Permsteading.com

TS, interesting thought on the propane splitter. It would be easy enough to make one, or retro fit any small gas powered one. If I could, I'd have a PTO powered hyd. pump and splitter I could run off of my tractor like your brother has. I really like the concept of one engine for many tasks. I've looked into it, those pumps alone are pricey, but I think I will end up going that route someday.

Yeah Manny, I know, I know. I was actually thinking about it some more last night. My neighbor was visiting and I was voicing my desire to plaster over some of the wood wall coverings, since my house has way too much wood finish inside. It's dark. I can't get into the walls to insulate due to the 1918 construction. Fire blocking, no proper sheeting, etc. I suppose it's possible in my effort to redo the covering, I could bring the walls in and insulate between the wall and the new sheeting. I dunno, that's a big project. Ceiling is next, and that one's easy, so I'll start with that.

I brought the walls in on a cold bed room with 1" of styrofoam and 3/8" drywall a long time ago on a 1920's tudor.....pain in the ass..... had to build out all the windows and closet, and re- trim..same deal, except it was all plaster and lath...and it was only slightly better when I was done... I say, tear out the inside walls and have it spray foamed.....never look back. Sell next years firewood to pay for it .ha ha well sort of.......thumbs up for spray foam!

Gah, I wish man. Inside walls are, uh, what do you call that old style where there are 1"x 6" boards horizontally across the whole thing? It's all structural, I can't rip it out, and I can't spray into it since it's broken up into a bunch of tiny spaces with all the pressure blocking. No studs, non dimensional lumber milled on site, from my best guess. Not gonna happen. And yeah, I doubt I'll bring the walls in, just brainstorming.

Doug Fir is just okay on the BTU charts, for sure your hardwoods have a lot more energy per cord. Let's see...

https://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm

Yeah, Doug Fir is in the 17MBTU range while yours are all up there in the low 20s. My heater was doing a great job of putting heat into the space, the problem is the space needs a lot of heat. A big factor was/is my schedule. I have been doing most of my work from the computer right here next to the stove for the last few years. When I work away from home, I burn a short fire in the morning, then let the stove go out and it would keep the house in the mid 60s all day, then start up again at night. When I sit here at this desk most of the day, I tend to keep burning, so I use more wood than I probably need to. Sure feels good though, so I allow myself that luxury. But, it's quite a bit of wood, no doubt. When I was in the NE this fall I spoke with some folks heating a big old farmhouse with an outdoor boiler. 30 cords a year! Made me feel positively frugal.

I expect I'll do better this year, the windows seem to be making a big difference, although it's still too warm to really tell.

Yeah, good call on the good gas. I need to hunt some down.

Dang, I'm planting Osage orange and ironwood next year.

All that firewood, sure you don't have something big & cast iron around?

Here's my electric splitter. So far, I have been happy with it. It seems to have issues with smaller logs, maybe 9"-10". I think maybe they have a stronger cellular structure? I can place a small bit of wood under them to lift them a bit to get them to split but like Manny stated, it's quicker with a Maul.

I can split on the bench, floor, indoors, wherever I have an outlet. The size allows me to tuck it away when I'm done. Something a large gas powered splitter wouldn't allow me to do.

Enjoy. And, yes, I was wearing steel-toe boots!