Let’s say hypothetically you could have only one size split for your woodstoves. What would it be? No need to confine yourself to my choices. I wasn’t going to type in every possible number Or to be more clear. I’m designing a box wedge. What size splits would you be aiming for? Right now I’m at 4x6 myself but open to suggestions. My original thought was 3x6. One of my concerns is to keep a decent width. Less power required to split.
Ha....good morning jo191145, It looks like a machine like that will produce a variety of sizes inherently. So then its about how big will your stove accept, do you (and the wife/kids/you when you are older) want to lug pieces that size? Seasoning time for larger pieces is longer (learned that this year!)..... Best, Sca
Good morning Sir. Yeah a box wedge does produce many different sizes converting round to square hahaha. That being said the box wedge is great on big rounds so you begin to get uniform pieces quickly and I like big rounds. One of the reasons I first chose 3x6 was for faster dry time too. I’m already old in body. Carry all my wood from the basement up the stairs everyday. It’s not fun but it’s worth it to me. Another consideration is if I sell some wood. People generally like big stuff because that’s what they’re used to and their stoves may want that. That also brings in the drying time question again tho.
It really does depend a lot on the firebox as to which is better. One problem with squares all the same size is that you could pack the wood too tight to get the right burn because no matter what, fire still needs air. So I would expect odd sizes would tend to work best. btw, I do like squares and, better yet is rectangles. The reason is that when I want long burn times, they can work better even than rounds in that they burn slower. So for winter nights when the stove gets a full shot, I like to place 2 or 3 rectangles (or squares) in the rear of the firebox. This means we'll still have a warm house in the morning (and mornings are the coldest times!) and just adding some more wood we have a happy warm house even when the temperature is well below zero.
When splitting im so used to making the same size split that when i size them for wood bundles i try to go smaller and catch my self making them "normal" size after just a few swings. Old habits die hard. I think of my customers being able to handle them as well. Most are casual burners. I get the occasional noodled ugly thats bigger.
I really like a variety of shapes and sizes, although I do shoot for as many squares/rectangles as I can make. Generally I keep my splits on the small to medium size for drying time, but I do like large squares for end cribbing and eventually as overnight pieces. When I think of building a fire, it’s exactly that. Having an assortment of shapes and sizes to build with makes it easier for both stacking in the piles and arranging them in the stove.
OWB guy here. You're sizes are more like kindling to this pig.I split as big as I can lift, but do like squares or rectangles. Same principle applies to a tightly stacked load on a cold night. Takes longer to dry, but I've got time or if I don't, I won't care anyway.
I’m in the same situation as you, and planning a box wedge splitter. I like 4x4 pieces, but also wanted some larger ones for longer burns. The I-beam I have is 12” wide, so with the spread on the vertical wedges, I can only have 10” between the outside cutters. That leaves me with the 4x5 split
If say perfect size would be 4x4. You'll always get all sorts of sizes regardless, even with a box wedge
Probably 4x6, or maybe even 4x7, but I wouldn't want that size for a cold start so I'd need a hatchet or some means of splitting some a bit smaller, at least for in the morning. If we had larger stoves maybe even bigger than that. But with a splitter splitting round stock you'll have plenty of pieces that didn't fill the box so I'd still go for the bigger sizes for a good mix . When I used to split by hand/maul, I'd start the session splitting smaller, say 3x5, but as time wore on and my energy waned, my split sizes grew. Sometimes by quite a bit. But at the end of the day, the variance in sizes was an advantage. You'll still get a range of sizes with a splitter but the potential biggest size is a good target to keep in mind. Especially if you are not necessarily splitting for your own use. You're not going to 'potentially' get splits of a uniform size splitting round logs so I don't quite see the benefit the constriction to a hypothetical "only size". It's not going to happen. And you really don't want it to. I've burned lumber in precise dimensional sizes. I'd rather have non-lumber precision for burning. At least in smaller stoves. Stuffing monster stoves is probably a different matter.
Not sure I follow you. Width of the beam shouldn’t have much to do with width of the wedge. Add a bottom plate. I have a 6” beam. Once the wood contacts the box the beam becomes irrelevant.
All true. There will be all sorts of sizes coming off the bottom top and sides. Unless I develop square trees
I've found that i like squares and rectangle best also. Of course, since logs are round you get plenty of triangles and various other sizes and shapes. I've decided that there is no "one right size." Anything that's dry and fits in the stove and makes heat is the right size and shape. (My IS (hybrid) will burn anything from kindling to 8" rounds without complaining.)
For me it’s not about dry time or burn rate control but I need to fit two rows in the firebox so I end up with about 5” squares. It stinks to not be able to fill the stove for maximum burn time. Dry wood starts easily with some kindling and the propane torch.
I decided to scroll through the comments here to just keep it simple. I don't mind my split size being large but found that it is fun to keep the splits large as long as they get dried out well. That would depend on the kind of wood too. Having squarewood is a cool thing for stacking and whatnot in a square wood stove but might not work as well in an insert where it's a quadrilateral. Unless putting them in East West is best for your stove.
Since getting on Dennis's 3 year plus plan I like the big ones and don't have much trouble getting them going. But like most, I cheat as I always end up with every size out there.
The size I split depends on species, weight and drying time. Cherry, Red Maple, Ash, Poplar, Sourwood.... will be big splits, because they are lighter and dry relatively quick. For Oak and Hickory the splits will be smaller to make them lighter to handle and expedite drying.
