How does one burn rounds

yes, to all.

I usually put in with splits and I seem to get longer burn times with rounds added. But, some people on this forum say the opposite they burn faster. I am always looking to get longer burn times like you.

mecreature said:

yes, to all.

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+1 . . . for me rounds are what I use to fill up the void spaces in the firebox . . . and if I have a particularly large one I may use it in my overnight fire.

I don't burn big rounds. I pretty much split everything that can be split. Big splits pack in like a jigsaw puzzle leaving fewer gaps and as a result burns slowly front-to-back instead of all at once.

Just another stick of firewood to me. I don't treat them any differently than a split. If I can palm it, it doesn't get split..so 5" or so.

I use rounds in one of my stoves, a top-loader with a big opening, on very cold days and sometimes at bed time. I can put up to about 8" rounds in if I want. I only use one or two, putting them on a very good bed of coals.

I like a few thick 5-7 inch rounds mixed in with my stacks. As long as they are seasoned, they work great for overnight burns since they burn slower. My advice is to place one or two in the back of the stove on some hot coals and add some splits wherever there is room left. Let the fire take off with the air open and then gradually shut her down for the night... never fails to give hot embers in the morn.

Stokers!! Save the Stokers! The rounds give a longer burn. I only split the stuff that is too big to go in the door (over 8 in.). They're perfect for those long, not really cold winter nights when packing it full and firing the afterburners results in waking up sweating and opening the windows at 3:00 am.

I dont split stuff usually under about 6". Sometimes i do but mostly i dont to save splitting effort. They all burn, if they dont you must not have a hot enough fire. I stick um on top or bottom loading N/S, which ever way they fit. I stick the small 1"-3" rounds that i have in the holes or on the sides where another split wont fit. But i have a 3.5CUFT firebox so i can prolly fit a bit more in there than some of yall.

Put one big one in the back at night with splits up front.

pen said:

If they are big enough for me to throw them in the truck to bring them home, they are big enough for me to try and split down.

Usually, the smallest I'll bring home is 1.75 to 2 inch diameter stuff and I'll give it a quick whack w/ the axe to split. If they fight me, then they go into the stack whole. I like having the bigger than kindling but smaller than splits stuff around and use it to fill in around the bigger splits when loading. All part of a mix.

pen

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Hey Pen, do you have a pic of how you normally load your 30?

I have been playing around with some rounds....real dry ones.....here is a pic....it took off on a good coal bed...along with an Envi brick and some miscellaneous pcs...I set the end of it on the doghouse lip..

I don't burn a big round unless im certain it is very dry. My NC30 loves rounds and I load it with biggest round that will fit such that the end of the round lays just over the front lip. This lets the doghouse air jet get under the length of the round.

Then fir smaller splits all around it - or better yet- a couple ECO BRICKS.

IF your round is not dry then all you get is a brown spot on the window where the end of the round comes close to it.

Gotta be dry.

Yeah - do it. Rounds are good for your stove and you will get long burns.

did i mention that they MUST be dry?

SmokeyCity said:

did i mention that they MUST be dry?

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ALL wood should be dry that you put in your stove....not just rounds...that can not be repeated enough...especially for newbies..

I save pretty large oak rounds - just did a bunch today actually, will post pics tomorrow - for long burning overnight fires. I plan on those round sitting in single row stack for 3-4 years before I burn them. The oak rounds I'm burning this year are very dry - not a hint of hiss or bubbling. I like to have enough that I can pack two large rounds on either side of the firebox for the overnight burn, and sometimes add a couple more with the splits. The key to rounds is time, and I'd suggest single row stacking. Placing rounds deep in stacks really slows their ability to dry. Cheers!

I have ~5 cords of large rounds, mostly pine, some oak. The oak rounds seem to be drying much faster than the pine rounds, which is opposite to what I've read about hardwood drying. Maybe the oak just dries faster at first, and then takes longer to finish? Humidity is high .. SF bay area.

