Which wood is best for a wood burning stove – and how to store it?

Before you choose, buy and fit a wood burning stove it makes sense to figure out where and how you’ll store the wood. You might be lucky enough to have room in a garden shed or spare garage space, or you might want to stash the logs in your conservatory or porch. Even indoors. If none of these fit the bill, you’ll need a safe, dry log store for the garden. Here’s what you need to know about wood stores, and how and where to stash your supplies. Plus some random yet extremely handy tips about firewood in general.  

Storing wood in the shed, garage, conservatory or indoors

When your wood is already seasoned, proper storage keeps it in the best condition. There’s a multitude of ways to do it. We know people who keep their wood in the porch. The porch at the front of their old house is roofed, made of red brick, deep and wide with alcoves either side, facing away from the prevailing wind so the weather rarely blows in. Perfect! 

You can keep firewood in a conservatory on a raised surface. If the conservatory gets damp or mildewed in winter, or you get condensation, you’ll need to open a window to let the air circulate. Stacked wood looks beautiful. If you like you can get creative about the way you stack it  as long as the air can always circulate. And that’s why some people stash their logs indoors, in the living room, convenient for the fire. 

There are some drawbacks to keeping wood in your living room. If it hasn’t been dried in a kiln it’ll probably be home to insects, who are supposed to live outdoors and won’t be happy. Some people just don’t want spiders, woodlice, beetles, grubs and larvae in the house, happy or not. Old wood can contain woodworm beetles, eggs are larvae, which might escape to colonise your furniture, floorboards or rafters. Fully kiln dried wood is relatively insect-free and also won’t add moisture to the house.   

Storing timber outside helps naturally season it, gradually lowering the moisture level. People living in dry climates can stack tons of firewood outdoors to let it weather until it’s dry enough to burn. In the UK, which seems to be getting ever-wetter, however much or little firewood you buy you’ll want to stack it on top of a raised surface so the air gets underneath and the wood doesn’t get wet or rot. A garden shed is ideal as long as you use a raised surface. A dry garage is great too. If you have neither, the simplest solution is to buy a wood store, the best of which include a dry base giving you a platform for good air circulation. 

Size matters – Get the right sized wood for your stove

Basically, stove size informs log size. Depending on the size of the stove you’ll need 20cm, 25cm or 36cm logs, that’s 8, 10 or 12 inch in old money.  Take a delivery of two cubic metres of too-big logs and you’ll spend the new few months chopping it into smaller bits, no mean feat when you have to cut across the grain.

Kiln dry, part dry or newly-cut firewood?

Kiln dry firewood is ready to go, and it burns beautifully, perfectly conditioned to give you the best burn for your buck. But it’s expensive, costing quite a lot more than semi-dried logs. As a rule the more you buy, the better the price. Because we buy in bulk we tend to go for the cheaper semi-dry timber, a ton of it cut into 25cm chunks. The key is how you use it, and the logical system we’ve devised means we always have burner-ready wood handy indoors.

Our wood burner stove sits inside an old stone fireplace with a foot of space at each side where we stack wood. We store as many semi-dried logs as we can at either side of the burner, where they’re exposed to the heat without actually setting on fire. By using the wood from one side at a time and constantly replenishing it, there’s always a stash of properly-dry timber – with a 20% or less moisture level – ready to use. 

Here’s a thing not to do. When we first got our burner, hadn’t figured out a system and needed dry wood we stood some semi-dry logs on the flat top of the stove, had a glass of red or two, then completely forgot about them until we suddenly noticed the room was filling with smoke! A lot of coughing and much letting in of freezing fresh air later, we were left safe, cold, and feeling pretty foolish. 

Softwood or hardwood?

Softwood is best for starting a fire, hardwood sustains a long, hot burn. Some people use all-hardwood, which is expensive. It isn’t as fuel efficient to use all-softwood, although it’s cheaper. Most of us use a combination of the two for the most practical and effective fires.

