Why Seasoned Wood Makes All The Difference

Freshly felled wood is roughly half water by weight, and every drop of that moisture has to be driven off before the log will burn properly. If you feed wet wood into a stove or open fire, most of the heat you are paying for goes into boiling water rather than warming the room. The fire hisses, the flames sulk, the glass blackens and the chimney fills with tar and creosote, which is unpleasant at best and a genuine chimney fire risk at worst.

Seasoned wood, by contrast, lights easily, burns hot and clean, and leaves you with a fine grey ash rather than sticky black soot. The target to aim for is a moisture content below 20 per cent, and ideally somewhere between 15 and 18 per cent. Get that right and you will use noticeably fewer logs for the same amount of warmth.

Start With the Right Wood, Cut and Split Well

Most of the seasoning work is done in the first hour you handle the wood, not in the months that follow. Hardwoods such as ash, oak, beech, hawthorn and sycamore give the longest, steadiest burn and the best embers. Softwoods like pine, larch and spruce dry much faster and burn hot and quickly, which makes them excellent for kindling or for mixing into a load. Ash is the traditional favourite because it can be burned reasonably soon after felling, while oak rewards patience and really wants two years or more.

• Split logs so that no piece is thicker than about 10cm across the widest point. Anything fatter dries painfully slowly.
• Cut to a length that suits your stove or grate, usually 25–30cm, so the logs sit neatly without rolling against the glass.
• Split in spring, so the pieces get the whole of a warm, breezy summer to dry.
• Leave the bark on. It is not a barrier to drying, and it protects the wood underneath.

Build the Stack So Air Can Do Its Work

Air movement is what carries moisture away, so the whole point of a stack is to hold the logs apart rather than bundle them together. A few sensible habits will do more for your firewood than any amount of expensive equipment.

• Raise the stack off the ground on a pallet, timber bearers or a slatted base. Ground contact wicks damp straight back into the bottom row and rots it.
• Leave a gap of 10–15cm between the stack and any wall, fence or hedge so air can move behind it.
• Stack the logs loosely. They should hold each other in place, not be wedged tight.
• Where space allows, use a single row. If you must go double, put the bark sides facing outwards on both faces.
• Site the stack where sun and the prevailing wind can reach it, and keep grass and weeds cut back around the base.

Cover the Top, Not the Sides

Rain running down into the stack is the enemy, but so is trapping damp air inside it. The answer is a roof over the top and open sides all the way down. A purpose-built log store with a slatted base and overhanging roof is ideal, and many people find a simple open-sided shelter against a shed or garage wall works just as well.

If you are using a tarpaulin, drape it over the top only, weighted down with bricks or a couple of lengths of timber, and never wrap the stack up like a parcel. Wrapping traps moisture, encourages mould and turns a good stack of logs into a soggy, grey disappointment by February. From late autumn you can also pull the cover a little further down the weather side, but always leave the ends of the logs exposed to the air.

How Long It Takes, and How To Tell It's Ready

Softwoods generally need six to twelve months; most hardwoods twelve to twenty-four; oak two years or more. Damp, shaded sites and cool summers add time, so treat these as rough guides rather than promises.

You can judge a log without any gadgetry. Well-seasoned wood feels noticeably light for its size, the end grain has darkened and often shows radial cracks, and the bark may be starting to lift. Knock two logs together and you should hear a hollow ring rather than a dull thud. In the fire, seasoned logs catch quickly and burn without bubbling or spitting at the ends.

If you want certainty, buy a moisture meter for the price of a few bags of logs. Split a log and push the pins into the freshly exposed face, measuring across the grain rather than into the end, and take readings from several pieces before you believe them.

Keeping the Hearth Stocked Through Winter

Once your main stack is sound, bring in only a few days' worth at a time — a basket beside the hearth is plenty. Contrary to old habit, do not pile logs against the stove or radiator to dry them out further: they dry too fast, burn too quickly and can scorch. A cool, airy spot indoors suits them better, and a small turnover keeps insects and dust to a minimum. Top the indoor basket up from the outdoor stack as you need it, keep the stack's cover secure after every spell of wet weather, and you will have dry, honest fuel ready whenever the evening turns cold.