It pains me to watch...

[svk]

I don't think the OP intended this toward people that are just starting out burning, or people that got caught by underestimating the amount of wood needed for last winter. I certainly don't fault anyone who's learning and trying.

You hit that one on the head!

 

[svk]

One other thought.

I hear people say all the time that they "don't have time". As @1project2many noted he's out doing wood after working 12's and spending time with the family. So it can be done.

I have 5 kids (3 in multiple sports), a home, two cabins, and a commission based job that requires more than 40 hours a week and at least a month worth of travel a year. Yet I've personally split 11 cords for me plus 4 for a friend. And I've cut another 7 cords of rounds in that time. It's about priorities, not lack of time.

 

[lapeer20m]

Where does everybody get this green wood?

I burn 10 full cord a year of primarily dead standing, with more wood falling over and rotting than I'm able to gather.

The bonus is that dead standing tends to have a much lower moisture content than live trees. Some already at or below 20% according to my Chinese moisture meter.

 

[kyle1!]

Not everyone has a forest or woodland with dead trees nearby. I know I don't unless I bust down a farmer's gate and steal from his property along the river

 

[1project2many]

Where does everybody get this green wood?

When the utility company had the ROW along the street cleared last fall I gathered what was in front of my place. Then I offered to split 50/50 with the new neighbor who moved up from NJ but he decided he wouldn't be burning at all and gave me everything in front of his place. Then the guy at the end of the street came by and told me I could take all on his property. Then I had to take several small trees down in front of the house and that wood was added to the pile. That totals to over three cord.

 

[Whitespider]

It pains me to watch... People who get a load of green logs delivered in July, cut/split/stack in September, and start burning in November.

Why?? Why does it "pain" you??
It don't bother me. Truthfully, I don't give a rat's azz what someone else does... unless it directly affects me. Yeah, I'll throw out my 2¢ whenever I feel like it, but in the end I couldn't care any less what someone else burns. Heck, they can burn asphalt shingles and bicycle tires for all I care.

Now, I'm sure someone is gonna' try and tell me that the guy burning asphalt shingles, bicycle tires or green wood in his firebox does directly affect me because it causes government to enact regulations and whatnot on wood burning that do affect me. Well, to that I say BU!!$H!T. I ain't blaming the guy burning green wood for those regulations... I blame government. If government (state or local government) wants to enact an actual law or ordinance making the burning of tires or green wood an unlawful act, and then arrest or fine those who break the law... I have no problem with that. But for government to make across-the-board, one-size-fits-all regulation affecting all wood burners just to stop a few idiots... well, that's flat wrong... it's unconstitutional... and it ain't the idiot's fault we've allowed our government to amass such power.

I ain't so quick to blame the idiot wood burner... when the real idiocy and blame clearly lies somewhere else, and that's what directly affects me.
If I'm gonna' blame anyone for the BU!!$H!T, I'm gonna' blame the idiots who keep voting in the same people and allowing them to grab more power over our lives.
It's about friggin' time we go back to taking responsibility for our own actions, and stop expecting government to protect us from ourselves... natural selection will take care of the idiots.
*

 

[svk]

Why?? Why does it "pain" you??
It don't bother me. Truthfully, I don't give a rat's azz what someone else does... unless it directly affects me. Yeah, I'll throw out my 2¢ whenever I feel like it, but in the end I couldn't care any less what someone else burns. Heck, they can burn asphalt shingles and bicycle tires for all I care.

Now, I'm sure someone is gonna' try and tell me that the guy burning asphalt shingles, bicycle tires or green wood in his firebox does directly affect me because it causes government to enact regulations and whatnot on wood burning that do affect me. Well, to that I say BU!!$H!T. I ain't blaming the guy burning green wood for those regulations... I blame government. If government (state or local government) wants to enact an actual law or ordinance making the burning of tires or green wood an unlawful act, and then arrest or fine those who break the law... I have no problem with that. But for government to make across-the-board, one-size-fits-all regulation affecting all wood burners just to stop a few idiots... well, that's flat wrong... it's unconstitutional... and it ain't the idiot's fault we've allowed our government to amass such power.

