To cut a long story short, I’ve got a new Lopi Freedom insert and unseasoned wood. I’ve got oak that was felled and split last Spring, and hickory that was felled in Spring but not split until October. The first few weekends with my new insert used up the end of my seasoned supply, and while the new oak was surprisingly down to 22-25%, it was clearly not burning well. I tried to find some hickory that I’d split early, but the best I could find was still at 22%, no better than the oak, but I thought I’d give it a try.
I laid two medium (4-5â€) splits on the coals, cracked the door for a few minutes, closed the bypass, and reduced the air to within 3/4†of closed, the same pattern I’d found worked well with the last of the seasoned oak. I watched yellow flames catch the logs and thought that this looks like poplar, pretty but probably wasn’t going to make much heat or last very long.
Fifteen minutes later, I came back into the kitchen and a wall of heat hit me in the face, the stovetop was at 700 and judging by the expansion sounds, still climbing fast. I shut the air off and watched in panic and then delight as the temperature held steady at 650 and pumped out heat for hours more. At 11pm, I put in two more splits, let them catch and closed the air all the way. At 6:15am, the room was still 70F, the stovetop was about 200, and the glowing embers readily reignited a new split. I’m holding off on my review of the insert until I’ve used more properly seasoned wood, but it’s safe to say I’m more than happy already; I’ve got at least a cord of that hickory.
Clearly BTU’s do not tell the whole story, how fast the wood can release those BTUs may be just as important. Is this normal for hickory, are there other (hard)woods like this, and if so, how can I burn any slower?
TE
I laid two medium (4-5â€) splits on the coals, cracked the door for a few minutes, closed the bypass, and reduced the air to within 3/4†of closed, the same pattern I’d found worked well with the last of the seasoned oak. I watched yellow flames catch the logs and thought that this looks like poplar, pretty but probably wasn’t going to make much heat or last very long.
Fifteen minutes later, I came back into the kitchen and a wall of heat hit me in the face, the stovetop was at 700 and judging by the expansion sounds, still climbing fast. I shut the air off and watched in panic and then delight as the temperature held steady at 650 and pumped out heat for hours more. At 11pm, I put in two more splits, let them catch and closed the air all the way. At 6:15am, the room was still 70F, the stovetop was about 200, and the glowing embers readily reignited a new split. I’m holding off on my review of the insert until I’ve used more properly seasoned wood, but it’s safe to say I’m more than happy already; I’ve got at least a cord of that hickory.
Clearly BTU’s do not tell the whole story, how fast the wood can release those BTUs may be just as important. Is this normal for hickory, are there other (hard)woods like this, and if so, how can I burn any slower?
TE
