Ironwood
Burning ironwood this eve again (Ostrya virginiana, for you precise types) in our lovely woodstove. Wonderful stuff, this. Dense, legendarily hard wood, burns forever, gives off BTUs like no one's business...
There are catches, of course. First, if you're not careful, burning said wood can easily get your stove up to the temperature of an ironworking forge (which is good, I guess, if you're planning on beating swords into ploughshares or vice versa, but not so good if the stove itself happens to be made of iron). Second, you pretty much need a hydrogen bomb to get the stuff going... Although, in a pinch (and if you don't happen to be a close, personal friend of Edward Teller), a reasonable quantity of finely split birch is also functional as kindling.
Yes, you could also try splitting the ironwood itself finely enough to get it going directly, but then, for this, too, you pretty much need the bomb.
So, generally, I go with the birch.
Anyway, moving on from the hyperbole (and, for the record, the last part contained a particular slander against the finer qualities of a worthy species, since, yes, the stuff is incredibly dense and somewhat challenging to ignite, but ironwood actually splits pretty cleanly and painlessly if you hit it the right way), I've little to say this eve; just checking in, letting those of you who worry know I'm still about. Had a somewhat tiring weekend--my parents were in town, and beyond the fact that they're not the quietest people on the planet, the little one tends to remain in a perpetual state of cheerful but extremely pronounced excitability when they're around, which, though nice to see, tends to wear one out after extended exposure.
Which, getting to my point is why there were no posts in the last several days, and why there might not be any for a few more days still: I'm heading for the sensory deprivation tank now; I'll check in again when I've answered the ringing in my ears...
Later, all.
There are catches, of course. First, if you're not careful, burning said wood can easily get your stove up to the temperature of an ironworking forge (which is good, I guess, if you're planning on beating swords into ploughshares or vice versa, but not so good if the stove itself happens to be made of iron). Second, you pretty much need a hydrogen bomb to get the stuff going... Although, in a pinch (and if you don't happen to be a close, personal friend of Edward Teller), a reasonable quantity of finely split birch is also functional as kindling.
Yes, you could also try splitting the ironwood itself finely enough to get it going directly, but then, for this, too, you pretty much need the bomb.
So, generally, I go with the birch.
Anyway, moving on from the hyperbole (and, for the record, the last part contained a particular slander against the finer qualities of a worthy species, since, yes, the stuff is incredibly dense and somewhat challenging to ignite, but ironwood actually splits pretty cleanly and painlessly if you hit it the right way), I've little to say this eve; just checking in, letting those of you who worry know I'm still about. Had a somewhat tiring weekend--my parents were in town, and beyond the fact that they're not the quietest people on the planet, the little one tends to remain in a perpetual state of cheerful but extremely pronounced excitability when they're around, which, though nice to see, tends to wear one out after extended exposure.
Which, getting to my point is why there were no posts in the last several days, and why there might not be any for a few more days still: I'm heading for the sensory deprivation tank now; I'll check in again when I've answered the ringing in my ears...
Later, all.
posted by AJM at 11:19 p.m. (Permanent Link)
