I see most of the forum pics of members stacks and see mostly splits but sometimes I see rounds. What's your preference and why? For me its splits but I will do unload a cord into my basement at a time. If that cord has rounds I save them for overnight burns. How do you do it? All splits? All Rounds? A mix? Discuss!!!!!!
All comes down to size. If I have a branch, say the thickness of your upper arm, then I won't split it. If any larger, then I probably will.
Splits, because rounds do not dry well at all. For sure it is best to get the rounds splits ASAP then stacked. We do save some rounds but only the small ones, like maybe up to 5" or so.
I like having a mix of different shapes and sizes. I'll leave some in the round up to about 5 or 6 inches but bigger than that need to be split. Anything 2-4" doesn't need split unless for kindling.
If it was possible to get every stick of wood in my stove (no matter what it was for a stove), I would not split any. The sheer amount of time spent working the wood up is just not worth the extra effort in my opinion: both burn. Since that is nearly impossible however, I have to split, but only a small percentage of the wood cut. :-(
I'm with Dennis. I also like splits as I can stack them in the firebox without them rolling towards the door. I load east/west. If I had a north/south loader, I would use more rounds of smaller diameter.
I like rounds up to 20 inches. that way I can throw them right into the owb. anything bigger, I have to noodle or split.
My stove, Woodstock IS, runs much better with dry wood. So anything over 4 inches is split! Birch smaller, if to small to split, burn pit, as it rots before dries.
Splits... Draw a rectangle and try and fill it with circles.. Draw a duplicated rectangle and now fill it with triangles... More mass, more heat.
Rounds, they mean those btu's didn't need to stop off at the splitter! I start splitting at around 6-7".
for the most part, if it'll fit in the furnace door i don't split it unless it's green oak or hickory. I also bring in a chord at a time and try to bring in 1\4 of it in rounds.
Just started a rack of unsplit rounds, mostly maple branches 2-4", but a few probably up to 5" or so. They've been there a year now, and even the smaller ones sizzle and steam in my insert. I only throw a few in here and there. Hopefully next year they're more dry, but my experience is splitting makes a HUGE difference. Even some of the gnarly ones that I only got cracked open are drier than the smaller branch pieces. We'll see what 3 years does with the unsplit ones, but I don't have the inventory yet to get that far out.
I split almost everything. If it’s not split it won’t dry in my opinion. I have one exception. Standing dead red elm and standing dead ash. The tops of these I will leave in rounds up to about 6in. Let them dry a year and they are great overnighters.
Red oak branches seem to hold the bark for longer than trunks that were split. I'll keep them down to 3 or 4 inches because, hey, red oak and that size seem to dry fine, but above say 5 or 6 inches if not split ( knots, too crooked ) sometimes seem a bit heavy and take a while to light . So technically, from observations only, I'd say oak bark is an impediment to seasoning. But not so much of an impediment that I'd take the effort to try to chop the bark off. The bark burns, supposedly with the same BTU as the wood. Same token, I don't save bark to burn it. From burning slabs I believe the amount of ash from the bark isn't worth trying to burn it specifically nor does it necessarily support removing it. Personally I think exposing heart wood is the trick to getting oak to dry well. and the bark really doesn't have that much to do with it. I've harvested several dozen cords of dead standing red oak that was under 20% as it was cut and split (except for the bottom 6 to 10 feet of trunk). I know a lot of people will not keep any round wood at all. If they can't split it they don't keep it . Branches they won't waste their time cutting. If I had a big chipper I'd probably do the same. To me, it all burns. Eastern white pine however, the bark on small diameter rounds is so thin it doesn't exist for all intents and purposes and large rounds just take a long time to dry, bark or no bark. Cut and split and not left lying around usually keeps the bark beetle grubs out, too. If I was saving log lengths of pine for milling and I couldn't mill them green I'd strip the bark off. There's probably still beetles that would get into them just sitting there .
Rounds tend to rot, which I assume happens because they don't dry out well. As a result splits last a long time in a stack but rounds don't last nearly as long. I split everything.
