black crusty stuff

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clr8ter

Feeling the Heat
Hearth Supporter
Oct 4, 2010
285
Southern NH
I've been noticing lately that when I go to start up the stove after it has burned down that there is a layer of black crusty stuff on the bottom. I take my poker stick, and stir up the coals, and this stuff is about 1- 1 1/2" thick, and breaks up easily, but covers a decent portion of the bottom, under the layer of ash. Lately, we've ben using mostly red oak, but it still does it to some extent with our other wood, which is a mix of hardwood. Anybody know what causes this?
 
Read up on clinkers. I have had the same experience with scrub oak. I have some that was cut from Utah that does this but it creates pretty turqouis clinkers. The only thing I can think that causes it is the amount of minerals that are taken up by the tree are left behind when it burns. Oak being a long lived tree has more time to absorb these minerals than other species so the problem is more noticable. Just a thought and likely completly wrong.
 
Read up on clinkers. I have had the same experience with scrub oak. I have some that was cut from Utah that does this but it creates pretty turqouis clinkers. The only thing I can think that causes it is the amount of minerals that are taken up by the tree are left behind when it burns. Oak being a long lived tree has more time to absorb these minerals than other species so the problem is more noticable. Just a thought and likely completly wrong.
Sounds right to me.

Turquoise colored clinkers? That would be cool. Did you save any?
 
I haven't saved any. The only explanation that I can come up with is the trees uptake copper and it's left behind when its burned
Maybe those trees were sitting on top of an undiscovered copper deposit :cool:
 
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