2015-2016 Blaze King Performance thread (Everything BK)

[webby3650]

BKVP seems to think that the shallow belly of the 30 series box leads to cleaner glass. Heart of the fire is closer to the glass. In general, you 30 guys seem to have an easier time keeping glass clean.

My Ashford glass is almost always clean. It'll get dirty, but I have to force it.

 

[Ashful]

Same here. My glass fouls up only if I set thermo to 1, but cleans right up on next reload with a few minutes at WOT. The glass always stays clean if I run in the "normal" range (around 2 on old dial).

 

[BKVP]

Interesting. I've run mine wide open, and it cleaned the glass very well, although the lower corners were still a little black. The firebox didn't really clean up though, but the stove seemed to run better afterwards.

I wonder if it has to do with the front slope on the princess vs the vertical front on the 30 series stoves?

Yes. And the proximity of the fire to the glass!

 

[jeffsk7]

Did i miss something? Is there any difference between the 30 series and the 30.1 series? What was updated?

 

[Highbeam]

Did i miss something? Is there any difference between the 30 series and the 30.1 series? What was updated?

We were discussing differences between the princess firebox and the 30 series firebox. Those are significant. There are a couple of minor changes between 30 and 30.1 too. The ash dump hole is bigger, they decided to remove markings from the thermostat, different ash pan.

 

[mwhitnee]

I have a question somewhat related to the most recent discussions. I have a King with 7x11 clay liner and the setup in my avatar, so it is less than ideal.

I have good draft, the stove is running good. Yesterday I left at 7:20 AM after loading the stove somewhat neatly not jam-packing it, and had it slightly past the half mark on the "swoosh" indicator. I got home around 7:20 PM (that's odd) and had just enough coals to relight. I helped it a little with my little blow torch, but it was probably not needed.

Anyway, I'm thinking what is going to happen when it gets reeeallly cold here in MA next month? How is this going to affect my burn times? I should have better draft due to temps, but it will be colder.

The main reason I bring this up is I feel that when I really power up my King a lot of heat goes up the chimney, probably due to my setup. Do others feel this way, even with a liner?

A liner isn't in the equation this year. How much would a liner help this, and how long do liners last?

 

[Ashful]

We were discussing differences between the princess firebox and the 30 series firebox. Those are significant. There are a couple of minor changes between 30 and 30.1 too. The ash dump hole is bigger, they decided to remove markings from the thermostat, different ash pan.

Just for the sake of accuracy, I think the ash pan is the same. What they did was move the ash dump hole farther to the back of the firebox, such that it's now aligned with the rear edge of the pan. They added an extra lip on the back of the pan drawer to try to keep the ash that now piles up in the rear of the pan from spilling over and landing on the floor. It's not a good design, but I think they already realize that, and are working on improving it.

 

[webby3650]

I have a question somewhat related to the most recent discussions. I have a King with 7x11 clay liner and the setup in my avatar, so it is less than ideal.

I have good draft, the stove is running good. Yesterday I left at 7:20 AM after loading the stove somewhat neatly not jam-packing it, and had it slightly past the half mark on the "swoosh" indicator. I got home around 7:20 PM (that's odd) and had just enough coals to relight. I helped it a little with my little blow torch, but it was probably not needed.

Anyway, I'm thinking what is going to happen when it gets reeeallly cold here in MA next month? How is this going to affect my burn times? I should have better draft due to temps, but it will be colder.

The main reason I bring this up is I feel that when I really power up my King a lot of heat goes up the chimney, probably due to my setup. Do others feel this way, even with a liner?

A liner isn't in the equation this year. How much would a liner help this, and how long do liners last?

So you got a 12 hour burn on a partial load and had the stove set just above medium? So on low would possibly be a 24 hour burn, if it had been full possibly 36 hours? Sounds like you are doing fine to me.

A liner isn't going to improve your burn times, it's a great idea though. Most all of them have a lifetime warranty, for what that's worth these days.

 

[Ashful]

I feel that when I really power up my King a lot of heat goes up the chimney, probably due to my setup. Do others feel this way, even with a liner?

