blowtorching

[jhoff310]

So I lit a fire the other night and was waiting for everything to catch before closing the door. One of my larger kindling pieces was shooting a flame out of the bottom of it while everything else was burning upwards. I have seen it before in my stove and never thought anything of it.
What causes it, obviously its something in the wood..tighter fibers? What do you guys know about it

Jeff

 

[shutup-n-cut]

Have seen it myself but like yourself I never gave it much thought , now I am wondering?

Not to hijack your thread but here is another question. Sometimes when I go to light a fire I notice that some of the ashes are orange in color ( very orange at that) not the normal gray ? It is only occasionally and all my wood is either oak or maple and does not seem to have any consistancy as to when it happens? Weird??

 

[steved]

My pine and cherry do that...I always figured it was the heat causing the pitch that's present in them to gasify and blow out. My pine will give me two and three inch torches. Its especially dramatic if the pine has bug holes in it.

I have a glass door, so I get to see how all my wood burns.

 

[CTYank]

I've seen it happen with most species of wood. Mainly smaller splits. As heat from the fire diffuses inward, those innards have flammable gases distilled. Then they burn.

Main reason why I keep splits a reasonable distance from the door glass. Can't watch the flames through soot.

 

[cat-face timber]

Have seen it with Pine myself, I tend to agree with you about the pitch.
There sure are lots of big white worms this year in the Pine I got.
Bear Grills sure would be full

 

[Marshy]

The gasses coming out of the wood are combustible. As the outside of the wood heats up the sap, water and other gasses come out and catch fire. Same idea as the secondary burn in the EPA stoves. Not all of the compustible gasses are being burnt so it brings in more oxygen and recirculates those gasses and oxygen back into the fire and they burn.

 

[Woodchucker Ron]

Have seen it with Pine myself, I tend to agree with you about the pitch.
There sure are lots of big white worms this year in the Pine I got.
Bear Grills sure would be full

If you fish those make for some prime bait.

 

[shutup-n-cut]

If you fish those make for some prime bait.

Any idea of what they are?

 

[Woodchucker Ron]

Any idea of what they are?

Don't know for sure. I always thought they were locus or cicada larva. Just know fish love all kinds of larva and grubs.

 

[homemade]

Back to the blow torching thing. It's call pyrolysis. The fact the something solid can't directly ignit. It must be heated to the point that it will release combustable gasses that cause the flame.

 

[unclemoustache]

I was just going to say that.....

 

[homemade]

I learned about it in fire school