Wood that produces most ash

Been burning a mix of older random hardwoods that were in danger of getting punky and soft maple this past couple of days. I noticed that the soft maple I'm burning produces a ton of ash.

What is your opinion on the cleanest burning woods that don't leave you cleaning out the stove constantly? It seems like some of the hardwoods don't require the stove to be cleaned that often.

 

I agree with you about the bark, especially heavy barks. If they get dirt in them its even worser.

 

Walnut seems to me.

Gary

 

Ash seems to pile up rather quick

 

Here birch leaves the least .
The softer , lower BTU stuff ;
Spruce, cottonwood & aspen leave more ash behind.

Punky wood leaves more ash when burned too.

 

for me it seems to be Alder and Big Leaf Maple. Both leave alot of that white fluffy type ash

 

Sycomore is the ashiest I've burned. And very fluffy, likes to fly.

 

Have to agree with bogydave...the softer woods seem to leave more ash the the harder stuff

 

As our kid said many moons ago...Black Selder. Been bout 7 years since box elder was in the wood stove but I remember it leaving lots of ash.

 

cotton wood. Had to burn some a few years ago. Almost the whole log stayed ash and gave off very little heat.

 

I have noticed the softer hardwoods produce more ash than the harder woods. Oak has the least and ash and some maples produce more, softwoods like pine and willow are even worse

 

I agree here 114.72%. Especially oak bark. During the middle of this Winter, I was having to remove ash about every 3rd day in my Englander 13NC due to the bark on the white oak that I was burning. Normally I can go about 7-10 days.

I burn as much box elder as anyone here. I don't find it especially "ashy".

 

Heck...I'm cleaning out daily pretty much. I do like that the weather is mild, so I can let the stove cool and do a complete clean-out daily. I'm getting enough ash from the night's burn that there are still plenty of coals in the morning. It would be harder to deal with in the dead of winter when you are keeping the fire hot all day.

 

I agree with elderthewelder. I am never all that concerned with the amount of ash produced, but the fly ash produced from Tulip Poplar is miserable when scooping it out.

Maybe I am imagining things, but it seems if I leave excess ash in the stove for a couple extra days, it seems to burn down a little more every day I leave it in there. I know, it sounds crazy.

 

I was dealing with that fly ash this morning. It hangs in the air. My stove sits on a ceramic tile floor, so I wash that floor after every cleanout and at the end of the day usually. It does get messy otherwise. Use a janitor mop bucket and string mop, so it takes ab about 1 minute to wash the whole area.

 

Black walnut and siberian elm are the worst for me, bark or not. Siberian elm can have some really thick bark, especially the trunk section from a big tree, and that makes it much worse.

At least walnut smells nice when it burns. That elms stinks.

 

I never burned elm. I'd like to try it. Although, I don't want to stink up the neighborhood.

 

Ailanthus/Tree Of Hell. Nasty stinking stuff that leaves more ash than any thing I've ever burned.