Seasoned firewood is much better for burning than unseasoned firewood. It comes with many benefits, including burning longer and hotter. Unseasoned wood contains moisture, which restricts the amount of heat the flame can produce.
You generally should not burn unseasoned firewood. It produces more smoke and can cause a lot of popping, sizzling, and soot to build up in chimneys. All of these factors can be a fire hazard. Plus, breathing excessive amounts of smoke is bad for your lungs.
Overall, seasoned firewood will be much better for burning, whether you are planning a campfire or have a fireplace at home. Here is everything about getting longer burning wood!
How Long Should Firewood Be Seasoned Before Burning?
To get the best burning, you need to be sure the moisture levels in the wood are low. Seasoning is the best way to do this. However, it takes a very long time for water to completely evaporate from the wood.
Seasoning can take a very long time. Usually, most types of wood will take between six months and a year to season completely. There are a few things you can do to make the process go a little faster.
How to Efficiently Season Wood
You will want to plan where you stack the wood since it will be there for a very long time. If you think you might need that space in the future, don’t put the wood there! It would be extremely inconvenient to move a heavy stack.
You also should never stack wood against buildings- always have plenty of room between your home and firewood. These seasoning stacks can attract pests and are a fire hazard.
Plus, if you want the wood to dry faster, make sure to leave it in the sun. Wood that’s in the shade can still dry completely, but it takes a lot longer. Additionally, keep the wood off of the ground. This allows air to reach the lower levels of your stack.
Finally, you should stack the wood with plenty of gaps between the pieces. Air needs to flow through so that it can dry. It helps to cover the wood with a tarp, so it never gets rained on. It should not cover the entire stack, only the very top.
The easiest way to store and season your firewood is with a firewood log rack like this one by Woodhaven. Its structural integrity is very sound, and will keep your firewood off of the ground. It also comes with its own cover that will cover the top 12″ of your firewood.
How Do You Know if Wood Is Seasoned Enough to Burn?
Start by checking the ends of the wood. If they are dark and show several cracks, they are likely dry enough to burn. You should notice a difference when you lift a piece; dry wood is much lighter than unseasoned wood since it does not contain moisture.
Next, hit two pieces of wood together. There should be a hollow noise if they are both dry enough to burn. However, if you notice green in the wood or the bark is hard to remove, the log is not yet dry.
With seasoned logs, the bark should peel off at the touch. Don’t worry about over-seasoning your wood either; that is not something that can happen!
Why Logs Don’t Over Season
You can’t over-season your wood. Once it has fully dried, it will stay at that level in storage. If you don’t store the wood properly, however, it may rot or deteriorate.
For example, if the wood in a damp location, the excessive moisture can cause the logs to rot before you even have a chance to burn them. If you want to avoid waste, make sure your logs have plenty of room to breathe and give them sun!
Burning Wood Safely
When it comes to fires, you should always do your best to be safe. Whether you are using a wood stove, fireplace, or firepit, always use common sense.
You need to use paper or another light material to start the fire, but you shouldn’t keep adding it once you have the fire roaring. Adding too much can cause the fire to easily spread out of your container- which is the last thing you want to happen!
Make sure you follow all the guidelines for fires in your area. It also is essential to have working smoke alarms and a carbon monoxide alarm for your safety.
Which Type of Wood Burns the Hottest and Longest?
If you want your wood to burn hotter and longer, make sure that it is perfectly seasoned. Even if you bought the wood from another person, it is a good idea to always check for signs of seasoning on your own.
Hardwoods are going to burn much hotter than the other species. Plus, they usually last quite a long time in the fireplace. Hardwoods include options such as hickory, birch, ash, maple, and oak. Trees that grow fruit are better burning, as they last a long time.
These woods don’t have as much sap, so they produce less smoke. However, hardwood is going to be much more costly than softwood. Overall, hickory is going to produce the most heat per cord.
As a note, you should always season birch in a mix of wood types. Birch has a unique bark that traps moisture, so the wood is less likely to season well. If you accidentally use unseasoned birch, you would have to deal with a ton of smoke and a possible fire hazard.
If you don’t want to pay high prices for hardwoods, there are still some pleasantly burning softwoods. Fir is the best option, as the other types will burn very fast or have many stored sap.
Best Burning Woods
- Apple trees
- American Beech
- Yellow Birch
- Hickory
- Ironwood
- Maple
- Red oak
- White ash
- White oak
Woods You Shouldn’t Burn
It is also essential to note that you should never burn the following materials, even after seasoning them:
- Painted woods
- Varnished woods
- Pressure-treated material
- Driftwood
- Particleboard or plywood
Additionally, you should never burn trees that have the word “poison” in their name. For example, the poison oak, poison sumac, and poison ivy plants release irritants into the air when burned. Breathing the smoke can cause severe allergic reactions in many people.
Overall, your firewood should be strictly meant for burning. You don’t want to light materials with chemicals in them, as they can easily be breathed in when burned. Some materials are even a severe fire hazard.
Seasoning Hardwood
The best burning hardwoods take a lot longer to season than the other types of wood. Oak can take between one and two years to be fully seasoned. For some people, this can simply be too much time spent waiting.
Final Thoughts
So, seasoned firewood does burn hotter and longer. If you want to get the most out of your wood, make sure that you allow it at least six months to a whole year to season. It helps if you store the wood properly if you want it to dry out much faster.
Once your wood has seasoned, you can safely burn it. Hardwoods tend to be the best wood species for burning since they last much longer and don’t have as much sap in them. Hardwood is more pricey but going to be more worth using in the long run.
Overall, make sure that you are safe while burning wood! Burning improper material can be dangerous.