How big is yours? And ... Does size matter ?

[John Skinner]

1 hour ago, Will C said:

It would be the best value firewood your likely to get. Connifer doesn’t ruin flues wet wood does regardless of type. 

soft wood that is dryed well will give good heat, it’s only down side is it burns a bit quicker but with near instant heat.

 

Agreed. Softwood for instant quick burning heat and hardwood for longer lasting burns. But in the instance of taking freshly cut conifer from an Arb that's just cleared a job and looking to dump it ... it would be fresh/green/wet wood i'd get. In the long-term, yes, i could dry and use - that's true. I'm just going by what the stove people advised 🙂👍

[htb]

Pretty much all freshly cut wood soft/hardwood from Arb sources will be fresh/green/wet, all the dry stuff we keep for our own uses.

[Muddy42]

For me it depends.

 

If the logs are easy to split, I will split them where they are - on the ground, logs on their side, in a loose pile, whatever.  This reduces double handling.  Logs are easier to split when green, without knots or small. I will use a narrower axe. Very quick and hell of a workout.

 

If the logs are medium hard, I will use a block and a maul.

 

If the logs are very tough I will use a sledge hammer and wedges.  If there are lots of them (OK double figures) I will block them up with a chainsaw.  This can work well when combined with the wedges to finish off the cut.

 

I don't have a mechanical splitter at the moment, last one broke, but its good for large volumes too.

[John Skinner]

6 minutes ago, htb said:

Pretty much all freshly cut wood soft/hardwood from Arb sources will be fresh/green/wet, all the dry stuff we keep for our own uses.

 

Oh yeah, i totally get that it's all fresh cut wood. I just didn't particularly want conifer 👍

[htb]

Nothing wrong with conifer, we burn tons of it each year, all goes in shed with hardwood, lucky dip what comes out. Put in 3 wood burners and a Rayburn, no problems over last 25yrs, before that used to hardwood only as that was what was available to us, got over that now.

As has been said many times wood burns water doesn't.

[John Skinner]

4 minutes ago, Muddy42 said:

For me it depends.

 

If the logs are easy to split, I will split them where they are - on the ground, logs on their side, in a loose pile, whatever.  This reduces double handling.  Logs are easier to split when green, without knots or small. I will use a narrower axe. Very quick and hell of a workout.

 

If the logs are medium hard, I will use a block and a maul.

 

If the logs are very tough I will use a sledge hammer and wedges.  If there are lots of them (OK double figures) I will block them up with a chainsaw.  This can work well when combined with the wedges to finish off the cut.

 

I don't have a mechanical splitter at the moment, last one broke, but its good for large volumes too.

 

You just described exactly what i plan to do. Lengths cut to logs with the chainsaw. Large logs cut to blocks with the maul or hammer/grenade wedge. Smaller logs split into kindling using the small hand axe or lump hammer and fixed wedge. Big to small, then stack.

 

Weirdly i'm actually looking forward to the 'workout'. Now everyone remember that i just said that. So 2-3wks down the line when i'm bitching about my back killing me etc ... you can all laugh  🙄

 

Yes. I looked at the hydraulic splitters on Ebay; just out of curiosity. I think it was 8T vertical splitter for £149.99. Some of the larger mechanical ones i've seen online for American style homesteads/much larger operations looked really impressive. I'm just a guy with a wood stove in the kitchen. I think those are all way beyond my needs and/or budget; and always will be. Might stretch to buying a maul, that's about my limit  👍

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

Good luck with the grenade.  I only use a wedge on wood that is tough to split as it is not worth the effort if an axe will go through it.  I found the wood grenade to be a very good nail.  I t would split the wood but then would have a struggle getting it out of the chunk of wood it was buried in.  It never split anything 4 ways either.  Used to use it very occasionally when I needed s second wedge but gave that up years ago.  Still as above, we all learn by splitting.

 

I will add a voice wrt softwood.  As long as the fire is hot (I.e. wood is dry and fire not slumbered) it will burn just fine and leave nothing in the chimney.  It also dries quite quickly and not all softwoods are even too light.  Dry wood has within a small margin the same energy per unit weight once dry, hence it is density that you want if you want a long burn (and physically large pieces of wood).

 

The Lars Mytling book on Norwegian wood (my spelling might be a bit off) is a good read and very informative.

[John Skinner]

5 minutes ago, Rob_the_Sparky said:

Good luck with the grenade.  I only use a wedge on wood that is tough to split as it is not worth the effort if an axe will go through it.  I found the wood grenade to be a very good nail.  I t would split the wood but then would have a struggle getting it out of the chunk of wood it was buried in.  It never split anything 4 ways either.  Used to use it very occasionally when I needed s second wedge but gave that up years ago.  Still as above, we all learn by splitting.

 

I will add a voice wrt softwood.  As long as the fire is hot (I.e. wood is dry and fire not slumbered) it will burn just fine and leave nothing in the chimney.  It also dries quite quickly and not all softwoods are even too light.  Dry wood has within a small margin the same energy per unit weight once dry, hence it is density that you want if you want a long burn (and physically large pieces of wood).

 

The Lars Mytling book on Norwegian wood (my spelling might be a bit off) is a good read and very informative.

