Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? To help it burn?
I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why.
Thanks
Rb

wrote in newsbt7t6tjq0ivbs2j26jaqoba8nvb6bdg0u@
4ax.com:

Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? To help it burn?
I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why.
Thanks
Rb

Burning of wood takes mostly place near the surface, where the heat
generates combustible gases. Therefore a larger surface area will burn
better & faster. Obviously splitting the wood generates more surface.

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

On 5/18/2011 11:37 AM, wrote:
Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? To help it burn?
....

yes (besides, it warms you twice't)

--

On May 18, 5:37*pm, wrote:
Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? *To help it burn?
I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why.
Thanks
Rb

To get it through the door on your stove? That is my only concern.

The smaller you split it the faster it drys (and burns) and the less
you can get in the stove.

On May 18, 12:37*pm, wrote:
Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? *To help it burn?
I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why.
Thanks
Rb

"I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why."

You really don't know why you're tired of splitting it?

That should be pretty easy to figure out!

wrote the following:
Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? To help it burn?
I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why.
Thanks
Rb


Like others have said, it reduces drying time because there is more
surface area to eliminate moisture, especially if the bark is left on.
Besides, if you are complaining about the effort, it's probably the only
heavy exercise that you get.


--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

On Wed, 18 May 2011 12:37:43 -0400, wrote:

Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? To help it burn?

I never used to split except to make it fit into the door of my stove.
[about 12"]

Unsplit wood takes longer to season, but, IMO, stays drier if
uncovered. A 12" diameter log makes a good 'all nighter' in the
stoves I used to have. New airtights might choke on them.

I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why.

When I got tired of moving wood around I bought a ventless propane
stove. One of the smarter moves I've made in life. Current
propane prices make it a bit higher than firewood-- but the control
and convenience make up for it-- and the stove has been paid for
20times over when propane was cheaper for a few years.

Jim

On 5/18/2011 11:37 AM, wrote:
Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? To help it burn?
I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why.
Thanks
Rb

Four quarters will give you more heat more efficiently than the whole log.

--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email

On May 18, 12:40*pm, dpb wrote:
On 5/18/2011 11:37 AM, wrote: Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? *To help it burn?

...

yes (besides, it warms you twice't)


someone had to say it, I guess...

nate

On May 18, 2:53*pm, N8N wrote:
On May 18, 12:40*pm, dpb wrote:

On 5/18/2011 11:37 AM, wrote: Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? *To help it burn?

...

yes (besides, it warms you twice't)

someone had to say it, I guess...

nate

I have always found that statement to be ridiculous.

It's a rare case when someone splits wood just to keep warm. Given the
option of splitting wood as a means to keep warm vs. spending time in
a heated space to keep warm, I'm pretty sure most people would skip
the work.

In other words I don't see the "warming you twice" situation as any
type of advantage.

On May 18, 3:12*pm, DerbyDad03 wrote:
Given the
option of splitting wood as a means to keep warm vs. spending time in
a heated space to keep warm, I'm pretty sure most people would skip
the work.

You are correct. And then they get fat and PAY to go to a gym...

(I do too, but I have neither trees nor the need for firewood (Miami)).

On May 18, 9:37*am, wrote:
Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? *To help it burn?
I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why.
Thanks
Rb

A reason not mentioned: After splitting you have a bigger pile than
before . A rick of wood in the rounds will grow about 10% after
splitting.

Harry K

On 5/18/2011 12:46 PM, LSMFT wrote:
wrote:
Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? To help it burn?
I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why.
Thanks
Rb

It reduces drying time, aids in handling and stacking and burns easier.
I split everything over 3 inches in diameter. I cut and split 6 cord
last fall, with a chain saw and hydraulic splitter. I know some people
who like to ax it all, too much work. I had some logs 22 inches in
diameter. I get enough exercise carrying and stacking it and carrying it
again into the house to burn.


Shrug. Around here, unless you have a source of free wood, heating with
natural gas is cheaper. Coming up on six years in this house, and I have
yet to use the faux fireplace. (Kinda scared to open the glass doors, at
this point, lest something is looking back at me...)

No SWMBO here, so no OTHER reason to build a fire,,,, :^(

--
aem sends...

wrote in message
news
Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? To help it burn?
I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why.
Thanks
Rb

Faster drying, easier handling, and sometimes you need smaller pieces to get
a fire going.

