December 26, 2010
Welcome to the first ever issue of Pyro's Corner, WoodstoveWizard's email.
It may have been a little while since you signed up for our mailing list and I'd invite you to come back and have a look at the site again; there have been some BIG changes.
Site News
In the past few days the site has under gone a massive redesign and I've spent the past few days transferring the old pages over to the layout. Not only does it look nicer it should be easier to navigate as well. The right column now has a "related pages" section to make information easier to find.In the past few months the site has been doing better and better - traffic is up to 500 visitors each day and growing all the time. As this is my first attempt at a website I'm really pleased with the progress.
Winter Is Upon Us
If you live in the Northern Hemisphere the you can't have helped but notice that winter has us firmly in it's grip. Here in the UK we have had plenty of snow and some exceptionally cold nights. Our outdoor thermometer registered -11 degrees centigrade the other morning and the snow has been settled now for nearly two weeks.Fortunately we have two great wood burning stoves to fall back on and have been making great use of them. Over the Christmas period we have been enjoying burning some amazing yew logs. I blunted a couple of chainsaw blades bucking them, as they had been lying in the dirt, but they were well worth the effort.
The rest of our woodpile is looking a little less comfortable for the winter - we have plenty of partially seasoned chestnut but they are slow to get going and simply don't get the stove up to heat.
Woodland Diary
For the past few month I have been keeping a running diary of our work and excursions to Elfric Wood. This is a new venture for us, restoring an ancient wood to productive glory.Things are on hold for a little while as we wait for a felling license. Fingers crossed we'll get through the red tape soon and will be able to start felling for the next few years firewood.
Share YOUR tips
We are always looking for contributions from our vistors - if you have a favourite tip for someone new to wood stoves please share it with us. Help build our collection of wood stove tips.I hope you enjoy New Year and season of great fires!
Mike Cox WoodstoveWizard.com