Wood
Seasoned or Green Wood?

Seasoned Wood Characteristics:

	Seasoned wood is wood that has been cut, split and air dried for approximately 6 months.
	Contains many cracks or check marks in the ends of the logs.
	Bark can be lose or easily removed from the log.
	May be starting to turn gray
	Burns very easily in your stove or fireplace
	The best way to know is to buy or cut your wood the season before you need it.

Buying Firewood

Firewood is generally sold by volume, the most common measure being the cord. Other terms often employed are face cord, rick or often just a truckload. A standard cord of firewood is 128 cubic feet of wood, generally measured as a pile 8 feet long by 4 feet tall by 4 feet deep. A face cord is also 8 feet long by 4 feet tall, but it is only as deep as the wood is cut, so a face cord of 16" wood actually is only 1/3 of a cord, 24" wood yields 1/2 of a cord, and so on.

Wood Storage

Webster defines a rick simply as a pile, and truck sizes obviously vary tremendously, so it is very important that you get all of this straight with the seller before agreeing on a price as there is much room for misunderstanding. It is best to have your wood storage area set up in standard 4 or 8 foot increments, pay the wood seller the extra few dollars often charged to stack the wood, and warn him before he arrives that you will cheerfully pay only when the wood actually measures up to an agreed upon amount.

Another thought concerning getting what you pay for is that although firewood is usually sold by volume, heat production is dependent on weight. Pound for pound, all wood has approximately the same BTU content, but a cord of seasoned hardwood weighs about twice as much as the same volume of softwood, and consequently contains almost twice as much potential heat. If the wood you are buying is not all hardwood, consider offering a little less in payment.

Most firewood you purchase will be green and have a fair amount of water in it. When selecting wood, also take into consideration ease of splitting, ease of ignition and burning, how much smoke it produces and its "coaling" qualities. "Coaling" refers to the ability of a species of wood to form a long- lasting bed of hot coals when burned. Coaling qualities improve with higher density.

Greenwood, Energy Efficiency & Creosote

Green wood contains up to 50 percent of its weight in water. The first stage of combustion involves bringing this mass of water up to its vaporization point. The energy expended in doing this does not heat your home. And, while steam heat has its place, that place is definitely not in your woodstove. Worse yet, green wood gives off far more creosote than seasoned fuel, which further robs a stove and chimney of efficiency. On top of that, creosote produces the hazard of chimney fires, which have laid many a home to ash. Therefore, by cutting firewood a full year or more in advance, you theoretically could halve the amount of wood required to heat your home. Buying or cutting two years' worth of fuel may take some up front money and discipline, but it's an investment that pays for itself quickly in dollars, effort and safety.

“Customers First, Foremost & Always”

WoodSeasoned or Green Wood?

Wood
Seasoned or Green Wood?