Newbie questions: split sizes, stacking, etc.

[neversummer]

Hi everyone, picked up my Woodstock Fireview from the freight company and am beginning the process of splitting the wood that I have managed to acquire, but have a few questions.

- Split sizes: How big is too big? I see some of you splitting your wood fairly small, and others of you seem to leave it twice as big. I am going for the long, slow burn which heats the house while I am away at work (figure 8-9 hours of burn minimum). As such, I've been leaving my splits fairly "wide". I feel as if some of them could be split again, but then I think this would make them too small.... whats the solution? Is one big log more or less beneficial than 2 or 3 smaller?

- Stacking: I see threads where someone says they are getting a cord, then it amounts to more or less depending upon how you stack it. What is the "proper" stacking method, to be sure I am not getting had by a wood guy?

Thanks.

-NS

 

[NordicSplitter]

Welcome aboard! I am kind of a fanatic about split size. I took 1 full cord of mixed wood (ash,maple,oak,cherry) and spent the time to triple split every piece. This would speed up the seasoning time quite a bit. My remaining 4 cords of mixed I just left as it came. I did pull a good portion of the larger pieces and stacked them together in a stack I call my "all nighters"
As far as stacking..4'high x 8' long by 3 rows deep is a fullcord of wood. A face cord is just one single row. Try to have about a foot separating rows for good air flow to try to speed things up alittle. Hope this helps and happy splitting.

 

[Gark]

For split size, suggest you leave as large as can be fit into your stove. If split too small and it burns too hot & fast, ya can't glue it back together. If you find it too large at burn time, it can always be made smaller.

 

[rdust]

Split size for me has changed as I've learned what my stove likes. This year I have a bunch of stuff I split three years ago and it's a lot smaller than what I split now. Most of my early stuff was 3x4 or so, now it's more like 4x6 or 5x6. I split square or rectangles whenever possible since I feel they stack better in the stove. My smaller rounds in the 8-10" range will get split twice making 4 small pie shaped pieces. I'd recommend a mix of small, medium and large splits it will come in handy when you're filling the stove to the top.

 

[Wood Duck]

I have found that the largest split size that is useful for me is one where I can fit at least a couple splits of the same size in the stove. I could fit an 8x8 inch (on the end) or a 10 x 10 inch by 18 inch split in my stove quite easily. However, at that size, considering that there will be some partially burnt wood in the stove when I reload, I could probably only get one 8x8 split in, then I'd fill smaller ones in with it. This would result in the smaller ones burning away long before the big one, leaving only one piece of wood in the stove. One piece of wood doesn't burn very well by itself, so I'd not get much heat even though I had some wood in there. So, my largest split size is intended to be a good deal smaller than the maximum size that would fit in the stove; it is closer to the maximum size of which three will fit in the stove with some partially burnt wood from the previous load. (note: I am not really sure if 8x8 inches is too big for my stove, which is a small stove. I am only guessing and trying to make a point. I never measure my splits, and a look at my stacks would confirm this - the sizes are all over the place)

A cord is 128 cubic feet of tichtly stacked firewood. It is normally 8 ft x 4 ft x 4 ft but it could be any other dimensions that yield 128 cubic feet,

 

[CTYank]

Exactly. A mix of sizes is THE WAY to go. With the largest such that you can fit at least 2 in the firebox with a large bed of coals.

With smaller splits, you're not locked-in to having them burn up quickly. Load them in so as to limit the free area around them, and they'll burn more like larger splits- slower. Options are good.

 

[jensent]

An old friend in Northern Wisconsin kept a piece of 3in drain pipe attached to the side of his splitter. If the split fit in the pipe it was small enough,if not he split it again. That is the rule we follow. Smaller splits dry faster and keep the chimney cleaner. We clean our Lopi Endeaver each summer but the stove pipe only needs cleaning about every 5yrs. We have never gotten more than about a cup of residue from the chimney when cleaning. We check the chimney annually with a mirror. We split nearly everything by hand. Some pieces with knots will not split that small. Usually we just noodle those to about 4inx4in. Our home is heated by wood the tree services gladly dump in the yard free of charge.
Tom

 

[Woody Stover]

Welcome, NS!
Before suggesting a maximum split size, I'd like to know how dry your wood is. It sounds like you have just started acquiring wood that you're hoping to burn this Fall. If so, your first objective is to get your wood dry enough so that it will burn hot and get that stone mass up to temp as quickly as possible to allow the catalytic combustor to light off. If you're trying to dry your wood by this Fall, hopefully you can get some White Ash, Cherry or other fast-drying wood and split small to speed drying. Stack in single rows to maximize air circulation through the wood. In the future, when the wood will have plenty of time to dry, I'd split in a variety of sizes, as suggested in previous replies.

