16 now 18

[Whitespider]

I've been cutting firewood to 16 inch lengths for as long as I can remember... like, since before Noah (well... maybe not that long).

When I went to cut up the forked oak that fell in the yard the other day I decided to cut it all at 18 inches. The DAKA will take up to 25 inch and I figured cutting a bit longer would reduce the number of cuts and handling. What a friggin' mess‼ There ain't a single one of them the same length, except the ones I forgot were supposed to be 18 and cut them 16 inches. It was like re-learning to use a saw...

I was lookin' at the pile of rounds last night; looks like some rookie did the job... angle cuts, all sorts of lengths.
I guess old habits die hard... I'm gonna haf'ta hide the stack somewhere

 

[ponyexpress976]

I'm sure this is hard for the perfectionist in you to handle. Think of it as practicing and mastering of a new skill.

 

[philoshop]

Ya sure it's not just lack of practice?

Make a double stack with all the odd stuff to the inside. Nobody"ll know.
I hear that's how other people hide their mistakes.

 

[flyboy553]

Seems you need that there "aimin' fluid" the doc and your wife say you can't have.

Ted

 

[brenndatomu]

18" still sounds short in a 25" box. Mine will take 24", I cut at 22"...

 

[Whitespider]

18" still sounds short in a 25" box.

I like to keep them short enough for the wife and daughter to handle easily... ... ... ...not that they help all that often, but when they do...
Same with loading the box... wife already complains about some being a bit to heavy...
*

 

[zogger]

Remember back..last week or so when it was sub zero and you were wondering if summer would ever come?

You won't give a flip if it fits in the stove.

I get plenty of oddballs.

Splitting by hand I would rather too short than too long. I'll make the extra saw cuts.

 

[stihly dan]

Just about finished burning my old stove wood finally.. The difference in 16 to 20 is a few hours of heat per load.. My furnace has a 22inch box, and prefers 20. sometime it gets 21 15/16ths.

 

[morewood]

I am the complete opposite, length doesn't matter, only whether my parents can pick it up. I cut shorter when the pieces are getting big because I move all the wood to my splitting area. You can even call some of my wood blocks because it gets short at times. My Central Boiler doesn't care.

Shea

 

[WoodTick007]

Here is what I found out. I used to cut all my wood 20 inches. Then I started cutting them 15. . . I get the same heat out of a 15" piece of wood as I do an 20". I stack my rows 3 rows deep and have very stable piles. I get more logs and more splits to burn. And there is no wrestling with large logs in a very hot stove.

 

[zogger]

Here is what I found out. I used to cut all my wood 20 inches. Then I started cutting them 15. . . I get the same heat out of a 15" piece of wood as I do an 20". I stack my rows 3 rows deep and have very stable piles. I get more logs and more splits to burn. And there is no wrestling with large logs in a very hot stove.

That's interesting..I will speculate. Say, it is roughly the same wood you cut all the time and the same amount of seasoning time. The shorter 15 inch pieces might be just enough drier over the longer that you do in fact get the same heat in the room from the stove as you would get from the 20s. less wasted hot steam going out the chimney.

 

[Zeus103363]

18" still sounds short in a 25" box. Mine will take 24", I cut at 22"...

Me too. Mine and my dads takes 24" wood, We cut 21" so we can "share" wood.


Thanks

 

[DanTheCanadian]

It doesn't matter if your wood is 4" or 40" if the moisture content is the same the btu's are the same. The difference that you get is burn time. At the fire department we say that wood burns at inch an hour. (This is an average, obviously were not testing burning houses before we put them out). Take a 4" x4" beam. If it is burning from one side only, then it will take 4 hours to burn through. But, if it is burning from four sides, now itll only last 1hour.

Now obviously a fully engulfed beam may burn faster, but when it first ignites it burns slower, need to find a happy middle rate. This is why your first piece of wood seems to take forever to throw heat, then after every piece just seems to burn to nothing in no time.

Take it for what its worth, I cut my wood 16" cuz my stove will take 17", if you shove it in crooked.

 

[Deleted member 83629]

i cut mine to 20'' my stove can handle up to 24'' but most of the time it is crooked uneven length logs in my stack.

 

[rarefish383]

Cut to 18", marked. All of the shorts and uglies go to the fire pit. My neighbor likes the shorts. The last time I had a pile set aside for him they sat and sat. After about 2 months my wife got on me for having a mess on the court, ruining the view of her flower beds. So, I lugged 5 or 6 wheel barrow loads over to his pile and stacked them up for him. Later he came out and said "thanks, I would have got that, but I didn't have any way to get it over there", as he hung out the window of his $50,000 Dodge diesel 4X4. Now ALL of the shorts and uglies go to the fire pit, Joe.

 

[lefturnfreek]

Same with loading the box... wife already complains about some being a bit to heavy...
*

I do 4fts so trust me, I hear about it all the time....

 

[unclemoustache]

Hadn't thought of this before, since I've never sold any wood (plan to this year) - cut the selling wood at the 'expected' 16" and cut the wood I use myself at what fits my stove best. Now THAT would be tricky to remember!

 

[dancan]

Sounds like Spidey needs a Mingo and the 18" wheel .

 

[flotek]

I've noticed a packed box of 16" splits will burn just as long as ones at 22"
Maybe it's air space maybe it's the seasoning dryness but it seems to work

 

[sb47]

I just eyeball it. an inch one way or the other dosnt mater to me. If it will fit in the box and burn, I'll toss it in.