Larger versus Small Split Wood - Locust Nightmare Scenario

[GoodJBoy]

Hi Everyone,

We just recently had a high efficiency fireplace installed in our home. This will be our first winter trying to heat our home with wood.

I had a question about the wood size. I am in the process of chopping wood (mostly seasoned dried locust - can you say hell on earth?) and I was wondering what the difference is if I cut the pieces small versus large? In other words, if I throw a quarter round of a log into the fireplace what is the difference versus a bunch of smaller pieces?

Translation - I am killing myself on this seasoned locust wood to make smaller pieces and I just want to quarter the logs now and throw in larger pieces into the fireplace this winter. The wood is bone dry. It must be years old. Anyone who has experience with locust knows that you got to cut it when it is fresh because the drier it gets, the harder it is to split. This stuff is like cement. I had one piece about 18" wide by 8" deep and I pounded to steel pegs into the wood to split it into two 9" pieces. It didn't split even though two pegs were pounded all the way through! And I still could not pull the two pieces apart by hand! It is the plague of the locust all over again! lol I learned my lesson and next time I am ordering fresh logs of locust.

Thanks!

 

[Mason coal burner]

I Don't know much about locust but it sounds like splitting elm . Fresh cut is definitely easier . How big are the rounds ? Sounds like time to rent a splitter .

 

[rideau]

If hand splitting, you might get a couple of twisted wedges. I find they work better. You can get them from Lee Valley over the internet. Other places have them also. They are not cheap for wedges (maybe $38) but they save a ton of work (literally). I have one I have used for about ten years and although the striking surface (which is large for a wedge) sure shows the usage it has had, it is still just fine.

And how small you can cut them, if they are really bone dry, is only limited by how big your stove loading door is. Bigger burns slower and longer. Huge really dry really dense wood will give you incredible burn time. Use during cold weather, but not the bone chilling 30 below weather...then you want to be able to burn the wood a bit faster to get more heat per hour. So for that weather, split a bit once more, to half the size that will go through the door....

 

[Jags]

What insert do you have? My suggestion for a 1.7 cuft stove wouldn't be the same as for a cavernous blaze king or Summit.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Hi Everyone,

We just recently had a high efficiency fireplace installed in our home. This will be our first winter trying to heat our home with wood.

I had a question about the wood size. I am in the process of chopping wood (mostly seasoned dried locust - can you say hell on earth?) and I was wondering what the difference is if I cut the pieces small versus large? In other words, if I throw a quarter round of a log into the fireplace what is the difference versus a bunch of smaller pieces?

Translation - I am killing myself on this seasoned locust wood to make smaller pieces and I just want to quarter the logs now and throw in larger pieces into the fireplace this winter. The wood is bone dry. It must be years old. Anyone who has experience with locust knows that you got to cut it when it is fresh because the drier it gets, the harder it is to split. This stuff is like cement. I had one piece about 18" wide by 8" deep and I pounded to steel pegs into the wood to split it into two 9" pieces. It didn't split even though two pegs were pounded all the way through! And I still could not pull the two pieces apart by hand! It is the plague of the locust all over again! lol I learned my lesson and next time I am ordering fresh logs of locust.

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum GoodJBoy.

Can you explain how this wood was "seasoned" please? We don't normally consider any wood seasoned until it has been split and stacked. If it has been in log length rather than firewood length, then you might be surprised at how much moisture is still in the wood. Along with this thought, it will be good if you keep this in mind; most wood needs a year or more after being split and stacked outdoor, preferably in the wind. Sun will help for drying the wood but wind is your best friend. The reason for the caution on the wood is that most new wood burners really do not understand the importance of having good dry wood. Many of them buy their wood thinking that the wood will be ready to burn. Even the sellers will tell them it is. Never believe it! If buying, buy well before it is needed so you can get rid of that moisture in the wood. Until we learn how to burn water, dry wood will rule. Good luck.

 

[begreen]

I have not found locust to be a hard splitting wood so I am surprised to hear this. Larger splits will burn slower, but that is not a problem when refilling a stove on a coal bed. It's actually a benefit if the goal is a longer burn. Use the smaller splits to start the fire.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

I have not found locust to be a hard splitting wood so I am surprised to hear this. Larger splits will burn slower, but that is not a problem when refilling a stove on a coal bed. It's actually a benefit if the goal is a longer burn. Use the smaller splits to start the fire.

