Buy Kiln Dried Firewood !!.    Our Ready to Burn logs which are dried below 20% moisture to provide you with the ultimate burn quality with maximum heat output. The kiln drying process in our wood fired kilns remove most of the water for you, down to below an average of 20% moisture content which ensures your stove glass is kept clean. The lack of moisture in the logs will also prevent a build-up of soot or tar in your chimney or flue and because you get so much heat output, you will actually need less logs, than if you were to buy seasoned logs, thus providing you with great value for money. You can also expect a consistent product that you can rely on every time, unlike ‘seasoned logs’ which can be inconsistent in terms of their moisture content due to the natural and varied drying process. The standard length of 25cm kiln dried logs is recommended by stove manufacturers to fit 99% of wood burning or multi-fuel stoves, but you can choose from larger 35cm and 50cm logs if your wood burner is large enough. If you want very large logs, you can also choose our chunky logs which are much larger in diameter.

What are kiln dried logs?

This is firewood that has been force-dried in kilns in a short space of time rather than dried naturally or more commonly known as ‘seasoning’ over a period of time. The aim is to get the logs to below 20% moisture content which is what they need to be for the optimum burn. We only process timber which has been sourced from sustainably managed woodlands which means we only take thinnings which are required for healthy woodlands.

The time taken to dry logs in kilns can vary depending on the drying system used, but typically it will take about 7-10 days in a chamber which runs at around 60 – 70 °C. At Certainly Wood we have a very unique drying system which runs at much higher temperatures with fans to circulate the hot air. Our kilns can dry wood in approx. 50-hour cycles and each time, we put 18 tonnes into a kiln and take 12 tonnes out – therefore removing 6 tonnes (6,000 litres) of water!

Are kiln dried logs worth it?

Yes, very much so, but they will almost always be more expensive because they are ready to burn and the majority of the water is already removed for you. Being so dry, hopefully below 20% moisture content it will mean you will get far more heat output and therefore if burning in an efficient stove it will mean you will use far less wood. So, it’s actually far better value for money. The other benefit is that you should never have to overpay your chimney sweep to spend time removing tar from your chimney or flue!

How do your store kiln dried logs?

Basically, store under cover to keep the rain off, but don’t get too worried about a little bit of moisture on the outside of the log, perhaps when the logs are delivered and they get a little wet before being stored, or driving rain dampens the logs at the front of the log store. Any moisture will quickly evaporate from the surface of the logs. The beauty of kiln dried logs is that it removes most of the moisture from the inside of the log which is key. So, the perfect place is a log store, but a garage is fine as long as the logs have sufficient airflow. Avoid damp storage areas. Although we don’t advise it, you could store the logs in the bulk bags, left on a pallet outside but you must cover with a tarpaulin as the bulk bags are showerproof, not waterproof.

Which is the best kiln dried wood?

Buy Kiln Dried Firewood !!.    Naturally, we will say British sourced every time as we don’t import any logs and we believe British should be supported for the obvious reasons of:

1. Reducing ‘log miles’, therefore reduced CO2 emissions of transport.
2. Supporting British forestry and the relevant jobs
3. Ensuring British woodlands are properly managed by taking regular thinnings for firewood and therefore improving overall health and wellbeing of the flora and fauna of that woodland.
4. Reducing the risk of disease transfer from imported timber. Ash die back originated from the continent and this disease is now destroying our beautiful ash trees. The ash borer beetle is heading this way too – it will only take one infected tree!

However, there are a lot of imported kiln dried logs on the market and much of it is of good quality and ‘Ready to Burn’ approved. However, whilst the likes of silver birch or alder provide a very nice even and consistent sample of logs and burn very nicely, they will burn 20-25% faster than mixed hardwood British logs such as Eucalyptus logs, oak logs, ash logs and beech logs because the wood is less dense and more like softwood. That is a massive difference in terms of the amount of wood you will burn, so be careful when you select what you buy. It might seem cheaper on the face of it, but you will end up buying more logs for the same amount of heat output, therefore costing you more.

Does kiln dried wood burn faster?

A common question and the answer is yes, but only if burnt on an open fire which has no air control, but it is still recommended to burn kiln dried logs on open fires to avoid tarring up the chimney. Those that think mixing wet logs with kiln dried is good to slow the burn then this is completely false economy as not only will you reduce the heat output, therefore needing more logs, but also you will tar the chimney.

In a wood burning stove, kiln dried logs burn much more slowly and cleanly and provide a huge amount of heat – nothing can be more efficient. In a modern Eco-design stove the importance of logs below 20% becomes even more evident.