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2011-08-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

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Rising Energy Costs and Slow Economy Fuels Firewood Sales

2009-09-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

By EMILY BAZAR • January 2, 2009 The Hattiesburg American:

Americans are stoking their fires, shifting to wood-generated heat to save money.
"People are going back to the older days of living," says Mel Barley of Fired Up Firewood in Lubbock and Amarillo, Texas. Sales of pinon, mesquite and oak firewood in October were double the same month a year ago, owner Randy Hair says.

"They're trying to ... save all the money they can," Barley says. "The more they save on fuel, the more money they have to buy other things."

Fuel costs initially drove some consumers to firewood, but now home heating costs are down. In August, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration predicted it would cost an average of $1,059 to heat a home this winter using natural gas and $2,644 using heating oil. Now, the EIA predicts that households will pay less: an average of $889 for natural gas and $1,694 for heating oil.

Tom Dayon, owner of Dayon Tree Service in Petal, didn't start off offering cut firewood for sale but he saw a spike in inquiries and figured it would be extra money.

"We usually market wood to local pulp mills," he said. "This year we had such an increase in phone calls on firewood we decided to step up and do a little bit of it."

He provides a small truckload of oak wood for $60 per load.

Still, demand for fireplaces and wood stoves is high despite lower fuel prices, says Guy Hanson, owner of Axmen, which sells heating equipment in Missoula, Mont. People are spooked by the volatile economy, he says. "Even if they're safer now, they don't trust the fact that they'll be safer in the future," he says.

Shipments of wood stoves and fireplace inserts, which can be installed in fireplaces to burn wood more efficiently, were up 54 percent in the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year, says Leslie Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association. Final figures aren't available, but the group's analysis of recent sales show that demand remains high, she says.

Blaze King Industries, which makes wood stoves and fireplace inserts, had five times as many wood stoves on back order at the end of October as it had the previous year, vice president Chris Neufeld says.

"Every citizen is now looking at their overall household costs and trying to figure out a way to save a little here or there," Wheeler says.

Half of Michael Mainka's customers tell him they'll be using their fireplaces more. Mainka, owner of Firewood Farm in Pewaukee, Wis., says he expects to sell out of his oak, ash, cherry and other hardwood before Christmas. "This year, the demand is definitely up a lot more," he says.

Dave Hall, 45, is contributing to the demand. Hall, who owns a five-bedroom, ranch-style home in Colorado Springs, paid about $300 a month last winter for natural-gas heat.

This year, the customer service representative for Comcast says he plans to burn as much wood as he can get his hands on and will leave his thermostat at 66 degrees. He will search Craigslist.com for deals on wood and use scrap wood such as pallets.

He hopes to save up to $150 a month. "You go to the grocery store and everything costs more," he says. "It's definitely a way to save and have some money for extras."

Burn Oak For a Safer, Cleaner, Hotter, More Economical Fire

2009-09-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

From Healthy Child-Healthy World

Build a Safer Fire

Buy a wood stove made after 1992.
Wood stoves made after 1992 meet tight U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions standards, so you can even buy a wood stove confidently on the used market if it dates from within a decade. For more information on emissions, see Burning Clean: Wood Stoves and Fireplaces.

Think about installing a catalyst.
Many stoves are now fitted with catalysts – similar to catalytic converters on automobiles – that burn up smoke to reduce emissions to an absolute minimum. Older stoves can also be retrofitted with catalysts.

Burn dry wood.
Wood that’s been "seasoned," or dried for at least six months outside, burns hotter and cleaner than "green" wood. To season wood adequately, shield it from the elements with a cover on top but keep it well ventilated on the sides to allow airflow between the logs. "Green" wood (which has a thin, green layer under the bark) appears yellowish, and crackles from evaporating moisture when burned. Dry wood appears grayish and cracked at the ends, and weighs less than "wet" wood, as the heavy moisture has already evaporated.

Burn many logs at once.
Once the fire is well stoked, fill the stove with largish, long-burning loads to reduce the number of times you need to open the stove door for reloading, the primary means of introducing smoky pollutants into the indoor air.

Burn hardwoods.
Wood from deciduous trees, the kind that shed leaves in the fall, is harder than wood from coniferous trees, or evergreens, whose wood tends to be soft and sappy. Hardwoods – namely oak, maple, hickory, apple, and ash – burn hotter, longer, and cleaner than softwoods, such as pine, spruce, and fir. Hardwoods are not only environmentally safer, but also economically smarter: You can burn through a cord of softwood twice as quickly as a cord of hardwood.

Make hot fires.
Catalysts burn smoke when they "light off," reaching temperatures of 350 to 600 degrees Fahrenheit. Most catalysts come equipped with a temperature monitor. Even without a catalyst, wood fires burn best hot, because they eat up all the carbon monoxide and other pollutants.

Install carbon monoxide alarms.
The Underwriters Laboratory certifies carbon monoxide monitors, which beep in alarm if carbon monoxide levels increase. Carbon monoxide alarms should be placed on every floor of the house and near bedrooms.

