2018-19 Blaze King Performance Thread Part 2 (Everything BK)

[dh1989]

@darktower007 I believe so, I've had my best luck on reloads when there's almost an inch ash or more in the firebox with the coals raked forward. Perhaps he didn't have a big volume of coals, they were not raked forward, or the air wasn't turned all the way up.
Sometimes I'll load and have to keep the door open sitting on the latch to help get things going, or sometimes the door will be shut and I'll see no flames but smoke being pushed downward (air wash effect) I'll then open the door and toss a lit match in there or hold my torch to the front and get things going so it isn't smoking crazy for a long period of time.

Rake coals as far forward as you can, into a pile along the front firebrick lip. Set ends of splits on coals and press them down in the coals. Close door against latch but leave unlatched. When you see smoke rolling from the ends of the splits stick that match into the coals and let it ignite the wood smoke. Leave the door unlatched a while longer until you get a raging inferno going.

If that’s not working the wood may be too wet/frozen.

 

[BKVP]

Ok so trying a new process. Raked coals from a load of hardwoods forward. Then placed a NIELS East West to bring massive heat to the coals. Will update!

 

[MissMac]

Can some of you more experienced fellas tell me how you handle removing some ash from the stove without letting it cool down? Ive been burning a bunch of Manitoba maple, and it’s created a hell of a lot of accumulation in the stove (about up to the lip of the stove door opening, but it’s gonna be in the minus 20*C range here so i sure don’t want to let the fire got out! Open door, shovel some ash into a bucket, load stove and go? I’m concerned that the hot ash i shovel will create some smoke etc in the house and set alarms off? Also, I’d like to keep the fire active and do it, and it just seems like stuff will be way too hot. What do you all do?

 

[kennyp2339]

Can some of you more experienced fellas tell me how you handle removing some ash from the stove without letting it cool down? Ive been burning a bunch of Manitoba maple, and it’s created a hell of a lot of accumulation in the stove (about up to the lip of the stove door opening, but it’s gonna be in the minus 20*C range here so i sure don’t want to let the fire got out! Open door, shovel some ash into a bucket, load stove and go? I’m concerned that the hot ash i shovel will create some smoke etc in the house and set alarms off? Also, I’d like to keep the fire active and do it, and it just seems like stuff will be way too hot. What do you all do?

I usually split the fire box in half e & w, i'll rack all larger coals to on side, scoop out the other, then rack everything back to the other side and scoop it out again.

 

[Diabel]

Can some of you more experienced fellas tell me how you handle removing some ash from the stove without letting it cool down? Ive been burning a bunch of Manitoba maple, and it’s created a hell of a lot of accumulation in the stove (about up to the lip of the stove door opening, but it’s gonna be in the minus 20*C range here so i sure don’t want to let the fire got out! Open door, shovel some ash into a bucket, load stove and go? I’m concerned that the hot ash i shovel will create some smoke etc in the house and set alarms off? Also, I’d like to keep the fire active and do it, and it just seems like stuff will be way too hot. What do you all do?

Make sure you use a metal bucket and put it away from the house.

 

[MissMac]

I usually split the fire box in half e & w, i'll rack all larger coals to on side, scoop out the other, then rack everything back to the other side and scoop it out again.

So besides being able to stuff more wood into the box once you clean it out, is there any other reason that you have to scoop the ash when it gets close to the lip? Isn’t this recommended simply to prevent hot coals from easily rolling out the door, or is there another reason too?

 

[kennyp2339]

So besides being able to stuff more wood into the box once you clean it out, is there any other reason that you have to scoop the ash when it gets close to the lip? Isn’t this recommended simply to prevent hot coals from easily rolling out the door, or is there another reason too?

Its full needs to be emptied, also you prob get more ash into the room everytime you reload

 

[jetsam]

Can some of you more experienced fellas tell me how you handle removing some ash from the stove without letting it cool down? Ive been burning a bunch of Manitoba maple, and it’s created a hell of a lot of accumulation in the stove (about up to the lip of the stove door opening, but it’s gonna be in the minus 20*C range here so i sure don’t want to let the fire got out! Open door, shovel some ash into a bucket, load stove and go? I’m concerned that the hot ash i shovel will create some smoke etc in the house and set alarms off? Also, I’d like to keep the fire active and do it, and it just seems like stuff will be way too hot. What do you all do?