I agree and feel the same way, the black locust I split was 18" in length and quite large in diameter and they split quite easily for me, let me see if I can find a pic of it....
These were average size , I also had larger ones, all easy to split, can you post a picture of what you got?

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

As far as split size goes, you should have a whole lot of all different sizes, the more the better...if you cut all small, you will burn quickly, more loading involved

 

[bogydave]

Got any pictures you can post ?

Like said , locust usually splits relatively easy.
Get it at least split in 1/2 & stacked so it dries even more.

If it's as dry as you say, you won't need small splits ;
1/2s & 1/4s splits burn great when dry

 

[oldspark]

Locust is a very dense wood so it does not burn like a less dense wood same as Oak so I can see where it might be a problem.

 

[Wingman]

I split a deadstanding BL and it was a pain in the butt. Worth it, but pain in the butt.

 

[Woody Stover]

Is the bark already gone, or at least falling off of this wood now? I've split some that was very dry, down around 16% on the moisture meter, and it wasn't too hard to split. The rounds weren't huge though....maybe like 12" at the biggest.

 

[HDRock]

I pounded to steel pegs into the wood to split it

What are these steel pegs U speak of ?

 

[HDRock]

Once I get a good crack like this ,I have a 42" pry bar I use to finish the job, and some times a hatchet to cut the thin wood still holding.

 

[bogydave]

Look like some of the wedges are railroad spikes ?

 

[paul bunion]

An 8" round should be easy to split no matter what unless it has knots in it. Once you get to the knots and crotches all bets are off. There are pieces of wood that are downright impossible to split by hand. Are you looking for pre-existing cracks in the wood to split along. Starting your split at the edge and working across. And not bothering to try to split through a knot or a crotch? Another technique for incorrigible pieces of wood it to peel them like an onion, go round them whacking off pieces parallel to the bark, not across the log. That allows you to get the 'easy meat' off of the knotty ones.

 

[red oak]

Hi Everyone,

We just recently had a high efficiency fireplace installed in our home. This will be our first winter trying to heat our home with wood.

I had a question about the wood size. I am in the process of chopping wood (mostly seasoned dried locust - can you say hell on earth?) and I was wondering what the difference is if I cut the pieces small versus large? In other words, if I throw a quarter round of a log into the fireplace what is the difference versus a bunch of smaller pieces?

Translation - I am killing myself on this seasoned locust wood to make smaller pieces and I just want to quarter the logs now and throw in larger pieces into the fireplace this winter. The wood is bone dry. It must be years old. Anyone who has experience with locust knows that you got to cut it when it is fresh because the drier it gets, the harder it is to split. This stuff is like cement. I had one piece about 18" wide by 8" deep and I pounded to steel pegs into the wood to split it into two 9" pieces. It didn't split even though two pegs were pounded all the way through! And I still could not pull the two pieces apart by hand! It is the plague of the locust all over again! lol I learned my lesson and next time I am ordering fresh logs of locust.

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum GoodJBoy!

Locust is primo firewood - burns great! I don't have much where I am but what I have had has split relatively easy. Are you using a maul, or just the sledge and wedge? As others have said, avoid the knots, I try to split around them whenever I can.

As for your original question, try to get a mix of sizes for your splits. Smaller ones for getting the fire going, larger ones for longer or overnight burns.

I have a small pile now of pieces that are full of knots that I'm going to take the chainsaw to. You can cut pieces in half, for example that 8" piece you mention could be cut into 2 4" sections that will split easier. Or you can split it with the saw itself, commonly called noodling due to the shape of the chips that the saw spits out. Or you can rent a splitter for a day for those uncooperative pieces. All would be easier than killing yourself over some really hard to split pieces.

 

[Bret Chase]

Translation - I am killing myself on this seasoned locust wood to make smaller pieces
Thanks!

Just get into a fight with your significant other.... I have found that any wood cleaves like pine after that.... lol...

 

[ansehnlich1]

that ain't locust, it's a big old hickory

 

[Nick Mystic]

At my previous house I had a friend with a saw mill cut me a bunch of 4x4 posts out of a locust tree we cut down. The wood was still fairly green when I started building a wood shed with it, but I couldn't pound a 16 penny nail into it without bending! I had to drill all my nail holes, which was a lot of extra work. When I cut down a number of locust trees on my property for firewood I don't recall having any particular trouble splitting it when it was green.

