Lancaster wood fuel specialists provide a guide to what wood to burn this winter

Halton-based Logs Direct is highlighting which ‘yule’ logs to use this festive season and beyond, so as to stay snug, safe and neighbourly.

What can you burn?

Its first piece of advice is for homeowners not to be afraid to light their wood burner on environmental grounds. As long as they buy what is officially certified by Defra (The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) as ‘Ready to Burn’ wood – wood which carries the Ready to Burn mark – and as long as they comply by having a modern eco-friendly stove, the wood-burning experience should be carbon neutral.

In fact, burning this wood in a wood burner will generate fewer CO2 emissions than are produced when lighting a gas fire.

What wood to choose to suit your lifestyle?

Ready to Burn wood comes in a plethora of varieties, so it depends what the homeowner wants to buy and how wood fits around their lifestyle.

If they are a homeowner wanting wood with a low carbon footprint from forest to fireplace, they might want to consider UK-grown wood, like Logs Direct’s ‘Grown in Britain’ finest hardwood. This is light, clean and easy to handle and offers a delightful aroma.

If however, they want to assist the environment by buying a wood that supports the global eco-system, they might want to look at Proper Wood hardwood. This is a mix of hardwoods from non-native, invasive-species trees felled in South Africa, where they otherwise greedily drink up the water supply and affect biodiversity in an adverse way. By buying Proper Wood logs from these trees, wood burner or open fire owners can support the local environment and promote employment opportunities in South African townships.

Hardwood choices for Working From Home lifestyles and the retired

Should a homeowner have a lifestyle that requires a fire that will last most of the day – the ideal scenario perhaps for someone who is retired or who works at home – then a hardwood log might be their best yule choice. This is most likely to be from a species such as ash, oak, birch or beech – all broad-leaved trees that boast a dense wood.

Oak is the renowned king of the hardwoods, burning for an impressively long time thanks to its dense wood fibres. It generates a lot of heat and burns with a low flame, meaning that little fire-tending is required. It does not spit and leaves very little ash behind but does need a lot of air to burn and is more suited to the experienced fire starter.

Ash, birch and beech hardwoods

Ash could be another wood species to consider, especially if you want both heat and a great light source. Its flame is reliable and the scent produced is negligible – ideal if you do not want to be overpowered by aroma. It sparks very little and produces little smoke or creosote, so you will not be up and down dealing with the smoke alarm or having to sweep the chimney more regularly than normal. Another great advantage is that ash disintegrates into hardwood coals that glow and offer enough heat to allow a new fire to be started in the morning.

Another hardwood choice would be Birch, a fantastic wood to use if you struggle with the lighting process but one that can burn frustratingly quickly. During the burn time, however, the upside is that you can enjoy large, bright flames and a high heat output. If storing birch for later use, you will also benefit from its lovely appearance, relishing its silvery bark. Its sweet scent, when on the fire, is also very appealing.

Change a few letters and you could also be burning Beech. Advocates for this wood would choose nothing less, but you have to make sure you buy good quality, kiln dried and ready-to-burn Beech, or you will face a lot of spitting and smoke. As it is illegal to burn wood that is not ready to burn, that should not be a hardship. Beech is clean to burn, produces little ash and is the preferred choice of pizza chefs in Italy. This is why Logs Direct has a whole range of restaurant-grade Beech logs available for culinary purposes, all food-safe and free from nasties and additives.

If you burn Beech alone – as is sometimes possible when Logs Direct can create Beech bundles – you can expect a very theatrical flame show.

The secret for many homeowners is to enjoy the very best of the hardwood world, by burning a combination of these woods, so each can bring their own special qualities to the party. This is why Logs Direct typically sells these species in mixed hardwood bundles.

Softwood for homeowners out all day (and sustainability)

However, if you only want to light a fire that will keep you toastie for a few hours in the evening, you are perhaps better turning to softwood. If you want to be more environmentally friendly, this could definitely be the case as softwood trees grow far faster than hardwoods and reforestation is much quicker.

Softwoods have had a bad press within the log world because they do burn faster. However, if it is simply a case of wanting a fire that you can operate from the time you arrive home to the hour that you turn in for bed, or a fast lighting, quick heat-delivering fire first thing in a morning before leaving for work, softwood is the answer. You won’t have to be encountering the main drawback of regularly adding logs to the fire, or miss out on experiencing all the beautiful long heat of a hardwood fire because you are not at home. Should you need to make a softwood fire last longer, just mix and match by adding a few hardwood logs as well.

Whilst softwoods produce more sap and you may have to clean your chimney more, the advantages are evident and it’s worth remembering that it is softwood that keeps most Scandinavian fires burning bright, despite temperatures there often falling to -25 degrees Centigrade or lower. Softwood trees, like fir and pine, can reach maturity in just 15 years and as most tree replanting schemes are based around softwood, your eco credentials might be more satisfied if you burn softwood in your wood burner or open fire.

Wood coal – the new smokeless fuel

The final yule choice you might want to make is to mix wood coal with your logs. Wood coal is an intermediate natural fuel falling between coal and peat, and can be regarded as the ‘new’ smokeless fuel. It is easy to light and less dusty than traditional coal, offering a high heat output and bright and lively flames. Producing low ash and little sulphur content, it is good for the environment and can be burnt as the sole fuel in your appliance or on your fire. However, adding a few lumps of this compressed organic material to a wood log fire can give you a long lasting burn and fantastic heat.

What NOT to burn

Just remember the key thing when burning wood this winter – that your fuel needs to be ready to burn certified or fully seasoned. Never ever burn MDF, treated wood or any other type of wooden material that is not certified or legal. Even if you truly hate the MDF bookcase that someone gifts you this Christmas, do NOT chop it up and use it as firewood!

Where to find compliant wood

Get this right by buying legal-to-burn and eco-friendly wood, with a moisture content of less than 20% (typically 12%-20% in Logs Direct’s case) and you will not have to feel any guilt or suffer any black looks from neighbours. Just sit back, enjoy the wonderful traditional ambience that a real fire brings and ‘yule’ discover that there’s nothing wrong with burning wood at all if you know what you are doing and burn the right wood in a carbon neutral way.