Mixing woods

rudysmallfry · Jan 24, 2015

I had an interesting thing happen yesterday. I was in a hurry and reloaded my stove with whatever was on top of the wood pile instead of taking time to sort out what might be best for the moment. I threw a piece of birch, cherry and maple in there and went off the do something else. Five minutes later I came back to find almost a runaway fire. The flames were absolutely racing and the stack was approaching 800 fast. I was able to get it back under control, but wondered if mixing woods of different burning properties is a good or bad thing? Does mixing a piece that burns off quickly with one that is longer burning defeat how the stove operates in terms of one piece already being to the secondaries stage while another one is still off gassing? Sorry I am drinking wine and tend to get very analytical.

matt1@ · Jan 24, 2015

I'm probably nuts but I like to put fast burning wood on the bottom and slow burning wood like oak on the top. It seems to work well to get secondaries firing and they burn the top wood. Works well for intermediate daytime burns. Overnight I try to use mostly hardwood like oak. That's the beauty of wood burning, every day is an new experiment! Enjoy the wine

rideau · Jan 24, 2015

Probably the birch bark helping things along.

I never worry about mixing wood...don't think it makes any difference, other than the basic differences inherent in the individual species and how they burn.

That said, a lot of birch bark will get a fire hot very quickly and thus help your other woods to get going quickly...solution would just be to close everything down sooner. Lesson would be to watch the fire carefully when loading with birch bark covered wood, until you have it settled for the long haul.

I find birch bark is usually burning pretty darn briskly before I even have the door closed.

mark cline · Jan 25, 2015

Mixing wood species or using a full load of the same species is not the problem here. I'll just bet that the 5 min. , turned into 7-8 min or more . I never leave the stove open and go away from it , if I reload on a hot bed of coals. Be smart , don't put yourself into a situation that could burn your house down.

firefighterjake · Jan 25, 2015

I don't think I've ever loaded my stove up with just a single species of wood.

rideau · Jan 25, 2015

firefighterjake said:
I don't think I've ever loaded my stove up with just a single species of wood.

Wow! That's surprising. I tend to stack as I cut, so usually burn only one, or at most two species at once, unless I am deliberately mixing more and look for a third and even fourth variety.

begreen · Jan 25, 2015

I separate our hardwood from softwood in separate bays of the woodshed. During our normal milder winter weather we burn softwood, mostly doug fir. The hardwood comes out when temps start dipping into the 20s or lower. Last month I burned a combo of madrone and locust for a week or so. It was a pleasure to burn.

CenterTree · Jan 25, 2015

I seem to always mix woods. Just makes it more "fun". Variety is the spice of life.

I mix my ice cream flavors too.

Simonkenton · Jan 25, 2015

"Drinking wine and getting analytical." I like to do that, too.
I think you are getting over-analytical, I mix different species all the time, no problemo.

branchburner · Jan 25, 2015

mark cline said:
I'll just bet that the 5 min. , turned into 7-8 min or more .

Wine can do that. Transformation of time perception is one of its many wonderful/awful properties.

Never thought mixing species of wood as a potential problem... with the standing-dead-scrounged stack I'm working on now, virtually every time I load the stove it's a mix.

But mixing species of alcohol is a potential problem. I have done lots of research. The research tends to make me analytical, inspiring additional research, but somehow I seldom remember or record every last detail. Here's to the ongoing pursuit of knowledge!

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Mixing woods

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