Hey George,
I've been battling seasoned wood issues myself, the last three years. It takes a good three years to get oak down to proper moisture content, and I seem to be getting a lot of oak to process every year. Every time I get on track to actually getting three years ahead, something like last winter happens, which sets me back a half year in my processing. I'm burning oak and ash that's split and stacked 18 months (2 summers + 1 winter) right now, and while the ash burns great, the oak is a little bit of a struggle.
I keep a thermometer on my stovetop, for the purpose of making sure I don't overheat the stove (eg. 700+), but have completely gotten away from using it to "drive" the stove. Here's my basic process for reloads (which is all I'm doing this time of year):
1. When prior load burns down to < 400F, open air. When stove can no longer maintain 400F with air full open, it's time to reload.
2. Open bypass damper and reload stove, and set timer for 8 - 15 minutes, depending on size of load, size of coal bed, species, etc.
3. When stovepipe thermometer (magnetic mounted to outside of single wall pipe about 18" above stove) hits 550F, close bypass damper. Set timer for 5 minutes.
4. When timer goes off, verify catalytic probe thermometer > 550F. Lower air to half, and set timer for another 5 minutes.
5. When timer goes off, verify catalytic probe thermometer > 800F. Lower air to quarter, and set timer for another 5 minutes.
6. When timer goes off, verify catalytic probe thermometer > 1000F. Close air, and set timer for 5 - 10 minutes.
7. When timer goes off, verify cat did not stall out. Catalytic probe temp usually cruises around 1400F.
If probe temp is low at any of those timer intervals, I just delay lowering air by another five minutes, while watching stovetop temp to ensure I do not overfire stove.
Hope this helps!