My splits are too big, what to do?

We scrounge so we get some pretty small rounds-like 6" think sometimes. We split them and the resulting "splits" are referred to 'round here as "chimnea chunks"-and they work very well in shoulder season.

mwatt65 said:

All the splits are to big for my Enviro Cabello, They are all 22in do I cut them in half or should I cut between
4in & 6in off them to get them to fit?
If I cut off the ends and throw 8 or 10 6in pieces on the fire would I run the risk over firing?
The wood is all white oak between 18% & 23% moisture.

Thank you for all the help.

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I suggest you cut them at a length to give you shorter ones for North/South and the longer for East/West loading. The smaller shorts could be split down with a hatchet for kindling or to stoke a lazy fire.

I was in that situation a few years ago when I installed my stove. My fireplace wood was about 24", my stove works best with 16" splits. I stacked the longer splits and put the short ends in 50# feed bags. They work well for filling in small spaces.
When I process my wood, I still put the small chunks and leftovers in feed bags. After a year in the run-in-shed next to the barn they burn beautifully.

I'd weigh in on cut them to the optimal length to your stove side. I've got some shorter splits in this year's stacks because some of the rounds were already cut before i started. The problem is it makes it harder to pack the stove for long burns.

pma1123 said:

Just went through the same thing this past weekend, needed to shorten up my supply. I ended up taking a plastic milk crate, and screwing it down to a stack of skids. Packed the splits into the milk crate and made 'batches' of properly cut to length pieces and chunks. Worked awesome, the price was right...

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A neighbor had to cut of a few inches from some boughten splits to fit his insert. He made a jig out of 2x4s that he could anchor at a comfortable height on a stump. He could put a few splits in it horizontally and it had a board that slid up and down on the end he didn't cut to hold the wood so he could cut the other ends with his saw. If you can picture that....

hermancm said:

... but it's not science so I just cut away. They stack ok ...

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Sure it is I use a piece of pre-measured pvc pipe to mark my cuts. While cutting rounds I keep a marker between my teeth to mark the bottoms. I hand split in my splitting area and knowing which ends are the bottoms makes it easier to split. See the mark on some pecan I cut yesterday.

blazincajun said:

Sure it is I use a piece of pre-measured pvc pipe to mark my cuts. While cutting rounds I keep a marker between my teeth to mark the bottoms. I hand split in my splitting area and knowing which ends are the bottoms makes it easier to split. See the mark on some pecan I cut yesterday.

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I've never heard that splitting from the bottom is easier but I'm sure if you hand split wood you learn the right way and the wrong way after some time.

I've thought about the chainsaw attachment that will measure your bucks but it would just get in the way for me. And the wheel painter would work for bucking a truck load of hardwood poles that some buy up here from the loggers ($850 for 10 longer cord) but I don't buy wood.

What I need is a truck bed mounted winch to get the rounds out of the woods easier after drilling a hole and screwing in a lag screw eyelet. It'd save my back ohh so much!

hermancm said:

What I need is a truck bed mounted winch to get the rounds out of the woods easier after drilling a hole and screwing in a lag screw eyelet. It'd save my back ohh so much!

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I usually carry two wooden ATV ramps in my truck and roll the largest round up the ramp and into the truck since I have more energy at that point. Leave that round as close to the tailgate as possible to lower the back end which makes loading the next round easier. Or, load two are three smaller ones first and do the same thing.

Some say it's length not girth that matters...Oh wait sorry wrong site....I like to cut the ends off to your size stove I hate those little pieces...