If it's coals, rake them forward, add a couple sticks or tiny splits, burn hot until coals are gone.

If it's ashes, let the fire go down to a manageable amount of coals (use the above to get rid of some if needed).

Rake all the coal into a mountain on one side (wear welding gloves, this gets very hot- sometimes it gets so hot I have to take a break for the welding gloves to cool).

When you've raked all the coals you can, shovel the ash out of the low side.

Now rake Coal Mountain into the hole you just made. Try to rake all the coals in the stove over to that side.

Now shovel the new low side.

If Coal Mountain is covering the ash in the middle of the stove, rake some of it i to the hole you just made, and shovel the ash out of the middle.

I use two ash shovels because even the heavy one gets so hot that the handle bends if I don't rotate them while shoveling.

I don't let the stove cool off unless I want to sweep the flue!

I like to keep my belly reasonably empty of ash, because burn times go down as the firebox size shrinks.

 

[moresnow]

I usually split the fire box in half e & w, i'll rack all larger coals to on side, scoop out the other, then rack everything back to the other side and scoop it out again.

My coal removal routine also. Moving the pail sideways away from the loading door with the loaded shovel in it helps me keep floating ash down as I slowly tip/slide the ash out of the shovel. Slow is the key here.

@BKVP Guessing you are just trying to shrink/use up your accumulated hardwood coals more efficiently to extend there usefulness and make more reloading room? Looks like its successful! Wish we had Niels here to play with.

 

[MissMac]

Thanks for the routines guys - gonna get an ash bucket and take a crack at it tomorrow. My stove has an ash pan, but at the risk of sounding dumb, i don’t think i’d use it for hot ashes, just once the stove has cooled off. I always find that ash slops out the back of the pan when i do use it. Also thought about using the ash pan as the bucket, and shoveling out the door into the pan, but doesn’t seem like a good idea to remove the ash drawer even if i leave the plug in when the stove is hot.

 

[Ashful]

Can some of you more experienced fellas tell me how you handle removing some ash from the stove without letting it cool down? Ive been burning a bunch of Manitoba maple, and it’s created a hell of a lot of accumulation in the stove (about up to the lip of the stove door opening, but it’s gonna be in the minus 20*C range here so i sure don’t want to let the fire got out! Open door, shovel some ash into a bucket, load stove and go? I’m concerned that the hot ash i shovel will create some smoke etc in the house and set alarms off? Also, I’d like to keep the fire active and do it, and it just seems like stuff will be way too hot. What do you all do?

I found the best solution for the 30 box to be a 4" cast iron drain grate, which I drop in place of the ash plug when it's time to remove ash. I just rake the coals and ash over this grate with an ash plow, until the ash sifts thru the grate, keeping all of the live coals in the stove.

Another key you might not have yet learned is how to burn down coals when they accumulate. I'm burning oak, and never want to wait as long as others might, to stuff the next load on top of the last. About twice a week I have enough live coals (golf ball to baseball size) that I can't open the door without them spilling out. Then I throw two or three splits in on the coal bed and run it wide open to burn them down. Softwoods are often praised for this task, but I make due with things like cherry and maple, I don't usually harvest softwoods.

My coal removal routine also.

I assume you mean ash removal, not coals. Never remove coals!

 

[Ashful]

Brought home 5200 lb of red oak today, in the snow. Will go back for the rest of this big boy next week, was short on time today. Biggest piece was 32” dia x 18’ long.

 

[MissMac]

I found the best solution for the 30 box to be a 4" cast iron drain grate, which I drop in place of the ash plug when it's time to remove ash. I just rake the coals and ash over this grate with an ash plow, until the ash sifts thru the grate, keeping all of the live coals in the stove.

Another key you might not have yet learned is how to burn down coals when they accumulate. I'm burning oak, and never want to wait as long as others might, to stuff the next load on top of the last. About twice a week I have enough live coals (golf ball to baseball size) that I can't open the door without them spilling out. Then I throw two or three splits in on the coal bed and run it wide open to burn them down. Softwoods are often praised for this task, but I make due with things like cherry and maple, I don't usually harvest softwoods.


I assume you mean ash removal, not coals. Never remove coals!

So you use the ash pan when you have live coals?

 

[moresnow]

I found the best solution for the 30 box to be a 4" cast iron drain grate, which I drop in place of the ash plug when it's time to remove ash. I just rake the coals and ash over this grate with an ash plow, until the ash sifts thru the grate, keeping all of the live coals in the stove.

