Wives and woodstoves

[U&A]

I've got to ask, what are you doing in the morning that means waking up an hr plus before leaving? I usually wake up 15-20 mins before I need to be out the door! And that includes loading the stove, feeding the dogs, getting the car warmed up, oh, and pooping!

Work starts at 6:00. Been a welder my enter life and Im training to replace a 40 year experience production manager for a sheetmetal fab shop. At the same time i am the only one that does the CAD sheet metal layout for 3 diff departments in our shop. i run the laser and break press department, and weld when they need help.

So i need to be at work a good 30 min early to get things going and be productive before everyone else gets there and starts bombarding me.

Its a 20 min drive to work, i like to make a pot of coffee for myself, make and pack my endless snakes and lunch for the day (i eat all day). and tend the stove obviously.

And if there is snow i need to do some shoveling on the porch and steps so my wife and 3 year old boy dont have to deal with it in the morning.

Is that good enough reason?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Multifaceted]

Yeah my Wife CAN drive my truck when she NEEDS to, but doesn't ask for the keys, "Just for a Change", I drive a 94 F350 Crew Cab 4x4 Power Stroke with a 5 speed manual, in a pinch she can handle it, but doesn't do it by choice. She will pull a trailer behind her Expedition across 2 states, but will still hand me the keys to put the boat down the ramp, she could learn pretty easy I'm sure, but that's a "Blue Job", I've been a truck driver for over 30 years, so it's a given that backing the trailers is my job, she will "Get Em' There" and I "Put Em' Away".

She's no instructor, but has a CCW, and I don't doubt that she would use it if need be, I Hope that I never find out, but I would be surprised if she was to hesitate, at the wrong time.


Doug

My wife and I both have training, she will get more and on a regular basis of she decides to go sworn (right now she is not), but in addition will also grant her LEOSA with annual qualification; which both concerns me and gives me confidence, as she currently works in another state where both our permits and self defense aren't recognized.

 

[066blaster]

my wife did school me today on how to properly fold a towel. been doing it wrong my whole life. Oh well

 

[Multifaceted]

Work starts at 6:00. Been a welder my enter life and Im training to replace a 40 year experience production manager for a sheetmetal fab shop. At the same time i am the only one that does the CAD sheet metal layout for 3 diff departments in our shop. i run the laser and break press department, and weld when they need help.

So i need to be at work a good 30 min early to get things going and be productive before everyone else gets there and starts bombarding me.

Its a 20 min drive to work, i like to make a pot of coffee for myself, make and pack my endless snakes and lunch for the day (i eat all day). and tend the stove obviously.

And if there is snow i need to do some shoveling on the porch and steps so my wife and 3 year old boy dont have to deal with it in the morning.

Is that good enough reason?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm the lead CAD operator in my company, been doing it for roughly 12 years, but 18 years in the industry (granite fabrication). I am proficient in the latest releases of AutoCAD 3D, AlphaCAM, and to an extent, Solidworks. Like you, I'm the only one in my department who can read architectural plans, and then recreate them as a separate trade for submittal to the client. We do a lot of high-end multifaceted custom miter work for high falutin clients down in Washington, D.C.

Good CAD operators are hard to come by, that's why I'm curious...

 

[066blaster]

my wife did school me today on how to properly fold a towel. been doing it wrong my whole life. Oh well

it was so simple,, i had been picking the towel up somewhat in the middle then trying get close to equal halves and folding.. she says pinch the corners together when you pick the towel up, and you have it perfectly folded in half ..blew my fricken mind!!!

 

[U&A]

I'm the lead CAD operator in my company, been doing it for roughly 12 years, but 18 years in the industry (granite fabrication). I am proficient in the latest releases of AutoCAD 3D, AlphaCAM, and to an extent, Solidworks. Like you, I'm the only one in my department who can read architectural plans, and then recreate them as a separate trade for submittal to the client. We do a lot of high-end multifaceted custom miter work for high falutin clients down in Washington, D.C.

