That sounds weird. My guess is that you have small critters chewing on the inner bark. I've cut wood and neglected to pile it and cover it properly. The longest I have successfully left cut wood out in the open is 5 yrs and even then, the bottom of the pile got left there to finish rotting. Just not worth the effort of salvaging junk. If your wood was in a very damp & shaded area for 3 yrs., I can understand that it might be rotting.
Insane mess
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No. Wood is 100% burnable. The only non-burnable I ever found were nails from pallets that got missed and a lead bullet I found that someone (my son
) shot into a tree that was cut and burned.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Wow... Wouldn't imagine a lead bullet surviving a trip thru my firebox. Lead and its alloys usually have very low melt temperatures.
The answer is here^^^^^ problem solved, everyone is happy. I do know a lot of people around here with epa stoves don't like oak because the coals become too deep. My furnace does not have this issue.
It does melts but does not boil away. It's just a different shape. I have given a few back to him as keepsakes.
DoubleB
Minister of Fire
Over the last several posts I'm not sure we all have the same idea of what "clinkers" are. Are we talking coals? Or ash? In my furnace I get ash that stays stuck in 1-2" chunks, and I can see how it wouldn't fall between grates unless busted up. I shovel all mine out every day anyways so I don't care. I'm not sure what causes it, but I think the ash chunks are more prevalent from the splits that had thick bark. But I never had that in the former wood cookstove, where I was always loading 1 or 2 splits at a time every hour, which I think was enough frequent action to keep the ash chunks from forming.
My experience based on what I call clinkers ( a layer of ceramic-like ash ) is no, but a few splits of pine does burn down the coals when I'm trying to push the stove for heat burning nice dry oak and don't want to wait for the coal stage to finish.
Last year was the first time I've had a clinker the size of the bottom of the stove multiple times. I was burning exclusively red oak except for a little pine first thing in the morning or for a cold start.
I guess my only complaint was I didn't get many ashes last Winter to spread in the garden.
The clinker thingies I tossed in the old pine dump months after they were well cooled off.
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This sounds like my experience.
How do you figure? If it burned 100%, why doesn't the ash burn up?
claydogg84
Minister of Fire
Ash is a bi-product of burning wood. What you're describing is large chunks of ash/coal, which isn't so much a fault of the wood as it is of the operator.
Yes, but ash comes from the wood, no? So, if wood was 100% burnable, the ash would burn up, too. I'm talking the white powdery stuff now.
claydogg84
Minister of Fire
The ash would be somewhere around 3-5% of what was the original log. You're nitpicking nonsense when you should be more concerned with learning how to properly season/burn wood.
I was burning extremely low MC red oak that was stacked and top covered for 12-18 months and it was all 5 or so year dead standing red oak when it was cut,split and stacked. I still have 4 cords of it left for this year.
I got three cords of dead standing red oak short logs for my brother three weekends ago and he's real happy cuz he only had two cords for this Winter and last Winter he needed close to four. If he gets it cut and split like he says he will it should be ready February.
I have three cords of mostly soft maple short logs to cut and split for next year or the next and if someone were to offer me $250 a cord for it I'd likely let it go and buy some pellets or put it towards oil or saws and stuff. Kinda spoiled with the oak.
Maybe get some more oak for me when my knee gets better.
I was going to post saying that I agree with that, then I thought about it and it's not that simple. Incomplete combustion could be operator error, operator preference or stove design.
By operator preference, I am talking about many people who prefer to burn at what I call medium warm (300 to 350 deg range). Lots of people on this forum think that is normal. It gives you long burns and moderate heat but IMHO, produces more ash, more charcoal/klinkers/unburned crud and also more creosote (depending upon whether it's a cat or not). I used to burn at max. (600+) on my old VC because it was undersized for my house and I wanted HEAT. Now with my oversized Equinox, I often burn moderate hot (450) and yes, I get some charcoal/etc. when I burn at those temps using oak. If it's really cold outside, I will open the air a bit and burn hot and it gets rid of those problems.
