How much ash do you have?

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infinitymike

Minister of Fire
Aug 23, 2011
1,835
Long Island, NY
This what I have collected since 10/18/11

I heard its good to spread out in the veggie garden, whatta think?


1008712.jpg
 
That's quite a bit. My crap furnace fills a 5 gallon foundation coating bucket in about 3 weeks. Guess that's a lot too.

I save all mine for when the driveway is icy - works great for that. If I have any left over in the spring, I have lots of places out around to dump it out.

I have also heard you can spread it out around your lawn too.
 
Holy smokes. How much wood have you burned? That right there is about five years worth for me. Seriously.
 
How many gallon is the pail ? What kind of wood have you been burning ?
 
Good for the garden, but will raise pH. If you have areas on your lawn that grow moss better than grass, they're acidic. Ash will help that. It also has lots of potassium (potash), and that will help your vegetable plants to flower. Too much can harm things too, by making the pH too basic.
 
FarmerTan said:
Good for the garden, but will raise pH. If you have areas on your lawn that grow moss better than grass, they're acidic. Ash will help that. It also has lots of potassium (potash), and that will help your vegetable plants to flower. Too much can harm things too, by making the pH too basic.
Ditto: I use it in the vegetable garden, and on the lawn to raise PH. Soils in the northeast are generally below neutral in ph due to the significant rainfall leaching the calcium away. it's best to test the ph and apply accordingly.
My lawn is much healthier after a couple years of application. They say the leftover wood coals are beneficial as a soil amendment also.
 
stee6043 said:
Holy smokes. How much wood have you burned? That right there is about five years worth for me. Seriously.

About 2 1/2 cord of maple, locust and cherry that was c/s/s late sept this year. Still really green.

Oh and to edit my original post thats since 11/18/11 when I first fired up. Makes things worse.
I hop is because of the wet wood that I'm getting so much.
 
maple1 said:
T
I save all mine for when the driveway is icy - works great for that. .

Doesn't that make the driveway really dirty and mucky where you end up tracking it in the house? Or does it just disintegrate?
 
I been putting it on my garden for a couple years. Mainly for potash.

Haven't been concerned about messing with the pH too much because I have been applying high calcium lime every fall as well. 2 ton/acre of the high cal lime. Raising hellish veggies.

I soil test it every spring to make sure I'm not getting carried away. Once I hit my target soil readings, I will pick an acre out of the 330 acres I have around me to start "ashing". Last year I burned 8 cords of hardwood and had a 40 gal trash can full.
 
infinitymike said:
maple1 said:
T
I save all mine for when the driveway is icy - works great for that. .

Doesn't that make the driveway really dirty and mucky where you end up tracking it in the house? Or does it just disintegrate?

The only time any gets tracked into the house is the very odd time when I might sprinkle some right outside the door on an icy doorstep. Even then it is very minimal, hardly noticeable, and stops at the mat just inside the door. It will actually sink into the ice as it gets working (only takes a little bit of sun on it) and gradually disappear. No muck at all, works way better than salt and won't corrode concrete. Try it - I think you'll like it. Start close to the road if you're leery. Just be careful not to toss a shovel full into the wind when you're spreading - can leave a bad taste in the mouth.
 
infinitymike said:
This what I have collected since 10/18/11

I heard its good to spread out in the veggie garden, whatta think?

Seems like a reasonable amount of ash to me.

I use some broken pallets for kindling. Occasionally some nails get into the mix so I'm reluctant to use it on the lawn. Works well on the garden beds.

hr


1008712.jpg
 
maple1 said:
infinitymike said:
maple1 said:
T
I save all mine for when the driveway is icy - works great for that. .

Doesn't that make the driveway really dirty and mucky where you end up tracking it in the house? Or does it just disintegrate?

