Stewy and his dog Brownie after a windfall in the front yard of the writer’s boyhood home. As others cleared the tree, Brownie swiped a meatloaf off a tabletop – a second windfall. Photo by Warren A. McFerran.
By Stewart A. McFerran
My great-grandfather was a lumberjack in Northern Michigan. My great-grandmother was the cook at his logging camp. I inherited the conviction that there is a bounty in the woodlands that will provide. And it does, each time I load logs into my Lopi woodburning stove.
Maybe it was those lumberjack stories Dad read to me when I was a kid or our time together chopping firewood for the fireplace. There was that time a storm blew down a big oak tree in our front yard. We cut it up for firewood, and we had another big oak milled into planks.
Now I have my own portable sawmill and 13 logs waiting to be milled. The milling process is most satisfying. Slab wood created while squaring the logs helps feed the Lopi and heat my house. (Hover over the photo to read the caption.)
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A log at the beginning of the milling process, after the first cut. The slab taken off the top of the log makes great firewood. Photo by Stewart A. McFerran. -
Planks milled from an oak log. Photo by Stewart A. McFerran.
The wonder of woodstoves
Technologies designed to get the most heat out of each piece of firewood have come a long way since the fireplace. Inside woodstoves, gases emitted by burning wood recirculate in clever ways and burn at high temperatures before going up and out the chimney. A woodburning stove’s exterior is designed to transfer heat, and sometimes built-in fans circulate that warmth into the room.
Chris Richardson, owner of Positive Chimney in Ludington and Cadillac, said that woodburning stoves sold today are more efficient than stoves built 20 years ago. Each cord of firewood provides more heat and lasts longer when burned in one of the new certified stoves.
“They improved over the years, little by little, with governmental changes that were enforced,” Richardson said. “The EPA rules have been upgrading woodstoves. Today’s ‘2020 rule’ stove is 30% more efficient than an old woodstove that was made prior to EPA regulations. It’s a savings of firewood and a cleaner environment.”
Higher temperatures in the stove’s interior create a cleaner burn, and some stoves include catalytic converters to reduce chimney smoke emissions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires a cordwood test to measure the amount of particulate material in the smoke. The new stoves release less than 2.5 grams of particulates during one hour of operation. The EPA website “Burn Wise” has more information.
Homeowners are encouraged to get a new efficient woodburning stove, thanks to a 26% tax-credit incentive offered by the federal government. Only certain stoves qualify for the tax credit. Richardson said brands such as Hearthstone, Blaze King, Vermont Castings and Regency all have stove models with a “high heat value” of greater than 75%. The stove’s installation cost is included in the tax credit.
The new stoves come in assorted colors. Some Vermont Castings’ stoves sport a shiny enamel finish in bright red and green, and I have seen blues ones. Soapstone stoves made in Norway by Norsk Kleber are available in unique shapes.
Nectre offers a woodstove with a cooktop and oven compartment for baking. Hearthstone also offers a cookstove model called the “Deva.” Some new Lopi stoves are equipped with “Green Start,” a device that starts the fire with the push of a button after wood is stacked inside. It reduces the need for crumpled-up newspapers and other kindling.
The cost of firewood has risen, but, as always in northern Michigan, firewood is available. One area woodcutter sells dry firewood at a mill on a river for $150 per face cord. Green wood is $65 a face cord.
“Michigan still grows more wood than is being harvested,” Richardson said. “The state owns a lot of woods. And, honestly, they are not harvesting it fast enough because it’s dying, which is wasteful. It is a renewable energy … It just has to be processed faster.”
Fuelwood permits to cut dead and downed trees on state forest lands are free. Five full cords (a cord is 4 x 4 x 8 feet) may be cut for personal use. Contact Doug Heyme, Michigan DNR, at 517-284-5867 for information. See Michigan.gov/Fuelwood for a map.
I choose to claim energy sovereignty, building a fire with wood I gather from my own property. I put large chunks of wood in my Lopi stove and the heat it kicks out warms me up, even on the coldest winter nights. How many times do I handle each chunk of firewood? It can be five or six before the log goes into the stove. But I just remember that Monty Python skit and sing, “I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK.”
Lumberjack stories I love: “Paul Bunyan and His Blue Ox”, a children’s story by Patricia A. Jensen; “To Build a Fire”, a short story by Jack London; “Danny and the Boys”, by Robert Traver; and “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, a poem by Robert Service.
Stewart illuminates current environmental issues in a historic context. He hopes readers will gain an understanding and insight into ways people interact with their environment. He is our Freshwater Reporter Ambassador-At-Large.