Good CAD operators are hard to come by, that's why I'm curious...

someone that is Good at ANY trade is very hard to come by today. Trades are a lost love right now. And i say
Love because true “good” tradesmen LOVE the work they do. And I absolutely LOVE every welding process and LOVE doing sheetmetal layout.

The welders that don’t like what they do..... it shows in their welds and fab quality.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ryan'smilling]

Here is a picture of my wife a few years ago. And yeah, she can run a wood stove. She'll even run the syrup evaporator if needed.

 

[Multifaceted]

someone that is Good at ANY trade is very hard to come by today. Trades are a lost love right now. And i say
Love because true “good” tradesmen LOVE the work they do. And I absolutely LOVE every welding process and LOVE doing sheetmetal layout.

The welders that don’t like what they do..... it shows in their welds and fab quality.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I wouldn't go insofar as to say that. I work with many trades on a regular basis and find that tradesmen are typically good workers. The trades are job security; finding good help to pass along the knowledge and tradition on the other hand, are becoming harder to find. I see this as troubling, because until robotics, A.I. or something that can replace human interaction comes along, the trades will always be a necessity. A skilled tradesman these days can compete in salary with anyone who possesses an advanced college degree, perhaps even surpass in earnings potential.

I love what I do, unfortunately my work often gets in the way of me doing my job, and thus goes the saying of the CAD operator: We do precision guess work based on unreliable data provided by those of questionable knowledge.

 

[Ronaldo]

someone that is Good at ANY trade is very hard to come by today. Trades are a lost love right now. And i say
Love because true “good” tradesmen LOVE the work they do. And I absolutely LOVE every welding process and LOVE doing sheetmetal layout.

The welders that don’t like what they do..... it shows in their welds and fab quality.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So true. Been welding 18 yrs and you certainly can tell those who enjoy it and take pride in their work. A lot do not......

Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk

 

[alleyyooper]

My wife saw the first electric bill for the furnace (electric forced air) before I was able to get wood for the house wood furnace.
When she saw that she didn't fuss when I bought a couple face cord till I could get up north to the wood lot.
She got the hang of opening the damper and draft stiring the sahes and throwing in the smaller wood then the big stuff to hold thr fire 8 to 10 hours. even remembered to close thre draft and damper too.
Knew to take the ashes out once a week while I was gone for 2 weeks deer hunting.
Only thing she refused to learn I kept telling her was to put her heavy leather boots on while loading the furnace.

I come home from deer camp to find her on a slab of wood with a half a tin can over top of her toes.
I always tried to make the wood way smaller for her to handle before I went hunting but this year I wasn't going to remove a weeks worth of fire wood to stack up for her. as per normal she goes down bare footed, Never mind any splinters laying near the pile, never mind any small pieces you can step on that can hurt like hell or the sparks that some times snap out the door when your loading the last bit in.

Shoe less she got all the small stuff I left as she worked it all down at one endinstad of equally. One of my bigger chunks rolls tips off the stack and lands on the toe next to the big toe and the next one and crushes the bones. No one at home can drive It was her right foot, then so she calls her folks 15 miles away who come and get her take her to ER. Get her all squared away with all they can do and supply of pain pills. When I get home her folks car is in the drive and dad is filling the furnace. Had been doing it for 4 days. No phone at deer camp and no cell service either.

Once she healed up she went out and bought a pair of steel toed boots to use when she put wood in the furnace.
She still has problems with those toes getting cold easy and she takes a lot of shoes back because they just hurt her toes.

She won't run the chain saw but piles brush out of the way great, will chuck splits in the trailer in the woods till a mouse pops out a knot hole then I work alone the rest of the day.
To be fair if a snake were to pop out a knot hole that chunk would rat away in the woods.

Al

 

[TimberWolf530]

While I do all the cutting and splitting, she helps me stack. I bring most of the wood from the woodshed to the house because the wheelbarrow is heavy, but she will help carry it into the house and stack it next to the stove. I have taught her how to start it from scratch, from coals, and how to keep it in the correct temp range. There is nothing better than getting home from work, knowing it's time to clean out the stove, only to find she's already done it. I have actually only cleaned it out once this season so far. She's a keeper.

