Advice requested on optimal length for wood

[snowleopard]

Poked around for a thread on this, didn't see one.


Had planned a logging truck load purchase, but found a vendor who is willing to sell wood cut to length for the same price. Sure beats having 48' logs in my driveway and trying to figure out what to do with all that sawdust.

So I'll probably pull the trigger today, and wanted to ask you all how you determine the best length for stovewood.

I know that I don't want to go N/S. My stove loads front or side, stove is doing an adequate job burning E/W, and I don't want to deal with stacks of short wood.

My question is determining optimum length for burning. Do you cut your rounds as long as you can get them, or leave a few inches off the sides of the stove? Does your length vary at all with the size of the round? Do you go w/manufacturer's recommendation, or vary it, and if so, why?

Thanks very much for your thoughts on this.

 

[nate379]

16" because it's easy to measure a cord with that length and it's a decent length.

 

[KarlP]

I like 17.5" splits best in my stove that takes 18" in the back half and 19" in the front half. That way they don't get stuck hanging out the side door which I then can't close, but I can get a mostly full firebox.

I'd would probably ask for 20" for a Heritage based on the specs, but since you have one right infront of you pull out a tape measure.

 

[lukem]

Poked around for a thread on this, didn't see one.


Had planned a logging truck load purchase, but found a vendor who is willing to sell wood cut to length for the same price. Sure beats having 48' logs in my driveway and trying to figure out what to do with all that sawdust.

So I'll probably pull the trigger today, and wanted to ask you all how you determine the best length for stovewood.

I know that I don't want to go N/S. My stove loads front or side, stove is doing an adequate job burning E/W, and I don't want to deal with stacks of short wood.

My question is determining optimum length for burning. Do you cut your rounds as long as you can get them, or leave a few inches off the sides of the stove? Does your length vary at all with the size of the round? Do you go w/manufacturer's recommendation, or vary it, and if so, why?

Thanks very much for your thoughts on this.

2" shorter than what your max length your stove can handle.

Chances are he is not going to be precise with his cuts and I'd hate to nibble a couple inches off the end of all those rounds.

 

[snowleopard]

Thank you, fellas.

I don't want to go down as far as 16"--I figure longer wood is more heat for those long burns. I've measured the stove and my wood--just wondered if there's a tidbit of wisdom out there that I'd be wishing I'd known, since I'll be living with whatever decision i make today for the next 3-4 burning seasons.

Do you find that wood burns more efficiently if they're all the same length?

 

[lukem]

Thank you, fellas.

Do you find that wood burns more efficiently if they're all the same length?

Longer, yes. More efficient...I doubt it...but am open to theories stating otherwise.

 

[Huskyforlife]

2†shorter than what your max length your stove can handle.

Chances are he is not going to be precise with his cuts and I'd hate to nibble a couple inches off the end of all those rounds.

This is great advice, considering what a pain it is to cut something shorter after you have already hauled it into your house to burn.

 

[snowleopard]

Just placed an order for 9 cords of birch, cut to 20". Thanks again.

Spent this winter hauling wood in to the house from woodpiles stacked out on my property, with a lot of help from the teenthings, and getting it C/S a week or three in advance. Some of it was top-notch stuff, and some of it was wet or punky or both. I hope to get a pallet-shed up by fall, big enough for six cords (I'm figuring on burning 4-5 a year), and put 3 cords of birch in there and 2-3 from the standing dead poplar I have around here. If I have the wood in that, split, stacked, ready to burn, and just off the back door, and all I have to do is pull in three sled loads, twice a week, this will be a piece of cake.

 

[NH_Wood]

2†shorter than what your max length your stove can handle.

Chances are he is not going to be precise with his cuts and I'd hate to nibble a couple inches off the end of all those rounds.

This is great advice, considering what a pain it is to cut something shorter after you have already hauled it into your house to burn.

+1 - wish I hadn't cut a lot of my wood to the specs of the Mansfield. I cut a lot to 19-20" and was a PITA to load. I like N/S burning, and found 16-17" is great - the extra room in front of the glass keeps the glass clean. I think the 2" less than spec makes sense. Cheers!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I do think it is best to have some air space on both ends of the wood in the stove. On our stove I have put 19" in a couple of times but that was from the old stack. I usually try to cut right at 16" now.

