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

Can take 24 inches . . . I cut at 18-20 inches.

My stove is in my photo to the left -- Lopi Freedom insert, 2009. I'd say it's made for 16". 17" can be awkward. 18" very awkward, 19" won't work. 15" is good.

I try to buy or cut 15", but 16 is fine. Bought firewood here is usually 16".

As Dennis says, 16" can make for a less smoky fire than longer stuff.

15 or 16" is also much easier to split, unless it's cherry or ash (which are always easy).

Jotul F600 can take 24 inch pieces E/W and about 17.5 N/S. I cut most splits 15-16 inches and then some in the 18-21 range.

My Country C210 manual says it will take 20" E-W and 18" N-S. I aim for 16" but I don't complain too loudly if I get some 18s in the stacks

I cut 16 to 18 but lately mostly 16
one stove takes 16 max and the other 18 inch is recommended but up to 20 inches will rest on the doghouse and still not touch the window.

Well this has been an interesting thread! It points out all of the different variables that we have to take into consideration.

I'm burning a Jotul Oslo 500 and it will take a 24" piece. This is my first year burning, so I've been experimenting a bit with the length of the splits - I'm going with 22" as being my "standard".

• I find the 22" piece is easy enough to handle for both me and my wife - we side-load only - E/W
• As another Oslo owner mentioned, a 22" piece is long enough to be held away from the glass by the internal structure of the stove
• That length allows me to keep the end of the splits by the loading door far enough away so that ash does not spill out when opened
• The 22" piece gives me a wood stack that is more stable than using a shorter length piece
• The longer you are cutting your wood the fewer saw cuts you need to make and the less splitting and handling required per cord of wood

And then some math - in trying to use as much of the firebox as possible:

• a 22" piece uses 92% of the available length
• a 20" piece uses 83% of the available length
• an 18" piece uses 75% of the available length

All of this has to be balanced and factored in with your wood handling, what wood lengths are available if you are buying wood, "ash control", etc. so there is no one "right" length!

I just got an Ashford 30 installed. Between 16" to 17" seems to be optimal. If it's much longer, it starts to block the screen and causes more deposits on the glass. If much shorter it's a waste of stove space (although I'm not always filling the stove with my poor draft situation atm).

I have a jotul Castine. 20 inch tight. I like 16 - 18. Good carrying into the house at that length.

CentralVAWoodHeat said:

Jotul F600 can take 24 inch pieces E/W and about 17.5 N/S. I cut most splits 15-16 inches and then some in the 18-21 range.

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Do you typically load your F600 n/s or e/w? Any problems with your stove? Thanks

Newburnerwisconsin said:

Do you typically load your F600 n/s or e/w? Any problems with your stove? Thanks

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PE Summit here, and I like 16", keeps it away from the glass so the airwash can do it's thing.

19 is the max I can easily put in my Heatpack (Drolet), but I cut to 18” when bucking.

Currently the Encore will take 22" but I cut 18" for it as recommended by VC to top load easier. The new Intrepid flexburn I got takes 16". That's what I"ll cut for that and they will probably shrink to near 15" after seasoning which would be about perfect.

The book says a 22 inch stick will fit my Jotul Oslo. Yeah.

I like wood that is 16 inches long. Very hard to get a 22 inch piece in there especially with the side door.

18 inches for me but stove can take a 20 inch split.

14" is about the limit before I need to put the ones I have delivered in diagonally. The stuff I cut myself and do about 12-14". I think I'll cut the stuff I get delivered in half before next burning season.

With my yotul 500 I run 22-24 inch wood and my old moe will take 24 as well. Longer burn times are worth the pain in the rear of handling 2 footers! My Dad's old fisher runs 30 inch logs, anything less then 2 footers look tiny inside that beast. Long live the smoke dragons

MissMac said:

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.

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I'm embarrassed to say that it took me quite a few seasons to realize that I should aim for a set length rather than just cut anything between 40 and 22 inches in half. My old VC Vigilant isn't too picky on sizes, but then my wood stacks weren't very orderly.

The box in my Edge 350 is 28" deep, so I started splitting things to 24". But I've found mine likes to bridge with full length material, so I try to cut at least some of my stuff to 12" and double stack it.

I’m just thrilled when I can fit it in my firebox. As punishment for my errors, I recut with my hand saw in the garage if it won’t even fit east/west

I have an Oslo. I find 22" split is ideal Manual states it will take 24". I liked a nice packed firebox. 16" just doesn't cut it.

Oslo
Stove size 24
Cut size 20-22
Rounds never turn out uniform, so there are always some slightly larger, some smaller.
The area up front by the door likes them a little smaller - 20" fits.

Like other VC owners have stated the encore can take 22” splits but that makes it difficult to load the stove up full. About half way up the stove starts to get narrower and you just can’t squeeze the long splits through the top anymore. So I cut between 18”-20”. The longer splits go on the bottom and as the stove starts to fill up I taper down to 18” splits.

I think my Biomass 80 will take a 28"-30" log but I stick everything at 23" to be certain it will fit in the 24" splitter. Still long enough to cover te nozzles and plenty for an old guy to handle.

I cut everything to 18 inches as that's the longest length that will fit through the fp25's door. For the 30nc, I keep some on hand at 22.

My approach is to use the longest that will fit in the stove. Full firebox = more btu's and less cuts with the saw saves fuel, wear, and time.

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16” (40 cm) for the BK and 10” (25 cm) for the wood cooker.