I have a question......

[shawneyboy]

Since I am now c/s/s wood for 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons I have a question that I will turn into a poll to tally answers. I have scored some Oak and some Maple, not at all, or very min seasoned. My question is this... What is min cir. that I should split ? Note this will have at LEAST 2 full years of seasoning. So if I take it down to say 2 or 3 inch rounds, split them or just stack em ??? I have not been this far ahead before, and I want to minimize the effort without sacraficing the seasoning.

 

[Jags]

Anything that I can palm the end of is small enough. If I can't palm it, it gets split.

 

[soupy1957]

When "I" was splitting wood (something I don't do much of anymore), I only split wood that I knew I could..........sounds simplistic, I know, but by hand (no power splitter in MY life, "yet"), I couldn't afford to have it glance off and go amuck on me. 4" diameters were about my "small limit."

-Soupy1957

 

[thewoodlands]

shawneyboy I'll be four years ahead and I split everything then stack, when splitting the wood I always like some smaller and then some bigger splits. The oak you should split right away.


zap

 

[EatenByLimestone]

If I get to it in the beginning of the splitting session I'd probably split it. Toward the end it becomes an all nighter. Left in the round it doesn't dry as fast so it will probably stay a bit wetter. Not really an issue IMO since the water would make it burn a bit slower... hence all nigher.



Matt

 

[mayhem]

Anything that I can palm the end of is small enough. If I can't palm it, it gets split.

Bingo!

I've been sifting through alot of rounds this size lately, I find I'm splitting most of the 4" rounds in half and leaving most of the 3" rounds and stacking them that size.

 

[maplewood]

Anything that I can palm the end of is small enough. If I can't palm it, it gets split.

+1. Except for softwood - I'll go bigger for softwood, to have it burn a little slower.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Anything that I can palm the end of is small enough. If I can't palm it, it gets split.

x2

 

[adrpga498]

I won't split smaller then 4. I may leave a few 10 inch splits at ten for overnighters.

 

[wood spliter]

I split everything I can. I stack it all together and it works out that I put the small splits to start in the morning.

 

[Danno77]

I split everything I can...

I split all rounds when possible. I have splits from larger rounds that are wayyy larger than the small rounds that I split. so I end up with a nice mix of different sizes.

My basic rule is that if i can stand the round up on its own, then I split it.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

4 inches are good for an overnight burn. If you are far enough ahead why worry about splitting? When I was trying to get wood dry I would split smaller, now I have time on my side and my biggest problem is getting a burn through the night.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

For sure you have to first take into consideration what size your firebox is. Smaller fireboxes don't like large splits.

We like to have small, medium and large splits; mostly medium sized. I like to put at least one large round or split in the bottom rear of the stove for longer burns like overnight. The larger splits or rounds will burn slower and that is why they are ideal for night burning. During the day we usually burn the poorest wood we have on hand. That may be very good wood or it may be odd shaped pieces or even some wood that is a bit marginal. Night fires get the best wood.

 

[PapaDave]

Pretty much take all the above answers, roll 'em into one, and there you go.
Now that I'm where I want to be (being 3 yrs. ahead), I don't worry as much about splitting everything. I do, however, split some of the smaller stuff for starter wood.
Lots and lots of kindling laying around in the woods, so I grab a handful every time I take one of the dogs for a walk. That's pretty much at least 2x/day.
I have more time for that now, too. The plan is now FINALLY coming together. All I need is my new 30, and I can relax just that much more.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I split everything but don't bring home much anywhere near as small as you have in your poll.

 

[firefighterjake]

Anything that I can palm the end of is small enough. If I can't palm it, it gets split.

+1 . . . an idea I poached from my fellow woodburner and good friend Joe . . . now if only I could convince him to season his wood outside for a year before storing it in his basement.

 

[ramonbow]

In a perfect world i would split everything but it is just too much of a pain to split small stuff. It seasons a lot better but my production goes way down, its hard to hit a 2 inch round correctly to split it, and once you do split it you have two small pieces to pick up. Last fall I separated out the unsplit small rounds to a separate crate to give them an extra year of seasoning to compensate. This year I am farther ahead and try not to bring stuff home that i don't want to split unless the bark is off of it.