Firewood Logs News - Firewood Logs

6^th December 2023 I couldn't believe it when my neighbour came round and asked if he could deliver to me a truck-full of pallets completely free of charge.

It turned out that in running a brick sales yard he would end up with an enormous number of ultra-strong pallets that he simply couldn't get rid of soon enough. Well, for me, after checking that these were suitable for burning (see my book, but they were!) all I had to do was get Jim to cut them up, and hey presto a fantastic amount of wood, some of it (the bearers, so-called), very chunky indeed.

Where previously I had used pallets simply for my early- stage fire, now I had enough to mix almost 50/50 with my logs for a fantastic hot fire, albeit a little faster burning than before

A couple of practical points to note. First you do indeed have to get the pallets cut up and this costs something, depending on who you use and how committed they are to working with maximum efficiency. But in my experience it costs nothing like as much as it would to achieve an equivalent heat output in the form of firewood logs alone. Second, we only get the speed of processing that I prefer by leaving the nails in. It's up to you! If you de-nail, it takes quite a bit longer. If you don't de-nail, you must always be very aware of the care needed. Don't let the nail rip your hands, don't step on them and don't leave the pallets where others can harm themselves.

All in all, though, a fantastic bargain, and I'm thrilled that here is a continuing potential stream of supply at a wonderful low cost.

10^th August 2023 Now is pretty much the last minute to be picking up on August sales.

I just decided to buy a mix of Semi-Seasoned and Ready to Burn wood at August sale prices - a fairly large order, suitable to take me through most of the winter when combined with wood dropped off by tree surgeons.

If you are placing a largish order, don’t hesitate to see what you can negotiate. I got August sale prices, but ALSO an upgrade to receive the Ready to Burn element of my order at Semi-Seasoned prices. That’s quite a discount.

If you leave all this to September or October, I hate to think what you may have to pay!

13^th July 2023Here’s more of what I mean about now this being the time to secure your firewood supplies for the winter. But don’t forget, I am not affiliated to any supplier so make what you will of this!

Now is alternatively the time to get in touch with tree surgeons, get a load of newly felled wood dropped off, find someone experienced (if not yourself) to turn it into firewood logs, season it in the right conditions, and have it available this winter (or possibly next), depending on: the type of wood, what size you cut it to, how effective are your drying conditions etc, etc, etc.

3^rd July 2023 Do you know how much firewood you need to cover, say, a winter season. If you don’t, it’s pretty hard to find out because everyone will tell you, ‘well, it all depends …

Ah, very helpful! But the answer may well be ‘A lot more than you have guessed’.

Here are some figures that will give you some idea of quantity, as a rough guide.

I have my house well-insulated, and I close down certain rooms in winter, except when I really need them. Even so, I use at least 14 m3 relying on firewood heating alone (and hopefully you understand that in average size bulk bags that’s about 19 bags!). A lot in other words!

1^st July 2023 How about just going and finding some fallen wood on a wayside or in a forest? A great way to get free wood? YES? Sorry, but NO!

Well, it’s pretty obvious the wood in this photograph belongs to someone and is not there to be taken away by you. But perhaps more surprisingly this applies to any wood lying anywhere. To remove it without permission is theft and you can get into big trouble over it.

Removing it with permission is a different matter. If you can discover the owner, you may well be able to obtain permission and then, once again, you may have a source of free firewood (though of course it needs processing!).

24^th June 2023 Oh the joy of wooden pallets for your early-stage fire. You can pick these up free of charge in so many places - in builders’ yards, on building sites, and in the yards of many sales outlets dealing with large goods such as kitchen equipment, furniture and flooring.

But there is so much to know about pallets, as in, which you can safely burn and which you cannot!

In my book I tell you about avoiding ‘manufactured wood’ (you can see some of that in the image here). Also, about treatment stamps (which tell you most of what you need to know about any noxious chemicals used in manufacture). I also advise against using pallets that would otherwise have been re-cycled, as recycling is the very best destination for wooden pallets.

20^th June 2023 Do you know what kind of wood this is? It’s very distinctive with those broad circular growth rings.

It’s actually larch, which at least one major supplier describes as ‘the best bang for buck’ firewood available anywhere. I love that expression!

Larch is a softwood, and priced as a softwood, but has a great calorific value, actually greater gram for gram than most hardwoods, due to the energy dense resins that it contains.

