Day12!

Over the weekend it became apparent that our method of burning the parent log was not very effective, for the amount of time we were spending burning the log we were not seeing the return we would like in the amount of material removed. To counter this today we tried a different method to see if we could make the process more efficient.

Covering the burning area on the parent log with turf in order to retain the heat and concentrate it onto the log and not let the heat escape.

It was decided that the possible reason for the inefficiency was the loss of heat into the air and not down onto the parent log underneath. To help concentrate the heat downwards we created a clamp kiln over the top of the burning area. This would help retain the heat and focus the heat onto the log underneath. The log was left to burn for the same time as the uncovered fire over the weekend to compare the results.

Unfortunately the clamp kiln did not help with the efficiency of the process and very little burning occurred.

 When the turf was removed we were disappointed to find that there was no major difference between what had been burn underneath the turf and what had been burnt over the weekend without the turf. The heart wood of the log refuses to char enough to remove any decent quantity of material. Disheartened we have gone back to the drawing board and will be testing out a new theory over the next couple of days so please stay tuned.