 

[PNWBurner]

16" seems perfect for a stove rated at 18" max. You need a little room at the ends for air to circulate but not too much. It's also very hard to get more than one of the maximum size splits in if you're loading E/W. Getting it past the door is tough as the box fills up since the splits in the box start to block up some of the room. Plus 16" makes it very easy to calculate a cord.

 

[Cascade Failure]

Thank you, fellas.

Do you find that wood burns more efficiently if they're all the same length?

Longer, yes. More efficient...I doubt it...but am open to theories stating otherwise.

A spouse can shoot science to crap when they load wood whether it is needed or not. I used to cut to the stove's capacity minus some leeway. Now I cut to "I don't like lighting fires" or "Shouldn't I just add more?".

Whatever. One of our vows is for me to keep her warm. As long as there is wood..she's happy.

 

[firefighterjake]

Poked around for a thread on this, didn't see one.


Had planned a logging truck load purchase, but found a vendor who is willing to sell wood cut to length for the same price. Sure beats having 48' logs in my driveway and trying to figure out what to do with all that sawdust.

So I'll probably pull the trigger today, and wanted to ask you all how you determine the best length for stovewood.

I know that I don't want to go N/S. My stove loads front or side, stove is doing an adequate job burning E/W, and I don't want to deal with stacks of short wood.

My question is determining optimum length for burning. Do you cut your rounds as long as you can get them, or leave a few inches off the sides of the stove? Does your length vary at all with the size of the round? Do you go w/manufacturer's recommendation, or vary it, and if so, why?

Thanks very much for your thoughts on this.

2" shorter than what your max length your stove can handle.

Chances are he is not going to be precise with his cuts and I'd hate to nibble a couple inches off the end of all those rounds.

+ whatever we're up to.

As Lukem said the guy may not be a precision cutter -- like me -- and the actual length could be longer or shorter. Shorter isn't such a big deal . . . longer can be a big deal when you're trying to fit that split you bought at the exact length of the firebox and find that it was actually longer.

Couple other reasons . . . 1) On a side loader I find that I often end up pushing ashes and coals up against the other side of the firebox . . . if my wood was the exact length of my firebox there are many, many times I would attempt to put a stick in and would find it jutting out. 2) Sometimes you get wood that isn't perfectly straight or nice and neat . . . I find that when I'm dealing with these "uglies" (crotch pieces, pieces with nubs on them from branches, curved pieces) that they don't always fit into the firebox all that neatly or cause the next piece on top to not fit in as neatly . . . giving you a few inches of breathing room will help move 'em into position.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

For long pieces, you can always place it diagonally. Fill in the leftover space with short pieces. My 30 can take a good sized 24" split diagonally. 20" both NS and EW.

Matt

 

[rdust]

I try to stay around 16", the stove will take 18" plus loaded n/s. I cut to 16" for the wiggle room. If I ever switch stoves it's pretty safe that the next stove will take 16" and if I want to ever sell any 16" lengths should be good for just about anyone. Shorter wood will also season a little faster.

 

[snowleopard]

ALRIGHT! alright alright alright

I just called Wood Guy back and asked him if he'd started cutting it to length yet--he hasn't, so I asked him for 18's instead of 20's. For all the good reasons you mentioned above.

Had been wavering about doing just that anyway, and you all just tipped the balance. The wood that was on my property, left here c/s by PO years ago, was pretty much between 18-20, and that worked out well. My stovebox is a hair under 21.5", so that's plenty of leeway. I also like burning big chunks--my ideal overnight fire has four pieces in there, arranged as tight as books on a shelf. Shorter will be easier to move the big 'uns around.

Another reason to get it a little shorter is that it'll split just that much easier if we end up doing it by hand.

And I didn't think of this earlier, but my teenthings and occasionally their friends load the stove. They have a lot of good qualities, but common sense and finesse aren't real noteworthy at this stage in their development. So while I trust myself to wriggle, cajole, and arrange, I can picture them taking the get-a-bigger-hammer approach to a piece of wood that wasn't sliding in well. (Okay, to be fair to my son, he's rebuked me when he heard firewood hit the stone wall of the firebox when I was end-loading.) But I had to explain (and demonstrate with a spare chunk of it) to my son why it was NOT going to be okay to chop kindling on the granite hearth I'd just finished building--caught him in mid-swing!