 

[GoodJBoy]

If hand splitting, you might get a couple of twisted wedges. I find they work better. You can get them from Lee Valley over the internet. Other places have them also. They are not cheap for wedges (maybe $38) but they save a ton of work (literally). I have one I have used for about ten years and although the striking surface (which is large for a wedge) sure shows the usage it has had, it is still just fine.

And how small you can cut them, if they are really bone dry, is only limited by how big your stove loading door is. Bigger burns slower and longer. Huge really dry really dense wood will give you incredible burn time. Use during cold weather, but not the bone chilling 30 below weather...then you want to be able to burn the wood a bit faster to get more heat per hour. So for that weather, split a bit once more, to half the size that will go through the door....

Thanks so much for your advice! It was really helpful and I am going to look into those wedges.

 

[GoodJBoy]

I Don't know much about locust but it sounds like splitting elm . Fresh cut is definitely easier . How big are the rounds ? Sounds like time to rent a splitter .

I do have some elm wood mixed into the bunch of dried hardwoods I ordered. The elm is very hard to split but you can split it. When it comes to real old locust wood, it can't be split with an axe. The only way you can split it by hand is with a sledge hammer and pegs. There is not a human on this earth that can hand split the old dried logs of locust I have. I don't care how big and strong they are and how good of an axe they have. It isn't happening. Elm is a walk in the park compared to this stuff and elm is challenging to split.

I am holding off on getting a wood splitter because one of the main reason I bought the wood was for exercise. I found that traditional methods of exercise are boring to me and I don't keep up the routine. It is like swallowing bad medicine. But, I love splitting wood, even if I got to use a sledge hammer and pegs. It is a lot of fun and it is great exercise.

 

[GoodJBoy]

What insert do you have? My suggestion for a 1.7 cuft stove wouldn't be the same as for a cavernous blaze king or Summit.

I got a Napolean NZ-26. My house is about 1800 square feet with around 800 square feet on the first floor where the fireplace is and another 1000 square feet on the second floor. They also installed a vent that I can open and close to let the heat naturally poor into the upstairs. We shall see how well this heats the house this winter. Our house is insulated very well with new windows and doors so I am hoping that this fireplace, rated up to 2000 square feet, will handle the job. We shall see.

 

[GoodJBoy]

Welcome to the forum GoodJBoy.

Can you explain how this wood was "seasoned" please? We don't normally consider any wood seasoned until it has been split and stacked. If it has been in log length rather than firewood length, then you might be surprised at how much moisture is still in the wood. Along with this thought, it will be good if you keep this in mind; most wood needs a year or more after being split and stacked outdoor, preferably in the wind. Sun will help for drying the wood but wind is your best friend. The reason for the caution on the wood is that most new wood burners really do not understand the importance of having good dry wood. Many of them buy their wood thinking that the wood will be ready to burn. Even the sellers will tell them it is. Never believe it! If buying, buy well before it is needed so you can get rid of that moisture in the wood. Until we learn how to burn water, dry wood will rule. Good luck.

Thanks for teaching me about the term "seasoned" and what it includes. I am new to this and I am learning a lot. I got a lot of locust logs. Yesterday, I took a round that was over 24" in diameter and put a peg in the middle of it and it split fairly easily. I noticed the wood color was browner that the other locust logs. This log was much much easier to deal with. It split good. It was challenging but doable.

The other locust logs I got are gray instead of brown. They are obviously very old and completely dry. So you are saying that the wood normally needs to be split and then it has to sit for a year? Wow! I thought the wood just had to be cut a year before and then split anytime after that. It makes sense that it has to be split for large logs where the moisture is trapped in the middle. This changes everything for me now. We have a small yard and now I got a bunch of wood that isn't going to be ready until next winter. Oh well... this should be the worst problems we have in life! LOL

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me. It is greatly appreciated.

 

[GoodJBoy]

I agree and feel the same way, the black locust I split was 18" in length and quite large in diameter and they split quite easily for me, let me see if I can find a pic of it....View attachment 106219
These were average size , I also had larger ones, all easy to split, can you post a picture of what you got?

Thanks for posting the picture. I have to get a picture of the wood I have. The bark looks just like what you have but the logs I have are about 24" in diameter, give or take a few inches. I have made it through most of them. Yesterday I split one easily. The wood was obviously more moist. If you would like to have a learning experience, take some locust wood and let it sit in log form for a few years until the wood is bone dry. Then, try to split it. You can split a cement sidewalk easier. LOL I will try and post something later this week. I have technical difficulties with my camera that need fixing and also I don't have the internet at home. Only in the office.