Your wood pile

37chief · Jan 27, 2019

How's your wood holding out? This about the worst I have been as far has having enough wood. I have to go the neighbors, get wood from a few trees he had cut down. bring it home, and have to cut all the logs shorter. Go out every after noon, split the wood for that nights fire. I don't use that much wood, usually 3-4 hours in the evening. Then I put a large log in the stove to cook all night, then I have a fire in the morning. I guess winter just caught me off guard.Stan

Elton Fancher · Jan 27, 2019

I probably have 25 rick. Been cutting hickory behind a logger buddy lately. Most wood I have had in years, and weather is pretty mild so far.

JD Seller · Jan 27, 2019

When I was burning wood in the outside wood burning stove I would commonly go through 25-30 cords each winter. This heater the house, shop and old milk house. I switched it to a outside corn fired boiler and that uses about 500-600 bushels of corn each year. It is a lot easier to grow the corn. LOL

Elton Fancher · Jan 27, 2019

25 cords, looks like that would be enough to keep you busy just pitching it in.

RedMF40 · Jan 27, 2019

(quoted from post at 20:22:39 01/27/19) When I was burning wood in the outside wood burning stove I would commonly go through 25-30 cords each winter. This heater the house, shop and old milk house. I switched it to a outside corn fired boiler and that uses about 500-600 bushels of corn each year. It is a lot easier to grow the corn. LOL

How do you burn the corn? Whole ear or shelled?

My wood is dwindling, have an awful lot of big rounds need to be split.

rockyridgefarm · Jan 27, 2019

Roughly 12 cord a year here. I had figured if I don't cut any, I have enough to make March first. With as cold as it's been, I'm no longer sure about that. I have a lot of stuff laying dead through about 100 acres that it's no issue finding something to cut. Next week is supposed to be balmy mid 20's and I should be able to get a months work cut over a day or two. OWBs are a lot more forgiving than indoor furnaces or fireplaces.

Pete in Holland MI · Jan 27, 2019

Haven't touched my firewood stash since October. Oh wait......I don't heat in the winter. Steam engine food in the summer : )

Can't figure out the outdoor wood burner guys getting all excited about that technology. There are a LOT of losses with that. My dad used to heat an 1800 sq ft house in northern lower Michigan with 10-12 face cords per year with his Upland brand wood stove. Folks I hear around here burn 3-4X that amount of wood !

My 40 year old 1200 sq ft ranch house in SW lower Michigan costs about $550/year to heat with natural gas. Numerous upgrades included good windows, tight sealing doors, ample insulation in the walls & ceiling. 96% efficient forced air furnace. And that includes the water heater, stove, dryer & grill.

Focus efforts to keep the heat inside, and you'll go thru less fuel....regardless the source !

JD Seller · Jan 27, 2019

Big stove. It would hold a third of a rick of wood if the coals where burnt down a lot. I could fire it twice a day in moderate weather but 3-4 times each day if really cold.

JD Seller · Jan 27, 2019

The corn boiler uses shelled corn. It is a bottom stoker kind of like the old coal fired furnaces. It is a Central Boiler brand. They do not make this model anymore. it is rated at 400,000 BTU output. It heats two shops and the house without any problem.

hd6gtom · Jan 27, 2019

Got enough for 1 more week. Gonna turn on the furnace after that.

Elton Fancher · Jan 27, 2019

If a guy had to buy that much wood the expense would be inhibiting. They want $50 or more a rick around here. I just have a stove in the basement and one in the shop. About 2800 ft in the house including the basement but we no longer use it all. Electric heat furnace kicks on when it gets too cold and I let the fire get low.

504 · Jan 27, 2019

No wood but the gas furnace has been trying to start for an hour. Lots of lp but the blower is not coming on. 60 right now, I?ll see in the morning

Traditional Farmer · Jan 27, 2019

I have enough cut and split to go probably to the end of March and need to cut a lot more to clear out the trees that are blocking some of my roads up on the mountain.
A lot of trees have blown over in the last couple years,I only burn Oak,Hickory and Black Locust.

