Thanks GCMS. I just rake through the cold ashes with the poker when I'm emptying the stove. Kitkat (and other foil wrappers) don't burn either! One key point about wood burners is that wood has to burn on a bed of ash, you never ever clear it out to the grate. So I empty the ash now & then when it gets deep, and I know that I burnt a wooden toilet seat recently (as you do...) so I need to keep a look out for the hinge.
What size / volume of pile does that make, GCMS2012 ? The biomass energy plant at Lockerbie burns a scary amount (c.220,000 tonnes of wood a year), no wonder supply is less than demand in some places.