I ain't so quick to blame the idiot wood burner... when the real idiocy and blame clearly lies somewhere else, and that's what directly affects me.
If I'm gonna' blame anyone for the BU!!$H!T, I'm gonna' blame the idiots who keep voting in the same people and allowing them to grab more power over our lives.
It's about friggin' time we go back to taking responsibility for our own actions, and stop expecting government to protect us from ourselves... natural selection will take care of the idiots.
*

It pains me because people are either knowingly (due to lack of preparation) or unknowingly both rising chimney fires and wasting wood/time/effort by doing this. I am a fairly battle hardened guy but I still do care about others.

You are absolutely right about the government being too powerful AND the idiots that vote without doing their own research...but that's up for discussion in another forum

 

[Whitespider]

I am a fairly battle hardened guy but I still do care about others.

Understood... but don't misunderstand me, I also care about others.
In all seriousness, all that you can do is try to inform, educate or help them if the opportunity presents itself... being "pained" over something someone else does or is doing accomplishes nothing (except possibly to depress yourself). "Caring" and feeling "pain" are simply emotions... simply having emotions does not make you a better person. I "care" about others, but I won't be "pained" by that "caring". I'll offer my advise, help, knowledge, and whatnot when the opportunity arises... but if they refuse to accept it, it's their "pain" to deal with, not mine.

Now, a better person than me would create those opportunities, become proactively involved with those things he "cares" about (not all of us have that sort of caring in our makeup).
But feeling "pain" without proactive involvement?? Eh... meaningless... so what? Besides... how can allowing negative or uncomfortable emotion into your life, over something someone else does, possibly make you feel better?? Counterintuitive, as well as counterproductive in my mind.
*

 

[svk]

Understood... but don't misunderstand me, I also care about others.
In all seriousness, all that you can do is try to inform, educate or help them if the opportunity presents itself... being "pained" over something someone else does or is doing accomplishes nothing (except possibly to depress yourself). "Caring" and feeling "pain" are simply emotions... simply having emotions does not make you a better person. I "care" about others, but I won't be "pained" by that "caring". I'll offer my advise, help, knowledge, and whatnot when the opportunity arises... but if they refuse to accept it, it's their "pain" to deal with, not mine.

Now, a better person than me would create those opportunities, become proactively involved with those things he "cares" about (not all of us have that sort of caring in our makeup).
But feeling "pain" without proactive involvement?? Eh... meaningless... so what? Besides... how can allowing negative or uncomfortable emotion into your life, over something someone else does, possibly make you feel better?? Counterintuitive, as well as counterproductive in my mind.
*

I hear you. I offer suggestions to people but know how set in their ways some people can be. And alot of folks don't want pointers regardless of their experience level. So unless they are putting someone clearly in harms way I "mind my bidness". My OP was more of a discussion point than anything else and pain was simply a choice of words. I'm not losing any sleep over someone else burning wet wood.

 

[CTYank]

We got a stove in the fall last year. I was hoping that ash was magic wood and would season between the chopping pile and the stack. (I learned it doesn't work that way, no matter what the poem says.)

This year I am looking forward to wood that DOESN'T sizzle!

Be prepared for a real treat. Modern (read: clean & efficient) woodstoves purely suck when fed high-MC wood. Slow to light, smoky, just plain difficult. With low-MC wood, <10%, life gets much simpler, on many levels. (Still dunno what "cured" wood is, though.)

It gets much easier when you have some inventory. Especially, red oak takes its sweet time drying, but it's worth the wait. The more you have c/s/s the easier it is to have choices of low-MC wood. After extended accumulation, the problem shifts to one of not losing wood to fungi. DAMHIKT.

