My firebox is roughly 14" deep....burnin a lot of uglies N&S n the burn is soooo much better. I dont know... i just dont do it...should do enough for at least the bottom than E&W for above that. Seems i cant bring myself to makin all the extra cuts n splits. Seems in my mind...i would never get anywhere stackin them. I made 2 large bins out of skids..so maybe i could use them to just chuck them in. Anybody intentially cut some to lengths 11-12 inches....danka
I had some with the old stove, even longer than your's. Made a lot of extra work when we got the new stove.
No But I'll save some short ones for E/W burns on warmer days like 35*+. Makes for a long low fire when the house doesn't need mega heat.
Anybody intentially cut some to lengths 11-12 inches....danka Not on purpose, but sometimes I ferget to mark the log before I buck, and I get rounds too short, too long, some just right. I use the short splits to shore up spaces in the stacks until it's their turn to warm the house.
After my SisIL got her stove installed (ESW 13NC), I cut a bit for her to that length. I'll be doing some more as well in the spring. An extra couple cuts in an 8' log turns into a fair amount more work when there's a bunch of logs to do. Then there's the extra splitting and handling. No real idea how shorter stuff stacks, but I'd imagine it's a bit less stable.
Hey bear 1998 I never intentionally cut logs to 12 inches, but I often find them already cut that way and I also come across odd lengths that are either just over 24 inches which is too long for my stove or I have a 38 inch log I want to divide evenly. When I split the shorts I have a particular shelter I season them in that fits 3 rows. As papadave just alluded to when mixing them in with the other wood it makes for instability so I try to keep things uniform. The other time I split shorts is when I know its elm, Sycamore, or crotch wood since they are stubborn. Now my Insert burns best North to South which took me 2 years burning to figure this out. I was trying to keep logs at max length at first to save cutting time. I would even throw 23 inch pieces diagonally just to cram them in. Then I found I couldn't get the draft under the wood E to W or fit as much in with a mess of diagonals and started to cut to a max length of 18 inches if I can help it. I get so much more out of my stove now loading in proper orientation and can fit many more lbs of btu's in the chamber. My stove still loves the shorts and I also have a chiminea in an outdoor room in the back that takes only shortsthe chiminea in a room I first built as an open pergola many years ago, but then enclosed it in old discarded windows a recent score with usual odd lengths that I will need to cut in half to approx 12" My short stack shelter
Hey guys Im still learning here and I think I unintentionally deleted the photos that went with my descriptions so here they are again the chiminea in a room I first built as an open pergola many years ago, but then enclosed it in old discarded windows a recent score with usual odd lengths that I will need to cut in half to approx 12" My short stack shelter
No because anything that long would never fit in my stove! I cut ALL my wood to about 8 inches. No joke. I heat my house with a 1893 Woods and Bishop Pot bellied stove and the door opening pretty small. A person can put a stick of wood in from the top, but that stops the draft and lets smoke billow into the house, so most wood goes through the front door; a tiny of a thing. This stove actually burns coal better than wood, but in the shoulder seasons such as Fall and Spring, I have been known to burn wood. I always keep cords of it on hand just because this is Maine, and it is always best to have a few types of heating in case something goes wrong with another type of fuel.
I've often come across short rounds like that or ended up with a bunch from cutting logs at 24". Got tired of screwing with them & gave them away as campfire wood. Just too much time. However if your stove likes them better, it might be worth the time.
I don't intentionally buck that short anymore. Before my AS I had a VC fireplace, and max log length was 14". I sold that after the first winter in the house, but next winter I am going to have a crap ton of short red oak splits to burn.
Same stove as you SIL.............I've often thought of doing this, but never have because of stack stability. The 13 does burn way longer NS when I'm burning chunks, uglies, and cookies for sure...................because I can pack more wood in her and not worry about the load moving and hitting the glass. 10" would be the perfect length for NS burning in the 13.
What im thinkin i might do is cut n split enough to fill my 2 bins n use them for the bottom...then load E&W.
That is a lovely picture LodgedTree that if black and white could easily fool me as being from the 1930's- 40s. Anyway that is an act of love and commitment to cut everything 8" for that stove preserving its usefulness into the 21st century.
I've cut some really short rounds- 6-8 inches when I had some elm that was too much work to hand split at 16". I assembled a 5ft by 10ft bin out of goat panels and threw them in. It isn't ideal from an airflow standpoint, but it is alright and certainly keeps them contained. At that length, the splits dry fairly easily, so I figure whatever I lose from piling them instead of stacking, I gain in the short length. Thrown on a bed of coals, it burns OK. It isn't the greatest firewood I've used but it does extend the supply of the better stuff.
I only do it it when I get a scrounge that was cut to 20~" so I will sometimes just cut them in half so I don't get too many chunky's. I prefer to cut mine to 16" but the firebox will take a max of 18"
That's a good idea bear and I have done that myself to get air flow underneath. It is a good solution, but nothing beats all logs in the right orientation
Scrounges where they cut ALL the rounds to 12" drives me crazy! I'll just skip right over them now to try and keep my stacks all uniform
That photo made it into the Firewood Hoarders Club calendar for 2018. Our favorite era is the 1930's, so our home was set up to look like that era. Our kitchen stove is a 1917 Crawford, but it is gas and not wood or coal. But as a semi-hobby, Katie and I like to do photo shoots, and by setting our camera up on a tripod, and using the self-timer, we can get some old looking photos like this one, taken at an old railroad station near our home. It looks easy, but Katie had to get up at 3 AM in order to have time to do her hair and makeup in 1940's style, and capture the early morning light.
