Your wood pile

[Yankee Josh]

Hard maple does burn good in my stove too. The one thing I like about it more is it leaves so little ash. But it doesn't smoke as much and therefore, in my airtight stove, doesn't create a secondary combustion burn nearly as well as red oak.
Boy do I agree with you about splitting oak though! Red is the same and especially frozen it's actually really fun to split. Here's a couple photos from last winter;

The un split pile to the right was all the difficult ones. I was able to split all but two with my 5lb Snow & Neally.

18"sticks.

 

[Allan DeGroot]

Well, to be honest the black Oak I managed to collect were Trees that were knocked down, by a September hurricane after we had three tropical rain events in the previous weeks So it was more thouroughly waterlogged than Black Oak (which is locally called "swamp oak") usually was. but frozen waterlogged Oak sure splits nice. I got it off the property of a USPS Sorting center after the storm felled the tree across their security fence. And I got it all cut and into my vehicle during lunch and coffee breaks I was working at the electronics company next door.
The facilities manager was overjoyed when I approached him about removing the trees FOR FREE! They had already received "bids" from contractors for Thousands of dollars, and I had essentially bid the job for free. I wanted the wood because each of the two trees down on their fence was about two full cords

Yeah, the low ash of maple was simply amazing. I had a metal frame over a 55gal drum with expanded metal and a piece of hardware cloth And I would sift the charcoal out of the ashes and burn it all too, I could usually reduce a cord of maple to ashes that would not entirely fill a 20gal Garbage pail!

 

[David Martin]

Josh, your wood looks soo nice when split. A 5 lb. axe should do a good job on it. Those in the lower right are what mine look like.
Allan, so, you double burn the coal and charcoal. I'll have to rig up something so, I can pour my ashes through a sieve and
keep burning it. DM

 

[Allan DeGroot]

Josh, your wood looks soo nice when split. A 5 lb. axe should do a good job on it. Those in the lower right are what mine look like.
Allan, so, you double burn the coal and charcoal. I'll have to rig up something so, I can pour my ashes through a sieve and
keep burning it. DM

It was more a matter of when I'd shovel the ashes out of my woodstove I'd shovel them into an air-tight can and allow them to cool indoors before I'd eventually dump them, but I'd sift out the lumps of charcoal before actually dumping.

A generous double handful of that thoroughly dried Charcoal was great as part of my fire starting routine
and would frequently relight off a single glowing ember and a handful of equally dry Chainsaw made excelsior: split several straight-grained chunks from the "round" length-wise with the chainsaw laid parallel to the wood. the chainsaw clogs up quickly with the long curls but it is well worth it just to make a garbage pail worth of them and a handful over the sifted out charcoal makes for a ROARING fire in less time than it took me to type this reply!

Though it works best with maple because of it's flexible fine-close grain structure. Oak tends to be too brittle, and I've never tried making it out of hickory YMMV

 

[dantzk8]

I don't understand, every morning i clean my stove and don't get any charcoal, only ashes in small amount. There is no post combustion on my stove which is more than 50 years old. It's made of thick iron cast which takes and hold a high temperature, it could explain the good combustion.

Dan.

 

[rjdankert]

https://www.juneauempire.com/life/w...wood-with-a-guide-to-finding-a-good-marriage/



Bob

 

[Allan DeGroot]

I don't understand, every morning i clean my stove and don't get any charcoal, only ashes in small amount. There is no post combustion on my stove which is more than 50 years old. It's made of thick iron cast which takes and hold a high temperature, it could explain the good combustion.

Dan.

My stove was not really airtight , it was constructed of 3/8" welded steel plate with a Iast Iron door, when it was left to go out with the Air Inlet closed, it would make a few gallons of Ice cube sized lumps of charcoal, they'd be smothered under a layer of fine powdery ash.

