Firewood Guide

Buying Firewood In The Lincolnshire Area

Firewood can be sold in a number of different ways, but it should always be sold as a volume not a weight, as the weight changes with moisture content. A traditional volume is a cord of wood, which is 4’ x 4’ x 8’ of stacked timber and can be broken down into ½ cord or ¼ cord etc.

This is a common way of buying wood in North America. In the UK, firewood tends to be sold in loose loads and not stacked. So be very careful when working out how much wood you will be getting for your money. Logs are now commonly sold either in net bags, as you see in garage forecourts, or as ‘bulk’ loads, which may be delivered in woven nylon bulk bags or in the back of a pick up or trailer.

Shop firewood

Logs described as bulk are not stacked into the bags and therefore 1m³ of bulk loose logs will be a lot less than 1m³ of neatly stacked logs.

The Manthorpe Firewood Company has invested in metal cages that are fitted to the back of tipper trucks. These cages have a volume of exactly 1 cubic metre. This means that our deliveries are fair because you know the exact volume of loose logs you are getting for your money.

We have trucks with up to 4 cages so we can deliver 2-4 cubic metres in one drop. This investment has allowed us to reduce delivery costs, and therefore allows us to keep the price of logs down for you, our customers.

Shop firewood

How To Burn Wood

Wood needs plenty of air to burn well. To ensure you get the best, most efficient burn from your wood and to ensure that the volatiles are burned, you should ensure that new wood added to a fire or stove is burning well before reducing the air supply. A ‘clean burn’ produces very little smoke and tar, which are bad for health and the environment.

Following the below points will help to ensure clean burns:

wood on fire

Fire 'draw'

Start a fire using good quality dry kindling, to make an open fire 'draw' when first lit by holding a newspaper in front of the opening with a gap at the bottom. This will restrict the air flow, making the fire 'draw' and produce more flame at the start.

stack of wood

Seasoned wood

Burn only well-seasoned untreated wood. Burning 'green' wood produces less heat into the room as heat is used to ‘drive off’ the water in the form of steam.

wood on fire

Small hot fires

Burn small hot fires, which produce minimal smoke and tar.

stack of wood

Supply of logs

A log basket or other storage near the fire is a good idea as you can bring in a couple of days supply of logs and get them really dry next to the warmth of the fire.

wood

Larger logs

Burn logs that are 4-6” in diameter. Fires burn better with more surface area exposed to the flame.

Shop firewood