Shower of sparks

[danham]

Had an odd one last night. Ran a medium size fire in the Jotul and later on went to reload. Usual drill: blower off, draft open, open door slowly, rake coals to the front. As I was reaching for a split, one of the larger pieces of coal I had raked forward decided to simulate a fireworks finale and sent a shower of sparks arcing out past the brick hearth and onto the rug a full 24" away.

I was right there, so no damage, but have never seen that before. Have you?

-dan

 

[jatoxico]

Oh yeah. Happens with most anything but certain woods really like to give you the business especially when hit with a source of air. Sassafras (which is pretty lousy firewood) is the most active one I've run into.

 

[bholler]

I have it pretty often

 

[danham]

Oh yeah. Happens with most anything but certain woods really like to give you the business especially when hit with a source of air. Sassafras (which is pretty lousy firewood) is the most active one I've run into.

Thanks. It was a new one on me. Maybe due to the offending chunk being right up front. Hey, I see your Silky in your signature. Never go out on my mountain bike without my Pocketboy.

 

[ratsrepus]

Had an odd one last night. Ran a medium size fire in the Jotul and later on went to reload. Usual drill: blower off, draft open, open door slowly, rake coals to the front. As I was reaching for a split, one of the larger pieces of coal I had raked forward decided to simulate a fireworks finale and sent a shower of sparks arcing out past the brick hearth and onto the rug a full 24" away.

I was right there, so no damage, but have never seen that before. Have you?

-dan

so I take it you open the front door to reload? how do you like the mess

 

[clancey]

I had the very same problem and really scared me but I thought one of the big black flakes was a moth at first could not believe it....we need to be careful even more careful then we already have tried to be...maybe a better way someone knows of--one thing for sure I need more protection with longer gloves and maybe a firewood shirt of some kind--scary...old clancey

 

[jatoxico]

so I take it you open the front door to reload? how do you like the mess

How else do you load the Kennebec?

 

[ratsrepus]

How else do you load the Kenne

For some reason I thought he was referring to an F500. I still have nightmare about opening the front of mine

 

[Osage]

Had an odd one last night. Ran a medium size fire in the Jotul and later on went to reload. Usual drill: blower off, draft open, open door slowly, rake coals to the front. As I was reaching for a split, one of the larger pieces of coal I had raked forward decided to simulate a fireworks finale and sent a shower of sparks arcing out past the brick hearth and onto the rug a full 24" away.

I was right there, so no damage, but have never seen that before. Have you?

-dan

Hedge will give you a face full if your not careful.

 

[Dieselhead]

When I get a chunk that starts throwing off sparks like a mig welder I visually identify it and quickly drop one of the fresh splits directly onto it. Usually does the trick for me and then I can spend a bit more time playing stove Tetris with the other splits.

 

[enordy]

When I get a chunk that starts throwing off sparks like a mig welder I visually identify it and quickly drop one of the fresh splits directly onto it. Usually does the trick for me and then I can spend a bit more time playing stove Tetris with the other splits.

Stove Tetris - been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

 

[begreen]

It happens. I've had an ember shoot out 5 ft. Some wood is worse than other for this. Locust, hedge and cedar sparkle like crazy when stirred. Sometimes pine or fir will have a deep pitch pocket that can pop when stirred.

 

[stoveliker]

Sometimes it's not even embers (visible pieces) shooting from the coals. I've had an explosion of sparks that appeared mid air, and we're not really moving (so not as in shot out from a coal and only ignited some time later).

I'm burning quite a bit of sassafras, and luckily mine is not very sparkly (being coals). Maybe local growth circumstances matter in "sparkability".

Would there still be sap pockets in pine during a reload when it's all been hot and reduced to coals?

 

[begreen]

Would there still be sap pockets in pine during a reload when it's all been hot and reduced to coals?

There can be, especially when reloading on a cold start's coals and the wood is not fully coaled. This happens at times, especially with a morning start when one is in a hurry to get on with the day.

 

[wjohn]

Hedge/Osage Orange has always been the worst offender for me. Even smaller sticks and such for kindling can give off a show.

 

[clancey]

I got so afraid I need to order a full dress outfit for protection--lol .. How I solved my problem since I do not light the fire all the time and for now I'm just getting used to it and I am a sissy---I wait until it cools down then I start it up again praying I do not have to play bat ball or something and I make sure I shut it real quick and breath a sigh of relief that I was able to shut it...lol clancey