Size of Spilts.

I have been using 1 year old splits that are small diameter wise.
Several reasons for smaller splits.
1) I love running the splitter.
2) Smaller splits take less time to cure.
I am now splitting for 2019 season and have been splitting larger diameter. With this year's wood, it appears that the larger ones burn longer and put out more heat over the long run.
Am I doing myself an injustice by splitting smaller?
My small stove's fire box is only 17" x 12".

 

I’m still learning but typically smaller splits of the same wood species will put out more heat in less time it’s about surface area I believe. So for quick short, but hot fires, small is great. When your looking for long burns, I use whole or half logs. I have some locust Splits that are about 8” and they put out heat for 8+ Hours


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Yep I have some small and large splits for the same reasons that Stromsburg has posted. It just depends on my needs at the time as to what I use.

 

I guess my take on it is it comes down to btus. My thinking is there is a finite amount of btus in a stack of wood. In this conversation it seems like you're talking about burn management. Bigger splits do burn longer but less intense maintaining the heat in the steel of your stove. Smaller splits burn faster more intensely which will put more heat in the steel of your stove. Why not have a mix?

 

The size of my splits depends on when I split them. Early in the day my splits are pretty small to average, as the day goes on the splits get bigger and bigger... Just depends on my energy level. Good thing it works out pretty good as far as faster burn or slower longer burn.

 

I split quite a few small splits so when I fill the box for the long burns I always find those small gaps for the small splits and they come in handy

 

I have always been unsure as to if it really matters how small the splits are. Common sense tells me that if I put a pile of sticks on a fire, it will burn up very fast and hot. Whereas is I was to pit a few full logs in, it will burn cooler and slow -----but this is burning outside in a fire pit.

In an airtight wood stove, I can't decide if it matters. Because technically, if you have a bunch if small splits in there, you should be able to choke the air all the way back and get just as much time as if you had some half round logs loaded that would require more air to keep burning. This is all with true seasoned wood.

I need to experiment more.

 

I split all different sizes, and heres why...

Yes I think larger logs burn longer... However larger logs leave larger gaps in the stove. The more wood you can get in thr stove, the more fuel you have to combust. I have a very large fire box, and I load E/W. By varying the size I can minimize the vacant space and get that much longer burn times and more coals.

Essentially Im playing testris in my firebox, the more solid I make the fuel, the better performance you will get.

The above was obviously based on hot reloads and not cold starts.

 

Exactly right- it is about the BTU's, and the BTU's come directly from weight. Given wood that has the same water content, wood of the same weight will produce almost identical heat. So 100 lbs. of balsa and 100 lbs. of oak will put out equal heat but the Earth has never seen a stove that can take 100 lbs. of balsa because of huge volume. And that, along with coaling, is the real advantage of hard woods- they are more dense so one stove- load is more weight, which makes more heat.

The large the split, the more weight in a given volume will hold provided there are no big gaps. This is because there is always airspace between splits, so smaller splits filling any given size firebox will always weigh less than large splits, properly arranged and fitted, in the same firebox.

So I try to burn the biggest splits that I can reasonably expect to get into the stove. And of course a mix is needed because all 8" wide / tall splits are going to fill the firebox with just a few and leave a lot of air gaps around and in- between them. So a mix of split sizes is really ideal. Also, it takes a lot of heat to get large splits going well; starting a cold stove or one with very little coals with gigantic splits will take forever at best and simply not catch at worst. So a mix of smaller splits (down to 2" or 3") mixed in with as many large splits as you can get into any stove will always yield the most heat.

It ain't rocket science but there are chemistry rules that apply.

Unfortunately, when we get a new splitter, somehow the splits seem to get smaller for a while what with the new toy and all.

Brian

 

The bigger the split, the longer it'll last. I think that's kinda a goal around here....to use less wood, less work, longer heat, etc. With that in mind, you have to decide if you want to babysit the stove more frequently or not.

The smaller the split, the easier it is to start the fire. And, as you mentioned, the quicker it takes to dry.

When you are splitting, it sure is easy to keep whittling down those chunks until you look and see that maybe you could've left them a little larger, no?

Now that you're getting ahead a bit, go ahead and leave them a little larger. I think you'll agree with the time proven motto

"Bigger is Better!"

 

I have a pot bellied stove so I split quite small...maybe 6 inches long by 5 inches maximum because I have a small door to fit into.

When I had a bigger stove and my father would help me split wood, he claimed he liked to split wood, but always made them huge, every other stick being an "overnighter". At one point I was like "You know your daughter-in-law is pregnant and will have to handle this stuff"? Myself I split smaller.

 

Mix it up! Smaller splits are fine for me when I'm home to keep an eye on the stove and reload when necessary but the bigger ones go on before bed or work to keep things going as long as possible.

 

I have a catalytic stove, with a 2 cubic foot fire box, and had problems, in the first two seasons keeping the catalyst temperatures in the normal range. I increased the size of the splits in the 3 season and found it much essier to control the stove and got much longer burns.

Thursday evening at 7p.m. I put 6 splits of 5 year c.s.s. white oak in. The overnight temps hit 16°. At 7a.m. the next morning the house was 76° and I didn't add wood to the stove until 1:30 p.m.

Now that I'm burning at this rate I'll have to leave 10 cord of wood in my will for my FHC family!

I think you have to experiment with your stove and your conditions to find the right split size. There a lot of variables in wood burning. Two exact stoves installed in different homes will most likely burn differently.

 

Wouldn’t this have a lot to do with how much you have in your stacks as a whole? That’s just depending on also what the wood is too. If you have a quick drying wood, the splits stay larger and best left for the need for longer burns as when the entire log may fill the stove. (Hey that can be fun!) i figure if anyone hoards enough they will find wood for everything from the starter to kindling to stove filling splits.

 

I've found that some of the splits I've gotten from the firewood guy have been huge compared to how I would split them. Fairly large stove, but if only one/two split fits, it'll probably just smolder all night, which causes other problems.
The way I used to split is not how I split now. Medium works well for me. Takes longer to handle smaller/more splits, but my hands don't hurt quite as bad when they're smaller (arthritis).
If I find it tough to pick it up with one hand, it usually gets split down. I'm sure this will change as I get even older. I can see myself loading toothpicks into the stove and wondering why I'm not getting overnight burns. Would be easy to light though.

 

These splits aren’t huge but there’s about 4 of them, 2 more behind the new ones in. This is the most I have filled my stove to date. As you can see as it is best for east west with what Alder Im using now. I have lots of splits that are much smaller in length and can try a N-S tonight. To mention that this may likely be the best load to date as this fire may last for longer than I expect it to. Well I can keep track and let it be known which way also works best along with split sizes. Im intrigued now since temps are cold enough for this experiment. I do have a few of what I call “grandfather splits” of alder. They are just half rounds but at least 10 inches wide. Two will fill my stove well and I’m leaving those for the holiday break.

 

I tend to change the size based on weight at time of splitting. If a round is lighter (drier) it stays bigger, heavier (wetter) I split smaller. It gives the stack an assortment which you can use for your "secret recipe" for the heat needed at the time.

 

How small are you splitting your wood? You can always split bigger wood smaller later on, but you can't go the other way. A variety of shapes and sizes is the way to go in my opinion.