Had a good birthday today. Relaxed with friends and dad smoked 10lbs of Boston Butt on the pellet grill, pulled the pork and made some vinegar Carolina sauce, baked beans with bacon, and coleslaw.
I don’t feel 28
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Happy birthday and where was the invite!? Sounds like a fest of southern goodness!
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Happy birthsday Cody! Seems a lot of us guys piled up in the close proximity on the callender.
Seems us three are in the balpark, age wise. Marcus, how manny winters have you collected so far?
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32 so far, birthday was November 3rd
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My condolences Al. they are all hero’s to me.
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We worked around our house yesterday, so we lit the fireplace to get some comfort.
Finally I find out how to embed the video 
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Ha! Ha! Right after you posted this up Kamil I had to re-read the manual for the woodstove insert at the new place we weekend at now.
Two unfamiliar draft and air controls . . . . IN is open: or closed??
The LOPI manual writer has a sense of the human condition,
“Since the dawn of time man had debated the best way to start a fire. Some use the boys-scout ‘tee-pee’; some prefer the ‘tick-tac-toe’ stack. (Cribbing lay’ed) Either way, review the hints and warnings below to ensure proper fire starting.”
My Wife and you are ’ tee-pee’ stackers. Which drive me nuts, a 15-degree layered crisscrossed, better-way, stacker.
Our first privacy-security layer is the l-o-n-g green-tunnel lane off of the end of the public paved road:
Still going:
At last! Home sweet home:
Black chain link fence with gates to come soon.
Steve unruh
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I don’t know from 15 degrees but I start with two parallel splits, put some cardboard and pine cones between them and then build the four sticks across the base and then alternate four sticks 90 degrees up about four rows. Light the cardboard. That lights the pine cones and usually the kindling. If not I use a propane torch.
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Ha! Ha! That was the joke-of-it I was trying to confer TomH . . . whatever works for you, and your circumstances, is alright. Ain’t no best way. Ain’t no only way.
Kamil’s outdoor fireplace is for high long flame radiant heating. Like a tall Rumford fireplace. Works better with vertical sticks making a tall flame path.
https://rumford.com/articleWhat.html
S.U.
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You are quite right, @SteveUnruh. The design is my own, but I followed guidelines in an old Fireplace building handbook inhereted from my father. There are many types described and Rumford is certainly among them. My one is little bit deeper than ordinary Rumford, with top-front slit and smoke box atop of the fireplace.
Concering the stacking, I use both, tee-pee and pyramid as well. Depends on wood I have at hand. Usually use pyramid for hard round sticks. In that case, I fill the interior with chunks or nut shells. Alwas lit at top and let the flame do its work down the stack. Smokeless everytime.
BTW, very nice lane, @SteveUnruh .
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Yes KamilK, I know that you know all ways of burning for best effects. You’ve shown your whole-house, enclosed air-tight burning, for best heating.
TomH. here is 15-degree ANGLED, stack layering:
This stove lites-off best with instruction manual “never-ever” up through the grate opened ash bin tray door air for the first 2-3 minutes.
Fellows, I bottom lite with crumpled newsprint, twisted and wadded up children’s papers and junk adverting letters mail.
Finished with the stack top-hatted covered with corrugated, and single wall cardboards:
Keeps the bottom gas heats lingering to have time to transfer heat and then maximum wood finish drying. The paper top-hats do of course lite-off too and burn hot-lingering. With ending red-glow radiating downwards. So actually is, mostly Top-Down. Yes, actually visible smoke-less this way.
And this partial top covering works great for outdoors woody debris (and soaked dense wetted structure materials burning off). Then use panel sections of plywood or Orientated Strand Board. Dense particle boards . . . not so good. Creates problems.
Stay warm and dry. Creek crossing, feet wetted; sitting here right now. Drying off all. Feet. Boot socks. Boots.
Steve Unruh
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Whole lotta fun at work today, 300lb repetitions anyone? Big rig blew up a pinion bearing so playing the ol switcheroo with a parts truck
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Tone, one of my favorite dishes: Turnip mash and salty porkleg (boiled for half a day). Oh, and a dab of sweet/strong mustard to go with that 
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Hmm, I was going to eat just that tonight, but had taken a celery instead of turnip in the cellar, I did not become popular by my wife.
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Here, we eat turnips shreaded and fermented, like sauerkraut. Paired with mash potatoes and a roasted sausage. Thats winter superfood!
JO, are you sure you mean the same thing and not rutabaga? Some call it swede too 
puree is usualy made of them here… Has yelow flesh, while turnip has white.
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You’re right Kristijan. Swedish turnip = rutabaga.
It’s the yellow mash/puree I like. Produces good gas as well 
Is your white turnip what was eaten a lot before potatoes arrived from South-America?
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Its an aquired taste thugh… Me, l love it. Most people here wuldnt think of eating it. Its winter food for pigs but count me in 
the stuff is delicious.
The turnips.
Completely white inside, mild flavor. Before potatoes, l dont know. But a mix of potatoes and turnips was a staple peasant food here for centuries. Along with saurkraut.
Ha, we also have this!
This is actualy a radish on steroids. Loaded with sulfur compounds, excelent for imune sistem but this is the mother of all “gasifiers” 
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Didn’t want to clog up Kristijan’s thread with tire talk but I wanted to mention that the best tires I ever had on my plow truck were Hankook’s. We get a lot of snow here. Not unusual to have to push a couple of feet. I built a warehouse for a tire store and they wanted to give me a bonus set of tires. I had never heard of these before and I figured they were just trying to unload some off brand junk they couldn’t sell. The guy assured me I would love them. I did. They gripped snow about as well as pavement.
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Our dealership uses Hankooks a lot. I had some put on my little Honda Fit before I was told it didn’t belong to me anymore and then given to my sister. They’re about the 3rd cheapest selection I have here but they actually have a mileage rating so that’s why I bought them.
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