Per your stove.. what’s your average cut length?

I have a Jotul Oslo. The brochure says it will take 22 inch logs. And it will. But those big sticks are difficult to handle and to load.
I have a woodshed full of 22 and 21 inch wood that I cut and I can't wait to use it all up. My new wood piles are 15 inch and 16 inch.

My stove is a '94 model I got used from a buddy who moved back to TN after he got out of the service. I guess it was about 6 or 7 when I got it.

I load north/south. Firebox is 22.5" deep. With SEVERE OCD, I cut everything to 20".

If I want extended burn times I load everything against the back wall & meticulously pack it tight with 4-6" splits. That chokes off some of the air flow around the splits and makes it burn front to back. During the recent cold snap I started with a warm 70-72 house, packed the stove tight, minimum air setting (which is really about 25% open) and shut the key damper in the pipe. My other half was visiting family in Tampa. After a 14 hr day at work I was coming home to cooler 65 house with the oil kicking on as backup but had a handful of coals that enabled a 5 min roaring restart. That was burning tulip poplar during the day and red oak at night.

If I pack it less tightly and keep some or all of the splits 1" off the back wall it will crank heat much better, but burn down faster.

My stove is recommended at 18 to 20 inch. I cut mine to 18. My stove is a top loader. 20in sticks are a little difficult to set in through the top.. i like the 18in lenth..

My stove takes 22" but I have all 20". I had 4 cords of 16" when I first got the stove because my other stove took 16", I get much longer burns with 20".

I cut 18". Stove takes 18"-22". As above 18" easier to handle in top loading. Kevin

Mine can supposedly take 24”, I cut everything 22ish. Had to carry one that started to burn and was too long outside more than once so I aim for 22”

My stove can take 18” splits loading N-S. When I first started doing my firewood I was bucking all the long pieces in half, which led me to a winter of burning various sizes from 12-18”. Discovered it was a pain in the butt! Now i cut 18” pieces and leave whatever’s at the end for the uglies box in the fall. I like to try and stuff as much wood in as I can to maximize the burn time.

I stick with 18" on average, I like to have a little bit of wiggle room for loading purposes, I also get a lot of uglies that vary in sizes, I like burning those to and never turn them down.

Current specs for Jotul Oslo says it will take 24", but I've cut all my wood - 20" straight sections, and cut out knots and crooks. That leaves a bit extra when reloading, particularly when cramming stove full. The longer length splits permit them to be held against the integral andirons of the Oslo so they are less likely to fall against window glass.
Perhaps the longer and thicker length splits add an additional year to season ? I have a mix of different thickness of splits to better tailor wood burning needs.
I store the shorts, cut-offs and uglies in an IBC container crate. Shorts are nice for N - S loads, and smaller shoulder-season reloads.

Fisher grandpa bear can take 18" or a little more, I marked my saw blade at 17", and use that to eyeball each cut.

16" to 18" here. I stick with 16" so it's easier to load in the stove with no turning/angling. It's also easier when I'm out cutting logs as I know I get three rounds out of a four-foot length. Depending on what I'm hauling out of the woods, it's easier to just cut 4' lengths and then buck them to 16" at home.

I have been cutting 16" and 21" but going to only 16" keeping both lengths on hand is a pain. I use the 21" across the stove left to right and 16" front to back. I'm going to start loading all front to back.

Target is 19" due to the electric resplitter in the boiler room, it will fit 20" lengths. The 17-20" fit and burn very well in the firebox of the Eko-25.

"Current specs for Jotul Oslo says it will take 24", but I've cut all my wood - 20" straight sections, and cut out knots and crooks. That leaves a bit extra when reloading, particularly when cramming stove full. The longer length splits permit them to be held against the integral andirons of the Oslo so they are less likely to fall against window glass.
Perhaps the longer and thicker length splits add an additional year to season ? I have a mix of different thickness of splits to better tailor wood burning needs.
I store the shorts, cut-offs and uglies in an IBC container crate. Shorts are nice for N - S loads, and smaller shoulder-season reloads."

Well, there you go. I said the Jotul specs were 22 inch but they are in fact 24 inch. Jotul ought to put that number in quotation marks.
No it is just a hassle to cram that 22 inch wood in to the stove. It is no trouble to season, I have a story over on the wood shed forum, with the wood shed that I invented I can dry any wood to 17 percent in 8 months.

