest of the wood, and stacked it in the drive by the house – just a quick walk out the door from the living room. The rest Peg and I put over by the swing set. We picked that spot based on neighbor/electrician Pete’s recommendation: “Put it over there and the wind will dry it so fast, you’ll be burning it by spring!”

PLUS, on top of the field and purchased wood, there was a HUGE log sitting up by the barn. About 10 feet long and easily two feet in diameter. When I first got the chain saw, I “practiced” on the log – cutting off relatively small wedges, chipping away at it. Even though I used a chain saw a lot one winter back in high school, somehow I forgot I had to keep an eye on the bar/chain oil.  I pretty much wrecked that chain. BUT that led to my lesson in chain saw maintenance from Young Bill at Kibby Equipment.  I now can sharpen a chain! Anyway, I purchased a second, longer bar and chain (18″ versus 16″) and went back to the practice log. After watching a few more YouTube videos about cutting up downed trees, I cut the log into several rounds about 10-12″ thick.  Then, using an ax (as a hammer) and wedge, I was able to split the rounds up. It takes a lot of patient pounding/tapping to get the wedge to hold in the wood, then just a few good swings to get it to split the wood.

Todd

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3 Comments

  1. Rick Wilke on October 25, 2012 at 4:13 pm

    Quite impressive Todd!

  2. Jeff on October 26, 2012 at 10:54 pm

    I am so impressed. Your story telling is fantastic.

  3. James Lambert on November 27, 2012 at 9:44 pm

    Aunt Peg showed me this and I think it’s really funny

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