Log Burner v Multi Fuel Stove FAQ

Its bullshit. Logs WILL burn on a stove base, but they burn better with a grate.

All my fires and stoves have grates.

No problem burning wood

I cam burn up to 18" logs on my open fires, but need smaller to light it. Stove will burn any size I can fit in

My house has a thatched roof, so it is not as simple as many others. But when I enquired about installing a wood-burning stove, it quickly became evident that the chimney temperature of a wood-burner is a lot higher than that of plain fire. Back in 2011, we had several quotes for installation of a suitable chimney liner, all of them in the £7,000 region. We declined the wood-burner.

I must say that I agree. The air flow will be better with a grate as it will enter pretty smoothly from underneath at the same rate as the hot air rises. I wonder where the idea of burning better on a solid base came from.

In message <vtdqkj$3sg36$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, Jeff Layman snipped-for-privacy@invalid.invalid writes

Good question. Here in NE Scotland, there are quite a lot of open fires, burning logs only, that sit directly on the hearth. Probably the wrong word, but that part of the hearth at the rear, directly under the chimney and where the grate or stove would normally sit.

Yes, my fire has a grate & has no problem burning logs. This allows an the ash to be collected & removed easily. Without the grate the fire would burn on the bottom of the stove which isn't as thick as the walls & the ash removal would be less convenient & messier. In addition the flue installer told me that once the fire was going well to control it with the top air inlet not the bottom.

Indeed. Once it's going well, close the bottom vent altogether, jut use the top.

Stops them burning too quickly if the air is uncontrolled

It's a juggling game. On night with no wind or if the fire gets too low, it helps to regulate with the bottom vent.

Most of our own logs (from pruned/felled trees) are no more than 6 inches in diameter and I don't split those. I tried splitting some of the larger wood, but even a fairly sharp axe makes no impression on the wood at all. I even tried using it as a wood splitter - hold the head in place with the axe handle and then clout the head with a sledge hammer. Again, the blade makes no impression on the wood.

I tried chainsawing a notch into one log, and then use the axe in there, and had slightly more success, but there were still a lot of times when the axe just bounced off the wood. Maybe I should have split the wood as soon as I cut it, rather than after it had seasoned...

I now have a long-handled axe with a really sharp blade, so I'll have to give it a try when I can find a way to hold the logs so they stand upright and don't fall over as soon as the axe touches them - the perils of not cutting the long lengths into logs that have faces at right angles to the axis of the log. Some of the logs are from a fallen willow tree that is about 18" diameter and I had to cut it using a battery chainsaw because it involved me standing in a stream so my electric one was unsafe. I managed about three cuts through the whole trunk (attacking it from both sides) per battery, of which I have three, used in rotation. It takes about half an hour for a used battery to cool down enough to start accepting charge and then another half hour or more to charge it. I should get a petrol chainsaw for that job! The next tree to be logged will be a dead elm which is still standing but we need to get felled because of the worry that it will fall in a gale.

Wrong tool, you need a log splitting maul not an axe.

Having said that I borrowed a hydraulic log spliiter to hang one the back of our little tractor when I had a lot of our own logs to split (a mixture of Leylandii and Oak) which made the job much easier! :-)

You need a splitting maul, or a splitting 'bomb' and a sledge/club hammer, or a hydraulic splitter..

Axes and hatchets NFG IME

Maul:

Get a Fiskar X25 or X27. You won’t regret it. An awesome log splitting tool.

I’m 5’8” and manage the X27 fine but the shorter X25 might appeal if you’re shorter. Taller folk seem to find the 27 fine.

Tim

I believe this is what friends have and what they purchased second hand to replace a wood burner that was installed 25 years before. The "new" multi-fuel burner is MUCH better than the old in every respect. The new burner has holes in the back fire brick liner and when running you can view vortexes of flame as air is re-circulated back into the main fire chamber. Although advertised as keeping the glass clean its not 100% effective, but the glass remains cleaner than the old stove/burner.

I normally use a cheap'ish hydraulic splitter but was bought a Kindling Cracker as a present - it's a brilliant gizzmo and highly recommended. Here's the original

I was given one of those and I consider it a complete waste of space. It does nothing that can’t be achieved with a little care and a hatchet. Designed to appeal to the terminally cack-handed I suspect.

Tim

I found to avoid the hatchet getting too close to fingers when doing slivers of wood for kindling having a holder helps and chiselling a tapering recess into a log slice large enough to be stable is simple and cheap or even free in many cases. Stick piece of wood sawn to kindling length into hole till taper grips enough to hold it then a few deft blows with the hatchet ,remove the split pieces and repeat. Once you get into the rhythm the process becomes quite fast. No need for fancy gadgets . As this is UK DIY somebody must be using an angle grinder.

GH

To my mind fire bricks are used because the metal is too thin. Logically you want the heat to radiate out not be contained within the fire.