How Much Wood Should I Split?

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davidmsem

Minister of Fire
Oct 30, 2014
632
New haven, Connecticut
I'm getting mixed information about how far ahead in seasons to store wood. I have access to maple and ash mainly.

I currently have about 6 cords that I split in the early spring and ready to go. I burnt about 3 cords last year in my first year of burning with some very very dry (4 years?) wood.

I now have access to the logs from14 trees (ash & maple) that were cut down by my neighbor and he has kindly given me.

When would you cut the logs into rounds and split??? Perhaps the better question is how long is TOO LONG to season wood? Should I wait until next spring to being to cut and split???

Several people have said you only need to cut in the spring what you will use the following winter with the exception being oak.

Any advice as I enter my second season of burning?

Thank you!!!

David
 
Cut split stack now. Until you are many years out - "too long" is not an issue if stored off the ground. Many here will argue that you are not drying the wood long enough as it is (me included).

Moving this to the wood shed....
 
My worst experience with wasting wood was, coincidentally, with ash & maple. They were cut to length, left in rounds, and stacked uncovered. Several years later (I can't recall how many, but more than 2-3) there was a lot of rot. The oak was fine. But I would blame the rot on the fact that the wood was exposed to snow and rain for 4-6 years, and stacked with rows very tight together so there was little air flow.

If split and top-covered, I would have no worries. If it were my wood, I'd split as much as I could as soon as I could. The key is, whether split or in rounds, to get it up off the ground and ensure that it stays dry, or can dry off as it gets wet by stacking single row. Maple left on the ground rots very quickly. Oak and cherry, not so much (except the outer inches).

While many say you only need to cut in the spring what you will use the following winter, many say wood should be a MINIMUM of one full year cut, split and stacked. It is a great pleasure (or so I hear) to be 2 or 3 years ahead. If I could fill my barn with dry, seasoned wood regardless of species, I have no doubt it would be sound and provide great burning for decades, not just years.
 
Cut split stack now. Until you are many years out - "too long" is not an issue if stored off the ground. Many here will argue that you are not drying the wood long enough as it is (me included).

Moving this to the wood shed....

Thank you.....I do stack the cut wood on pallets.
 
My worst experience with wasting wood was, coincidentally, with ash & maple. They were cut to length, left in rounds, and stacked uncovered. Several years later (I can't recall how many, but more than 2-3) there was a lot of rot. The oak was fine. But I would blame the rot on the fact that the wood was exposed to snow and rain for 4-6 years, and stacked with rows very tight together so there was little air flow.

If split and top-covered, I would have no worries. If it were my wood, I'd split as much as I could as soon as I could. The key is, whether split or in rounds, to get it up off the ground and ensure that it stays dry, or can dry off as it gets wet by stacking single row. Maple left on the ground rots very quickly. Oak and cherry, not so much (except the outer inches).

While many say you only need to cut in the spring what you will use the following winter, many say wood should be a MINIMUM of one full year cut, split and stacked. It is a great pleasure (or so I hear) to be 2 or 3 years ahead. If I could fill my barn with dry, seasoned wood regardless of species, I have no doubt it would be sound and provide great burning for decades, not just years.


Thank you! I'm being lazy and not top covering, but it can dry easily since it is single rows on pallets.

Last year was my first year with an insert, and I had very dry 4 year seasoned wood. It was a JOY to light a fire and keep it going. Quickly dropped to very little air feeding in!!!

Thank you so much.
 
If you split your current supply in March(?) you're only giving yourself 9 mo or so of drying before you need it. That's not enough for the NE where 2, even 3 years for some species is best. Splitting and stacking a couple years out is a great benefit and will preserve it better than leaving it in the round.
 
I'm being lazy and not top covering, but it can dry easily since it is single rows on pallets.

I don't generally top cover my wood until nearly a year after it's stacked, and even then I cover it only when fall comes around. I think single rows on pallets is the way to go... great air exposure that way.

The post by jatoxico reminds me, regarding leaving it in the round... some species (birch, poplar, and others) seem to have bark that serves to hold in moisture and cause rounds to rot much more quickly when unsplit. I've wasted a fair amount of white birch by not splitting promptly!
 
