Rather than post twice here's two completely unrelated questions:
1.) I cut and split a bunch of honey locust in June 2011. I was expecting to use it last winter in the OWB so I split a lot of the rounds on the small side to speed up the seasoning time. Turns out I didn't get that far into the pile so I've got a lot of it left, and since my sister has an indoor stove and is short on wood, I wanted to gift her half a facecord or so. I don't have a moisture meter, but although the wood seems dry and has a nice "knock" to it when I rap a couple splits together, it still has a deep pink color. My wood rack has a roof so it doesn't get the full force of the elements and in fact, I've got some honey locust from this past summer sitting out on a pallet and it's already a deep gray, so maybe color is a poor indicator. The question is, after 17 + months do you think it's ready to go? Or should I tell her to tuck it away in the back of the garage for next year?
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2.) I was raking coals in my OWB today and hit what I thought was the grates. Turns out the ash has solidified into a 2inch layer almost like concrete. I whacked and picked away at it and it came up in chunks, but I've never seen this before. What would cause this? Is this common? According to the manufacturer I'm supposed to leave 2 - 3 inches of ash as insulation to protect the grates, but that's not going to work if it turns into a solid layer and the air can't get through. What do you think?
1.) I cut and split a bunch of honey locust in June 2011. I was expecting to use it last winter in the OWB so I split a lot of the rounds on the small side to speed up the seasoning time. Turns out I didn't get that far into the pile so I've got a lot of it left, and since my sister has an indoor stove and is short on wood, I wanted to gift her half a facecord or so. I don't have a moisture meter, but although the wood seems dry and has a nice "knock" to it when I rap a couple splits together, it still has a deep pink color. My wood rack has a roof so it doesn't get the full force of the elements and in fact, I've got some honey locust from this past summer sitting out on a pallet and it's already a deep gray, so maybe color is a poor indicator. The question is, after 17 + months do you think it's ready to go? Or should I tell her to tuck it away in the back of the garage for next year?
View attachment 268092View attachment 268093
2.) I was raking coals in my OWB today and hit what I thought was the grates. Turns out the ash has solidified into a 2inch layer almost like concrete. I whacked and picked away at it and it came up in chunks, but I've never seen this before. What would cause this? Is this common? According to the manufacturer I'm supposed to leave 2 - 3 inches of ash as insulation to protect the grates, but that's not going to work if it turns into a solid layer and the air can't get through. What do you think?
