Hey Steve, got a few wood related questions I thought I would ask you seeing you are the wood master in these parts.

1st off... How much wood do you think this is? The pile is about 4 ft high, and 3 lengths deep.. maybe 12 feet long? (4 pallets long) Its all oak, with the wood I got from your free pile mixed in. Ive got a pile to be split as well as soon as I can swipe my neighbor's splitter. You can see these logs in front and to the side of the main stack.





Im wondering if I have enough for the winter. I have to start the planning for next year too. I have my eye on about 6 trees I want to drop this fall.

Secondly... is it safe to spray some bug killer on and around the wood now if I plan to burn it in the winter? Some of the wood had alot of bugs eating away at it. I got rid of a few baddly infested pieces but there may have been more I didnt notice. Of course I expect bugs, but there seem to be more than usual.

Do you have your chimney swept annually, evey other, ever? I figure I need to have mine done this year. It hasnt been done and I burned about 3 cord last winter.

 

looks like a bit over a cord's worth... try this cord calculator

http://maine.gov/ag/firewood.html

i dont use anything on my wood as i figure it might not be safe to burn pesticides - the bugs go dormant in the winter so no worries when you bring it into your home and they'll give you some btu's -

not too sure the stuff you need to split will be ready to burn this year - as they say oak takes at least a year to season

and yup i sweep my chimney once a year - it's really easy to do but i'd be nervous on your roof - BUT if you have just stove pipe from your stove to the roof, you can do it from the bottom up

 

also mike it might be better to leave your pile open to the sun / wind until Oct - this way it will dry out faster.

 

I try to leave the sides exposed and the top covered as it doesnt get much if any sun.

The stuff that needs to be split will be at the end of the pile and wont get burned unless needed. It came from 2 totally dead trees so it is a bit dried out to start.

As far as my chimney goes, I figure I will be paying someone for that job. My sove runs into an insert that looks like a muffler, that runs into the chimney. Not sure if I need to remove the insert.... that was a friggin bitch to install.

Thanks

 

same with mine it's called a direct connect but after a few times it's really easy to remove / install

takes me about 2 hours start to finish

 

Looks like a cords worth, maybe a little over. My dads pile is 4 ft high, 3 rows deep, and 20-24 feet long and it holds 2.5 cords.

Yea, and do the chimney annually. Chimney fires are no good.