Splitting strategy for those with limited time

[MikoDel]

Here we are three days into the new year. I just wheeled two full barrows of fuel closer to my back door, and this pee wee pile is what's left of my "split and ready to burn". Well, I knew I wasn't going to make it thru the winter on what I had in summer and early fall. So as I collected fresh fuel closer to the burning season, I tried a new idea. (New to me. ) I took just enough time to split 80-90% of my remaining into thirds and quarters. Then stacked and covered it. So, for all those who have limited access to a splitter, or limited time for these pursuits, if you haven't already tried this, maybe it's worth considering. Rather than spend all your time splitting as much as you can down to burning size, take four or five hours and reduce as many of your whole rounds down to quarters as you can. This way it seasons somewhat while you use your existing fuel, and you don't have to break it out of frozen oblivion and handle monstrously heavy pieces in the cold cold. Sometime in the very near future I will be tackling these for fuel to last thru till spring. And seeing as my shoulder is really hurting about now, I'm very glad I wrassled with those 200+ lb rounds four months ago.

As it says in my vintage Vermont Castings operations manual "There can be over a ton of water in a cord of green wood, or more than 250 gallons. Wood grows outward from the center in a series of concentric cylinders or rings. When wood dries, water moves in the spaces between the cylinders ten times faster than it does across or through the cylinder walls. This means that unsplit wood dries only through the ends of the logs. Large and long logs should be split to expose the spaces between the rings in order to aid the drying process."

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Miko Del, I hate to tell you this but looking especially at that 2nd picture, you are not doing that wood any favors by covering it that way. How is the moisture to leave the wood when it is covered with that tarp? The other stacks are not quite as bad but still I never cover any of the sides of the stacks. Cover only the top so the wind can get through the stacks to dry the stuff.

Work really hard at getting ahead further on your wood supply and you won't be doing all that extra work splitting down that small. Sure it helps dry a bit faster but not as fast as some think it does. Besides, the smaller the splits, the faster they burn so you can't hold longer fires at night. It does take extra work to get ahead but once you experience the difference between good dry wood that has been split and stacked for 2-3 years or more, you'll wonder how you ever got by with such a short time and burning marginally dry wood.

 

[MikoDel]

Hey Dennis. Yeah, you know a good friend of mine doesn't cover his wood at all. Maybe in the early winter if a bad storm threatens, but up until then, he says that repeated soaking and drying opens the pores and seasons it well. And he's like a wood guru - craftsman, artisan, tradesman and of course wood burner.

I only did that with the tarp because at the time, it was all I had to cover that pile. But in retrospect, I shouldn't have covered it at all. Knowing it would be many months before I got to it. I wish I had the time to squirrel away large qty's of wood for the future, as you say. I have no doubt the experience would be so much more convenient and predictable. As it is now, every time I get a few new barrows of wood from the pile, I have to watch to stove to see how it's behaving. Is it catching, do I have to keep my damper open for more hours because there isn't enough heat to really get it going? I totally agree - years of seasoning is really the way to go. But my duties as a father and with work and other things - no way do I have that kind of time to devote to my winter fuel.

Also, I don't always have the trees either. A few local guys around here are in tight with some tree companies and they get a lot of choice stuff dropped off. I called and tried to insert myself into the rotation but I might as well be trying to get my song heard by David Geffen. Plus, my property is like a mountain in terms of grade, and anything large dropped out front would have to be cut up on the sidewalk before I could load it and truck it up to the back. So it's not like the tree guys can unload giant timber in a convenient place and I can just get to it on my own time. I wish.

 

[billb3]

If I thought I might be getting some time right after a snow storm I'd cover up my future project, too.

That chair needs a cover. (for when the two legged one isn't on it)

 

[CTYank]

Your strategy, of progressively splitting batches of wood, has also worked very well for me, for years.
Partly because it makes some big rounds into pieces that are much more easily handled, like up to temporary stacks.
Makes things more enjoyable too, in that the immediate goal is not "all the way" but "however far we get."

 

[bboulier]

I put a light tarp just over the top (but not the sides) of the fully seasoned wood I am burning this year. Unseasoned wood enjoys the elements until late next fall.