The past few years I've gone to pressed logs. Think pellets, only about 5" in diameter and about a foot long. I buy them by the pallet and usually go through 2-3 pallets/winter.

They burn VERY hot and very long. It's not uncommon to get 16-18 hours out of three of them. I'll put in three at night, get them ripping, and then shut the stove down. There's still plenty of coals going by the time I get home from work the next day.

The only bad part is that I actually enjoy firing up the saw and cutting/splitting firewood. Bad ankle, bad back, and having to go further and further out and further and further off the roads (most of which are gated nowadays...thanks Bill Clinton) to find the good stuff makes it almost too much trouble to bother with.

Where do you get those ? In bulk ?

Hardware store here in town sells them stacked on a pallet, all held together with plastic strapping so it's shaped like a large cube. 240 (IIRC) logs per pallet. Heavy things. Each pallet weighs in at a ton.

quote:

Originally posted by sgalczyn:

quote:

OK how would burning wood pellets be ecologically better than burning wood that was not made into pellets?

Pellets are made from remnants of furniture and lumber production (chips, shavings and sadust), not valuable trees.

Still don't follow this. Sure there are scraps from furniture production etc. Why not just burn them? Rather than using energy to compress and dry them into pellets, just for convenience sake? Maybe if they're using energy to make pellets out of sawdust it could make a little sense.


These images are from this afternoon of 3 trees that I will cut, split, air season (not kiln) and burn next year or two. They are not suitable nor would it be practical to timber them to cut into boards.


Dead standing white oak.


Dead fallen maple.


Dead fallen cherry.

quote:

Originally posted by fritz:
I don't consider burning wood as wasting a resource.

I agree, and especially so with my situation. I've been burning wood as supplemental heat in my house for 35 years. I've never bought fire wood in my life. I've never cut down a living tree for the sole purpose of using it for fireood. I obtain firewood by cutting trees that are already down, cutting dead trees, taking logs left on the side of the road, stopping a tree service crew and asking to take the logs they are going to cart to the dump, etc. I have a neighbor who is a tree guy and from time to time he will call and ask if I want something he's just cut down (he is good enough to dump the logs in my yard). Craigslist and facebook around here have all sorts of posts from people offering free firewood from trees they've had taken down. I've got a network of local people who contact me when there is free firewood to be had. For the last 6 years there's been plenty of ash available as the emerald ash borer has killed all the ash trees I've always been able to obtain plenty of great quality firewood (oak, hickory, beech, sugar maple, black locust, cherry, apple, ash, etc) and am thankful for this. As I've posted before, firewood harvesting is my gym. Keeps me off the streets too....

Here's a photo of some ash I cut last spring from a downed tree on a friend's land. Got it all split and am burning it this season. You can see the stump in the background on the left side. Although down, the tree was under tension from its roots and when I cut the log 6 feet from the roots it sprang back up (as I expected).

Sad our ash trees have been killed off but at least that dead one's being put to use. Nice burning wood too.

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
Sad our ash trees have been killed off but at least that dead one's being put to use. Nice burning wood too.

It is sad.

That tree had been dead for at least three years and came down in a windstorm just before Christmas last year. My friend called right after it fell and told me it scared the crap out of him, and that it was all mine. Aside from the size and weight, it was an easy take as I could drive my truck right up to the logs.

Yeah chestnut, elm, ash, what's next? Now they've killed most all the ash what are emerald ash bores next target?

It sure makes it easier when trees are right near the road or trail!

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
Yeah chestnut, elm, ash, what's next? Now they've killed most all the ash what are emerald ash bores next target?

It sure makes it easier when trees are right near the road or trail!

What's next? Oak wilt. It's been killing oaks around here for a few years now. My friend & his Dad have a good bit of forest land & it got into their oaks two years ago, so they had the oak logged off before it killed them all. We're burning the tops & stuff in our wood stoves this year.

Sorry to hear because if it's in PA it'll soon be in northern WV, if it's not here already.
Our forests will end up consisting of autumn olive, multiflora rose, Japanese honeysuckle and stilt grass.

Yeah, about ten years ago there was something killing spruce trees around here. I had three nice 30-40 footers in my back yard. One year they were fine, and the next year they were completely brown & the pileated woodpeckers were tearing them apart.