 

[David Martin]

Dick Callahan has wayyy too much time on his hands. Unless he meant the article in spoof. Like the closing article of a Field & Stream magazine. I read the entire article and thought gees... My main effort is to get enough in the barn to make it through winter. Then slam the door and guard it until it gets cold then pile it to the stove until she says, "it's hot in this house". Then ease
up. I don't care how I stack it, just so it's in the dry and plenty is brought to the back porch.
By the time I have brought the wood to the stacking segment, I'm tired and it's getting dark. So, it's a rush deal with a headlamp on and supper is waiting. DM

 

[dantzk8]

Bob, thanks for the link. Here, in the Ardennes forest, wood is part of the popular culture like in Norway it seems. For good reasons. we are on a high flatland surrounded from north to south-west by low flat lands. In winter the strong winds come straight from Scandinavia and in summer from the British islands or the Atlantic shore carrying snowy and rainy clouds. We are the first obstacle and get more than our share. Of course times are changing and all that culture is fading away but it doesn't help, we still burn wood. All the wood processing is ritualized somehow because it's a social activity. We help the friends, the neighbors, the neighbors of the friends, the friends of the neighbors... you get the picture. However there is one thing which remains your own, something you won't let anyone working at for you: stacking. For old school guys like me, stacking being the final step, the one you can look at, it testifies to your skills, the care you take, the kind of guy you are. The pile i take the most of care is the one i stack in my barn for the winter to come. Nobody sees it but my wife but i take a lot of care, the right size, no dust, no chips, flush. It takes less room and i can see what i consume precisely. I like that.

Dan.

 

[Fmont]

That's incredibly interesting! Sounds like an interesting place.

 

[dantzk8]

That's incredibly interesting! Sounds like an interesting place.

At some extent, yes. The climate is horrible. Windy, cloudy, cold, wet. A forest growing up on a bog. Factories are closed, unemployed people drink too much, use drugs and hold the walls unless they are busy at some robbery. Fortunately some people, though a minority, manage their own, they are kings of the "do it yourself" and take advantage of the few they own. I like that way of life.

Dan.

 

[Ernest DuBois]

Just my from memory interpretation of some good advise I'd once heard, 'scribed here close by the fireplace now.

 

[David Martin]

Ok, I likely spoke from the reference of our culture. Scandinavian culture being different. For my experience in the past 26 years
only one person has called me up and ask when I was going to cut a load of wood. Then when I told him he actually showed up
to help. He could not swing an axe but he could run a chainsaw. So, I turned him loose with that and kept an eye on him. He worked at it and I did all the limbing and splitting with a 2.5 lb. Kelly True Temper. I also had a wedge and a splitting maul.
I'm sure neighbors hear me cutting down the creek but no one has showed. Just my experience. DM

 

[jake pogg]

I don't understand, every morning i clean my stove and don't get any charcoal, only ashes in small amount. There is no post combustion on my stove which is more than 50 years old. It's made of thick iron cast which takes and hold a high temperature, it could explain the good combustion.

Dan,it's possible that you run your home heating on a slightly different principle-more that of a thermal Mass than the Extended burn that is much more common in the US.

I'd imagine your house may have a stone floor,and maybe even walls,and in other ways be like a battery that Holds energy once you create it with your stove.
In this case vit's advantageous to run your fire Hot,and quick,so the gases don't have a chance to escape,and you burn them as well.
(a "natural" secondary combustion you may say).

Conversely many structures in USA and the tendency in general is to rely on the R-factor(resistance to heat dissipation),and make the heat come from your heater slowly and for a longer time...
That,a longish burn with limited oxygen is what makes charcoal...
The archirtecture here is different from many parts of Europe,it had to accomodate easier,faster construction methods,and also the kind of lifestyle where people moved around a lot,making for a somewhat less Massive structures that use heat energy differently...
(just some thoughts...interesting topic you guys have here...i myself have no woodpile,but most slovenly cut and split what i need daily... )

 

[Peck Price]

We burned wood and coal through the first 12 years of my life. Firewood cutting was a social activity for my family. My paternal grandparents and Dads best friend burned firewood as did my maternal grandmother. Fall days found us on the farm cutting firewood. We would hook the tractor to a tobacco wagon and load it down with hickory and oak for everyone. I was too small for an ax to be effective so Dad hung a 4 lb hammer on a 30 handle. I would use it to drive steel splitting wedges. The men usually drank a little beer and occasionally our dogs would tree a squirrel or groundhog for added fun. Coal was king around here but everyone supplemented with wood. We had a gas well drilled in 1981 and got free natural gas. We still have a wood burner in the shop and I still love to cut firewood but it is more for fun than necessity now.