Split it all. Right now. Get it off of your neighbor's land before he changes his mind since you're so slow. Even if they're on your lot, CSS that fuel right away until you're no less than two years ahead. I'm burning three year old fuel that has had two winters in the rain CSS on pallets with no top cover. The wood got covered this summer after dry out.

I would feel better if I could stack in a shed for a decade because I worry that after enough years in the rain that the wood will lose some weight.
 
If you split your current supply in March(?) you're only giving yourself 9 mo or so of drying before you need it. That's not enough for the NE where 2, even 3 years for some species is best. Splitting and stacking a couple years out is a great benefit and will preserve it better than leaving it in the round.

Yes, I'm new to burning so I only just started splitting in January through March time frame. It is mostly Ash so I hear that might be okay for this winter. From this website, after getting plans for a woodshed, I got interested in burning for heat. I love it and I like spending the winter in my underwear around the house.
 
Yes, I'm new to burning so I only just started splitting in January through March time frame. It is mostly Ash so I hear that might be okay for this winter. From this website, after getting plans for a woodshed, I got interested in burning for heat. I love it and I like spending the winter in my underwear around the house.

My first year with a new EPA stove I thought I had given myself a good start using 18mo CSS locust. It wasn't that great. I had some experience but no where near the collective wisdom found here. 18 mo was cuttin' it kinda' close and I had made other little errors like stacking too close. Made steady improvements since as fast as I could (can't speed up time) and got ahead. I've run a little short a couple times since but those times when you're burning fully seasoned wood vs. the marginal stuff is such a difference that you don't ever want to go back.
 
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My first year with a new EPA stove I thought I had given myself a good start using 18mo CSS locust. It wasn't that great. I had some experience but no where near the collective wisdom found here. 18 mo was cuttin' it kinda' close and I had made other little errors like stacking too close. Made steady improvements since as fast as I could (can't speed up time) and got ahead. I've run a little short a couple times since but those times when you're burning fully seasoned wood vs. the marginal stuff is such a difference that you don't ever want to go back.
I was so lucky to have four year old wood last year, my first year switching from a fireplace to an insert. It was AMAZINGLY EASY TO BURN.

At the end of the winter, I was burning ash that was freshly split and it burned with lots of oxygen. :)

I'm going to split all my new stuff!!!!!
 
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Your going to need an addition onto your woodshed
 
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I give everything like ash, soft maple, pine ,walnut and poplar no less than 2 years in a covered rack 16x4x6 [got 7 full] . The rest of the hard woods are on a 4 year rotation now, working on 5. All my wood is split and stacked now as it comes in, 10 below or 100 out it all gets split and stacked no matter what.
 
The only day better than today to CSS is yesterday. Once you're ahead by 2-3 years, you really only have to split enough wood for one season to replace what you've burned. However, I don't believe for a minute that most on this site (me included) will stop there if we have the opportunity. :cool:
 
The answer as to when to cut, split and stack wood . . . is always sooner rather than later.

Properly cared for -- off the ground, top covered, etc. the wood will last a long time.

I have wood sitting outside for two plus years, uncovered . . . and it is still good . . . and I would wager it is much, much better to burn than the folks who were cutting and splitting their wood this past Spring . . . or folks doing so now.
 
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you an never have to much fire wood, as long as you have the space and store it properly.
 
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Yep, get it all split and stacked off the ground as soon as you can. A bonanza like this doesn't present itself often. Take advantage of it now.

Left out in log or round form, wood tends to rot quickly because it cannot dry completely. Split firewood won't rot if it's protected from the elements.
 
For clarification: split wood left on the ground will rot faster than unsplit logs also left on the ground. The key to avoid letting it go to waste in either form is getting it off the ground.
 
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For clarification: split wood left on the ground will rot faster than unsplit logs also left on the ground. The key avoid letting it go to waste in either form is getting it off the ground.

They put two logs under this to keep things off the ground.

rps20150904_065037.jpg
 
My motto is: "It's not firewood till it's split".:cool:
 
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