i've been getting the hang of my Dutch West...it's not soo bad!
i leave the air on full for about 15-30 mins or until the couple logs inside are burning up.... stove top temps are in the 600 range before i turn the air down to almost closed and throw more wood on...
this morning i needed to get a nice bed of coals before i went to woerk, so i left the air on full and kinda heated the stove top up a tad too high... 750
closed the air and dampener and it dropped back down to 600ish rather quickly
How do you know if you damaged your stove from burning too hot?
i am getting 7hr burns with the dampener closed and the stove loaded full.... im also burning my junk wood, which is too well seasoned, so keeping the stove top temps in check is tough when some of the wood burns very hot and some doesn't...
one other thing... when it's not soo cold out and i'm buring one log at a time, the stove top never gets over 400-500 and the stove pipe temp stays around 300- 350ish.... does this kinda of buring create creosote?