I like it very much, but I do find that, like all softwoods, it burns away rather quickly. I like to mix larch with a hardwood, such as oak or elm. This creates a lovely fire which keeps burning long and bright.

15^th June 2023 As many of you will know, the area that I now focus on for bringing those firewood prices hurtling down is ‘forming win-win relationships with tree surgeons’, who can dump wood right at your door, already cut into neat rounds. It will need some processing by someone with the skills do it, and it will also need seasoning. But by this means you should be able to get your wood down to about half current market prices.

How to do this? Well, I’ll bring you some information next time, but meanwhile take a look at my book on this subject.

A fantastic delivery of oak from a friendly tree surgeon

10^th June 2023 Now about increases in the price of firewood!

The problem we have here is that suppliers are very individual, and there is no single yardstick to summarise the pricing decisions they make.

I can give you a clear-cut example, which is an increase from £199 per 2m³ bag of large firewood (winter 2021/22) from a major supplier, to £244 now (mid summer 2023)).

That’s an increase of 23%, which, compared with the price increases experienced by gas users, looks very modest indeed.

You can get that 2021/2022 baseline for all sorts of wood varieties and all sorts of packaging options from my book. You should be anticipating increases of about 25% from the figures I’ve illustrated there. If it’s more than that, I suggest you shop further!

I’ll bring you a further review of prices as soon as the picture begins to clarify.

1^st June 2023 Now is the time for action if you want to get part-seasoned wood dry in time for this winter.

In this connection, I thought you might like to see how my new log stores, made from paving-stone crates, are coming on (see photo 26^th May for the original skeleton of crates).

Jim has worked on these on occasional evenings. They’re being constructed to look rustic and decorative in the garden, but you don’t need to do anything so fancy!

See how all the lessons have been learnt - storage raised from the ground and airflow from all sides. I have a non-removable roof to keep the rain off the wood, but some people prefer not to do this. Summer rain quickly evaporates and doesn’t really harm the drying out of sap, they say. It’s up to you, but full details of the possibilities are in my book.

26^th May 2023 I recently had my garden refurbished and realised that the wooden crates that contained the paving stones would make wonderful low-cost wood storage frames in the garden - and could look very attractive, too.

Here are four of those crates arranged more or less the way they are going to be (double decker, that is). My long-time helper Jim (see book) is going to firm them up, ‘pretty’ them, too, and put a sloping roof on. A little cost here, but much less than buying most of the available wooden log stores of similar size.

Great eco-friendly recycling, too.

23^th May 2023 Letting you into a secret, here is one of my wood-stacks that does a fantastic job with semi-seasoned wood. This is my utility room, but you’ll see I’ve sacrificed all the centre space for a semi-seasoned wood pile that is drying out in the warmth of my hot water storage tanks for the central heating. Not very elegant but … !

When the central heating is on, I can dry out semi-seasoned wood here, getting it super-dry within a couple of months. Note how the wood is stacked, with logs criss-crossed and air spaces between everything.

Most of my wood storage is outside, of course, but this indoor ‘drying centre’ is a bit special.

And do you know what species of wood this is? I’ll tell you later.

19th May 2023 Do you know how to make a woodpile that really works?

This is important for any wood that you need to stack, and absolutely crucial for wood that is delivered to you part-seasoned. What matters is getting a good balance of various factors that may include airflow, shelter, warmth and sunshine - well, always airflow, but plenty of people manage without shelter, warmth, and sunshine all the same time.

Do note it’s not essential to spend money on expensive wood-stacking frames. You can make the wood do the job all by itself by creating the right arrangements of the logs! Or recycle pallets or crates to help form the edges of any wood stack.

Find out how best to achieve all these things in my book!

8th May 2023 It’s a great time right now to stock up with firewood for winter. Take a good look both online and locally for bargains.

At this time of the year, it’s easy to find discounts declared to be up to 35%. But are these for real? Get your baseline prices from my Firewood Logs Guide so you know what you should be able to achieve.

The good news is that many of the discounts are indeed for real. During the present months firewood logs sellers may really have to struggle for business. And they have to keep those stocks moving or everything piles up. You may choose to negotiate and get an even better deal!

Here’s the sort of thing you should be able to find. (I’m not advertising these sources, just giving you examples!).

Firewood News Items from Shez