Out cutting

The first winter with our stove we didn’t have a stock pile of wood to burn and I got by burning wet wood or wood that was not seasoned enough. The doors on the stove were always black and had a fair bit of creosote build up in the chimney. But like josh said once you get that good dry wood it totally changes everything. Doors and chimney stay clean everything is just plain easier.
 
Josh, that's exactly our experience with this stove.
Jake, in 2007 we had a Arctic blast settle in on us, between 2 mountain ranges. Temperatures went to -15* and stayed there for 3 days.
Then it took 2 more days before we made it above freezing. (common when it gets that cold). On the first day we lost power as there
was such a load strain on the system. Power company crews were out working around the clock to get our power back on. It didn't happen
for 2 days. People with electric heaters and pellet stoves were dead in the water. Neighbors would just show up at our house to get warm
and enjoy a hot meal. Because we could still cook and make coffee. There was only about 1" of snow, so people could still move about.
I fed our wood stove Emory oak at it's peak out put for 5 days. Our children folded the sleeper sofa out in the living room and slept on that
for 5 nights. I would get up one time during the night and shove a big oak log in the stove. That's the way we made it thru it. Thus, this type
stove can pull you through a winter storm like your describing. DM
 
Christmas day was a nice, pretty day. Now we have another system moving in and temperatures are going down to 10*-11*. The wind has
changed to from the East at 10-15 mph. This cold front is supposed to last 3-4 days. So, I decided to get another load to the porch. That's my German Shorthair Pointer supervising the work and I'm holding my Wards Master Quality ax. DM
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I'm always amazed at how you gents split wood looks. So, I took a closeup photo of how my split wood looks to show the difference. This is normal looking split Emory oak. DM
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Yeah I feel bad for you David! The prevalent oak around here is very easy to split. Sometimes I wish it was a bit more challenging! But that's a stupid thing to wish for so forget I said it...;)
 
I use a 25 ton “axe” for all the oak that I come across as it’s almost always gnarly, twisted, knot filled “scrub” oak. In my lingo, “scrub oak” is any type of oak that doesn’t have fingers coming out of the main body of the leaf. If that can’t pop it apart, out comes a saw. There comes a point when I have to decide “How much effort is this really worth?”.
 
Just for giggles,David,some pictures for you...

This is a daily dose for this house(not that it's huge,1600 ft sq.,2 story):

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Wood cannot exceed an annoying 16" in length,so you can imagine how easy it is to split...:)

But,at these temperatures,it don't even take paying attention to knots...Or a two-handed grip on the axe...
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:)

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Another thought came to me that cast a shadow toward maintaining catalytic stoves. I have noticed each year at this time of year we receive more photo shop Christmas cards. The type that shows my cousin and family in a picture in Colorado skiing. The only wording being (printed) is
'Merry Christmas the Sheldons'. These cards are done on a nice printer at home or the photo taken to a shop, (even Wally does them) and they have them printed. So, great! We got a card from the Sheldon's. This becoming more common. So, more people don't take the time to write a
single sentence in a Christmas card to a relative once a year. Thus, these same type persons won't care to take 30 mins. to clean a catalytic heat plate in their stove once a week either. Not downing my kinfolks, just using this as an example. DM
 
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:)

Yes,probably,a crowbar,kitchen cleaver,any number of odd tools,i'm sure!:)

This is White spruce(way too far north for any of the pines),and it's super dry,beetle-kill dry-standing.But stuff with any moisture in it splits especially funny,in pretty unnatural spherical cleavage fractures...

Modern building materials+methods,plus these modern stoves,make heating with wood almost no fun...Kidding,of course,but not too many years ago i remember measuring my consumption once-at similar T's it was a measured cord in under 5 days...Scared me out of further keeping track,somehow made it even more heartless...:(
On the bright side,even though my life and circumstances have changed,i never could take any of this kind of stuff for granted...
 
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