 

[dantzk8]

Dan,it's possible that you run your home heating on a slightly different principle-more that of a thermal Mass than the Extended burn that is much more common in the US.

I'd imagine your house may have a stone floor,and maybe even walls,and in other ways be like a battery that Holds energy once you create it with your stove.
In this case vit's advantageous to run your fire Hot,and quick,so the gases don't have a chance to escape,and you burn them as well.
(a "natural" secondary combustion you may say).

Conversely many structures in USA and the tendency in general is to rely on the R-factor(resistance to heat dissipation),and make the heat come from your heater slowly and for a longer time...
That,a longish burn with limited oxygen is what makes charcoal...
The archirtecture here is different from many parts of Europe,it had to accomodate easier,faster construction methods,and also the kind of lifestyle where people moved around a lot,making for a somewhat less Massive structures that use heat energy differently...
(just some thoughts...interesting topic you guys have here...i myself have no woodpile,but most slovenly cut and split what i need daily... )

Thanks for your post Jake, it gives me to think and i still scratch my head. My house is made of clay an wood. An architecture which is closer to the north-american one than to the typical european one.
The insulation is poor if we consider the current standards. It's good enough for me as long i'm protected from the rain and the wind. When i get into a modern very well insulated house i feel like being in a plane, the air is poor, it's like drinking warm demineralized water instead of the fresh one of a spring. I still think it comes from the high quality stove i own. The oak logs burn quickly, the bed of charcoals last a long time, almost all night long. As i can't explain that, it remains a mystery.

Dan.

 

[Hairy Clipper]

Here on the southern Minnesota prairie woodlots that supplied enough wood for burning were somewhat scarce a hundred fifty years ago. If you did not own a woodlot of your own the remedy was simple ... buy one! Many area lakes had wooded acres and the property owner would subdivide his acreage into five acre plots to be sold for the harvest of firewood. In time, these parcels were sold to a neighbor that needed more wood or went back to the County for none payment of taxes or gifted to a newlywed couple or any one of many other reasons to be sold off. Eventually these dozens of five acre parcels were reunited to become the property of an owner or two or three. Now I suspect there would be very few that would be interested in such a purchase, between natural gas or LP gas having the heating market about the only wood burned here is for ambiance and the harvest and storage of wood would be too much work for most people if they had the time to devote to it.

 

[jake pogg]

Yes,Dan,thank you,those are some extremely valuable thoughts.
Our attempts to create (perceived,vs actual)comfort often result in loss of Quality of space,the way we feel when inside.
(as a builder i must,and do,think of these things).

I still think it comes from the high quality stove i own. The oak logs burn quickly, the bed of charcoals last a long time, almost all night long.

That's about exactly what you'd Want your stove to do
Wood contains a lot of lighter volatiles that begin to separate right away,but in burning give off very little energy.
It's best to burn them as rapidly as possible(or the'll fly up in your chimney and condense there anyway).
Meanwhiloe almost all energy wood has is contained in the charcoal.
Any burn is a charcoaling process,and only then the Carbon that takes more energy to release begins to react,and That's the part of the burn that actually kicks out energy.
(in the past as cities grew larger people have charcoaled their wood outside at the harvest areas,as only that carbon-rich part was worth transporting).

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Finished stacking wood at my grandparents' place today. My dad and I work over the summer to split and stack it to dry and then move it into the shed around this time of year. There were a bunch of oyster mushrooms growing on some of the maple pieces.

 

[David Martin]

Wow 42, you get a lot more rain there than we do. I just never see those growing. DM