Saturated oven

[brickie in oz]

Re: Saturated oven

All wood has the same btu's per kilogram.

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Saturated oven

All wood has the same btu's per kilogram.

Are you sure Brickie?
If i burn equal kg of different kind of wood, i'll get the same heat?
So what is this all about?Firewood BTU.


Edit:
I think you are correct!
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/lin...s_ec1628-e.pdf

[mrchipster]

Re: Saturated oven

All wood has the same btu's per kilogram.

Brickie, very good point, but, That is making the assumption that they are both at the same state of dryness. A heavy wet wood does not have as much energy available as a dry piece of the same weight.

A wet wood will use up quite a bit of it's energy fighting it's own water to provide heat. So use dry wood it is significantly more efficient.

Another hint for wet or green wood, try to cut it into small pieces, wrist sized as soon as you are able, that way it will dry quicker than if left as whole or larger than wrist sized, even smaller limbs should be split to expose the core so they dry quicker.

Dry wood also has fewer bug problems.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Saturated oven

Ok my mistake, all dry wood has the same heat value per kilo.

Here is a list of Australian wood.
Properties of Firewood - Department of Environment and Primary Industries

Divide the air dry density of the wood by the Relative Heat Available/Unit Volume.

Its all 11 or there abouts.

Its just carbon stored in a stick, the denser the carbon the heavier the stick, simple maths.....

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Saturated oven

Ok my mistake, all dry wood has the same heat value per kilo.

Here is a list of Australian wood.
Properties of Firewood - Department of Environment and Primary Industries

Divide the air dry density of the wood by the Relative Heat Available/Unit Volume.

Its all 11 or there abouts.

Its just carbon stored in a stick, the denser the carbon the heavier the stick, simple maths.....

Nice, thanks for the tips brickie!

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: Saturated oven

For bread I burn lots of pine. Right now I'm over run with building material cut-off's. So for bread bun anything that makes heat. No worries all my cut-off's are clean wood so no glues or paints and no pressure treated.

Keep in mind with pizza your pizza is in with that wood but with bread the oven is cleared so when I do pizza I chose better wood.

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Saturated oven

For bread I burn lots of pine. Right now I'm over run with building material cut-off's. So for bread bun anything that makes heat. No worries all my cut-off's are clean wood so no glues or paints and no pressure treated.

Keep in mind with pizza your pizza is in with that wood but with bread the oven is cleared so when I do pizza I chose better wood.

You chose better wood because of the flavour of the smoke that the wood produce?

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: Saturated oven

That is correct.

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Saturated oven

That is correct.

Do you think spruce will be ok for bread?
Wikipedia European Spruce

[mrchipster]

Re: Saturated oven

Do you think spruce will be ok for bread?
Wikipedia European Spruce

Spruce is much to sappy and soft for pizza but would be fine for bringing oven up to temp or for saturating oven for bread baking and then raking out the coals after heating, try to find a hardwood, fruit trees, oak, hard maple, are good choices.

You may get some tar buildup in your flue from spruce, so you may need to clean your chimney more often when using it.

In your part of the world maybe olive trees. Lemon, apple, orange and nut trees are also good wood to burn, you could bring the oven up to temp with the spruce but switch over to hardwood after the first 45 minutes to hour of firing and switch over to the hardwood.

I know the California folks use almond, we have walnut here and I am not a big fan of the smoke that comes off walnut but that is about the only nut tree I do not like for pizza. But it is a great hardwood for getting up to pizza temps.

My oven heats in 60-90 minutes to pizza temps and I would switch at the 60 minute mark. It does not take much wood to maintain the heat so if your hardwoods are rare or expensive then this would be more economical.

Try to make friends with a furniture builder, they will often have cutoffs that they need to pay to have removed. I am lucky enough to have a brother in law that brings me hardwood cutoffs from his furniture factory. Just be careful not to burn anything that has been stained, varnished or is a ply or glue up.

[deejayoh]

Re: Saturated oven

You chose better wood because of the flavour of the smoke that the wood produce?

I think the bigger issue for me is no "pops". Softwood throws out sparks, hardwood burns hotter with no explosions.

[mrchipster]

Re: Saturated oven

I think the bigger issue for me is no "pops". Softwood throws out sparks, hardwood burns hotter with no explosions.

Yea, but then you miss the fireworks and neat little holes in your shirts and pants, as well as those nice little ankle warming embers that get caught in the fabric at the top of your shoes...

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Saturated oven

I think the bigger issue for me is no "pops". Softwood throws out sparks, hardwood burns hotter with no explosions.

Until now I did have a single pop!
I don't know why but it burns quietly, big an fast!
I throw one log once the fire from the previous is gone, i need to baby sit the fire the whole time, I fill the oven as I fiil it with olive branches with a updoen furing it catches all at once and it creates a huge smoke and I 'm afraid that the fir department will arrived just at the time that my neighbors are getting ready to kill me!

[deejayoh]

Re: Saturated oven

Yea, but then you miss the fireworks and neat little holes in your shirts and pants, as well as those nice little ankle warming embers that get caught in the fabric at the top of your shoes...

Yes, and also the crunchy charcoal-y bits on your pizza. Nom nom.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Saturated oven

Gudday
Doesn't really matter what you use to get the heat into the mass of your oven it all heat really. I use palm frond cause they are always around and a pest to get rid off. There full of oil catch like a bomb and burn away real quick and leave a lot of ash and don't smell that good. But for all that, there are heat.
Scrape the excess ash out at the end and throw in some good hardwood and you would never know.
Regards dave