Suffering a moral delimma … of the best kind

[drewsbow]

I did the wood stove thing for about ten years and got tired of the mess and work to keep it going . The house was either too hot or too cold what a pain. I switched over to a pellet stove by Harmon , you still get the fire without all the dirt and smell , unless you are out side you don't smell smoke at all .

[achigan]

This won't help you with the ambiance of a wood stove, but a lot of folks around here use a Central Boiler. It stands apart from the house, so it's perfectly safe, NO fire in the home. They come in different sizes, big enough for any home smaller that Windsor Castle. I've used a Northwoods heater in the basement for 25 years. No coziness, but no ashes/sawdust in the livingroom either, just a warm home.

[drewsbow]

My Dad and brother both have outdoor stoves and if you like work then get one of those . Dad burns 40-50 face cord and my brother burns 30 face cord of wood that's just crazy to me . When I had the wood stove I burned 10-12 face cord of wood and that was a lot of work . You won't be able to cut enough firewood on your property to keep up year after year.

[far rider]

Funny, I was just discussing this with my wife the other day. She actually likes ours, but because of the design of the house, it's difficult to heat solely with the stove (insert). I do however build a fire on evenings that the temps will dip down in the lows for the night. Just feels better than the ambient air from our heat pump (heat pumps suck).

My take on fire...is that women "like" fire. It feels warm, they think it looks nice but that's where it ends for a woman. For a man however, there is just something about making a fire. It calls to our soul and beckons to some time past when our fires were our existence. It's primal in it's simplest form, we can't help ourselves.

I'm a gun and bow fanatic. I have way more of both than I will ever need, should have, or is approved for any marriage. That being said....I would opt for the stove. Man and fire is like steak and potatoes. They just go together.

[mulie]

I've been married a long time.  It looks like a win-win but it's a trick question.  Therefore, I say pass on both the stove and bow. Your life will be much better.  

[saltwatertom]

Here is a thought,... you get a wood burning stove any way, then come home to find her feeding it with your old chopped up bows.  

I would go for the separate dwelling if you HAVE TO HAVE that stove.    
A man cave / dog house.
LOL, JK

[iohkus]

Selfbow19953 hit about everything EXCEPT the smell. Wood stoves (fireplaces) sound wonderful, romantic, etc., but, if you have never had one take it from me, they are a LOT of work, dirty, and inefficient. And when the wind is right you WILL get the smell whether you do things right or not. Drewsbow is right about the size of your property also. So that means buying wood (expensive) or traveling to cut/split/haul.
    I did it for about six years, and it doesn't get easier the older you get!
     Add my vote for the bow and one of the above other alternatives.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

The heat you get from a wood stove is unsurpassed. I've heated with wood for 35 years now, and have no regrets.

Its hard work getting the wood cut and stacked each year, and the days of free wood are almost gone. Even in Oregon. I had a good system of cutting, splitting and hauling it home for years. I'd put mama in the wood shed stacking, and my daughter loading wheel barrows as i wheeled them down and back between the trailer. We got to where we could stack a cord away in about 45 minutes like that.

Then my daughter grew up and moved away, and i've found that cutting and stacking 10 cords a year a little more taxing at age 58. I've got two wood stoves to feed. one in the shop and one in the house.

I know a lot of guys that have traded in their wood stove for pellet stoves and were real pleased with the heat they got. if the power goes out you can still run those things on a battery with an AC/DC converter. and really... how often do we loose our power....

But... i refuse to give mine up. i'd rather pay some young men to help me get my wood in each year  than be without it....

I'd go for the wood stove. When your wife gets pissed and you find yourself sleeping on the couch, you'll stay warmer at night with the wood  stove blazing.  

My grand dad used to say if they would have had sliced bread, and electric blankets when he was a young man, he'd have never got married..... With a wood stove you need a wife to help you stack the wood.  

[Bonebuster]

Some people can`t live WITHOUT a woodstove...

[Bobby Urban]

Never turn my furnace on except one time per year to make sure it still works.  Used to spend $18-2500 per year to heat my home and kept it cold in here to save $$$.  Now it is 75 all the time and if it gets too hot I just open a window - My heat is free.  With a modern EPA stove and proper burning you wont smell it but your wife will like the warmth and the savings.  Enough savings to buy a nice bow.  

Yes it is some work and yes there is a little bark and what not but they are no more dirty than anything else IMO.  Get three or four years ahead in wood stacked and you will never have to worry about seasoning if you just replace what you burn and it gets you outside doing things we love to do.  Play in the woods and run chain saws.  What's not to love.  

Pellet stoves and outside boilers need electricity so power outages are the same as prior.  W/O a nice generator you are cold.

**I should add: if you are not as passionate about the wood stove as you are about bow hunting you probably will not like it - just get the bow and be happy  

[momo-t]

Funny we have a running joke in our household...

If we had to choose  between the woodstove and the TV,  the TV would lose every time.
Hope it never comes to that.lol.

Nothing like coming in from the outdoors and warming up to a fire. Sure its alot of effort but for us it's a lifestyle that we'd hate to give up.

Mo

[sweeney3]

Put in the stove and make a bow for free from one of the trees on the place.

[njloco]

I  heat my  whole  house  with a  would  stove, my  wife  hated  the  thought  of  having a wood  stove,  she  even  got  the  local   fire Marshall  to  give  me a  list  of  ways  to  safely heat a house, I asked her if she read the  information  he  gave  her,  and  she  said  she  doesn't  have  to, as she knows it's unsafe to  have a  wood  stove,  so I pointed out  that  the  information says a wood  stove  is  one  of  the  safest  ways  too  heat  a  house, she didn't  know  what  tho  say. This  was all  about 29 years ago,  now,  she  won't  live  in a  house  without a  wood  stove  or  fireplace insert.

Get the wood stove, she'll like it so  much,  that  you'll  probably  be  able  to  get a  new  bow also !

Also, I  have a  Pacific  coast  wood  stove, and  no  wood  burning odor in my  house !

Good  luck!

[Dave Worden]

A new bow and a happy wife?  It seems like a no brainer to me.  If you really "need" a wood stove, at a later time, build a shop and put a stove in there.  Don't do it right away.  She'll figure that you're trying to have your cake and eat it too!

[ranger 3]

The wood stove is work, and you could out shooting your new bow.

[DEATHMASTER]

Wood heat is a lot of good for the soul hard work. Each piece of wood heats you like 5 time with the hauling splitting stacking hauling burning but, it is great "free" exercise to get your wood ready. I have two soapstones I got from Craig's cheap and a masonary try view as the main heat source for 20 yrs now. People are shocked to see a soapstone in my workshop. If installed CORRECTLY there in no smell unless outside and to me it is a very inviting smell to come enjoy the heat of the fire.
You know my chose WOODSTOVE.

[SELFBOW19953]

I hope I didn't give the wrong impression in my previous post.  I've had woodstoves for 35 years and will never be without one.  I was listing the negatives I have heard from women at work, an ex-wife, and just in general.  I stock up on wood beginning in February, gets me out of the house and prevents cabin fever-hunting season is over, too cold to fish.