I've never seen a furnace mounted humidifier that was worth a damn. Really. Usually when I see them they've been inoperable for some time and have leaked and caused other problems.

The usual reason for not being able to manage low humidity levels in the winter is because the house is leaking air - a lot of it. Look for ways to reduce air infiltration / exfiltration.

One of the big air leaks is a fireplace / wood burning stove - particularly a fireplace. Having a furnace that uses inside air for combustion is also an issue. No doubt there are leaky windows and such also.

Running the fan on your furnace rarely moves much warm air to other rooms while using a wood stove. I have a wood stove and tried it. Did nothing. I have a very open floor plan. The wood stove is at one end. What worked the best was to set up a floor fan at the opposite end from where the wood stove is to push the cold air toward the stove and set up a circulation loop. It helped to even out the temps between the great room area and the kitchen dining area. I can't help you with the humidifier. I prefer to use 2 stand alone units. Humidity in my home never got as low as what you have.

Well vinmarks and Jake, this is all very disappointing. The stove will be fired up for the first time in a day or two, so I can see if the furnace fan does anything to distribute heat. I'd been thinking about an energy audit for air leakage, so this might be in order before I consider the humidifier. The stand alone hamper type was both annoyingly noisy as well as a chore to fill. I surely don't want that times two!

We have AprilAir 700 hooked up to soften hot water line. It can humidify my house to avoid cracking of builtins, may be dry throats. Not as good as steam furnace humidifiers tho. Most bypass are worthless imho. Don't expect miracles they slightly raise humidity, require maintenance and prone to leaks. Steam are better but more $$$.

Saying this typical problem is your humidity sensor installed on the furnace not in the room, humidifier only runs when blower is running ..

As far as running wood stove and recirculating air .. your wood stove would have to be next to a large return to make any impact and hot air will still loose all that heat going through your ductwork. So I do not think your plan will work.