I been burning these together for about two weeks.Great heat.However I'm cleaning out the ashes and at the bottom of the stove I'm pulling out something that's like misshapen black rock and it's heavy.Anyone have any idea what this could be ?
Most common reason I can think of is the presence of silicates within the cellular structure of the wood or similar. These things solidify within the ash, and you find these little charming ash cookies upon clean out. There may be a more scientific explanation out there. I get them from prolonged burning of certain hardwoods.
Thank you Eric your explanation has put me at ease somewhat.I never had these before.I've been burning Oak and maple along with these compressed logs at times.After a while I get these so-called clinkers.What puzzles me is that they are heavy.I'm thinking everything I burn should just turn into light ash.Not these and they don't burn down.Now I'm seeking info on how to avoid this from happening.
I get tons of them with Doug fir. It’s not wood, it’s a mineral like glass almost. Like gravel. You can break them up and stir them into the ash but they just remelt together. It’s kinda fun. They don’t hurt anything.
Your description is right on.They look like blacked gravel with specks of glass in it.When I was cleaning out the stove I thought what was coming out was crumbled firebrick.A pail full of this stuff is heavy.How do you dispose this stuff ?
I dump them wherever my ash goes after stirring them up to break them down. Either in the garden or in the compost heap. It’s not toxic like coal ash. At least I don’t think it is! I suspect most ash is just really tiny clinkers or minerals that can’t burn.
On another site a gentleman said he has the same problem when burning the Prest logs.I want the logs to burn down to ash not leave a heavy stone in the bottom of the stove.I'll stick with the Idaho energy logs.Thanks all.
