I said I’d meet winter with a full woodshed, and it looks like for once I’ll keep a work-related promise.
Got a good start on the final tier today. Cut some roadkill juniper this morning, then split and stacked it while the bread was rising.
By the second half of last winter I was depending more on scrap than juniper, and this fall I’ve filled about half the hoop shed with scrap cut to length. It burns a lot cleaner and makes much less mess, while delivering at least as much heat. But it is harder to come by and takes a lot more to make a cord. And it doesn’t smell as nice. 🙂
I estimate that filling the shed to the top should give me a fat cord-and-a-quarter. Definitely well over a cord, and it’s stacked honestly. Winters here are variable and episodic, and for the two winters that I’ve depended on wood I haven’t had any trouble cutting it through the winter. But there’s reason to believe this one might be memorable, and not in a good way. So for once I want to start the season ahead of the heating game.
Oh! And I got a nice surprise a couple days ago. This hasn’t been a good summer or autumn for money, and I’d given up hope of buying a fire grate for the stove. But my neighbor H is taking a welding class, and has been canvassing the neighborhood for projects. So I’m getting a custom-made grate made from hard tubular steel, that’ll only cost me a few bux for materials! Things work out if you embrace the chaos.
We live in North Dakota and use around 6 cord of wood and about 8 tons of coal per winter.
Much as I bitch about winter here, I’ve been in ND and this ain’t no ND. And I’ll bet I’m heating a lot less volume than you are.
Looks like you are good to go! I on the other hand am miles away from ready for winter. Only have 1 cord of wood and about 50 pallets that still need cutting up. Better get my shit together before it hits -40.
Glad I’m not the only one heating with pallets. What do you use to cut them up? Because I ruined a circular saw blade and thought I was being really careful. But a sawzall is too slow.
Hey Joel, for those of us on the prairie or the desert we have to take what we can get! I’ve tried everything to cut them. Circular saw being my least favourite. I blast through them with a chainsaw now. Some of the hard wood ones really dull the chain quick though, but i just keep filing it.
Just finished stacking 7 cords of wood here. Ugh.
Joel – I just wanted to relate how glad I am you’re back to posting regularly. Wildblue was really fucking up my morning routine.
Thanks, jc2k. That means a lot.
I use a saws all to cut the nails on the pallets and then a cut off saw to cut them to length.