Firewood (Craig, Hope, Susitna: 2015, renter, how much)

[Benny-stix]

I have been looking into homes with a wood burning stove and a secondary heating source just in case. Being as I have never lived in an area where actual firewood was needed, I have chopped very little amounts of firewood in my day.

Does anyone have any info on the drying process of firewood? I know I can't just chop a live tree, cut it into pieces and throw it in the stove. But I also don't know what is exactly needed to be able to burn it properly. I have read the moisture levels need to be below 20% before you can safely and properly burn the wood, but that's about where my knowledge stops.

Are there any techniques of doing this, or is it just leave it out in the wood shed for it to dry over time? If so, how long would it take to properly season the wood to burn?

Thanks again for the help guys!! Can't wait to make it next month to visit!!

Ben

[6.7traveler]

Step one: Look on Craigslist and search for firewood
Step two: Hope that the guy that brings you the wood is honest and brings you a full cord of dry wood and not a meth addicted freak trying to pawn off a half cord of green wood for drug money.
Step three: Place said wood in stove and Enjoy your romantic view of Alaska while sipping hot cocoa in your pj's without a worry in the world.

A landlord may be hesitant to rent something with a wood stove to you if you have no prior wood stove experience. Keep researching and maybe watch some YouTube videos of woodstove basics.

[heathen]

In the interior, cut into stove lengths and left to sit out one full summer is generally enough. Splitting it, getting it off the ground, and keeping it covered are all good ideas too, and become more necessary as you head into the higher humidity parts of the state like southcentral and especially southeast.

[Benny-stix]

Originally Posted by heathen

In the interior, cut into stove lengths and left to sit out one full summer is generally enough. Splitting it, getting it off the ground, and keeping it covered are all good ideas too, and become more necessary as you head into the higher humidity parts of the state like southcentral and especially southeast.

Thanks for the regional breakdown. I am planning on being in south central so it gives me a better idea of what I'm looking at.

Is there a general guideline on dead trees that have already fallen or even finding driftwod in a river or on a beach? Do those need to be dried as well, and if so, I would imagine dead logs like that would take a substantially less amount of time to dry? And driftwood would depend on how much water the logs have soaked up?

Also, is there any regulation on gathering driftwood or fallen trees, assuming they are not on someone else's property?

Thanks again!!

[Metlakatla]

I should know better.

I should know better.

I should know better.


You'll get all sorts of pretty blue flames if you burn driftwood. Do some research and find out why.

[Benny-stix]

Originally Posted by 6.7traveler

Step one: Look on Craigslist and search for firewood
Step two: Hope that the guy that brings you the wood is honest and brings you a full cord of dry wood and not a meth addicted freak trying to pawn off a half cord of green wood for drug money.
Step three: Place said wood in stove and Enjoy your romantic view of Alaska while sipping hot cocoa in your pj's without a worry in the world.

A landlord may be hesitant to rent something with a wood stove to you if you have no prior wood stove experience. Keep researching and maybe watch some YouTube videos of woodstove basics.

Thanks for the somewhat insightful help. Lol

But all the places I am looking at have another heat source so I won't be completely reliant upon gather firewood. I have also budgeted to purchase about 60-70% of my firewood. But chopping my own is a way to save some money, as well as experience something I never have before.

I am looking to see if alaska is where I would like to set my permanent roots down, and I would imagine if I do move full time, I would not rely solely upon a wood stove as my heating source either. It's just one of those things to make a home feel more like a home. But I realize a wood stove as the only heat source for someone who has never dealt with one, is not only impractical for keeping the house warm, it's dangerous as well.

I'm not completely incompetent about working a fire, just the chopping and gathering part I have never dealt with. We have always just bought wood when necessary.

[AKStafford]

Originally Posted by Benny-stix

assuming they are not on someone else's property?

Thanks again!!

Unless it's your property, every where is someone else's property.
That MatSu Borough does firewood areas: 2015 MP 118 Susitna River Corridor Personal Use Firewood Area

[Rance]

There is also the option of gathering coal here on the peninsula. But you can melt a wood stove down pretty quick if you over load it with coal. It's scattered along the beach and easy pickings if you have a truck to haul it with. I work on a drilling rig and on occasion we get baseball sized chunks from various thousands of feet deep that comes to surface. Everyone catches what they can for me and I take it out to our cabin, where I add a couple chunks to the wood stove. Smaller but hotter fire. For the most part, natural coal stinks when it burns. You can smell it a mile away.

[Dakster]

I would be skipping the burning of driftwood from the Ocean. No need to be exposed to toxic fumes from salt soaked wood.

[riceme]

Originally Posted by 6.7traveler

A landlord may be hesitant to rent something with a wood stove to you if you have no prior wood stove experience. Keep researching and maybe watch some YouTube videos of woodstove basics.

You can count on this.

My cousin and his wife check "woodstove references" while they are checking rental / landlord references and they take the potential renters to the cabin and put them in front of a stack of rounds, mixed with birch and black spruce, both dry and green (no kindling), one newspaper, and provide them with a hatchet, an axe and a splitting maul, then tell them to build a fire.

If a potential renter cannot build a fire safely given above materials and tools, they cannot rent the cabin.