"I like making things with my hands," said Blaine Porter as he talked about the outdoor wood stoves he makes from recycled materials at his home in Rathdrum on Friday. Blaine is a firefighter, this is a side business for him and he markets them to hunters and campers. (SR photo: Kathy Plonka)

Dozens of discarded water heaters caught Blaine Porter’s eye at the Kootenai County Transfer Station. The grandson of a blacksmith, Porter founded himself sizing up the high quality of the steel in the tanks. It was the beginning of Second Round Wood Stoves, a line of custom-made stoves for camping and shops. Porter recycles water heaters, 55-gallon drums, old propane tanks and even military ammunition cans, transforming them into stove bodies. It’s a side business for the Coeur d’Alene firefighter, who enjoys welding. “I like repurposing something that would be thrown out and turning it into something useful,” said Porter, 44. “I’m not a big tree-hugger and I wear work boots instead of Birkenstocks. … But I think we should all do our part to leave the world a little better than we found it.” And, “I like that my product is keeping people warm,” he said/Becky Kramer, SR. More here.

Question: Do you heat with wood?