2x4 · Jan 28, 2019

same shape

Philip d · Jan 28, 2019

We?re about half way through our wood.

8NHENRY · Jan 28, 2019

Like JD Seller we burn corn our house uses about 35 bushels a month. Just went after another load Saturday.

ohiojim · Jan 28, 2019

probably have enough for 3 yrs. my problem is it gets a little to dry before i use it.

farmerjohn · Jan 28, 2019

How much is a rick? I know cords but never heard of a rick.

Billy NY · Jan 28, 2019

Got enough to get through, but have finally used up much of my old stock that's been in the yard covered up. I collected several cord of long length, dead and down for 2 years at least, once bucked and covered will dry down, split even better. Bolstered that with a nice size dead elm that I dropped Saturday, canopy wood on that is at least a cord, all dry, should be good to go til spring. Once I get caught up in the yard with what is staged in logs, I should be able to go out and catch up on more logs that need to be collected, fell dead or dying trees, get next years and beyond stowed away. I tried out the grapple on the backhoe, works nice to stack logs at the header so I can retrieve loads of them with the 3 pt forks, sure makes good time.

Butch(OH) · Jan 28, 2019

We keep a couple years ahead and burn about 10 12 cords a year. We run both an outdoor boiler and a Jotel insert that is located in a hard to heat addition to the old farmhouse. If the OWB goes bad I might switch to corn as I have a 2 acre patch that is too small for my tenant to farm and as JDSeller said it sounds easier to grow corn at my age

johnlobb · Jan 28, 2019

I'm about down to nothing in my stock of dried, covered wood. About a month ago my buddy lent me his wood splitter, so I got almost all of my big rounds split up. They're all aged over a year, but mostly still too wet to burn. I've got it all under cover now. Looks like I'm gonna have to buy some wood soon.

Elton Fancher · Jan 28, 2019

4 x 8 single stack I reckon.

Keith Molden · Jan 28, 2019

I haven't used much wood because we only use it on a family room that doesn't have a heat duct from the house in it. It was originally a 2 car garage when the house was built. But we have gone through 1800. for 2 fillups, we ran electric heat till first part of December. worth of propane @ 2.399 a gal. here in SE Ohio and will have to fill up at least 1 more time and probably 2 before spring. Sure is making an outdoor wood boiler look better all the time. I just don't know if I would be physically able to split and fire it. We have a 5 bedroom house so it takes a quite a bit to heat it. Bad part is in winter, if we have a cold spell they run short of propane. (all the dealers around here are the same so it wouldn't do any good to change dealers). Keith

flembo · Jan 28, 2019

We are about half way thru this years, with next yrs. stacked in the second shed and ready. I am working on the year after that now to refill the shed I am working out of now, I try to stay 2 yrs ahead. We burn about 5 cord a yr.

Bret4207 · Jan 28, 2019

(quoted from post at 00:51:51 01/28/19)
Can't figure out the outdoor wood burner guys getting all excited about that technology. There are a LOT of losses with that. My dad used to heat an 1800 sq ft house in northern lower Michigan with 10-12 face cords per year with his Upland brand wood stove. Folks I hear around here burn 3-4X that amount of wood !

My 40 year old 1200 sq ft ranch house in SW lower Michigan costs about $550/year to heat with natural gas. Numerous upgrades included good windows, tight sealing doors, ample insulation in the walls & ceiling. 96% efficient forced air furnace. And that includes the water heater, stove, dryer & grill.

The outside boilers keep the mess and danger of stove fires outside and keep you indoor air quality better. Plus, you r domestic water is heated too. I want one bad! I'd put in radiant floor heat where I could and baseboard radiators where I couldn't, plus I could heat my garage.

Natural gas is probably great if you live in town where it's available. When you live in the sticks it's not an option. I spend over $550 a year on propane just heat one room and run the kitchen stove. If I could heat the house for $550 a year I'd love it!

