Splitting and Seasoning Oak

[Gabriel82]

On 22/12/2025 at 21:40, Steven P said:

Petroleum coke is quite aggressive on any metal work in the stove

Never used it , only once held in hand a big chunk of it near Ploiesti/Brazi refinery.  

 

Probably because of sulphur content and other heavy metals in it...

 

To buy petroleum coke around here in Romania you must be a big industrial operator and minimum load is a 25 ton truck... 

Not for average Joe...

 

I forgot to ever post a video of a fresh fire start  from cold in a ceramic tile stove using only oak and some wood briquettes. 

 

So here it is one 😁 

oak fire ceramic tile stove first 20-30 minutes

WWW.BITCHUTE.COM

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oak firewood and some wood briquettes about 20-30 minutes after light up from a cold start!

 

Got up around 4:00 AM and tried my best with the smartphone.

 

I really am in doubt about this oak wood: is it not seasoned or why does it burn so slow? 

 

With birch or hornbeam after 30 minutes of burn was time to add some more wood. 

Not so with oak.

 

And said birch or hornbeam was seasoned at least 1 year. Still burned faster than oak. 

 

The bark on this oak also crackles like popcorn first 10-15 minutes ,then settles into a quiet calm low flames burn.

 

And the wood lookes "sectioned/sliced" while burning. 

 

Strange as I never seen it in other wood species.

 

I begin to think it's not seasoned enough 😂 

 

Although I use less wood for the whole around 3 hours of burn time until all stove gets hot all over the place(top area first, bottom part in the end). 

 

Oak has a similar behaviour to coal briquettes ,those oval/egg like shape. 

 

Those things would glow red hot for 5-6 hours and give off a lot of heat but barely get smaller with time. 

 

If it wasn't for the questionable content of sulphur wich no one can say/measure for sure and that may damage the stove inside or even chimney(brick type) , I would still use coal briquettes.

 

If exhaust gasses condens in chimney sulphuric acid and other things might drip from top to bottom chimney... 

 

All 5 meters of it 🙄

 

Only if I would rebuild the chimney using stainless 316 Ti  and insulated from bottom to top I would "dare" to burn coal briquettes...

 

Although the about 6-7 hours actual burn time is impressive. Nevermind the heat they give...

 

One ton might be enough for a whole winter. plus some hardwood in there. 

[Gabriel82]

petroleum coke is tempting and some smaller suppliers do sell it by the ton(around 400 euros) but the quality is debateable as is sulphur content... 

 

It's not the same as from big suppliers who actually make it in their own refinery like Rompetrol...

 

Although at 8.7 to 9.8 Kwh per kg ,its more than enough for a small stove 😂 

 

See for yourself

 

Packaging is 13kg or 20 kg bags.

Burn time (their statement/word) 10-12 hours... 

Better than coal briquettes, nevermind oak or wood briquettes...

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Gabriel82
uploaded too much things/identical stuff...