neiln

similar temps here. 2 little 5kW stoves in a through lounge/dinner room heat the whole house. girls bedroom at the back of the house is furthest from the stoves and has 3 external walls so is coldest room. thermostat there is 18.5C right now 22.something here in the lounge, it'll be up another half or full degree by bed time, then 17C in the girls bedroom by morning and 18C down here. this is a typical between the wars semi of around 130m2 I think its not cavity wall, just 9 inch brick and loses a lot of heat. I started burning on an off in september on one stove, was probably full time on one by early October and then I run 2 if the outside temp is 7C or below, like tonight. So second stove has been on a fair bit since late October. I'm stunned Big J that you could munch through 11 cube.. wow!

'kin HELL! 11 cube already! Holy moly mother of !

Crystal ball gazing I know. I'm here in south London, and last year was the first I heated with wood virtually entirely. I burnt my way through, I estimate, almost 8m3 of mixed hard/soft wood (probably 60% hard wood) in 2 small stoves. It was however a very very mild winter. I think we only had about half a dozen frosts all winter. So far this autumn and winter has been (exceedingly wet! and) colder, probably just normally cold but we've had more frosts than in all of last year. When grabbing wood off the pile earlier I looked at what I'd used and I'd estimate its 3.3m3 so far, in about 3 months. I reckon I'll use 10m3 at this rate, which is fine, I've got that and more seasoned. How are the rest of you getting on so far?

oh and not sure if it is right or wrong but I only tarp for the winter. well about 1 september to 1 May i guess. my view is with the less rain and more sun its better not to cover over the summer, no point letting the UV destroy your tarp for those months.

I reckon if its dry it keeps a long long long time. if i didn't have time to get it al CSS and had lots and lots, I'd probably buck to 4-6' and stack off the ground, top cover over winter. once that was done I'd go back over the stack and buck and stack to stove length, then go back and start splitting. i reckon once cut to stov length it would dry quickly enough to dry before it rotted....but it does depend on wood type. birch or similar shiny waterproof bark, need splitting straight away. awesome firewood though, i love a bit of silver birch.

yep, wedges are good for large rounds but still straight grained, and even then good technique with the axe flaking bits off is easier. wedges and gnarly bits are a battle...I'v learnt to noodle with the saw, much, much better.

I agree, fabulous firewood, I really enjoyed the cube or so I got. It was a dream to split generally, stacked bark up it keeps itself dry, and it burns really nicely.

if its the mk2 stockton 5 like mine with the thick cushioning door rope then I've not had trouble with the door latch, but I always push the door firmly shut rather than just twisting the knob and making the latch drawer the door tight. As for bending or warping, I'm largely of the view that a small stove run on wood can't be over fired on a single load, it just burns through it before the stove is too hot for too long. Fingers crossed I don't curse myself but....I reckon the damaged stoves are run on coal and over fired, or run on the wrong coal which burns too hot. ok...if you do repeated hot reloads with small splits of wood you can probably damage a stove but that takes effort. I run 2 small stoves hard in the winter months, heating the whole house, and the stockton has seen flue temps at over 400C when I've put a bit too much wood on it a few times, its done it no harm at all.

You don't need, it easier though. The tool that is the ash pan handle also fits over the door handle, giving a cool handle to turn but I like to use a welding glove and reach in to place the logs anyway.

into year 4 with a stockton 5, no trouble at all so far

here are a few others...they all differ a bit though Density of Various Wood Species WWW.ENGINEERINGTOOLBOX.COM Density of various wood species - apple, ash, cedar, elm and more Apple | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwood) WWW.WOOD-DATABASE.COM

Isn't Apple higher? It's denser I thought and the bit I had seemed to burn like coal!

You can get better but similar trolleys in b+q etc. Here's an Argos one Buy Ward 55L Plastic Wheelbarrow - Grey/Green | Wheelbarrows | Argos WWW.ARGOS.CO.UK Buy Ward 55L Plastic Wheelbarrow - Grey/Green at Argos. Thousands of... I had one but the point already made about muddy wheels meant I didn't really get on with it.... And when the lounge floor got oak parquet I felt it would mark that so it's not used. IKEA tote bags now and......'steeeerraaaaiiin!' when I inevitably over fill them. I have seen on US websites a cross between a small firewood rack and a sack barrow with large soft wheels. Looks good but again not if you are crossing mud.

1. the tree is common 2. the tree is ugly 3. the tree is a problem 4. the tree is decent firewood isn't the way to proceed obvious?

Lelandii is actually pretty good firewood, denser than most softwoods. I find virtually nothing spits or pops if properly dry, the very occasional pop in my stove is so rare it always gets my attention, so I'd think all woods should work fine on open fires.... if properly dry!

