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First fire of the winter?


mint

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Raining all day here in the southern Charente Maritime.

Dog was fed up with the weather, had her usual walk curtailed because it was just too wet.

This evening feels cool; OK probably not really cold and probably just a bit of an indulgence; but we have lit our first fire of the winter.

Smoked a bit and took a bit of coaxing but here we are, it's dark outside, dog is still fed up and we have a fire blazing in the Godin.

What hopes of being careful with the fuel and trying to make the logs last?  It's only early September, for heaven's sake!

Anyone lit a fire this evening?

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Same here, Thunderhorse.  At 8pm, I thought: 'Should I light the wood burning stove?' and then I thought 'It's only Sept 3rd and I can't tell people back home in Blighty that French weather has succumbed to British tendencies'.  So the stove remains unlit - for the time being....

 

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Lucky you!  Not only is the fire lit, I don't think the new lot of wood I am buying is "pret a bruler".  Not much heat from it and the log, which has been indoors for weeks, is barely alight.

Just as well they haven't delivered the 20 cubic metres we'd agreed.  Got to get on the blower tomorrow and tell them this is just not good enough.

Worst of it is, will now have to source another lot of firewood and I still don't quite know how one tells if the wood is OK or not OK!  Gr...!

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Well, another nice warm evening in the Midi-Pyrènèes so no fires here yet, but we're heading for the Atlantic coast tomorrow for a surfin'nsunbathin' weekend, and the weather forecast is c**p! Hope the apartment has heating.
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Regarding firewood, I have taken a heap of rotted oak panelling off my shed, cut the good bits out and refitted on the shed. I now have a lot of scrap wood which I am planning to cut to size and burn on the fire when winter arrives. A lot of the timber has nails left in it, and it would be a lot of work to remove all. My question is can I burn the timber, including nails and clear the nails out when the fireplace needs cleaning? Someone told me that you should take the nails out, but I don't understand why.

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[quote user="sweet 17"]

Raining all day here in the southern Charente Maritime.

Dog was fed up with the weather, had her usual walk curtailed because it was just too wet.

This evening feels cool; OK probably not really cold and probably just a bit of an indulgence; but we have lit our first fire of the winter.

Smoked a bit and took a bit of coaxing but here we are, it's dark outside, dog is still fed up and we have a fire blazing in the Godin.

What hopes of being careful with the fuel and trying to make the logs last?  It's only early September, for heaven's sake!

Anyone lit a fire this evening?

[/quote]

Meant to post this last night but had to finish fitting tiles instead!  We are W Charente Maritime rather than south but despite the rain it was still really warm yesterday indoors.  25 degrees last night and 22 this morning at 0730. We have very thick walls that really hold the heat and do not normally need to have a fire until late October. 

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[quote user="sweet 17"]Lucky you!  Not only is the fire lit, I don't think the new lot of wood I am buying is "pret a bruler".  Not much heat from it and the log, which has been indoors for weeks, is barely alight.

Just as well they haven't delivered the 20 cubic metres we'd agreed.  Got to get on the blower tomorrow and tell them this is just not good enough.

Worst of it is, will now have to source another lot of firewood and I still don't quite know how one tells if the wood is OK or not OK!  Gr...!

[/quote]

You need to insist on either chene (oak) or charme (hornbeam) seasoned and air dried for at least 2 years. Other woods such as walnut or hazlenut are ok but burn very quickly. If you do not ask for the best wood they will sell you any old rubbish such as chestnut or worse. No wood is any use for domestic burning unless left at least 2 years air dried. (left in the open).
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[quote user="LyndaandRichard"]Regarding firewood, I have taken a heap of rotted oak panelling off my shed, cut the good bits out and refitted on the shed. I now have a lot of scrap wood which I am planning to cut to size and burn on the fire when winter arrives. A lot of the timber has nails left in it, and it would be a lot of work to remove all. My question is can I burn the timber, including nails and clear the nails out when the fireplace needs cleaning? Someone told me that you should take the nails out, but I don't understand why.
[/quote]

Can you burn wood with nails in or should you take them out first?  I would like to know this question as well as Linda and Richard.

 

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[quote user="spg"]

[quote user="chocccie"]I lit my first fire in July!  And another couple in August ... it was really chilly and dank [/quote]

Crikey that's awful; whereabouts are you?

Sue

[/quote]

 

In the Limousin.  And I'm not one to light a fire at the drop of a hat, rather than put a jumper on. 

I couldn't believe it (in best Victor Meldrew voice)

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[quote user="Cathy"]

[quote user="LyndaandRichard"]Regarding firewood, I have taken a heap of rotted oak panelling off my shed, cut the good bits out and refitted on the shed. I now have a lot of scrap wood which I am planning to cut to size and burn on the fire when winter arrives. A lot of the timber has nails left in it, and it would be a lot of work to remove all. My question is can I burn the timber, including nails and clear the nails out when the fireplace needs cleaning? Someone told me that you should take the nails out, but I don't understand why.

[/quote]

Can you burn wood with nails in or should you take them out first?  I would like to know this question as well as Linda and Richard.

 

[/quote]

I've been burning off a huge pile of oak spars taken from a barn we renovated, bit by bit, for three years. These are full of nails and they burn just fine. Of course the nails end up in the ash and add to it, so you may need to muck out a little more often.

Ash wood (frène) is said by many to be the best for firewood, not least because at a pinch it can be burned green and requires very little seasoning.

It is possible to properly season wood in a few months, but is requires quite a lot manual labour to turn and re-stack wood. I do a fair bit of this because I get quite a few free trees to chop up and take away. But when buying wood I ask a lot of questions and really only want oak, beech or ash and then with at least a year outside before I take delivery.

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[quote user="ErnieY"]If you're cold do what the poor UK pensioners (is there any other sort) were advised, 'wear another jumper' [Www]

[/quote]

 

If everybody did that, rather than sticking on the central heating everytime they felt a slight chill, resources wouldn't be in such a poor state.  If the only fuel folk had was wood they'd chopped themselves, they'd think twice about how cold they really felt.

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Now I've been sufficiently told off!  But, and there is always a but, my poor OH is 77 and I am told that cold is definitely dangerous to the elderly!

Anyway, as long as he's still fit enough to light the fires, he can have as many as he likes as far as I'm concerned.[:P]

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