Winter Chores

[linus69]

With the temps being what they have been lately, I have been doing inside keep busy work. I changed out the perfectly good Kohler masterbath faucet



and replaced it with this old fashioned style Delta faucet



Paul

[linus69]

Then I fixed the basement stairs which weren`t done right by me 3yrs ago. I had to remove the upper flight and remove one step, then shift the lower platform over several inches so I could rough frame the side walls which are 9ft high. I used metal studs because I had them.





Paul

[red]

Paul-
Fine work! Had to redo my stairs cause I had used Doug Fir (2x10) and when the wood stove got done with it the threads has cupped pretty badly. New stair treads were clearance @home Despot made in Poland of pine. Gave them 3 to 4 coats of poly before I installed them. Just got done building a TV stand All the ones I looked at were $300-400 for paper covered particle board Laugh when I was scouting out material; veneer plywood at HD was imported from CHINA.

Like the new faucet always preferred Delta over Kohler. Better get warm fast before you noticed that the basement isn't sheetrocked yet! -Ed

[linus69]

Thanks Ed, I hope to never sheetrock the basement, but with old age setting in I might have the poor judgement to do it one day.

Paul

[linus69]

Here is a constant winter time chore, bringing in more firewood to the basement. I drive it by the bucket load around to the Bilco doors and heave it down the stairs into an old Rubbermaid "custodian`s schooner" that I rescued from a junk heap and repaired.







Paul

[3RRL]

Wow that's a lot of wood in the bucket Paul.
How long will one load like that last you before you have to get another bucket full? Also, when you split your wood, what size is most preferable for your stove? I have some split that are 3" x 3" x length and some up to 5 or 6 square x length. The larger chunks seem to last longer so I use that size for overnight burns.
How much do you burn each Winter?
Rob-

[linus69]

That will last about 4 days give or take, I usually go for 25ins in lengths. The diameters vary with my mood I was in the day I did the splitting. My stove seems to like smaller diameter pieces, 3by3 or 4by4ins burn very well.
I would be guessing if I told you how much I go through in a winter, 3-4 cords? But if there`s one thing I have a lot of on this 10+ acres it`s firewood, I`ve had to burn lots of wood in bonfires because it was starting to get pokey.
If I ever tire of burning wood, I`ll switch over to coal, I live in antricite coal country so it`s cheap and plentiful around here. But the wood is free and the exercise is good for me, I tend to put on weight during winter.

Paul

[3RRL]

I can see with all that snow around, you need to burn more than we do.
I was guessing ... but I think that first bucket full would fill my firewood cart up. So that amount would last us about 2 weeks. lol ... The 25" lengths wouldn't even fit in my little stove. I shoot for 16" to 18" lengths. Some come out shorter and I use them to stuff the sides of the stove. We are like you with lots of firewood around. I'm not sure how much we have down right now, but I'll bet gathering just a few of the Oaks will produce a full 20 cords without breaking a sweat. I'm in no hurry to cut Oaks on purpose for wood at this time.

I am interested in replanting some sort of firewood source though ... for the future of course.
Oaks take a long time to grow so we are looking into growing something that might be ready to cut in 10 years. We have mild Winters and hot Summers but plenty of water available. I was thinking about dedicating about 5 acres for a little "firewood" forest.
Any suggestions?
Rob-

[red]

Sorry Paul but I had to Hi-jack your thread to show my chores. . .



30 bags is enough for 2-3 weeks


Whew! Glad I got a couple of weeks before I gotta do it again! -Ed

[GuglioLS]

Paul,

You've got to be an expert log pitcher to hit that target down in the basement, you must have lots of practice. Like Rob, I cut my logs 16 - 18" well at least that's what I aim for, most of the time they come out to 20" so I don't have to make so many cuts with the saw, it also reduces the number of trips carrying short "sissy sticks" I got in trouble with Esther, one day I was cutting logs while she was picking up little twigs for kindling, she made a huge pile of them, I just hate messing with tangled piles of twigs, simply because there is little heat value for the amount of effort in dealing with them, I noticed the pile and asked "what are you doing collecting all those "sissy sticks" I just don't understand, for some reason that was not the right thing to say Needless to say, I'm lucky she still helps me out cutting, splitting and stacking "real" firewood.

Ed I see your "civilized" in your winter heat production. I think that's the way I'm going when fuel gets to hard on this old man to collect. I know a few people that have them pellet stoves and man they sure are nice.

Larry

[tuffytractor]

Rob,

If interested in a fast growing hardwood,that could be used for woodworking or burning you might want to check out the Empress, Dragon tree or Paulownia. I believe they are all the same tree with different names. Claims have been made that they can grow 25' in a year, with 10' or so being average. Great woodworking wood as well, if you decide you want to have a farm of harvest-able trees, this might give you firewood and salable material as well. Fragrant, dense, robust, will regrow seedlings from a downed trees that you can use to populate further. All in all, many beneficial qualities to consider.

www.fast-growing-trees.com/EmpressTree.htm

[3RRL]

Thanks for that link Tim,
I know I saw something about fast growing trees but lost the link before.
I don't know if that's the same tree species or not, but that one you linked is really cool.
Rob-

[red]

Paul I took a picture of the pellet stove- Used tile instead of stone wanted a "more" formal look in the dining room. Got the stove at Lowes around the last week of January for 50% off was $900 instead of $1800 Wonder if pellets will be carbon tax exempt? Heard that the new administration wants to put a carbon tax on firewood (already wants to collect taxes on home-brew bio-diesel) -Ed

[linus69]

Very nice Ed, I like the color scheme you used around that stove. I don`t like that carbon tax on firewood though, how would something like that work anyway. I think that would be hard to enforce, both on firewood and bio diesel.

Paul

[red]

Actually Paul regarding the color scheme I will never ask the Mrs what color she wants 4 weeks before christmas That is what she wanted for Christmas, paint the dining room. I told her if you didn't like the present you can return it (for another color) ;D -Ed