Wood science question

You sure it's not just air flow and air currents?

Re: You sure it's not just air flow and air curren

Keith Newton

Well, the sparks are not going with the air flow, rather against it.

Re: Wood science question

JohnV

I heated our house for 40 years with an airtight wood stove. I watched this phenomena closely over the years. The amount of sparks was definitely tied to the species of wood being burned. For sure Osage orange is one of the more active when the door was opened to feed the fire or just to rake the coals. I'm convinced that the sparks are the result of "exploding" volatiles encapsulated in the cellular structure of the wood. Some species seem to produce more volatiles and have a tighter cell structure. Not sure If I ever came across a name for it, but was quite interesting to observe.

Thanks for the reply John,

Keith Newton

And Osage Orange does happen to be the species that I'm burning.I agree with your statement, "I'm convinced that the sparks are the result of "exploding" volatiles encapsulated in the cellular structure of the wood.", but I was wondering about them predominantly flying out the door, rather than just going in all directions inside the stove.

Osage bark

Dick Coers

I burned a fair amount of Osage, but years ago. I always related the sparks to the pieces that had bark on it.

Re: Wood science question

John in NM

I've never noticed this at all, but I'm burning different wood and the stove in my shop has a very strong draft (Cue Bert and I for any Mainers reading )

I recently spent a couple winters in a rental with a really marginal stove, draft was awful. Never noticed the effect there either, burning mostly ponderosa pine and other conifers, the rare bit of oak when I found it.

If you can figure it out, you might go down in history for the Newton Effect, along the lines of the Mpemba Effect. Similarly counter intuitive phenomenon, just waiting for an explanation!

Re: Wood science question

William Duffield

I prefer to burn black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia because, among other advantages, it doesn't throw out these sparks. This is important when your fire is in a fireplace, and not enclosed in a cast iron box.

Re: Thanks for the reply John,

AlanWS

My guess is that they are going in all directions inside the stove, but the ones coming out distract your attention from the others that are harder to see anyway.