The summer I turned 15, my parents let me buy a new chainsaw. It was a 610 McCullough with a 20-inch bar -- not something I had any business handling without adult supervision. But with that purchase, my friend Billy and I went into the firewood business. It was easy to find neighbors who needed tree tops cleaned up, which is how we got our start. By the time we were 16, and old enough to actually deliver the firewood legally, we were felling scrub post oak and hickory and keeping ourselves in spending money through the winter.
My parents have always heated with wood, as have I for most of my adult life, and I've learned a few things in the process. Cured white oak and hickory tend to burn hottest, but hickory makes more ashes and pops as it burns. Dry sycamore burns hot and fast, but you can forget trying to get much of a fire out of it when it's green. I decided long ago that cutting even semi-rotten wood is largely a waste of time. I've learned it pays to be paranoid when cutting trees. The older I get, the more careful I am. It doesn't take a big tree to take a guy out.
I've also learned to be careful with my stove and chimney. If you haven't checked out your chimney yet this year and are using the stove or fireplace, this job is overdue. But better late than never. And better safe than sorry. Every winter there are house fires that begin as chimney fires, and chimney fires are almost always preventable.
If you complete the chimney inspection, look for hazards including cracks in masonry or rusty stove pipes with weak or buckled seams. These must be addressed for safety. A chimney sweep can quickly determine the condition of flue liners and pipes and alert you to structural problems that could become catastrophic. It's hard to put a price on peace of mind, let alone heirlooms and keepsakes lost in a fire. Worst of all of course is the possible loss of life. A proper chimney inspection is money well spent.
One safety factor that can't be completely controlled is creosote deposition in the chimney. Creosote is just one of the volatile gases produced by burning wood. It combusts readily at around 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit, and systems such as open fireplaces keep the chimney hot enough to retard (but not eliminate) its deposition. Slow, cooler-burning fires, such as those made possible by "airtight" stoves and wood furnaces, can increase creosote content of smoke. If the chimney temperature drops below 250 degrees Fahrenheit, creosote combines with water vapor and condenses on the inside of the chimney. If a fourth inch or more of this smelly, sticky black goo builds up, a major chimney fire is possible.
Creosote deposits can be minimized by maintaining a hot fire for at least a portion of the day, thereby increasing chimney temperature and combusting much of the creosote in the smoke. Burning seasoned wood may help decrease creosote problems, but fires hot enough to prevent its deposition are also possible with green wood. Overloading the firebox with large logs tends to decrease stove temperature and the combustion of creosote. A thumb rule for loading stoves or fireplaces is to fill them one-third of capacity, with fresh wood placed atop a hot bed of coals.
In addition to this, I've learned one more thing. There aren't many chainsaws as tough as the old McCulloughs. Besides being owned and used by a teenage boy, mine survived being completely mashed in the ground by the butt of a huge red oak and was run over twice in one day by a Ford pickup truck. Its only lasting injury was a small oil leak. Considering our initial lack of experience running a chainsaw, I'd say Billy and I were equally fortunate.
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Neal Mays is an agriculture agent with the UA Cooperative Extension Service in Benton County. Contact him at [email protected].
Editorial on 02/11/2015