What Is In Your Stove Right Now?

[Chas0218]

Loaded her this morning with Ash again, in case most of you haven't noticed I burn pretty much only Ash.

On average what does it take everyone to get a fire going from coals to secondary burn? I'm in the 30 minute range but not sure if I'm trying to get it going too fast. I usually load it up leave the door cracked until she gets going pretty good shut the door and adjust the air about half open then slowly full closed over the next 15-20 minutes.

 

[Kevin Weis]

Nothing right now. Didn't have time to get it going before leaving for work. So the furnace will be fine for today. Gives me a chance to clean the glass when I get home. Kevin

 

[thewoodlands]

We have some soft and sugar maple going in the liberty this afternoon.

 

[SpaceBus]

Stove working through some hard maple. It is suppose to warm up tomorrow. Found some pine and more (dreaded) hemlock, that will be on the menu for tomorrow.

What's wrong with hemlock? That's pretty much all I burn our property is mostly white spruce (eastern Hemlock), Red Spruce, with a few birch, ash, and maple making up about 15%.

 

[Diabel]

What's wrong with hemlock? That's pretty much all I burn our property is mostly white spruce (eastern Hemlock), Red Spruce, with a few birch, ash, and maple making up about 15%.

There is nothing wrong with it. Other than, it is not easy to get an overnight burn with it, since it produces next to nothing in terms of ash. And the bloody splinters!!

 

[Chimney Smoke]

Loaded her this morning with Ash again, in case most of you haven't noticed I burn pretty much only Ash.

On average what does it take everyone to get a fire going from coals to secondary burn? I'm in the 30 minute range but not sure if I'm trying to get it going too fast. I usually load it up leave the door cracked until she gets going pretty good shut the door and adjust the air about half open then slowly full closed over the next 15-20 minutes.

On a solid bed of coals I'm usually seeing secondaries within 10-15 minutes and the air is 3/4 closed by 20 minutes or so. Every once in a while if the wood has been recently brought inside and may be a bit damp it can stretch to 30-40 minutes before the air is 3/4 or more closed.

 

[SpaceBus]

There is nothing wrong with it. Other than, it is not easy to get an overnight burn with it, since it produces next to nothing in terms of ash. And the bloody splinters!!

I haven't had to split any green Hemlock, but it's not the easiest standing dead either. A few weeks ago a cut down a few red spruce for a friend and I gave up after splitting half the rounds from the first tree into 8"+ rounds... I usually wear gloves when I deal with either. Basically all of my wood burning experience as an adult has been Red and white spruce, ash, and yellow birch. The birch has treated us well to overnight burns, but three 4-6" hemlock splits will keep us warm overnight at 10° with a handful of active coals. Now that we have a modern stove, I go through maybe 10-12 4-6" splits a day. With the huge old broken smoke dragon that came with the house was more like 20 on a decent day, 30+ if it was actually cold.

 

[SpaceBus]

Since we are talking about it, here it is.

 

[Diabel]

I haven't had to split any green Hemlock, but it's not the easiest standing dead either. A few weeks ago a cut down a few red spruce for a friend and I gave up after splitting half the rounds from the first tree into 8"+ rounds... I usually wear gloves when I deal with either. Basically all of my wood burning experience as an adult has been Red and white spruce, ash, and yellow birch. The birch has treated us well to overnight burns, but three 4-6" hemlock splits will keep us warm overnight at 10° with a handful of active coals. Now that we have a modern stove, I go through maybe 10-12 4-6" splits a day. With the huge old broken smoke dragon that came with the house was more like 20 on a decent day, 30+ if it was actually cold.

Hemlock is tough to split by hand where you have the branch offshoots. If using hydrolics then piece of cake.

What is in the pic, took about 2h using a splitter and one man.

 

[SpaceBus]

View attachment 235997


Hemlock is tough to split by hand where you have the branch offshoots. If using hydrolics then piece of cake.

What is in the pic, took about 2h using a splitter and one man.

That would take me days by hand! Eventually I will have a splitter, but I'll be in great shape before too long! The offshoots really are a pain, even when it's pretty dry.

 

[jatoxico]

My uncovered stacks of hickory and oak got rained on for two days so using woodshed wood which is sugar maple and locust. Temp is dropping and it feels much colder than the thermometer says it is.

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

In the 40's tonight so pretty warm. Burning some tulip poplar and pine.

 

[thewoodlands]

We had a low of 5 this morning so the Liberty has some sugar maple,red maple and a few splits of yellow birch burning.

With just under a half inch of rain coming in on Friday, we'll start getting more wood inside tomorrow. We received 3-4 inches of snow on Dec 24 so things will be a mess around here if we get all that rain.

 

[Todd67]

Burning maple shorts and uglies while it's still "warm" outside (12 degrees now). I'll save the 18"-22" long maple splits for when it gets cold outside.

 

[thewoodlands]

We had a low of 7 this morning so we had some fires with red & sugar maple.

 

[Todd67]

Still burning those short & ugly maple splits. Calling for 9* tonight.

 

[steve62]

Does anyone burn Aspen? The property next to mine was logged last year. They took all the spruce and pine off and left all the Aspen. Anyone know how it burns in a Blaze King?

 

[Todd67]

Never burned Aspen before but if it's properly seasoned, I don't see any reason why it won't burn well.

 

[thewoodlands]

We have a low of 4.5 degrees this morning so we have some sugar & red maple going in the Liberty.

 

[woodey]

Single digits here this morning- a mix of beech and sugar maple keeping us warm now.

 

[Kevin Weis]

The Aspen I've seen is a soft light hardwood. Very light when dried. I'm sure it will burn okay but likely not any great burn time out of it. I have not burned any of that myself. Not a native tree in these parts. Planted as an ornamental. Think others may call it Cottonwood around here? Kevin

 

[Todd67]

The Aspen I've seen is a soft light hardwood. Very light when dried. I'm sure it will burn okay but likely not any great burn time out of it. I have not burned any of that myself. Not a native tree in these parts. Planted as an ornamental. Think others may call it Cottonwood around here? Kevin

It appears that they are very similar, according to this article;
http://uptreeid.com/Species/aspens.htm

 

[Dobish]

cottonwood is also called a quaking aspen. They burn quick and hot when dried. If it is easily accessible, I would say go for it. Get it split and stacked quick, as it will rot quickly.

 

[thewoodlands]

Even though it's a warmer day with rain, we have some sugar and red maple going in the Liberty.

 

[steve62]

Sitting here looking out the window, watching the snow fall " we have a heavy snow fall warning ". With a load of lodge pole pine in the blaze King classic. House at 19' C