You will find most people on this site myself included own a wood lot or have access to free wood. Gas might be “cheap” for you but it is hard to beat grows on my land for free.
Then there are other environmental reasons some of us would rather not use FF sources.
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Good morning Gleme
Many thing we do here on the DOW is not for our benefit but that of our grandchildren and posterity .
The fuel most of us use today will be replaced today .
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Sweating-the-woods for your personal use energies puts you back in touch able to balance your consumption’s versus your spin-buy-in sold(outs).
Sweating-the-woods for your personal energy consumption’s is the best of keep healthy personal exercising. Much more cheaper, and reasonable than a go-to gym membership. And REAL’s are involved with woods-for-fuels sweating. Inattentiveness. Unawareness. Lazy attitude can, and will cost you fingers, toes, limbs, or worse.
Gun range danger-fun without the pay-out costs. Wood-sweating pays back in so many ways.
And as Mr Wayne says: those of us who have actually invested into our own tree growing properties to grow our own fuel woods are the only ones who can claim to be free choice.
Not just steeple-dependent energy consumers. Willie-nillie having to follow the latest allowed top-down supplied energy trends.
Not just urban dependent maggot cockroaches for “wastes” energy either.
Wood is not for everyone of course. Not enough to go around for our 200 years of first: the black-rock-that-burns; and then, black-gold enabled populations buildups.
Enough for those willing to sweat the woods. Love the Ma’ Natures given infinatly renewable trees as serving us; not us, them.
Saddest thing here PNW westside is trees cut down. Stumps ripped out with lots of liquid gold use-one dino expended to build housing developments. All heating/cooking then done with use-once Canadian/Montana piped in use-once natural gas.
Forests harvested and housing developments converted are lost to consumerism. Investors/speculators. Very short sighted make money now screw-tomorrow way to approach things. My house as my ATM living. Only as “green” as the numbers of electric cars moved into those houses grid powering on Nuke/dino-gas-turbines/will never be enough capacity Big-Wind and PV solar “farms”. Ha! HERE hydro is not allowed re-newable status.
And trees here being popular-social-cultural converted step by step to no-no, never-touch Sacred’s.
Tree-farmer Steve unruh
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You are so right Steve about Hydro power Not being placed on the list of renewable power 30 years ago or more. You can not sale the program to the people that WE need green renewable power and it is going to cost alot of tax dollars to develop it. When we already a renewable power.
Now that they have the taxes and laws in place. They are now saying OH well I guess Hydro is a renewable power but it is water renewable power, and it not as reliable, as solar and wind? Right. What a bunch of brain dead people that have bought the lie and now believe it. Done ranting. Plant More trees, More wood to use for all of us!
Bob
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I will try. I am heating my home now with propane, a forced-air 90% efficiency unit, but I live in an old farm house with some updates and insulation, but still an energy pig. My house and 1 acre are paid for. God-willing, I am not moving. My propane bill is a significant part of my paycheck. I depend on others to bring the propane, I don’t have my own supply. Someday, I will put in some kind of wood-fueled auxiliary heat, maybe a hot water system.
The name of this forum is: driveonwood.com Therefore, I am planning to convert my go-to work vehicle to run on wood chunks that I scrounge myself. I don’t have a wood lot, but I can earn fuel by my own labor taking and processing the waste wood from folks who do not want it and are happy for me to remove it from their sight. I will buy less gasoline which is another significant portion of my paycheck. I also believe I will be leaving just a little more carbon black gold in the ground for the next generation, and put some little left-over charcoal bits in my garden, sequestering a bit of CO2 from the air. Win-Win! 
Plus, many here are natural tinkerers who are driven by curiosity and adventure!
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The comments about hydro surprises me. Here on the east coast I have always heard people talk about wind solar and hydro as renewable the debate has been on wood because it is over harvested which is really sustainable question not renewable. Very interesting to hear the different perspective people have in different areas.
But yes I agree with others it is about both self reliance and a sustainable lifestyle. You will also notice alot of use have gardens for the same reason.
Steve I have to say your comment about the workout is spot on i have always been more healthy living on the farm then anywhere else.
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Also, it’s a lifestyle. If you like it.
One of the best moments in life to me is when spending time in the woods. In a sunny cool morning, shutting down the chainsaw, working the hatchet while listening to the birds singing. The smell of freshly cut wood and knowing you do something useful and enjoying yourself in the same time.
