Burning Softwoods

[Pinusresinosa]

Weclome Pinusresina !! I live near Pulsegleainer, while you can get a very large fine for cutting down a tree, the developers have no problem clear cuttng. Land is sold by the foot here, when building muli million dollar homes a few thousand in fines are nothing. Behind me are wetlands they where zoned unbuildable. Developer gave town few million zone changed, there now over 20 homes starting at 3 million going up to 6 million

I'm not sure that's my flavor- no thanks! LOL! Around where I live (east central MN), people have large properties and often you'll see them offering to allow someone to come and remove a tree from their property for free- fallen or dead or dying trees mostly. "Get it OFF my property and it's yours!". Trees abound here, and many people burn wood for heat. We've been using a mix of purchased wood and our own to burn. My husband bought a cord of pine from a neighbor down the road for 70 bucks. He sells hardwood cords (oak) for 90 bucks. Mixed is 80. We went through 2 cords last winter, mixed pine, oak, and ash/boxelder from our own property. We have our propane run furnace set to 65 degrees all winter too though and we dress warm. The oven goes a lot during the winter too around here which actually helps heat part of the house quite well. The only thing better would be a wood burning cast iron stove... if I could ever find one and if we could have it installed in our home properly! Just dreaming here.

We purchased our old home which is part 1800's farmhouse and more recent add-on construction as a HUD auction 3 years ago for 52k on 2 acres. We paid for half of this place in cash. We've done a LOT of work to it and there's a lot more to be done. This place is solid with a dry basement and plenty of room, and given our cost of living we feel very liberated and thankful. It's our first home and it's probably too ugly for most and low brow for the rest but we're not the types to care! We wanted me to be able to be home with the girls and we didn't want to have to worry about affording our living like so many have to our age these days. Just not worth it with this one life we have.

Anyway, thank you for the warm welcome all around again. Good to be here! Try to not cut down any trees around you there Nyboy.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

What really frosted me with the clearcutting is that I think, in that case, they simply mulched and chipped everything. I would have loved to take some of that spicebush for our fireplace. The actual heat would probably be negligible (spicebushes don't grow all that big, so I doubt the thickest trunk I've ever seen was much more than a foot or two in diameter) but I imagine the smell is heavenly. And that Paulownia would have provided us with a winters worth of wood, or (if they left the trunk in one piece, a heck of a lot of very nice furniture (from what I understand in much of Japan there was a tradition where when a family had a daughter born, the father would plant a Paulownia tree. When she got engaged, the tree would be cut down and the wood used to build her dowry chest. Paulownia wood (called riki) is very popular wood in Japan, and the tree is very highly regarded (or why Paulownia flowers make up the crest of the Office of the Japanese prime minister.)

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Oh and to be clear when I said Spicebush I meant Lindera Benzoin (I keep forgetting that, in parts of the south, spicebush means Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus ) or even redbay (Persea borboria)

 

[Nyboy]

What a great custom, shows a lot of love. Wonder what happens if daughter doen't marry.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Then, you have a mess of very highly valued wood that is free to sell. The feudal Japanese LOVED the way kiri (sorry, looks like I've been transposing the letters) looked, the pale yellow white color was considered very aesthetically pleasing. to quote Wikipedia

"
Paulownia is known in Japanese as kiri (桐), specifically referring to P. tomentosa; it is also known as the "princess tree". It was once customary to plant a Paulownia tree when a baby girl was born, and then to make it into a dresser as a wedding present when she married. Paulownia is the mon of the office of prime minister and also serves as the emblem of the cabinet and the government (vis-à-vis the chrysanthemum being the Imperial Seal of Japan). It is one of the suits in hanafuda, associated with the month of December. Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (page 1189; Tokyo: Kodansha, 1993. ISBN 4-06-931098-3) states:"
Paulownia wood is very light, fine-grained, soft, and warp-resistant and is used for chests, boxes, and clogs (geta). Its low silica content reduces dulling of blades, making it a preferred wood for boxes to hold fine Japanese edge tools. The wood is burned to make charcoal for sketching and powder for fireworks, the bark is made into a dye The silvery-grey wood is sliced into veneers for special visiting cards.[3]"

 

[Smart Red]

Ah, learn something new every day here! Thank you @Pulsegleaner.

That would explain the "Royal" name of my Empress, Queen of China tree. It sounds like a pretty special tree. Unfortunately for me, this is borderline hardy in zone 5. Some years the tree nearly dies back to the ground, some times I get three year's growth because of the warmer than usual winter weather.

I love the HUGE leaves the tree has! It gives a tropical look to the yard.

 

[Nyboy]

I agree Red I learn something new here every day.

 

[thistlebloom]

@Pinusresinosa, good for you for not getting over your head in debt and choosing to invest your time in your kids rather than a paycheck.

We did the same thing, Bought a major fixer for a good deal less, and fixed it, and I got to be home with the boys. We ate a lot of rice and beans those days!

 

[Nyboy]

Funny my ex and I used to live in a 10,000 square foot home. We had all these rooms, but realy only used the master bedroom and Kitchen. Other rooms only when we had company. The ulities where a killer on a house that large.

 

[catjac1975]

I didn't have an outside furnace when I had several acres of forest. Those trees were mostly lodgepole pine, not the best firewood but not terrible.

I'm not sure if I knew then how simple something like that outside furnace could be. Organic Gardening had an article about a very simple, passive system - I guess quite common in rural Scandinavia and the story had the owner burning straw ..!

It is essentially a stove in a shed. I'd want it fireproof and well insulated. Warm air moves (up) into the house through ducts. I don't believe they even had a fan and just controlled the air by opening and closing the duct. I bet the furnace room is hot throughout the winter.

There are much more sophisticated outside systems on the market.

Steve

That would be a great place for a greenhouse.