Red oak provides plenty of heat output in a wood burning stove.
Using a wood stove to heat your home is a way of using sustainable energy. Depending on where you live, red oak firewood may be available for purchase or for cutting down yourself. Red oak has a heat value of 25.3 million BTUs if properly dried and seasoned before use. When purchasing red oak from a firewood dealer, always ask when it was cut to determine if the wood needs further drying. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Split large rounds, 8 inches in diameter or more, into sections using a splitting maul.
2. Open the damper of the wood stove to the open position in the stove pipe. Turn the airflow control knob on the stove to full open or high.
3. Start a fire in the wood stove using crumpled up newspapers and kindling. Small tree limbs and branches picked up in your yard can serve as kindling for the stove.
4. Add three to five small rounds, 2 to 3 inches or less, or two to four split pieces of red oak to the stove once the kindling has caught and begun burning.
5. Close the damper down to one-quarter open, once the red oak firewood is burning.
6. Adjust the airflow control knob on the stove to the amount of heat you wish the stove to produce. Most stoves have a low, medium and high setting.
7. Add red oak rounds or splits as necessary to keep the fire going.
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