Our hardwood logs include species such as oak, ash, beech, birch, sycamore, hornbeam, cherry. Softwood species used for our softwood logs and kindling include larch, pine, fir.
Seasoning logs refers to the process of storing them somewhere dry and ventilated to allow the sap in the wood to dry out. Some people like to season their logs for a couple of years but if stored correctly keeping them for the course of a summer usually suffices to get them in good condition to burn in the autumn.
“Green” refers to freshly cut logs and timber that hasn’t had time to season properly. It’s common to buy “green” logs in spring and summer and store them so that they become seasoned for winter.
Even freshly felled timber in June can make great dry logs for the autumn if stored correctly. It’s amazing how quickly the wood will dry out once its split and stacked properly.
Softwood logs are not recommended for open fires as the burning timber tends to “spit”. Softwood logs are good in wood burning stoves where the air supply can be dampened down so the logs which are quick burning will last longer.
Timber should be stored in a dry well ventilated spot. It is good to get the logs off the ground on a pallet for instance so that air can circulate under and around the logs. Provide a cover for the stack of logs to stop rain water running through the stack. In good weather conditions in the summer it is beneficial to remove this, but make sure you cover them up before it rains again!
Try and provide as much storage space as possible. If you can store your winter’s requirements then stocking up early in spring and summer will ensure that you have a good supply of dry, seasoned timber for the following autumn.
Try not to run out of logs, even when purchasing them in the winter. If you always have a month or two of stock then it will give your delivery a little more time to dry out further before you need to start burning it.
Try to store your kindling somewhere in the house, if you store it in a damp poorly ventilated shed it’s less likely to be tinder dry, due to it absorbing moisture from the atmosphere.
Having a log basket of some form in the house is a great way of ensuring your logs are really dry, even if you can only get a couple of nights worth stored in the house it really helps make them better to burn.
Don’t despair if your delivery of logs gets rained on before you stack them away in your log store. Rain on the logs will dry from them once they are stored away in a well ventilated place much more quickly than the seasoning process.
Always get your chimney swept regularly when burning logs or any other solid fuel; find a good local chimney sweep and ask them for more advice on how often your type of chimney or flue requires sweeping.
Most of all enjoy relaxing in front of your log fire, it’s cosy on cold winter nights and comforting to know that your are being warmed by a renewable, carbon neutral fuel.