Fire tips for a mason 2x3

[koliver]

I just finished bricking my new mason 2x3 over the weekend and plan to boil on Friday and Saturday.
I'm new to wood fired, as I have been using a turkey fryer for the last few years. I've learned from the threads so far that I need to try to consistently stoke the fire every 5-8 minutes. I've also read that my splits should be about the size of my wrist. If that is true, I have some splitting to do. My wood pile has a variety of wood in it. Will this pose a problem?

Any tips on starting the fire? Do I just make the fire on the grid or a larger area?

Thanks,
Kyle15550

[motowbrowne]

I haven't seen your firebox, but nothing too special about cooking with wood. Start a fire and once it's going keep adding wood. Keep it almost full all the time. Not jam packed, but almost full. The smaller you split your wood, the faster it'll cook. An even consistent fire is best. Adding two pieces every 3 minutes is better than 4 pieces every six minutes. Burning a variety of wood is no problem. Minimize time with the door open. If you have two doors, only open one at any time when adding wood. Don't forget defoamer.

Hope that helps a little.

[Person25]

Hello,

Ive run a 2x3 mason for a few years now so a few tips and things ive learned may help.... These little units run very efficient with a quick dry fire. Its pretty easy to get a good burn going, I usually can get the fire going with a piece of crumpled newspaper, 5 pieces of cord wood a few inches in diameter, and a few handfuls of kindling, chips, etc. I set up right on the grate with the paper, surrounded by two lengths, kindling on top and the other larger pieces teepeed over, simple. for the first 30 minutes of burning or so ive found that runing with the door closed but not latched, rather put the door latch on the angle iron with a half inch opening to let some extra air in. also, leave the ash box door swinging open freely. most of the air comes from the bottom and feeds under the grate. after you get a good bed then you close the door after every fire. To start just use the driest wood you have any variety, the size of your wrist rule is a good start, but you can go a little larger once you've gotten the coal bed built and stretch the 5 minutes to 10 between firing.

One comment on your bricking in the picture, it looks good, but you may want to consider building a ramp instead of a wall, basically fill the hole in completely and build it up so there's only a few inches of space under the pan, then leave a little drop down at the outlet for the flue. Thatll help keep more heat under the pan and from going right out the back and up the shoot. (i learned this after the first year).

Secondly, around the outer edge of the firebox where the brick comes up the steel lip you may want to chamfer the top edge of the fire brick to let the flame lick up the outer edge of the firebox and thus as far out as possible under because youll end up having difficulty boiling evenly in the last chamber near the draw off spout. I had originally gone up the edge with firebrick to the top, but after the first weekend of boiling i recut my bricks to have an angle at the top. Hope this helps, theres a bunch of other guys who have run these and since upsized to larger units who may have some tips as well.

[steve J]

I have owned a mason 2x3 and now own a mason 2x4 with a blower. I agree with everything person25 said. I have built a wall like you did but I moved it back to within a couple inches of back wall. And than using fire brick I built a ramp to it. What I have found with my blower on 2x4 is that ash will build the ramp even higher while boiling.

[koliver]

Does your wall go up to just below the chimney vent or all the way to the top? Then the ramp starts at the back of the grid to the top of the wall? I had contacted Bill Mason and he suggested the wall at the back of the grid, up to 1-2 inches from the bottom of the pan. It may literally be trial by fire here soon, as I have almost 100 gallons of sap collected that needs to get run/reduced to reclaim some bucket room.

[eustis22]

I run a 2X3 (homemade) and my wall comes with 3 inches of the bottom of the back of my pan, the hollow is filled with sand and firebrick and then a sheet steel piece slopes up to my flue, leaving only a couple of inches of clearance for the smoke/heat to escape. With AUF I get about 10 GPH. You definitely want to re-split your bigger logs to wrist size. Bigger burns slower, smaller burns hotter. Its flame you need, not coals.

[johnpma]

I ran my "new to me" Mason 2 x 3 last night for the first time with the blower running off of a speed control WOW!! Very impressed. I can see where the ramp would be beneficial for sure. I have a wall built with about a 3" gap between the top bricks and the pan. I could see the flames licking the back of the pan when I was adding splits. I had all 4 channels roaring and I calculated about 8 gph........Ramp is on my list for sure.

[Person25]

Does your wall go up to just below the chimney vent or all the way to the top? Then the ramp starts at the back of the grid to the top of the wall? I had contacted Bill Mason and he suggested the wall at the back of the grid, up to 1-2 inches from the bottom of the pan. It may literally be trial by fire here soon, as I have almost 100 gallons of sap collected that needs to get run/reduced to reclaim some bucket room.

I did mine so that the ramp/wall is higher than the level of the chimney vent (a few inches below the pan) all the way to the back wall but right in front of the vent i left a void/drop down so the smoke actually has to drop down for the draft to pull it out of the box. Your not going to do anything wrong either way, trial by fire isnt a bad thing, especially when your getting some sweet syrup out at the end of it all! Youll make adjustments and find what works for you just like the rest of us. Good luck on the first 100! I fired my first run of the year last weekend, hoping the warm weather doesnt slow things down this week.

[nberry34]

Does anyone have pictures of yours for reference? I just ordered a Mason 2x3, and am trying to plan how I am going to brick mine.

[koliver]

I ended up building more of a ramp at the back and filling in the space below the chimney with insulation and bricks. I may chamfer the top row of bricks to allow more heat to the edge of the pan, but it seemed to work ok like this. Just needed to keep feeding it wood on a regular schedule (~every 5-6 minutes).

Enjoy,
Kyle
16655
16656

[maple flats]

All conventional wood fired evaporators need to be fired regularly. On my 3x8 I fuel it every 9 minutes since I added Air Over Fire, before that I had to fire it every 7 minutes, by a timer.

[eustis22]

nhberry, when is your stove supposed to be ready?

[eustis22]

So I picked up my new Mason 2X3 this past weekend and offloaded it into my shed while I prep a new spot for it in my shack. It got exposed to the rain a little and now there are rust spots in the interior. Is it ok if I steel wool those out and apply a light sheen of oil to the bare metal to keep the rust out while I wait for my blanket and refractory cement for bricking it? I plan on using high heat adhesive to hold the 1/2" ceramic blanket to the walls. Is that ok too?

[nberry34]

Sorry Eustis, just saw this. Mines due to be ready in Decemberish

[SeanD]

Don't worry too much about adhesive. Cut your pieces slightly larger and it will tuck into place. Try not to compress the blanket between the sheathing and the bricks. You'll lose some of the insulation benefits. If you can swing it, put a double layer in there for one full inch of blanket. Part of the reason to insulate is to keep the heat in the box and not on your legs, but it's also to keep the sheathing from warping. I have an inch of blanket and I warped mine pretty good - enough that it messed up the bricks inside a bit and I had to fix it the following off season.

Congrats on the new rig!

Sean