Burning rounds

[old greybeard]

Some timbering going on near me. Have permission to cut firewood. Lots of easy picking. Just picked up 2 pickup loads of cut 18” long and smaller ends. Amazing that this wood is not being grabbed, many camps closer to it than me. One buddy of mine who live next to the cut wood just went to town and paid $65 for 2 loads in his jeep Cherokee! Said the young guys who hunt his camp won’t work!
There were alot of 2”-8” thick end pieces, I’ve seen people use these for overnight burns, they stack them. How thick can I leave them, will the 8” thick pieces burn okay? Width isn’t a issue, Osburn 2300.
Obviously will need a bed of very hot coals.

 

[ABMax24]

View attachment 283291 Some timbering going on near me. Have permission to cut firewood. Lots of easy picking. Just picked up 2 pickup loads of cut 18” long and smaller ends. Amazing that this wood is not being grabbed, many camps closer to it than me. One buddy of mine who live next to the cut wood just went to town and paid $65 for 2 loads in his jeep Cherokee! Said the young guys who hunt his camp won’t work!
There were alot of 2”-8” thick end pieces, I’ve seen people use these for overnight burns, they stack them. How thick can I leave them, will the 8” thick pieces burn okay? Width isn’t a issue, Osburn 2300.
Obviously will need a bed of very hot coals.

I'd split them in half with an axe first at least.

 

[stoveliker]

I've burned them. If they are dry (and you may need to split them to get them dry enough), you can stack them as tall as your firebox allows. I've done that with oak cut offs. Works well.

 

[stoveliker]

Do you have a moisture meter? Split the thickest, and measure on the fresh surface along the grain. If that one is dry enough, you're good to go, if all were dried the same way (noting that a pile won't give the same results for middle of the pile pieces ...)

 

[old greybeard]

That wood was just dropped this summer. Its my 23/24 wood. Will be sracked and split next summer, should be plenty dry.

 

[stoveliker]

Then, in my experience (up to 6" thick), there's no need to split them IF both cut surfaces are exposed while drying.

 

[kennyp2339]

I call those uglies, some also refer to them as cookies, I'll take size pieces like in your pic's and only split in half, you want them dry to burn and you'll be very surprised with the results.
I use to uglies for camp fires, I saw someone make a bin from an old corncob silo, so that got my wheels turning, I bought a role of 72" welded wire fencing, cut 10ft section and made cylinders that stand up on pallets, then I throw the uglies in a random lay into the cylinder and let them season for a full year (they dry pretty quick due to the random lay and having good airflow vs a tighter stacked wood pile) I then burn the chunks during our shoulder seasons, works very well for me and I have 5 cylinders full and ready to go for this year.

 

[stoveliker]

Funny, I use them (cookies) in dead of winter as they make a perfect Tetris stack in the stove. No air between them. And then I add some knotty ones on the corners of the firebox.

In any case, we agree: good wood, easy drying. Nothing wrong with them.