Wood Heat Thread ~ post pics

That's always a fun burn. Even going over it with the vacuum first, ours always stinks on that first burn

 

yeah it stinks

 

1.5 cords of Oak. Probably more than I’ll burn but will probably get another 1/3 chord as reserve.

 

Stockin up for the next few winters. Wood heat is my main source for heating my house. Cherry, maple, madrone and fir are what grow on my property so thats what I burn.

 

Picked up another bow for the quiver yesterday. Still breaking it in but it cuts like a lazer through butter.

STIHL MS461
72cc
32" bar (light)
Full skip chain

My other saws
MS 310 25" bar
MS 250 20" bar
MS 192t 14" bar. This one has to be my all time favorite. Its light and incredibly well balanced and I can limb all day with it

 

How do you like the 250 with 20" bar? Considering 20" for mine, when the 18" retires.

 

I like it. Its a nice balance with the 20" and less bending and stooping. I recommend it

 

This guy is awesome. Worth checking out

https://www.youtube.com/c/BuckinBillyRaySmith

 

Been watching him the last few weeks; great content

 

Seems we have the same tastes in saws. Why go so big on the 461 bar?
I love my 192, and my 290 (same frame as your 310 I believe)

I had a 250; I’d get a 250 again but with a 14” bar when I had the 18” on it I always tried to work it to its limits.

 

that guy lives not too far away from where I live

 

I was honestly wondering that while watching his videos....

 

I bought a 1940 log cabin and it came with this coal/wood Vermont Casting Intrepid stove. Keeps me from using the oil heat all the time. I use about a chord 1/2 throughout the winter.

 

Is it really worth it now days? A few years back I put a pellet stove in but oil was over $3 a gallon and pellets were less than $200 a ton. Ran that way for about 4 years then wound up converting to natural gas boiler. Since pellets are $300 plus a ton I don’t even bother now days.

 

I like the balance of the 32" on the 461 and with a longer bar I can stand up when i'm bucking rather than bending and stooping. Honestly its less fatiguing than my 310 with the 28" bar and I'm 5'10 180lbs and 53 years old. Here's a few shots
of some 36" rounds I bucked today

 

How do you split those big rounds?

We had a huge old red oak die from a lightning strike a few years back. I had it taken down and cut into rounds, but some of them from the base of the tree were 5 feet across and their equipment could not bring them down off the hillside. I was up there with wedge(s) and sledge for a couple of weeks, knocking them down into sizes small enough to haul down the hill to flatter ground. That was "fun". Then I used one of these -- Mighty Ox LS-30 -- to get it down to firewood size. Even with that I had to run pieces through twice to get them small enough. Red oak is gnarly, gnarly stuff.

 

Well they look like Fir, so nice straight-grained rounds like that are actually really easy to knock down to size with a splitting maul.

 

Fir splits easy unless there are a bunch of big knots

 

First fire of the season tonight. Last couple days was near 80, today was in low 50s with a cold wind with lows tonight in low-mid 30s. So figured it was a good night to burn off the dust

 

It's hard to collect a useable amount, but damn is photinia a great firewood!