What Is In Your Stove Right Now?

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STT was 300 and just did a small reload of two splits of oak and maple EW and a good oak chunk NS. Have lots of coals. Got 5 hours from my AM start. STT in the 500’s is fine mild today and house 72.

Got my IR gun today and reads same as my STT Midwest Hearth thermometer. Nice tool.
 
My first load of the day just went in about 2:15 on weak coals. Saturday is cleaning day so we don't want the house too warm until after we're done. Still mild weather so this load of 2 ash & 3 aspen will be fine until the overnight load.
 
39 today and cloudy, foggy. Consistently 71 upstairs.
Last night's 8.30 pm maple is done, so I reloaded with... Maple. Full load already because we're going on a night hike before a late dinner.

No solar gain, but about 21 hrs with one load of maple was nice.
 
Just got home and small load of 3x splits got me 3.5 hours. Nice coals 250 STT. 2x old dried cherry splits and a nice large triangle cut oak split diagonally across the top. House still 72. 36 outside and dropping to low 30’s tonight. Rain and raw tomorrow.
 
If anyone has been around and read the BK threads, you’ve heard about “black box mode”. It’s when the stove is turned down just right, the glass is black, but the cat is glowing. Tonight I got it going on,
Exhibit A:

[Hearth.com] What Is In Your Stove Right Now? [Hearth.com] What Is In Your Stove Right Now? [Hearth.com] What Is In Your Stove Right Now?
 
I tried to get a picture of the wood inside, but the glass is too dam black 😂 my best to describe it is the center is a dull red glow. The wood off to the sides is completely intact, down to the whiskers that come off of it when split. The bark is intact. Not exaggerating, It looks like I have spray painted a split black, and put it off to the sides of the stove and somehow only let the center burn. Basically operating as a smoker vs a typical wood stove. Peak efficiency for a catalyst unit.
 
Being a lowly tube stove user I have the opposite tonight. Perfectly clear glass (I cleaned it today, we had guests over lol) and I'm just throwing a few uglies on a hot coal bed tonight. All I have is oak right now and it's way too warm out for a real fire. Would bake us out. So we just wing it until it gets colder! Great time to get rid of all the too long and odd shaped uglies.
 
We have 32 out tonight, the basement started off at 73, the living area temps are 70 & 71 with the sleeper at 69.

The overnight load has total of nine splits, ash, cherry, maple and yellow birch made up the nine splits.
 
Yahoo sez 2C/ 35.6F as does the mercury outside
salon is a fairly cozy 18C/ 64F
(altho elec rad was on timer)
I overslept on the ash splits I had going last night...4+ hrs up at 0530 on Sunday, hoorah
thought it was dead but was able to coax the black and gray slumber back to a nice bed of coals
and just put on some beech and oak

choked ember restarts are a white knuckle ride with my horizontal run
took me about an hour slowly increasing the air intake,
eventually getting the door ajar to finally set off the flames
and turn off the elec rad

I'll be honest, I did panic a bit and prepared to empty the whole firebox
becuz I felt cold air at the intake
but, duh...the firebox was "warm", so the cold air I felt at the intake meant cold air was being drawn into the draft

previously, I would throw on new kindling, but that is a mistake until the flue is drawing well
 
hmmmm, this species I haven't been able to identify and my climber said was oak...he must've mis-spoke...looks like Siberian Elm to me
just put on a chunk of that with an ash split

hmmm, yep this is what I have (not my photo)
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That load of cherry carried me all day.. Those coals just kept going. stove was lit at like 5.30 am.. and at bedtime the house was still 71 degrees I just let the stove go cold. I relit the stove as 6am this morning. Ill figure ot what to put in
 
Heres the stove this morning.. first pic is getting the cat up to temp.. 2nd pic is the load of cherry and shes dialed back. cat temperature is 1188 .

The stove will pretty much cruise the rest of the day.. unless the house temp drops. No solar gain today and its windy and raining.. so we will see

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Got the furnace going on a wee bit of coals. No kindlin or splitter slag was available. Just some small splits of maple. After flames were established I added regular sized splits. Sugar maple, ash, black cherry, and one black locust. About 6 total splits.
 
Mid 30’s today and rain. Large top down of cherry oak maple and a redstone.
No snow? I'm supposed to get 3-5 later of slushy crap.

I have delicious 2020 vintage oak in the stove right now. It was a fine year for red oak. Burns hot and long. Mini cold snap coming up just for a day and overnight so I'm happy to be in all oak mode.