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Mineral Content of Woods

Started by kelLOGg, January 17, 2015, 06:49:17 PM

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kelLOGg

I know bark contains ~10x the amount of minerals than wood but what about the difference in mineral content of various woods? When I heat with elm or sweetgum I get much more bottom ash than I do if I burn oak, hickory or cedar. I may empty my stove's ashes every 2 -3  days when burning elm or sweet gum and I can go 5+ days with oak, hickory or cedar. I just can't believe bark makes the difference even though I sometimes do burn slabs which are mostly bark.
Bob
Cook's MP-32, 20HP, 20' (modified w/ power feed, up/down, loader/turner)
DH kiln, CatClaw setter and sharpener, tandem trailer, log arch, tractor, thumb tacks

gspren

  I don't think it has anything to do with minerals but I seem to get a lot more fine ash buildup with hickory than with oak, cherry or locust.
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

uplander

 I had always heard that hickory had the highest mineral content of any common tree in the Midwest woods. Might be the same for your area.
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Various Stihl saws and not enough time to use them!
Finished my house finally. Completely sawn out on by band mill. It took me 7 years but was worth it. Hardest thing I have ever done.

Windy_Acres

Recently read an article, while does not answer what the mineral content is, its enough that folks used to eat it...

Quote
Many of us eat quite a few leaves and roots almost daily, and occasionally some tender shoots too, such as asparagus and bamboo shoots – but imagine eating bark!

That's best left to some borer insects, you might think. Maybe not. Consider the fact that there's an American Indian tribe known as "Adirondack," which literally means bark eaters in the native language of the Iroquois. And if you have been enjoying apple pies and rolls spiked with cinnamon, you're no stranger to eating bark. The spice cinnamon is nothing but the dried bark of the Cinnamomum sp. tree.

There are better candidates offering edible bark, though. Many a Pinus sylvestris tree (scots pine) growing in northern Europe was denuded to provide food for the Sami people. Whether it was a food reserved for starvation diets or a local delicacy at all times is open to debate. But there's much evidence of ground birch bark being added to flour to stretch the rations during the winter following the First World War.

Why would you want to eat tree bark?

The Scandinavians have traditionally cooked a "bark bread" with a flour made out of the softer layers of pine bark in combination with rye. And why not? The soft inner bark is part of the cambium, which consists of the plant tissue that carries food and water to all the different parts of the tree. There's no doubt that it packs quite a bit of nutritional value, if not great taste.

My better half, runs the logistics of our produce production (Im just muscle). Weve got 55 gallon drums as several neighboring farms, that use OWBs, we collect the ash, and it goes onto certain "crops". She manages the micro nutrients in the soil, we only grow organics, so no "conventional" fertilizers are used. From what I understand, lots of goodies in that ash, what I dont know, I just collect and spread it !

beenthere

If interested in the chemical contents of wood, and the amount of ash, here is a .pdf document that gives an introduction about the variability and as well, a good table presented by species (see p76 for the table). Prolly more than anyone wants to know about the chemistry of wood, but a well written report.

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pdf1984/pette84a.pdf
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

trapper

Windy_Acres where does she get the information on how much and which plants to use the ashes on?
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Windy_Acres

Quote from: trapper on January 20, 2015, 03:29:16 PM
Windy_Acres where does she get the information on how much and which plants to use the ashes on?

I asked, she says its accrued from years of reading. No single point of reference, although one probably does exist.

Basically, the ash is potassium, with some iron and trace minerals. In a nut shell, that is all she had to offer.

Carrots (helps make them sweet), beans, asparagus, beets, pretty much everything but spuds.

As far as use, or how much, we wing that. She guesses about 5 pounds to a 150' of row. Row is about 1' wide. To a point, you cant put too much down.

kelLOGg

Beenthere, thanks for the table. If I am reading it correctly, there is not much difference in ash content betweeen oak, elm and sweetgum. So, the excess ash I find with elm and sweetgum must be due to burning more of them than oak. I don't want a science project out of this, so I am not going to measure the weights of what I burn and the ash left, but it sure seems lke I get more with elm and sweetgum. Hmm, maybe its is more volume and not weight...uh, stop, Bob, you're retired.
Bob
Cook's MP-32, 20HP, 20' (modified w/ power feed, up/down, loader/turner)
DH kiln, CatClaw setter and sharpener, tandem trailer, log arch, tractor, thumb tacks

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