wood can a woodchuck chuck? Don't tell me you've never wondered!
A few ramblings about wood stoves and an attempt to answer the question that's nagged humans since the very beginning of time, how much
wood can a woodchuck chuck? Don't tell me you've never wondered!
The Hermit hypothesizes that a woodchuck, given the opportunity, can actually chuck a great deal of wood. And stay quite warm doing so.
The first phase of data collection began on 80 acres in the Eastern Townships of southern Quebec in a 415 square foot cabin, constructed roughly in post and beam and set upon cedar posts. The cabin sits above an escarpment. Access road is very steep with hairpin turns up steep hills and rugged terrain.
Phase I, totally off the grid, lasted ten years.
The original cabin didn't so much have drafts as it did cross-winds, and even in so small a place, it required two stoves to keep things cozy. The stoves went out overnight and water in the sink sometimes froze. There had always to be water kept overnight because When the pitcher pump in the kitchen window froze it could only be thawed with water heated on the kitchen stove.
The first stove installed was a wood cook stove of 50s vintage; $15, sold off the side porch of a newly-remodeled kitchen in house down in the village. It was was in an advanced state of use when purchased, but served admirably for five or six years for me. We're talking two fires minimum every day - breakfast and supper. It also heated all the hot water.
It was quite an elegant stove. Perched on a substantial claw-foot base, it was enameled yellow and fogged with gold like many stoves of that day, but I never saw another whose colors were quite as wonderful.
It's output was greatly appreciated during cold weather because the cabin was heated for the first two years by an average sized box-stove - "Buck's Gem", from a foundry in Windsor, Quebec. Buck's Gem went to the sauna years later and by the time it retired it provided enough illumination to read by and the crack across the bottom was nearly a quarter-inch wide.
A PD Beckworth #7 Round Oak wood stove replaced the box stove for the third winter. Mid-size in it's family range, the Round Oak had plenty of BTUs to make the cabin not only cozy, but toasty! Clothes? Who needs clothes? It's only winter outdoors!
Old #7 came complete with a Loving Cup to decorate its domed top, which slid to one side, allowing wood to be loaded on end for greatest capacity.
Once I burned the broken handle out of the head of a splitting axe, and after removing it from the Round Oak with a poker, I looked around for a place to set it down. I dropped it into the Loving Cup and walked a few feet away to the kitchen sink when from behind me I heard a big thud on the floor. The Loving Cup was made of pewter.
Eventually, the Leger cook stove burned out and it was replaced by another used stove, a slightly more modern Findley Condor. The appliance white Condor, with a skirt all the way to the floor was free for the moving. The Condor was available with either wood grates or two oil burners and this one was oil so I converted it to wood with grates and fire bricks purchased right from the Findley factory in Ontario. Thirty-two dollars including shipping.
The cabin underwent many changes, first an insulated field-stone basement, and then insulation and interior finish. A big change when the lofts were closed into a second floor. Eventually the Round Oak threw way too much heat for such a small, by then insulated area.
So the Round Oak was replaced by a brand-new Roxtan "Cadet". (The Round Oak was sold to Armande, who eventually sold it to Dave.
The Cadet is a gorgeous compact air-tight stove fabricated completely in cast iron - panels and frames alike. Very classic appearance and well-made. Has never required more than new door gaskets during four decades of use. 1
Annual wood consumption during this phase averaged five full cords, or 15 runs.2
To make room for Liselyn's grandmother's grand piano, the kitchen wood stove was replaced by a trailer-sized propane stove and the Cadet became the cabin's sole source of heat.
Annual wood consumption then fell to two-and-a-half solid cords, or 7 1/2 runs.
Phase III began in 1993 with a move into the newly constructed New House, whose area is nearly five times that of the cabin.
In the New House, a "Extra Large" Dutchwest convection heater with a catalytic-converter is the major heat source, all 44,000btu. The Findley kitchen wood stove returned from the tractor shed for wintertime cooking and to augment the Dutchwest on the coldest of days.