The only time any gets tracked into the house is the very odd time when I might sprinkle some right outside the door on an icy doorstep. Even then it is very minimal, hardly noticeable, and stops at the mat just inside the door. It will actually sink into the ice as it gets working (only takes a little bit of sun on it) and gradually disappear. No muck at all, works way better than salt and won't corrode concrete. Try it - I think you'll like it. Start close to the road if you're leery. Just be careful not to toss a shovel full into the wind when you're spreading - can leave a bad taste in the mouth.

Thanks for the idea! I poured my pole barn approach late in the fall. I do not want to put salt on it this year. When it does get icy I will try some of the ash.

My Econoburn would take months to collect that much ash. But I bet it is because the Wood Gun Cyclone captures it. The other boilers blow a lot of the fine ash right out in the exhaust stream.


gg
 
Mike,

I see some larger pieces in your ash. I think that is why you may have more than some. All of it should be very fine if burned well. May be because the wood is wet. And I guess it would depend on what kind of wood we are all burning as well. I would estimate that I have about 3/4 of that Ash amount you have and I have been burning since October 1. Had colder temps and have a larger heat load. I have been through between 9-10 face cord so far. I am glad it has been mild so far this winter. :lol: I think my original hope of going through 20-24 face cord a year may be off a little if we have a "real" winter. I may end up using 26-30 face cord with a cold one.

As far as using the ash on your garden, it is good for your veggies. I did remember something about your wood source though. You said at one time you were using hardwood flooring scraps. My brother is in the hardwood flooring business and he also custom builds hardwood stair cases, some cabinets, etc. Whenever we empty his wood dust collection system in the shop, or he empties his ashes from his woodstove, he has to dump the ashes into the garbage, after they have cooled of course, if he has planed, jointed, molded, or burned any wood with any finish on it. As long as the wood had no finish on it, or he has not done any work with P.T. wood, it all goes into the garden. Ash and wood dust/chips.

There is some nasty chemicals in some of that stuff. Don't want to be eating it. :lol: Have a good one man.
 
goosegunner said:
My Econoburn would take months to collect that much ash. But I bet it is because the Wood Gun Cyclone captures it. The other boilers blow a lot of the fine ash right out in the exhaust stream.


gg

I like that answer the best. Also alot of the ash is right from the burn chamber. In the first month it was still very warm, I was overloading it and the fire would die out in a few hours. So I would empty everything and start over, not thinking about the charcoal that was still useable.
 
Gasifier said:
Mike,

I see some larger pieces in your ash. I think that is why you may have more than some. All of it should be very fine if burned well. May be because the wood is wet. And I guess it would depend on what kind of wood we are all burning as well. I would estimate that I have about 3/4 of that Ash amount you have and I have been burning since October 1. Had colder temps and have a larger heat load. I have been through between 9-10 face cord so far. I am glad it has been mild so far this winter. :lol: I think my original hope of going through 20-24 face cord a year may be off a little if we have a "real" winter. I may end up using 26-30 face cord with a cold one.

As far as using the ash on your garden, it is good for your veggies. I did remember something about your wood source though. You said at one time you were using hardwood flooring scraps. My brother is in the hardwood flooring business and he also custom builds hardwood stair cases, some cabinets, etc. Whenever we empty his wood dust collection system in the shop, or he empties his ashes from his woodstove, he has to dump the ashes into the garbage, after they have cooled of course, if he has planed, jointed, molded, or burned any wood with any finish on it. As long as the wood had no finish on it, or he has not done any work with P.T. wood, it all goes into the garden. Ash and wood dust/chips.

There is some nasty chemicals in some of that stuff. Don't want to be eating it. :lol: Have a good one man.

What is a face cord?
 
What is a face cord?

According to the North Eastern Yankee Institute of Wood Technology, a face cord is considered the one and only correctly measured unit of cord wood! It is 24 feet long, 12 feet high, and 36 feet deep. And we stack it like that as well. Us Yankee folk do it the only way, the right way.
 
Gasifier said:
What is a face cord?

