Firewood Tips
- Store your seasoned logs above ground level if possible when storing outdoors. This will ensure that they don't absorb moisture.
- An ideal shelter would cover your Firewood logs from the rain but still allow plenty of airflow. This is the best method for drying them out in the least time.
- Before lighting, bring the firewood logs indoors for a few hours. This will warm the wood and make sure they light with ease.
- Seasoned firewood won't soak up rain water so you can leave them exposed to the elements, although not in standing water.
- If possible store your firewood logs away from your house in a shed, garage or under cover.
- The wood is utilized in the best way when the drought control is fully open and the flames are intense. That will also reduce pollution, because gas particles are com-busted and produce heat instead.
- You want a minimal amount of smoke coming from your chimney. Dense, black smoke is a sign that the combustion is not optimal, usually because the fire in the wood stove is not intense enough.
- Remove soot from your wood stove and the flue pipe once a year. That way, your wood stove will get warmer.Clean it more often if you burn a lot of pine wood which leaves more soot than other types of wood.
- Light form the Top, many of the modern wood stoves were designed to burn from the top down. The wood stove will reach its operating temperature quicker, the gases will burn better and the wood load will last longer.
Firewood Questions
Hardwood has a greater density than softwood and contains less water. Because of the density, seasoning and drying hardwood takes longer, but more energy is released during burning. We supply seasoned hardwood logs from the following trees:
- Oak
- Silver Birch
- Beech
- Ash
Softwood is commonly misquoted as being a worse fuel than hardwood, due to the fact that it burns much quicker. While it does contain more water, being less dense means that softwood takes less time to cure and dry than hardwood. It also tends to produce a stronger flame than hardwood. Softwood comes from the following trees:
- Fir
- Spruce
- Pine
Hardwoods are often considered to be a superior firewood because the wood is very dense. The dense wood creates a hot, long lasting fire without a lot of smoke or sparks. The wood also creates hot coals which give out radiant heat for a long period of time. However, just because the tree is classified as a hardwood doesn't necessarily make it the best choice. For example, a low quality hardwood is actually softer and less dense than a good quality softwood.
Softwoods season faster than hardwoods and light much easier which makes them a popular choice for kindling. In fact, cedar is one of the best sources of kindling available.