The Steve's stuff thread

[Steve NW WI]

Howdy boys and girls, wild animals, and whatever else lurks here!

A lot of you know me from AS or elsewhere, but for those who don't, I thought I'd start a thread showing the stuff I use to convert wood into heat.

Don't be afraid to comment, ask questions, outright heckle, or even laugh at me. It ain't any worse than my family and friends say every day. Just don't call those guys in the white suits with the funny unisleeve shirt they make me wear again, OK?

Since it's what I was up to (much) earlier today, here's how I process what I call "squarewood" - short pieces of mostly 4x4s that I get from work for nothing. Free is good.

I built a stand for bucking this stuff to length out of mostly scrap and a couple of bought pieces. It's worked well. The uprights hold the pieces in place and are a guide to cut 16" lengths.

Full of wood, it holds 36 4x4s. I usually get a few more as some aren't full 4xs.

A couple cuts with my trusty Dolmar 7300 and they're firewood. The short oddball pieces get split into kindling (more on that later).

I stack em back on the tailgate and haul em to the house or to my wood stacks.

These are headed for the basement for use in warmer spring weather. Why burn "good stuff" when it's not needed. I used to carry every stick I burnt down the stairs, but I've gotten older and laz....um, wiser. My chute is a piece of 12" PVC scrounged of course, with a couple of 4x4 legs on it. Pic looking out the basement window:

Outside:

That's the boss, Ruby the Frisbee Hound sneaking out of the picture.

More coming soon.

 

[Steve NW WI]

Here's the pile downstairs. I'll get it stacked soon, I promise.

I had a little oops in the back of the truck with my brushpile flammabiliry improvement packaging.

Lucky for me, I have just the thing to fix that.

A little broom time and it's good enough for the girls willing to hang around with me.

Forgot this pic earlier - a hay hook works well to get the wood out of the truck, almost indispensable in the winter when I have the topper on the truck.

A squarewood fire in the Drolet, cranked up for a little while then damped way down to keep things toasty while I went to work.

Depending on how busy we are at work, and if other guys are grabbing wood for a bonfire, this stuff is a very renewable resource. I brought another load home tonight.

That's all folks! For now, that is. I'll be back with more stuff pics as they get put to use filling the wood piles.

 

[Genius]

That's slick Steve. Takes the work right out of splitting, stacking, cutting etc.

 

[olyman]

Here's the pile downstairs. I'll get it stacked soon, I promise.

I had a little oops in the back of the truck with my brushpile flammabiliry improvement packaging.

Lucky for me, I have just the thing to fix that.

A little broom time and it's good enough for the girls willing to hang around with me.

Forgot this pic earlier - a hay hook works well to get the wood out of the truck, almost indispensable in the winter when I have the topper on the truck.

A squarewood fire in the Drolet, cranked up for a little while then damped way down to keep things toasty while I went to work.

Depending on how busy we are at work, and if other guys are grabbing wood for a bonfire, this stuff is a very renewable resource. I brought another load home tonight.

That's all folks! For now, that is. I'll be back with more stuff pics as they get put to use filling the wood piles.

how much less work, consumption,, since getting the drolet,, over the old monster???

 

[Steve NW WI]

how much less work, consumption,, since getting the drolet,, over the old monster???

I haven't had to clean my chimney since, the old stove was 2-3x per year, it didn't like being damped down like this one can.

Wood use is conservatively a third less, I never kept that close of tabs on the old one. The bigger bonus is being able to use wood like this better.

Propane use is up when it gets below zero here though, it doesn't have the raw horsepower to keep up with 2200 sq ft of bad windows and questionable insulation, unless I'm around to fill it every 5-6 hours.

I've had no maintenance needs yet in 4 years, but the floor bricks are probably gonna need replacing this summer.

 

[Philbert]

Does Ruby go down the slide too? She's in both photos!

Like the bucking stand and the slide. Get yourself a mini-van and you can look like Dancan!

Philbert

 

[Steve NW WI]

No on both counts. Ruby don't exactly fit down the slide, and I'm sure she'd run away or bite me if I came home in a soccer mom mobile. She's a truck dawg, she doesn't even like riding in the car.

 

[stihl sawing]

Good stuff Steve, The PVC pipe is a great idea.

 

[darkimpulse]

Subbed, great work. I am going to steal your Pvc tube idea. Don't know why I never thought of that. Can't wait to see more.

 

[Steve NW WI]

Too nice to work today, so I called in dead I got the 2nd load cut up and inside. There's always a few pieces with nails, staples, banding, or whatnot in every load. I don't mess with cleaning em, they go straight to the pallet sized firepit.

Whoops! Either I was heavier today or the ground softened up more. It's not the only landscaping I have to do this spring here.

 

[Steve NW WI]

The mountain of wood in the basement is at critical mass now, I had to reposition the chute to get the last few sticks in.

Kindling bin is empty too.

We need a chopping board and some stubbies.

A little messy but all done.

It's 40' from the wood chute to the stove area, so the wheelbarrow gets to live inside for the winter.

The stove rack is full, and burning the sweeping scraps.

I'm thirsty now, time to get cleaned up and go have a rare for me Friday night out.

 

[Steve NW WI]

Sneak preview of today, meet Bubba.

 

[Steve NW WI]

Got some ash to split.

Tunes are mandatory while splitting, listening to the PTO shield rattle don't cut it.

M Farmall powered, Bubba needs about 40hp if you get into the tough stuff.

Done.

A few beers later, a nice end to the day.

 

[Steve NW WI]

Why horizontal splitters rock and H/V machines blow. Just keep splitting and it'll keep pushing the wood away. You'll never make me run a POS wedge on cylinder machine.

 

[Steve NW WI]

My wood storage area, before stacking what I split Saturday.

Each row is 1/2 a cord, there's room for 15 cords there. I'm far from it yet.

Sunday, a friend and I got that ash stacked. It came out to about 3/4 of a cord, and filled the two partial rows.

 

[Steve NW WI]

Do you guys know how hard I work to keep ya minimally entertained with pics of questionable quality and less content?

That's right, not very hard at all. I did manage to get the pile in the basement stacked though. I almost got that row filled, ain't that just how it always works?

There's right around half a cord there, 6.5' H & W x 16".

 

[Philbert]

Got those sticks individually barcoded Steve?

Philbert

 

[mainewoods]

Free 4x4's, damn. 4"x4"x8' at home depot are $10+ each. Heck of a nice scrounge Steve!

 

[Steve NW WI]

Got those sticks individually barcoded Steve?

Philbert

No, but if you scan that pic as a qr code, it'll take you to a site proving Mastermind is Brush Ape, and the GOAT.

Free 4x4's, damn. 4"x4"x8' at home depot are $10+ each. Heck of a nice scrounge Steve!

We get a few 8 and 10 footers, but those get dibz'ed pretty quick

 

[mainewoods]

Curious to know your secret in obtaining all those 4x4's. Right place at the right time- inside job- luck?