Oak, I've been listening but I did not hear.

[jatoxico]

You can seriously dry out splits by stacking them near the stove, butts facing stove.
Side benefit in winter is that the moisture driven out of the splits keeps the house from becoming dessicating.
Stacked a foot away, I've never seen them top 180 deg F. in 2-3 weeks. Drier = better.
Skids and a cheapie circ. saw can help a lot, too. (Having a saber-saw, that's preferable here, with demo blade.)

Hmm, being from dead standing they are a dirty mess but maybe I can contain the mess and get some drying action.

If your splits have fuzzy outer layer (like sapwood digested by fungi) I'd suggest keeping them a bit further from the stove. That fuzzy stuff can light off pretty quickly. (No, it's not happened to me outside the stove. Yet.) Being extra-careful about that, I'd keep fuzzy faces of splits facing away from the stove, move them farther away, or burn them first.

Lot of pc's like that. Stuff is like built in kindling.