If you process your own firewood, what's your preferred length?

[bladeofanduril]

First season with my stove. I've processed all of my own firewood so far. This first season's supply I cut to a standard 16-18". The Jotul F500 can accept up to 22" splits. Should I start cutting it longer to better fill the stove, or stick to the standard 16-18"? Do you size your wood to your stove or no? Thanks.

 

[Newbie78]

Of course.

one of the beauties of doing your own cutting is that you can do any darn thing you want. 😀

 

[Bobbob]

I try to cut mine 18 to 20 inches. This way my stove is filled easily loading north south and I can get longer burns

 

[Wiess]

Our Super 27 will take pieces up to 18" long. I typically cut to 16" for ease of handling and not having wood close to the glass.

 

[tebenhoh]

Our firewood is sized to our stove, and to my preference for loading/reloading. It’s also sized for the wood racks we use. I shoot for 18” as an average; the stove (Buck 91) will hold 21 or 22” I think, but I like having some wiggle room in front of the door, and it’s 18” from the end to the bar adjustment nuts on my saw. I haven’t noticed much difference in burn times; for longer burns pack ‘em in as tight as you can.

 

[bholler]

First season with my stove. I've processed all of my own firewood so far. This first season's supply I cut to a standard 16-18". The Jotul F500 can accept up to 22" splits. Should I start cutting it longer to better fill the stove, or stick to the standard 16-18"? Do you size your wood to your stove or no? Thanks.

Absolutely size the wood to your stove. I typically shoot for 2" less than max length

 

[mpaul]

I can handle up to 22” and I cut all mine to 20”. Like others are saying, gives me a little wiggle room while maximizing the available space in the stove. Also makes for neater stacking.

 

[bigealta]

My f400 max is 20". I cut 18" . 18" also stacks much better than the 16" i used to have to cut for the old jotul 3.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I try for about 18 inches. Pretty standard size for stoves, although mine can take up to 24inch. My reason is that if my current stove is replaced, I have options and don’t have to think about a couple years of wood that I’d have to trim.

 

[Woodcutter Tom]

I am actually cutting all my splits now at 11 inches. These will fit N-S in my Escape 1500. I find this gives me my longest burn times. I have plenty of 16 inch splits in my wood racks even after cut many of them down to 11 inches. It is what I prefer.

 

[Vg3200p]

I'm with woodcutter Tom. I cut mine short probably 10 to 13" average. Easier handling and splitting.

 

[bigealta]

North South load does burn really well in the f400. but that requires 8-9" pieces. its just too short to stack in large quantities.

 

[Dix]

18" for the PE (N/S), 16" for the 13 (E/W), gives the best burn times here.

That being said, I also like the "uglies" (weird shapes & sizes) for when I'm home, awake, and burning, Saves the splits cut to size for overnights, and daytime / away from the house burning.

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

I go for the 16-20” range. That gives me the ability to load a mix of N/S and E/W very comfortably in our Osburn 3500. Definitely go a few inches shorter than the max length your firebox can handle. Getting a split halfway into a bed of coals only to realize it’s too long for the firebox is super dangerous.

 

[Woody Stover]

Luckily, our stoves, as well as family members' stoves that I feed, all take 18" so I cut to 16". But if I get to a gnarly section of trunk when bucking, I'll cut it half-length so it will split easier than full length, and those shorties can fit N-S in my side-loading stove.

 

[Corey]

I scrounge a lot off CL, so that means pretty much any size, shape and length under the sun. If I have to cut it, I try for either ~22-24 inches which is a pretty good E-W fit for my stove, or on some occasions, cut ~12-14" which is a pretty good N-S fit. If it is small limbs, or 'junk' wood, I don't worry about it too much. But when I get into nice 'healthy' chunks of hedge, I try to cut that right at the maximum length. I use my saw as a guide...tip of the bar to the second bolt on the bar clamp. The full length wood packs the stove full for long overnight burns and means I make the fewest long/time consuming cuts in the super dense hedge wood.

 

[CincyBurner]

I cut to a standard 16-18". The Jotul F500 can accept up to 22" splits.

I too have a Jotul Oslo F500, and scrounge and process my wood. I soon realized benefits of cutting to a desired, uniform length. For me that's right about 20", but still I have plenty of uglies that I store in IBC crates and a some shorts. I try to pick straight wood when I scrounge, and the consistent, straight, longer splits make for more uniform & stable stacks. It takes longer to season the longer, thicker wood but I like the longer burns. That said I still maintain a good mix of smaller diameter splits & species throughout stacks so I can mix to match conditions: smaller kindling for start-ups, soft maple and tulip-poplar for shoulder season, big chunk mixed in for overnight, and Osage for night or just when I want longer lasting coals for an easier start up the following evening.

 

[Garbanzo62]

My stove can take 18" either way. I cut some at 17" but it is a bit close to the glass and I get dark buildup on the glass. Going to start cutting at 16"

 

[Kevin Weis]

The Intrepid is maxed at 15" E-W but I cut at 14" or a little shorter even. I'd have to go to 11" to load N-S so haven't done much of that but would be intresting to see how N-S loading would behave in the Intrepid so my try more of that soon.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

My box is max a 22 inch log. I cut mine to 18/19 inches I like a couple inches of room on each side. If you cut to dmall its hard to fill the box, cut to long its hard to fill it all the way up

 

[kennyp2339]

I prefer 16-18" on my eyeball, I like loading NS rather then E-W which can take up to a 20" split in my stove, now for splitting, I like to go above the average split size - I'm more of a 6-8" split thickness kinda guy, my splits dry for a min 3 yrs so I can get away with bigger is better approach.

 

[NickW]

15-19" is what I aim for at home for the NC30, 12"+/- for the Stratford II in the Northwoods. I can fit 16" n/s in the Stratford II, but it really messes up the air flow and smokes the glass...

 

[PaulOinMA]

I split with a maul. As mentioned, slightly smaller splits a lot easier. Easier than I would think for just a couple of inches shorter.

My little Answer takes up to 18". I prefer 14 -16".

 

[Wood1Dennis]

Furnace takes something like 22 inches, but I like to keep the firewood around 16 / 18 inches. I load the firebox (N/S) to the back so I don't get any smoke rollout. I split quite a bit by hand so that is a manageable length.

 

[Stove Cricket]

14” N/S in my Quadra-fire 3100. User manual recommends 16”.

For fun I like to lay two small splits E/W across a raked out coal trough and lay a piece across them and burn one up from underneath. The stove user manual does not recommend a grate, so I don’t use one, but make a burnable one on occasion.