Really don't know what the Internet can do for ya on this......unless your quest is to over complicate the simple.
You said you have basics....what more is there?
Burn dry hardwood, dry as in seasoned at least a year. Green wood mucks up a chimney fast. Oak, maple, locust, beech, cherry, etc. My entire pile for this winter is all oak, I like oak, and it was free.
Split your wood small enough to handle easily; small burns up fast, too big will start hard. Keep a mix of sizes; smaller to start it up and get a quick bed of coals, larger for maintaining the heat and "night chunks". If you are a serious wood burner, a do-it-yourselfer, a woodsplitter is a wise investment.
Keep your chimney clean: clean it, and any pipes, at the start of the season. Look your shit over and fix or replace anything that isn't safe. I clean mine at least twice during the course of a winter but usually there's nothing in it to worry about. My burning season is from October to March/April.
Prevent creosote from building up by burning your stove between 300 and 500 degrees. Use a chimney thermometer to maintain that temp. Let the fire die if the house gets too warm, it's easier to restart it later than it is to allow a low temp fire to burn creating creosote which you will need to clean. I don't waste my money on those chimney cleaning powders or whatever they are.
Your firebox will fill up with ashes. Cleaning it out on regular basis will help the stove burn better and keep more room for wood to burn. You'll need an ash shovel and a metal ash bucket. I use a plain old square shovel and a large galvanized bucket that has a lid. The lid is incase I clean out live coals, keeps the wind from carrying off live sparks when I set the bucket outside. I spread my ashes on my garden.
Burning wood is a lot of work, and it can be messy....which is why not everyone does it. What you save in burning wood you will expend in labor at some point...
Burning wood can burn your house down if you are an idiot....about akin to keeping a loaded gun on your hip. It's your responsibility and you can never forget about it.
Been burning wood for a long time....47 years going on 48. We heat entirely with wood and won't pay for any other type of heat.
