On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 11:00:33 -0500, tiredofspam nospam.nospam.com
wrote:

Won't the dust and shavings just burn very quickly... and be gone?

Depend on the quantity and the hearth design. Shavings burn very
quickly, but a reasonable quantity of dust packs down into a dense
pile with little airflow, so burns very slowly. It's the dust pile
that will stay in overnight.

OTOH, dust piles burn cold. You may see extra trouble with tar
deposits in the flue.