I went into the stove to clear out the ashes and found that I had a lot of charcoals so I left them and burned on top of them. I had not cleared out the stove ashes for about 4 days so was surprised to find all that charcoal. Today when I cleaned out the stove it had some of the charcoals but not the amt that was there yesterday. What causes the stove not to burn it all to ashes? I start the fire and get it up to about 500 degrees for a little bit 5-15 min then I add wood while it is really hot and get it back to 500 or so degrees and then I shut the damper and cut back the primary air(thermostat on this old stove) and let it settle around 400-450 and it goes for a few hours and then add more wood after opening the damper and get it up to 450 or so and shut the damper and let it ride again 400 -450. I do not have a tool that separates the charcoal from ashes so I can leave charcoals in stove and throw out the ash, I know there is energy in those coals but not sure how to keep them and get the ash out.