It makes total sense to me that stack rounds take up more space the splits. There's more air space created when circles are placed next to each other. Triangles, squares, and rectangles tend to fit quite nicely together.
Yield in split firewood from a stack of rounds?
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bogydave
Minister of Fire
Again the magical dilemma is debated. "More or less volume from rounds to splits???"
Mine grow but maybe it's how I stack the rounds, I don't have huge amounts of air space, but I mix sizes it the stack so less voids. &
how I stack the splits. My rounds vary from 4" to 18" diameter.
Plus few (if any) of mine are straight grained so when spit & stacked it grows in area.
Split everything or at least crack the 4 & 5 incher's to help the birch dry well. I don't have many (if any) "perfect" triangles to stack,
(& squares to stack?? what is that? You must have big straight grained rounds, sweet.), & many/most of mine have big splinters hanging on &/or knots sticking out.
but I want good air circulation thru the rows anyway.
I'd love to have some good big straight grained logs to split & stack to see if the less room theory works for me.
Stacking splits, I think air space is good.
If left outside to season, I stack it all bark up to help it shed water, when in the wood shed bark down to dry better (if than even works).
Either way I have the same amount of wood I hauled home, it just dries better/faster when spit. My splits take up more room than the rounds.
As long as I stack the same way, I get a reasonably good idea of my wood usage. It just may not compare well with others.
If I stacked better, maybe i could say I use 4-1/2 cords per season, Last year I used 5-1/2 cords stacked my way.
but I'm still gonna have 6 cords ready to go (stacked my way, which is "in no way perfect", just my way).
Mine grow but maybe it's how I stack the rounds, I don't have huge amounts of air space, but I mix sizes it the stack so less voids. &
how I stack the splits. My rounds vary from 4" to 18" diameter.
Plus few (if any) of mine are straight grained so when spit & stacked it grows in area.
Split everything or at least crack the 4 & 5 incher's to help the birch dry well. I don't have many (if any) "perfect" triangles to stack,
(& squares to stack?? what is that? You must have big straight grained rounds, sweet.), & many/most of mine have big splinters hanging on &/or knots sticking out.
but I want good air circulation thru the rows anyway.
I'd love to have some good big straight grained logs to split & stack to see if the less room theory works for me.
Stacking splits, I think air space is good.
If left outside to season, I stack it all bark up to help it shed water, when in the wood shed bark down to dry better (if than even works).
Either way I have the same amount of wood I hauled home, it just dries better/faster when spit. My splits take up more room than the rounds.
As long as I stack the same way, I get a reasonably good idea of my wood usage. It just may not compare well with others.
If I stacked better, maybe i could say I use 4-1/2 cords per season, Last year I used 5-1/2 cords stacked my way.
but I'm still gonna have 6 cords ready to go (stacked my way, which is "in no way perfect", just my way).
fireview2788
Minister of Fire
A few weeks ago I posted about getting a load of silver maple. Someone, I can't remember who, said I had 2/3 cord of rounds. I split it last Saturday and ended up with........2/3 of c/s/s.
f v
f v
Well, not perfect squares, but pretty close. Granted, I've recently been splitting mostly ash. Anything over 14 inches, I split at least two of the edges off, then split the middle in half. This leaves two roughly 5X5 to 7X7 inch "squares" off each round. These do stack pretty darn nice. :cheese:
I'm sure it depends on the wood, stacking habits, and size of the rounds. As the rounds get smaller, I bet stacked size gets closer to splits.
Maybe we should buy wood like corn! 3 factors weight,type of wood and moisture content. Pull out a chart and calculator and voila! :lol: If you guys need you can borrow my wifes bathroom scales,0-400 in under 2 seconds 
Gary
Gary
If the rounds are neatly stacked there is very little space between them. Alternating stacked layers of perfect cylinders take up about 85% of the space they occupy. No way that will be less when it is split and stacked since, since even the best stack job only yields about 90 cu.ft. of solid wood per cord.
Of course, logs are a different story since any twists or bends will stop the logs from nesting properly.
Of course, logs are a different story since any twists or bends will stop the logs from nesting properly.
And, as soon as you try to stack even "perfect" cylinders of varying sizes, that percentage drops dramatically. Add to that, logs are not usually anywhere close to cylinders, and I stick by them taking more space than spilts, especially when talking about large rounds.
Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
I don't agree with many of the theories given. All I know is that I have measured the rounds which I stack up all winter, then I split and stack the split wood. Seems I always end up pretty much what I had measured before the splitting began. And yes, by fall, I end up with a lot less because of shrinkage as the wood dries.
SolarAndWood
Minister of Fire
Battenkiller said:
Yep, and 6 16" 4' diameter rounds are over 100 cu ft of solid wood every time even without filling any of the air space in the corners.
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