Loading a woodstove takes a bit of practice too. First of all, you need two
or more logs. One piece of wood does not burn very well, but two logs feed
off of each other for a better, hotter, fire. Just watch two logs side by
side and see the flames licking back and forth.

It is nearly impossible to light a large log. Building a fire, you need
very small wood, then a bit larger, still larger, then the big logs. When
the fire is down, you put smaller split pieces in to get it going and to
start the larger pieces that will give a longer burn time.

I always had a variety of sizes on hand to load up the stove. The problem
recently is cost. If you can get free wood, great. Buying cordwood cut and
split is getting too expensive and not worth the effort compared to turning
a thermostat. Good to have some on hand in case of power outages though.

On May 18, 12:37*pm, wrote:
Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? *To help it burn?
I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why.
Thanks
Rb

HOW MUCH WOOD, WOULD RB CHUCK IF RB COULD CHUCK WOOD?
IT DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH YOU SPLIT, FOR YOUR PIT

TGITM
PAT ECUM

On May 18, 11:37*am, wrote:
Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? *To help it burn?
I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why.
Thanks
Rb

I'm a month shy of 75 years old and I enjoy the exercise of splitting
firewood. I have to do some splitting because the rounds are 2ft in
diameter and just too heavy and big to fit in the fireplace without
splitting them. I have free wood and so I can really save some $$ by
heating our house with free wood. Our heatolator fireplace can keep
the house at 70 unless it is very windy out and/or below 20F. I just
turn on the furnace fan to run continuously. I do realize I am paying
something extra to run the blower continuously, but it would be on
quite a lot if I was using the furnace to heat the house, so the delta
is pretty small compared to using natural gas.

On Wed, 18 May 2011 13:11:38 -0700 (PDT), Larry Fishel
wrote:

On May 18, 3:12*pm, DerbyDad03 wrote:
Given the
option of splitting wood as a means to keep warm vs. spending time in
a heated space to keep warm, I'm pretty sure most people would skip
the work.

You are correct. And then they get fat and PAY to go to a gym...

(I do too, but I have neither trees nor the need for firewood (Miami)).

Can't you split rocks into sand?

On May 19, 12:43*am, mm wrote:
On Wed, 18 May 2011 13:11:38 -0700 (PDT), Larry Fishel

wrote:
On May 18, 3:12*pm, DerbyDad03 wrote:
Given the
option of splitting wood as a means to keep warm vs. spending time in
a heated space to keep warm, I'm pretty sure most people would skip
the work.

You are correct. And then they get fat and PAY to go to a gym...

(I do too, but I have neither trees nor the need for firewood (Miami)).

Can't you split rocks into sand?

CAN YOU TURN WATER INTO WINE?

PATECUM

On 05/18/2011 11:40 AM, Han wrote:
wrote in newsbt7t6tjq0ivbs2j26jaqoba8nvb6bdg0u@
4ax.com:

Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? To help it burn?
I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why.
Thanks
Rb

Burning of wood takes mostly place near the surface, where the heat
generates combustible gases. Therefore a larger surface area will burn
better & faster. Obviously splitting the wood generates more surface.


So a person can use a smaller stove if they split the firewood. Also
they have to split the wood if they use a smaller stove.

i had a family friend who heated their home with wood, and bragged
about how much money they saved over oil heat

I then asked how much work does it take?

Oh the wood is free from a summer camp they owned

BUT they had to drive there every weekend for the summer to cut split
and haul the wood out of their mini forest. then haul the wood home
and stack and let dry for a year.

as i pointed out to them oil was cheaper.

if compared to the 3 of them having minimum wage jobs putting the same
number of hours in working at the local store, and adding in the cost
of gasoline to haul the many truckloads of wood home each weekend.

one family member admitted it started out fun but became a never
ending job he hated the constamt push to be ready for heat, concerned
all summer long...........

free heat wasnt free at all

On May 19, 8:33*am, bob haller wrote:
i had a family friend who heated their home with wood, and bragged
about how much money they saved over oil heat

I then asked how much work does it take?

