On Jul 9, 7:47*am, arkland wrote:
On Fri, 08 Jul 2011 20:44:07 -0700, DD_BobK wrote:
Did you consider that maybe that tree had value as timber / lumber
rather than fire wood?

Not until now. I have other trees that need felling. How does one find
someone willing to buy a standing tree?

Forget those silly cone wedges, they don't work.

Thanks. The "advertisement" makes it look all so easy. But, that point is
very blunt. It barely dents the center of the 20-inch long oak log!

cut them down to 10" and get busy splitting.

That's half the current size! I didn't know 10 inches was the right size
for splitting. I'm sure the length makes a huge difference!

the smaller the piece of wood you add to a fire,
the closer you come to wood pellet behavior.

I'm not sure what 'pellet behavior' is, but, for a campfire, you kind of
just want it to burn for a while as you sit around it drinking a beer.

Dumping a huge log (20" long, 1/4 split?) on a fire will nearly kill it..

Hmmmmm... Not the campfires we make!

at least split ALL of the logs in half.

Makes sense. But that first split is also the hardest one!

If you wait until the wood dries you will be amazingly unhappy. As
others have said, green wood splits WAY easier than dry wood.

I'm surprised. Mainly because dried oak is cracked while wet oak is
seamless. But, it must be (for some reason) that wet wood is easier to
split than dried wood as someone would have said otherwise by now.

I could get a unit of 2x4's down into the 12% moisture content
range (from 30%+) in a couple weeks.

I wonder how we measure moisture content in percent at home?

OP-


I was under the impression that the firewood was for home fireplace
usage.

Not to rain on your campfire fun but over sized / giant fires are
rather wasteful of resources.
The fire puts out so much heat you have to stand 20' away?
Never heard about the native American comment on "white man's fire" vs
small fire stay warm all night?
Maybe you're not a SoCal green type?

There is no "right size" for splitting or fire place usage.
Depends on the size of the fireplace but I prefer smaller pieces.
Pieces that are too large consume a fair amount of the fires heat to
get them going.

"Pellet behavior" refers to EPA rated wood stoves that burn wood
pellets with very little air pollution.

I don't know if you're a skier but Mammoth Lakes outlawed new log
burning fireplaces in 1995
and even with the moratorium on new installations,
a pall of smoke often hangs over the town in winter when all the
pre-1995 fireplaces are burning logs.

Smaller pieces of wood burn clearer, larger ones tend to smoke more.
Inadequately dried wood doesn't burn as well & can leave deposits in
chimney.
Though oak is less susceptible to it.

Not a problem in isolated areas but in SoCal (+20 million people)
or in a small town with 1000's of logs being inefficiently burned
problem

Like the killer air pollution in England (60's) due to coal
burning...... its all about density & dispersion.


, for a campfire, you kind of just want it to burn for a while as you sit around it drinking a beer.

Ahhh....now it is clear where that gut is coming from....

My suggestion....cut the log shorter, split by hand.

Smaller pieces will require you to get up a bit more often....
it will help a bit with gut, you get more heat out of the wood &
you'll reduce air pollution.

cheers
Bob