Dry wood is your first priority, especially with a stone combustor stove. Dry fuel will toss the heat you need to run the stove properly.

 

[raybonz]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new stove! Of course it never happened because I see no pics! As for wood split sizes a mix is good and smaller splits will dry faster but you don't to burn large loads of small splits as they tend to get to stove too hot.. Large splits are the way to go for overnight burns and most importantly make sure you have dry seasoned wood.. Stack it in the wind and sun if possible and you can leave it uncovered until the Fall and then just cover the top of the stacks.. Good luck with your new stove!

Ray

 

[neversummer]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Looks like I may need to go a bit smaller on some of my splits, thanks for the suggestions.

The wood I've acquired this year from taking down 2 oak trees and getting some maple from a tree service for free I don't intend to burn until next year at the very earliest.

I'll post pics as soon as I can get that 575 pound behemoth out of the crate and onto my hearth!

 

[smokinj]

Big learning curve on stacking. I hate it and always will...... :cheese:

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Hi everyone, picked up my Woodstock Fireview from the freight company and am beginning the process of splitting the wood that I have managed to acquire, but have a few questions.

- Split sizes: How big is too big? I see some of you splitting your wood fairly small, and others of you seem to leave it twice as big. I am going for the long, slow burn which heats the house while I am away at work (figure 8-9 hours of burn minimum). As such, I've been leaving my splits fairly "wide". I feel as if some of them could be split again, but then I think this would make them too small.... whats the solution? Is one big log more or less beneficial than 2 or 3 smaller?

- Stacking: I see threads where someone says they are getting a cord, then it amounts to more or less depending upon how you stack it. What is the "proper" stacking method, to be sure I am not getting had by a wood guy?

Thanks.

-NS

1) That is entirely up to you. For 25 years my dad used to have a huge Kodiak insert and wanted his firewood cut as long and fat as possible. He is now 71 and slowing down a little and just got a Jutul insert and now prefers wood cut much smaller. Point is there is no "right" size. You have to figure out what you and your stove can deal with and cut accordingly.

2) Stacking is another of those things you must learn. Untill you're proficient I'd limit the height to 4'-5'. Also, no one on this board has ever stacked a pile of wood one way to get 3/4 cord and another to get a full cord. It's just never happened. When people buy wood and get shorted it's because the seller didn't show up with a cord, not because their ultra-careful Tetris master stacking skills.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Hi everyone, picked up my Woodstock Fireview from the freight company and am beginning the process of splitting the wood that I have managed to acquire, but have a few questions.

- Split sizes: How big is too big? I see some of you splitting your wood fairly small, and others of you seem to leave it twice as big. I am going for the long, slow burn which heats the house while I am away at work (figure 8-9 hours of burn minimum). As such, I've been leaving my splits fairly "wide". I feel as if some of them could be split again, but then I think this would make them too small.... whats the solution? Is one big log more or less beneficial than 2 or 3 smaller?

- Stacking: I see threads where someone says they are getting a cord, then it amounts to more or less depending upon how you stack it. What is the "proper" stacking method, to be sure I am not getting had by a wood guy?

Thanks.

-NS

Welcome to the forum NS.

Congratulations on the purchase of one of the finest stoves on the market. Treat it right with good dry wood and you'll find it treats you right too. Feed it bad fuel though and like other stoves, it will not be so pretty as you'll be fighting the fire and also cleaning the chimney often and also the glass. Good wood will not blacken the glass.

So what about split sizes and stacking? Here are a couple pictures for your consideration:

My apologies for that sad looking feller in the second picture but included that picture because you will be able to tell better the size of the splits.

I have found that with the Fireview I do split most of the wood a tad smaller than what we did for our older stove. That is because of the size of the firebox. If you split the wood so that most are rectangles or squares then size is not quite as important but still important. Why put wood in for a long burn but not have it filled up because your splits are too large to fit one more in?

I like to use 2 or 3 larger splits or even better, a few rounds for building a long burning fire. We fit those in on the bottom rear of the firebox. At present, those are ash but would be oak if we had some. In the bottom front we like to put in one or two smaller splits of a faster and hotter burning wood and for that we use soft maple. This gets the fire going quickly while the larger stuff will hold the fire longer. After putting those in the front and rear, we then just fit in whatever we can; sort of like a jigsaw puzzle of fitting the most in for the space you have.