Thanks, Dennis--I wondered about the air currents on the side, thought this might be the case.

Water man delivered today--I mentioned that this was good timing as I had a load of wood coming, and it might end up in the driveway for awhile. He said, "Oh, you bought wood?" I said I kinda had to. Then he told a scary story about buying a load that was nice seasoned birch on top, and once he'd inspected and okay'd it, they dumped and the stuff underneath was junk--some spruce with green needles, little poles, junk stuff. Only about a third of it was useful. What a burn! He mentioned that he often had people on his route offer free wood. I asked him to keep me in mind if there was stuff that he or his friends didn't need. He said he would. Still think that the purchase was the right move. This will give me a foundation--some breathing room.

Sincere thanks to all--I think this was the right move.

 

[Dix]

It was Snow... chill, and be comfy in your woodness ;-)

 

[snowleopard]

Thank you, Dixie

 

[Wood Duck]

If you have a few inches of extra space on the side of the stove you can load some short kindling or small diameter wood there and get the large splits engulfed more quickly. I do this frequently because I cut my wood to about 14 or 15 inches while the stove will take an 18 inch log loaded east/west. I prefer to load this way when I am in a hurry to get the load engulfed and the air turned down so I can walk away.

 

[Willman]

I cut 16" for an 18" box. Last load of the night when its cold I load it tight to one side, after raking coals away, this forces one end to burn which makes the fire last longer. Load at 11pm and fan still running with large bed of coals and house toasty warm at 7 am.

Will

 

[nate379]

I still vote 16" unless your firebox is too small for that.

My firebox is ~20" and 16" is perfect. I mean you have to keep in mind that 16" might end up with some pieces that are closer to 18". I cut all by eye, I don't know too many people that use a tape measure to mark their cuts!

The stove my folks have in their home has easily a 3ft deep firebox, if not deeper and they burn 16" logs still. Same in the stop, that firebox is a good 24" deep.

If you do 18 or 20" lengths it will make odd stacks to get a cord. With 16" if you do 3 rows 4 ft high 8ft long that gives you a cord.

Yeah ok you could cut length to fit stove, but how many of you guys pack your stove right full? I do with my Blaze King because it will low burn for a long time, but with a standard stoves I'm used to there is no way.. unless I wanted it to be 100* in the building.

 

[snowleopard]

I still vote 16" unless your firebox is too small for that.

My firebox is ~20" and 16" is perfect. I mean you have to keep in mind that 16" might end up with some pieces that are closer to 18". I cut all by eye, I don't know too many people that use a tape measure to mark their cuts!

The stove my folks have in their home has easily a 3ft deep firebox, if not deeper and they burn 16" logs still. Same in the stop, that firebox is a good 24" deep.

If you do 18 or 20" lengths it will make odd stacks to get a cord. With 16" if you do 3 rows 4 ft high 8ft long that gives you a cord.

Yeah ok you could cut length to fit stove, but how many of you guys pack your stove right full? I do with my Blaze King because it will low burn for a long time, but with a standard stoves I'm used to there is no way.. unless I wanted it to be 100* in the building.

Thanks, Nate, but it's a done deed now--should get the delivery in a few more hours. My firebox is 21.5 inches, so I think I'll have plenty of room if the wood is in the 18-20" range--that's what I burned this winter.

I see what you mean about the math--I think I'll just have to wing that. It's easier for me to multiply height by width by 1.5 than to calculate the 20" cuts I had planned.

I'll know more later, but I was thinking that the folks who sell this for a living use a gizmo like the stick that fits on the chainsaw, or that roller measurer thing-o.

I pack my stove full for overnight fires. I rake the coals to the front, and cap them with a piece of wood that's kind of a flattened wedge shape. Then I stack a big, squarish chunk behind that, and fill in the 90* angle left open with another chunk or two. Shut down air intake, tip the stack damper, and it cruises all night long, coals in the morning. That's how I get my best fires--load it, adjust it, leave it alone. Throw in a daily run-up fire to keep things cleared up in there, and it seems to run pretty well.