If you plan on cutting fallen trees (log bucking) and chopping your own firewood, you should be very familiar with how to use a chainsaw, wedge, sledgehammer, and splitting maul.

No. The dryer the better is not true! Too dry and it turns into gopher wood as in, you’re constantly going for more wood for the fire because what you have is so dry, it burns to nothing almost immediately. We cut our wood and let it season for a year, uncovered. That’s usually about what you need, though at the end…

Throw some old tires in to extend the life of your fire.

It's a messy option, if your chimney has buildup, it will all come down on you and scatter around the house and if you don't know how to clean soot, you may leave marks that are hard to remove, especially with fabric furniture, another thing to consider, if your chimney is quite old, you may end up loosening one of…