What size to split?

[ExtremeLawnCare]

How small of a diameter round would you not split for firewood?

 

[okietreedude1]

5-6 inches. Also might depend on the specie and how much of that size there was. Ive kept some in the 8" range for those weekend burns. Not a lot of it though.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Yup. What he said.

Might split some pine down for kindling.

 

[ericjeeper]

I split everything down to about 5 inches

I figure if I make it to big and awkward the wife might refuse to fill it.. I would rather be able to cram the fireboxx with smaller splits than rounds.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Smaller splits burn faster. Good for knocking off the chill in a hurry. Rounds last longer. Good for overnight burns.

Which is right for you depends what you want. Probably depends somewhat on your stove, too.

 

[upandcommer]

I leave some 10" in rounds for what I call all nighters bring in about 3 a week for those nights when the house is nice and cozy and I am just maintaining the heat overnight. I open her up before bed and toss one of the rounds in half flu shut the door and proceed to beddy bye in the morning usually all i need to do is throw a couple of small splits and open the flu and walla insta heat to take the house back up to temp. For most of my firewood I split even the 6 inchers at least in half though.

 

[olyman]

as big as i can get in the 12x12 door!!!!!!!!! wife can get them in also--i like it to burn long----

 

[ericjeeper]

Long burns

Long burns often do not make any heat. Only so many btus in a pound of wood.. If you stretch the amount of time used to release the btus you reduce the heat output.
Let alone the smoking smouldering issues and creosote buildups

 

[Patrick62]

Depends on a few things.

If the wood is dry, then if I can pick it up with one hand from the end it is fine.
If the wood is green(er) then I split it smaller for faster drying.

This pretty much goes for all the wood I sell as well. Exceptions to this:
Mother has a small stove, split it dinky.
Hazel has larger stove, split it bigger.
Another one has some sort of oversize thing and can burn almost anything!

5 inch is pretty close for a nice size. You ever seen those little bundles of sticks they sell at the store? Split like tooth picks, probably burns about as long. How much they charging for that stuff?? $3.99 ????

-Pat

 

[JBinKC]

I have no set in stone rule but rounds in the 6-7 inch range are split. Since I split by hand the rule can be easily broken if the wood is very gnarly or happens to be elm, sycamore or gum the size will go up. The large sizes work well for overnight burns on cold nights. I have no problems with efficient burns of the large pieces when the coal bed is hot.

 

[ShoerFast]

Now there are a lot here that have sold a lot more firewood then I ever will, but I have found a slight trick that helps people remember your phone number.

In the ad , mention that you will cut and split there wood to what there use needs, asking if they would like to have a few a little bigger and some smaller stuff? Simply sort there wood towards there idea and low and behold, a standard cord will have most everything in the mix they wanted!

 

[blis]

i split everything bigger than 2", burns cleaner and faster and also dries better...

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Long burns often do not make any heat.

Really? Hmm. The laws of physics must be different where you live. They've worked fine for me.

Only so many btus in a pound of wood.. If you stretch the amount of time used to release the btus you reduce the heat output.

So, help me understand this... How can I have less "heat output" if I don't have any heat to start with?

Let alone the smoking smouldering issues and creosote buildups

Yep. It's nasty. But when you

1. Have a stove that's too big for your house, so has to be run damped down. (Previous owners were, uh, not the sharpest tacks in the drawer.)
2. Don't want to have to get up in the night to build up a fire.

You are pretty well stuck with long burns, and bigger pieces work much better for that.

I'll clean the creosote, thanks.

 

[monk680]

How are the laws of physics relavint to burning a log. Burning a log is a chemical reaction. I guess the logs in your stove move around or something.

 

[NYH1]

I cut and split most my firewood log around 6"x6"x18". I split some smaller, 3 to 4 inches around to get good fires going quickly. I also split some larger, 7 to 8 inches around for longer burns. I burn mostly black cherry with some maple and oak here and there.

 

[Mr. Firewood]

for my customers it is 16" x 2" x 3", for myself it is 24" x 5-6"... I'll throw up some pics tonite

 

[7ShawnT]

Split?

I usually don't split under 8", and I don't mind leaving half 12", as long as they go in the door! My firebox is 30"L X 20"W X 24"H if the trees are down by now (April) they will burn fine in Nov, (If they are stacked outside to dry) and big ones last longer. I also have a wood fired brick oven for my bakery, fire box is 36"W X 72"L X 16"H this works good for those branches that you don't feel like cutting down to 24" - 26" long and leave them 5' long, up to about 6" diameter (otherwise they get heavy!) No I don't split 5' long logs, I just cut them shorter, and again if they fit in the door, in they go! As far as creosote, I can get out the ladder and brush, clean/brush the chimney, put away the ladder & brush, go inside, clean out the creosote from the bottom of the chimney in less than 10 min! I also re-burn the creosote. (a small shovels worth thrown on top of a hot fire, poof it's gone!)
Shawn T W - Burning in VT!

 

[Gark]

If you split it down to where ya can pick up each piece with one hand by its end that's 'bout right. Or no .. waitaminnit .. that's to make it easier carrying the stuff to the stack or stove. One in each hand. Hmmmm, that size works just fine anyway for stacking or burning.

 

[logbutcher]

Scandinavian Trees

i split everything bigger than 2", burns cleaner and faster and also dries better...

Not much larger DBH than 2" up there we understand. :hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[alderman]

Depends on whether it will stand up

I split pretty much everything. If it is too small to stand on end then I will call it good enough and put it on the pile round. I've got all winter to get in a supply of wood so I've probably got more time than I've got sense as on the small stuff I can't see where it makes a difference. Also, since I mostly use Alder, it splits real easy. If I was into something that split hard I could see myself leaving some larger rounds.