Oh the wood is free from a summer camp they owned

BUT they had to drive there every weekend for the summer to cut split
and haul the wood out of their mini forest. then haul the wood home
and stack and let dry for a year.

as i pointed out to them oil was cheaper.

if compared to the 3 of them having minimum wage jobs putting the same
number of hours in working at the local store, and adding in the cost
of gasoline to haul the many truckloads of wood home each weekend.

one family member admitted it started out fun but became a never
ending job he hated the constamt push to be ready for heat, concerned
all summer long...........

free heat wasnt free at all

"if compared to the 3 of them having minimum wage jobs putting the
same number of hours in working at the local store"

We often hear people say "It's not worth my time to do it myself. My
time is worth $X/hour and I can pay someone less than that to do it
for me."

That logic only works if you actually earn $X/hour during the time
that you would have otherwise been working on the project. If you hire
a guy to do it and then go sit on your butt shoveling Cheetos into
your mouth, then it didn't make economic sense to hire it out. The
money left your pocket and wasn't replaced.

In other words, unless the 3 of them actually went out and got that
minimum wage job, you can't use it as a comparison. If they pay for
the oil but don't work to offset the cost, then their cash flow will
show an outflow which might be more than the cost of the gas required
to get the wood.

I don't know that it will, because I don't know the actual numbers,
but I do know that you can't factor wages into the equation if the
wages don't exist.

On May 19, 10:12*am, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On May 19, 8:33*am, bob haller wrote:





i had a family friend who heated their home with wood, and bragged
about how much money they saved over oil heat

I then asked how much work does it take?

Oh the wood is free from a summer camp they owned

BUT they had to drive there every weekend for the summer to cut split
and haul the wood out of their mini forest. then haul the wood home
and stack and let dry for a year.

as i pointed out to them oil was cheaper.

if compared to the 3 of them having minimum wage jobs putting the same
number of hours in working at the local store, and adding in the cost
of gasoline to haul the many truckloads of wood home each weekend.

one family member admitted it started out fun but became a never
ending job he hated the constamt push to be ready for heat, concerned
all summer long...........

free heat wasnt free at all

"if compared to the 3 of them having minimum wage jobs putting the
same number of hours in working at the local store"

We often hear people say "It's not worth my time to do it myself. My
time is worth $X/hour and I can pay someone less than that to do it
for me."

That logic only works if you actually earn $X/hour during the time
that you would have otherwise been working on the project. If you hire
a guy to do it and then go sit on your butt shoveling Cheetos into
your mouth, then it didn't make economic sense to hire it out. The
money left your pocket and wasn't replaced.

In other words, unless the 3 of them actually went out and got that
minimum wage job, you can't use it as a comparison. If they pay for
the oil but don't work to offset the cost, then their cash flow will
show an outflow which might be more than the cost of the gas required
to get the wood.

I don't know that it will, because I don't know the actual numbers,
but I do know that you can't factor wages into the equation if the
wages don't exist.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

well at minimum its a comparison of value.

to say I save 3 grand a year by heating with wood is fine

but, it night cst the proud person 500 bucks in gasoline, wear and
tear on vehicle.

so now theire savings is $2500 bucks

Now if just one person works minimum wage for a take home after taxes
SS and all the rest of 5 bucks per hour....

just 500 hours to be equal, and way more convenient no tending the
fire, no emptying ashes, no hauling the wood inside in freezing
weather.

under 10 hours a week to be equal $500 divided by 50 weeks, allowing 2
weeks for vacation

now wether or not the individual choose to work the job isnt really
revelant, this still details costs

On May 18, 11:32*pm, "hr(bob) "
wrote:
On May 18, 11:37*am, wrote:

Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? *To help it burn?
I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why.
Thanks
Rb

I'm a month shy of 75 years old and I enjoy the exercise of splitting
firewood. *I have to do some splitting because the rounds are 2ft in
diameter and just too heavy and big to fit in the fireplace without
splitting them. *I have free wood and so I can really save some $$ by
heating our house with free wood. *Our heatolator fireplace can keep
the house at 70 unless it is very windy out and/or below 20F. *I just
turn on the furnace fan to run continuously. *I do realize I am paying
something extra to run the blower continuously, but it would be on
quite a lot if I was using the furnace to heat the house, so the delta
is pretty small compared to using natural gas.