Grandpa's Fords · Jan 28, 2019

Elderly MIL's house 50+ years old in direly in need of upgrade to windows, doors and so on. MIL needs the temp set around 76. OWB struggled a bit to maintain in below zero last week. She has a closed in front porch that has heat but very little insulation and won't let me close it up for the winter. Been through about 12 cords so far and expect to go through that much more. 2 cord cut split and stacked right now. The rest is still logs! We went through 16-17 cord last year total. My stepson had agreed to cut the wood as he lives there, but you know how this go sometimes. He didn't get around to it even after constant harassment. So his mom, me the grandkids pitched in with him to get a couple cords cut every couple weeks.
As Keith stated "I just don't know if I would be physically able to split and fire it." I am no longer able to bend or lift anything so my NH TC33 w/ backhoe with a home made thumb picks them up to cut and move to 3pt splitter on the Ford 861. I red neck engineered a log lifter ramp and catchers on the splitter from scrap I had and an old wheel barrel tire, so I can pick up the chunks if someone rolls them on the bottom of the ramp. The catchers hold them there to either re split or get thrown into the wagon. Nothing as grand as the Firewood King but it makes life easier.
It's amazing how much more wood is consumed set at 76 versus 70. OWB is hooked to a oil hw boiler for heat and domestic use with set points of the Oil burner set down so the OWB is primary. 3years ago when the FIL passed away she just used the oil, it cost about $4500 that year. With buying logs, saw chains. and gas etc. we should spent about 1,500 this year with about $700 of fuel for warmer months.

rockyridgefarm · Jan 28, 2019

(quoted from post at 04:28:34 01/28/19) How much is a rick? I know cords but never heard of a rick.

A rick is whatever a person wants it to be. No official measurement. Generally a rick or face cord is 1/3 of a cord because you cut 4' logs to 16ish" lengths for burning. So one face is 1/3 of the cord, but it could be a 1/4 cord, 1/2 cord, 2/5 cord, 9/16 cord, whatever.

Volume measurements come from a time when it was more difficult to weigh things. Nowadays, stuff really should be measured by weight. Better bakers use weight measurement to get more consistent results when baking.

PJH · Jan 28, 2019

Bret - we put in an OWB in 1998. I was 49 years old then. Here it is 2019, and it's still going strong, but I'll be 70 in a few days. I've always said that I'd replace it with another one just like it when it conked out, but I'm not so sure now. My health is excellent and I'm still able to cut and split with no problems, but how much longer? I enjoy it, and the activity is good for me, but time is not on my side.

RLA · Jan 28, 2019

As I have mentioned be for, all my fire wood is on wheels. I have 10 wood wagons all were loaded
to the hilt. All but one will hold a full cord. I've burnt the little wagon first & threw the last
of the 3rd wagon in the furnace room on Saturday morning , haven't touched the 4th load yet. Probably
have 3 cord cut & split in the woods, with this upcoming freeze I hope the ground will be stiff enough
to get it hauled out. I backed a load of shagbark hickory to the wood shute, I think just in time!!

RLA · Jan 28, 2019

I always figured a rick was 2x4x8 or a 1/2 cord..
Like always I could be wrong?

2510Paul · Jan 28, 2019

Here's a link on how much is a rick.

https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=aidPXMmQK9H8jwSUg6yoDg&q=how+much+firewood+is+in+a+rick&oq=How+much+fire+wood+&gs_l=psy-ab.1.2.0i10l10.1395.9926..13435...3.0..0.201.2026.15j6j1......0....1..gws-wiz.....0..0j0i131j0i22i30j0i22i10i30j33i22i29i30.YaofV-1yolw

Paul

Adirondack case guy · Jan 28, 2019

We have been thru just under 7 full cord of wood thus far. I had 29 cord stacked under cover at the end of Aug. The power co. cut some trees across the road from me and I made another cord plus which is sitting on one of my trailers outside.
I haven't been working in my attached tractor shop this winter but the boiler is in there and it keeps the shop about 60F without turning on the heating circuit for the shop.
A few more details on a post that I made on Talers this morning.
Loren

RLA · Jan 28, 2019

So if you cut your fire wood 16" Long & 4 x 8 = 1/3 cord.
24" Long & 4 x 8 = 1/2 cord
32" long x 4 x 8 = 2/3 cord

Your wood pile

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