How small of rounds do you split?

[eric-holmes]

How small of a round do you split before you just decide to leave it whole?

 

[Ashful]

Even 4" rounds get split in half, to dry better. Anything smaller than that usually goes in the brush pile for burning.


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[tigeroak]

I go 5-6 inch but mine has 4 years to dry before burned in stove if hard wood, soft woods 2 years.

 

[beatlefan]

I usually don't split anything under four inches. The small ones tend to fly apart on my splitter, which is waist high. Those babies can fly apart and get you right in family jewels.

 

[red oak]

Sometimes I'll leave 6 or even 8 inch rounds unsplit - especially if I'm tired or the round has a big knot in it. But I give it 4 years to dry and have a Fisher Papa Bear so those big rounds will fit in no problem and can burn for hours. I don't leave all rounds that big - it all depends on ease of splitting and how eager I am to be done.

 

[HisTreeNut]

If I can split it, I do. If it doesn't split or is to small, I at least peel off a little bark to help it dry.
I find small pieces are good for starting fires & making a coal bed, or good for small fires to knock the chill out of the house.

 

[Hills Hoard]

depends on the wood for me. if it looks like a nice round of 4-6 inch diameter hardwood with no bark i will leave as is. otherwise i will split and keep an eye out for it in the pile for kindling. as a rule of thumb though, if it is easy to split i will split, if its too hard i don't waste my energy.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I split anything that looks split able. When in doubt, I leave it unsplit. If it's a slower drying species, I try to split if possible

 

[muncybob]

My boiler likes larger rounds and can tolerate wood in the 20-25% range, so anything under 8" stays whole. Actually, very dry small splits can cause huffing for me.

 

[Fred Wright]

Anything that's around 3" diameter gets split. Even smallish rounds can take forever to dry.

 

[JSeery]

If it's smaller than my wrist, I don't split it.

 

[Dobish]

my rule so far has been if I can easily pick it up and wrap my fingers around it, i won't split it. I have a lot of stuff that is in the 3-5" dia range that seems to burn pretty well as is.

 

[7acres]

If it's smaller than 2" I don't split it. If it is shorter than 9" or 10" it gets tossed over in the charcoal making area.

 

[heavy hammer]

I like to keep some nice hardwood rounds 6 to 10 inch diameter for the real cold nights, but most stuff over 8 inch gets split. Locust, oak, and hickory are usually the only ones I'll keep in the larger rounds. About a truck load here or there for each winter, milder winters it usually all gets split.

 

[firefighterjake]

I use the "hand rule" . . . if I can easily grip it one handed and stack it I don't split it.

 

[begreen]

Usually down to about 4". 2-3" just gets cut to length.

 

[eric-holmes]

Thanks guys. Thats helped a lot. I've split lots of things I probably shouldn't have.

 

[HisTreeNut]

No worries...glad to help!

 

[Soundchasm]

If I have to burn it this winter, it gets split. If a limb is intact, it'll hold moisture, even if it's 2" diameter. Bark is amazing.

 

[volunbeer]

I am on the dry side of Washington so we get almost no rain until fall and plenty of heat and air circulation. I am splitting big rounds of fir in big splits for a BK King we are installing. They are stacked single row along a fence line (about 7 cords) with plenty of sun. Planning on covering about 3 cords before the rain starts in the fall/winter, but figuring I should be ready to burn these and from what I have seen the BK will eat the bigger splits. If not I can split again as I need it, but I am pretty confident I have enough dry wood. About 3 cords of it were from a log load that had already been drying a year and outside of some of the tamarack in the load it was all pretty light and dry.

Hoping this works! The humidity here is so low that I had to use lotion when I moved up here. Thought I would have to turn in my man card.

 

[begreen]

That's cutting it close but eastern WA summer weather can be pretty close to kiln drying. How thick are your thickest splits?

Resplit a few of the thicker fir splits in late August to get a sense of how well they are drying out. If still pretty damp inside you may want to cull out the smaller splits (3-5") for fall burning.

 

[sportbikerider78]

3" and under goes in the woodshed for a few years..unsplit. The little rounds really do give quite a bit of heat. I don't toss them out anymore.

 

[volunbeer]

That's cutting it close but eastern WA summer weather can be pretty close to kiln drying. How thick are your thickest splits?

Resplit a few of the thicker fir splits in late August to get a sense of how well they are drying out. If still pretty damp inside you may want to cull out the smaller splits (3-5") for fall burning.

I will split a few of the big ones this fall and see what the meter says. I split up a couple of cords of ponderosa pine (big rounds) and those are all ones that I can pick up with one hand by the end. The log load of tamarack and fir was split about the same (probably 4 inches on average per wedge). The new Fir trees that I am taking down for next year I am getting about 4 splits off of a 12-14" log. Will see how those do, but I know some folks with the big BK's burn those without a problem (if they are dry). Will be trial and error until I figure it out. I am pretty sure I will have about 14+ cords CSS by the time winter arrives since I am clearing over an acre of wooded hillside to be leveled out. That is mostly fir. I also have about 8 medium size fir trees and a few big ponderosa pines that are dying or dead on my property.

I will sort them out as I pull them off the racks - if they feel light and look seasoned they can come on in, if they are heavy they can stay out for another year. Will play with the moisture meter and see what they look like in the fall, but everyone swears it will be real dry by the end of the summer here.