 

[whatscooking]

I find if I cut the wood small enough for her to work with I have a nice warm fire when I wake up.

 

[bowtechmadman]

I think Marley and I might be married to the same person! I've enjoyed reading this thread thanks everyone. My very smart and well educated wife will keep the OWB going while I'm away but I'll come home to a foot deep of coals and a big dent in the wood pile. She is terrible at starting fires and afraid of it going out so always over loaded.
Fun story some might appreciate...few years ago she had the summer off btw jobs. She wanted to help out with the wood for winter. I cut a several cords and left in the woods, she wanted to gather and stack in the shed. We haul the wood typically with ATV and 4x6 old trailer. Get home from work one day and she had hauled a number of loads to the wood shed and stacked. Told me I had to take the saw back and cut a tree down b/c she had wedged the trailer so bad the only way to get it was to cut one of the trees down. Of course being the smart Man that I am figured she just couldn't back up well enough etc...ohhh no she was absolutely correct, to this day will never understand how she did it. She had one tree tight in front of left tire of trailer and another tree tight against the back of the right side tire. Wasn't coming out without one of the trees getting cut down. So wish I had taken a picture.

 

[Gugi47]

I never have to teach my wife.
She learn because she want to know how to use it.
Maybe some of the wife's just don't want to do it.....

 

[holeycow]

Educate her before something does happen then.

 

[holeycow]

“Educate” a gal? Good luck.

Encourage maybe. Support...probably. Make suggestions..when the timing is right.

Educate? Not a fricken’ chance in hell. Especially when they get older and even smarter..

 

[Bobby Kirbos]

My wife sees it as a challenge every morning - get the fire going and get the house temperature up; beat the thermostat before it kicks over to the "Wake-Up" set point. She is fine with the stove. The rest of the work is mine to do (cut, gather, split, stack, bring to the house).

 

[sundance]

My wife sees it as a challenge every morning - get the fire going and get the house temperature up; beat the thermostat before it kicks over to the "Wake-Up" set point. She is fine with the stove. The rest of the work is mine to do (cut, gather, split, stack, bring to the house).

Sounds just like mine.....add in prep for start-up and fill the inside wood box through the day. She did handle that prior to my retirement.

 

[066blaster]

i walked in the house yesterday ,and could smell a creasote smell. checked my insert and the draft was almost closed all the way. I said you had the "thing" closed almost all the way ( no need to confuse her with proper terminology). she said she had it almost open all the way. we have been using the stove for 3 years and there is an arrow with an O for open and a C for closed clearly marked on it. I guess not clear enough.

 

[Cowboy254]

i walked in the house yesterday ,and could smell a creasote smell. checked my insert and the draft was almost closed all the way. I said you had the "thing" closed almost all the way ( no need to confuse her with proper terminology). she said she had it almost open all the way. we have been using the stove for 3 years and there is an arrow with an O for open and a C for closed clearly marked on it. I guess not clear enough.

C'mon man, no-one I know could work that!

Cowgirl does pretty well with the wood heater. Except...

Ok, she does ok when I'm away. Her, the kids and the cat don't die of hypothermia. There don't seem to be any complaints about temperature from anyone. The only problem is when I'm around. She worries that she'll put the wrong wood in. Or put it in the wrong way. Or that she won't put enough in. Or, worse still, that she'll put in too much of my hard-scrounged wood. This then ensures that she cocks it up.

It's not complicated. Too cold? Put more wood in and/or open up air. Too hot? Close down air a bit.

I've been working on teaching her about air flow in the firebox. You want heat? You need air flow. But air needs to move fast to get a good amount of oxygen to the combusting surfaces to get more heat. If you have 3 inches between bits of wood, that's not giving you fast air movement between bits. Have half an inch between bits placed north/south. Consider the flow of air through the firebox - down the glass, along the bottom, up at the back with the secondary flow then along the top fo the baffle plate, you can place a piece of pie shaped split on top of those two bits and get a funnel effect....and there's the sounds of Cowgirl snoring.

She's a very smart and talented girl. She'll get there.

Hopefully before I die.