Friday, December 17, 2010

Gift Ideas for the Woodstove Family

For the next week on Shelter Blog, we're posting new Holiday Gift Idea entries and republishing entries from last year. Keep an eye on our site for great gift ideas.

The woodstove family likes to heat their home independently and economically with wood. They have eschewed the gym membership, and you can find them in their backyard working out on winter afternoons splitting and stacking wood. When you visit their toasty warm home this holiday season, here are the gifts you should bring:



Felling and Splitting Tools:
At Shelter, we carry the Gransfors Bruks line of hand-forged axes. Their quality and and craftsmanship is apparent the minute you hold one in your hands. For the Woodstove family (or any serious woodsman), the double-bit working axe is a great gift if they fell trees on their own property. When they need to split that wood, the splitting axe is the tool they'll need. (If they're more power tool oriented, we carry Efco chain saws at the store too. Call or stop in for details.)

Woodlot Knowledge:
What's one to do with all of those trees? Before the axe is sharpened, the Woodstove family should gather around with some hot cocoa and read The Woodlot Management Handbook. If you find the family can't seem to part with their favorite arbor, perhaps Home Tree Home, a step-by-step guide to building treehouses, is right for them.

Backwoods Tools:
A bark spud, loading tongs, and pulp hook are essential tools for the Woodstove family. We carry more backwoods tools too, if the family you know has a full collection of Swedish froes.

If It's Not Hot in the House:
Sometimes, even a hot woodstove can't heat the house. Shelter can still help. We all know that heat rises. So it's sometimes helpful to circulate the woodstove heat into living spaces. The Ecofan does just that. Place an Ecofan on top of a woodstove, and without using any electricity, the fan silently moves and circulates heat.

We also sell books on improving the house itself. Efficient Buildings 2 is a good reference for someone wanting to build an air-tight, energy efficient building.

If you are interested in becoming a Woodstove Family, Shelter is the place to begin. We can help you select a wood stove that best fits your home's needs. We sell Vermont Castings wood stoves, which may qualify for an energy tax credit. For more information about wood stoves, energy efficiency, or the Federal tax credit, read our blog posts on energy efficiency, or contact us.

Need more gift ideas? Send us an email at info@shelterinstitute.com or check back soon. We'll post more gift ideas from Shelter.

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