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

[Oaktree]

At year 25 we went over to electric heat. Easier to control and a WHOLE lot cheaper.

ISTR electricity being quite cheap in the PNW back when I lived there ('75-77). Here in the northeast it's a pricey way to heat.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

Oh! You heat air! sorry,

I like to heat objects. Hot air just flies out the open windows upstairs at my house.

It has taken three days to heat up the basement after starting up the down stairs stove. It's a very small flame, and takes some time to heat up all the machines and such. It's the FLOOR that I most enjoy being warm.

I agree with the floor being warm. That is why we have a boiler, or a broiler as the neighbor calls it. 2° this morning and the house floor and garage floor keep it all at 71°

 

[Portuguese Farmer]

Wisk broom and a metal bucket.

 

[oosik]

Best accessory - somebody to help harvest the firewood.

 

[rangerfredbob]

goeduck isn't kidding, doug fir has very little ash, pretty nice wood to burn really for around here. My next favorite is maple but I usually just end up with whatever I can get for cheap or for just labor... I have many cords of wood to collect at my brothers with the trees we cut down in the spring... gotta get on that soon or I'll have to buy wood for next winter... it's mostly ash and maple both are pretty good to me.

 

[goeduck]

With all the talk about sifting coals from ashes, I was set to make something out of an old ash shovel. Then I came across this on sale for $67. Comes with a scraper for pulling ashes off of the back wall. They should be arriving tomorrow. The holes in the grate look a little small to me, but we will see. USA made in a small metal shop Nevada City, CA. I was thinking more fork style since I get a fair amount of the crunchy lava type chunks, but I see Moss said he drilled holes so this should work.

 

[lman]

Most places in the west do have some hardwood trees that we use for fuelwood. Pine and fir are used for fire starter. I burn early evening with the damper open and straight pine. Then before bed I’ll throw some dense wood in like oak and maybe a juniper knot and turn down the damper. In the southwest, oak is mixed with our pine forests.

The last time I was in Colorado visiting my brother, we did some horseback riding. We saw Oak that they called Oak Brush. It was more like large bushes. That was the only hardwood we saw and around here it wouldn't even be considered firewood.

 

[jyoutz]

The last time I was in Colorado visiting my brother, we did some horseback riding. We saw Oak that they called Oak Brush. It was more like large bushes. That was the only hardwood we saw and around here it wouldn't even be considered firewood.

Yep the oak brush they have in Colorado and Utah is small diameter., about 6-10” at best. It’s actually a dense long burning wood and doesn’t need split. The interesting thing is the same species grows large farther south in NM and AZ.

 

[Fxfymn413]

Someone said an ABC extinguisher. Frankly that would probably not be much help if the stove starts a fire in the house. Get a 2 1/2 gallon pressurized water extinguisher if you want to have a chance at really knocking a fire down. ABC's are great for a small kitchen fire, but not so effective against a fire involving burning wood.

Lots of talk about removing ashes, but no comment about what to do with them. Put them in a metal can or as far away from any structure as you can. I know the vast majority of folks on this forum have enough sense to do that, but you would be surprised by the number of folks who do not. Every year we would have several significant fires started by folks putting ashes in a grocery bag and placing them on the deck or in the garage, etc. And please ensure you have a working smoke detector!

 

[BnRidge]

I have a 50ft heavy duty hose hooked to the pressure tank and rolled up down stairs, that in less than a minute can be run out to deliver water outside to the roof, inside to the attic, and two other floors inside.