So, how you burn, what you burn and stove design are all part of this. Also, oak at 20%+ moisture will produce more unburned crud that oak at 16%.
And I do agree that fine white fluffy ash is a byproduct of combustion, not incomplete combustion. When they cremate a body at high heat, you're left with ashes and some bones. The bones are incomplete combustion, the ashes are a byproduct. Too much info????
You're pissed because you made a definitive, blanket statement, and I called you on it, and I'm right.
3-5% still counts. Moving on...I try to burn this stove at 400-550 deg min twice a day when we're home and up. Overnight, we lower it. When the chimney guy comes to clean it out in the spring, 4 out of 4 times he said we did good. There is little creosote, and what little there is comes out easily, and is very small pieces, and powder. Now, I'm not saying that I have this thing completely down yet. I don't. There is a bigger learning curve that I thought. Part of my problem is that I try to overthink it. Sometimes, not always, I suspect part of the problem is the wood is not dry enough. That is, it's partially dry. Never "green".
I have red oak in my stacks that has been there since summer 2010, I have not experienced the issues the OP is experiencing.
I do get some small clumps of a porous ash-like substance that easily crumbles when poked. It's a natural part of burning and I don't mind it.
I do get some small clumps of a porous ash-like substance that easily crumbles when poked. It's a natural part of burning and I don't mind it.
claydogg84
Minister of Fire
You're pissed because you made a definitive, blanket statement, and I called you on it, and I'm right.
I'm not the person who stated that wood is 100% burnable. So, what exactly did you call me on?
jillybeansisme
Member
I've only burned wood since mid-Feb, so I'm a newbie. That being said, I've burned oak and fir. I'm a bad girl and admit that my wood should have been drier but still, I did not have issues with "clinkers". Any ashes I got fell apart when put in the ash can or shoveled out. I threw the ashes in the compost pile. The wood I have is on the covered patio on 2x4s. All I did to it was bang it on the patio to get the dirt off. Fast forward to now...the wood is still on the patio. I've swept the patio. It all seems fine but more dry.
If you have a yard blower (you know the thing you use to blow leaves etc from the yard), blow your wood pile! If you lived closed to Oregon, I'd take the wood off your hands in a heart beat!
If you have a yard blower (you know the thing you use to blow leaves etc from the yard), blow your wood pile! If you lived closed to Oregon, I'd take the wood off your hands in a heart beat!
ErikR
Burning Hunk
If you were closer I'd happily take all that crappy oak off your hands. I live on a hill surrounded by nothing but oaks and maples, so that's all I burn. Granted, it's in an open and inefficient zero clearance fireplace, but until I replace it with a wood stove, that's what I've got. I've scavenged all my wood out of the surrounding forest. Years ago, according to the neighbors, some type of disease came through and left me with a huge load of standing dead, dry, mostly bark-less oak. Keeping it off the ground and top covered, has proven to be the way to store it.
My B-I-L cut down a living oak a couple of years ago and gave me a lot of it. It's drying nicely and should be ready for next winter. He always has "issues" with his oak... He tells me, "it's dry", but I always let anything he gives me sit for another year just to be sure.
I have neighbors that buy wood in log length, store it under a huge tarp, then drag out a log, buck it and split it.... and burn it the same day. Their chimney looks like they're running an OWB in the house. Then they question my wood piles and tell me that it will all rot before I burn it. One guy told me oak builds creosote.. I tried to tell him it might be his method of wood storage and burning wet wood
When my oak burns, there's nothing left but ash.. no chunks.. never any unburned pieces.
If you have the time and space to store your oak, on pallets, split relatively small, top covered, in the wind or sunshine, let it sit another year or two... Then test a fresh split with an inexpensive moisture meter and if it's under 20%, I think you'd be happy with it.
