Things I've Learned

PeppermintPatty said:
You probably split different types of wood than us. Most of the wood around here is birch which is soft hardwood
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Back in the 70s we had a 5 acre stand of bull alder
They too, were a soft hardwood
Pretty easy to split
Slower burning than pine or fir

Our mountain place has lodgepole pine
Original growth was ponderosa
This area was logged off in the 40s and 50s
leaving just the lodgepole

I was happy with the lodgepole
Cleaner burning than the pondies
Ponderosa is notorious for creosote buildup
 

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Gary O' said:
Back in the 70s we had a 5 acre stand of bull alder
They too, were a soft hardwood
Pretty easy to split
Slower burning than pine or fir

Our mountain place has lodgepole pine
Original growth was ponderosa
This area was logged off in the 40s and 50s
leaving just the lodgepole

I was happy with the lodgepole
Cleaner burning than the pondies
Ponderosa is notorious for creosote buildup
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We ‘ve got a bit of that. The birch splits so easily and burns nice . Sometimes we burn it with spruce or Douglas fir. We used to get creosote build up at our last house sometimes from burning unseasoned wood. This wood we have seasons nice plus it’s a better Woodstove. Once going we can put huge chunks in and they’ll easily burn.

I think we get lodge pole pine . I’ve been calling them white pines all along. We have 25 acres ; behind that is crown land and then the Atlantic Ocean.
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My guy loves taking his atv out back and sawing down trees. Within the last week he’s found 3 fallen cherry trees. He makes spoons and stuff out of them. He was like an excited kid, jumping up and down. It smells so good. Apparently his grandmother had an outhouse made from cherry wood.IMG_9241.jpeg
 
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PeppermintPatty said:
We used to get creosote build up at our last house sometimes from burning unseasoned wood. This wood we have seasons nice plus it’s a better Woodstove. Once going we can put huge chunks in and they’ll easily burn.
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Creosote build up is from a few reasons;
Unseasoned wood for sure
Wrong type of wood
A low quality wood stove
Too many bends in the pipe
An intentional hot fire on occasion, is a good habit to get into
Too many damped down, smoldering fires between hot fires

I've cleaned too many pipes in winter before learning these things

But, to rid any chance of a chimney fire, every fall I'd clean out those pipes
 
911 said:
? If you get heavy snows, say a foot or more, do you have to wait until a lot of it thaws, so you can get out and get to the store for supplies?
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We'd normally get 4-6 feet of snow along with 10-12 foot drifts
Some folks a few miles up the path had a snow blower
We paid him $40 a pass
The ol' boy enjoyed the company

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Sad to say, these ol' boys are no longer topside



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I had a walk behind blower to get around the property

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especially from the cabin to the well house

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It did get pretty deep

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Gary O' said:
Creosote build up is from a few reasons;
Unseasoned wood for sure
Wrong type of wood
A low quality wood stove
Too many damped down fires between hot fires

I've cleaned too many pipe in winter before learning these things

But, to rid any chance of a chimney fire, every fall I'd clean out those pipes
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We put a pipe cleaning thing in once a season. We currently burn birch and pine or fir and it burns really hot. My man takes care of everything chimney / Woodstove related. He often makes up jokes about the Woodstove not seeing anyone else in the house. I vacuum and , or sweep all the Woodstove related stuff around the house but I really like the Woodstove. It heats our house up so nicely.
 
911 said:
I’m guessing you have a generator. How much gas do you generally go through in a year?
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We had four gennys up there;

Small Honda 2000 for the cabin lights, phone and computer charge
Big 7000w genny for the shop saws
and a 3500 for the well

and....one for backup.....just in case (equipment failure...winter...etc)

I was quite religious in doing PMs on them monthly

The Honda used around a gallon a week
We mostly just ran it at night
The bigger gennys were gas hogs
 
911 said:
I;m also guessing you chop wood for heat. Do you cut trees that have already fallen?
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Yes
Mostly fallen
But avoid the silvers
Silvers are semi petrified rocks that just look like logs
They'll eat the teeth of a chainsaw chain in seconds

But...as lodgepole go.....the bigger ones have to come down
They are shallow rooted