The other part of the equation, burning the wood, is inherited and maybe easier to explain.
For thousands of years our forfathers have found comfort in looking into the fire. Most of us can still feel the magic it does to our brains.
As simple as that…
…all the economical, enviromental, physical or what ever advantages are there without thinking about them.
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Oh I wasted so many years of my life living in the big cites, chasing the almighty dollar. TomC
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Years ago my brother and I kayaked into the far north. The night time activity was sitting around the fire of 100 year old black spruce, more dense than oak. Apart from the northern lights dancing above, the fire was the magic, dancing blue and orange flames. We have been watching fires like that for perhaps 2 million years. Its in our DNA. Now tv takes the place of fire for most, why we will sit and watch the flickering screen, when really what we want is a fire.
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This is part of a poem of an urugyan poet who´s name was Eduardo Galeano, I´ll try to translate it. It bases on the colombian Negua indians mitology:
“Un Mar de Fueguitos”
Un hombre del pueblo de Negua, en la costa de Colombia, pudo subir al alto cielo.
A la vuelta, contó. Dijo que había contemplado, desde allá arriba, la vida humana. Y dijo que somos un mar de fueguitos.
-El mundo es eso – reveló-. Un montón de gente, un mar de fueguitos.
Cada persona brilla con luz propia entre todas las demás. No hay dos fuegos iguales. Hay fuegos grandes y fuegos chicos y fuegos de todos los colores. Hay gente de fuego sereno, que ni se entera del viento, y gente de fuego loco, que llena el aire de chispas. Algunos fuegos, fuegos bobos, no alumbran ni queman; pero otros arden la vida con tantas ganas que no se puede mirarlos sin parpadear, y quien se acerca, se enciende.
"A sea of Fueguitos”(little fires)
a man from the village of Négua, on the coast of Colombia, could climb to high heaven. On the way back, he told. He said that had referred to, from there up, human life. And he said that we are a sea of fueguitos. -The world is that - revealed-. A lot of people, a sea of fueguitos. Everyone shines with its own light among all the others. There are not two equal fires. There are large fires and small fires and fires of all colors. There are people of serene fire, which neither learns of the wind, and people of crazy fire, which fills the air of sparks. Some fires, silly fires, they do not illuminate or burned; but others burn life wanting so many that you cannot watch them without blinking, and who approaches, is turned on fire.
Natives saw it that way, it´s in the DNA, like Garry said.
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I came across this video the other day and seeings as we are still in the high 20 C here in Melbourne its still to warm to be trying it out and wondered if you guys that are covered in the white stuff might like to also give this a go and post your results on here .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxVzT8nmCpw
Dave
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Excellent video Dave, thanks.
It was a younger woman with lot of experience who showed me to build the starting up mini chimney center tunnel. 2007. I was 55 with 40 years wood stoving experience. She was 23? with three years experience on only her very cranky cold chimney system. Never too old to change and learn better.
The video operator is smart, observant, and inquisitive. At 4 hours in he realized he had overfueled loaded and created a near uncontrollable burn cycle.
Soon he will figure out that the hot energy releasing charbed he had established then by his too much fuel at 4 1/2 could now be maintained sustainable clean burning by hourly adding just one of his hardwood dimensional pieces hourly.
Once past a get-going burning fast turbulence; then it is cleanly burning out the fuel pieces volatilizes; to get down to the real energy charcoal glow. THAT gets too hot - add a cooling piece of wood on top. (next time do not make such an initial fuel wood loading)
Same wood used for the same time duration piece by peice loading onto a hot charbed. With better heat out transfer due to the slower internal velocity flow rate. And better, safer controllable.
Regards - still got some two weeks ago made snowmen hanging on, here.
tree-farmer Steve unruh
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Hi guys,
found this in the net, it´s a little complicated but works COOOOOL!
Hope you like it
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That is one of my favorite examples of adding secondary air. I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t linked to somewhete else on this site. Great video. I have to do something like that to my old soap stone stove as the entire top section which holds the cat inside the stove is burned out. I should have fixed it last fall but I defiantly need to do something before next winter I have limped it along this winter but it isn’t very efficient right now. Thanks for reminding me of that video
You still planning a trip to Rwanda this fall? How long we be gone.?
Travelling in early September for probably 10-12 days to offer business training to our sanitation co-op.