Splitting and stacking firewood in the 80-degree heat of a steamy July afternoon, I got to thinking about the old-time saying, “Wood warms you twice.” As someone who’s burned wood, and only wood, to heat my home for 36 years, I came up with a long list of ways wood warms me and my family—and we don’t even fell the trees or clean our own chimney:

• Sawing the load of 16-foot logs into 16-inch rounds.
• Splitting rounds into two, four, or sometimes six or eight pieces so they dry faster.
• Stacking the split wood in the woodshed
• Hauling armloads of wood from the shed into the house during heating season.
• Loading the stoves and basking in their radiant warmth. Ahh!
• Preheating the water we use for bathing and dishwashing.
• Warming our bellies with winter soups, stews and sauces simmered on the stovetop.
• Cleaning out the ash pans and hauling buckets of ashes into the cellar for storage in steel garbage cans.
• Spreading the accumulated ashes on our lawns and gardens in the spring.

By any standard, our household firewood operation qualifies as primitive and labor-intensive. We have a new Husqvarna 350 chainsaw and tools to maintain it, two 8-lb. splitting mauls (just in case the motivation strikes two parties simultaneously), four wedges, a lightweight axe for splitting kindling and a cheap plastic wheelbarrow for moving split wood across the driveway to the woodshed. We accomplish the rest of the work with what my dad always called the “Armstrong model.”

Firewood economics

Living in a state that’s 84 percent forested, I’ve always assumed it makes economic sense to burn wood for heat, even in those years when I bought my wood cut, split, dried, and delivered. With the price of propane and home heating oil expected to jump $300-$500 for the average New Hampshire household this winter, a lot of Granite Staters may have thought about turning or returning to native wood to heat their homes.

But poor conditions for logging in the spring and strong pulpwood market competing for the same material have also driven up the price of firewood this year. Here in central New Hampshire, prices range from $180 to $200 a cord for split, seasoned firewood—up from about $140-$160 last year.

Since we bought our load of green logs for roughly $60 a cord, even after amortizing the cost of the chainsaw and adding what we’ll pay for the fuel and parts, we’ll still come out way ahead. I’ve seen charts that indicate woodburning households could pay between $170 and $225 a cord and still beat the price of heating oil at its current average of $1.49 per gallon.

Wood supports a way of life

Wood does more than keep me warm, though. It supports my values and my way of life. Wood heat dries the laundry we hang on wooden racks around the stove in winter, simultaneously humidifying the dry indoor air. It provides my family with a concrete form of homeland security, keeping us warm and able to heat water from the gravity-feed well when the power goes off. Wood ashes neutralize the acid soil in my big vegetable garden and add important minerals my veggies need for optimum health.

In a nation where obesity has reached epidemic levels and threatens to overtake smoking as the #1 public health concern, working up my winter wood supply certainly helps me keep my weight in check. The experts say a person my weight burns between 325 and 500 calories an hour doing various wood-working activities. This weekend, I spent more than 12 hours lifting, splitting, hauling and stacking wood—the exercise equivalent of walking or running about 55 miles. Not bad!

Burning wood supports the N.H. economy

Joe Broyles, energy program manager at the N.H. Office of Energy and Planning estimates that two-thirds of the nearly $2 billion New Hampshire consumers spend on energy products leaves the state. But the money I spend to buy my firewood stays right here in New Hampshire. The firewood business represents a significant and essential component of New Hampshire’s forest industries, which collectively provide jobs for 10,000 to 15,000 New Hampshire residents and pump $1.7 billion directly into our state’s economy.

Burning wood takes savvy: learn how

Even if you don’t cut down your own trees or learn to use a chainsaw and splitting maul, home woodburning does require savvy. You need to learn to evaluate the quality and energy value of the wood you buy. You need to learn how to season and store your wood, install and maintain your heating equipment for safe operation, burn wood safely, maintain your chimney and handle your ashes.

A couple of tips about selecting and buying firewood: “It’s worth building a long term relationship with your wood supplier,” says Sarah Smith, UNH Extension forest industry specialist. “That’s the best way to ensure your producer is selling you a good cord and a good mixture.”

UNH Extension forester Nory Parr adds, “Everybody talks about wanting only oak and ash—the premier hardwoods—but people should remember that all wood burns. Burn only junk wood from trees that don’t have a higher value as sawlogs or veneer logs and you’ll be leaving the forest in better shape.”

Consult these sources to increase your savvy about heating your home with wood

• Buying Firewood: Know What You’re Getting - Here we offer brief guide to buying firewood.
• Wood Heating Savvy - This fact sheet covers the basics of wood heating safety.
• Safe Timber Harvesting  - Read this if you plan to cut your own trees.
• N.H. Association of Arborists - This site contains a list of certified N.H. Arborists, professionals who remove unwanted or hazard yard trees and may have fuelwood for sale.
• Guide to N.H. Timber Harvesting Laws

by Peg Boyles, UNH Cooperative Extension Writer/Editor