IKEA blue tote here too, doubled up as it's heavy when full of Oak and I found one had a poorly stitched handle. They used to cost about 30 pence each

As above, I have one that used to be dad's, a super cheap one like pictured, he used to find it ok. I haven't used it, instead I like up 6 pallets to make a temporary table and put logs on that, being careful not to hit a nail.

you may have fun splitting it. There is a reason cricket bats are made of willow.... not all willow is the same but some has a property like rubber for absorbing shock. I try very hard to spot and pass over willow these days.

I find cherry can be difficult to dry, particularly the small stuff that you'd not normally split. It seems to be like birch with a very very waterproof bark so traps the moisture and rots. It will dry if split though.

I'd love a poly tunnel. I have considered doing some hill billy solar kilning using pallet wrap. However, for now, I work away steadily and keep 2 years ahead.

its in a number of places and doesn't take over....although my neighbours have noticed....I occasionaly get asked if I want to sell some! I've an old potting shed in one corner of the rear garden that is well past it for anything nice. I removed the 2 windows and the door, its 6'6" x 8'6" internally and about 2m tall, that is filled and holds around 9 cube. I stack 2 rows wide and about 75cm tall against the front wall of the house, in the open other than slightly under the eaves but south facing wall and it dries well. This stuff being out front is the easiest and first stuff for me to bag up and sling in the car boot to go to mum each time I visit, where it is unloaded into a log store that holds 1.4cube. My front of house stack can be 2.5 cube maybe by late summer. the rest is down the fence, 1.2-1.3m wide, 1.2-1.3 ish m tall (higher at the back by the fence so the tarp has a slope to shed water) and something like 14m long. the garden is a decent size for a zone 3 london house and there is plenty of lawn left for the kids to play... If I was planning to stay long term I'd put a few posts in and a roof over the the fence line stack, but as the girls get bigger we hope to move for better schools and a less frenetic environment! So its tarps for now. every 2 to 3 years I'm taking from the shed and its definitely dry and easier, but previous winters taking from the tarped stacks have not been a damp problem like this year, just the odd split maybe, this year with the continual rain and perhaps the cheap tarps not working well, much more is a bit damp. Okay I'm thinking a 3x6m 270gsm tarp from tarpflex for under £30. 6m is long enough to cover the stack currently poorly served by the cheap tarps, folded double 1.5m is enough to cover the top and hang over. 270gsm strong enough to resist pooling between splits well and will last , especially doubled...and the cepa tarps can go back on top to keep the UV off anyway and cover the joins between the 3 decent tarps I'll then have covering the stacks (currently have 2 3x4 heavy weights at one end of the stack...the green wood end annoyingly)

Yes I've read about lorry curtains. I have a couple of heavy duty tarps on half the stack but when I needed some more I bought cheapo ones to save a few quid and because the heavy duty ones were heavy and awkward to fold back to access the wood, I actually thought lighter and several shorter tarps would be easier. I'm now thinking even with the overlaps several short tarps are letting more water through, plus they blow about a bit more, plus they have more tendency to pool water in places which then seems to lead to a piece of wood poking a hole and letting the water through. Hmm, I should probably get at least one more heavy duty tarp.

I think I do very well with the wife allowing me to collect, cut and split 12-14m3 each year and to stack 25+m3 in the garden....I think it needs to stay on the fence though....25 IBCs scattered across the lawn would not go down well! TBF, they could be better ventilated but they aren't bad and dry very very well over the summer, and previously I've not had problem over the winter. Thinking about it I'm using smaller and cheaper tarps on this bit of the stack....I wonder if this is letting more rain on to the wood? hmm....I might need to invest in a couple more large heavy duty tarps.

exactly. it is difficult. All mine is probably below 25% average still, it burns and isn't blackening th glass, often not see much smoke if any from the chimney either. it does need the stove vents wide open though, an definitely isn't going up like my wood usually does. Hopefully this rain will pack in sometime soon and the wood will dry out again slowly.

I've 2+ years worth of firewood stacked in the garden and 2/3rds of it is along one fence, stacked on pallets. I cover the top with tarps from August BH through to May BH. Tarps are a slight faff but not too bad, they occasionally blow or slip or hole and let a bit of rain through but in previous winters I've found a few dry days and the few damp bits dry out ok. This autumn though, blimey. Have we had a dry day since...err...since....mid September? It seems I'm getting a lot of damp wood and its not getting time to dry again. in fact its getting slowly wetter. WHen its brought in the dampest bit I stack around the stove and burn last and although very few bits have hissed so it can't be too bad, its not burning as hot as 2 summers dry wood should. Oh well, glass is still clean so flue should be too i hope, house is warm and I've plenty of wood. its just a frustration...after the last 2 summers I was expecting this lot to go woof! Anybody else having issues with all this rain?