Can I re-burn chunky wood coals found in ash

I have a wood stove and use the ash from the stove in my yard to fertilize and keep the moss to a minimum. Wood ash works just as good if not better than lime when you have a moss problem in the yard! I spread it in the winter so it is absorbed by the late spring.

I screen the ash so that it is powder for the spreader but have chunky coal pieces up to 3/4 inch big left over. Normally I just throw this in the woods by my house but I have always wondered if I can re-burn it to make more powder ash and get some additional heat from it. I tried it and it seemed to actual cool the fire then help with heat. Maybe I added too much at one time.

Anyone have any thoughts on reusing the chunky burnt wood from fireplaces or wood stoves?

 

Throw it back in, it'll burn.

 

I'm guessing you could use it as charcoal.

Then there's bio-char, a garden supplement.

 

I do the same thing sifting my ash. I have found that putting it back in the stove is not worth it. Some of what is left is char and some of it is minerals chunked together. If I can break it up, it goes through the sifter. If not, it goes in the trash. I believe that it’s important to return the micronutrients from my burning activities back to the forest behind my house. By hoarding off site and spreading the ashes in my forest, I believe I am improving the growing conditions for my trees…. No sense in land filling all of it..

Now keep in mind that the quality of your ashes is determined by where you live. Years ago, I visited a chip fired power plant in MA. They received wood chips from Maine all the way to NJ. They used to sell the ash to a chicken farmer who would mix it with the chicken manure and sell it as fertilizer.. then they discovered that the lead content in the ash was high and thus shouldn’t be used in vegetable gardens due to uptake by the plants.. what they discovered was that the further south they went to get chips, the higher the lead content ended up being in the ash with NJ being the highest.. it was assumed that years and years of leaded gasoline emissions was the leading factor in the trees taking up the lead from the groundwater.. I see that you are in NJ, so just be aware of that. Some plants are very good at taking up lead from the soil so they can be grown, and disposed of to reduce lead in the soil. A bit off track. But relevant..

 

I don’t have a garden so not too concerned about the lead and my kids are old enough that they don’t eat dirt anymore haha.

My backyard has a lot of shade and over the past 2 years I have trimmed the large trees to get more sunlight and started mulching the leaves in the fall and using the ash in the winter. My yard was 95% moss. I have regained about 90% of the moss filled yard back to a vibrant green grass. I used to use chemicals like moss out and bags of lime. They killed the moss and left mud. The grass never really grew and the following year the moss was back worse than ever.

So the ash works great plus I like others here mentioned I did not want to send it to the landfill. I just wanted more heat and more ash but it did not seem to work well. Also the left over chunks do not break down fast in the small woods and I did not want to crap up the woods with piles of chunky leftover coals.

 

Do what I do then. Just toss the chunks in a bag and throw them away. Not worth the extra effort IMHO. Will have to try your method to ge5 rid of my moss. Do you use a drop spreader or just sift them on the lawn?

 

I use a drop spreader. I also mix old coffee grounds into the ash. Coffee grounds are high in nitrogen and help to break down the mulched leaves faster. People believe they are high in acidity but the grounds loses the acidity when they are brewed. I make a 5 gallon bucket of mixed ash and coffee. I just guess but probably 1 gallon or so of grounds to 3+ gallons of ash.

I put the grounds in a foil pan and put it under my wood stove to dry out. The wood stove is always multi tasking. Heat, ash, drying coffee grounds, romance and a kettle of seasoned water for aroma and moisture into the air.

Home made aromas are:
End of pine branches
Orange peels and cloves
Cut apples and cinnamon sticks
And if you can find lavender and vanilla beans

 

Coffee grounds go into my compost bin.

Wood ash gets broadcast on the yard. I use a long handled shovel and sling the ash across the lawn.

Sometimes, on top of snow. It helps to melt the snow when the sun shines

 

At my old house, that is what I did. I never sifted, and didn't get anal about it. I would just use the ash shovel to scrape the larger chunks to the side, scoop the finer ash into a bucket, then swipe the chunks along the bottom to spread them out. If I didn't feel like doing that, then everything got dumped out somewhere on our property.

 

Dawn dish soap and water kills moss and doesn't hurt grass. Well at least the grass around here.

 

I agree Dennis. I would not waist my time but thought if someone wants to, the chunks would be further reduced to ash.

 

If you want to use them for anything....this is a good idea.