The photo out front shows my work of last week, cutting up the twiggy branches of our felled Birch branches so Mah*Sweetie can fit them into his car to take to the dump recycling brush area (or whatever it's called).
Responses were left on the previous thread! :-) Cat, I'd have commented on all your diligent song work, but I don't speak that language! More power to you!!!
Busy day ahead here. Tai Chi, then I'm subbing at the Library, then I need to work out a disagreement with my dentist's billing office. Grrr. Pray for me about the Library subbing, as I haven't subbed there in over two months! Ha!
The Library went great! You'd have thought I was gone only 3 days. Strange how easy it was!
I walked into the Dentist's billing office and his billing person smiled and said, "I know why you're here and it's already been written off." :-D She said they do this all the time when the dentist feels he needs something for diagnosis and the insurance doesn't cover it. I feel a LOT better!!
OTOH, they burn much more quickly, so you have to keep feeding the fire. (Can you tell that our house was heated with a wood-burning stove when I was a young kid")
Ah, but the masonry stoves don't have fires burning continuously; a hot fire that is allowed to burn out, maybe once a day (or even less if the mass of the stove is adequate).
Mark Twain wrote the following description in ‘Europe and Elsewhere’.
“Take the German stove, for instance … where can you find it outside of German countries? I am sure I have never seen it where German was not the language of the region. Yet it is by long odds the best stove and the most convenient and economical that has yet been invented. To the uninstructed stranger it promises nothing; but he will soon find that it is a masterly performer, for all that. It has a little bit of a door which seems foolishly out of proportion to the rest of the edifice; yet the door is right; for it is not necessary that bulky fuel shall enter it. Small-sized fuel is used, and marvelously little at that. The door opens into a tiny cavern which would not hold more fuel that a baby could fetch in its arms. The process of firing is quick and simple. At half past seven on a cold morning the servant brings a small basketful of slender pine sticks – say a modified armful – and puts half these in, lights them with a match, and closes the door. They burn out in ten or twelve minutes. He then puts in the rest and locks the door, and carries off the key. The work is done. He will not come again until the next morning. All day long and until past midnight all parts of the room will be delightfully warm and comfortable, and there will be no headaches and no sense of closeness or oppression. In an American room, whether heated by steam, hot water, or open fires, the neighborhood of the register or the fireplace is warmest – the heat is not equally diffused throughout the room; but in a German room one is as comfortable in one part of it as in another. Nothing is gained or lost by being near the stove. Its surface is not hot; you can put your hand on it anywhere and not get burnt. Consider these things. One firing is enough for the day; the cost is next to nothing; the heat produced is the same all day, instead of too hot and too cold by turns; one may absorb himself in his business and peace; he does not need to feel any anxieties or solicitudes about his fire; his whole day is a realized dream of bodily comfort. America could adopt this stove, but does America do it? The American wood stove, of whatsoever breed, it is a terror. There can be no tranquility of mind where it is. It requires more attention than a baby. It has to be fed every little while, it has to be watched all the time; and for all reward you are roasted half your time and frozen the other half. It warms no part of the room but its own part; it breeds headaches and suffocation, and makes one’s skin feel dry and feverish; and when your wood bill comes in you thin you have been supporting a volcano. We have in America many and many a breed of coal stove also – fiendish things, everyone of them. The base burner sort are heady and require but little attention; but none of them distributes its heat uniformly through the room, or keeps it at an unwavering temperature, or fails to take the life out of the atmosphere and leave it stuffy and smothery and stupefying…”
Twain's description of Franklin stoves does not match my memory. Nor do I understand how making the stove out of masonry rather than metal could have such a great effect.
Very large thermal mass, so once heated it releases a lot of heat at a low temperature. Kind of like a monstrous hot water bottle. They probably need a separate foundation, like a chimney.
DEAN!
ReplyDeleteThe photo out front shows my work of last week, cutting up the twiggy branches of our felled Birch branches so Mah*Sweetie can fit them into his car to take to the dump recycling brush area (or whatever it's called).
ReplyDeleteI'm 2/3 done.
Responses were left on the previous thread! :-)
ReplyDeleteCat, I'd have commented on all your diligent song work, but I don't speak that language! More power to you!!!
