Splits or Rounds

[Eater309]

A quick question/survey. Knowing that wood dries faster split, does it burn slower? I've been told wood will burn slower when burned in rounds. (not in my opinion) I myself only burn splits, what about others here on the forum? I see in photos here some have rounds some don't. Are un-split wood burners only doing so to save time? Thanks for reading....??

 

[David.Ervin]

It's more work than it's worth to split the small rounds. Besides, wood looses moisture from the ends more quickly than the sides.

 

[johneh]

I burn both in this case it's size that matters !

 

[CombatChris]

You mean like, a 4" round? Sure, why not? Just expect that it'll take longer to dry than a 4"x4" split.

 

[Eater309]

Thanks for the replies. We'll see what others are doing/thinking.
Dave E. Can't say that I agree with you on the concept that wood dries from the ends.
When you thing of the amount of square inch surface receiving wind and sunshine I think the split wood would dry faster.
Could make for an interesting experiment though.
Others please pipe in.

Thanks

 

[Poindexter]

I did not reply to the poll because I think I am outside the box. I split everything bigger than 3-4 inches in diameter at least once.

However, I do season and eventually burn rounds down to about 1 inch diameter. My experience is limited to birch and spruce. Of those, when talking about rounds 1-3 inches in diameter, both will dry more quickly when the bark is zipped open down the length of the round. A bunch of pictures in the thread "a lot of birch" from sometime this fall,

 

[saskwoodburner]

Still fairly new to wood burning, but I'll throw in small rounds (2-3 inch diameter) and once in awhile a 5 or 6 inch round at the back of the firebox. Mostly burn splits though.

 

[Rossco]

Biggest round I burnt recently was around 7-8" in diameter.

BUT!! It was split 1/4 the way down and from a long standing dead.

I only burn dead, dry, semi split rounds that size.

 

[WoodpileOCD]

If a round about the same size as a large split burns longer it's probably because of moisture content I'm guessing.

 

[CombatChris]

Not to mention that a circle is the most efficient shape when comparing surface area to perimeter. But that also means it takes longer to dry.

 

[BobUrban]

actually -all things being equal the round would likely burn longer as it is a physics thing. More surface area allows more heat and flame spread out. The round is a tighter package.

 

[Rossco]

Good friend of mine loves to burn rounds over night. The bark in certain species is the woods natural fire defence.

 

[Shane Collins]

Anything over 4 inches I split. 4 and under gets stacked and burned as is. I used to split pretty much everything but I've been finding the small splits to be only good in the shoulder season. When winter really kicks in they burn up too fast.

 

[Wood Duck]

Rounds burn a little slower than splits of similar size, in my experience. The split faces of a split seem to burn faster than round faces, especially with bark.

I split most everything so it will season faster. Sometimes I split 1 inch rounds, if they are straight.

 

[Seanm]

I didnt vote as its a mix for me. If a round is to big and will take up to much of my stove I would split it but the smaller stuff I leave in round form. I prefer how splits stack in the stove over rounds so that is my preference and is more important for me for an overnight burn. So im more likely to have my larch split over my lodgepole pine and my birch gets split especially if I forget to zip the bark!

 

[CenterTree]

It's more work than it's worth to split the small rounds. Besides, wood looses moisture from the ends more quickly than the sides.

I gotta disagrees with this as a whole. The end may give off an initially quick drying, but it is the "side" grains of a SPLIT piece that will allow a more thorough seasoning.


Besides, if you split a round, you actually still have "ends" also. Hence more evaporation of internal moisture.

 

[billb3]

I gotta disagrees with this as a whole. The end may give off an initially quick drying, but it is the "side" grains of a SPLIT piece that will allow a more thorough seasoning.


Besides, if you split a round, you actually still have "ends" also. Hence more evaporation of internal moisture.

Um, actually you are providing evidence to support his premise.
The premise does not exclude drying from the sides.

 

[David.Ervin]

The end may give off an initially quick drying, but it is the "side" grains of a SPLIT piece that will allow a more thorough seasoning

I know I've read this somewhere more than once - something about the way water flows up through the capillaries in the trees leads to greater moisture loss from the ends. Not at all saying it doesn't come out of the sides too - it obviously does - but there's a reason sawmills wax the ends of wide boards to prevent them from drying too quickly and splitting.

 

[Woody Stover]

I want splits so I can choose how fast the wood gasses in my cat stoves. If I have a big round in there, especially if it's dense wood, it won't gas fast enough. I don't even make big splits any more. With medium splits I can open the air and gas 'em, or close the air and slow 'em down.

 

[Jags]

I split my rounds, otherwise they are a bear to load into the stove.

 

[CenterTree]

A quick question/survey. Knowing that wood dries faster split, does it burn slower? I've been told wood will burn slower when burned in rounds. (not in my opinion) I myself only burn splits, what about others here on the forum? I see in photos here some have rounds some don't. Are un-split wood burners only doing so to save time? Thanks for reading....??

I guess there will be "opinions" of varying conclusions on this subject. So here is another opinion...


Take 2 closely sized pieces of wood, one say 6 inches round and another about 6 inches square or triangle or whatever shape. ( I just mean split on all sides)

Now let them sit for 8 months.

Then split both pieces open and take a moisture reading. I would bet the round still contains more moisture than the pre-split piece.
( of course the round will have more volume than a triangle due to it's nature, but I mean similar sized pieces)


If this wasn't the case then why is anyone, anywhere (other than to downsize the piece for stove fitment) splitting logs at all?
Including myself?

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I burn both. Smaller SEASONED rounds. And splits of varying sizes.
I would imagine there is a percent of people burning rounds just out of "convenience" (saving splitting time and labor).

 

[Applesister]

Im burning shagbark twigs right now and Im glad I didn't leave them out in the woods.