For those who have a wood burner in the front room, Best accessory?

[bcs001]

I’m surprised no one had yet mentioned emptying hot ash and coals into a 6gal Home Depot metal trash bucket. After 5-6 days of running my stove I just wait till the morning, stir coal bed around for an hour or two to get most of the remaining heat out then just shovel what’s left into the galvanized bucket with tight fitting lid and set it outside away from the house for a day. It’s cold by the evening and ready for the next load on top of the previous.

 

[scott_vt]

Good Afternoon bmaverick,

Cut not only your heating bills, but ALSO save on burning way less, this is the answer,

I have wanted one of those for sometime !You May have pushed me over the edge !

 

[shooterdon]

If I don't have pine cones I get my newspaper from my father in law. He's the lone person in the family that still has it delivered.

We use cardboard. We buy a lot of stuff on line so there is plenty.

 

[rangerfredbob]

For starting fires I mostly use kindling, wood scraps, fatwood and hand sanitizer... the sanitizer I use because after the rona thing went out Home Depot by my work had gallons in their clearance area for $1 so I still have like 6 gallons left, in the last 2ish years we have just now used a gallon... when you have that type of quantity I don't take it too serious yet . Our fire box is pretty small so it doesn't stay hot over night especially early season...

As for actual accessories I think the favorite thing I made is my firewood rack/cart for the house, similar to the one posted earlier but simple as dirt just with second hand stuff... took one of the convertable hand trucks and a second handle from another screwed to the foot to make a second vertical post, added a wood floor to the bottom and wala, about a weeks worth of wood next to the stove that's easy to get through the front door without letting all the heat out...

 

[goeduck]

For starting fires I mostly use kindling, wood scraps, fatwood and hand sanitizer... the sanitizer I use because after the rona thing went out Home Depot by my work had gallons in their clearance area for $1 so I still have like 6 gallons left, in the last 2ish years we have just now used a gallon... when you have that type of quantity I don't take it too serious yet . Our fire box is pretty small so it doesn't stay hot over night especially early season...

As for actual accessories I think the favorite thing I made is my firewood rack/cart for the house, similar to the one posted earlier but simple as dirt just with second hand stuff... took one of the convertable hand trucks and a second handle from another screwed to the foot to make a second vertical post, added a wood floor to the bottom and wala, about a weeks worth of wood next to the stove that's easy to get through the front door without letting all the heat out...

View attachment 1930471

Is that an Etch A Sketch in the background?

 

[goeduck]

I feel bad for you westerners who don't have hardwood. If all I had to heat with was pine, aspen or other less-than-great types of wood, I'd probably go pellet. I'll use that wood in my workshop because it burns hot and fast, and I'm not out there all day every day.

I would not trade our Douglas Fir. It actually is not a fir at all, it is a genus of its own. Wood from the larger trees hardens up and puts out probably 75% of what the better hardwoods do. It grows straight as an arrow to over 100 feet, splits well, starts and burns well and, maybe best of all, leaves relatively little ash. I have burned 24/7 for 2 months without needing to clean the stove. That all said, I do like to have some hardwood on hand when I need a long burn.

 

[goeduck]

I have a sifter also.

It's not my favorite tool though.
Ashes go out more often than once a week. Always a thankless job, head in the fire pit, so to speak.

Seriously?

 

[shooterdon]

A few years ago I got a great deal on maple logs. They make good firewood. Nice aroma too.

 

[CalG]

Seriously?

With a fire brick lined stove, ashes just take up space in the firebox.

 

[LouNY]

Well, I don't burn wood but have burnt coal for many years in a fireplace insert. My accessories are insulated gloves for the ash pan which gets emptied once a day usually after shacking or knifing down the bed of hot coals. And my shop vac with a hepa filter for cleaning up the cold ash and dust that I spill.
This is likely to be my last year for the coal as we will likely be switching to a gas insert for next winter.