Beech is great stuff, but I think it does better when mixed with something else too. There's a few species like this, that just burn better when mixed with something else and not just 1 species.
Same issue with shagbark. The bark is thick and while cutting shag, you better watch out for flying bark. It's been known to hurt, bad. You have to always wear safety glasses when cutting shag.
The smell off the flue is a little strong but I guess I have burnt enough of it that I am sort of used to it. I will say I could load the old stove with nothing but locust and burn away. Haven't had luck with that in this stove, need something else on the coal bed, then locust on top. I am going to give a try now that we have some good cold on us to load all locust and give it more air and see how that does.
