RE: Wood Heat Is Cool! ~ Home Made Wood Stove: Part 2
After reading this post, I couldn't resist (though I tried) a walk down memory lane.
First of all, let me compliment you on your industry and ingenuity. Survival skills in spades. Then, I have to share with you wood-burning-stove memories.
When I was a child, that was how we heated our house. There was no other heating device in the home and we lived in the foothills of the Shawangunk Mountains--quite cold winters. The stove was vintage 19th century, the home probably 18th century--no kidding. I've read that Revolutionary War patriots used to hold meetings in a house close to ours--I think it might have been ours :).
Anyway, wood or coal fueled the cast-iron stove. My brothers chopped the wood. Sometimes my uncles would drop off a load of wood, rarely coal. If this sounds idyllic, it was not. My mother would have to rise before we did to take the severe chill off the house. Paper and kindling to start, and then small pieces of wood before the large ones were added. Of course, at night the fire in the stove was killed and the whole process would start over again in the morning.
I had a great mother. And she was quite good at building a fire. These memories flooded back as I read your blog.
I've included a picture of my oldest brother (blurred his face out of respect for privacy) holding an axe. I'm not sure he chopped wood yet. Was probably in training at this point :)
I'm adding here that there was never a shortage of wood...we had a forest behind the house.
Thanks for sharing that story. I'm glad to hear I've "rekindled" some mostly good old memories.
We have been heating our California home with eucalyptus wood this winter, and so (between memories of the old wood stove and the present) I'm abundantly skilled in fire starting. I wish I had the old wood stove here, but our fireplace at least has a metal "heatilator" envelope that captures quite a bit of the heat and channels it (via convection) into the living space.
I had to look up your childhood mountain range, and pleasantly discovered that we were "neighbors" back in those days. I lived on Long Island, New York until I was 12 years old. I recall traveling one winter to a lodge in the Catskills area when my folks chaperoned a church youth group on a skiing trip.
I am also no stranger to rising in the cold and hastily starting up a fire on occasion. However, my wood stove was so efficient, it would run all night with no problem, and I could simply get a draft moving, open the door, and add more wood for the new day.
Thanks so much for sharing your memories, and the snapshot of your brother!
Thank you!