Firewood Length

[Amber Gold]

What size wood should I cut for my 2.5x8 Grimm. It has 30" grates.

After realizing how much would I'd be burning between my house and evaporator I'm giving a wood splitter some serious thought. I've found they are surprisingly expensive even when used and that 24" splitters are pretty common. Would 24" logs be long enough for the firebox or would 30" be better? Does a 25 ton splitter have enough power to split most anything?

Thanks

[Fred Henderson]

Usually the width of the frie box it the lenght of the wood to be burn. Also 2.5 is the dia of wood to be burned. 24 " wood may work a litle better being it will be some what easier to put in. You will always have the opition of pushing some of it forward when firing.

[hardermaple]

Josh, i just read in "The Maple Sugar Book" by Helen and Scott Nearing that it's better to go with a length of wood that is smaller than your fire box. They were burning 4 foot length and then burned 1/2 4ft length and 1/2 3ft length. I would go with 24inch in yours for the same reasons as The Nearings went to 3 foot lengths "1)the shorter wood can be crossed more easily in the firebox, keeping the mass of burning fuel more open to the draft, 2) once in the firebox, the 24inch wood can be poked and shifted about more easily, 3) the bulk of the flames are kept nearer the firing door and thus travel farther under the evaporator before reaching the stack, and 4) the mass of charcoal that piles up at the back of the firebox on a long boiling day, clogging the draft and raising the new wood up to the bottom of the front pan is far less with 24inch wood than with the longer wood." That was all from the book, and makes sense to me. have fun.

[Jim Brown]

The saying from the "OLD GUYS" is never cut your wood longer than you fire box is wide.

Our two cents
Jim

[Amber Gold]

HM, I read that book last month...great read. I do remember it saying that.

Thanks

Trying to talk my wife into letting me get a tractor, then I can just get a 3pt hitch mounted splitter. The tractor probably won't happen till the fall at the earliest.

[PerryW]

I burn 22" wood in my 3x10 because it also fits in my woodstove.

[DS Maple]

Anywhere between 2' and 2.5' should work fine. Both of our splitters are 36" and the evaporator is 36" wide, so I guess we obey the "no wider than the evaporator" rule. It seems to work well. Not a bad idea to split some stuff smaller than normal though, just to have something available to fill the nooks and crannies when the firebox is full of larger pieces.

[KenWP]

Neighbour has one of those cheap 25 ton splitters that sell here for around 1500 bucks and he splits maple all day with it.I have seen guys split wood with those really cheap 3 ton splitters. They split straight grain wood semi okay but what idiot invented a wood splitter thats a foot off the ground must have been short or had a iron back.