No I prefer the 15 inch wood for the Oslo, and, I am an over the road truck driver, today I am in Mississippi and the girlfriend is burning the stove by herself, she really does not like 22 inch sticks of oak and locust.

I can see the guys with a top loader putting maximum-length wood in to the stove but with that side door, I like the smaller sticks.

This is the 4th burning season with my Oslo and it takes time to learn some things. I cut all my rounds to 18-20". I as well use ugos in the fall and spring of various lengths just to make heat, but for loading up at night or before work I stick with as long as I can go and as much as I can cram into it for long burns. I spent more time over the first 2 years worrying about wood supply than how long I was cutting rounds. I'm now comfortable with the amount of wood I have stored and now know I like a longer log. The Oslo will take a long log, but as someone stated earlier, there is an internal wall that narrows that length to about 17 or 18" in the front of the stove. I now rake coals forward and load from back to front and bottom to top. That narrowed area keeps the logs from rolling forward and provides enough room for airflow where the intake is.

Wow, did I ramble on.


18"-20"

My late 1970's Fisher Mama Bear takes a 24" log, but I like to buck my firewood to 18-20" length. My stove burns the wood lengthwise, from front to back, and seems to burn best if I keep the wood at 20" or shorter.

A Fisher Mama Bear? My God you are going to get an ass whipping over here for having such an antique smoke dragon.
I once made a post about how I liked my Sotz 55 gallon double drum heater and I got beaten half to death on this forum.

Very funny! The only people who call Fisher stoves "smoke dragons" are the ones who never burned one with a baffle plate, or they never owned a Fisher, or they were competing with Fisher Stoves. Seriously though, this Mama Bear burns cleaner than my neighbors' new stoves and I burn less wood than they burn. I have an old 2.5 story house with a full attic and poor insulation in my walls. My Fisher heats my house without using a furnace for backup. In fact, I haven't had a working furnace since I bought this house in 2008. Gotta love these old "smoke dragons"

Yes I love the old smoke dragons. Here is my former fleet, the Sotz 55 gallon double drum on the left. Sotz also had a kit for a small 30 gallon heater with a round door, I used the old pressure tank for a well pump.

The double drum cranks out 250,000 BTU! Burns anything, wet, dry, doesn't care.
The thing was, my fiancee hates the Sotz. Said she would leave me if I didn't get rid of it. I had to shell out $2,500 for a Jotul Oslo. Women, go figure.

No, that big Sotz, the door is 11 inches square and the fire box 32 inches long. Talk about loading up some wood for an all night burn. What a champ! Come to think of it I screwed up should have dumped the gal and kept the Sotz.

What a national tragedy, the Sotz company went out of business in 1988.

My Caddy will take up to 22" but I cut my wood at about 16" or a little longer. Use my saw bar to measure as i go.
16 works best or me. I like loading the stove with the shorter wood, I always load it toward the back of the firebox ( N/S orientation) because there is less chance of drawing smoke in when I open the door.

Simonkenton said:

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Yes I love the old smoke dragons. Here is my former fleet, the Sotz 55 gallon double drum on the left. Sotz also had a kit for a small 30 gallon heater with a round door, I used the old pressure tank for a well pump.

The double drum cranks out 250,000 BTU! Burns anything, wet, dry, doesn't care.
The thing was, my fiancee hates the Sotz. Said she would leave me if I didn't get rid of it. I had to shell out $2,500 for a Jotul Oslo. Women, go figure.

No, that big Sotz, the door is 11 inches square and the fire box 32 inches long. Talk about loading up some wood for an all night burn. What a champ! Come to think of it I screwed up should have dumped the gal and kept the Sotz.

What a national tragedy, the Sotz company went out of business in 1988.

Click to expand...

That big Sotz looks like it could really throw some heat! 1988 was also when Fisher had to close up shop. The Papa Bear will take a 30" log, but that's some big sticks to be loading into a stove. Tractor Supply still sells the kits to convert 55 gallon drums into a stove like your Sotz. From what I can tell, they sell quite a few kits every year for both a single drum stove and the double drum stove.

I can do up to 21” but I usually cut 18 inches. I don’t like the ash building up at the door.

I'm in a rare club anymore. My stove was built in the early 90's and can handle 36" logs, but I usually keep them around 30. It's tougher to split long rounds like that, but if the wood is dry it does OK on my homebuilt splitter. I prefer a large fireplace though. Fire it up and it will warm most of the house in minutes.

I can hummer in a 21” log or two into my VC. The best size for it is 18”.

The Princess loves 18” loaded NS.