On the stacking, if you don't have time for the wood to dry, then I suggest you stack in single rows rather than what is in the pictures. Stack it so that the wood is off the ground. This allows some air under the wood to help with the drying. For sure, if you have fresh cut oak, I'd split that as small as possible if you have to use it this coming winter. Oak gives up its moisture very reluctantly and we do not burn it until it has been split and stacked for 3 years!

On the stacking, we usually stack it about 4 1/2' high and that will shrink down to 4' or less in height by fall. We don't worry too much about the height of the wood off the ground as 3-4" is enough for us. If you have wet ground then I'd get it 6" or more off the ground.

Again I will caution you on your fuel. Feed the stove good fuel, like you would use good fuel in your car, and it will serve you well. However, the number one mistake of new wood burners is that they do not have dry wood; even the people who buy supposed good dry wood from wood sellers. Wood simply needs time to dry and that drying does not start until the wood has been split.

You will find out soon with the Fireview if your wood is good or not. Black glass immediately tells you that your wood is not dry enough. Also, because this is your first year, we suggest you check your chimney at least once per month. If it is dirty, clean it. Once you get good wood and have learned the stove (that is quick to learn) then you won't have to be so diligent with the chimney. For example, we've had our Fireview for 4 full winters now and the chimney was cleaned one time and we got about a cup of soot from it and no creosote. Of course most of the wood we've burned has been from 5-7 years in the stack except for last winter which we burned all ash that was split and stacked in April of 2009 and that burned well but I still prefer it in the stack longer. This coming winter we'll be burning from that same stack that was done in 2009.

Good luck.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Looks like I may need to go a bit smaller on some of my splits, thanks for the suggestions.

The wood I've acquired this year from taking down 2 oak trees and getting some maple from a tree service for free I don't intend to burn until next year at the very earliest.

I'll post pics as soon as I can get that 575 pound behemoth out of the crate and onto my hearth!

We did not uncrate the stove until we had it right in front of the hearth. Then we tore the crate apart, removed the top lid, the firebox door and the firebrick before lifting it up onto our 16" raised hearth. For moving the stove we used a piano dolly and that made it easy to move. There were 3 of us to wrestle that stove and it was not as difficult as we figured it would be.

 

[Woody Stover]

Big learning curve on stacking. I hate it and always will...... :cheese:

Got a lot easier for me when I started looking at the bottom of the stack, not at the top, when stacking. I can still place the split using my peripheral vision, but looking at the bottom of the stack gives me a reference point, and the stacks are vertical when I'm done.

 

[Woody Stover]

My apologies for that sad looking feller in the second picture but included that picture because you will be able to tell better the size of the splits.

Next time, could you just put a milk crate on top of the splits? Thanks! ;-P

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Hey Woody, when that picture was taken I was really a tired out fella but had already put the crate away. lol

btw, you say you look at the bottom of the stack when stacking the wood. Do you also look at the bottom of a glass as you are filling it?

 

[Kenster]

As far as stacking..4'high x 8' long by 3 rows deep is a fullcord of wood..

Well, that depends on how long the splits are. For three rows to work out to cord, each of your splits is 16 inches long. That works out to 4ft by 4ft by 8ft. I try to cut at 20 inches so three rows would be 4 x 5 x8 = 160cubic feet, which would give me 1.25 cords.

 

[firefighterjake]

Hi everyone, picked up my Woodstock Fireview from the freight company and am beginning the process of splitting the wood that I have managed to acquire, but have a few questions.

- Split sizes: How big is too big? I see some of you splitting your wood fairly small, and others of you seem to leave it twice as big. I am going for the long, slow burn which heats the house while I am away at work (figure 8-9 hours of burn minimum). As such, I've been leaving my splits fairly "wide". I feel as if some of them could be split again, but then I think this would make them too small.... whats the solution? Is one big log more or less beneficial than 2 or 3 smaller? I like a good mix of sizes, but honestly with my own particular stove and burning habits have found that medium sized splits seem to work well for me -- igniting relatively easily, fitting in the stove well and having a decent burn time -- I've really not noticed a whole lot of difference from a few large splits vs. more medium sized splits. That said, I still split up some large splits since old habits die hard.

- Stacking: I see threads where someone says they are getting a cord, then it amounts to more or less depending upon how you stack it. What is the "proper" stacking method, to be sure I am not getting had by a wood guy? Cord = 128 square feet or 4 feet x 4 feet x 8 feet (or some other configuration that equals 128 square feet. The State of Maine has a great on-line calculator where you can enter the height and length of the stack and average length of the splits and it will tell you how much wood you have in the stack. Some folks stack with T-posts . . . I stack like Backwoods and cross stack on the ends with wood laid out perpendicular to each other in between -- I would guess this is how most folks do it.

Thanks.

-NS