What is Barn stored 'firewood' seasoning?

Littlewood logs are seasoned by being barn stored, this simply means the wood is cut stored in the yard and then split and put in large “Dumpy” bags which are stacked and left to season in a purposely designed shed.

The timber is then sent out for sale once it is under 20% moisture (government guidance figure and recognised point at which firewood is classed as fully seasoned. The duration of storage will depend on the type of wood, the time of year it was cut, duration since cut and the size of logs (smaller logs will season quicker) Typical seasoning time for hardwood is 6 -12 months and softwood can be up to 2 years.

Kiln Dried Timber

I often get asked how barn stored wood compares to Kiln Dried timber. Kiln dried timber is dried through the provision of heat to evaporate the moisture and speed up the drying process. This is commonly done through burning waste timber and using a large fan to circulate the heat allowing the seasoning time to be shortened and allowing a faster turnover of logs. Kiln drying does undoubtably produce drier and more uniform logs however they are more expensive and the increased in Calorific value of 15 -20 % can be outweighed by the increased cost.