Logs to burn - age

[Mo]

If anyone (mod) can find the thread I'm looking for maybe they'd combine them. I'm sure we've discussed types of logs for fires.
I have ash logs (cut early last year), beech & fruit pruned this autumn / winter. We have an open fire, so does my daughter. Her SIL has a wood stove.
I know there's a song about ash burning well green or dry, do the rest need to be seasoned?

[Totally Scrambled]

After the best part of year the Ash should be ready to burn as long as it has been kept out of the elements. Ash has a low moisture content even when freshly cut so can be burned green, better to wait for it to dry out though as any "wet" wood will use more of the heat from the fire drying out before burning. Dry seasoned wood gives a more efficient burn that unseasoned wood.
Beech is one of the best woods to burn and makes good embers. Yours should be ready to burn this Autumn/Winter as should the fruit wood.
Dom
PS HAven't got the time to hunt out the other post right now but will try to fit it into my busy schedule later on.

[jemberelli]

Bumped a thread up that might be the one you wanted Mo

[Mo]

Thanks.
That makes sense, Dom

[Freeranger]

Not the thread, but useful perhaps?

Logs to Burn
Logs to burn! Logs to burn!
Logs to save the coal a turn!
Here’s a word to make you wise
When you hear the wood man’s cries

Beechwood fires burn bright and clear
Hornbeam blazes too
If the logs are kept a year
To season through and through

Oak logs will warm you well
If they’re old and dry
Larch logs of pinewood smell
But the sparks will fly

Pine is good and so is yew
For warmth on wintry days
But polar and willow too
Take long to dry or blaze

Birch logs will burn too fast
Alder scarce at all
Chestnut logs are good to last
If cut in the Fall

Holly logs burn like wax
You should burn them green
Elm logs like smouldering flax
No flame is seen

Pear logs and apple logs
They will scent your room
Cherry logs across the dogs
Smell like flowers in bloom

But ash logs all smooth and grey
Burn them green or old
Burn up all that come your way
They’re worth their weight in gold

Anon

[Aspasia]

Oh I like that, Freeranger!

[bmpsands]

I brought in the wrong logs recently, according to OH, so in the last cold snap we burned some wood that had been in the store for 18 months and a few logs that were cut this spring. We could certainly tell the difference. So could the dogs. The newer stuff spat rather a lot when it first caught fire and one of our dogs removed hiself upstairs pretty smartish.

On the plus side, the greener wood seemed good at banking down a fire. I didn't notice much more smoke so might bear this in mind. The newer logs made the window in the multi-fuel burner dirtier than usual but this is a minor detail.

[fabindia]

I heard the other day that you shouldn't burn elder. Apparently, can give off arsenic, don't know if that is right or just an old wife's tale.

[Mo]

I don't know about that, I think it doesn't burn well - spits or something.

[manda]

I heard the other day that you shouldn't burn elder. Apparently, can give off arsenic, don't know if that is right or just an old wife's tale.

I don't think it does it's just a really poor burning wood.

Another problem with burning wood really green is it cokes up the flue / chimney much quicker.

[silverback]

As Manda say's, burning green wood soots up the chimney/flue, and as mentioned by bmpsands it dirties the glass on the door. A little tip if you don't already know, to clean off soot deposits on the glass, dip dampened newspaper in the old ashes of the fire and scrub the soot off the glass, then buff the glass with clean dry newspaper! ..

[Bridgets Mum]

We were advised not to burn laurel leaves/logs because of cyanide being given off. When I looked it up it seems that burning various biomass produces cyanide.
The general opinion seemed to be that it was ok in a properly vented woodburner.
I don't know about elder, but I know its hard to burn and gives off little heat.

[HazellB]

Cyanide gasses come off sheep's wool too - so if ever you want to see off your partners just buy a sheepskin rug and wait for them to snooze by the fire ...... although now I've told you that none of us can do it

We started to keep wood for a bare minimum of 18 months, with 2 1/2 years being the aim. So far so good. The logs are smaller, lighter to carry in and give off more heat, but storing them can be hard for most people I guess. You start with about three cubic metres of wet logs, then they make only two thirds the volume once dry.

[Mo]

OH claims that if they are too old and dry they are useless on and open fire. Burn up too quickly.
In the corner of the field he has a big pile of old wood 'for wildlife', though I reckon the main wildlife it attracts are rabbits and wasps and maybe a fox.

[Freeranger]

I agree with your OH, Mo. OH fancied himself as a lumberjack so we have all the gear - including a moisture meter, which was quite a good investment because woods dry at different rates and are more or less sappy. The sappier ones like willow and confiers are OK when they dry and don't seem to leave residues.