Ok, on my third year of burning and I am jeaous of all you folks out there that get like a 1/4 cup of soot after cleaning your chimney. I burn about 2 cords/year in my insert, and always get about 1 gallon of the light/flaky stuff. I've been burning mainly maple, beech and some oak, and usually let it season 1 1/2 years stacked using the cross method.