Musings

Wood science

Kenmore stove logo

I’m used to willing the wood stove that bears this to kick out the heat. When it’s cool in the house (like today), I am usually surprised how long it takes the heat to really radiate into the room, and not just to hover below the ceiling. We’ve reached the point where the floor is still chilly, but the room is tolerable, if you still have your fleece jacket on. The trend is great!

We’re going to have to reorganize the firewood. We’re inundated with pine, most of it too fresh, and what we need is “keepers,” larger chunks of slower burning wood.

On the other hand, once this place gets warm, I just need to keep the fire going and we’ll be fine, and some of that fresh pine may be fine then. Of course, keeping the fire going through the night is pretty difficult without a reload in the dark hours (the firebox is not very large) and some very large chunks of super-slow wood.