Leavin Train

Log Load

The Selection, Log Rack Storage and Use Of Wood For Your Home Fire

A beautiful wood burning fire in your fireplace takes the chill out of the air and provides the perfect atmosphere for a relaxing and enjoyable opportunity to daydream while staring into the fire.

 

To create a beautiful fire you need to start with quality firewood.  The best type of wood to burn is hardwood.  Their density allows them to burn cleaner and longer.  Some hardwoods include birch, alder, oak, maple, ash and beech.  Wood from a fruit tree such as cherry tends to burn with a most pleasant smell.

 

Your wood should be properly prepared.  Finding and storing your logs is important.  The best wood to burn has been aged for a year.  Unseasoned wood will smolder and not produce the desired amount of heat.  Seasoned wood will produce a hot, crackling and efficient fire.  A well seasoned log is dark or gray on the outside and when split is white on the inside.

 

When purchasing wood here are the guidelines on quantity:

 

            Cord: a stack approximately 4’H X 4’D X 8’L

            Face Cord:  4’H X 8’L and something less than 4’D

            Full-sized pick-up truck tightly stacked to the top of the cab – approximately 1 cord

            Full-sized pick-up truck tightly stacked to the top of the box – 2/3 of a cord

            Small sized pickup stacked to top of the box – 1/3 of a cord

 

These measurements are only approximate. Pick-up truckloads vary due to the size of the bed and how tightly the wood is packed.  A cord could actually take two pick-up loads if not loaded tightly.

 

Store your wood outside.  Purchase a log rack to hold and protect the logs.  This allows the air to circulate under the pile.  When wood is stacked directly on the ground it will absorb moisture from the ground and the bottom layer will tend to rot.  To dry properly it should be kept dry and out of the weather.  Once it is dry keep it covered to protect it from the weather.  Bring the wood into the house a few days before you build your fire to help removed any remaining moisture.

 

To build your fire, use plenty of crumpled newspaper and kindling.  A great kindling to use is fatwood.  It is 100” natural wood harvested from the stump of softwood, the best wood for kindling.  Fatwood is non-toxic, environmentally friendly, easy to use, burns extremely hot and only takes a few sticks to start the fire. 

 

After placing the newspaper and kindling in the fireplace tightly stack at least three pieces or more of wood in your fireplace in a crisscross arrangement.  A tightly packed pile of wood burns more slowly.  Light your kindling and watch your fire grow.  Once the fire is burning there will be times when you will need your fireplace tools to rearrange the logs as they shift and burn down.  That’s where your fireplace poker and tongs come in handy.  And afterwards, once the ashes are cold, cleanup is easily accomplished with your fireplace shovel and brush. 

 

About the Author

Terri Young has a BA in History from the University of Washington. She is co-owner of the fireplace tools website ToolsForFireplaces.com.

Tags: linux, monitoring, performance, sysadmin, tools

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 12:59 am and is filed under Trains. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.