chainsaws, chopping stacking and general firewood advice pls?

[bimble]

For reasons that are a bit silly (to do with the impossibility of transporting a piece of furniture whole) I’ve got a very lux little fire on of what I’m pretty sure is teak. Never seen anything burn so slow but bright.

 

[WouldBe]

I had a mixed load of wood the other year from a tree surgeon. There was some wood in there that burnt like it was soaked in petrol with blue flames jetting out of it. No idea what that was.

 

[rubbershoes]

And finally, the pile of stuff that will become kindling when I sort out my chainsaw. Got a few extra pallets as well to go on the pile

 

[StoneRoad]

Interesting thread.

I stay well away from chain saws. Too dangerous !

Plenty of tree pruning's from last winter will be used this winter in the log burner. And more to come ... aiming for some birch, beech and ash this year.

All the twiggy stuff gets burnt in the garden incinerator as it is created. And all the ash ends up in the compost heap or used as part of a top dressing for various places around the garden.

The Workshop Stove gets fed on sawdust, offcuts and scrap wood. Hopefully not too much paint or other nasties. I do get annoyed when I find what would have been useable stuff has been chopped up ...

 

[Supine]

This is about a quarter of our pile! Fills half the garage

 

[The Boy]

We got a wood burner fitted a couple months back. Apparently I forgot to take a picture when I filled it up, which is probably understandable since we had just got from hospital with new babby, but have a before pic of my wood store.



As an aside, stove fans: yay or nay?

 

[MrCurry]

Probably other people already mentioned this, but you need to cut your firewood early in the year and leave outdoors (covered on top, but open at the sides to let air through). One full summer & autumn outside and it should be ready for the winter, but even better if you can get well ahead of yourself and use the previous year’s wood.

Don’t overload your stove / fireplace - needs space above the logs to let it breathe just as much as it needs adequate ventilation coming in underneath the fire. Smoke coming out the chimney should be hot enough to rise - if it’s rolling sideways off the chimney top or worse sinking back down to ground then likely the fire isn’t burning hot enough due to inadequate ventilation. This is bad mainly because it’s inefficient combustion - you’re not extracting all the heat energy the logs could be giving.

My favourite firewood is silver birch - burns a long time and easy to light.

 

[friedaweed]

For reasons that are a bit silly (to do with the impossibility of transporting a piece of furniture whole) I’ve got a very lux little fire on of what I’m pretty sure is teak. Never seen anything burn so slow but bright.

I've burned some really old teak offcuts that I've made shelves from. I've also chucked a couple of lengths of 300 yr old oak on that have been full of flight holes and rot. Hard woods does burn real nice compared to pine and the likes. Mostly though I save that sort of stuff for the bench. Birch burns real nice. I can't wait to move into our cottage Looking like it's not going to be until the new year though.

 

[friedaweed]

I had a mixed load of wood the other year from a tree surgeon. There was some wood in there that burnt like it was soaked in petrol with blue flames jetting out of it. No idea what that was.

I had some offcuts of pitch pine that burnt like that. It stank the neighbourhood out as well. I never used it again because the smell stayed in the stove pipe for ages afterwards.

What do folk use to clean their flues and chimneys ? Any tricks of the trade to share?

 

[Idaho]

What do folk use to clean their flues and chimneys ? Any tricks of the trade to share?

A chimney sweep!

 

[friedaweed]

A chimney sweep!

Na I want to do it myself and fill the house with soot so I get in rubble with the wife I'm not paying some fucker

 

[DaveCinzano]

What do folk use to clean their flues and chimneys ? Any tricks of the trade to share?

Remind us how big your littlun is..?

 

[Idaho]

Na I want to do it myself and fill the house with soot so I get in rubble with the wife I'm not paying some fucker

You can get a sweep brush set and do it yourself. But it's only £50, once a year so I'm happy enough to pay.

 

[rubbershoes]

Little Boy's first burn of the season.

The room smells of burnt dust at the moment

 

[Idaho]

The first fire of the year always has that smell.

 

[friedaweed]

Remind us how big your littlun is..?

He's a fucking monster now mate. I'll be using him to knock down walls, split logs and help me re-slate the roof.

