Split vs. Non split

Our old woodfurnace did best with 8-10" rounds sometimes bigger. I'd stuff the firebox with 5-6 large rounds and some splits, this would get me 8 hours. Once upgrading to a EPA certified unit, I found those rounds were not needed. Splits did better, seasoned quicker and were easy to maneuver in the firebox. 6" or bigger get split.

I specifically split large splits last splitting session for overnight burns. IF they are dry, larger split will last a while. I do get plenty of heat and secondaries from them.
Now considering it has only been in the 20's and 30's the nights I burned them, I loaded at midnight, and by 5pm the next day, I can coals for refill. I must have a good bed of coals going to get these babies to go.
At single digits, last year they burned long, but did not quite heat as well as say smaller large, medium splits. More air = more burning surface = more BTU's, less burn time but hotter burn.
I loaded the other night 2 large enough that the 2 alone filled the entire firebox. For me, great for moderate temps, anything above 20 degrees, and a very nice long burn. No smoldering here.
They do take much longer to become dry enough for burning though.

oldspark said:

I used to burn whole trees in my woodburner, the branches stuck out the door but as soon as they burned off I could get the door shut.

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That ain'y nothing I burnt old TIRES

Backwoods said:

I was speaking with an old timer here at work today about getting the most out of your wood. There was no epa stoves back in his day. Anyway, I asked how he kept his stove going so long and he explained that his stove would hold a 30" log, and it could stay going for 25 + hours. He said he used split wood for awhile, but them would throw in whole logs, and it would last a long time. What are your guys thoughts on this? Thx ( seasoned, of course!)

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30" how long ?????? Oak or Pine?????????????? Nice Bull

Everybody has their own thing.
My thing is doing the least amount of work for the best effect.
That is why I cut tops down to an inch or less.
I split nothing under six or seven inches.
I season them till they are done. If I pull a large round off the stack and it isn't ready, I put it on next years stack. (same with splits too).
I also cut short since I have a topload stove. Shorter rounds dry faster.

People from Michigan are called WOLVERINES!

Don't let anyone ever call you a Spartan.

That's just wrong.

I prep as many rounds as I can. They are great for helping control the burn rate with softwoods and the more resinous species. Anything 6"-7" and under is left in rounds, and a couple of them give a nice, controlled 2.5-3 hour flaming burn. And, as NP said, it's a lot less work prepping rounds. It's all good.

This doesn't work with the local elms, though. The bark is too thick.

burleymike said:

I put logs as large as the door on my stove will allow. I split a bunch of pieces that are 10"X 8" X 19", they will burn 12 hours and the glass stays clean all night. This is dead standing lodgepole so it is dry all the way through. The trick for my setup is to put one of these beasts in the stove on top of a good bed of coals with several smaller splits. If I put two of these beasts in the fire will sometimes die out.

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I have some monsters like that I'm going to try to burn this year. We'll see how it goes. I'm generally a fan of medium sized splits mixed in with a few larger ones for long burns. Some of that has to do with the fact that I can't really let my wood season for longer than a year and a lot of it is less than one year seasoned so a good hot coal bed does me good. Anyway, I've been saving some monster hardwood chunks and splits that I'm hoping will burn super long, and still burn clean. We'll see.

Old timers have old stoves with huge fire boxes that do indeed burn large rounds.

Chettt said:

Old timers have old stoves with huge fire boxes that do indeed burn large rounds.

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I understand the old times with the monster boxes burning logs but its the younger guys, like my neighbor that has a modern epa stove and burns it like its a 70's smoke dragon. He just got his wood delivered today and its freshly cut and split, probably was split yesterday and he's going to burn it as soon as it gets cold in a day or two. His chimney smokes like an old factory. He was one of the neighbors asking me why I have so much wood in my yard and I explained to him how the new stoves work and you should season the wood, guess he didnt buy what I was selling.

weatherguy said:

Chettt said:

Old timers have old stoves with huge fire boxes that do indeed burn large rounds.

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I understand the old times with the monster boxes burning logs but its the younger guys, like my neighbor that has a modern epa stove and burns it like its a 70's smoke dragon. He just got his wood delivered today and its freshly cut and split, probably was split yesterday and he's going to burn it as soon as it gets cold in a day or two. His chimney smokes like an old factory. He was one of the neighbors asking me why I have so much wood in my yard and I explained to him how the new stoves work and you should season the wood, guess he didnt buy what I was selling.

