I split too small? Please help

I gotta say, you, along with many many people on this site, are thinking way too much about this. You're making fire.

Get a mix of sizes. I generally only go as big as I can hold with one gloved hand. Remember it's heavier before seasoned, so sometimes I can't hold it before it seasons, but I'm good at sizing now. As for it being small? I dunno, I split everything that I can stand on end, but I'm a bad boy and struggle to stay two years ahead, so I need some stuff to season as quickly as possible.

bmblank said:

I gotta say, you, along with many many people on this site, are thinking way too much about this. You're making fire.

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The only issue is the smaller splits are hard to control in some stoves since the EPA doesn't let the air shut down completely. I don't think burning hot is a problem for you boiler guys.

Looks like you're set for kindling! When you're starting out it's tricky since you don't know what your stove likes. I went through the same thing at first, when I started my big splits were either 3x4 or 4x4 rectangles/squares. Now it's more like 8x8 squares on the big side. I burned a cord of stuff I split when I started 4 years ago this year and said "what was I thinking when I split this" many times as I loaded the stove.

You might want even smaller for a 0.6 cu ft stove. Or bigger going the other extreme.
Depends on your stove, sometimes easier to get a coal bed with smaller ones starting cold, some stoves you can throw a fattie or two in on the sides right off the bat.
A mix comes in handy, but you don't want too big or too small either.

Those look a bit fresh so small might be better.


If that's an 8 foot rack they're not too bad.

Sizes looks OK.
Like said: the stove makes the final decision.
.. a variety of sizes is good.

Bigger takes longer to season.
I keep 4" & up & it all gets split at least in 1/2.
So I have small to big 5" X 6" rectangular splits

Some pictures:

bmblank said:

I gotta say, you, along with many many people on this site, are thinking way too much about this. You're making fire.

Click to expand...

It's the small things in life that make it fun & rewarding

Over thinking fire wood on a "stove forum" in "The woodshed" ?
Naw ,
We're having "Fun" discussing & learning, not a thing wrong with that . !

Looks good from here.

I like smaller splits my self, because my stove is smaller. Plus if this is your first year, smaller splits allows you a greater opportunity to have dry wood that following season ( pending the location is too sun and the wind). Once your ahead of the game then go bigger, and then when your bringing it in you can always split it another time if needed.

I'd say you got a nice mix going there. A few may be a bit big, depending on what kind of wood and when it's to be used.
The idea is to split smaller as you're trying to get the wood dry when first starting out. As you get ahead and the wood has more time to dry, you can progress to larger splits.
The key is to get wood as dry as possible before burning. For some, that's only a year. For others, it's 2-3 or more.
It's all dependent on climate, location, wood type, when it was cut, whether it was dead or down or fresh cut, and several other factors.
So, get the wood c/s/s as best you can ASAP, and keep doing that. That's when this all becomes just about moot.
This is only irrelevant when the wood is dry.
Water doesn't burn well.

I see nothing wrong with your splits. Here are some of ours. Notice the rounds in that last picture. Those were not split and will be burned as is.

But it really depends upon your stove. Larger fireboxes will take larger splits. Smaller fireboxes are much harder to fill with big splits but easy to fill using smaller ones.

Oh man, don't listen to Dennis. He doesn't know anything.

Dang, that was fun typing that. But wrong.
I'm gonna' go hide now.

Atlanta is not that far away Dave. You can't hide!

i split what ever is easiest. I don't beat myself up trying to split a difficult bit of wood with a knot etc. I read some where as a general guide that you want to be able to pick up the split piece and throw it onto the pile with one hand. If you can't do that easily you need to split it in half again.

Small fireboxes won't use the same size split a large firebox will.

My average is prob 6" with the small splits around 4" and LARGE splits around 8"-10"

The bigger the better for the 30. I like square and rectangular splits when I can make them (hyd splitter makes short work of a nice block) They pack tighter in the stove.

But is there a perfect size? Yes, there is... You will only find that size after a year or so of trial and error. After the 2nd full season with my Wood eater, I am still learning what the stove likes and what I like.. It's been an evolving learning curve... Every year it's a little better

Just keep splitting and keep learning.

They look fine. Its nice to have some varying sizes. Don't overthink it. Its just wood.

rdust said:

Looks like you're set for kindling! When you're starting out it's tricky since you don't know what your stove likes. I went through the same thing at first, when I started my big splits were either 3x4 or 4x4 rectangles/squares. Now it's more like 8x8 squares on the big side. I burned a cord of stuff I split when I started 4 years ago this year and said "what was I thinking when I split this" many times as I loaded the stove.

Click to expand...

Yep. The ones I split now are 2-3x bigger than my first year.....but I was trying to get seasoned quicker so I would get ahead.

looks good to me as well. I like a lot of different sizes ferreted into the wood pile. Small ones start easy and get a hot fire going quick. The bigger ones for overnight.

I agree with mixed sizes. Haven't got my insert yet but like different sizes for the furnace, helps to pack it better and I use some smaller splits to get a good bed of coals

I have a small stove and split about the same size you do. Pieces that are too large to allow at least four or five in the stove make for difficult burning. If I can load four or five at once it is a lot easier to operate the stove.

You may want to have a pretty good supply of small splits available anyway, for the shoulder season burning when you just want to make some smaller fires or hot, quick fires for the morning chill. I've been doing a lot of that until a week ago.

This was just my first season burning and I've found that a good selection of sizes is nice to have.