A forest ranger cruised our side of the mountain
Clued me in on that little tidbit;
'They only get so big, then they'll come down in the next blow'
 
Gary O' said:
Yes
Mostly fallen
But avoid the silvers
Silvers are semi petrified rocks that just look like logs
They'll eat the teeth of a chainsaw chain in seconds

But...as lodgepole go.....the bigger ones have to come down
They are shallow rooted

A forest ranger cruised our side of the mountain
Clued me in on that little tidbit;
'They only get so big, then they'll come down in the next blow'
Click to expand...
When we had our cabin, the Ranger would come by and give us the OK to cut up any trees already on the ground. I told him I was a State Trooper and asked him to give us a signed statement saying what he had told us and to keep myself out of trouble. Weeks later, I found that anyone can cut up a fallen tree for firewood in their home as long as the tree that has fallen was on state kind.
 
@Gary O'
Now my man wants one of those log holding thing. He says that’s a Gooden’ idea. lol
Gary O' said:
Yes
Mostly fallen
But avoid the silvers
Silvers are semi petrified rocks that just look like logs
They'll eat the teeth of a chainsaw chain in seconds

But...as lodgepole go.....the bigger ones have to come down
They are shallow rooted

A forest ranger cruised our side of the mountain
Clued me in on that little tidbit;
'They only get so big, then they'll come down in the next blow'
Click to expand...
Our birch trees are very shallow rooted. Many fall over with a bit of wind storm which is why he cut them down around our house.
 
Gary O' said:
But...as lodgepole go.....the bigger ones have to come down
They are shallow rooted

A forest ranger cruised our side of the mountain
Clued me in on that little tidbit;
'They only get so big, then they'll come down in the next blow'
Click to expand...
Had to look this up. "Lodepole" is a type of pine tree. Who knew??? (I didn't.)

Perfect example of staying true to the thread topic. "Thing I've Learned"
 
Gary O' said:
It may be that name came from pioneers using those smaller pine trees to build their lodge structures
They're pretty straight
Have a gentle taper
and soft for hewing

Not sure about that, but it stands to reason
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We’ve definitely got the straighter type pine trees- Jack pines and white pines have a gentle taper and are easy to carve and make stuff from. It would make sense that they’d be named differently in different areas. I had to look up hewing. lol Yep! You’re probably right.IMG_4219.jpeg

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Here’s the difference between lodgepole pines and Jack pines.

Also, while both trees have curved cones, the Jack Pine cones point forward and away from the stem while Lodge- pole Pine cones point towards the stem. Explore this ecological must see!

Commercial uses: Jack pine is important timber species in the Lake States of the United States and Canada. These trees produce pulpwood, lumber for construction, telephone poles, fence posts, mine timbers, and railroad ties. Jack pine is used as Christmas trees and for stabilization of watersheds.

Interesting !
 
Gary O' said:
Tell him to pick up a mattock while he buys the peavey

They're great for chopping ice
and busting up clay soil

View attachment 342786


Speaking of ice
it was a great tool to make steps down to the wood ricks
and then chopping the ice off the tarped wood

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Now I’m learning all kinds of things. A deavey
and a mattock. Oddly enough we have VERY clayish soil. We are currently digging a trench at the side of our driveway and that tool would come in really handy for breaking up the soil before digging it out.

Is that your spot for seasoning your firewood,
You seem very organized. Maybe a bit ocd?
In the best way that is.
 
PeppermintPatty said:
Is that your spot for seasoning your firewood,
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Yeah
We built 'ricks'
A proper rick holds 1/3 cord of wood
4'x8' with 16 inch cord wood

Concrete blocks and 2x4s make for nice ricks
And keep the first layer off the ground


Heh
Our first winter we just stacked wood between the trees
Seemed kinda pretty
After restacking a couple times from a good blow
we went to building the ricks

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We tarped the ricks late fall
and took the tarps off after the snows (to cure)

An ol' boy up there emphatically said 'Tarp it to the ground!'

After tearing those tarps off the frozen ground with the mattock and hunting knife that first winter, I just tarped the tops and threw a few logs on to keep the tarps in place

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