Sweep chimneys.
Creosote, a black, tar-like or flaky deposit, builds up on the chimney lining, blocking the proper exhaust of smoke and raising the risk of a chimney fire. Chimney sweeps certified by the Chimney Safety Institute of America and the National Chimney Sweep Guild recommend a yearly chimney cleaning.

Burn only solid wood.
Pressure-treated wood, particleboard, and plywood contain toxins, such as formaldehyde and arsenic, in their preservatives and adhesives, so never burn them. Also avoid burning plastics, newsprint and magazines in your stove or fireplace. Start the fire with newspaper, but get rid of your piles of read papers by recycling.

Where To Get Crosstimbers Red Oak Firewood

2009-08-30T06:47:00.000-07:00

Retail and Commercial:
Get premium Crosstimbers Red Oak Firewood at any of these fine Colorado Firewood retail dealers near you. Ask for Crosstimbers Oak by name for the very best cooking and home heating wood.

Jonesy's Woodyard
Watkins Colorado
303-644-5939

Rocky Mountain Firewood
Aurora Colorado
303-752-1500

Variety Firewood
Denver Colorado
303-730-8380

Don King Landscaping
Longmont Colorado
303-828-3641

Pioneer Sand Company
15 Denver Front-Range locations !

Firewood News: Coming Soon... to Carbondale and the western slope, Wyoming, Utah and Billings Montana!

Attention Firewood Dealers: Contact Crosstimbers Firewood at 405-464-3782 for pricing on wholesale loads by the semi trailer and find out why Crosstimbers Red Oak is superior to other hardwoods.

Wholesale 16" split seasoned Red Oak - call for competitive prices delivered to your location.
Wholesale 18" split seasoned Red Oak - call for competitive prices delivered to your location.
Wholesale smoking woods: Pecan, Hickory, Cherry and Mesquite delivered to your location.

Crosstimbers Blackjack and Red Oak

2009-08-30T06:34:00.000-07:00

Firewood News: The "Blackjack Oak" is a member of the Red Oak family which thrives along with American Red Oak, Post Oak, Hickory and Pecan in a unique belt of forest called The "Cross Timbers" region spreading from north-central Texas throughout the eastern half of Oklahoma and into southeastern Kansas.

Cross Timbers Blackjack and Red Oak hardwoods combine maximum BTU output with an ultra-clean burn along with a less overpowering smooth smoke flavor, making it a highly desirable favorite at BBQ cooking contests and at many quality restaurants and finer steakhouses across the country... like These.

Cross Timbers Blackjack & Red Oak has long been a favorite for the most environmentally friendly and cost effective home-heating firewood as well.

From the OSU Cooperative Extension website and at http://osufacts.okstate.edu
Heating Value: "Very Good"
Red Oak (Blackjack Oak, Black Oak etc.)
1 cord= 27.8 million BTU
"Easy to split, few sparks, slight fragrance, moderate to start, light smoke, good coaling quality".

Woodheat.org

2009-08-29T22:44:00.001-07:00

Firewood News Blog: Woodheat.org is a non-profit organization dedicated to the responsible use of wood fuel.
Visit Woodheat.org to learn about new ways to save money and help the environment by heating with firewood.

From their website:

"Wood Heat Organization Inc., a nonprofit, nongovernmental agency dedicated to the responsible use of wood as a home heating fuel.
We start from the premise that heating a house with wood, partly or totally, is environmentally appropriate (conditionally) and economically beneficial. That doing it is physically healthful, and that experiencing it is comforting to the body and soothing to the spirit. Big claims for a heating fuel.

Like any other human endeavor, wood heating can be done badly or well. Wood can be harvested poorly, burned dirty and its heat wasted. Or, wood can be harvested sustainably, burned cleanly and efficiently, and its energy used to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.

Here, you will find support for your efforts to use wood well. We'll also clear up some misconceptions about wood heating – there are a lot of them around. Here, you'll get a balanced view of the merits of wood heating.

Whatever energy source you choose, its use will have an impact on the environment. The best energy sources are renewable and the best of those are solar power and wind power because their environmental impacts tend to be low. As good as they are, though, they do have their problems and limitations. Wood is another renewable energy source with its own problems and limitations, some of which can be managed and minimized, others of which cannot. But when it is used effectively, wood is a fine fuel compared to the fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal, whose consumption leads to global warming."

Wood Fuel is Virtually 'Carbon Neutral'

2009-08-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

Greenhouse gases

Firewood News: Wood burning does not release any more carbon dioxide than the eventual biodegradation of the wood would if it was not burned. Wood burning can therefore be considered "carbon neutral" - the CO₂ released to the atmosphere by combustion is recycled continously into new plant growth as part of the carbon cycle, while the energy released during combustion is simply a form of stored solar energy.

Source- Wikipedia

WELCOME TO THE FIREWOOD NEWS BLOG

2009-08-29T21:16:00.001-07:00

Hello and welcome to The Firewood News Blog where we will inform and discuss the latest and best sources along with the latest firewood news and related subjects from Crosstimbers Firewood.

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