Thanks, Listener.
DeleteBusy day ahead here. Tai Chi, then I'm subbing at the Library, then I need to work out a disagreement with my dentist's billing office. Grrr.
ReplyDeletePray for me about the Library subbing, as I haven't subbed there in over two months! Ha!
You'll be fine at the library, Listener. Hope you get everything straightened out at the dentist's though.
DeleteThe Library went great! You'd have thought I was gone only 3 days. Strange how easy it was!
DeleteI walked into the Dentist's billing office and his billing person smiled and said, "I know why you're here and it's already been written off." :-D She said they do this all the time when the dentist feels he needs something for diagnosis and the insurance doesn't cover it. I feel a LOT better!!
Phew!
DeleteI like today's photo. Very cool and calming. Must be all that green.
ReplyDeleteThe old fashioned wood-burning heaters used in eastern Europe (generally covered with tile) used twigs rather than large pieces of wood.
ReplyDeleteEven if you didn't wonder.
Tile oven/heater pictures [Click]
Alan
From the practical standpoint, twigs are much easier to find, gather and transport than large pieces of wood.
DeleteOTOH, they burn much more quickly, so you have to keep feeding the fire. (Can you tell that our house was heated with a wood-burning stove when I was a young kid")
DeleteMore information from Wikipedia [Click]
Delete--Alan
Ah, but the masonry stoves don't have fires burning continuously; a hot fire that is allowed to burn out, maybe once a day (or even less if the mass of the stove is adequate).
DeleteAlan
Mark Twain wrote the following description in ‘Europe and Elsewhere’.
ReplyDelete“Take the German stove, for instance … where can you find it outside of German countries? I am sure I have never seen it where German was not the language of the region. Yet it is by long odds the best stove and the most convenient and economical that has yet been invented.
To the uninstructed stranger it promises nothing; but he will soon find that it is a masterly performer, for all that. It has a little bit of a door which seems foolishly out of proportion to the rest of the edifice; yet the door is right; for it is not necessary that bulky fuel shall enter it. Small-sized fuel is used, and marvelously little at that. The door opens into a tiny cavern which would not hold more fuel that a baby could fetch in its arms. The process of firing is quick and simple. At half past seven on a cold morning the servant brings a small basketful of slender pine sticks – say a modified armful – and puts half these in, lights them with a match, and closes the door. They burn out in ten or twelve minutes. He then puts in the rest and locks the door, and carries off the key. The work is done. He will not come again until the next morning.
All day long and until past midnight all parts of the room will be delightfully warm and comfortable, and there will be no headaches and no sense of closeness or oppression. In an American room, whether heated by steam, hot water, or open fires, the neighborhood of the register or the fireplace is warmest – the heat is not equally diffused throughout the room; but in a German room one is as comfortable in one part of it as in another. Nothing is gained or lost by being near the stove. Its surface is not hot; you can put your hand on it anywhere and not get burnt.
Consider these things. One firing is enough for the day; the cost is next to nothing; the heat produced is the same all day, instead of too hot and too cold by turns; one may absorb himself in his business and peace; he does not need to feel any anxieties or solicitudes about his fire; his whole day is a realized dream of bodily comfort.
America could adopt this stove, but does America do it? The American wood stove, of whatsoever breed, it is a terror. There can be no tranquility of mind where it is. It requires more attention than a baby. It has to be fed every little while, it has to be watched all the time; and for all reward you are roasted half your time and frozen the other half. It warms no part of the room but its own part; it breeds headaches and suffocation, and makes one’s skin feel dry and feverish; and when your wood bill comes in you thin you have been supporting a volcano.
We have in America many and many a breed of coal stove also – fiendish things, everyone of them. The base burner sort are heady and require but little attention; but none of them distributes its heat uniformly through the room, or keeps it at an unwavering temperature, or fails to take the life out of the atmosphere and leave it stuffy and smothery and stupefying…”
--Alan
Twain's description of Franklin stoves does not match my memory. Nor do I understand how making the stove out of masonry rather than metal could have such a great effect.
DeleteVery large thermal mass, so once heated it releases a lot of heat at a low temperature. Kind of like a monstrous hot water bottle. They probably need a separate foundation, like a chimney.
Delete--Alan