A liner will have very little impact on how much of your heat goes up the chimney. That's up to the stove, and your BK King only allows approximately 15% of that heat to go up the chimney. The primary advantage of a liner is that your flue will stay warmer, since the thin steel liner is much lower mass (and sometimes insulated to boot) than a clay tile chimney. This warmer flue will condense less creosote, and pull better in warmer weather.

 

[mwhitnee]

Definitely don't feel that only %15 goes up the stack when I'm burning full tilt. I expect that it should be really hot and almost uncomfortable standing next to it after half an hour- it's nowhere near that.

Maybe the stove is just so big that it takes a long while for the whole thing to be completely saturated with heat.

 

[Usernamemustbeunique]

I just swapped out my Sirocco 20 for a sirocco 30.1.

The manual calls for 15' of flue, I have 12.5' which was adaquate for the sc20.1.

What are you other guys with the 30 size fire box running for height?

I loved the sc20.1, but I just couldn't get the wood in that I wanted to. Longest burn was between 12 and 15hrs on fir and larch. I am expecting 16-22hrs on the same, this 30.1 is cavernous compared to the 20.1. I don't use the ash pan and so I don't care about the placement of the ash hole....haha.

So here is a question for the BK brain trust, why does my air flap click shut when I am at halfway on the swoosh? Does having a longer flue allow for more adjustability on the thermostat control? With my 20.1 I had alot more range, just trying to figure out whats going on here.

One cool thing I was not expecting is the pedestals for the 20.1 and 30.1 are drilled identically for bolting them down, so I didn't have to redrill anything to bolt down the larger stove.

 

[Poindexter]

Got a problem, looking for ideas.

Wednesday last week, the day before Thanksgiving, it was -5dF here and I had the house at +83dF no problem (+78dF in the back bedroom) with the Tstat on 2, that would be 3 oclock on the swoosh.

Let it burn out and brushed out my flue Wednesday night. Then we had people over and kids home and moved furniture around and brought the tree in and moved furniture again, just holiday family chaos for a few days.

But I got some symptoms that aren't clearing up now that the chaos is over. Since I brushed out the pipe ten days ago, using the same wood as I have been all year:

1: Instead of a clean (<10% Ringlemann scale) detached plume, I have, at -10dF an attached plume that is >60% on the Ringleman scale. It is smoking bad. I am not an EPA vertified VEE, but I can by God read a Ringlemann chart. When the stove is running right I have a detached plume down to -20dF at least, maybe -25dF. I am accustomed to seeing Ringlemann's under 20% after hot reloads as fast I can get my boots on and get out there after engaging the cat.

2. Humidifier is using a lot less water than usual.

3. Snuck into my stash of really good wood, even running 14%MC with the Tstat on 3 (5 oclock somewhere), I am struggling to get the house up to +73dF. And it isn't cold out yet. I am wanting to save the half cord of really good wood that I do have for cold weather.

4. Burn times much diminished. I don't even want to talk about it. 6 hours maybe on what should be a 12 hour load. I am thinking about buying a bellows....

5. Active flames don't go away, no or very limited flame show. I was, (and still am) seeing some of the flame head for the bypass door with the cat engaged.

6. Ecofan base IR temp peaks at +177dF with the cat probe waaaay up into active, I am used to seeing 250dF+++ when the cat is that hot.

So this morning, Saturday, I let the stove burn down again, lifted the pipe off the collar and went looking at the bypass gasket. I was hoping for a chunk of charcoal on the gasket from when I brushed. No joy. I did find a bunch of powdery ash around the outside of the bypass gasket. I got after that with a smallish paint brush - it might have been a thick enough layer to keep the bypass door from sealing tightly.

While the stove was cold I tried moving the window in the door frame, it is solid as a rock. I also took a really really thorough look at the door gasket, it looks fine.

Fired it back up, it is running "better", but not better enough for me to just post "be sure to brush the light grey fly ash from around the bypass gasket when you sweep bottom up."

So what else can I try tomorrow before I call my dealer on Monday?

Dollar bill test, check. I got to let the thing burn out again and dollar bill test the door gasket. I don't think that is the problem, but my dealer will ask if I have tried it on Monday if I do call them. I'll do it.

