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<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">As requested, (be careful what you wish
for ;-), I've photo sequenced my batch
loading with bottom layer of wet wood.
Despite this post containing 21 shots,
they only total one megabyte before
encoding for email, averaging just
under 49kilobytes each. I apologise if
this is still a pain. Please be careful not
to include them all in any reply!</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">I've cheated slightly in that the photos
leading up to lighting are of my first
attempt at recording the stages in
photos, and as you might guarantee,
that burn actually turned out poorly, so
I did it all over again, but this time only
photographed from light off to save me
some time and effort. I used same wood
from same two sources, but for the first
time using this technique the first burn
went nearly out and smoky at the wet
wood, whereas the second burn didn't.
It still boiled the full kettle though and a
little blow on top quickly revived it. If
anything I think that demonstrates that
I'm sailing a bit close to failure as I
can't really say why the difference. I'm
using very large chunks of the dry wood
which probably makes for increased
variability from batch to batch so maybe
that had something to do with it.</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">The bottom layer of wet wood is 2 or 3
year old hazel coppice used as bean
poles in the garden, but now too brittle
and weak to be reused again, so has
become stove fuel. So not quite rotten
but somewhat more absorbent than
fresher. Been rained on, snowed on and
frozen in the last couple of days, and
shown here frozen in my hand before
cutting up for the stove. The grass in
the background just about reveals some
frost. Weight of this wood (cut and in
the stove) - 77 grams:</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734708.1484881412.4219" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">This is wood I would not attempt to try
to light off. The outside was wet, the
heart wood damp. I suppose I should
weigh, dry and re-weigh a piece to
determine the actual moisture content
shouldn't I?</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734709.1484881412.12550" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">The main wood, warm straight off the
top of our central heating boiler is oak
that was felled green only weeks ago,
chunked green with the bark still on and
completely dried:</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734709.1484881412.12830" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">I would not normally burn such large
chunks relative to the stove, but had
been experminenting in this way with
reliable vigorous burns so saw no
reason not to continue for these
experiments. Dry wood weight -
600grams including....</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734710.1484881412.14939" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">.....a top layered mini bottom lit bonfire
of thinner splits of same wood and
grated candle wax on top to light. We
are now on the second take, so not
*exactly* what you've seen thus far, but
close enough for the photos. I now
seem to recall that I loaded smaller
pieces of dry immediately on top of the
wet latterly in order to ensure a robust
transition. Otherwise same chunk sizes
above. That's candle wax gratings, not
sawdust on top:</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Time 0' 0"</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734711.1484881412.9222" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">The concentrator ring is more of a cone
or dome shape really which I think
contributes to this stoves nice
performance, and I prefer the high riser
version for giving the flame more space
and the ability to refuel without
removing the pot:</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Time 1' 31"</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734712.1484881412.12558" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Kettle on for realistic conditions and
then removed for least possible time for
subsequent photos of the flame. Flames
already licking round the sides of the
kettle:</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Time 2' 10"</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">By 2.5 mins it was burning at pretty
much the strength it sustained until it
reached the wet wood layer at the
bottom with only a slight lull at around
4 mins as it transitioned from the
starter fire to the large chunks below.
This is not something all that typical,
and probably an artifact of the large
chunks, so won't burden the list with
that part of the sequence.</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Time 2' 31"</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734714.1484881412.30797" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Towards the end of the dry wood stage,
and typical up to then:</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Time 13' 04"</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734715.1484881412.12859" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Time 14' 27"</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734715.1484881412.1376" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Within the next minute the flame starts
to get smaller as it hits the wet wood,
starting a whole new phase of useful
burn that goes on for another 10
minutes, whereas without that layer,
pyrolysis would have finished within a
further 2 at most with a big flare up,
and the char pretty much exhausted by
the further 10.</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Time 15' 32"</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734717.1484881412.14679" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">If you look carefully at the tiny spiky
flame to the middle right in the next
picture, this is an example of what I
meant by a flame appearing to emanate
from the bottom of the stove, which I'm
sure is the case, from the wet wood. I'll
try and have the camera handy to catch
future such moments, as I have seen
better.</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Time 16' 14"</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734718.1484881412.17585" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">By now it looks as if pyrolysis has all but
finished, but the camera wasn't picking
up the quite substantial but clear
flame...</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Time 18' 11"</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734719.1484881412.24210" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">....as can be seen when I shaded the
stove from the light:</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Time 18' 44"</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734720.1484881412.2070" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">and over two minutes later with the
kettle over a still very useful flame....</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Time 20' 58"</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734720.1484881412.25927" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">now vigorously boiling the kettle after
about 18 minutes, which contained 50 fl
oz or 2 3/4 imperial pints, thats about
1.5 litres of cold mains tap water.</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Not the fastest boil, which was 10
minutes from lighting with just dried
wood, and I realise that the larger
chunks of a denser wood did not make
for the towering inferno possible where
the flames leap to twice the kettle
handle height, which is a bit silly.</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Time 21' 09"</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734722.1484881412.17130" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Still going over another 3 minutes after
the kettle boiled:</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Time 24' 15"</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734722.1484881412.782" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Last of pyrolysis, 9 minutes 39 seconds
after the dry wood met the wet, making
roughly a third of the total burn time
from much less than a third of the
volume of wood. 77grams wet (hazel),
600 grams dry (oak).</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Time 25' 09"</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734723.1484881412.19820" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Leaving....</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Time 26' 41"</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><img src="cid:689734724.1484881412.19491" width="640" height="480" border="0" alt="graphic"/></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">34 grams of char and ash.</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">I have many more intermediate photos
if anyone wants to zone in on a time
frame. This is the shortened version!</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">As can be imagined, when I intersperse
pieces of wet wood progressively
through the loading, the flame height is
further controlled and burn time
usefully extended without reloading, but
I wanted to emphasise the transition for
this demonstration. No additional fuel
was added nor any tending in the above
sequence.</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt"><br />
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="DejaVu Serif" size="5"><span style=" font-size:20pt">Neil Taylor</span></font></div>
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