Buying wood

[Acoma]

Re: Buying wood

James, that was your gift of info! Les, are you still in on the other supply?

[Inishta]

Re: Buying wood

26'x20'x2'

I wonder how many cords that it.
James

That is 1040 cu.ft or 29.5 cu.mtr. which is 8.125 cords or $24.61 a cord in big chunks...........

That should last a party season...............

[Acoma]

Re: Buying wood

I am going to purchase the wood. I will arange things with you guys.

[Acoma]

Re: Buying wood

Well, the logistics of getting the wood for Reno could not happen. Cost of truck, fuel, distance and time was not feasable. I hope that those of you in the bay area will take advantage. Here is the name and number of the guy, being that the post timed out with his information. He had emailed me so I thought passing it along would be helpful. Please don't just call to chat. He has all the wood still, in rounds.
Zack
650 269 2244

[james]

Re: Buying wood

Has anyone ever rented a log splitter from HD?

How hard is it? Is it even vaguely fun?

James

[Acoma]

Re: Buying wood

James, log spliters are cake to use. If you have a few friends to help, you should go throgh the rounds quickly, depending on the volume.

[RCLake]

Re: Buying wood

RC,

Sorry, mate, split it now. It will season much better and much faster in split form; also burns better in the end.

Jim

I thought that would be the answer, the wood I'm using I've cut from whole trees that were cut down. I'm burning stuff that was cut down last year, but I need to split it now. They still seem somewhat wet, could be the rain we have had.
I'm building a place for wood storage with angle iron and stone column and I'm wondering once I have it filled should I have a tarp on top?

[CanuckJim]

Re: Buying wood

RC,

It might be that your wood in the round still is not seasoned completely. There's a difference between water and sap or resin. Once the sap or resin goes, the cell walls dry up and shrink; that's what makes the radial lines or checks in the cut ends. Left in the round, the process is slowed. Seasoned wood that's been rained on shouldn't take all that long to dry out, week or two out of the elements. It's always a good idea to protect your wood from the elements, whether it's seasoned or in the process. My woodshed, has air gaps in the back wall and no real floor to speak of, although the wood is kept off the ground. Both allow air circulation (very important). The roof is just the galvanized roofing you might see on a barn. Transfers lots of drying heat to the interior in sunny weather. A tarp should be raised above the wood, so no moisture is trapped.

I use lots of limb wood, between one and five inches in diameter, just as it comes off the tree. Anything thicker, I split.

Jim

[Les]

Re: Buying wood

While we are on this subject - what is the ideal length of wood for a 42 inch oven? The walnut that I picked up last weekend was mostly cut 20 - 22 inches. Seemed a bit long so I started cutting them in half.

Les...

[RCLake]

Re: Buying wood

RC,

It might be that your wood in the round still is not seasoned completely. There's a difference between water and sap or resin. Once the sap or resin goes, the cell walls dry up and shrink; that's what makes the radial lines or checks in the cut ends. Left in the round, the process is slowed. Seasoned wood that's been rained on shouldn't take all that long to dry out, week or two out of the elements. It's always a good idea to protect your wood from the elements, whether it's seasoned or in the process. My woodshed, has air gaps in the back wall and no real floor to speak of, although the wood is kept off the ground. Both allow air circulation (very important). The roof is just the galvanized roofing you might see on a barn. Transfers lots of drying heat to the interior in sunny weather. A tarp should be raised above the wood, so no moisture is trapped.

I use lots of limb wood, between one and five inches in diameter, just as it comes off the tree. Anything thicker, I split.

Jim

I'm glad I asked this question, won't help now but next year Just Wait.

[CanuckJim]

Re: Buying wood

Les,

Because of the way combustion air enters these ovens (along the floor), I've always had a tendency to use longer pieces, so the fire burns from front to back, giving you complete combustion without a lot of fiddling.

Here's what I do:

1. Build a crib fire out of kindling toward the front of the oven; when it's burning brightly, add some hardwood limbs about an inch or two in diameter.

2. When that's burning brigthly, push the fire back toward the center of the floor, but not dead center, yet.

3. Then, push to the center and loosely crisscross longer pieces over the fire to almost fill the chamber. Whack on draft door if you have one. Develop the famous plasma fire.

With a 42 inch floor, using this method, I'd leave the pieces you have as long as they are. You could even go longer. My hearth is 4' deep and 3' wide, and I commonly use pieces up to 36" long. Experiment; it might work for you. Try to avoid the fireplace idea that the fire should be built in the middle. You want fire EVERYWHERE.

Jim

[Les]

Re: Buying wood

Thanks Jim.

As always - valuable input. Never thought about the draft - makes sense. Should have posted this question sooner - I have many little chunks.

Les...

[dmun]

Re: Buying wood

You can even burn really long pieces hanging them out the door. You've got to keep an eye out if they hang out much beyond the landing, you don't want burning logs on the patio.

And the little chunks? Greatly useful for putting the fire once it's pushed to the side to get that flame up the dome.

[gjbingham]

Re: Buying wood

I like the bigger stuff at the bottom and smaller on top to start. The smaller kindling falls into the gap between the bottom logs and gets them blazing.

I like 12 - 16 inch pieces of wood. I can just tee pee them around the sides as I expand the fire deeper into the dome. Mid-sized round branches are a pain in the rear. They always, always roll off into an area where you can't retrieve them without risking your arm hairs.

[dmun]

Re: Buying wood

They always, always roll off into an area where you can't retrieve them without risking your arm hairs.

We've really got to get those clinker-grabbers back into production: