Smoke

[cec]

Iv had a few curing fires and I do seem to be generating a lot of smoke , the wood is dry and fully seasond .
How much smoke do you lot get ? .

Can coal or charcoal work ?

[tonyb]

During curing the wfo temperatures aren't high enough to fully burn the combustible material in the wood so you get smoke. Once your oven is cured and you get up to full working temperatures you will find that the fire smokes for the first 15-20 mins and then burns mostly smoke free. I haven't tried either charcoal or coal - too expensive.

The following works for me:

Start the fire at the front of the oven and gradually move it towards normal firing position, (for my pompeii I find the best position is slightly back of middle)

Build up the fire gradually - add wood little and often rather than in bursts which can make for more smoke.

[turkey]

in the initial stages whilst the fire is warming up the surroundings you can always assist with the oxegen with a blower of some sort, this might reduce the smoke. Some members swore by a paint stripper but I think thats just too juicy on the old leccy bill.

Another top tip was to create your initial starter fire as an upside down fire. If you search on google there are some good vidoes of this.

also you might want to split the wood even more, this way being smaller chunks they might burn better / with less smoke. As Tony says, small and often.

[cec]

Cheers I will try it . I do know if I keep flames going I don't get smoke , just smokes as the flames die and it starts to smoulder

[rich361]

I have the same problem Cec,

Not much smoke when the fire is burning but once it dies down to a smolder the smoke starts.

I use a heat gun to get the fire going which works well...

Will be watching this thread with interest

[minesamojito]

Mine only smokes at the start, but I do tend to push it, I use a lot of branches/twigs from my ash, gets really hot quickly though. Once it gets going it doesn't smoke, and have never had smoke once I've finished cooking. The copper pipe I use now gets tings going even quicker.
Cheers
Marcus