I live in the northern part of the United States and currently we have been experiencing winter-like temperatures (surprise, surprise). I don’t know where you live, but I’m freezing. Which is why I decided to blog about firewood. In my previous blog: Firewood 101, I discussed some basic considerations to keep in mind when shopping for firewood. Even if you are no where near the point where you would consider lighting a fire in your fireplace, believe me, your Indian Summer could bottom out before you know it and you too will be longing to get toasty in front of a nice warm blaze. But before you do keep this information in mind:
Measuring Firewood—What Is A Cord?
A cord is a measurement of stacked wood that equals 128 cubic feet–the stack measures four-feet tall by four-feet wide by eight-feet long. You can purchase wood in increments from an eighth of a cord and up.
Now here is an important lesson I learned the first winter I spent in Wisconsin: be careful about buying wood off some guy’s truck. I made the mistake (actually the guy I was dating at the time did—and he was a Wisconsin native!!) of believing there was such a thing as “a face-cord.” There is no such thing! Before you order wood know exactly what you want: How long do you want the logs cut (how deep is your fireplace) and do you want whole or split logs? Whole logs burn slower but split logs start up easier.
Homemade Firewood
What could be more affordable and more convenient than pruning your tree out front and burning it? Bad idea. Tree prunings are too green and wet to burn. And that old wooden furniture you were going to donate to charity… give it to charity. A painted wooden chair is liable to catch like wild fire and flame out the front of your fireplace causing serious damage and smoke.
Storing Your Purchase
Once you have your wood on hand you should store it outside on an elevated platform. You need to keep it off the ground to keep it from rotting. If you do so, your wood should last for about a year.