Ditto. I'm 70 and enjoy the exercise of splitting my own wood with a
sledge & wedge. I keep 5 years worth of split firewood under cover
just in case I get 'old'. I burn the oldest first, never have to
worry if it's dry enough to burn, & refill the shed every spring.
Easy to do when it's off your own land.
Red

On May 19, 11:40*am, bob haller wrote:
On May 19, 10:12*am, DerbyDad03 wrote:





On May 19, 8:33*am, bob haller wrote:

i had a family friend who heated their home with wood, and bragged
about how much money they saved over oil heat

I then asked how much work does it take?

Oh the wood is free from a summer camp they owned

BUT they had to drive there every weekend for the summer to cut split
and haul the wood out of their mini forest. then haul the wood home
and stack and let dry for a year.

as i pointed out to them oil was cheaper.

if compared to the 3 of them having minimum wage jobs putting the same
number of hours in working at the local store, and adding in the cost
of gasoline to haul the many truckloads of wood home each weekend.

one family member admitted it started out fun but became a never
ending job he hated the constamt push to be ready for heat, concerned
all summer long...........

free heat wasnt free at all

"if compared to the 3 of them having minimum wage jobs putting the
same number of hours in working at the local store"

We often hear people say "It's not worth my time to do it myself. My
time is worth $X/hour and I can pay someone less than that to do it
for me."

That logic only works if you actually earn $X/hour during the time
that you would have otherwise been working on the project. If you hire
a guy to do it and then go sit on your butt shoveling Cheetos into
your mouth, then it didn't make economic sense to hire it out. The
money left your pocket and wasn't replaced.

In other words, unless the 3 of them actually went out and got that
minimum wage job, you can't use it as a comparison. If they pay for
the oil but don't work to offset the cost, then their cash flow will
show an outflow which might be more than the cost of the gas required
to get the wood.

I don't know that it will, because I don't know the actual numbers,
but I do know that you can't factor wages into the equation if the
wages don't exist.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

well at minimum its a comparison of value.

to say I save 3 grand a year by heating with wood is fine

but, it night cst the proud person 500 bucks in gasoline, wear and
tear on vehicle.

so now theire savings is $2500 bucks

Now if just one person works minimum wage for a take home after taxes
SS and all the rest of 5 bucks per hour....

just 500 hours to be equal, and way more convenient no tending the
fire, no emptying ashes, no hauling the wood inside in freezing
weather.

under 10 hours a week to be equal $500 divided by 50 weeks, allowing 2
weeks for vacation

now wether or not the individual choose to work the job isnt really
revelant, this still details costs- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Sure it details the cost, but it's a fruitless exercise. I think we
can be pretty sure that no one in that family is going to take the
minimum wage job to offset the cost of changing from wood to oil.

If the savings is $3K before gas & maintenance and $2.5K after
"operating expenses", it's still a savings of $2.5K.

You can't negate that savings by bringing non-existent (and never
going to be existent) wages into the equation and claiming that oil
would be cheaper.

Why not say:

"If you won the lottery, the oil would be cheaper."
"If Grandma leaves you $5 million, the oil would be cheaper"
"If all of the members of usenet chipped in enough to give you $2.5K/
year the oil would be cheaper"

Ain't none of those things gonna happen, just like the job at the mini-
mart ain't gonna happen, so they aren't relevant to the cost
comparison.

On May 19, 10:43*am, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On May 19, 11:40*am, bob haller wrote:





On May 19, 10:12*am, DerbyDad03 wrote:

On May 19, 8:33*am, bob haller wrote:

i had a family friend who heated their home with wood, and bragged
about how much money they saved over oil heat

I then asked how much work does it take?

Oh the wood is free from a summer camp they owned

BUT they had to drive there every weekend for the summer to cut split
and haul the wood out of their mini forest. then haul the wood home
and stack and let dry for a year.

as i pointed out to them oil was cheaper.

if compared to the 3 of them having minimum wage jobs putting the same
number of hours in working at the local store, and adding in the cost
of gasoline to haul the many truckloads of wood home each weekend.

one family member admitted it started out fun but became a never
ending job he hated the constamt push to be ready for heat, concerned
all summer long...........

free heat wasnt free at all

"if compared to the 3 of them having minimum wage jobs putting the
same number of hours in working at the local store"

We often hear people say "It's not worth my time to do it myself. My
time is worth $X/hour and I can pay someone less than that to do it
for me."