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And he's probably the type of person that runs it with the air control open all the time, complains about how little heat he gets and how fast the wood burns up and thinks cleaning the chimney with all that creosote so often is a pain . . . oh wait a minute . . . most likely he's the type that has never even thought about cleaning the chimney . . . he'll worry about that when he has to call the fire department for a cleaning . . . at 2 in the morning . . . in January . . . during a blizzard.

oldspark said:

firefighterjake said:

weatherguy said:

Chettt said:

Old timers have old stoves with huge fire boxes that do indeed burn large rounds.

Click to expand...

I understand the old times with the monster boxes burning logs but its the younger guys, like my neighbor that has a modern epa stove and burns it like its a 70's smoke dragon. He just got his wood delivered today and its freshly cut and split, probably was split yesterday and he's going to burn it as soon as it gets cold in a day or two. His chimney smokes like an old factory. He was one of the neighbors asking me why I have so much wood in my yard and I explained to him how the new stoves work and you should season the wood, guess he didnt buy what I was selling.

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And he's probably the type of person that runs it with the air control open all the time, complains about how little heat he gets and how fast the wood burns up and thinks cleaning the chimney with all that creosote so often is a pain . . . oh wait a minute . . . most likely he's the type that has never even thought about cleaning the chimney . . . he'll worry about that when he has to call the fire department for a cleaning . . . at 2 in the morning . . . in January . . . during a blizzard.

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Wow drop the hammer on the old guy. :lol:

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Don't you mean young guy . . . he said it was his younger neighbor.

oldspark said:

Yep I was confused.

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It's OK . . . you're old . . . next thing you know you'll be misplacing your game camera and thinking a thief has taken it.

And yes . . . I'm kidding Old Spark . . . heck . . . I'm only 41 and I am in a perpetual state of confusion.

After 4 years burning with EPA stove I find my splits get smaller and smaller. The size of my arm is about right! I have limited space to season my wood so if I split on the smaller side it seems to work well for me! That combined with top down fires I have secondaries within about 5 minutes and zero smoke out the chimney!

Im a big fan of rounds up to the 6-8 inch range. As long as they're WELL seasoned, they make for great overnight burns in the back of the stove. Of course I load the rest up with splits, but nothing is better than a well seasoned round for a good overnighter. I have some apple rounds that catch right up and burn hot and bright for a good amount of time and in the dead of winter, my locust and oak rounds come in pretty handy. Most of my wood, however, is split into various diameters for different occasions. Most in the 2-5 inch range.

As I get older I find myself switching to large rounds more often. I do cut a lot maybe 15 to 20 full cords a year.
The big rounds give good heat and my T6 goes to 800 on every reload when its cold -30 or so. You just need a good coal bed.
I have atractor trail in the forest and I pick the small pine between the big spruce [trying to make a park out back]. I burn only pine. It's a given that we are talking about properly dried wood. Even small splits can give trouble [smoke] if they are green.

I've even had some 3" birch rounds get punky in ht middle if not split, Some dry & are solid.
Don't know what the difference was, location in the pile or what. So even if i don't split the small birch rounds,
I crack it with the splitter just enough to help it dry.
Spruce dries without being split, I don't split the 6 to 7" & smaller spruce & it dries & burns well.
Type of wood, time & drying conditions are what I consider for: "to split or leave in rounds"
I really notice the difference from my old way, (burn what you got however old it is) & the dry wood I have now.
Good dry wood is sooooo much better, more heat, use less wood, long burn times, cleaner chimney, just an amazing difference.

oldspark said:

firefighterjake said:

oldspark said:

Yep I was confused.

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It's OK . . . you're old . . . next thing you know you'll be misplacing your game camera and thinking a thief has taken it.

And yes . . . I'm kidding Old Spark . . . heck . . . I'm only 41 and I am in a perpetual state of confusion.

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I missed it, is that the deal on BW's game camera. One thing nice about getting old is you can blame everthing on it.

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Yup . . . you know me . . . gotta poke BWS whenever I can you know . . . . he still hasn't told me if he liked the Amish jam I gave him and his wife . . . or maybe he did and I forgot . . . see . . . I told you I was losing it too.