Papa question

[Enplater]

The papa/ mama stoves can take like 3 foot logs or something. Do you need something that long for the stove to function good and burn all night or do people just stuff it with normal 16” splits?
Always kinda wondered that, and maybe that’s why those stoves are supposed to be more efficient then a fireplace series.
I have an englander 30 and a grandma bear(not in use) but both use 16” splits and are basically square boxes so that’s what I’m used of.

 

[CamFan]

My normal size would be 18-24”. I’ve never had problems with them burning all night. It’s more the air control going in


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[Todd67]

The Papa takes up to a 30" log, the Mama takes up to a 24" log. I usually burn 20" or shorter logs in my Mama because 24" logs seem to slightly restrict the airflow in through the draft caps. I might put 2 or 3 24" logs on the bottom and shorter logs on top of those. But it works best if you have a good base of red coals under the front of the bottom logs.

 

[coaly]

Grandma should use 18 to 20 inch logs across. (East / West)
One of the advantages of Mama and Papa is they are longer, narrow fireboxes that fit the size of logs better than more square stoves. The Fireplace Series is designed for fire viewing with logs across as in a fireplace. Loading a glass door stove North / South can be disastrous if a log length is a couple inches longer than expected and you close the door on a piece too long!

I've always cut 18 to 24 for all the stoves I've had.
First, when cutting to length, it is much quicker cutting 24 inch lengths and saves chain wear. A 40 foot tall tree is 480 inches. That would be approx. 30 cuts at 16 inches. 24 inch lengths requires 20 cuts. It is much faster loading 20 pieces on a truck or trailer, then splitting and stacking 20, than so many more pieces. Next, the longer you cut, the more stable the pile becomes. You can stack higher requiring less area for wood.

I measure back from bar tip and put marks on saw with magic marker at 18 and 24 so I know minimum and maximum.
The base of the tree where each length is much heavier to get into truck and on splitter, I go the minimum. Unfortunately that is where there are more minerals in the wood that dulls a chain faster, so take that into consideration making them as long as possible near the base.

 

[Enplater]

How much longer would a 24” split take to dry than a 16” split?

 

[CamFan]

If they are split the same size just longer I wouldn’t think 24” would take any longer to dry. I have no data to prove this But I cut long wood 30” and 24. They dry the same as far as I can tell. But I’ll start cutting now for next year. Well when this dang rain stops.


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[Todd67]

I also haven't noticed the shorter splits drying faster than the longer splits.

 

[coaly]

Wood looses moisture slowly from the ends, to about 6 inches from a cut end. It is the surface area of the split that releases more moisture.So the more surface area (longer lengths) the faster it dries, however you then have more wood with more water, so it takes longer while drying more wood. So it's not going to make much difference.

You should be more concerned about the size of each split, since depth from split face is what takes time. Smaller splits burn cleaner since water turns to vapor at 212* f, and smaller pieces enter the next step in combustion with water vapor gone. Larger pieces will vaporize water on the exterior and enter the next step in combustion allowing water vapor from the cooler inside to continue to exit. This is the water vapor that mixes with gasses on the surface, creating greenhouse gasses and creosote. The Wood Burners Encyclopedia gets into the chemistry explaining why water vapor is so bad during combustion.