Newbie on "shoulder season and punk wood

[kayakkeith]

So been reading the post on shoulder season and punk wood etc. so my first question is what does each really mean

As of now I have been having some day temps in sixtys and overnite temps high 30's to low'40's - been burning towards evening and using wood that though seasoned isnt the best looking pieces. I had two dump truck loads delvered and sorted out all of the stuff that wasnt good for stacking or just was hunks etc
I get my Woodstock Keystone up to 300 or so with the cat on. Had one big fire and roasted the house - otherwise it keeps our 100+ year old house at around 70 and its a big house

noticed not alot of smoke coming out of chimmeny and when I engage cat the stove pipe temp drops

so anything look odd or bad - let me know

 

[NH_Wood]

Kayakkeith - welcome to the forum. Firstly 'shoulder season' refers to the fall and spring seasons when outside temperatures are relatively mild, but the house could use heat periodically to take the chill out. Problems with shoulder season include difficulty in getting a good draft (colder outside temp = stronger draft), leading to poor burns (difficult starts, difficulty keeping a hot fire, smokey fires, etc.). Also, it is fairly easy to overheat your home on such days if you succeed in building a strong fire - for example, had a fire this morning (63deg in house), added too many splits and had the house up to 75deg by 10am - wife was uncomfortable. 'Punky wood' refers to wood that has experienced some degree of rot. I have a number of oak rounds from fallen dead limbs, perhaps 4" in diameter, with about a 1/4" of soft wood on the outside of the round that can be scraped away easily with a fingernail. The rest of the round is solid. This wood is excellent for the fire. Some wood can be much more punky - or rotten - with soft interior wood as well. A good example would be larger rounds of white birch that were never split and left to sit for a couple years. The interior wood can be quite soft (rot) by the time you get to splitting. Lastly - punky wood that is very dry is fine to burn - just might not burn as long as more solid pieces. BUT - look out for punky wood that is wet - this wood is like a sponge - holds a lot of water and can be hard to dry out well. Don't burn this wood (obviously). Hope this helps! Cheers!

 

[Slow1]

Shoulder Season: The time at the beginning and end of the full time 24/7 burning season characterized by lower heat needs and thus shorter smaller fires. Exact timing and duration depends on location (some of us have broader shoulders than others) as well as the natural variations of the weather from year to year.

Punk Wood: Wood that has partially degraded/rotted. The degree of 'punk' varies depending on which piece you pick up. Generally will have lower BTU/volume from the same species of wood that is not punky. If exposed to rain/water it will absorb it much faster than it will dry out (see "Sponge").

Chunks, Uglies, Cut-offs, etc: Wood that is just hard to stack and often times is result of odd lengths in a wood delivery or from logs. Sometimes result of having to shorten splits to fit in a stove ("Ends"). Frequently on top of a pile and more of a pain to bring in and load in stove - thus burned during shoulder season.

Sounds like you are burning the chunks and uglies - pretty standard shoulder season practice, quick learner there

As to the smoke - if you are getting some with the cat engaged - what color is it? If it is white/gray and disappears pretty close to the top of your chimney (i.e. doesn't hang around) then it may just be steam.

 

[kayakkeith]

yea the smoke might be steam - like I said not much of it and it is whiteish in color

I know I just checked it a little while ago - had 400 stove top temp and pipe temp of btwn 200 to 250

yea - probably more chunk burning as none of it has much rot to it

 

[Slow1]

Your stove top/pipe temps sound very close to what I get with my FV (pipe temp being on surface of single wall pipe). Don't know if it is good or bad - just very close to the same.

Good that you don't have much rot to deal with. I seem to get some punky wood here and there as I scrounge - particularly with free wood offers. If it is a friend of a friend then I'll take all they want to get rid of. Sometimes a good portion goes into the compost pile or just into the deep dark part of the woods to finish rotting... however if I can salvage the pieces I do. Rather I used to - now that I"m almost two years ahead I'm finding that I'm not willing to mess with it as much - scraping rot off splits etc. Guess I'm getting to be a wood snob.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

So been reading the post on shoulder season and punk wood etc. so my first question is what does each really mean

As of now I have been having some day temps in sixtys and overnite temps high 30's to low'40's - been burning towards evening and using wood that though seasoned isnt the best looking pieces. I had two dump truck loads delvered and sorted out all of the stuff that wasnt good for stacking or just was hunks etc
I get my Woodstock Keystone up to 300 or so with the cat on. Had one big fire and roasted the house - otherwise it keeps our 100+ year old house at around 70 and its a big house

noticed not alot of smoke coming out of chimmeny and when I engage cat the stove pipe temp drops

so anything look odd or bad - let me know

That Keystone should get way above the 300 degree mark, but 300 is not bad this time of the year. Once we get to burning full time our Fireview will reach 600 pretty darned easy. Also, yes, when you engage the cat the flue temperature will drop. Typically with a good fire our flue temperature will be around 300-325 or thereabouts.

Just make certain you don't engage the cat too early and you should do fine. Get those chunks burned now so you have better wood for when it is cold.