We have a small mountain cabin that is used as a vacation/weekend place. We have radiant gas heating for the cabin. Heck it was down to 11 the other night! WE also have two fireplaces that we use, primarily for ambiance, though it is often nice to stand in front of the fire at night just before hitting the sheets!

Because a large pine that was quite close to the house was threatening the foundation, we had it taken down 2 weeks ago. In addition to two 7 foot, 28 inch diameter logs my wife wants to have made into carvings I have thirty-two 16 inch biscuits of freshly cut pine.

Now when I was younger I would take a splitting maul and eventually split that stuff up. Too old for that now. Heck today, at my regular home I took out the maul and split 3 much smaller logs. Due to shoulder problems, that was major work. I intend to rent a splitter at a tool rental shop near our cabin, and get it done in a day. I have enough dry, split wood to get through this winter, so I am not in need of this wood.

For those of you who split lots of wood on a regular basis I pose my question. How long should I wait prior to splitting it? Remember, I will be using a hydraulic splitter and it is all pine. Would you do it soon? Would you wait a few months? Wait almost a year?