size of white oak splits

[KYrob]

Just curious how small you guys split your white oak. I plan on burning it in 3 or 4 years. I was splitting tonight and got to wondering if I was splitting it to small and if a larger piece would get a longer burn time if it was well seasoned as opposed to 2 or 3 well seasoned smaller splits. If the round is 12" or so, I have been getting 6 splits from it and more when the rounds are larger. Is this to small or am I overdoing it?

Thanks,

 

[BrotherBart]

I split'em large. Most of what I burn is red and white oak and dry it for at least two years. On a twelve inch I would just split it in half. A lot of times I split it in half and then half just one of the pieces to have a variety of split sizes.

 

[DexterDay]

Just curious how small you guys split your white oak. I plan on burning it in 3 or 4 years. I was splitting tonight and got to wondering if I was splitting it to small and if a larger piece would get a longer burn time if it was well seasoned as opposed to 2 or 3 well seasoned smaller splits. If the round is 12" or so, I have been getting 6 splits from it and more when the rounds are larger. Is this to small or am I overdoing it?

Thanks,

A 12" round? I would be tempted to bust a few in half, but at that size, I normally cut a slab off one side (just before the middle, about 1/3rd into round / 3" x 10") and then take the remainder and split that big chunk in half. Leaving 3 pieces total. 2 at 6" x 9" and 1 at 3" x 10".

Or just quarter. Thats 6" x 6". Perfect. But I like some slabs (thinner) to fit up top and big chunks with square edges.. If your letting it sit for 3-4 yrs, then small splits are no necessary. IMO

 

[xman23]

I do what BB said. about 90 % of my splits are at least 6" on the wide. 10% is smaller stuff for starting and filling holes. I do the big splits to to cut down the reloads.Most of time 2 splits in the stove. But that works in my stove, it may not work as well in your stove. 3 years drying time for big oak splits should be fine, assumeing good air flow and sunny location.

 

[Locust Post]

I split'em large. Most of what I burn is red and white oak and dry it for at least two years. On a twelve inch I would just split it in half. A lot of times I split it in half and then half just one of the pieces to have a variety of split sizes.

Same here as BB says.

 

[weatherguy]

Since your burning in 3-4 years keep them nice and thick, they'll burn nice and long in your Buck, I do what these guys say and split some smaller ones too so you can really fill up the box.

 

[KYrob]

Thanks for the info guys,I appreciate it.

 

[jeff_t]

A 12" round? I would be tempted to bust a few in half, but at that size, I normally cut a slab off one side (just before the middle, about 1/3rd into round / 3" x 10") and then take the remainder and split that big chunk in half. Leaving 3 pieces total. 2 at 6" x 9" and 1 at 3" x 10".

Or just quarter. Thats 6" x 6". Perfect. But I like some slabs (thinner) to fit up top and big chunks with square edges.. If your letting it sit for 3-4 yrs, then small splits are no necessary. IMO

I do the same thing. Lot of the time I'll split that slab in half to have something to fill the small voids. Most of my splits are either big or small.

 

[blujacket]

I split almost everything big now that I have 3 years worth of wood on hand. These Buck's put out the heat too.

 

[PapaDave]

"Most of my splits are either big or small."

I'd say all of my splits are either big or small.
Messin' w/'ya jeff.
Last couple years, the splits have gotten a bit larger, but if they get too big, they're harder to handle all through the process. I liked BB and Dexter posts because that's basically how I do it with oak as well. I've found a few that when moved to the shed, I've looked at like "WTH was I thinking" making that split so big.
The mix has also changed some, with more pine for shoulders than ever.
I don't discriminate between the oaks, since they all get dried for over 2 years.

 

[clemsonfor]

6 pieces out of a 12" round! i think i may do some that way to have some smaller fill pieces but most i think i would quarter.

 

[bogydave]

Since the topic is "white oak" I can't reply.
But if I had white oak, I'd do it like mentioned in the above posts.

 

[clemsonfor]

Now what if it were red? Are we talking quercus alba(white oak) or Quercus stellata (post oak), what about pinus(chesnut oak)? HA ha just kidding just a forester joke!

 

[Thistle]

Most 12" logs (unless its a real gnarly SOB) I split in 5-6 pieces,occasionally just quartering them.7"-8" get halved or sometimes 3 pieces.I always get a bunch of 2"-6" rounds so they stay whole except for the very few wet ones or very thick bark to wood ratio like Bur Oak in that size.Nice to have a mix of sizes.

 

[rdust]

3 years out I split a little bigger but not as big as some folks here. My "big" splits are 6x8 or so rectangles but I like 3x4 or 4x6 for ease of handling. I try to make squares and rectangles as often as possible. For a 12" round(worst size to work with imo) I would knock two 2" slabs off the sides and split it in half. If I have a lot of rounds the same size I mix it up though. Some get quartered and some may even get made smaller for space fillers. If you split em big you can always make them smaller later if they don't fill the stove well, hard to make em bigger.

Attached a crude ms paint sketch of how I split. Obviously things vary but this is close most the time.

 

[Wood Duck]

I leave oak splits at the large end of my splits, which means large enough that I can fit three or four together in the stove. I don't get good burns with really large splits that allow only one or two big splits in the stove at one time. I think large splits give longer burns than smaller ones, but I need three or four to get a complete burn so i can't make them too large.

 

[clemsonfor]

if i make quarters out of a 12" oak i can fit somewhere around 6-7 in my stove!