Hard Coal vs Wood

Yesterday, I needed more hard coal. I hooked up my utility trailer and drove ten miles to Kingston Supply just east of Latrobe, PA. The guys there are great. They high-lifted about a half ton of nut coal in my trailer, I got weighed, paid, and I was back on the highway. I arrived home in my driveway in about one hour. I shoveled and brought in 6 buckets of coal and I'm good for a few days with a good months supply on the trailer.

My neighbor had a few large blow down limbs and he told me I could have the wood. So today, since it was fairly warm and no snow, I decided to bring the wood over to my woodshed. I gassed and oiled up the Stihl chainsaw and loaded up the Chopper II axe to split the big limbs. I cut 16 inch lengths, split the logs in quarters, hand loaded, unloaded, stacked in the woodshed to season. The wood was Oak, nice and heavy and it is about a weeks worth of heat.

When all said and done, the back to my-back experiences just scream why I LOVE burning hard coal. Yes the wood was free, but it will need to dry. I'll have to split it again, and bring it into the house eight pieces at a time. I'm no young pup anymore as I'll be sixty in July.

The coal in my Harmon TLC 2000 burns steady and even. My flue stays free of that nasty creosote. I am very lucky to live close to a supplier who keeps hard coal in his yard. For me, HARD COAL is wonderful and wood is just a lot of work.

Ya just had to remind yourself, didn't ya? Let's see---by the time that oak is real seasoned, hmmmm, you'll be around 62.

freetown fred, yup! Every once in awhile one has a clear rediscovery of common sense. I'm even more bummed as you reminded me how long I must wait on the wood to dry! Thanksz !

Greggorrio wrote:freetown fred, yup! Every once in awhile one has a clear rediscovery of common sense. I'm even more bummed as you reminded me how long I must wait on the wood to dry! Thanksz !

Coal has been seasoned for 300 million years give or take a few

Are you guys forgetting the part where you get up int the am and your fingers and hands are killing you and you go to "fit in" the wood just so. So you can get the most in and you mash your already sore fingers between two pieces of that free, wet ,heavy ,bug infested ,sliver delivering *censored*. Im over it!

Waldo

A little story about my neighbors across the road.
The wife loves me, the husband can't stand me for some reason. I haven't said three words to him, but; such is life.
When they first moved in I invited them over to make them feel welcome in their new place.
The first item of discussion was, "those old stoves."
I explained it all to them that it was necessary to have a heat source independent of electric power up here in the mountains.
I explained how efficient the stoves were and how easy and economical coal was.
The wife thought it was wonderful, the husband resented it for some reason.
He said, "I'm a gonna git me a wood insert. I don't wanna have nothin' to do with no coal."
Okay fine at least you'll have something I said.
The moral of the story is:
They can't afford to buy wood so they must scavenge for it.
Yesterday morning, they started cutting and splitting at around 8 in the morning.
By the afternoon I saw each of them carrying in arm load, after arm load of green wood into their house.
I was greatly entertained watching them do it, drinking my coffee, in my comfy chair as I soaked in the gentle heat from my terrible old coal burning, base heater.
Oh well, such is life.

wsherrick wrote:A little story about my neighbors across the road.
The wife loves me, the husband can't stand me for some reason. I haven't said three words to him, but; such is life.
When they first moved in I invited them over to make them feel welcome in their new place.
The first item of discussion was, "those old stoves."
I explained it all to them that it was necessary to have a heat source independent of electric power up here in the mountains.
I explained how efficient the stoves were and how easy and economical coal was.
The wife thought it was wonderful, the husband resented it for some reason.
He said, "I'm a gonna git me a wood insert. I don't wanna have nothin' to do with no coal."
Okay fine at least you'll have something I said.
The moral of the story is:
They can't afford to buy wood so they must scavenge for it.
Yesterday morning, they started cutting and splitting at around 8 in the morning.
By the afternoon I saw each of them carrying in arm load, after arm load of green wood into their house.
I was greatly entertained watching them do it, drinking my coffee, in my comfy chair as I soaked in the gentle heat from my terrible old coal burning, base heater.
Oh well, such is life.

William -

You should have had your camera ready.. this sounds like it was a ripe opportunity for a youtube video, with some of your commentary interspersed throughout

You can lead a horse to water.......
Don't sweat it, although I am sure you are not.

Kevin

wsherrick, Great story. I live the first ridge west of Laurel Mountain and I know the importance of having a back-up heat source when power goes out. My coal stove heat source keeps my electric floor radiant heat off as it warms my all-on-one-floor home beautifully. It's so funny that people think having a coal furnace/stove is like being on welfare. I get these looks such as "can't you afford a modern furnace" when I share I heat my home with hard coal. Misinformed people seem to think it is "stylish green" to heat with wood, but oh so terrible to use that dirty smokey coal. Of course I snicker and explain all the benefits of heating with hard coal to which they still seem to think I'm not being honest, as it sounds too good to be true. When guests are here, they come in from the frigid outdoors and immediately comment on how nice and warm it is inside. I take them to the stove and show them how clean burning the hard coal is and most are shocked at how pure, clean burning and smokeless anthracite coal is! I have ten wooded acres on my property and my trees are safe from the saw, as that is my contribution to the environment....let the wood stay in the woods!

well now all u young wipper snappers i am 70 and i still cut wood bout a cord or so a year,to burn late spring and early fall...keeps me in shape when iam not laying brick and block....when it gits bitter cold i fire up the us stove hot blast 1500 with a little wood to help the hitzer out a little...hot blast is professionally hooked up to my duct workand i can git this place up tp 80/85 real quick,then the door and window stats come open lol i like it bout 75 cause i like a sittin around in shorts and t shirt and bare feet...my motto life is to short to booger urself...

After Nemo I have heard all kinds of stories of people being cold with no power and not being prepared with no way of generating heat without electric. I had no issues without power for 3 days. I even cooked on top of my handfead I asked the wife if she wanted breakfest she looked at me like I had 3 heads. Made bacon eggs and toast coffee ect we had no problems that to the coal stove

buffalo bob...you're da MAN !

I hope and pray when I'm seventy I can still still cut and split wood. Although wood is work, there is something to be said about the satisfaction one gets from cutting, splitting, stacking and carrying in your wood. LOL !
Work is good for the soul. I've been splitting wood with the Chopper II axe for 25 years and it helps to clear one's mind especially with the stress of work and the smart phone attached to my hip. I agree, using wood in the early spring & fall is nice, but COAL is the way to go when the mercury is down. Although lounging around in boxers in the winter is "going rouge".

Yes, a few of my low lander neighbors who live in the township have those outside wood stoves and the smoke pours out. A few times a year, I notice they get a tri-axle of logs dumped just off their driveway. They cut n split it for a couple weeks till its all gone. Wonder what a load of logs runs? They don't allow the outdoor wood burners in the borough of Ligonier due to the complaints received on their output of rank smelling thick smoke.

I'm sad nothing comes out of my flue top. No one knows I'm using an alternate fuel source. I thought about filling a bag of soft coal in softball size lumps to put one or two on top of my hard coal mound to signal to the outside world...."I burn coal". LOL