Visual the pipe. With the stove cold I am going to lift the pipe again (thank God for telescoping pipe between the stove collar and the ceiling), shine a bright light up there and take a good look. I got a cup, maybe 1.5 cups of ash out when I swept last week, very normal unimpressive boring sweep. Didn't bother to visually check the pipe after sweeping, should have. 600 lumen flashlight should be adequate.

I am going to put every lumen I can into the firebox with the bypass closed to see if any light leaks though the bypass gasket into the upper smoke chamber. I can probably fit 1000watts of halogen goodness in there. If I see nothing, I'll try putting light in the smoke chamber and stick my head in the firebox...

What else can I / should I try tomorrow after church with the stove cold again?

Fool thing was running just fine until I brushed the pipe... I just can't really credit warped steel at the bypass gasket, the kids that were home keep their cotton picking hands off the durn stove because they aren't tired of breathing yet. The one kid who does operate the stove my way was in Arizona for the holiday.

 

[Niko]

Im not explaining it right lol. I have a good idea of how the stove works. All im saying is the same scenarios i did all last year are totally oposite now. Either my wood is gone to fast or the stove is stalling really fast and the T stat is staying im my sweet spot.

I did some tests before to see and tried to mimic the same scenario everytime to see if I wouldget same results. i just did not explain it well. In the last 2 weeks i habe noticed either super fast burns or cat stalling. Im gonna get my moisture meter and read my next load to see what is going on. Unless the supply i got 2 seasons ago parts were dry and other were super green. But i did not test the wood this year as i assume it was seasoned.

For example i left around 4pm to go out with the family wood was nice and charcoal and the cat was 3/4 into active. I got home at 7pm and the cat was all the way in inactive. Let me put my moisture meter on my next load and ill get back.

Well if i had to give a educated decision on what I thought was problem with the T stat was actually really wet wood. I have learned my stove a lot faster then I have learned wood. Some where in my piles of wood i guess did not dry very well or just was way more wet then the other pieces. Im assuming this becuase everything is acting normal again. I can also tell I finally found the sweet spot for my fan also.

So far im getting roughly 18 hr burn times and im not fully loading it either or letting it go out to the point i gotta wait for the cat to get nice nice again.

2 floor house (3000 square feet) with the stove on the first floor, floor 1 temps are anywhere around 78-85 depending if I open a window to cool it off. Upstairs floor 2 stays around 68-72 which my wife loves lol. Like everyone probably knows already their are variations of temperature differences in all the rooms slightly.

Im kinda leaning towards getting the same stove a year or 2 so that i dont have to have the down stairs so hot.

Anybody have 2 stoves in their house?

 

[blueguy]

Got a problem, looking for ideas.

Wednesday last week, the day before Thanksgiving, it was -5dF here and I had the house at +83dF no problem (+78dF in the back bedroom) with the Tstat on 2, that would be 3 oclock on the swoosh.

Let it burn out and brushed out my flue Wednesday night. Then we had people over and kids home and moved furniture around and brought the tree in and moved furniture again, just holiday family chaos for a few days.

But I got some symptoms that aren't clearing up now that the chaos is over. Since I brushed out the pipe ten days ago, using the same wood as I have been all year:

1: Instead of a clean (<10% Ringlemann scale) detached plume, I have, at -10dF an attached plume that is >60% on the Ringleman scale. It is smoking bad. I am not an EPA vertified VEE, but I can by God read a Ringlemann chart. When the stove is running right I have a detached plume down to -20dF at least, maybe -25dF. I am accustomed to seeing Ringlemann's under 20% after hot reloads as fast I can get my boots on and get out there after engaging the cat.

2. Humidifier is using a lot less water than usual.

3. Snuck into my stash of really good wood, even running 14%MC with the Tstat on 3 (5 oclock somewhere), I am struggling to get the house up to +73dF. And it isn't cold out yet. I am wanting to save the half cord of really good wood that I do have for cold weather.

4. Burn times much diminished. I don't even want to talk about it. 6 hours maybe on what should be a 12 hour load. I am thinking about buying a bellows....

