Dumb move = Important lesson (small firebox)

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delp

Member
Jan 6, 2009
186
pittsburgh, pa
With a great bed of coals to start a full load this morning I grabbed the beautiful, well seasoned, split of oak I'd been saving for the first cold day. It was big so I put one end in toward the rear left and swing the front around to get it in the stove. Well, it was a bit too big and thought a little force would persuade it to enter the stove. NO, IT DID NOT!

Split got completely stuck diagonally in the door; no in, no up, no out, no down...nuthin!

BAJEEZERS!

Finally wedged a small split under it at the rear left, crow bar style, and freed the flaming split.

Gloves half melted, house full of smoke, heart pounding = Lesson Learned: Small fire boxes require small logs!
 
I have come close to doing the same thing. And this is my first year burning with a real woodstove, and with with a large firebox too!
 
I've almost done that a few times. Now I dry fit any larger pieces pre-fire, and althogh I still have close calls, it's been nothing to panic about (sometimes have to move coals around to fit the big splits in).

In the process, I discovered a largeish diagonal split can help raise the rest of a small load closer to the secondaries for a nice shoulder season burn.
 
I can relate. When I bring in wood from the shed I have to measure some of the longer ones and make sure they are under 18.5" or I'll end up with the same situation as you. I make a pile of those too long splits and take them to the chop saw when I have the time.
 
And was today all that cold? Why not wait until the real cold gets here to burn oak? That should happen in about a month.
 
I've done that - you are officially a wood burner now. Cut a piece of wood to the maximum length for your stove and paint it bright orange and use it for a "go or no go" device.
 
Chettt said:
I've done that - you are officially a wood burner now. .

Birch bark catches fire fast. Running up the steps with a flaming log, acrid smoke everywhere, screaming "open the door, open the door" then outside.
Come back inside, smoke detectors blaring. :lol:
Can laugh now, not fun when it happened.
If I have long splits, I save them for E/W in my stove. Warmer day burns.

Yep
Important lesson :)
 
My stove takes an 18" max length log. I bring wood upstairs in a 5 gallon bucket that is 15 inches tall on the inside. If the wood sticks way above it, I cut it down on the band saw.

Scary stuff though. I try to have a worst case scenario response in my head should something bad happen.
 
I pulled a few pieces of wood out of the stove last year and had to throw a few outside before they went into the stove to cut them again. When I bought my new saw, I realized that I could use the 18 inch bar to measure my cuts. I keep a broken yard stick handy to double check any pieces that look unusually long. I try to cut as close to 18 inches as possible to save time and reduce the number of cuts.
 
delp said:
With a great bed of coals to start a full load this morning I grabbed the beautiful, well seasoned, split of oak I'd been saving for the first cold day. It was big so I put one end in toward the rear left and swing the front around to get it in the stove. Well, it was a bit too big and thought a little force would persuade it to enter the stove. NO, IT DID NOT!

Split got completely stuck diagonally in the door; no in, no up, no out, no down...nuthin!

BAJEEZERS!

Finally wedged a small split under it at the rear left, crow bar style, and freed the flaming split.

Gloves half melted, house full of smoke, heart pounding = Lesson Learned: Small fire boxes require small logs!


I've done this with a very large split with a large stove (Vigilant).

Lost some arm hair.
Lots of sweating.
Good amount of cursing.
Caused the wood in the stove to shift and want to roll out of the stove.
Neither door would close.
 
Didn't need your coffee this morning to get going, huh?!

I think that's happened to just about all of us. My old Earth Stove burned off wood so fast that, even despite its very large firebox, I got caught out a few times with a piece that I couldn't get all the way in. One of the more scary things I've ever experienced in wood burning.

One of the best things about my new stove is that it's so parsimonious with its consumption of wood that there's just no pressure to try and stuff it to the gills. That and N/S loading - something I never did with my old stove.

Glad you got your little bit of excitement sorted out...
 
Backwoods Savage said:
And was today all that cold? Why not wait until the real cold gets here to burn oak? That should happen in about a month.
Cold enough here for oak, 15 below earlier this week and supposed to be below 0 tonight and tomorrow night.
 