According to the North Eastern Yankee Institute of Wood Technology, a face cord is considered the one and only correctly measured unit of cord wood! It is 24 feet long, 12 feet high, and 36 feet deep. And we stack it like that as well. Us Yankee folk do it the only way, the right way.

Actually in my book its 4ft wide 12ft deep 10ft tall :lol: Just kidding lol

Pete
 
It is, whatever us yankees make it, from wherever we are from in God's country up here. I needed my face cord to be bigger. Al Gore came over a few years ago to help me make my home environmentally friendly or "green". By the time he left I had 37, 777 sq.ft. to heat. I go through some friggin wood man.
 
Gasifier said:
What is a face cord?

According to the North Eastern Yankee Institute of Wood Technology, a face cord is considered the one and only correctly measured unit of cord wood! It is 24 feet long, 12 feet high, and 36 feet deep. And we stack it like that as well. Us Yankee folk do it the only way, the right way.

Boy 26 to 30 face cord. @ 24'x12'x36 :ahhh: I dont know if your doin it right ! should have bought an Eko you would be burning a hell of a lot less wood. :lol:
 
Measurement of firewood
Firewood at a local market ready for saleUsually firewood is sold by volume. While a specific volume term may be used, there can be a wide variation in what this means and what the measure can produce as a fuel. For example, a cord which is made from 4-foot (1.22 m) logs, will not be a cord when it is cut into 1 foot logs and these split so each piece will fit through a 3-inch (7.6 cm) circle. A measure of green unseasoned wood with 65% moisture contains less usable energy than when it has been dried to 20%. Regardless of the term, firewood measurement is best thought of as an estimate.

[edit] MetricIn the metric system, firewood is normally sold by the stère (1 cubic meter / 0.276 cords}. It is also sold to consumers by the kilogram. In Australia, firewood is normally sold by the tonne.

[edit] EuropeanFaggot a bundle of small pieces of wood.
[edit] North AmericaIn the United States and Canada, firewood is usually sold by the full cord, face cord or bag.

A full cord or bush cord measures four feet high by four feet wide by eight feet long (1.22 m × 1.22 m × 2.44 m) and has a volume of 128 cubic feet (3.6 m3). The most common firewood piece length is 16 inches (41 cm), or one-third of a full cord.[10] The actual wood volume of a cord may be in the range of 80 to 100 cubic feet (2.3 to 2.8 m3) as stacked wood takes up more space than a piece of solid wood.
A face cord is one third of a full or bush cord stack of wood that is 4 by 8 ft (1.22 by 2.44 m) by 16 in (41 cm) and has a volume of 42.6 cubic feet (1.21 m3).[10]

You guys are funny. Are you sure your not burning faggots Gasser.
 
I have a fair amount of ash.
 

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[quote author="huffdawg" date="1326479818"

[edit] EuropeanFaggot a bundle of small pieces of wood.
[edit] North AmericaIn the United States and Canada, firewood is usually sold by the full cord, face cord or bag.

A full cord or bush cord measures four feet high by four feet wide by eight feet long (1.22 m × 1.22 m × 2.44 m) and has a volume of 128 cubic feet (3.6 m3). The most common firewood piece length is 16 inches (41 cm), or one-third of a full cord.[10] The actual wood volume of a cord may be in the range of 80 to 100 cubic feet (2.3 to 2.8 m3) as stacked wood takes up more space than a piece of solid wood.
A face cord is one third of a full or bush cord stack of wood that is 4 by 8 ft (1.22 by 2.44 m) by 16 in (41 cm) and has a volume of 42.6 cubic feet (1.21 m3).[10]

You guys are funny. Are you sure your not burning faggots Gasser. [/quote]

Great..now I got coffee all over my desk and plans.....but worth the laugh..thank you!
Btw in France they burn faggots in their bread ovens...fastest heat, they claim.

Back on post..From Oct 1st to Jan 10(last cleaning of 3), 1.5 cb ft of ash, from 2.5 cords of mostly ash.

Scott
 
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