2018-19 Blaze King Performance Thread Part 2 (Everything BK)

10f right now and furnace comes on about once an hour to 75mins for about 5 mins

charger4406 said:

10f right now and furnace comes on about once an hour to 75mins for about 5 mins

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I keep my furnace at 55, if it turns on we have big problems!

charger4406 said:

I agree they can throw enough heat but there would be a coaling problem I think
to produce the btu's necessary to keep the building a that temp, I assume, not knowing
your heat load requirement, but going by mine I have to run the 2 stoves, f600 burning
8-10hr loads and the ashford contributing during the coaling stages for the f600,
and even then I need the furnace to help out when we are single digits to sub zero, as we will be for the next
10 days/nights except for our midweek snowstorm coming.
if I ran the ashford as hard as you did I probably could keep as warm but would have frozen pipes after a
few days.

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If I burn flat out, I can blow through a load of pine in 4-5 hours and not have a coaling problem.

If I was doing back to back high burns on oak, I'd have a stove full of coals in a few loads.

jetsam said:

doing back to back high burns on oak, I'd have a stove full of coals in a few loads.

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Unless it doesn't get above freezing for highs, I can usually hold room temp burning down coals. Stove top will pop back up to 350-375 for a few hours if I open up the air on 'em, and the sides of the stove will heat up nicely too.

It almost sounds like softwood is better for this frigid weather.

Just pulled 2 1/2 ash pans of ash out of stove, need all the room I can get for the next week.

Diabel said:

It almost sounds like softwood is better for this frigid weather.

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It can have its benefit sometimes. A mix is perfect.

When it’s cold the flames will come!

Sounds like some of you stove guys could use a furnace or boiler.

I’m learning everyday with the Ashford 25. When you have crappy semi wet wood (20-22%MC) in a coal bed upon reload they won’t ignite... well after 45 min they will. What I do now is throw some super thin kindling on the bottom in a layer then stack the wood in tight. The kindling ignited allowing the wood to eventually ignite. This is the reality when your new to this game and your wood sucks lol.

Next spring I’m going to build a shed and get ahead of my supply with some maple or pine that seasons quickly.


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darktower007 said:

When you have crappy semi wet wood (20-22%MC) in a coal bed upon reload they won’t ignite... well after 45 min they will.

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If it’s really 20-22% it’s not wet, if it’s taking 45 minutes to light it’s much much wetter than low 20’s. Low 20’s on a meter is ideal. I have oak seasoned for 4-5 years and it’s 16-18% on the inside of a fresh split at room temp.

rdust said:

If it’s really 20-22% it’s not wet, if it’s taking 45 minutes to light it’s much much wetter than low 20’s. Low 20’s on a meter is ideal. I have oak seasoned for 4-5 years and it’s 16-18% on the inside of a fresh split at room temp.

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Well the bark is mossy and has some fungi on it. Upon splitting the MC is 22. —- pre split it’s 19%. But it’s split when it’s been cold, which could affect the MC/reader. The bark is keeping the layer beneath moist I believe. It was standing dead for 2 years when I bought it. They cut to order, but it’s all standing dead.

My tarping job hasn’t been the best as wind rips it off occasionally causing varying surface moisture increase.


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darktower007 said:

Well the bark is mossy and has some fungi on it. Upon splitting the MC is 22. —- pre split it’s 19%. But it’s split when it’s been cold, which could affect the MC/reader. The bark is keeping the layer beneath moist I believe. It was standing dead for 2 years when I bought it. They cut to order, but it’s all standing dead.

My tarping job hasn’t been the best as wind rips it off occasionally causing varying surface moisture increase.


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Bring enough in for a couple days worth and stack in near the stove. The surface moisture will dry up fast, if the internal m/c is in the 20’s it will burn just fine.

Do you get water boiling out of the ends?

Diabel said:

It almost sounds like softwood is better for this frigid weather.

