Stove Tetris

Had a pretty good load last night

 

We were doing the same several years ago, any cutoffs, knots...were thrown in barrels...
This is some 3+ yr old oak and a few pieces of 2 yr hedge
I like the short pieces to stuff the stove full at night, we are purposefully cutting 11" chunks, especially when logs are crooked or knotty...
This is a 1/3 cord tote of hickory we finished yesterday

 

I now give my elderly neighbors all my shorties. I split them small as they want.
They are happy (pile them in a tent - educating about dry wood is not successful...) and I am happy to get rid of them. It's about a cord per year that I got them so far. Maybe less in the future because log deliveries (rather than rounds) from tree services makes for less shorties.

 

We were doing the same several years ago, any cutoffs, knots...were thrown in barrels...this is some 3+ yr old oak scraps View attachment 441239
I like having stove stuffers for overnight burns, so now we cut some 11" on purpose. Just finished a 1/3 cord totes of hickory, some is a bit shorter
View attachment 441240
I think we have 8 totes drying now, usually crooked or knotty logs are used

 

I pack better with regular even length splits

 

Our stove takes 18" splits E/W, but we can get a better overnight load with 11"
chunks N/S

 

One thing I checked and love about Woodstock IS is it can do 16” front to back.. and 22” left to right

 

My Lopi is 18" square So I can load either way but I always load N S anyway, I tried E W before

 

N S is better for to.. I wonder why?
Ours is higher in front than back like most modern stoves so to stuff can generally fill front to back and then last longer split on top in front..

we generally have some oops longer splits in our stacks

 

That's a nice load...

 

Loaded the stove last night about 10:30 with 1 4-5" oak rounds in the back, then used old chunks like this...some solid, some spalted, punky...
Had this bed of coals at 6:30....
Reload with 3" hickory round in back and more chunks in front

 

Red and white oak and locust.

 

Sweet