What wood is best to use in a log burner?

When it comes to stocking up the wood supply for your log burner, it can be confusing to know what type of wood to go for, and whether it really matters… 

At Hardwood Logs, we know that there’s a great deal of difference between wood types, with each impacting burning efficiency, effectiveness and safety for the people that burn them. However, we also see that many people wouldn’t typically be aware of all the benefits and uses of different wood types. 

In this short blog, we’ll be sharing some of our insights, and explaining why dried hardwood should be your go-to wood to use in your log burner.

Log Burner wood should be dry…

First and foremost, the wood you burn in your log burner should be dry. 

When wood is not dried, its water content will be much higher and thus burn less efficiently, producing a low amount of heat into your home. Undried wood also poses a safety risk, blackening up your log burner window and causing tarring, as well as being harmful to the environment due to its moisture levels. 

A way to make sure you use dry-aged wood is to buy wood that is Ready to Burn certified. This is a certification we have here at Hardwood Logs, ensuring that our logs are dried to a moisture level of below 20% and quite literally ready to burn when buying. 

If you don’t buy Ready to Burn certified logs, you should buy them in advance for their use, and let them dry over time to a moisture level below 20%. 

…And it should be hardwood

The best wood to burn in a log burner should not only be dried, but also hardwood. 

This is because, in most cases, hardwood is produced by trees that grow over a long period of time. 

This density of hardwoods make them much better for burning, as they will quickly light (due to the dryness), and burn slowly whilst producing a high output of heat. A good tip to remember is that the heavier (denser) the hardwood, the better its heat output and burning time!

The most ideal hardwoods for log burner use would be Ash, Beech, Oak, Elm and Birch, though at Hardwood Logs we offer mixed bags of hardwood logs. 

Check out our range of logs, kindling and wood supplies here for more information.