Our kid's just got a couple of wee ones though so maybe I should offer to do the big sleepover at uncles house. I've got an old Victorian sewer that needs surveying too

 

[Supine]

 

[WouldBe]

I had some offcuts of pitch pine that burnt like that. It stank the neighbourhood out as well. I never used it again because the smell stayed in the stove pipe for ages afterwards.

Def not pitch pine. I've burnt that before when I've replaced floor joists. This burns a lot more fiercely. I did wonder if it might explode.

 

[bimble]

Lovely pics of fires
Feeling a bit envious of people with the long term log schedules, i'm on a six month (hopefully renewable) rental so I suppose just have to look for the branches that fell off as long ago as possible but haven't gotten too soggy in the meantime. : (

 

[kebabking]

bimble - you need to get an estate car and a Lab. This is because people with estates and Labs don't arouse suspicion when they empty the local forest into the back of their car*.

*apparently, m'lud.

HTH.

 

[rubbershoes]

Anybody here got a proper woodpile ready for the winter?
Always love seeing a proper pile of logs, gives a feeling of comfort and security just to look at them and am wanting to make my own one now. Current state of things in pic below. It's piled in a corner of living room, liable at any moment to fall on the cat. Also its mostly from some giant slices of a fallen tree that I found under the house so its sort of cheating to use wood that belongs to the landlord and also whatever type of wood it is is not that great, takes a while to get going even though its really dry. Bought a chainsaw the other week but am thinking maybe you really need two people to use that safely which is not ideal. I'm in an actual forest and theres good fallen branches all around (ash and beech mostly) but wonder has anyone got any seasoned facepalmadvice for a newbie woodsperson to help me achieve the woodpile of my dreams or just an aspirational proper woodpile pic pls.

View attachment 188905

You can just buy wood. Easier and safer

 

[pinkmonkey]

Main thing I'd say is to not bring wet fire wood in - they might have slugs eggs on and then you get slugs in your house.

 

[Spymaster]

What do folk use to clean their flues and chimneys ?

Small children

 

[bimble]

You can just buy wood. Easier and safer

That is not much fun though. And all the logs look the same. Anyway I’m in a Forest after endless flats in London (some with fireplace for online-bought wood)so I want to do forest things. I’ve got central heating so you know it’s a pleasure the fire not a survival strategy.
I have the loan of an ancient black Labrador whenever I need him but it’s a fact that my car is very silly here.

 

[rubbershoes]

That is not much fun though. And all the logs look the same. Anyway I’m in a Forest after endless flats in London (some with fireplace for online-bought wood)so I want to do forest things. I’ve got central heating so you know it’s a pleasure the fire not a survival strategy.
I have the loan of an ancient black Labrador whenever I need him but it’s a fact that my car is very silly here.

It depends how Good Life you want to be. Most people in the village here just buy it. People with massive gardens can be self sufficient for wood. Or you can acquire it from the forest

 

[bimble]

It depends how Good Life you want to be. Most people in the village here just buy it. People with massive gardens can be self sufficient for wood. Or you can acquire it from the forest

Very Good Life. But i can’t grow anything and am fire obsessed.

 

[MrCurry]

The first year I lived in my current house we had a wood fired boiler for heating and I took the route of ordering in some firewood, because no way was I up for chopping my own. Only problem was, I had no idea how much I would need to get through a winter, and also not much concept of how much 1 cubic metre was.

So I played it safe and ordered 35 cubic metres. Turns out that was a lot... Two winters later we had almost got through it, but still I ended up selling some on when we got rid of the wood burner.

 

[friedaweed]

Def not pitch pine. I've burnt that before when I've replaced floor joists. This burns a lot more fiercely. I did wonder if it might explode.

Probably high pressure treated wood by the sounds of it. Those chems burn bright.

 

[friedaweed]

Small children

I've asked her loads of times mate but apparently I've met her too late in life for that

 

[Duncan2]

Probably high pressure treated wood by the sounds of it. Those chems burn bright.

From a tree-surgeon friend though-I have seen small hawthorn logs spit out blue flame at either end-it could just have been that?
It just occurred to me to wonder last time i visited this thread whether the accounts of children getting stuck,and presumably,dying having been sent up Victorian chimneys are exaggerated.Even in those dark days it surely could not have been a common occurrence?