Yes, oak can be slow drying when compared to other species, that's why a lot of wood burners try to have a 3 year supply on hand.... It's not to keep the cost down by hoarding all the wood you can buy/scavenge, but instead, it's about giving it ample time to dry... Wet wood is not something that burns nicely. Too much smoke, too little heat, creosote issues, unburned crap left in the fire box... It will make you question why you're burning wood at all...
Give it time... good luck!!
My B-I-L cut down a living oak a couple of years ago and gave me a lot of it. It's drying nicely and should be ready for next winter. He always has "issues" with his oak... He tells me, "it's dry", but I always let anything he gives me sit for another year just to be sure.
I have neighbors that buy wood in log length, store it under a huge tarp, then drag out a log, buck it and split it.... and burn it the same day. Their chimney looks like they're running an OWB in the house. Then they question my wood piles and tell me that it will all rot before I burn it. One guy told me oak builds creosote.. I tried to tell him it might be his method of wood storage and burning wet wood
When my oak burns, there's nothing left but ash.. no chunks.. never any unburned pieces.
If you have the time and space to store your oak, on pallets, split relatively small, top covered, in the wind or sunshine, let it sit another year or two... Then test a fresh split with an inexpensive moisture meter and if it's under 20%, I think you'd be happy with it.
Yes, oak can be slow drying when compared to other species, that's why a lot of wood burners try to have a 3 year supply on hand.... It's not to keep the cost down by hoarding all the wood you can buy/scavenge, but instead, it's about giving it ample time to dry... Wet wood is not something that burns nicely. Too much smoke, too little heat, creosote issues, unburned crap left in the fire box... It will make you question why you're burning wood at all...
Give it time... good luck!!
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
That right there is an impressive supply for a fire place burner - hope you get a stove soon
ErikR
Burning Hunk
You're right. DougA was the one who originally said it. But you are the one being impolite, and I was referring to these two posts..
.
OK, get over it and move on before the mods lock this up. 
I'm referring to all of us.
I'm referring to all of us.
claydogg84
Minister of Fire
Impolite? I'd rather just call it being honest. Instead of complaining about a species of wood, perhaps you should attempt to learn about it and how to season it correctly. Oak is not at fault here, you are, and I don't think you're grasping that.
Yes, I AM aware that I am technically at fault. But what I'm trying to say is that I don't want to put forth the effort, time and money to top cover every last bit of oak I have. It's easier to deal with other species that can take a little abuse. That's all.
On a brighter note, I'm into a stack that is almost 100% oak, but has been covered from day one. Much cleaner, tighter bark, and I randomly split open several bigger pieces, and all but one measured 14% on the MM. The other was 16%.
On a brighter note, I'm into a stack that is almost 100% oak, but has been covered from day one. Much cleaner, tighter bark, and I randomly split open several bigger pieces, and all but one measured 14% on the MM. The other was 16%.
brenndatomu
Minister of Fire
Oak will often leave hard chunks of ash (not the black chunks of charcoal that come from burning wet wood) some very hard, almost like coal clinkers (coal as in the hard black mined stuff) Sometimes it will have strange colors to it (often green/blue) I have heard that is from minerals that the tree has absorbed from the ground, obviously the soil varies a lot from place to place, so the wood can too. Then there is the factor of things that were buried in the tree, nails, bullets, stones, almost anything, it all can affect the combustion process.
The other thing that I have noticed that seems to affect Oak more than other species is the state of the tree when cut, live and leafed out, live and dormant, recent dead, long time standing dead, etc. Long time standing dead Oak is one of the ultimate firewood scores IMO, the top half of the tree is often bark free (or very loose) and ready to burn right away. Burns niiiice!
The other thing that I have noticed that seems to affect Oak more than other species is the state of the tree when cut, live and leafed out, live and dormant, recent dead, long time standing dead, etc. Long time standing dead Oak is one of the ultimate firewood scores IMO, the top half of the tree is often bark free (or very loose) and ready to burn right away. Burns niiiice!
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