Long split in Fireview - 22"

[Slow1]

Ok.. yes I know the manual say 16" is recommended. However, things happen sometimes now don't they? Somehow I had this long split in my pile and it managed to make its way to the stack next to my stove. Now I obviously knew it was a bit long - sort of announced itself in the stack.. but once it is sitting there next to the stove what is a burner to do? Find a saw and cut it? Return it outside and let it get cold again? Nah... it sat there for a couple days as I debated stuffing it into the box. Hmm... could it fit? Would it... Of course this would happen when it was really cold and I don't have a tape measure with heat resistant paint on it so double checking the stove seemed a bit out of the question...

So, this morning I just had to give it a try. Coals were low so there was less risk of it catching fire right away. I put a couple splits across the bottom both to bring the level of wood to the door level (a couple more inches of box width there - side load you know) and also kept me from having to put the long boy right on hot coals where ol Murphy says it would burst into flames if it wasn't going to fit, right? So moment of truth comes - bottom splits are starting to burn and I lay the long one all the way across the middle and to my surprise I was actually able to close the door and latch it! test successful I finished loading the stove around it and let it go for the morning.

So, what did I learn? Well - besides the fact that I was lucky to get away with this - any longer and the door would not have closed, clearly I can get away with a few longer splits if I need to. I wouldn't cut all my wood to 20-22" as it only would fit there in the middle overhanging the door area, but one a load could in theory be done this way. I was even surprised when I went to reload that no coals fell out - they must have fallen toward the firebox for some reason.

Oh - and yes I did actually measure this piece before putting it in (3 times at least) - it was perhaps 1/8" shy of 22" at the longest point, ends were not cut perfectly square of course but not remarkably angled either. Should have taken a picture I know...

 

[Todd]

Yep, been there done that. I am really lousy at cutting to exactly 16" and also have to rely on scrounging so I have a wide range of sizes anywhere from 12" to 20", so I've also learned to put the longer splits above the door lip.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yes, my old stove would take those long pieces so naturally when we bought this stove there was a problem. We've burned a lot of pieces over 16" and we've cut some long ones leaving a short block. Those we could just throw into the stove. We've also given some long stuff away so we wouldn't have to mess with it. It will probably be 2 more years before we get to the stuff I've cut since buying this stove.

 

[Slow1]

Well, I have quite a few pieces in my stack that are in the 18-20" range since I had started out trimming for that size - was closer to ideal for old stove. I was dreading having to trim them down and I am just not in a position to give anything away yet - still struggling to get ahead. I don't know anyone to swap with at this point so... Given that I now know I CAN at least get these pieces to burn in the stove I am going to just make sure they are brought in in the right proportion to the rest of the wood so that I can put one or two in each load and go from there - will be far less trouble than cutting ends off. I am just still amazed that I could go a full 6" over the recommended size and fit it in there - I would not have expected THAT much leeway. I suppose if I had bothered to measure it and ponder the implications it would not have been a surprise. I will say though - I'm not going one bit over this - I'd have to go diagonal or bend the split to get the door to close.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Slow, bear in mind that for proper burning it is still best to have some room on the ends of the logs but with long stuff, then the air doesn't circulate quite as well. It still works though. As for me, all my new cuttings are at 16" or close to it. I would also think there are tolerances so that Woodstock would say an 18" piece is just fine.

 

[Slow1]

All my new cuttings are 16" (well - ok, about that - I'm not really all that good at it yet, so +/- an inch?).

I don't expect that one long piece in the box should kill the airflow enough to make a big difference - at least I hope not. I certainly wouldn't (not that it is possible) fill the box with splits touching edge to edge.

My desire is to avoid having to re-cut these if I can go ahead and burn them... Re-cutting, even with the jig I created to do this last year is a pain and I believe more dangerous than cutting full size rounds. Certainly more tiring which leads to the desire to take shortcuts and the temptation to do risky things which we all know where that leads!

Also note that 22" is perhaps the longest I have, most of the long pieces are more like 18-20" so there will then likely be 1" on either side (2" total) if I centered a 20" piece in the middle so there will be airflow.

There was someone else here who either bought or was considering a FV and had all 18-20" splits I believe. I think that if I were in that boat I would consider cutting some down to shorter lengths but still plan on burning the 18s as is and plan on working the longer ones in until the supply was exhausted. More of a pain than just grabbing and filling the box. Of course a swap or gift of wood to someone else would be the ideal solution if you have that option.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Slow, that very well may have been me with that long wood. We aren't through it all yet but are getting close.