We have just had a delivery of a selection of seasoned hardwood from our local(ish) fuel merchants.

As it was being unloaded I was chatting to the chap about the sorts of wood in the drop.

I know that the likes of oak burns well and should be used later once the fire is established and that other woods are better for getting the fire going etc.

But …. how to tell it all apart?

The wood we have used over the last 18months has typically been of a single type so I’ve not worried but I wood ( 🙄 ) like to get the best from the timber.

Any pointers?

Its just staked in the store at the moment but thinking it could do with being sorted 😆

Any pointers are much appreciated 🙂

Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut’s only good they say,
If for logs ’tis laid away.
Make a fire of Elder tree,
Death within your house will be;
But ash new or ash old,
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold

Birch and fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last,
it is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E’en the very flames are cold
But ash green or ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke,
Apple wood will scent your room
Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom
Oaken logs, if dry and old
keep away the winter’s cold
But ash wet or ash dry
a king shall warm his slippers by.

Here’s hoping for 90% ash then !! 😀

Cheers guys 😆

Visual guide would be good 🙂

Weight and hardness plus grain and bark.

If you chop you own you kind of learn them but the bark bit if course can googled.

It all burns. Seasoning is the key thing. The stuff I do at work is down for at least a year (species dependent, oak for 3) and spends at least 6 months in the sheds once split. We’ve never had a complaint and we sell a 50/50 mix of softwood and hardwood. The softwood is far easier to light and gives more instant heat.

If it feels lighter, it is probably drier/softer and will burn quicker, so a good starter. The opposite being wetter/harder and slower burning.

Softwood (conifer) is more likely to have a platelet or rough (like sand paper) or flaky bark and produce the sort of small splinters that you lose in your hand. Generally stronger smelling as more sappy.

Hardwood (broad leaf) tends to have smooth or rippled bark and gives big splinters.

Oak has a deep furrowed bark. The wood has a thick outer band of lighter coloured timber called sapwood. The centre called heartwood is much darker. This contrast when looking at the face (rings) of a sawn piece of oak is the most telling.

It takes years to instantly recognise timber so don’t be harsh on yourself.

Ash has almost no sapwood visible, on all but the most huge old trees which it is sometimes seen on the timber from it. The bark is thin, and the flesh of the timber is very light in colour compared to oak. Ash does burn well and gives out the most heat as it is very dense. The aroma of Ash can be bitter, especially if it isn’t well seasoned.

A mix of woods produces the best results and aroma, oak is very aromatic but needs to be very dry and well split to burn well.

Beech burns nicely and is faster burning with a purple-ish flame but doesn’t produce the heat of the above two, again needs lots of seasoning.

I could go on and on but I’ve already probably reached the readers boredom threshold! 😉

Happy learning 🙂