THE ROUGH BUYERS GUIDE TO FIREWOOD
As a producer of firewood we are often aware that our customers could do with a guide on how to judge and choose firewood and make decisions on what to burn and how. We aim to produce a product, which meets your expectations, at a price which is acceptable. With 10 years experience and a willingness to change with market demands we hope to continue feeding your fires well into the future. Nobody is perfect so we always value feedback from our clients.
PRICE, QUALITY AND EFFORT
There is an old saying in Yorkshire... you get nowt for nowt... or to put it another way, you get what you pay for. It is important to realise that good firewood is not just the axed off cuts from some pallets or the remnants of a tree surgeons job which gets dropped off on his way down the road.
Most of our timber comes from tree wood which has to be reclaimed after necessary tree surgery or felling. All our timber is handled in the following way;
- It is removed from the felling site in small or large pieces and transported back to our firewood yard.
It is split down with a 22 ton tractor splitter until it has a diameter of less than 300mm and it is then laid in a drying stack and left for 6-12 months through the summer so the moisture in the timber can escape through the exposed end grain.- The softwood such as leylandii, spruce and larch and also the water absorbing hardwoods such as poplar are segregated to use as kindling.
- Hardwoods such as ash, oak, beech, sorbus, thorn, and lime are the better timbers for firewood. These are selected and sent to the processing machine, which cuts them to log lengths of 200-250mm with a diameter of about 100-150mm. These logs are stored in a large covered shed.
- Some logs are packed into clear plastic bags and top sealed to keep out the rain, or put into net bags for the shop and petrol station trade. Others are stored as they are for loose load delivery.
The softwood is cut into 125mm lengths and then passed through a kindling machine, which splits and bags the kindling into nets which are further dried in drying tunnels before being ready for sale.- The logs are delivered loose to your drive in small tipper trucks in amounts of 2m3, which approximates to one ton weight, or in bag loads of 10 to suit the occasional user.
The timber that you are burning on your fire in December will have been cut by us between January and September of that year. As you see, the woodman’s job requires long term planning and quite a bit of equipment. We may start to run short in February so we encourage customers to always maintain a stock of logs to match their requirements.
Loose log loads usually contain at least 90% hardwood. If you are burning in a closed fire and at a high temperature with the correct flue and burner arrangements you will be able to burn conifer and wetter timber, but with an open fire the timber should be reasonably dry and should not spit.
Remember always to have your chimney swept regularly, use a spark guard, and never leave an open fire unattended.
SPECIAL WOODS FOR SPECIAL USES
The best burning timber is ASH, as it has a low moisture content in its green state and can even be burnt green. OAK and BEECH are also good staple timbers for fuel. CHERRY and fruitwoods have special properties, giving off a wonderful scent when burnt. These days they are often used to fuel wood burning pizza ovens in restaurants. The patio fire has also become a very popular way to extend the use of the garden into evening, and give a warm glow as dusk settles.
We wish you happiness with your logs and hope that this little note has extended your understanding of good firewood.
Ken Linford
Managing Director
Ken Linford Treecare Ltd
Riversideview Nurseries
Ulnes Walton Lane
Leyland
Lancs, PR26 8LT
ENGLAND