 

[zogger]

Be prepared for a real treat. Modern (read: clean & efficient) woodstoves purely suck when fed high-MC wood. Slow to light, smoky, just plain difficult. With low-MC wood, <10%, life gets much simpler, on many levels. (Still dunno what "cured" wood is, though.)

It gets much easier when you have some inventory. Especially, red oak takes its sweet time drying, but it's worth the wait. The more you have c/s/s the easier it is to have choices of low-MC wood. After extended accumulation, the problem shifts to one of not losing wood to fungi. DAMHIKT.

It also helps to not be a size or species snob when scrounging. I bet even in the hardest to scrounge areas, for deciduous hardwood, one can scrounge pine, etc all day long.

I have scrounged walking alleys in beantown and got enough to feed a fireplace, and that's only using my hands and boots for tools, and hand carrying it home.

 

[swed1162]

That's the reason the EPA is cracking down on OWB is because they are smog pumps from the people who cut down and burn on practically the same day. I tried to tell my coworker it would be more efficient if he seasoned his wood but all he did was shrug and say it holds coals longer if it's green and burns better if it's green. Trying to educate people is very a hard task and then convince them the extra work is worth it is like pushing rope.

You can't fix stupid!!!!

 

[Golden Child]

I don't see a problem with it.

 

[bayard]

I don't believe you, but to each his own. Especially the part about putting your firewood in your boiler for a week BEFORE burning it? Most people BURN the firewood in their boiler. It usually starts burning somewhere between 30 seconds and 5 minutes after placing it in depending on how hot the fire/coals are and how green or wet the wood is. That wood must be pretty wet if it takes a WEEK to light on fire. Just sayin...

a week in the BOILER ROOM.90 deg. 30% hum. most wood will dry fast.red oak, sycamore,elm some maple no no no.some will take year or more. being in the sun all day and the wind .18 -20% good to go in the boiler room

 

[steved]

It also helps to not be a size or species snob when scrounging. I bet even in the hardest to scrounge areas, for deciduous hardwood, one can scrounge pine, etc all day long.

I have scrounged walking alleys in beantown and got enough to feed a fireplace, and that's only using my hands and boots for tools, and hand carrying it home.

Yup, and scrounge late spring after the heating season ends. I've heated my house for nearly three years on scrounged junk wood...pine is still taboo around here.

 

[steved]

One thing to remember is that some of us work away from home for extended periods of time...that makes it really hard to get things done.

Everyone has a different situation...its not a one aize fits all.

 

[cantoo]

Uponthehill, I'm using my owb only for domestic water right now. 2 days ago I threw a bunch of wood in it, got home from a road trip today and it appeared as if the owb didn't fire the whole time I was gone. Only the wife was home so not much demand for hot water (400 gal storage). The wood looked pretty much the same as it did when I threw it in but due to the coals I assume the moisture is cooked out of it now. It'll fire in a day or two and will be bone dry by then likely.

 

[UpOnTheHill]

Uponthehill, I'm using my owb only for domestic water right now. 2 days ago I threw a bunch of wood in it, got home from a road trip today and it appeared as if the owb didn't fire the whole time I was gone. Only the wife was home so not much demand for hot water (400 gal storage). The wood looked pretty much the same as it did when I threw it in but due to the coals I assume the moisture is cooked out of it now. It'll fire in a day or two and will be bone dry by then likely.

Lol! Sweet dude

 

[mainewoods]

If a person is working so much that they don't have time to cut, split and cure their wood, then don't buy green wood in the first place. If nothing else, be considerate of your neighbors, who must endure your smoke belching OWB or wood stove, because you are burning unseasoned wood. An occasional neglected load of green wood, with good intentions to c/s/s, is one thing. Sometimes circumstances happen and it doesn't get done - understandable. But doing it repeatedly is quite another.JMHO

 

[Marine5068]

Season your wood people.
It safer, more efficient and saves money