What was I thinking almost 2 years ago? I split my wood like I own a blaze king or something I remember thinking, the bigger the better when I was splitting. I even remember the wife asking me why I was splitting everything so big. And I remember telling her that the wood will last longer. Well, I've been finding that I only need half of the huge stuff (around 8") for an overnight, so I have been re-splitting everything by hand as I bring it into the wood box in the house. Next year's supply is perfect. I guess I was a dumbazz awhile back. Just thought I'd share.....
did the exact same thing myself, Dennis helped with his thoughts on splitting too big. I find with smaller splits i can get somre in the stove and easier to handle.
We have chit load of Cherry every year so I always split it bigger, the chit this year is bigger, it's still burning good. I do have more splits in this first bunch of Cherry that are 18-20 inches long instead of 14.75, the wife ask me if I was drinking in the woods when I cut this chit!
Only water, not sure why I was so far off but burning east/west is ok for some of the loads. The Snow Squalls have started.
wow, Dennis really gets around, he gave me the heads up on wood size years ago too. I took the large size one step further and tried to save good sized rounds for the overnights. Big mistake, created so much more work than needed. Instead I just sperated the larger pieces and stacked them together for the night burns, worked better. Dennis has a huge influence...
I have to remind myself sometimes that what Dennis espouses isn't a known to many folks who show up here. Although we've heard it what seems a million times, it's a first for them, and usually quite a surprise. I truly admire his tenacity and patience with the new folks, year after year, after year. Big splits can have their place, but I find as I get slightly old-er , I don't like too many of 'em. Hard to handle several times throughout the process.
I used to take the 5th, but we've gone metric. I, too, split my wood large. As long as it will fit in the door, it's small enough. I occasionally wish I had more smaller splits, but not that often. I also leave the rounds unsplit if they will fit in the door. I can't pack the stove as full, but I still get those long overnight burns.
I like the big ones. Cranking out 18 hour burns with 8" locust and hedge "splits". Fans on high...running the b@lls off of the stove.
