Wood size survey

precaud said:

It would be interesting to know, from those who cut and split their own wood, some info about your wood.

What's the maximum length of log your stove will take?
What length do you cut your wood to?
What diameter do you split it to (min/max)?
What's the largest size of round you burn in the round?

Click to expand...

Max length stove will take is 24 inch
I try and split most wood to 16 inch
8-12 inch rounds get split in half, 12-16 split in quaters, over 16 whatever looks like will fit into the stove (I usually get about a dozen pieces that I guess wrong)
Largest diameter right around 8 inches

Stove will take 24"
I buck logs in between the chain cover nuts (18" bar so thats about 21")
Size of a baseball or softball depending on mood, energy level etc.
Ooooof, I have put stuff in the stove that just about fit in the door, 8"+ regularly for overnight burns.

Side-side loading: 18" in back, 21" in front. Front-back loading: 16". I try to cut in the 14-18" range, but since most of my wood is already cut by a tree service I seldom get to chose. I frequently have to cut 22-24" logs in half.

Last year I split large, 6-8". Then I discovered that in a front-loading stove with a 2cf firebox, it's hard to pack the firebox with large logs unless you get lucky and they just fit. Also, my stacks don't get much sun and large oak doesn't dry quickly in the shade. So now I'm splitting one extra time, trying to make 6" the max for splits or rounds.

My furnace will handle 24" in length. I will cut mine at 18" to 22" long. I try to keep my pieces I split at 8" in diameter and under. My furnace will handle 10" to 12" rounds, which I will have a few that I save back for overnight burns. Depending how much of wood I have, I will split some 8" rounds in half, and keep some whole. Larger pieces burn better for us, because of the size of the wood furnace. This year though, I have started cutting limbwood, which varies from 2" to 4". I will have this for spring, and fall. All other wood will be saved for when its cold out.

20" for the encore 16" for the Intrepid
I have separate piles for each stove

16 to 18" for the Encore

shorter that 16" for the intrepid

width what ever will fit in the door guessing 7" encore 5" Intrepid

to extend overnight burns the largest splits get loaded before bed time or smalled splits get stacked tightly

Or a separate pile cut up of dead stand 6"/7" rounds work well for overnight burns

In reality what gets burned is what finds its way into the carrier or what is available

My Avalon takes 20" - 22" if loaded diagonally, my Silent Flame takes 16", @ 18 diagonally
When i cut my own, i generally cut 16."
I don't use too many large pieces, as the wife will attempt to load whatever i put in front of the stove regardless, so I may come home to a stove door that couldn't be shut. -/{ I often end up replitting some of what's already been split to I guess 6" thick pieces.
My Silent Flame needs a little work (see my other post about that ) so I may be able to burn thicker stuff in it next year.

This thread has all the makings of a good Seinfeld episode...

-- Mike

Any size under 21 inches as I spilt mostly scrounged wood. Big chunks burn longer but are some times hard to start. Smaller splits dry faster. I usually split the bigger the better as long as it fits into the fire box.

What’s the maximum length of log your stove will take?
24”
What length do you cut your wood to?
18-22”
What diameter do you split it to (min/max)?
4-6”
What’s the largest size of round you burn in the round?
6”

What’s the maximum length of log your stove will take?
22"
What length do you cut your wood to?
16-18”
What diameter do you split it to (min/max)?
2-5”
What’s the largest size of round you burn in the round?
8”

Smoke dragons will take up to about 28" long through the side loading doors.

Log cart clearance between wheels is only about 22" Outside the wheels I can go wider, but more than about 26" gets tough to line up so as to get through the doors w/o scraping.

I cut mixed lengths, anything from about 18" up to around 26" or so. Depends on what kind of wood it is, and how gnarly it looks. All else being equal, the longer it is the harder it is to split, so if it's elm or something that looks like tough splitting for some other reason, I cut it shorter.

Currently having dilemma, as I really would like to be in a new / used stove for next winter - but don't know what it will be, so I don't know what to cut for. If I cut for the smoke dragon I'll have to recut the pile (lots of work and end up with lots of little chunks) but if I cut for something shorter - say 18" then it's harder to load enough in the dragon to get the heat out of it....

Diameter - I go by the size of my hand - No dimension greater than from wrist to tip of middle finger (6-7"), must have at least one dimension small enough that I can grab the split or round by the end w/ one hand (4-5")

Gooserider

Max length for stove is 18". I usually cut to about 16".

Last year I split a lot of my wood too small. This year I'm going for larger pieces, maybe 6" or so. I do like to have a pile of smaller splits to get the fire going.

I burn rounds up to about 8" across. This year, I'm splitting some of those in half to speed up the drying process (I hope).

I cut to 16" as well, although my stove accept 18" max. No splitting 6-8" round pieces, but split any larger down to 8" pcs.

Reg

This time of year I'm down to a mix of 1 to 2" branches and 4" to 5" logs split to 2-3", pretty small, though I do have an occasional 3-4" piece especially for morning warm ups. I'm letting the stove go out by the end of the evening and starting it fresh in the morning. House will be down to 60-65, perfect for sleeping overninght, but I can warm it to 72 in an hour. I also burn more poplar, hemlock, and a little pine. The idea( aside from morning) is to be able to make quick hot fires that don't last too long so I only get a 2-3 degree rise in the house temp. I do find that I need a good mix of small hardwood in with the pine, hemlock, poplar to get a relatively clean burn. Also I'm using a pre EPA Jotul combifire so its pretty easy to get quick short bursts of heat. Mid winter I'm at 5-6" splits and rounds with some bigger stuff up to 8" or gnarly odd shaped stuff for overnight. All my wood's collected so its not always the prettiest in size and shape, avg around 16" though I can fit 18-19" length on diagonal.

24" long, but I try to cut my splits at 16-18"..the reason I do that is because I load my stove N to S rather than W to E...I get a much better burn doing it that way