5. Active flames don't go away, no or very limited flame show. I was, (and still am) seeing some of the flame head for the bypass door with the cat engaged.

6. Ecofan base IR temp peaks at +177dF with the cat probe waaaay up into active, I am used to seeing 250dF+++ when the cat is that hot.

So this morning, Saturday, I let the stove burn down again, lifted the pipe off the collar and went looking at the bypass gasket. I was hoping for a chunk of charcoal on the gasket from when I brushed. No joy. I did find a bunch of powdery ash around the outside of the bypass gasket. I got after that with a smallish paint brush - it might have been a thick enough layer to keep the bypass door from sealing tightly.

While the stove was cold I tried moving the window in the door frame, it is solid as a rock. I also took a really really thorough look at the door gasket, it looks fine.

Fired it back up, it is running "better", but not better enough for me to just post "be sure to brush the light grey fly ash from around the bypass gasket when you sweep bottom up."

So what else can I try tomorrow before I call my dealer on Monday?

Dollar bill test, check. I got to let the thing burn out again and dollar bill test the door gasket. I don't think that is the problem, but my dealer will ask if I have tried it on Monday if I do call them. I'll do it.

Visual the pipe. With the stove cold I am going to lift the pipe again (thank God for telescoping pipe between the stove collar and the ceiling), shine a bright light up there and take a good look. I got a cup, maybe 1.5 cups of ash out when I swept last week, very normal unimpressive boring sweep. Didn't bother to visually check the pipe after sweeping, should have. 600 lumen flashlight should be adequate.

I am going to put every lumen I can into the firebox with the bypass closed to see if any light leaks though the bypass gasket into the upper smoke chamber. I can probably fit 1000watts of halogen goodness in there. If I see nothing, I'll try putting light in the smoke chamber and stick my head in the firebox...

What else can I / should I try tomorrow after church with the stove cold again?

Fool thing was running just fine until I brushed the pipe... I just can't really credit warped steel at the bypass gasket, the kids that were home keep their cotton picking hands off the durn stove because they aren't tired of breathing yet. The one kid who does operate the stove my way was in Arizona for the holiday.

What does the face of the cat look like? When was the last time you brushed it? Got a screen on the chimney cap? Large buildup of soot at the rear of the cat from sweeping?

 

[Poindexter]

What does the face of the cat look like? When was the last time you brushed it? Got a screen on the chimney cap? Large buildup of soot at the rear of the cat from sweeping?

When it's hot enough using the orange glow from the cat as a backlight tells me it is pretty clean. Might as well look there once the stove is cold. I have never before had the cat cover off.

I have never brushed the face of the cat, brushed the pipe 11 days ago.

No screen on the cap. Slits in sheetmetal about 1x4 inches, professionally cleaned about two cords ago.

Buildup behind the cat? I'll look, but it won't be from sweeping. I tape a trash bag around the bottom of the pipe when I do sweep.

 

[Stump shot]

I'm With Blueguy this. Take the flame shield down and brush the face of the cat with a soft paint brush. I would do the back of the cat also. This seems to help with making the cat run more efficient.

 

[Highbeam]

Shine that bright light through the cat to verify that all cells are clear. A healthy blow from your lungs can actually help but a shop vac across the face, use the lampshade brush head, can clear them out too. Just be sure to verify that there isn't a pile of junk in the cat chamber to be sucked through the cat.

 

[blueguy]

When it's hot enough using the orange glow from the cat as a backlight tells me it is pretty clean.

Glow does not indicate clean cells. It only means the cat is over 1000*. My cat's always glowed and when I pulled it to clean it this year, several cells were plugged.

You didn't by any chance leave a rag or something in the cat chamber? Do you have an OAK? If so, is the intake frozen up or blocked?

Did you dollar bill test the bypass?

