How should I cut wood?

[jmg-in-alaska]

I picked up about a cord and a half of birch wood last night that was free. It had been cut and stacked. Most of the pieces are about 30-35 inches long. I have a quadra fire 4300 step top stove on order right now and it should be here in January. It will take pieces up to 20 inches. My question is this - should I cut a 35 inch piece into 20 and 15 pieces, or a couple of 17 1/2 pieces? If it is 30 inches - 2 15 inches pieces? Just curious if I should maximize my log length as much as possible.

Thanks in advance.

 

[skinnykid]

what I have, not on purpose but I have some. When I got my wood home I noticed that I cut it while in the woods to long.

My stove takes 18 inch logs but I cut mine to 14 inches so I have play in the stove for reorganizing pieces and such.

The logs that I noticed that would be to long, I cut them to 14 inches as desired. That left "shorties" of 4,6 or whatever inches.

The "shorties" work great when packing the stove for overnight burn. when adding wood before bed I sometimes get space where the burning wood

and the new wood don't fill up. So I use those "shorties" to fill in the spaces that a full sized piece won't fit into.

Make sense to you?

 

[jmg-in-alaska]

what I have, not on purpose but I have some. When I got my wood home I noticed that I cut it while in the woods to long.

My stove takes 18 inch logs but I cut mine to 14 inches so I have play in the stove for reorganizing pieces and such.

The logs that I noticed that would be to long, I cut them to 14 inches as desired. That left "shorties" of 4,6 or whatever inches.

The "shorties" work great when packing the stove for overnight burn. when adding wood before bed I sometimes get space where the burning wood

and the new wood don't fill up. So I use those "shorties" to fill in the spaces that a full sized piece won't fit into.

Make sense to you?

That was actually what I was thinking. I figured I'd cut most of my standard pieces to around 17-18 inches for the "20 inch stove." I thought "shorties" as you put it would come in handy for starter stuff and packing at times. Perfect. Thanks a bunch. I am getting excited to join everyone in the wood stove era.

 

[InTheRockies]

My stove will take 20 inch pieces of wood (EW direction). I cut the majority of pieces to 18 inches; however, I intentionally cut some wood short enough to lay NS direction so that when I pack the stove for overnight burns I can fill as much space as possible to get the longest burn I can.

 

[skinnykid]

Seems as though it is a popular method! And I thought I was being smart.
Welcome to the site and wood burning JMB.

I am sure Alaska is alot colder than the 31 degrees that I have hear tonight!!

You will learn alot from the people on this forum and you will love your wood burner. I did and do.

I can't wait to start cutting for the next burn season!

 

[gyrfalcon]

I picked up about a cord and a half of birch wood last night that was free. It had been cut and stacked. Most of the pieces are about 30-35 inches long. I have a quadra fire 4300 step top stove on order right now and it should be here in January. It will take pieces up to 20 inches. My question is this - should I cut a 35 inch piece into 20 and 15 pieces, or a couple of 17 1/2 pieces? If it is 30 inches - 2 15 inches pieces? Just curious if I should maximize my log length as much as possible.

Thanks in advance.

Hi, JMG. This may only be a Hearthstone problem, but what the manufacturer says is the log length the stove will take ain't necessarily so. Hearthstone says the Tribute takes up to 16 inches-- but it's true only if you disassemble the stove first. 14 is actually the maximum that can go in my stove's firebox flat, 15s will only go in diagonally from upper to lower corner, and only if they're very thin. Luckily, I found this out before I had a load of of C/D/S firewood dumped outside my door.

Quadra fire is probably smarter about this, but err on the short side until you've got the stove right there to try it out.

I agree with other posters here who say having a variety of lengths is useful, and triple that if you're new to wood burning or to your particular stove. It's really, really helpful to have a wide range of lengths and thicknesses to play with as you're learning what the stove likes, especially in the middle of winter.

 

[gyrfalcon]

That was actually what I was thinking. I figured I'd cut most of my standard pieces to around 17-18 inches for the "20 inch stove." I thought "shorties" as you put it would come in handy for starter stuff and packing at times. Perfect. Thanks a bunch. I am getting excited to join everyone in the wood stove era.

If you don't mind a little mess and some uneven heating, you're going to love it. Throwing some more wood on the fire when you're a little chilly is a whole different deal than poking a thermostat on the wall. You'll know you've become a real wood burner when you find yourself lurking around your wood stacks in your spare time and sighing happily, or seriously considering rushing out to hold an umbrella over it when it starts to rain.

 

[crazy_dan]

I would just cut in half and have 2 respectable pieces instead of a long and a short piece.

 

[savageactor7]

what I have, not on purpose but I have some. When I got my wood home I noticed that I cut it while in the woods to long.

My stove takes 18 inch logs but I cut mine to 14 inches so I have play in the stove for reorganizing pieces and such.

The logs that I noticed that would be to long, I cut them to 14 inches as desired. That left "shorties" of 4,6 or whatever inches.

The "shorties" work great when packing the stove for overnight burn. when adding wood before bed I sometimes get space where the burning wood

and the new wood don't fill up. So I use those "shorties" to fill in the spaces that a full sized piece won't fit into.

Make sense to you?

That was actually what I was thinking. I figured I'd cut most of my standard pieces to around 17-18 inches for the "20 inch stove." I thought "shorties" as you put it would come in handy for starter stuff and packing at times. Perfect. Thanks a bunch. I am getting excited to join everyone in the wood stove era.

That sounds like a good plan. We have the QF4300st and although I cut to 20" I have to say 18 works best. when I resume bucking again I 'll probably go back to 18-19"...just to leave a little wiggle room. Good luck with your new stove we're quite fond of ours.

 

[yukiginger]

I'd cut them in half for ease of stacking and handling.

MarkG

 

[Risser09]

An inch or so on either side of the log will enable oxygen to surround the log. This will mean a slightly hotter burn and perhaps quicker. I would just cut them in half.

 

[bdog]

Cut 'em in half, it's a real pain to store all the stubs and chunks.

 

[pinewoodburner]

I agree with the others, cut in half for ease of loading the stove and ease of stacking.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I'd cut it into 4 equal pieces, and 2 unequal pieces.

 

[RAY_PA]

17 1/2