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Yep! I put in a cord of pine every year specifically for the coldest weather. I sometimes throw in one oak split so I am sure to have coals later.

rdust said:

Bring enough in for a couple days worth and stack in near the stove. The surface moisture will dry up fast, if the internal m/c is in the 20’s it will burn just fine.

Do you get water boiling out of the ends?

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None at all. It just takes a while to catch.


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rdust said:

When it’s cold the flames will come!
View attachment 239266

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That is one very clean glass!

lsucet said:

It can have its benefit sometimes. A mix is perfect.

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Yes, if you need exercise, and want to burn twice the calories for the same BTU benefit, softwood is the way to go. But you also need to be available to load twice as frequently.

Diabel said:

It almost sounds like softwood is better for this frigid weather.

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You can fill a stove with coals from softwood too. I’ve done it with noncats for sure.

@Ashful 5 hours! Wow. With damper keeping draft in spec? That must have liberated those Btus to your space at a rate much higher than the epa spec sheet indicates is possible.

Ashful said:

Yes, if you need exercise, and want to burn twice the calories for the same BTU benefit, softwood is the way to go. But you also need to be available to load twice as frequently.

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Since softwood is easier to lift it won’t take twice the calories. I thought softwood was only like 25% less energy dense than your oak.

Looks like 22.1 vs. 17.4 million btu per cord so red oak vs pine is even closer. Like 21% more exercise and loading!

Since, at the same moisture content, and on a pound for pound basis, hardwood and softwood have the same btu content you’ll not lift more pounds but many more sticks if you choose to go with softwood only. Lots of space needed!

Ashful said:

Yes, if you need exercise, and want to burn twice the calories for the same BTU benefit, softwood is the way to go. But you also need to be available to load twice as frequently.

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I don't think twice is a right statement. I will give you under same conditions, maybe, two loads more per week on average. My experience BTW.
With different stove, no comment, but with BK, well you know.
Now, by the time you process one cord of hardwood probably you process two of soft and you are less tired. Coaling? Is rare you have bad coaling with softwoods.
Seasoning? Well you know that too. Easier to handle for people of certain age.
I don't burn hardwood as you cause it is not my main supply plus is not what is available right away but I think I use them enough to see the differences/ advantage/ disadvantages under certain conditions. I think you are missing a point here, I am burning on a BK too as you.

I think @Ashful has a softwood envy!!

When I'm splitting softwood I split bigger. End up with same amount of splits of about same weight, but they would take up more space of course.

I will be pushing lots of hemlock and basswood through the Princess next season. Not by choice, I got lazy with processing 2 3 seasons ago and therefore only have about a cord of hard maple, beech and yellow birch well seasoned.
Most of that hardwood will be consumed by the VC since that stove gets nice long burns on hardwoods.

The Princess is not picky and gets great mileage with all types of woods.

Highbeam said:

Ashful, 5 hours! Wow. With damper keeping draft in spec? That must have liberated those Btus to your space at a rate much higher than the epa spec sheet indicates is possible.

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Or, more likely, many of those BTUs blew out the top of the stack. The Ashfull 30 doesn't put BTU into the room at a high rate/hr. according to that 'spec sheet.' 28K isn't much.
That said, there's more than just those numbers. e.g. we see the Jotul F3CBII listed at 43500 BTU/hr. max, and the Jotul F600 at only 32500. I'm pretty sure the F600 will out-heat the F3CB, so other factors like firebox size, stove design, etc. must come into play. Thus the numbers are only useful to a degree, and we are still left guessing until we run the different stove ourselves for a head-to-head comparison.

Highbeam said:

Since softwood is easier to lift it won’t take twice the calories. I thought softwood was only like 25% less energy dense than your oak.

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Right. Red Maple or Black Cherry are around 20K BTU/cord, Red Oak is 24K. When you get up into Dogwood, Hickory and BL at 27-28K the difference is more apparent.

lsucet said:

I don't burn hardwood as you cause it is not my main supply plus is not what is available right away

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Yeah, driving up those valleys near you, I started seeing a lot of Pine and Western Crottenwood..