 

[ohiojoe13]

I'm also noticing a difference in performance with my Ashford 30.1 . For the past few weeks I have been burning 24/7 and have no problems getting 24 to 26 hour burn times. Running the stove on low. With the house around 76 degrees. I come home from work on Thursday and the stove is inactive, only after about 15 hours. My door latch seemed like it wasn't as tight as it used to be and noticed in one spot when doing the dollar bill test it was a lot easier to pull out. So I adjusted my door latch until it passed the dollar bill test. I thought that was the issue. Yesterday I also had shortened burn time with similar outside temp. And today it's not heating the house up like it usually does. It's 74 degrees in the house but running the t stat at 3 o'clock usually have the t stat at 1 o'clock with it being 76 in the house. What could be causing this. I have no screen on my cap. Outside temps have been similar. The only change was I tightened up the door.

 

[Ashful]

I'm also noticing a difference in performance with my Ashford 30.1 . For the past few weeks I have been burning 24/7 and have no problems getting 24 to 26 hour burn times. Running the stove on low. With the house around 76 degrees. I come home from work on Thursday and the stove is inactive, only after about 15 hours. My door latch seemed like it wasn't as tight as it used to be and noticed in one spot when doing the dollar bill test it was a lot easier to pull out. So I adjusted my door latch until it passed the dollar bill test. I thought that was the issue. Yesterday I also had shortened burn time with similar outside temp. And today it's not heating the house up like it usually does. It's 74 degrees in the house but running the t stat at 3 o'clock usually have the t stat at 1 o'clock with it being 76 in the house. What could be causing this. I have no screen on my cap. Outside temps have been similar. The only change was I tightened up the door.

Outside temps have been similar? Really? Our highs and lows dropped more than 20F since the past week, and I'm not that far from you. It was an unusually warm November.

 

[ohiojoe13]

Outside temps have been similar? Really? Our highs and lows dropped more than 20F since the past week, and I'm not that far from you. It was an unusually warm November.

It has been high 20s low 30s at night and mid to upper 40s during the day.

 

[robk]

So we've been getting around 11-13 good hours on fir before I reload, usually with plenty of coals. Tonight I tried out first batch of madrone. Goodness.

I don't know what the burn time will be but on low with for we were running the house around 68-72ish. Right now it's 79. This stuff definitely burns hotter. I'm assuming it's the wood. Weather has been approx the same for the last week or so temp wise. Might save this for the really cold days!

 

[Poindexter]

So I am back in the saddle from #1137 above.

With the telescope lifted my pipe looked freaking great. I left work early enough today to catch sunlight at the top of the stack from below and looked around real good with my tacticool 600 lumen light.

I stuck a 500W halogen light in the cold empty firebox and confirmed the bypass gasket makes a light tight seal with the bypass door on all four sides.

The back side of the cat had a narrow band of fly ash along the bottom edge, but I couldn't see most of the back of the cat because of that huge piece of steel welded to the roof of the firebox hanging down into the cat exhaust. I bet I recover a bunch of heat from that structure.

I lifted the cat shield off the front for the first time ever, my BK dealer put it in place as part of the stove install in May 2014. A BUNCH of fly ash on the front face of the cat.

I put the lamp shade tool on the vacuum cleaner, did the back side first and then the face. I was real gentle to not screw up the cat, but a hemispherical chunk, about the same diameter as a penny fell out of the front face anyway. Then I shined my light into the face of the cat, couldn't see jack doodle for light coming through the cat body and got my dealer on the phone.

They had both a new gasket and a new cat in stock, agreed as group (the one guy I was talking to queried two other folks without putting me on hold) that I should be seeing light though the cat and confirmed their closing time.

Knowing I was minimally in for a vat of boiling vinegar water and a trip to the dealer for a new gasket I pulled the cat.

Once I had it out I found at least a third of the exit side of the cat covered in a green - almost like a wash - some kind of green foam looking stuff in a bead on all the foils of the cat. Copper probably right?

Copper isn't a serious cat poison - but lead is. My cat was pretty well plugged with fly ash on the through holes that were surrounded by the green foam on the back side.

So I took the gasket and the cat to the dealer and they gave me a new cat and a new gasket in warranty, no charge.

The guys at the shop weren't overwhelmed with the green on the back, though they noticed it. Once they pointed it out I could see significant cracking in my cat foils. They said if it was ceramic it would be "burnt out" but they don't have a lot of experience with steel cats coming back in.

