ash content--why different w/ different woods?

[tpikaart]

Okay, so a while back I was trying to extoll the relative merits of Siberian Elm to a fellow New Mexican who, like me, has access to lots of it. I still think it burns great--especially if nicely dried and w/out the bark.
But, in the past few weeks I've noticed something as I've come into the pinion section of my woodpile. When burning primarily Elm, I need to shovel ash every 2 days or so. With the Pinion, I have been burning for over a week and still have room in the stove to keep burning!

So my question is, why the difference? What is different about the wood that causes this? Does the "junk" Elm just contain lots of un-burnable "junk"? Does the fact the the Pinion burns hotter help it to burn to a finer ash?

Inquiring minds want to know...

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Wood is normally a couple % ash by weight. Denser wood: more ash.

Woods vary considerably in their mineral composition as well- silica, alumina, iron, calcium, etc. Grasses and non-woody plants have much more even than wood. These numbers vary by species, the soil and weather, etc where grown, and other factors.

edit: I am very interested in these differences as they have a great effect on my wood fired pottery. There's a couple books on ash glazes that tabulate mineral content of woods, but most were Euro species and the content does change a lot with soil etc. Interestingly- apple wood is highly prized for its ash. Use it for smoking BBQ, then use the ash in glazes.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I'll add that smaller branches and bark tend to have more ash content as well. I love side slab wood from the lumber yard because of this

 

[tpikaart]

"Wood is normally a couple % ash by weight. Denser wood: more ash"
Yeah, but this is what doesn't make sense to me. The pinion is quite a bit more
dense than the elm--in splits/rounds of similar size, the pinion is definitely
heavier. So there has to be more to the story...

 

[Shari]

Interestingly- apple wood is highly prized for its ash. Use it for smoking BBQ, then use the ash in glazes.

Can I ship apple ash to you?

 

[Adios Pantalones]

"Wood is normally a couple % ash by weight. Denser wood: more ash"
Yeah, but this is what doesn't make sense to me. The pinion is quite a bit more
dense than the elm--in splits/rounds of similar size, the pinion is definitely
heavier. So there has to be more to the story...

Read the rest of my post- varies by species, soil, weather, etc. Why? we could get into evolutionary theory and such pretty quickly (e.g., did some species require more of certain minerals to withstand certain conditions as saplings?), but it would be speculation.

 

[gpcollen1]

Bark = more ash ...

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Interestingly- apple wood is highly prized for its ash. Use it for smoking BBQ, then use the ash in glazes.

Can I ship apple ash to you?

Yes. Absolutely. I have some apple wood, but some experiments with pure apple ash would be great fun. Send me apple ash and I will send you a small pot glazed with the ash.

 

[Shari]

I just might do that as I have about 3/4 of a full cord of 2+ yr. seasoned applewood sitting outside waiting for the stove.

Shari

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Okay Shari, it is time to get your ash out of there!

 

[Shari]

Okay Shari, it is time to get your ash out of there!

Heh heh! I'm sitting here figuring out how to purify my stove/ash pan of any other ash before I create apple ash. Also, I suppose I should let any ashes sit for a long time before I post them in the mail - mailman would NOT like a box that starts on fire, eh?

Shari

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Just shovel it out well and send the stuff you burn next (or clean out 1 load of apple ash, then send the next one). A few percent of some other species won't matter at all!