What are Hardwood Logs?

When purchasing logs for your fire, it's important to have a good idea of the benefits that each type brings and its background. Here at D Price and Sons, we’ve been providing Kiln Dried and non-dried hardwood and softwood logs for over 25 years. Therefore, we thought that we would put our experience to good use, writing guides on what customers should consider. For our latest blog, we’ll be focusing on our hardwood logs.

Where is Hardwood Sourced From?

Hardwood refers to a type of wood sourced from certain trees. The most common types of hardwood come from the following:

• Oak
• Teak
• Sapele
• Iroko
• Meranti

These types of trees are all known to take longer to grow than a softwood source, which is what often causes them to be more expensive. Not only that, but their higher density also means that they take longer to dry than their softwood counterparts. Hardwood can boast that it's a sustainable fuel, meaning that by choosing it over something like coal, you’re burning a cleaner fire. Here at D Price and Sons, all of our hardwood is sustainably sourced and can be purchased either kiln dried and ready to use or just chopped as is, ready to be dried yourself.

What are the Benefits of Using Hardwood Logs?

Hardwood Logs come with an array of benefits that set them apart from some of their competition in the fuel industry. If you’re looking to use hardwood logs for your log burner, they can give you a low maintenance, slow-burn guaranteed to keep you warm for hours. Typically, hardwood logs can burn for up to five hours because of their high density. However, it's important to note that this high density will make it almost impossible to start your fire using them alone. Instead, we recommend getting your fire started with softwood logs or kindling and then placing a hardwood log or two on top once it's settled down. Thanks to being a slow-burning log, using hardwood also means that you’ll be feeding your fire less often. This is often something envied by those who exclusively use softwood.

Instead of needing to get up and actively keep the fire going, you can just sit back, relax and watch a film. Not only that, but once your hardwood logs have burned, they will often leave coals behind that radiate heat long after the logs have stopped burning. The last benefit that’s important to note is that hardwood logs are also renowned for not releasing as much smoke as softwood logs, which can be beneficial for the long term health of your log burner.

Hardwood Logs or Kiln Dried Hardwood Logs?

Once you’ve decided on the type of logs, it’s now time to make a decision over whether to buy them kiln-dried, or as they are. In order to make a decision on this, you must first understand the importance of drying the wood. To put it simply, the more moisture is in the logs, the more smoke will be released when they are burned. If there’s too much smoke being released, this can then cause damage to your log burner and its surroundings. Burning logs whilst they’re moist also prevents them from releasing as much heat, as most of the energy is wasted removing the water.

Now that you understand the importance of using dried logs, we can move onto your options. Your two options rely on the facilities and time that you have available. Hardwood logs traditionally take a longer time to dry than softwood logs meaning that if you were to do this yourself, you would need to commit the necessary time and space. However, if you don’t mind paying a little extra for the luxury of having this done for you, you can also purchase kiln dried logs that are ready to be used immediately. By purchasing kiln dried logs, you’re guaranteed 20% less moisture and three times the heat straight away.

Order Your Hardwood Logs in Stoke-on-Trent or Staffordshire Today

Now that you know what you’re looking for, it’s time to fuel your fire. Whether you’re looking for hardwood logs, kiln-dried hardwood logs or you’ve decided to try softwood, we’ve got you covered. Our range of premium logs can be ordered online today and delivered to your door. Kindling is also available to be bought from our online store. If you have any questions regarding any of our products or services, please contact us. Our friendly and experienced team will be happy to assist you. Alternatively, delivery information can be found on our website and more helpful guides like this can be found in our blog.