From: de5@ORNL.GOV (Dave Sill)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Problems heating with wood
Date: 9 Nov 92 16:16:10 GMT
Article-I.D.: ornl.1992Nov9.161610.26443
Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab, Oak Ridge, TN

In article <9211080128.AA0045i@bpc.UUCP>, bernie@bpc.uucp writes:
>Well, amidst general calm here on the farm I'm discovering that if I don't
>get a LOT better at managing the fireplace it is going to be a long,
>cold winter.  I've run into a handfull of problems, for which I'd
>appreciate advice, suggestions, wisdom, etc.

I'm following up to misc.rural because this is a good topic for general discussion. 
I've also sent a copy directly to Bernie.

>I've instantly observed two things about heating with wood:
>  1) it is a dirty business.  It messes up the house, and keeps me pretty
>  messy, too.  [the mess is not from the heat, but from the effects of
>  carry loads of wood about, messing with the ashes, futzing with the
>  logs on teh fire, etc].

You know how messy kids are with their food?  You'll get better at keeping the
mess down with time.

>  2) it requires a fair amount of attention: if I ignore it for two
>  hours the thermostat will turn off [pending my nudging the logs and
>  generally stirring things up some]; if I ignore it for six hours, the
>  fire will virtually go out.

You'll get better at automatically tending the fire, too, with time.  Until
then, expect a few to go out.

>...  My problem is that
>when a 'current' crop of logs burns down enough to give me enough room
>to cram another log on top, that is actually far enough along that there
>isn't enough heat, quite, to get the new log blazing away [smoldering
>yes, blazing, no], and so the fire dies down until I do a fair bit of
>poking at it to get the new log to catch. ...
>
>My feeling is that it shouldn't be this fragile, time intensive, and
>difficult, and so I'm wondering if I'm just doing something wrong or
>[as usual] overlooking the obvious or something.  [e.g., a simple response
>might be "your logs are too 2#$%@$# big you idiot.  Split them so that
>you can get them in sooner", but I dunno...

Your logs are too 2#$%@$# big you idiot.  Split them so that you can get them
in sooner.  :-)

>2) How do you split logs?  I wandered over to the local hardware store and
>picked up a maul [6#] and some sort of wedge, but I'm not exactly sure quite
>what to do about it.  ...  Now, I _think_ that
>"all" you have to do ["all", hah!] is stand the log on end, position the
>wedge over its center, and pound the thing in.

Close.  First, I prefer the name "splitting axe" to "splitting maul".  It
emphasizes the axe-nature of the tool.  You could split logs with a regular
axe, but two features of the splitting axe make it much more efficient: the
extra mass, and the shape of the head.  The advantage of the mass should be
clear, but it's less obvious why the chopping axe's blade is inferior for
splitting.  Stand a log on end (yes, it may require some fiddling and/or
propping) and attempt to split it by driving a chopping axe down the center.

What happened?  Most likely, if the axe was sharp and you hit the log well,
the axe head is buried an inch or two into the log.  The thin, sharp blade
cuts into log well, but doesn't do much to force the two halves apart.  Hence
the splitting axe's thicker profile: the sharp blade acts as it does in the
chopping axe to penetrate into the log, then the quickly thickening blade
pushes outward on both sides encouraging the log to split.

So, you need to:

0) Sharpen the splitting axe as you would a regular axe, except keep the edge
thick.

1) Find a good, solid block of the right size upon which to stand the log to
be split.  The purpose of the block is to raise the to-be-chopped log to the
right height, and to receive the splitting axe's edge when it completes it
passage through the split log.

2) Stand the log on end on the chopping block.

3) Examine the log to determine where and in how many pieces it should be
split.  Take advantage of natural splits and avoid knots.

4) Drive the splitting maul with full force in an overhand swing onto the log
in the intended spot.

5) Repeat (4) as necessary.  (You'll get better at this with practice.)

6) Repeat (2) through (5) as necessary.

Note: you should rarely, if ever, need to use a wedge to split firewood.

Other possibilites are to buy pre-split wood or use a hydraulic splitter.  The
latter are large and expensive, so are usually rented.  Even using a
hydraulic splitter is work, though.  Bending over to feed the splitter and
pick up the split pieces is back-breaking work.

>In general, how do you split the things, and specifically, how do you
>hold up a log so you CAN split it.

Try propping it up with another log or two.

>3) Where do you get 'kindling' from?

Kindling R Us?  No, you can either go out in the woods and gather sticks off
the ground, or split it off of your firewood.  Instead of aiming to split the
log in half, try to split off thin splints.  Alternatively, just keep
splitting the halves into quarters, eighths, sixteenths, etc.  You can
*carefully* use a hand axe (hatchet) for smaller pieces--I've even seen a
hand-size splitting axe for making kindling.

>4) What is the right strategy for setting up the fire for overnight [or
>if I'm going to be gone all day or the like]?

Get a good fire going, pack it full of wood, and partially close the
vents/draft to slow the burn.  Make sure you're burning good, dense hardwood
like oak, ash, or hickory.

>It doesn't seem quite possible to keep the house warm all night
>AND still have useful-fire left in the morning...

Right.  A pellet stove could do that, but you probably don't want to buy a new
stove and have to buy pelletized wood.  You might want to consider something
like a kerosene or electric heater for the bedroom.  I've used kerosene
heaters before--they put a lot of heat and don't smell too bad, but you need
to consider the fire hazard.

-- 
Dave Sill (de5@ornl.gov)           For every Bill Joy there is a Kirk McKusick.
Martin Marietta Energy Systems     For every Bill Gates there is a Richard
Workstation Support                Stallman.                     --Paul Graham