About This Book

"Norwegian Wood" is a guide to chopping, stacking, and drying wood the Scandinavian way. The book discusses the benefits of wood-burning stoves as a source of green energy, the strenuous activity of working in the forest, and the importance of properly drying and storing wood to prevent fungal growth. It also covers the use of different types of wood for different purposes, the benefits of coppicing, and the importance of using the right tools, including high-quality axes and chain saws.

Top Highlights

• An ordinary electric radiator or heat pump warms only the air in the room, but flames and glowing embers release electromagnetic, infrared radiation that has much the same characteristics as sunlight.
• Henry David Thoreau is frequently quoted on the subject of our relationship to wood. In 1845 Thoreau went to live in the forest because life in modern American society had become too hectic for him (that’s right, in 1845). In Walden he wrote: “It is remarkable what a value is still put upon wood even in this age and in this new country, a value mor...
• Woodburning stoves release a lot of carbon dioxide, as much as four pounds (2 kilograms) for every two pounds (1 kilogram) of normally dry wood, and yet heating with wood is accepted as a source of green energy by almost all experts, for this simple reason: Trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow, but sooner or later release the gas again. A tree ...
• Woodburning is an efficient way of making use of one of the world’s best sun catchers, simply by allowing one of nature’s processes to take place indoors. Forests are able to absorb an extraordinary amount of carbon dioxide. The problem is that trees don’t live forever. Sooner or later—in the case of certain kinds of trees, within thirty years; in ...
• After a few months’ drying you’ve got 4.2 kilowatt hours of energy for every two pounds (one kilogram) of wood.