Taming soft maple

[Butcher]

Normally my wood supply consists of red and white elm, ash, and hackberry and maybe a small amount of cherry. This year I have quite a lot of 2 year CSS soft maple. I'm trying to not put to much maple in one load at a time. But even at that I get the gates of hell and have even had a couple of OH CHIT moments. Any tips on controlling this stuff? This is in an Oslo 500. Thanks.
P.S. I don't have this problem with any of my other wood so I'm sure its not the stove.

 

[begreen]

Our big leaf, soft maple coals a lot. One needs to burn the coal bed down further to stop a big ignition on reload. To hasten the coal bed burndown I rake it forward then put a small 2" split or a 2x4 on it and open the air all the way and let it burn down for at least 30 minutes. Thick splits also help.

 

[dafattkidd]

Butcher, I've only burned sliver maple and sugar maple. Of the two silver maple burns more like a soft wood. Sugar maple may be my favorite wood to burn as it seasons way faster than oak and burns similarly. Although this year I've been burning a lot of black walnut which is also a great hard wood which seasoned much faster than oak. That is all completely off topic. Sorry for the random blabbering

Here's an actual answer to your question:
If I have wood that is going atomic as you are describing do the following:

• I try not to load it on a large coal bed
• Rake all coals forward so only a portion of the load is sitting on a coal bed
  
• Try to load larger splits
  
• I load EW in my firebox it slows the explosions
  
• I try to pack them tight leaving little or no gaps between the splits
• Mix with other slower burning woods, large rounds of oak can really slow things down

I hope that's helpful.

 

[Butcher]

Thanks for the tips. Silver maple is pretty easy to come buy in my neck of the woods so I am getting more and more of it laying out by the wood pile. Its just kinda disconcerting to go look at the stove and wunder if I should start forging horse shoes in the fire box when its burning like it does sometimes.

 

[begreen]

What is the maximum stove top temperature you are seeing?

 

[Woody Stover]

I've been burning mostly Red and Silver so far this season, except when it's really cold out. Yeah, it gasses off quick so like they said, try to control the burn at the beginning. A top-down burn won't get as much of the load going as fast, but it you're like me, your stove isn't going out to often this time of year, so it can be a hassle. I've got a side-loader so I can burn down the coals, shove them to the back, build the front of the load, shovel the coals on top of that, then load the back. I generally don't mess with it because I've got a cat stove and can cut the burn rate way down if I need to.

 

[Butcher]

What is the maximum stove top temperature you are seeing?

Nothing higher than 700 which I am not worried about its just the napalm type of flames I get for a while till I get things under control that only takes a minute or two.

 

[Flamestead]

I'm burning a lot of Red Maple, and would agree with begreen's comments about coals. We haven't had any issue controlling the burn in three different stoves, so I'm not sure what to suggests, other than trying to ease into the start of the burn (smaller initial coal bed, reduced draft sooner). I also place splits into the stove fairly dense-packed, rather than trying to get breathing room around the pieces.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We've burned a lot of soft maple over they years because we have lots of it. However, we've never had any control problems with it. We can get the stove to 700 pretty easy too. Feels great!

 

[Andy S.]

I'm particularly interested since I have a bunch CSS and access to a lot more. It was wind fall from a couple of years ago and I was surprised that when I bucked it and split it a few weeks ago it measured between 20-25%. I'd guess that CSS for two years it is ultra dry. Have you measured? Maybe the best use is mixed with marginal wood to average out the moisture?

 

[rwhite]

I have the same issue. I just don't load the stove up like I normally do. That stuff can go from sizziling to nucleur in a matter of minutes. But it was free and heats well so I just live with smaller loads and reload more often. I can get 3-4 hours on 3-4 splits.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I'm particularly interested since I have a bunch CSS and access to a lot more. It was wind fall from a couple of years ago and I was surprised that when I bucked it and split it a few weeks ago it measured between 20-25%. I'd guess that CSS for two years it is ultra dry. Have you measured? Maybe the best use is mixed with marginal wood to average out the moisture?

You know that I am always after folks to get their wood dry before burning. Soft maple is one that is difficult to go wrong with. We have burned it in as little as 6 months after being split and stacked. It is also one type of wood that if you cut a tree down but do not buck it up, just leave it lay there and within 2 years it will actually start to turn punky. But if you split and stack it, no worries about punk as it will keep for many, many years with no problems. Burns great too.

 

[Hogwildz]

Whats to worry about, enjoy the light show.