Where do you get your logs for the fire?

[PeachesMcLean]

And do you have to season them youself? If so, how long do you give them?

Only had a fire for a month. We've been getting ours from B&Q - suspect this is not the most cost effective way of doing it!

[Twinklemegan]

You'll find there are local suppliers selling seasoned hardwood. They will deliver a full or half truckload. From memory we paid about £40 for a half load and it lasted us more than one winter (we had another form of heating as well as the fire).

Our supplier was a tree surgeon who sold logs as a sideline. Beware ads with only a mobile number - they will either be poor quality and probably unseasoned, or they will have fallen off the back of a lorry.

[MaureenMLove]

What does seasoned mean? We've had a log fire for about five years and we've been using logs from a tree that came down in our garden and one that came down in the neighbours garden. DH chopped them up into logs and we've stored them at the end of the garden!

[PeachesMcLean]

Seasoned means, I think, allowed to dry out with age. Unseasoned logs still have sap in them and this can mean your fire burns inefficiently, they give off more stuff which blocks your chimney and the increased sparks are more likely to cause chimney fires.

Or am I talking crap?

[MaureenMLove]

I ain't got a clue, but it sounded good!

I guess its just them drying out. We only light the fire on highdays and holidays, so most of the wood we burn has been sitting undercover and on a pallet for some years. Same thing I suppose.

Its lovely having a real fire though, isn't it? I just can't resist fiddling with it, when its lit

[Twinklemegan]

That's right.

[PeachesMcLean]

Oh we're big fiddlers and pokers here, it's such a novelty.

Problem is it's costing a fortune in fuel! I knew it would cost a bit and I've sourced coal (well we are in South Wales FGS) but logs seem a bit trickier. I'm more confused about that.

[PeachesMcLean]

But how long does "seasoned" take? We've a local place which sells them straight off the tree.

£40 for a winter's worth for ready seasoned sounds jolly reasonable. I've just worked out B&Q logs would be £80 assuming a miserly 3 fires a week for hypothetical 15 weeks of cold winter. Not good enough, is it?

[Granny22]

I get mine by going out the back gate into the wood and dragging some fallen branches home. Then I saw it up which is great exercise, stack under an old table and leave for some months. Both my daughters now have open fires too and between us we have twice got some tree trunks via FREECYCLE - we had to collect but DH has a van and we all pitched in including DS-out-laws with a chain saw and now all have a good pile for the winter.

I have been logging for years but only just learned something - although logs left outdoors may be wet on the outside if you split them with an axe they are always dry inside!

[WendyWeber]

THere's a place near us that sells all sorts of woody things like fences and gates (and Christmas trees!) and they sell logs too, a huge sack for a couple of quid.

[WendyWeber]

Whatever logs we buy though are improved by being dried out in the shed for a bit - I don't think sellers generally keep them in a dry place before you buy them.

Also if we're organised we bring a few in and stack them in the fireplace for a couple of days before we need them. Dry wood makes the best fires even if it is all gone in half an hour.

[PeachesMcLean]

We live next to a city park with a little woodland. Do you think we're allowed to pull home fallen trees? My inclination is to steer DH away from purchasing an axe...

[WendyWeber]

Granny22, most of the firewood we buy is already split though - helpful, but soggy!

[WendyWeber]

I don't know, Peaches! We go for walks in the woods and there are always bits lying about - our light-fingered DSs always want tobring a bit home but I never dare because it must belong to somebody...

(If nobody's looking though...?)

[themoon66]

~We dry ours in a series of old dustbins. When desperate we buy bags from local farm shop. Otherwise we go 'wooding', which means we drag stuff home. When driving around we both tend to spot fallen logs as a matter of routine. It its dark we shove em in the boot.

[themoon66]

Oh and you must let your DH get an axe... its vital for a man with a fire.

[Twinklemegan]

If you stack you're logs well and put those with bark on at the top, then you'll find everything underneath stays pretty dry.

[Twinklemegan]

YOUR sorry. I don't know what's up with my spelling tonight!

[PeachesMcLean]

No! I do the fire

DH isn't allowed near. He has steel toe capped boots and he will find them glued to his feet if he buys an axe. he already has a rip in the leather of those boots from the time he bought a pick axe...

So basically we just need a space in the garage for wood, and just a couple of months will dry it enough. Yes?

[Granny22]

PM - I have collected wood all over the place and never got into any trouble. If it is already dead where is the harm? Beaches are good too for finding old wood. My DH bought each of the DH-out-laws an axe and our DDs were a bit .

Forgot to add that my DH is a supposedly retired joiner so we also burn loads of wood offcuts - worth asking if you know a joiner or are having some work done. Also eke out the supplies with a little coal, paper logs, thick cardboard, stale bread, peach & plum stones, etc.

[expatinscotland]

i steal driftwood off a public beach

[WendyWeber]

Driftwood off a beach isn't stealing, expat

(can you send me some please?)

[expatinscotland]

it isn't? okay, then.

[nannyL]

Our local ornamental animal farm sells them by the trialer / half trailor load.

they also sell Xmas trees and compost etc

[Tnog]

Expat - we burn driftwood too, unless it's a very interesting shape and then we just keep it.

[Scramble]

Local independent petrol stations near here sell big bags of logs, much better price than BP garages piddling bags of logs.

Other source for me was a local joiner, lots of big off cuts of pine and hardwood (that burns for ages), plus loads of little bits for kindling and all free. Always cut into good sized bits and boxed up for me.