That logic only works if you actually earn $X/hour during the time
that you would have otherwise been working on the project. If you hire
a guy to do it and then go sit on your butt shoveling Cheetos into
your mouth, then it didn't make economic sense to hire it out. The
money left your pocket and wasn't replaced.

In other words, unless the 3 of them actually went out and got that
minimum wage job, you can't use it as a comparison. If they pay for
the oil but don't work to offset the cost, then their cash flow will
show an outflow which might be more than the cost of the gas required
to get the wood.

I don't know that it will, because I don't know the actual numbers,
but I do know that you can't factor wages into the equation if the
wages don't exist.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

well at minimum its a comparison of value.

to say I save 3 grand a year by heating with wood is fine

but, it night cst the proud person 500 bucks in gasoline, wear and
tear on vehicle.

so now theire savings is $2500 bucks

Now if just one person works minimum wage for a take home after taxes
SS and all the rest of 5 bucks per hour....

just 500 hours to be equal, and way more convenient no tending the
fire, no emptying ashes, no hauling the wood inside in freezing
weather.

under 10 hours a week to be equal $500 divided by 50 weeks, allowing 2
weeks for vacation

now wether or not the individual choose to work the job isnt really
revelant, this still details costs- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Sure it details the cost, but it's a fruitless exercise. I think we
can be pretty sure that no one in that family is going to take the
minimum wage job to offset the cost of changing from wood to oil.

If the savings is $3K before gas & maintenance and $2.5K after
"operating expenses", it's still a savings of $2.5K.

You can't negate that savings by bringing non-existent (and never
going to be existent) wages into the equation and claiming that oil
would be cheaper.

Why not say:

"If you won the lottery, the oil would be cheaper."
"If Grandma leaves you $5 million, the oil would be cheaper"
"If all of the members of usenet chipped in enough to give you $2.5K/
year the oil would be cheaper"

Ain't none of those things gonna happen, just like the job at the mini-
mart ain't gonna happen, so they aren't relevant to the cost
comparison.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

One can also deduct the cost of a gym membership to get the same
physical conditioning cutting wood gives one. In my case (I do 10
plus cords/yr) I would probably be grossly overweight or dead without
the excercise I get. I can't stand to 'excercise for the sake of
excercise' Got a treadmill, stationary bike, tread climber and
couldn't stand the boredom of using any of them.

Harry K

On May 19, 10:23*am, Red wrote:
On May 18, 11:32*pm, "hr(bob) "
wrote:





On May 18, 11:37*am, wrote:

Besides making it fit, what is the purpose of splitting firewood?
To help it dry? *To help it burn?
I'm tired of splitting it but not knowing why.
Thanks
Rb

I'm a month shy of 75 years old and I enjoy the exercise of splitting
firewood. *I have to do some splitting because the rounds are 2ft in
diameter and just too heavy and big to fit in the fireplace without
splitting them. *I have free wood and so I can really save some $$ by
heating our house with free wood. *Our heatolator fireplace can keep
the house at 70 unless it is very windy out and/or below 20F. *I just
turn on the furnace fan to run continuously. *I do realize I am paying
something extra to run the blower continuously, but it would be on
quite a lot if I was using the furnace to heat the house, so the delta
is pretty small compared to using natural gas.

Ditto. *I'm 70 and enjoy the exercise of splitting my own wood with a
sledge & wedge. *I keep 5 years worth of split firewood under cover
just in case I get 'old'. *I burn the oldest first, never have to
worry if it's dry enough to burn, & refill the shed every spring.
Easy to do when it's off your own land.
Red- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Same here. 76 heat almost 100% with wood. I have a TroyBilt splitter
but it only gets used ont he knotty/tough stuff. Got around 40 cords
of Black Locust cut/split/stacked and still cutting B Locust whenever
I can. That stuff doesn't rot. This year I am burning stuff I cut
back in either 93 or 96 (can't recall which) and even the stuff in
direct contact with the ground has only a bit of surface detioration
on the 'dirt' side.

Current project is 7 big B Locust to be removed from a Farmers
farmstead. That should take me a couple months at the speed I work
any more.

Harry K