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Old 06-22-2018, 07:14 PM   #1
garysanfran
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Default Getting firewood to the islands...

I was talking to my mechanic at Shep Browns about island living. He said the most laborious chore they see is people who have to transport firewood to their island homes. They have to load it from the source. Transports it to Shep Browns launching. Load it on to the boat, then off load it at their dock.

Wondering what effect this has had on deciduous, hardwood trees on the islands? Are there any left? I'm sure a lot have been cut down trees to avoid this process...No?
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Old 06-23-2018, 06:29 AM   #2
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Default Golden Wood

Our contractor delivered and stacked a cord of split seasoned hardwood to our place on East Bear Island last year. Cost was $900. 🔥
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Old 06-23-2018, 06:37 AM   #3
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Our contractor delivered and stacked a cord of split seasoned hardwood to our place on East Bear Island last year. Cost was $900.
Holy smokes, $900 for a cord of wood!

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Old 06-23-2018, 07:58 AM   #4
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Default $ x $ x $ = 💰

The major cost is transporting the wood via barge to the island. Labor was also a factor. We are too old to do this work. 😰
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Old 06-23-2018, 03:04 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by garysanfran View Post
I was talking to my mechanic at Shep Browns about island living. He said the most laborious chore they see is people who have to transport firewood to their island homes. They have to load it from the source. Transports it to Shep Browns launching. Load it on to the boat, then off load it at their dock.



Wondering what effect this has had on deciduous, hardwood trees on the islands? Are there any left? I'm sure a lot have been cut down trees to avoid this process...No?


It is the same with everything (furniture, food, friends, etc) when you are on an island: load your car at home; unload at the dock and load your boat; travel to the island; unload the boat and haul everything inside. After a while you don’t seem to mind the hassle.


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Old 06-23-2018, 03:35 PM   #6
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Default Well Worth It

All the extra effort and cost that it takes to enjoy island living, is well worth it. We have been doing it for 51 years, and now our son and his bride have chosen to continue this rewarding experience, sharing it with family and friends. 🐻
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Old 06-23-2018, 06:49 PM   #7
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Personally, my wife and I prefer to live where we can hop in the car whenever feeling like it and doing something. Maybe also at odd hours. I like to run to the grocery on impulse for something, most likely a sweet something. The same thing about the motor homes. We like to travel by car, eat in restaurants and stay at hotels. I cannot imagine the fun in driving a 40 foot motorhome down the highway today. Also not an inexpensive way to travel.

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Old 06-23-2018, 06:58 PM   #8
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It is the same with everything (furniture, food, friends, etc) when you are on an island: load your car at home; unload at the dock and load your boat; travel to the island; unload the boat and haul everything inside. After a while you don’t seem to mind the hassle.


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We refer to this as the island fitness program or alternatively earning ones cocktail(s). . It's definitely worth the effort.

To the OP's question, we cut up, split and stacked the hardwood from where we cleared for the house. Properly stacked so air gets at it but covered to protect from rain and snow it lasts a surprisingly long time. Add to that a few tree casualties over the years and we've never had to import any.
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Old 06-23-2018, 07:35 PM   #9
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I have found it much easier to transport over ice.
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Old 06-23-2018, 08:01 PM   #10
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Default Only one reply...

Commented on the affect on hard wood trees on the islands. I have to think it is considerable.
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Old 06-23-2018, 08:17 PM   #11
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Commented on the affect on hard wood trees on the islands. I have to think it is considerable.
From my experience, eastern white pine and hemlock are the dominant tree species on the islands. There are a few maple and oak trees along with birch and beech. Remember that most of the islands are essentially rock piles with some dirt in between; that is to say less than ideal soil conditions. The conifers seem more adapted to those conditions.

We're enjoying a fire in the fire place now in fact. (Happy summer, right?) We use well dried hemlock for this, we have a great supply thanks to loosing three of them to bark beetles. Only hardwood in the wood stove though.
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Old 06-23-2018, 08:22 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by ursa minor View Post
From my experience, eastern white pine and hemlock are the dominant tree species on the islands. There are a few maple and oak trees along with birch and beech. Remember that most of the islands are essentially rock piles with some dirt in between; that is to say less than ideal soil conditions. The conifers seem more adapted to those conditions.