Watching your wood weight

If the wood’s very heavy, it’s probably wet. If it’s very light, it’s probably dry. After a while you’ll get a feel for what’s dry enough to burn and what isn’t. But there’s more. As a rule softwoods weigh less than hardwoods. Again, you’ll soon get a feel for it. You’ll be separating hard from soft like a pro after a few deliveries of mixed firewood. 

Exploring outdoor log stores

A firewood log store makes a nice-looking garden feature. If possible put yours near the door so fetching fuel in vile weather isn’t a nightmare. Measure the space before you buy so you can be sure there’s enough room for it, as well as easy access around it. 

Our wood store is way down the garden, involving a muddy path, wellies and a wheelbarrow. While the location isn’t ideal the store itself, built in the 1970s by the previous owner from scrap wood, is a stunning little thing, pretty and quaint as well as efficient. It has slatted pine walls, some with chunks of old chipboard nailed on, all weathered to a gorgeous patina. We’ve decorated the window and glass in the old door with hearts in white outdoor paint. It felt like a bright idea to clean the glass inside the hearts while leaving the rest to go green with algae, and we really like the result! Along the same lines, there’s no law says you can’t make a feature of a new wood store by painting, decorating and embellishing it. As far as the air circulation goes, we found an old metal shelf drilled with hundreds of holes with a 2cm rim in a outbuilding. It makes an excellent base for air circulation, it was free, and it’s a little re-purposing triumph. 

Some new log stores are made from wood, others are more like metal storage racks, but stacked with wood they invariably look fantastic. They’re practical too. The clever design of a purpose-built log store lets air circulate to keep the logs dry and help the natural seasoning process along. Many are self-assembly, which makes sense when they’re far too big to go in a car otherwise, and a pain in the backside to carry. Luckily the assembly is usually super-simple, easy enough for DIY numpties like us. 

Choose a firewood log store to suit the amount of wood you’ll be keeping in it. In an ideal world you’ll assemble yours out of the prevailing wind so you get fresh air circulating but the rain, sleet and snow don’t blow in. Good airflow is absolutely essential. Feel free to build your store in a sunny place and it’ll dry out semi-seasoned firewood faster than in the shade.

Log stores usually have a sloped roof for rain to flow down and drip off, and the slope can face either way. There’s no advantage to either, it;s just a looks thing. The sides are either fully or partially open, made from slatted wood or metal. Because it isn’t sealed, draughts circulate freely around the logs. The front is completely open to let the sunshine in and make it easy to get the wood out. A few models have doors on the front.

How to stack wood in a log store

Cram too much in, too close together, with no space around the edges, and semi-dried wood will take longer to mature. Kiln dried wood can get damp with the lack of air and soggy inside if it stays west for too long. So leave space at the back of the store between the logs and the walls, and stack the wood so there’s space between the rows, exposing the ends of each chunk to the air. Take care with the frame as well. Stuff too much wood in the space and it can buckle or break. 

Sections of tree branch stack well but it’ll become less stable as you stack them higher, simply because they’re curved. Cut logs stack beautifully. It’s very satisfying. After a bit of practice you’ll be able to casually hurl wood into the store at record speed, with impressive accuracy  and it’ll stack itself like magic. The chunky rectangular and triangular logs stick together unexpectedly solidly without wobbling.

Because you maximise the airflow, an open fronted store is great for seasoning semi-dry logs. Fully kiln dried logs are best kept dry so it’s best to shut the doors as long as there’s still enough ventilation. Whatever the design some wet will invariably find its way into your log store. But that’s fine. There’ll be enough ventilation to dry the wood out again pretty quickly. And interestingly, once the wood is already dry, a bit of surface moisture won’t cause a problem. The core remains lovely and dry.

Got wood? Now you know how to use it

Follow our guide for a constant supply of firewood, kept in excellent condition through every season, always ready to burn. Happy days!