Another key you might not have yet learned is how to burn down coals when they accumulate. I'm burning oak, and never want to wait as long as others might, to stuff the next load on top of the last. About twice a week I have enough live coals (golf ball to baseball size) that I can't open the door without them spilling out. Then I throw two or three splits in on the coal bed and run it wide open to burn them down. Softwoods are often praised for this task, but I make due with things like cherry and maple, I don't usually harvest softwoods.


I assume you mean ash removal, not coals. Never remove coals!

Um.... Yes

 

[BKVP]

My coal removal routine also. Moving the pail sideways away from the loading door with the loaded shovel in it helps me keep floating ash down as I slowly tip/slide the ash out of the shovel. Slow is the key here.

@BKVP Guessing you are just trying to shrink/use up your accumulated hardwood coals more efficiently to extend there usefulness and make more reloading room? Looks like its successful! Wish we had Niels here to play with.

It worked great! It reduced coals about twice as effectively as just taking forward.

 

[MissMac]

I found the best solution for the 30 box to be a 4" cast iron drain grate, which I drop in place of the ash plug when it's time to remove ash. I just rake the coals and ash over this grate with an ash plow, until the ash sifts thru the grate, keeping all of the live coals in the stove.

Another key you might not have yet learned is how to burn down coals when they accumulate. I'm burning oak, and never want to wait as long as others might, to stuff the next load on top of the last. About twice a week I have enough live coals (golf ball to baseball size) that I can't open the door without them spilling out. Then I throw two or three splits in on the coal bed and run it wide open to burn them down. Softwoods are often praised for this task, but I make due with things like cherry and maple, I don't usually harvest softwoods.


I assume you mean ash removal, not coals. Never remove coals!

And yes, burning them down now actually with a load of jack pine. Just haven’t encountered the need to empty ashes on a hot load yet, with it being my second year and used to running only jack pine. However now with all the maple there’s a lot more build up a lot quicker, so need to deal with it but without wanting to let the stove go cold.

 

[moresnow]

And yes, burning them down now actually with a load of jack pine. Just haven’t encountered the need to empty ashes on a hot load yet, with it being my second year and used to running only jack pine. However now with all the maple there’s a lot more build up a lot quicker, so need to deal with it but without wanting to let the stove go cold.

Gotta love that pine My experience is the same. Very convenient stuff from seasoning time to the amount of residual ash .

 

[kennyp2339]

Brought in some 3 year big split cotton wood, when it comes to lighter type hard woods I just split bigger

 

[Ashful]

And yes, burning them down now actually with a load of jack pine. Just haven’t encountered the need to empty ashes on a hot load yet, with it being my second year and used to running only jack pine. However now with all the maple there’s a lot more build up a lot quicker, so need to deal with it but without wanting to let the stove go cold.

Maple gets half credit as a hardwood, along with sassafras, here. My stacks are at least 85% oak, with most of the balance being ash. There's an occasional maple, walnut, or sassafras mixed it... but not much!

I have one pine tree, it's sitting on my back yard burn pile, waiting for dry weather!

 

[BKVP]

A second NIELS has reduced the coals by 80%! I like this technique.

 

[redktmrider]

Biggest piece was 32” dia x 18’ long.

I had an oak like that a couple years ago. It made me want a hydraulic log lift on my splitter.

 

[Diabel]

Brought home 5200 lb of red oak today, in the snow. Will go back for the rest of this big boy next week, was short on time today. Biggest piece was 32” dia x 18’ long.

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Those logs make your JD look like a toy.

 

[tarzan]

Brought home 5200 lb of red oak today, in the snow. Will go back for the rest of this big boy next week, was short on time today. Biggest piece was 32” dia x 18’ long.]

I feel for you. I’d rather not mess with anything that big if I can keep from it but I have a similar sized white oak that uprooted and fell into one of the fields I need to get started on.

 

[charger4406]

Still on my original cat but I guess I need a replacement now,
last night I reloaded after 16hrs and got the stove up to temp
then charred the load as usual but this time when I dial back the
stat the cat prob went down right along with it.
I gave it a bath in sept, '17 after it had degraded some, but this is different,
has anyone have their cat just give up like that.

 

[charger4406]

visible smoke out the chimney unless I get it hot enough to have secondaries
when dialed to about the 4 o'clock position.