Bring on Winter - Firewood Stoke

Marc said:

Ash dry or ash green, makes a fire fit for a queen.


I thought everyone knew that saying

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I actually just saw that online yesterday for the first time. :beer:

This tree was standing dead for the last two years. I really need a moisture meter...I'd love to get an exact reading. I'll toss a few splits on this weekend and report back. That test is usually pretty black and white: If it sizzles and my stove temp drops to 350F...too wet. If the temp starts to spike and I have to throttle back the primary air control...just right.

Glenn said:

I actually just saw that online yesterday for the first time. :beer:

This tree was standing dead for the last two years. I really need a moisture meter...I'd love to get an exact reading. I'll toss a few splits on this weekend and report back. That test is usually pretty black and white: If it sizzles and my stove temp drops to 350F...too wet. If the temp starts to spike and I have to throttle back the primary air control...just right.

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Just remember that as long as the tree is standing, even if it is still dead, will still wick water up through the roots into the heartwood of the trunk. Even ash which is a very dry wood when alive.

So if you're going to burn it, I'm quite sure will all burn, but burn it starting from the top and work your way to the wood towards the bottom. That will give the wettest part of the butt log the most time to dry.

And luckily for me, We cut and loaded my trailer with all wood from the top of the tree. So we'll see how this stuff does.

Ash splits so easy too. I mean, you could use a hatchet on the rounds and they'd practically pop apart....

Glenn said:

And luckily for me, We cut and loaded my trailer with all wood from the top of the tree. So we'll see how this stuff does.

Ash splits so easy too. I mean, you could use a hatchet on the rounds and they'd practically pop apart....

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It's easier than any other wood I've split. I've outright missed occasionally and it still splits.

My maul hit the driveway last night doing a test split. I hardly even wound up to swing.

I have found ash to be a pretty decent wood to burn. How is going for you?

Outstanding. My wife wanted to start a fire and operate the stove solo one night. She got a ripper of a fire going in short order...no help from me either! In fact, she got the firebox up to temp faster than I usually do! Once that happened, she threw on a few splits of ash. This stuff isn't 100% seasoned, so it'll hiss a bit when your first toss it on and the temp will back down a little. After that happened, the temp was up to 600. She was able to back down the primary air control to about fully shut and it the stove cruised a long at 525-550 or so for quite awhile. It was awesome.