Differences in secondary burn using different wood species

I have the same stove as you and I do get slightly different secondary action from different wood species. I have some very dry lodgepole pine that yields nice secondaries, but they don't put on the same kind of show as my oak and ash. I also have a bit of elm and it's the worst performer in terms of secondaries. I suspect it's not quite as well seasoned as my other wood.

Try taking a little more time before backing off the primary air. See if that makes the cherry put on a better show for you.

I've got this amazing beech that gives hours of river-like secondaries, then it goes out for about 15 minutes, then re-ignites into a solid wall of flame for another 1/2 hour. It's the most magical wood I ever burned. The biggest difference is this beech is very well seasoned, and the wood is extremely spalted. The tree was majorly twisted into a corkscrew, the most god-awful splitting wood I ever had.

fire_man said:

I've got this amazing beech that gives hours of river-like secondaries, then it goes out for about 15 minutes, then re-ignites into a solid wall of flame for another 1/2 hour. It's the most magical wood I ever burned. The biggest difference is this beech is very well seasoned, and the wood is extremely spalted. The tree was majorly twisted into a corkscrew, the most god-awful splitting wood I ever had.

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Tony, that stuff sounds enchanted. I love squirrely wood... long as someone else is splitting it.

NH_Wood said:

Hey everyone! I've been burning mainly ash for the last 6 weeks and got used to the quality of the secondaries. I just started burning pure loads of cherry for the daytime burns and I'm finding quite a differences in the secondaries. The ash, and even more so with pure loads of oak, have very 'thick' secondaries - looks like rivers of fire exiting the holes of the secondary tubes. With cherry, the secondaries are much more 'wispy'. Hard to come up with the best adjectives for the flames, but wondering if anyone else notices major differences in the quality of the secondaries using different woods. Cheers!

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Sounds like I am going to have to stop by to enjoy the display!

Bitternut Hickory gives me good, strong, long secondaries and hot burns. Sugar Maple - nearly the same. I also found Cherry secondaries to be less long-lasting and less strong. The spruce and pine I burn barely give me any secondaries at all - I need to toss in a chunk of maple with it to get them to ignite off.

Since we're talking about secondary durations, I'm curious if anyone can put a time to it. I've no idea if my secondary action (downdraft) time falls into place with what everybody else sees with their stoves. Of course, I don't really see it happening either, so I've no idea what any species "looks" like.
With a good load of ash, I usually get 3 hours, give or take, of good secondary burn.

Troutchaser said:

Since we're talking about secondary durations, I'm curious if anyone can put a time to it. I've no idea if my secondary action (downdraft) time falls into place with what everybody else sees with their stoves. Of course, I don't really see it happening either, so I've no idea what any species "looks" like.
With a good load of ash, I usually get 3 hours, give or take, of good secondary burn.

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Three hours sounds about right, Depending but if I have a full load I get 3-4 hours, last hour are a bit lazy but there.

My cat. stove acts the same way with different woods...the cat. burns hotter and longer
with oak, and not as long with maple. My guess is that all different woods "Gas-out"
at different amounts.

NH_Wood said:

Hey everyone! I've been burning mainly ash for the last 6 weeks and got used to the quality of the secondaries. I just started burning pure loads of cherry for the daytime burns and I'm finding quite a differences in the secondaries. The ash, and even more so with pure loads of oak, have very 'thick' secondaries - looks like rivers of fire exiting the holes of the secondary tubes. With cherry, the secondaries are much more 'wispy'. Hard to come up with the best adjectives for the flames, but wondering if anyone else notices major differences in the quality of the secondaries using different woods. Cheers!

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Moisture content of the cherry may make a difference; I know it does in my stove.

You'll probably notice that the coals of black cherry burn differently too. It's pretty easy to just have them stop burning, and seldom do they burn to completion. Unless you really open up the primary air.

Never noticed any difference . . . then again it's pretty rare that I load my stove with all of the same species of wood . . . usually it's a mix of maple, ash (green and white), birch (yellow or white) and cherry.

I get very good secondaries from sugar maple and pine. Nothing compared to the OSB that they grow at Home Depot though. That stuff rocks!

I know with my lodgepole if the pieces I load are full of pitch the secondaries are crazy. It is a very bright flame almost like oil buring and you can see little specs in it burning almost like it is full of dust. I can also see the pitch dripping off the wood and turning into a thick white fog on the bottom of the firebox then it slowly floats up to the secondary light show. It is amazing to me that I can burn all that pitch soaked wood and only have a little steam coming out the chimney. When it got really cold last week I had ice forming on the cap.

I wish we had some hardwood available to try it out. About all I could get is some old pallets.