Identifying wood for burning

akayel

I have just ordered a log burner and have read that certain types of wood burn much better that others. See here; http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/woodburning_chart.html

My question is how to actually identify these types of wood i.e. leaf shape/bark characteristics/wood colour/grain etc.
Any suggestions???
Many thanks

peat

see wood burning facts here
http://www.the-tree.org.uk/TreeCultivation&Uses/Firewood/burningwood.htm

janken

Most importantly is the water content - the drier the better, almost any wood can be used but unless soft woods (all pine) are very dry they can cause problems in the flue. (you get an oily residue which is difficult to remove and can cause flue fires) You should burn wood below 20% water content 15% is preferable. You can buy moisture guages but i check by picking up a log and i know by the wieght(30 years experiance!)

You will identify any pine and soft wood by how Knotty they look and the bark is rough and often falls off while drying . Hard woods (beech oak etc) tend to be much smoother the cut surfaces tend to be very clean the bark is much thinner.

Hope this helps somewhat

Thomsk

This is a good website for identifying trees. By the time the wood reaches you, you will have to recognise the bark or the wood itself. This can be tricky, because for example a young Ash can have very smooth bark but older ones may be a lot rougher. Oak has very distinctive bark and wood, but even some softwood barks can look like Oak at first glance.

I think the best thing is to get out in a bit of mixed broadleaf woodland while the trees are still in leaf and see for yourself. That's what I did (although I have the advantage of living in the middle of the New Forest, which makes it pretty easy ;-) ). Then the other thing you can do is ask your firewood supplier to show you - if he thinks you are going to be a regular customer then it's in his interests to be helpful and not to palm you off with any old rubbish when you think you are paying for seasoned Ash and Oak (and if you can get a regular supply of those, think yourself very fortunate).

Thom

howardtog

As you have a stove you can use soft wood or hard wood as in an open fire the former spits.
If you have cut the logs yourself from green a useful method is to weigh a log when cut and then when it is at least 33% lighter its dry enough to burn.Ive experimented (with scouts and nmy own children) over the years and this is about right.For example I had a green sycamore log ,tree lopped in April and the wood stored in my garage .I marked a 3lb log and it is now 2lbs and ready to burn. If it was stored outside it would probably have only lost half the weight.
Ive also a 2 year old log in the garage and that has lost just under 40% which is about as dry as it will go unless you have a kiln.
Dry wood is much warmer (obviously) but weigh a lb of water and if you have a green log that much water has to be burnt off.before you get any heat for you
For bought logs apply the same logic but as they should be part seasoned look for say 20% loss. as someone else said you can tell very quickly by feel.