Top Tips to Season your Firewood

Chances are, if you have a wood burning stove, then you already know what seasoned firewood is. But if you're a new stove owner or always purchased your firewood from a reputable supplier, you may not know what exactly seasoned firewood is is or how to season your firewood. 

Well, quite simply, seasoned firewood is firewood that has been dried for a period of time until it has a moisture content of 20% or less. 

Some people may visually inspect their firewood to check for dryness or simply know they have had it stored for an allocated period of time. However, nothing is better than purchasing a digital moisture meter. These devices will tell you the moisture content of your firewood.

All firewood will have some residual water inside, this is just natural. However, this water always has to be burnt away before the wood will actually burn. This makes it very hard to light firewood with a high moisture content and also it's difficult to keep it alight as it just smolders. In addition to all this, wet firewood can smoke, which is not great for any stove or chimney.

When you have collected or purchased your firewood, it may need cutting into optimal sizes. By splitting your firewood, it allows air to circulate around all the sides of the wood, speeding up drying time.

Storing firewood is a very important task and must be done correctly.

Firstly, all your firewood should be stored off the ground. This reduces the job getting additional moisture from the ground and also helps stop any mold or insects getting into the wood.

Secondly, stack your firewood in a way so that air can circulate in-between them and the wind can help dry them out.

Thirdly, keep the wood dry by either covering with a suitable sheet or by building a log storage cover. You don't want the rain getting to the firewood.

And finally, pick a good location to ensure it gets the sun but is protected from the rain. Also, you need to ensure it is easily accessibly to you so you can use the wood.

You can just buy your firewood and our blog, All About Firewood, tells you about the different types and how effective they are. But wood burning stove owners do like to get involved and collect their firewood; it can also be a lot cheaper!