What gives?

[climberjones]

What thickness does a chunk of wood have to be before it should be split it seems to me that anytime i try to burn anything any thicker than 3 or 4 inches thick it just wants to smolder doesnt seem to cure in a year unless split . when do you decide a piece of wood should be split what thickness????

 

[jimbojango]

well.. i split everything, anything left thats 3 or 4 inches just gets left at my house. I'd split it in half if i had too. What kind of wood is it?

 

[chucker]

?????????????????????

good question?? for a quick thought i wood say 1/2 the size of the wood burners outlet size (6" =3") or maybe a 1/4 to a 1/3rd of the door opening to make filling the burner easy?? but this wood only be a guess as most of my wood is atleast 2 years seasoned/dry before attempting to burn it! nothing worse than trying to burn green would!

 

[TreePointer]

Split everything that you can.

My general rule is that stuff under 2" may burn okay, but it really depends on the wood's details (live, dead standing, stacked, piled, etc.)

I've burned unsplit 2" red oak that I cut form a timber harvest 6 months after the harvest. Not a problem. Split red oak from larger rounds that had seasoned for a whole year didn't burn as well.

 

[Lurch2]

As a general rule If I can pick it up with 1 hand it goes on the stack.

 

[woodbooga]

I've heard some foresters refer to New Hampshire's woodlands as the asbestos forest. The mixed hardwoods we have here don't lend themselves to the sorts of wildfires they have elsewhere.

When there are forest fires, often the mature trees survive, with the main casualties being the saplings and brush in the understory.

Why's this relevant? In addition to retaining more moisture inside the round, the bark on an unsplit piece of wood insulates the wood against the fire around it.

 

[bejay]

I've heard some foresters refer to New Hampshire's woodlands as the asbestos forest. The mixed hardwoods we have here don't lend themselves to the sorts of wildfires they have elsewhere.

When there are forest fires, often the mature trees survive, with the main casualties being the saplings and brush in the understory.

Why's this relevant? In addition to retaining more moisture inside the round, the bark on an unsplit piece of wood insulates the wood against the fire around it.

thats true in alot of areas where there isnt many softwood or conifers to feed the fire not sure if it has much to do with moisture content though.

 

[sunfish]

My wood stove doesn't like 3" or larger rounds. I split everything over 2"...

 

[m37]

i split everything over 5", all the rest I keep fro night logs and stack them in a different place and let them dry longer.

 

[freemind]

I split EVERYTHING. Then again, I don't keep any wood smaller than 5 or 6 inches either.

Call me a snob, but the little stuff doesn't burn long, and if you cut it green, never seems to dry unsplit either.

 

[thejdman04]

I try to split every piece at least once, many times it will burn (under 3") without splitting but if it is split even once, it seems to burn better.

 

[darkbyrd]

I split everything over 3". Even if it doesn't split clean (only takes a chunk) it helps it dry, then use the small pieces on top of kindling and to shim the stack

 

[zogger]

Guess it depends where you live

What thickness does a chunk of wood have to be before it should be split it seems to me that anytime i try to burn anything any thicker than 3 or 4 inches thick it just wants to smolder doesnt seem to cure in a year unless split . when do you decide a piece of wood should be split what thickness????

It gets just downright beastly hot where I am in the summer, if the stuff is stacked and you keep the rain off..it dries in one season just fine, split or not. Heck, there's folks around me don't split until they need it! They just keep a few days ahead, even the big rounds dry if stacked in the sun and where the wind can get to it.

Me, my rule is, small enough to fit in the stove, it don't get split. I cut lotsa small too, a ton of small.

Larger chunks get dropped in at night, or during the day. Only early morning and evening hanging out in the living room get real hot fires. Now heating season is longish, but we don't need hades inferno hot all the time either. Heck, it is 70 degrees here right now! Ain't got a fire going, but after dinner, sure build a little one, then throw a chunk on at bedtime.

We can get some cold, but it is interspersed with mild, just "cool enough for a fire".

We'll have some more decent cold in Feb, but by March, it starts to be getting to be gardening weather. That's my transition point when I switch and set the saw down for awhile. Through the next month I will still be cutting and splitting and stacking, and it all will be dry by next winter and burn great. I guess in real rainy and cold areas it might take two years drying If so, that's what ya do then! get ahead. I'm trying to do that anyway, I know I got more than a winters worth for next year done already, so everything the next month will be for the year after that. Eventually I want to be like 4-5 years ahead, not so much for drying, but just so it is done.

OK< just swiveled around to see what is behind the woodstove right now, I have chunks and unsplit from 1.5 inches to around ten inches thick. Most of it is around 5-6" thick. It's all dry, and comes from last year, a lot of it from last fall when it was still warm out, all burning fine. Now we have burned more than I budgeted, just guessing, but I have near two cords dry as a reserve anyway, looks like I will be hitting it soon, another ..week and half I'll start on that pile, maybe longer if the warm weather holds.

 

[Fronty Owner]

what I will usually do is get a good coal bed with small splits and put a larger split or round (8" or so) bark side down. I keep the larger stuff off until I have a good hot coal bed going.

 

[myzamboni]

As a general rule If I can pick it up with 1 hand it goes on the stack.

Yes, if my hand can grab the end of the split and pick it up, it does not need to be split again (~4-5")

 

[3fordasho]

If I'm short on wood I split it small to minimize the seasoning time. Now that I'm 5 years ahead on my wood supply I like to have some "overnighters" on hand, ie splits or rounds that will barely fit through the stove door. I give these ample seasoning time, like 2-3 years or more if I'm dealing with red oak. No matter how seasoned these overnighters are, at good hot coal bed is necessary for a proper burn with them.

I've also been known to split up to 18" white oak rounds only once and stack them
in my stacking area closest to my neighbors... keeps the wood on that end from walking away:curse: