Make sure your wood will fit the the stove defore you try it!!!

I did this twice this winter. The city did a huge wood clearing job to clear forest fuel near houses and I was grateful for the free bucked up wood but now have a cord of 13 inch splits which are ready next year and some are very dry and are just a bit to long ( my stove takes up to 18 inch and some were 19.5). I tried to keep them for the outside fire pit because there wasnt to many but ive thrown a few out in the snow to smoke when I got it wrong. The wife gets up earlier than me and lets the dog in and noticed the scorched splits on the patio stones and knows what Ive done!

Yep had that happen last year.

I had one roll out last night at 2 a.m. Front door open attempting to air out and 5 degree air is rushing in. Sometimes when I put one in too big on the side door, I leave the side door wide open and just wait till I can shove it in. With a door wide open, stove top doesn't climb.

Been there. Just as long as you don't drop coals or the log.

Had one light on me last year and was hanging out the door. I reached for my gloves, which of course weren't there. So, I grabbed up the Stihl and made it fit. Did I mention that I'm a bachelor? Now I have marks to length on the sawbuck, the x27, the trailer, etc.

Yeah that is a great pic.

We have a big Newf here - the "momma dog" - that does the same. She wants her people around her all the time, will stand on her head for scratches, but she'll curl up and sleep on her "bed" on the back deck in -29 (like this morning) for a couple hours - sometimes almost scratching the door off the hinges to get outside. A walk around the neighborhood before I have to head in to work is standard procedure. I'm frozen solid, the pup is nosing around like it's July. Her inside bed is in a far corner of the place, farthest from the stove, but even if the temps there drop to low-mid 60's overnight, she still wants to go outside for a while.

I have some marks on my woodshed . . . while loading it up if I find any wood that is longer than the marks I toss it aside to be cut down.

That said . . . sometimes longer wood gets through . . . but when I spot it while loading up the porch I toss it aside to cut it down.

That said . . . sometimes the longer pieces make it all the way into the woodbox . . . but what keeps me from having to yank out a smoking piece of wood is that I tend to put wood that I know will fit directly on to the hot coals . . . and then place the questionable split on top . . . often I find it fits . . . sometimes it needs to be put in diagonally . . . and rarely it needs to be pulled out -- but when it does it typically is not on fire.

I also use a measuring stick. Got in the habit when I use to cut cedar shake blocks for the mill. The blocks had to be within an inch either way or else they would deduct a certain percent off the total for every block that was over, or under, sized. The policy was so strict that it was unprofitable to cut even a few the wrong size, so I quickly learned to cut very precisely. That habit stuck and I almost never have any splits that are the wrong size. Still, I've had to pull a few flaming logs out of the stove when I miss judged the amount of room left to squeeze in that last piece of wood.

That would be me too. Also sometimes I get "brave" and try to fit a couple big uglies in like a jig saw puzzle. So far that's been more of a frantic bit of re-arranging, but one day I'm sure I'll be sprinting across the room carrying the "torch"...