I've got wood!

silverwhistle · 2 March 2017 at 5:11PM

Davesnave wrote: »

I'm just confused by their statements.

I was agreeing with grumpy, although you seem better qualified for the name.

So grumpybumper said

It can be done effectively, but isn't easy. If the advice helps just one person, it was worth posting this message.

The wood source needs to be freely available, with the emphasis on free, otherwise you would be better off using central heating.

I then proceeded to give MY figures and how it worked for ME, which didn't involve owning any land.

HTH.

Davesnave · 2 March 2017 at 8:33PM

silverwhistle wrote: »

I was agreeing with grumpy, although you seem better qualified for the name.

So grumpybumper said

"The wood source needs to be freely available, with the emphasis on free, otherwise you would be better off using central heating."

I then proceeded to give MY figures and how it worked for ME, which didn't involve owning any land.

HTH.

It was GB who first said that long term planning and sustainability means owning land. I didn't disagree with him, but the security he alluded to must come at a cost, yet he insisted it should be free.

That's what puzzled me.

If you can source enough wood for free from other peoples land, then I applaud you. I can't do that.

Gloomendoom · 3 March 2017 at 6:43PM

Davesnave wrote: »

It was GB who first said that long term planning and sustainability means owning land. I didn't disagree with him, but the security he alluded to must come at a cost, yet he insisted it should be free.

That's what puzzled me.

If you can source enough wood for free from other peoples land, then I applaud you. I can't do that.

I source wood on other peoples' land. The raw materials are free but the firewood isn't.

it would only be free if they delivered it to my house, split and seasoned, and then stacked it in my log store.

The reality is tree shaped.

silverwhistle · 6 March 2017 at 12:38AM

Well, it certainly costs in a bit of labour, but I save on gym fees for upper body work.:-)

Davesnave · 6 March 2017 at 9:47AM

Gloomendoom wrote: »

it would only be free if they delivered it to my house, split and seasoned, and then stacked it in my log store.

I get wood like that: 4x large loads. However, it still isn't really free; it's rent for a couple of fields, which I bought 7 years ago. I could also make a lot more than that if I rented to horsey folk rather than a farmer, but I like to see the land producing food.

Then there's the 'free' wood I've just cut with the chain saw that cost me £400+ last month.....:o It will be about 2 weeks work, processing that, which could be productive in some other way. There are always alternative activities that could generate £.

Nowadays, it's much harder to source free fuel. For a start, there are more people chasing it, and then there's recycling.

Many years ago, before governmental interference, I used to fire pottery in outdoor kilns run entirely on scrap from a furniture factory. I'd just help myself whenever I wanted. They'd have far more than I could use. Someone could have heated their house with it, but nobody did, because energy was relatively cheap.

All that sort of stuff is probably controlled waste now, being fed back into the system somehow. That's not wrong, but it doesn't help free loaders!

bertiewhite · 6 March 2017 at 10:03AM

I've had a real fire/woodburner for the last 5 years and luckily, I've always had access to free wood, in one form or another.

I find that psychologically, real flames make me FEEL warmer even if it's not that warm, does anybody else find that?

When I moved house the old woodburner was left behind as a selling point but I've recently been given a Vermont Intrepid woodburner for free. It needs a couple of new parts and the flue will cost a small fortune but given the price of a new one, I think it'll be worth it.

I've even made a sort of woodburner out of an old gas cylinder and some exhaust pipe for my workshop and after a bit of trial & error it actually works quite well.

AndyC123 · 7 March 2017 at 11:28AM

I had a stove and the thing ate the wood, could not keep up with it, glad you are having a better experience with it though

Greenfires · 7 March 2017 at 10:46PM

Sounds exactly like the difference between a decent stove and a cheapo import. In stove world you often get exactly what you pay for.

lesta1980 · 9 March 2017 at 7:14PM

I've got an open fire and struggle to get it really going. Any advice? Tried all different things and can never get it really roaring.

make a bed of scrunched up newspaper and tightly rolled cigar shaped newspaper with a load of kindling on top. light that then add some cut and dried logs when it's going and then it slowly just burns out without any attention. should be simple but i seem to just be wasting wood at the minute

been chucking some smokeless coal on as well lately with mixed results as well

Greenfires · 10 March 2017 at 7:52AM

I'm guessing you have a grate in the fireplace? Are you emptying all the ashes every day? If you are then don't - wood burns much better on a bed of ash - so you can let the ash build up until the grate is completely covered.

How big are the logs you're using, and are they split or still in the round? And are you sure they're dry? If you're buying them in nets from a garage or similar, they're normally wet through and often a bit on the chunky side. Any chance of posting a pic so we can have a look?

Obviously it's a bit hard to tell just from your description, but it sounds like the fire is "blowing itself out" due to a clean grate and too much draught coming up through the fire.

We light our open fire using a single small firelighter block between two chunks of wood, then another couple of bits on top of them at right angles, then another one on top of them at right angles again - a bit like a jenga pile. Works every single time without me having to touch it at all.

I've got wood!

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