The Dutchwest convection heater is very efficient in terms of emissions and wood consumption, but the Findley burned wood lickety-split.
Together, the two stoves annually consumed around 4 1/2 full cords, between 13 and 14 face cords
Throughout the study, the Hermit used the following methodology to gather the required data (and wood).
First the data was tabulated and collated:
| Phase | Cords Annually | Splits Annually | Number of Years | Total Cords | Total Splits |
| I | 5 | 2,000 | 15 | 75 | 30,000 |
| II | 2.5 | 1,000 | 5 | 12.5 | 5,000 |
| III | 5.5 | 2,200 | 10 | 55 | 22,000 |
| Total | 30 | 142.5 | 57,000 |
Next, consulting the 31-step methodology, the chucks-per-split were determined:
Chucks per split:
| Step # | Wood Chuck? | # Wood Chucks |
| 1 | No | 0 |
| 2 | No | 0 |
| 3 | No | 0 |
| 4 | Yes | 1 |
| 5 | No | 0 |
| 6 | Yes | 1 |
| 7 | Yes | 1 |
| 8 | No | 0 |
| 9 | Yes | 1 |
| 10 | Yes | 1 |
| 11 | Yes | 1 |
| 12 | No | 0 |
| 13 | Yes | 1 |
| 14 | No | 0 |
| 15 | Yes | 1 |
| 16 | No | 0 |
| 17 | Yes | 1 |
| 18 | No | 0 |
| 19 | No | 0 |
| 20 | No | 0 |
| 21 | Yes | 1 |
| 22 | No | 0 |
| 23 | No | 0 |
| 24 | No | 0 |
| 25 | No | 0 |
| 26 | In Aggregate | 0 |
| 27 | No | 0 |
| 28 | No | 0 |
| 29 | In Aggregate | 0 |
| 30 | No | 0 |
| 31 | In Aggregate | 0 |
| Total | 10 |
So, how much wood can a woodchuck chuck? Calculations show that over a period of thirty years the Hermit woodchuck chucked
142.5 solid cords x 400 splits per cord x 10 chucks per split
For a grand total of
570,000, or 218 chucks.
Many, including Hermit's grandmother Thusnelda, say "He who heats with wood is twice warmed". This writer's research, concludes that he who heats with wood is actually warmed by a factor of ten.
This study used a constant 400 for the splits per full cord of firewood. A future study could achieve greater accuracy by taking into account the ratio of kitchen stove wood to heating firewood and the effect of that upon the number of splits (chucks) per full cord.
During those winters January temperatures would remain below 0F for a couple of weeks at a time, day and night. Minus-twenty F was seen frequently, and on one occasion, the thermometer outside the Cabin's single-glazed kitchen window reached the bottom of its scale at -40, where Celsius and Fahrenheit coincide. The cold penetrated the Cabin's exterior walls like it was a sharp knife. 2
Description of wood-cutting apparatii used over the course of this study:
| Make/Model | Notes |
| McCulloch I-43 |
Weighed approximately as much as a big hog ready for market. Given to me during my travels in California, its 22" chain bar was better suited for western species than those in Quebec. Hard to start and ran terribly no matter who tuned it
Not sure if McCulloch is still in business, but I'd sooner pull my grandfather's two-man saw out of the shed than use another of their saws |
| Pioneer ?? | Circa 1955. Weighed approximately as much as an Evinrude 10 HP outboard motor. In fact, I believe this model actually was an outboard motor originally and was converted to a chain saw |
| Pioneer 620 | Weighed approximately as much as a bag of Portland cement and turned very slow by modern standards, but performed well and lasted many years |
| Stihl/028 | Saw was ok, but carbs wore right out and Stihl replacements cost around a third of a new saw's price |
| Stihl/034 | Lighter than last model: smaller fuel and oil capacities mean more frequent breaks, probably a good thing |
| Husquavarnah 545 | Best saw I've used - light, plenty of power, good design, starts and runs dependably year round |
Baby it's cold outside, throw another log in the stove, will you?