Most pieces are 50 to 100 pounds each, and too large for a 4 ft2 box. I'm still trying to find an economical wood boiler or way to burn them, so I'm slowly splitting them.
I agree with comment above about drying time .. the larger pine rounds don't show much progress even after 6+ months, but some of the oak rounds show great progress (radial splits from drying) already. Really important to not stack them vertically .. my first time with such large rounds .. stacked some vertically up to 4 pieces high .. dumb idea .. lol.

I do have one experience burning very large rounds .. logs weighing 100 to 200 pounds each, straddling a rock fire pit, with flames 10+ feet high .. in a pouring rain a couple dozen feet from the beach in the Olympic rain forest in an area only accessible to backpackers. I'll never forget that time with my father. A ranger even spotted us, and didn't complain. Anyways, we stacked them just like you would stack 3 splits, but the bottom was elevated a few inches high, since they straddled the rock lined firepit. However, the coals on the bottom of the bottom logs crept outward along the bottom clear to the edges of the logs, outside the firepit.

More practically, have you seen the rectangular Jotel designed to burn 24" logs? Jotul claims that stove burns logs like a cigar to enhance burn times.

I don't think rounds dry well so i split most of my firewood. I have lots of small Red Maple rounds 3 inches or less in diameter and they are burning great. Does a 3 inch stick count as a round?

Edit: I didn't address any of your questions. Rounds don't light as fast as splits and they dont pack as tightly. I usually use small splits between the rounds to get a faster start and to put a little more wood in the stove. I get about the same bun time with big splits as I do with rounds of the same size. No dramatic difference that I can see.

My rounds are 16" to 30" in diameter, and they definitely do not dry well. Some seem to have not dried at all over 6+ months. I think even splitting them once in half helps significantly.

I know nothing about Jotul stove, but when I was searching for something to burn my "rounds", I found this model:

Jotul-F-118-CB-Black-Bear

My rounds, even split in half, still won't fit. I'm still searching for an easy way to burn them .. preferably in an outdoor, top-loading wood boiler like this:

Log Boiler

Unfortunately, $70k is about 70 times my budget!

GBoil said:

IMore practically, have you seen the rectangular Jotel designed to burn 24" logs? Jotul claims that stove burns logs like a cigar to enhance burn times.

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Back in the '70s that was called a "scandinavian stove." Also had a long flat baffle, so that gases from logs burning from front looped back to front for another hit of fresh air, before going up and out to the rear. Maybe with a cat, it'd have a chance at passing emissions specs.

Buddy had an oriental knock-off of same. Cheap bugger ran it so cold that whole inner surface above fire was shiny black. (Not enamel, either.)

pen said:

Usually, the smallest I'll bring home is 1.75 to 2 inch diameter stuff and I'll give it a quick whack w/ the axe to split. If they fight me, then they go into the stack whole. I like having the bigger than kindling but smaller than splits stuff around and use it to fill in around the bigger splits when loading. All part of a mix.

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This is about right for me as well.

CTYank said:

GBoil said:

More practically, have you seen the rectangular Jotel designed to burn 24" logs? Jotul claims that stove burns logs like a cigar to enhance burn times.

Click to expand...

Back in the '70s that was called a "scandinavian stove." Also had a long flat baffle, so that gases from logs burning from front looped back to front for another hit of fresh air, before going up and out to the rear. Maybe with a cat, it'd have a chance at passing emissions specs.

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Jotul claims the "new" Black Bear model gets 75% thermal efficiency without a cat, can use 24" logs, up to 60k BTU, but only 8 hour max burn time, so it doesn't seem to achieve any special results when burning longer/bigger logs that can fit into this long, rectangular box. I attached a photo from their manual showing how they achieve the secondary burn. I won't pretend to understand why this design doesn't extend burn times beyond 8 hours.

I would be especially interested if anyone knows of any economical contraption to burn larger rounds (12" to 24" diameter x 12" to 20" long).

Black bear is a small stove is it not?