This question actually comes up quite a bit in the wood burner community, and not just for newbies. I mean seriously, there must be some “science” behind the act of loading a stove up with more wood during its use.
Operating a wood stove without a thermometer is a bad idea – you will have a hard time figuring out the current burn temperature, which only leads to potential stove damage, waste of wood and chimney issues. But here’s the deal – there’s a lot of options out there, so deciding on which kind, mainly…
It can definitely seem weird at first to find out that many of the wood stoves on the market don’t come fitted with a grate. I mean, fireplaces have them, so it can’t be any bad to equip one in your stove… or is it?
Let’s get this straight – wood splitters aren’t cheap. It’s always better to leave one nice and dry in a shed to protect the investment, perhaps a garage of some sorts. But that isn’t always available to everybody out there. The question is, will leaving such a thing outside instead in the blazing sun, rain…
Processing firewood takes time. As if all that bucking and splitting wasn’t tedious enough, you have to stack it too. But you know what’s even worse? Having to stack the wood twice, because it fell for some odd reason. The good thing is that there is rarely an “odd reason” – your pile did that…
Those who burn wood may find that their home’s relative humidity drops quite a bit during the winter months, and the blame normally goes to the appliance. In reality, using a wood stove has little to do with why the indoor air gets more dry during the winter. The actual reason is a drafty home.
We’ve all seen those round wood piles, Holz Hausens as some call. Maybe you’ve seen one in your neighbors yard, perhaps on the internet, but one thing for sure, it sparked your interest. They say this method of stacking comes from Europe, and as far as i’m concerned, most things that come from that region…
Log splitters are an amazing help just as they come, but who wouldn’t want to make one even better?
Conifers, such as pine and cedar are generally considered to be the types of wood that make excellent kindling. The reason why is because they are naturally more resinous, and that stuff is what makes this kind of wood catch on fire more easily.
Firewood isn’t cheap, that’s a fact. Finding the least expensive way to supply yourself is certainly a priority in many homeowners’ minds, and two of the most common routes (instead of scrounging) is either buying already split wood or logs that have to be processed. So what is the better choice, after all? This is…