I like the 15" 5gal bucket idea, fishingpol, i'll keep that in mind. otherwise, think i'll lag bolt that charred piece of oak to something near the back door to serve as a reminder to be more prudent going forward. i hope future lessons make less dramatic and scary entrances...and to all, thanks for making me feel a little less stupid by sharing your own stories.

safety first!
 
We all done it. Never got one stuck, but got one half in and lit off before I gave up trying to finaggle it in there.
After 6 seasons, in a sick way I now load my bigs in, then survey and have a picture in my head of exactly the shape and size splits I will grab to finish topping it off.
95% of the time my eyes & guess are right on, the other 5%, I lament having to get up out of the kneeling position to once again carry a split back out and grab another.
Mis-choose after a 2nd or 3rd time and I'm ready to say F it, and just leave it at that.
Always getting better. It will come, don't worry.
 
My wood box is 18 or 20" wide. If it don't fit in there, it may not fit in the stove.
 
Sorry men, but Ive never ever had something like this happen. If a piece so much as looks like it may not fit into my firebox I wont even attempt to put it in there. Call me cautious but once I retired the old Buck and brought in the new one I instinctively took measure and started cutting to length. Even before that I knew the limits just by eyeing up a log.
 
BrowningBAR said:
delp said:
With a great bed of coals to start a full load this morning I grabbed the beautiful, well seasoned, split of oak I'd been saving for the first cold day. It was big so I put one end in toward the rear left and swing the front around to get it in the stove. Well, it was a bit too big and thought a little force would persuade it to enter the stove. NO, IT DID NOT!

Split got completely stuck diagonally in the door; no in, no up, no out, no down...nuthin!

BAJEEZERS!

Finally wedged a small split under it at the rear left, crow bar style, and freed the flaming split.

Gloves half melted, house full of smoke, heart pounding = Lesson Learned: Small fire boxes require small logs!


I've done this with a very large split with a large stove (Vigilant).

Lost some arm hair.
Lots of sweating.
Good amount of cursing.
Caused the wood in the stove to shift and want to roll out of the stove.
Neither door would close.


I take it you are loading through the front doors. Why not load from the top?
 
Big ones almost always go in first when reloading . . . and if in doubt as to whether they will fit size wise or length wise I opt to not even try and go for another piece of wood . . . so far this approach has worked well for me.
 
Yep that experience a long time ago is why there are 18" paint marks on the front of my wood shed and on each of the racks in the breezeway. Don't even want them suckers to make it into the house.
 
Alright, I guess I have to confess to my stupid move. I had a Vermont Casting Resolute which was a top loader. I was trying to jamb in one last split and it was WAY too big to close the top lid. I jambed it so hard it got wedged in the stove and would not come out. It caught fire, I panicked, and then the adrenalin kicked in. I pulled up on that flaming piece so hard that I lifted up the stove off two legs! The flaming split came out, the stove dropped, and I made a be-line for the door. Sorry, I did not get pictures!
 
and remember, just because it will fit in your firebox, doesn't mean it will fit through the door, especially when you are loading E/W and are on the last couple of splits to go in!
 
I've been burning a long time and my stove takes a big log, but two days ago I had to heave a burning log out an open window... It had a funny taper, and was fatter on one side than the other, I'm telling myself it was an optical illusion that made it look shorter than it was. I tried and tried, I just knew it would go- but it didn't and by the time I gave up it was burning real good. Hope it's another 5 years- or longer- before I do that again.
 
My stove will take 30 inch wood and I sometimes load it with this. I cut my wood a 16" and ends up 15-18 inches. Gonna have to be careful with the summit when I get it in, fabbed uo the secondary air stopper today and will cut brick tomorroww.Fixed the ebt device and building 22 in stand this week. If anyones interested in a photo, will take one. Tim
 
pictures, :bug: Of course we want pictures
do yo think we can read ?

A new stove don't fit in "Dumb move"
Start a new thread
 
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