I had a private moment with one of the senior employees and asked him straight up if he was giving me a new cat because I spend a lot of money there, or was this a legit in warranty cat exchange. I pointed out that my wife was going to ask what I need to differently in the future.... He was all about legit cat exchange.

So I came home with a new cat and a new gasket. Holy press fit Batman!! I was worried the stove was going to start scooting across the hearth, but it didn't. If you get to do one of these the key seems to be once you have it oozing into the dome keep on pushing, because when you stop you have to start all over applying enough force gently to get it oozing again. Much easier to keep it oozing into place than to get it started oozing.

So copper and lead. I am flummoxed.

I got married and moved into this house in May 2011. I last loaded jacketed rifle ammunition in August 2011. I took my wife moose hunting in September 2011. She tagged out on a tender and delicious little fork bull less than 24 hours after arriving at moose camp, at 75 yards with a 30-30. I have field dressed probably a dozen moose in the last eight years. Except for one "outlier" at 235 yards, all the rest have been inside 100 yards, most of them inside 75 yards.

I got serious about big bore handgun in October of 2011. Keeping up with a wife and an expensive rifle at moose camp is double duty. High volume handgun shooters shoot cast lead bullets with no copper jackets on them. I truly have not handled a jacketed bullet in four years.

I do have two gunbelts, a nice one for church and stuff and a beat up one for outdoors and physical labor. In summer 2014 I did drill the rivets, shorten the belts (leather stretches) and re-rivet with copper. I specifically remember recovering all four copper rivet cut offs because I have slipped on one of those before and it is no fun.

The logs I am burning this year were delivered in October 2014. They were cut on Fort Wainwright (US Army) as green standing under contract. And I got mildew on them this summer, and have mildew allergies in the house. All the wood I am burning this year gets carried through the garage where my reloading bench and supplies are, but doesn't get stored in the garage.

These are all I can think of for mechanisms to get lead and copper into my firebox:

Malicious child driving a bare bullet into a split with a hammer. My kids don't work that hard and don't hate me. I have bent over backwards to not be the sort of step father kids hate.

House cat carrying bare bullet to wood pile and swatting it hard enough to lodge into a crack in a split. I doubt it. The only thing I have seen our cat carry for distance is a wounded mouse. As soon as they stop wriggling, she eats them. Food she eats wherever it is handed to her- though she will bat olives around a bit before swallowing. Hard shiny things she will will toy with, but I have never seen her carry such a thing any distance.

Some far from home, lonely PFC in the last 110 years shot a birch tree on FTWW with a FMJ bullet. I would have had to miss it in the log with my chainsaw, miss it with my splitter while dealing with rounds, and have it buried deep enough in a split that it didn't come out when I was knocking two splits together to get the snow off.

Dunno what else to think, but my stove is running great. Exhaust plume is legal. I bought the inside temp up 11 degrees in under 2 hours, as usual, outside temp is about -20dF. IR thermometer on the eco fan base is showing me 366dF. Wife is dressed fetchingly, have to go now.

 

[blueguy]

Good to hear you found the problem and it's running great again

 

[Usernamemustbeunique]

So I am back in the saddle from #1137 above.

With the telescope lifted my pipe looked freaking great. I left work early enough today to catch sunlight at the top of the stack from below and looked around real good with my tacticool 600 lumen light.

I stuck a 500W halogen light in the cold empty firebox and confirmed the bypass gasket makes a light tight seal with the bypass door on all four sides.

The back side of the cat had a narrow band of fly ash along the bottom edge, but I couldn't see most of the back of the cat because of that huge piece of steel welded to the roof of the firebox hanging down into the cat exhaust. I bet I recover a bunch of heat from that structure.

I lifted the cat shield off the front for the first time ever, my BK dealer put it in place as part of the stove install in May 2014. A BUNCH of fly ash on the front face of the cat.

I put the lamp shade tool on the vacuum cleaner, did the back side first and then the face. I was real gentle to not screw up the cat, but a hemispherical chunk, about the same diameter as a penny fell out of the front face anyway. Then I shined my light into the face of the cat, couldn't see jack doodle for light coming through the cat body and got my dealer on the phone.

