Legnth of your wood?

I would cut them to 16 inches. But i use 18 inches in my stove but not all stoves are the same.

16" would be my recommendation...My stove handles 24" cuts at the front and 22" at the back, so I go 18" so I can easily accommodate any situation...but there are a lot of stoves that 16" is perfect...Everyone in my area that sells wood does 16" length cuts.

I do 15 & 20 inch lengths. Seems to be the average stove and fireplace capacity. That way you can cut 45 & 60" logs and be able to handle them too...hopefully

I have two stoves, both small. If the splits are 16 " they fit in both.

My current stove only fits 16" to 17" pieces but ive been cutting all of next years wood at 20" To accommodate my new stove. I would agree that 16"-18" would be more of a standard.

Don Williams said:

16" would be my recommendation...My stove handles 24" cuts at the front and 22" at the back, so I go 18" so I can easily accommodate any situation...but there are a lot of stoves that 16" is perfect...Everyone in my area that sells wood does 16" length cuts.

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Hey Don, think 20" pieces will be ok in the IR?

Trilifter7 said:

Hey Don, think 20" pieces will be ok in the IR?

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would work great...it is really the stacking that ends up being the issue...I found 18" fit perfect in my stacks. Good call tho....

I actually have a hard time buying wood because much more than 16" won't fit in my stove and the guys around here cut 18". I lucked out that the kiln wood score I had was cut to 16" already but when I usually get wood that someone already cut, I usually have to cut it again. Big pain but still better than paying the oil man

Don Williams said:

would work great...it is really the stacking that ends up being the issue...I found 18" fit perfect in my stacks. Good call tho....

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Yea I def have some overhang on my pallets with the 20" cuts. Im ok with it but i can def see 18" cuts stacking better. Good to know my pieces will work ok

Trilifter7 said:

Yea I def have some overhang on my pallets with the 20" cuts. Im ok with it but i can def see 18" cuts stacking better. Good to know my pieces will work ok

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It really does all come down to the pallets. I have 4x9 pallets that can comfortably stack 2 cords per pallet...when I cut bigger than 18 inches it gets wobbly.

The advantage of 16 inch, as well as that it can be used in just about any stove, is that three stacks of 16 inch make a full cord. Easy to measure...person knows what they are getting. If you go to 18 inches a cord is about 2 4 x 8 stacks and one 4 x 5 1/2 stack.

Don Williams said:

It really does all come down to the pallets. I have 4x9 pallets that can comfortably stack 2 cords per pallet...when I cut bigger than 18 inches it gets wobbly.

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Those are some huge pallets! I think mine are 3' x 4' so I line 3 together to give me a 9' x 4' cord and with the side overhangs it ends up being a 9' x 5' pile.

I line my pallets up to run about 16 feet, build the stacks a little over 5 feet high, two rows per length of pallet, sometimes different length in each row (maybe one row 15-18 inch, one 18-20 inch), with good air space between the two rows. Works well for me, for covering, drying, and using. In the winter cover over the two rows together so I don't get snow in there. Rest of the year just cover the top of each stack with a folded tarp. That way the stacks get lots of sun and wind, little moisture.

Stack my uglies closer together, which may be silly....But the close stacking helps to make the funny shapes more stable when the pile gets high. Tend to build a pile 12 feet long, 5 feet high, 2 lengths deep, the lengths butting. Burn a stack like that before starting on my serious "stacks". Don't know how much wood is in there, because all sorts of sizes and shapes, often not fitting together too well.

Trilifter7 said:

Those are some huge pallets! I think mine are 3' x 4' so I line 3 together to give me a 9' x 4' cord and with the side overhangs it ends up being a 9' x 5' pile.

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My buddy gets them for me from the local saw mill. They weigh a ton, and hare massively solid. Love em

Nice.

16"

Not sure how your market is where you live but out here very very few people want to pay extra for seasoned wood. I sell green wood at $225/cord and had a few well seasoned cords at $250/cord. I couldn't keep up with demand for green wood... could have been hauling 2-3 cords per day if I could have cut that much. The seasoned wood, I ended up having to sell it at $225/cord. Not one person wanted to pay the extra $25.

I cut mine to 16" just because it is easier to calculate how much you have on hand and it fits on a pallet better.

My furnace takes 24" and I am cutting to 21" to 22". Thing is, that is not the norm. My dad's stove is 18", but he cuts to 16" to make life simpler.

I think the easiest thing to do is to cut to 16". Not only will it work for more people in their heating appliance, but it will also work out better for stacking. Three (3) rows of 16" is 48". Let's you stack out a cord pretty easy.

Gettin' a bit personal, aren't we?
I cut my wood around 20" to 22". The stove is around 22 1/2" deep. Like to fill 'er up.

I will say this......I have my wife convinced my wood is longer than it actually is.......

If you're aiming for buyers at a premium, find out what they want for length, species etc. I had a guy once ask me for only Cherry logs for his fireplace, "Wine sipping wood" he called it.

711mhw said:

No, your firewood. I've been thinking of doing a little FW for sale that was honestly c/s & prolly stacked until properly dry, and try to get a premium for truly seasoned wood. Thinking that this might limit my customers because of a "premium" price, but that suits me fine. I do not know what the longest legnth I can make it to avoid unnecessary labor involved in making a cord of shorter wood. I've been spoiled making my (boiler) wood at 26", and during the hours "on the wood pile" things like that run through your mind. Any suggestions on an average "will fit" legnth in todays stoves? Up until my boiler, all my stoves were old when I got 'em and used up to 26" in one and 22" in the other. Thanks

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16"

The manufacturer says that my Jotul 3 will take 18" but that's only in theory. In practice, 16" works much better. Local sellers typically sell in log lengths or 16" so getting 16" firewood is usually not a problem.

nate379 said:

Not sure how your market is where you live but out here very very few people want to pay extra for seasoned wood. I sell green wood at $225/cord and had a few well seasoned cords at $250/cord. I couldn't keep up with demand for green wood... could have been hauling 2-3 cords per day if I could have cut that much. The seasoned wood, I ended up having to sell it at $225/cord. Not one person wanted to pay the extra $25.

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One place this might be different is in an urban area, where lots are small and space to store wood during seasoning is hard to come by. Cities are, by definition, places where land is expensive. I live in an inner-ring suburb so I actually have a yard, but the whole lot is less than 1/6 acre, and it's on a hill. I have found nooks and crannies to store wood in, but it's a challenge to keep even 2 years' worth, and neighbors comment (in amused tones so far), "You have so much wood!"

In a rural area where yards are large, I can't see it being viable to sell fully seasoned hardwood at a significant premium. Anyone who understands the advantages of seasoned wood will just season their own. Anyone who doesn't know the difference won't pay you extra.

I'd cut it at 26" for yourself and build a sawbuck. Worse case is you burn it yourself. Anything you sell can be cut to length and the cutoffs should go two deep in your boiler. Cutting 16s for an unknown buyer at a premium price years in the future doesn't makes sense to me unless you are either willing to discount them to get rid of them or fill your boiler 60% full. If you had a use for 16s, that would be different and what everyone buying seems to ask for.