dried wood that has got wet is no problem really.
Its green wood that has all the strange wood tars in it.
Wood that is above ground that gets rained on dies not absorb much water
- it dries out when the rain stops
Thanks, it does seem that it dries pretty quickly indoors and burns ok even if still damp.
a sure sign that the dampness is superficial. It takes about a year to air dry wood logs outside. It is not unreasonable to suppose that they would have to stay waterlogged for a year to regain that moisture
Although I now have a wood shed, for many tears I just stacked logs outside clear of the ground. They still dried out OK.
We are lucky that we have somewhere to stack the logs outside (where they dry for a year), plus a lean-to which has one slatted wood wall and an open side (where they dry for the further year, now without rain on them) and an enclosed shed where they stay as we gradually bring in logs to burn them.
We may have to buy some logs for next year because we are coming to an end of the logs from pruning/felling trees. However following that we will have *loads* of logs because a multi-trunk coppiced willow tree fell down last summer (*). I cut it up into long lengths which need further cutting into stove-size pieces when the weather dries up, and then these can be stacked outside to begin the 3-year cycle. The main problem will be working out how to split the large logs lengthways, since even a fairly sharp axe seems to make no impression on a trial log, no matter whether I swing the axe or whether it rest it on the log and hit its head with a sledgehammer. How critical is axe sharpness to the ability to split logs: does it need to be almost razor sharp?
(*) It fell across a shallow stream at the bottom of our garden, so I had to put on my wellies and gradually cut back each of the small branches in turn, eventually getting to the bigger branches and the main trunk: it look a daunting task but I had it all cut up into pieces about
2 feet long, with the small stuff shredded and taken to the tip, within a few weeks. We just needed help from a neighbour with a petrol chainsaw (as opposed to my battery one) to get through the big trunk near the roots, and to fell one remaining trunk which was sloping in the opposite direction and was resting on another (intact) tree.
I tried to burn willow but gave up. I don't know why, but willow and poplar are just shit to burn.
I think they hold too much water.
I *think* we've already burned some willow from previous trees that fell down or which we pruned. As far as I know we've got round to those in our multi-year cycle of logs.
We should have known that a coppiced willow (done many years before we bought the house) would eventually collapse: when a couple of trunks fell down the other year (the wood that I think we've successfully burned), the remaining ones wouldn't last much longer. The coppice split apart :-( Shame, it was a nice-looking tree.
The hardest job with the trunks that fell last summer was extracting the length of barbed wire from an old fence that I'd been meaning to cut down but hadn't got round to borrowing the heavy-duty wire-cutters from our neighbour. Once the tree had collapsed on the wire, it was a lot harder to extricate the cut lengths of the wire.
I suspect you are trying to use a felling axe to split the logs rather than a splitting maul like this one (watch out for the line break), cheaper ones are available from eg Toolstation:
But secondly on many logs so is a bomb (grenade) or splitting maul.
£320 will net you a 5 tonne electric powered hydraulic log splitter.If you are doing a lot of logs in a year, its worth it.
Hmm. I used to split dryish sawn logs with a felling axe and would expect knot free Willow to succumb provided the support was adequate. Something like a 24" sawn ring. With dead Dutch Elm, I had to use steel wedges and a substantial sledge hammer. Hy-Crack log splitters can still be purchased but you then need a tractor with power take off.
Don't forget the cost of the leather gauntlets, required if you are putting logs on a log burner.
+1 for the leather gauntlets but I have the red welding gloves ones from screwfix instead:
Never wear my gloves (which came “free” with my log burner). Handle on mine doesn’t get hot enough to need it. Only really required if you’re cack handed. ;-)
Tim
You don't need to wear them but if you make a mistake the interior metal parts of a stove can be very unforgiving and close to red hot.
I also have a pair of tongs for handling logs. Every now and then one decides to fall against the front window. You can usually move them with the poker but sometimes you need a bit better control.
I do wear the gloves when handling a hot ash tray otherwise if the wind picks up red hot embers off the top and they hit your hands it can sting.
Totally unnecessary :-)
However the flue liners are. In some ways its harder to fit a log burner to an existing fireplace than to simply push a double insulated flue through a roof . Log burners don't dilute flue gases with loads of air, so they run very hot flue wise. They are required to have, by law, a stainless, double walled, insulated flue. For new installs anyway. You used to be allowed to fit a corrugated liner to pre IIRC 1970 chimbleys, but I think they rescinded that. Fitting such a flue is difficult, time consuming and the flue itself can set you back a grand or more.
You may also need scaffolding to address the chimney issues. At some level the liner needs to be terminated to some kind of pot and probably a cowling as well, and it is often easier to drop the liner down from the top.
Add into that the regulatory requirements for a certain amount of hearth around it, some kind of fireproof plate above it, and the need to provision airflow into the appliance, and its not just a matter of plonking a stove in and coupling it to the chimney, unless you are prepared to do it yourself and void your insurance...
I beg to differ, and not only for older log burners with a fixed cast iron opening handle. Wearing one gauntlet allows you to place a log in a burning fire in the optimal position.
You may/will find that the cost of registration/certification for a new fit cost £150+
Albeit in only 3 properties that I've had personal experience with log burners, the fireplace opening had been enlarged to perhaps 5 foot tall by 3 foot wide. In another property I visited over Xmas the stove was free standing away from the corner in a conservatory with the flue rising to the roof. This did result is a lot of wasted floor space behind the back and sides of the stove.
I borrowed my neighbour's vertical tractor hydraulic powered splitter some months ago when I had half a large oak tree and several other recently felled (too close to road) trees to split. It was a god-send. I have a maul, and wedges and a manual hydraulic splitter but for large quantities the hydraulic tractor one was magic. It's also not too hairy to use (unlike the Hy-Crack if that's what I think it is), stick a log on the base, pull a lever and it's split quite gently but easily.
I used some dying socks as an oven glove
There is no optimal position.
No idea.
My log burner is in a 3 x 3 opening
Most people who do this don't use tractors, but dedicated splitters - either diesel/petrol hydraulic or electric hydraulic. One of these is on my horizon as my physical strength is rather shot due to nerve damage
I confess to not being a lover of a grenade type splitter but a splitting maul is easy to use. Some people do make the mistake of trying to split a thick log from the centre instead of taking 'bites' around the circumference.
Hy-Cracks are hazardous if you like having fingers on your right hand. Quick and will handle 3 ' rings if you can lift them to the table.
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