Since I’ve moved to the ‘wilds’ of Cumbria, well at least a very rural hamlet, I’ve gained a log burner. I’m still crap at lighting it unfortunately but am hoping I’ll learn.
One thing I have been good at though, is getting in wood. I haven’t bothered buying any, just waited until after the Autumn gales and then gone out on foot with my bag and my saw looking for fallen wood of a decent size. I saw up some of it in situ – one woodland even has a handy river bridge on the road where you can use the walls as a multi-height saw bench! The rest I carry home as long logs and saw in the back yard.
Anyway, this is my full log pile sitting drying – all got by my own grubby hands!
Not bad eh! 🙂 Mind you, with the very cold winter we’re having this year, it goes down quickly once you start…
The Adventures of a Mountain Coward 
Hi there, we love all things wood burning, so very happy to read your post about your log store and wood forging. Couple of things if i may, with regards to the advice regarding buying wood over using fallen wood, the key difference will be moisture content. Buying Ready to burn wood, such as kiln dried logs means that they already have a very low moisture content in them so they can be burnt straight away. Using fallen wood means you will need to leave it to air dry which can take up to 2 years depending upon the type of wood. So i would defiantly suggest investing in a moisture meter if you do not already have one, as these little tools are very useful in determining when your wood is ready to burn. We have also written a few posts about on wood, which you might find useful: https://www.fireplaceproducts.co.uk/blog/?s=wood
With regards to the logburner you have, if you need help in identifying it, send us an image and we can try to help you with that. Then you will know what fuels you can burn on it safely.
Keep up the good work, and let us know if you need any assistance with your log burner in the future.
Reece
Fireplace Products
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Thanks Reece. I’m pretty much realising now that the wood I’m collecting will not really be usable until at least next winter and am considering buying a load in of the properly seasoned stuff.
My stove (bought by the previous occupants) is a Tiger and is pretty small – I wish they’d bought a bigger one as you can only really fit smallish logs in. Mind you, the stuff I’m foraging is around the right width without having to split it – I’m just sawing it into log lengths. You can only get about 3 log pieces in at once though.
It says in the instructions that it’s a multi-fuel burner so I can use coal if I want to – just the foraging aspect really appeals to me. I’ve always foraged for plants to eat in spring and summer and now I can forage through the winter for wood 🙂
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No problems, yes familiar with Tiger as a brand and yes the models they make are multifuel so you can burrn smokeless coal in them if you wanted to, though foraging for smokeless coal might be more tricky 😀. We speak to lots of customers who tell us they have an abundance of wood to burn, which prompted us to start writing blogs about to do’s and don’ts around wood burning, just trying to help inform woodburner users all over how to get the most from their stoves.
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I’m always foraging wood, I just help it……
A friend of mine live near the sea in Somerset. In the winter he beach combs for wood. There’s no shortage. Takes about 9 months drying before it ready for burning.
Closer to home I cut peat on the moor above our house. We have commoners rights to do this. There are five areas locally where people can do this but only one still active. It is the last community organised “Turbury” in England. At one point I was the only person left cutting but after a bit gentle persuasion there are now six of us.
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I probably said before but my parents had turbary rights on our moor – they never used them though.
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You can forage wood, but if it has recently fallen from the trees then it will still be “green”. It’ll need to dry for 6 months so it lights better. The option could be to buy a small amount of dried, use that to get the thing going and then use your wood once you’ve got a good base and the fire has been going for 30 mins. You’ll need to forage between now and May for next winter
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Yeah, I’ve been doing quite a bit of googling and all the symptoms are pointing to that. I’ve got a couple of bags somewhere which I cut the year before last (but only small stuff) so I’m going to use that up first. I’ve started bringing the rest into various warmer parts of the house for a week or two before using which has helped them burn a bit better. I also stand them on top of the stove for half an hour or so before using so they start getting hot (don’t worry, I don’t leave them unattended!).
But, ultimately, I’m deciding I’m going to have to buy in this year and continue cutting and drying for next winter after all. At least I’m still working this year and can afford it – I’m not planning to be working next year – or at least, not full time.
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I’m impressed by your log pile Carol and I know from bothy trips how fast it goes down. Firelighters make a real difference starting a fire. I used to faff about with just dry kindling and twigs in the old days but if it’s damp at all firelighters and a few lumps of coal make all the difference to start it off. Wood burning bothy stoves that is. You really need a good bed of embers first for the bigger logs to burn well..We always carry a bag of coal in to start it off and use wood lying around outside after its going well. Hope this helps. Don’t know about using coal in your log burner though- you’d need to check that was OK as supplementary fuel first. I like swinging a sharp axe around – it must be a he- man thing.
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I think I can use coal or wood from what I remember. But my problem, after extensive googling this afternoon, seems to be that I’ve only ‘seasoned’ my wood for a month or so – you’re supposed to season it for a year apparently. I can light the fire fine now – it’s just keeping it burning I struggle with…
I won’t have an axe around the place – I just use my hand saw.
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Gaffr…from Walkhighland days.
Kind of keeps you real when it comes to heating a room. Only yesterday afternoon I was out with my bow-saw attacking a group of three old silver birch trees that had been bulldozed out of the way, roots and all, and piled up nearly two years ago when a road was being constructed. Split them this morning at home and have one piece in the stove at the moment.
From the shadow of the Cairngorms.
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Hi Gaffr – nice to hear from you – I remember you. I haven’t got an axe yet to split wood so will have to borrow one for larger logs. But I’ve found plenty of sawable logs which will fit on the fire for now so that’s good.
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I just love all that collecting, chopping, storing wood thing! Unfortunately, this house is the first one I’ve had without a real fire of some sort though, and I do rather miss it. We could have one – we have a suitable chimney – we’ve just never got round to it. Think Geoff particularly like the ease of the gas one……
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Maybe you should give me tips on how to keep the damned thing going – I can get the kindling to burn beautifully but then, sometimes it goes well, and sometimes it more or less smoulders slowly and without producing any heat and eventually goes out!
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Well I used to be good with them, but they were all coal fires, not wood burners, so the techniques might well differ…. 😀
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I’ve been googling it and some sites are suggesting that you must only use bought wood which has been properly dried. But, to me, I might as well just use the electric radiators if I can’t use foraged wood
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My mate James definitely uses foraged wood on his. Not sure if he buys some as well sometimes, but he’ll certainly take wood from anywhere he can get it, and he obviously doesn’t have any problems.
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and you used to… I’ll just have to keep googling. Maybe I should google for courses in it? 😉
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