 

I used a grenade at a friends house (that sounds weird and dangerous, lol) as he was using it to split his logs. It worked quite well on mid sized logs, splitting them into 2-3 bits. But you're right. I don't think it ever split in four. I bought mine on Ebay for a couple of pounds. If it's pants, it'll work as a paperweight in the tool shed.

 

 

 

 

[neiln]

9 hours ago, John Skinner said:

 

Agreed. Softwood for instant quick burning heat and hardwood for longer lasting burns. But in the instance of taking freshly cut conifer from an Arb that's just cleared a job and looking to dump it ... it would be fresh/green/wet wood i'd get. In the long-term, yes, i could dry and use - that's true. I'm just going by what the stove people advised 🙂👍

Don't be down on softwood, beggars can't choose, it's fine, it has advantages such as it'll dry very fast, lights easily and burns hot.  Plus it'll start a relationship with a tree guy, they may then give you hard wood next time.  You've got to build they relationship by being very very good for them.  My 35 cube pile is over 2/3rds oak, but I take Conifer for all those reasons....I actually have too much oak right now.

 

Grenades.. hahahaha. Useless.  Please post a photo when you nail your first log to your block with it.

 

Muddy has a lot of good advice, follow that and tweak as you learn what works.  I always go to the pile with 2 or 3 axes is different sizes (from a team of 5 or 6). And split what I can with lighter axes and on the ground.  Moving to the block and moving to a heavier axe or maul for the tougher rounds.   Toughness is rarely proportional to size, a 3 or 4' diameter oak round from the trunk away from a union will be easy to split on the ground and with a small axe ... Just don't try to halve it, learn other techniques.   A 8" round with knots or a branch Union, or even straight grained but from certain trees will need the maul and a block, or may need the saw.

 

There's lots to learn and you seem keen so I think you'll learn it, but before you've struggled a bit, you'll not understand some of the questions you should ask let alone follow the answers.  That's all I mean by over thinking it.  It's good to think it through, but recognise some of your learning will come with,/from the frustration that results from the uneducated struggle!  Part of the journey.

 

I hand split 12-15 cube a year.  I've done most of this year's wood since start of April (6 tipper loads, 2 of Conifer, 4 oak, came in the first week of April).  I think I'm moderately good at my process now.   First year I burnt I struggled for longer to split about 6 cube but that taught me what I needed to learn, and then places like here and YouTube answered my questions.

 

I don't touch wedges anymore... Horrible horrible hateful things.  YMMV.

Edited July 6, 2022 by neiln

[John Skinner]

7 minutes ago, neiln said:

Don't be down on softwood, beggars can't choose, it's fine, it has advantages such as it'll dry very fast, lights easily and burns hot.  Plus it'll start a relationship with a tree guy, they may then give you hard wood next time.  You've got to build they relationship by being very very good for them.  My 35 cube pile is over 2/3rds oak, but I take Conifer for all those reasons....I actually have too much oak right now.

 

Grenades.. hahahaha. Useless.  Please post a photo when you nail your first log to your block with it.

 

Muddy has a lot of good advice, follow that and tweak as you learn what works.  I always go to the pile with 2 or 3 axes is different sizes (from a team of 5 or 6). And split what I can with lighter axes and on the ground.  Moving to the block and moving to a heavier axe or maul for the tougher rounds.   Toughness is eagerly proportional to size, a 3 or 4' diameter oak round from the trunk away from a union will be easy to split on the ground and with a small axe ... Just don't try to halve it, learn other techniques.   A 8" round with knots or a branch Union, or even straight grained but from certain trees will need the maul and a block, or may need the saw.

 

There's lots to learn and you seem keen so I think you'll learn it, but before you've struggled a bit, you'll not understand some of the questions you should ask let alone follow the answers.  That's all I mean by over thinking it.  It's good to think it through, but recognise some of your learning will come with,/from the frustration that results from the uneducated struggle!  Part of the journey.

 

I hand split 12-15 cube a year.  I've done most of this year's wood since start of April (6 tipper loads, 2 of Conifer, 4 oak, came in the first week of April).  I think I'm moderately good at my process now.   First year I burnt I struggled for longer to split about 6 cube but that taught me what I needed to learn, and then places like here and YouTube answered my questions.

 

I don't touch wedges anymore... Horrible horrible hateful things.  YMMV.

 

Thanks. I welcome all advice from those in the know. It's a learning process and while i never shy away from any excuse to buy tools (some i even use). I'm certainly not going to start bulk buying all kinds of choppy, slicey, cutty things 😂. I will probably splash out on a maul, but thats just logical (i think) to have something for those bigger jobs - if needed. Other than that - I'm done 👍

 

I have no issue with softwood (there's a joke there somewhere). I seem to have got a rep for not liking it somehow, just because i was told to stay away from conifer. But no ... If it burns and it's not going to bugger-up my new flue, then i'll gladly take it.

 

Trust me, nothing i'd like more than to make some contacts with Arbs or anyone that could hit me up with some FREE or cheap wood. Even if its not going to produce anything atm, it's beneficial for further down the road when they ARE in a position to help. That was the whole point of starting the Nairn Tip Site listing. Sadly it's been as successful as my sex life atm. Lots of banter, lots of waiting, not much action and very little wood  🤣🤣

 

I know its a Marathon (Snickers) not a sprint, and i'm sure it'll all work out. In the mean time i'm learning as i go.

 

Thanks again for the input  👍