Firewood seasoning.

dunstonh

Wood takes time to season. I'm of the opinion that i always want two summers on it before I'll use it. 

We normally do two years on our own wood (which is usually oak or ash).  However, we had a lot of pine & leylandii cut last year and we are giving that three years.

FreeBear

Ectophile said:  If I need to buy wood, I try to get it in the spring, so I can leave it in the log store for a full summer.

Same here. Stacked in the spring, it gets baked in the shed during the summer (been getting up to 45°C+ some days). Moisture level is around 18-20% now.

silverwhistle

I'm more of a cheapskate. As I'm retired I scrounge wood and process it myself and haven't bought any yet. I listen out for the sound of chainsaws, keep my eyes open, speak nicely to the tree surgeons (and if close by take them cups of tea) and accept pretty well any variety of wood. I agree on the two years, particularly for some woods like apple. Kindling comes from pallets and my neighbour, who makes his own furniture and builds model boats. I buy the heat logs to help get the stove going by putting on a third/half a log. 

I once bought an experimental bags of logs from one of the cheapie German supermarkets.. I had to get the tongs out to take the log out of the fire and a check with the moisture meter afterwards (big mistake!) explained why.

You live and learn..