To build a fire- A Fireplace/Wood stove thread.

[J P Stein]

I've got a couple of wood stoves. One in the shop & one in the house. Both work fine as frog hair. I ,off times, cheat using charcoal lighter fluid to light em.

The house is a try-level and the stove will heat the whole house.....been doing it for20-30 years but I'm getting old & the fire wood campaign kicked my ass this year.

[Dantilla]

We rarely use the fireplace in the living room, but the pellet stove in the family room is used often during Winter. Nice not bringing wood through the clean house, with spiders tagging along for the ride.

We burn most of our wood in the fire pit in the back yard, next to the trickling water. Wonderful place to spend time in the evening.

Lots of wood here. I have been hauling trailers of wood away, donating it to a firewood bank.
There is a guy out in the sticks near here who delivers wood to people who have a wood stove as their only source of heat. He has formed a 501c3 non-profit organization. Recipiants must be on food stamps or some other form of assistance to qualify. Until meeting him. I had no idea there are so many folks barely squeaking by on so little, just a short way from very affluent areas. Most are elderly, or single parents of young kids.

I've got piles of Madrona and Douglas Fir. Giving it away cleans up my place, and helps keep others warm. Win-win.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by afterburn 549

If you want a real challenge light it without a match.
You might wish for the end of the world. LOL

Originally Posted by LEAKYSEALS951

^I've got one of those magnesium flint shaving thingees around here for lighting fires somewhere. I need to find it!

If you're going that route, get some lint from the dryer and keep it in a zip lock bag. Use that to catch the spark.

[flatbutt]

I heated with wood that I harvested for 20 years. Then lost the full use of my right arm and switched over to pellets. The pellet stove is nowhere near as "nice" as a wood stove in some ways but it is self igniting, never creates a build up in the chimney that can ignite and maintains a constant temperature all day/night. BUT it requires power to operate. I do miss my Vermont Casting beast.

[1990C4S]

Kindling + Varsol + one match.

I modified my Varsol container by drilling a small hole in the top, I can just squeeze and spray it on. One quart lasts a long time.

[klm2500hd]

Work at a sawmill, pile of kiln dried cedar scraps makes a pretty good fire starter. Wood stove (Drolet Myriad) in the middle of the house keeps it nice and toasty. Taking a break from stacking 2 cord of oak right now. Looking for some Osage Orange, burns really really hot - like windows open sitting in your underwear sweating 10 degrees outside hot.

[fastfredracing]

[QUOTE=Dantilla;9392271]We rarely use the fireplace in the living room, but the pellet stove in the family room is used often during Winter. Nice not bringing wood through the clean house, with spiders tagging along for the ride.

This is the one big drawback. It is MESSY. Ours is in a back room but still, constantly bringing in wood, I have to shop vac the floor nearly daily, or we track all that stuff through the house.
Plus, we always smell like a campfire

[dan79brooklyn]

High ceilings and a looong stovepipe help keep the heat circulating through the house. Placement near the deck doors is key to bringing in wood and taking out ash every other day.



Half of my stash.

[911 Rod]

I heated my last house with wood. A Vermont Casting wood stove was the most efficient at the time.

The kids over fired it when they got home first and it started to break down. After a while it just became a PITA. I touched every piece of wood 4 times by the time it was burnt.

I've moved to a house without one and miss it only a little.

[widgeon13]

[Evans, Marv]

There was a thread not too long ago about stacking your wood in the fireplace in a dense, crosswise manner with the kindling on top and burning it from the top down. Anybody tried that yet??

[Scott Douglas]

So Cal gas log fireplace in our family room. First time it'd been on in about 2-3 yrs.

[Crowbob]

Heated with wood exclusively for 5 years. Saved enough money to be done with that nonsense and go to nat gas. I miss buying, hauling, cutting, splitting, stacking, starting, cleaning and sweeping like I miss hitting my thumb with a hammer:

[Tobra]

Current house has a crappy flue. You get it going well, and it is fine. As the fire burns down, we get smoke in the house.

Last place with a fireplace was great, had a little blower hooked up to metal tubing that the wood sat on as it burned, tubing poked out at top of fireplace. That thing threw a lot of heat, and the fireplace was in the middle of the house, which also helped. Sister has a woodstove in a room with a really high ceiling. Stays nice and cozy, very efficient.