We're enjoying a fire in the fire place now in fact. (Happy summer, right?) We use well dried hemlock for this, we have a great supply thanks to loosing three of them to bark beetles. Only hardwood in the wood stove though.
Yup it's a cool night. Summer in New England. The rain is welcome.
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Old 06-24-2018, 09:01 PM   #13
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We've seen a transition from Beech and Birch to mostly pines over the last 50+ years. Unbridged islanders have a short season when they need to burn much wood. Many take fallen hardwoods, but do not harvest live hardwoods. We took down some huge Basswood trees last year. Even cut, split, dried, more than we could ever burn. Paid to barge it all to the mainland, along with some blowdown pines that were 18-24" diameter.
Anyway, Gary, there isn't a lot of good hardwood on the islands. I'v seen pix of Welch is;l and from around 1900. Not many trees, but sheep got barged over to graze for the summer.
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Old 06-25-2018, 08:26 PM   #14
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I find that nearly every birch is leaning hard to find the sunlight or dropped down. No shortage of downed trees on our lot...only shortage is the time needed to cut and split it!

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Old 06-27-2018, 01:29 PM   #15
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Default Firewood

We had a similar experience with making good use of the trees cleared when we tore down/rebuilt back in 1999. And similarly have found enough fallen hardwood on the property over the years to supplement without needed to import from the mainland.

One other thought is that we installed a direct-vent kerosene heater that provides the majority of the heat to the house. Works really well. And a lot easier to haul 5 gallon cans of kerosene to the island than cordwood. Not as pretty as a fireplace, but reliable heat.
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Old 06-27-2018, 08:57 PM   #16
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I got a pair of chain saws, a log splitter and don't mind doing a little work. Of course i'm not heating with it but do like my campfires!
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Old 06-28-2018, 05:07 AM   #17
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The secret is to keep the wood in lengths for as much of the transport as possible then move, cut and split once you're on-site.

A lot more wood can be moved with far less effort when it's kept in lengths.
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Old 06-28-2018, 10:32 AM   #18
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Used to enjoy doing the firewood thing, Now, wish I had propane logs. In a couple of years, the next generation will do the firewood.
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Old 06-28-2018, 12:14 PM   #19
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Default Good (?) Old Days

Our cottage had a propane gas stove and wall oven when we purchased it in 1967. We would pick up our tall gas cylinder at Fay's Boat Yard and take it to East BearIsland in our boat. We would unload it and roll it uphill to the back of our cottage and install it. Some years later, we converted to an electric stove and oven. As we got older, we got smarter!
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Old 06-28-2018, 01:03 PM   #20
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I have made this suggestion before to someone who wanted to use their fireplace only for atmosphere.

Check out the seconds bins at stores like Home Depot and Lowe's. You will find a variety of kiln dried pine and spruce materials. Clean and no bugs. Little residue and creosote. It will burn quick but if you have kids you know how they like to keep throwing sticks on the fire.

I bought my wife a propane fire-pit for mother's day. You might want to look into that. No fuss, no muss and in my town... No stupid burn permit!
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Old 06-30-2018, 06:29 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ursa minor View Post
From my experience, eastern white pine and hemlock are the dominant tree species on the islands. There are a few maple and oak trees along with birch and beech. Remember that most of the islands are essentially rock piles with some dirt in between; that is to say less than ideal soil conditions. The conifers seem more adapted to those conditions. We're enjoying a fire in the fire place now in fact. (Happy summer, right?) We use well dried hemlock for this, we have a great supply thanks to loosing three of them to bark beetles. Only hardwood in the wood stove though.
It was probably always White Pine that grew after retreat of the Glacial Periods. Wildfires were probably commonplace and extensive before becoming populated, and White Pines are the first to become the most common forest.

Hardwoods gradually replace them, ultimately becoming the "Climax Forest". Where the glaciers never reached (the American Southeast), White Pines are scattered, and hardwoods dominate the landscape.

You'll notice that aerial photos taken when hardwoods have dropped their leaves, Rattlesnake Island shows how few White Pines have remained since the Lakes Region was heavily cut for the excellent woodworking properties of White Pine. White Pines have survived on the island's rockiest and steepest slopes—out of the reach of loggers.

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