They had both a new gasket and a new cat in stock, agreed as group (the one guy I was talking to queried two other folks without putting me on hold) that I should be seeing light though the cat and confirmed their closing time.

Knowing I was minimally in for a vat of boiling vinegar water and a trip to the dealer for a new gasket I pulled the cat.

Once I had it out I found at least a third of the exit side of the cat covered in a green - almost like a wash - some kind of green foam looking stuff in a bead on all the foils of the cat. Copper probably right?

Copper isn't a serious cat poison - but lead is. My cat was pretty well plugged with fly ash on the through holes that were surrounded by the green foam on the back side.

So I took the gasket and the cat to the dealer and they gave me a new cat and a new gasket in warranty, no charge.

The guys at the shop weren't overwhelmed with the green on the back, though they noticed it. Once they pointed it out I could see significant cracking in my cat foils. They said if it was ceramic it would be "burnt out" but they don't have a lot of experience with steel cats coming back in.

I had a private moment with one of the senior employees and asked him straight up if he was giving me a new cat because I spend a lot of money there, or was this a legit in warranty cat exchange. I pointed out that my wife was going to ask what I need to differently in the future.... He was all about legit cat exchange.

So I came home with a new cat and a new gasket. Holy press fit Batman!! I was worried the stove was going to start scooting across the hearth, but it didn't. If you get to do one of these the key seems to be once you have it oozing into the dome keep on pushing, because when you stop you have to start all over applying enough force gently to get it oozing again. Much easier to keep it oozing into place than to get it started oozing.

So copper and lead. I am flummoxed.

I got married and moved into this house in May 2011. I last loaded jacketed rifle ammunition in August 2011. I took my wife moose hunting in September 2011. She tagged out on a tender and delicious little fork bull less than 24 hours after arriving at moose camp, at 75 yards with a 30-30. I have field dressed probably a dozen moose in the last eight years. Except for one "outlier" at 235 yards, all the rest have been inside 100 yards, most of them inside 75 yards.

I got serious about big bore handgun in October of 2011. Keeping up with a wife and an expensive rifle at moose camp is double duty. High volume handgun shooters shoot cast lead bullets with no copper jackets on them. I truly have not handled a jacketed bullet in four years.

I do have two gunbelts, a nice one for church and stuff and a beat up one for outdoors and physical labor. In summer 2014 I did drill the rivets, shorten the belts (leather stretches) and re-rivet with copper. I specifically remember recovering all four copper rivet cut offs because I have slipped on one of those before and it is no fun.

The logs I am burning this year were delivered in October 2014. They were cut on Fort Wainwright (US Army) as green standing under contract. And I got mildew on them this summer, and have mildew allergies in the house. All the wood I am burning this year gets carried through the garage where my reloading bench and supplies are, but doesn't get stored in the garage.

These are all I can think of for mechanisms to get lead and copper into my firebox:

Malicious child driving a bare bullet into a split with a hammer. My kids don't work that hard and don't hate me. I have bent over backwards to not be the sort of step father kids hate.

House cat carrying bare bullet to wood pile and swatting it hard enough to lodge into a crack in a split. I doubt it. The only thing I have seen our cat carry for distance is a wounded mouse. As soon as they stop wriggling, she eats them. Food she eats wherever it is handed to her- though she will bat olives around a bit before swallowing. Hard shiny things she will will toy with, but I have never seen her carry such a thing any distance.

Some far from home, lonely PFC in the last 110 years shot a birch tree on FTWW with a FMJ bullet. I would have had to miss it in the log with my chainsaw, miss it with my splitter while dealing with rounds, and have it buried deep enough in a split that it didn't come out when I was knocking two splits together to get the snow off.

Dunno what else to think, but my stove is running great. Exhaust plume is legal. I bought the inside temp up 11 degrees in under 2 hours, as usual, outside temp is about -20dF. IR thermometer on the eco fan base is showing me 366dF. Wife is dressed fetchingly, have to go now.

Thats some seriously random chit right there! Even more amazing is that I read it all.

How old was your cat?